Audio/Video/Data Conferencing Jason Tisdall Data Connection dataconnection/

1. Audio/Video/Data ConferencingJason TisdallData Connectionhttp://www.dataconnection.com/

2. "Video conferencing is inevitable, but so is the day when the sun flames out and consumes the earth. Which will come first?", Stan Gibson, 1999

3. Audio/Video/Data Conferencing • Data Connection background • What is conferencing? • History • Current status • What’s next?

4. Data Connection Background • What we do • Software developers • Supplier of core communications technology to major vendors and service providers • Still growing in a difficult market • Products • Conferencing (audio/video/data) • Directory and messaging • Network protocol stacks (used in routers) • Telephony softswitches • My role • Professional services + sales support • Products - DC-MeetingServer, DC-MailServer

5. What Is Conferencing? • What is conferencing? • Video • Audio • Data • What should be in a conferencing toolset? • An experiment…

6. What Is Conferencing? • What is conferencing? • Video • Audio • Data • What should be in a conferencing toolset? • An experiment… • Data • Share apps • Whiteboard/annotate • File transfer • Ability to record • Chat (personal and general) • Peer Vs presented

7. Conferencing Defined “Conferencing is a means of offering any or all of image, voice and data communication between remote sites in real time.”, Jason Tisdall, 2002

8. DC-MeetingServer Web Interface

9. Historical Development (1) • First Seen • Isaac Asimov ‘The Naked Sun’ – 1956 • AT&T PicturePhone • demo at the World Fair 1964 • Commercial offering 1970, $160/month • Compression Labs commercial offering • 1982, $250,000 system, $1000/hour • The conference room (early-90s onward) • Small market • Tens of thousands of pounds per unit • Single purpose hardware and software • PictureTel, VTEL, BT, TANDBERG

10. Traditional Videoconferencing

11. Historical Development (2) • Desktop (Personal) Systems (mid-90s onward) • Huge potential market • Cheap(ish) • Proprietary islands of interoperability • Data Connection, Polycom, Microsoft • Key Developments (late-90s) • Standards: T.120, H.323 • H.32x • Audio/video • T.12x • Data sharing • Multiple endpoints • Internet / Web conferencing

12. Desktop Conferencing

13. Videoconferencing Room System Telephone Public Switched Telephone Network Videoconferencing Room System Conferencing Networks (1) Telephone

14. IP Network ISDN (H.320) Videoconferencing Room System Public ISDN Network Telephone NetMeeting Public Switched Telephone Network DC-Share for UNIX Conferencing Networks (2) H.323 - H.320 Gateway Telephone ISDN (H.320) Videoconferencing Room System

15. IP Network HTTP ISDN (H.320) Videoconferencing Room System Public ISDN Network Telephone NetMeeting Public Switched Telephone Network Firewall DC-Share for UNIX Java-enabled Web browser Conferencing Networks (3) H.323 - H.320 Gateway H.323 - PSTN Gateway Telephone ISDN (H.320) Videoconferencing Room System

16. Conferencing – Market Status • How big? • $14 billion by 2005 = 38% compound growth from 2000 to 2005 (IDC: July 2001) • Home Market • Low bandwidth (traditionally – but changing) • Video phone + chat + adult • Vertical • limited deployment • Helpdesks, call centres • Corporate • Security / firewalls • Measurable benefits – cost/fear of travel • Other benefits - improved work practices, productivity, morale • Strong bias to data

17. Conferencing – Who Uses It?

18. Conferencing – Who Uses It? • Cambridge Technology - management consultants and systems integration • Purpose: training and sales • Users: 4000 employees and worldwide customers • Solution: integrate voice and web conferencing • BNFS – Huge american railroad operator • Purpose: mission critical communications, training • Users: planners, engineers • Solution: 28 state deployment, with over 750,000 minutes per month of usage • Merrill Lynch – Financial Management • Purpose: real time collaboration for employees and clients • Users: 63,000 employees in 44 countries + clients • Solution: world-wide deployment, with over 500,000 minutes per month of usage • Money: saves over $1 million per year • See www.latitude.com

19. Conferencing – Who Uses It? • We do • Between sites • High levels of interest/deployment across sectors • Engineering – Ford, Boeing, BMW, … • Military • Service providers • Example • Ford have mandated all their suppliers must deploy standards based conferencing

20. What’s Next? Conferencing Limits • Access • local and wide area • Equipment/security • Bandwidth • Audio requires 5-64 kbits/sec, video requires 150 - 500 kbits/sec • Latency • Infrastructure

21. What’s Next? • Web • Fast growing • use anywhere • no install (saves a lot of money) • Lack of standards • opportunity for bridging between web and traditional clients like NetMeeting • Conference Servers • In-house or via ISP (hosted) • Security, management • Bridging communications – IP and PSTN • Services – web “proxy”, recording • Development of infrastructure • More bandwidth • QoS in VPNs • predictable bandwidth • predictable latency • charging

22. What’s Next? Email was the major corporate growth “technology” of the 90’s ... Conferencing is a major corporate growth “technology” in the new millennium

23. Final Quote “Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm”, Winston Churchill