VIDEO Over IP

From Network Computing Magazine Vol 14 No 03- May/June 2005

In his continuing look at what Convergence means to our networks, our organisations and even our daily lives, Ray Smyth examines the next generation of ‘Techscape’ in the context of Video.

For many people, video conferencing will represent something that only the large multinational organisations can afford and conjure up images of a large box in the corner of the boardroom. These early efforts to bring video conferencing to the masses, are nothing but the harbinger of today’s impressive and expansive opportunity. This forerunner was for the majority price prohibitive, often poor quality, functionally limiting, elitist and generally, a less than satisfactory experience for the users.

No doubt, some organisations will have benefited from this technology, but some will not realise that it has undergone a major evolution. Unlike the past, where it was yet another network to manage, video can now justifiably be thought of as a service provided over the single, corporate IP network.

It would be a mistake and a significant misunderstanding of the opportunity, to confine thought and expectations to a modern replacement for the little lamented dinosaur of a video conferencing solution. Much is being said about the burgeoning Voice over IP (VoIP) market and for the large part it is justified. It is also true to say that by preparing to deploy a ‘real-time’ application like VoIP, you are taking positive steps towards the deployment of other ‘real-time’ applications like video – this is often referred to as “Convergence” and of course it is. However the real advantages of convergence come from the convergence experience of users, of the black art. If so called “Convergence” can save money, improve efficiency, enhance communications, improve work life balance, and reduce negative ecological impact, why would you not want to examine it further?

In the context of this glorious expectation, it might just be better to think of all this in the context of the new ‘C’ word – collaboration.

In keeping with many of the new applications that organisations are starting to serve over the ‘converged’ corporate network, Video is very much a ‘real-time’ application. In other words, it truly does matter if a packet gets lost or delayed – especially if that packet contains the client’s response to a key proposal! It also matters that you have provisioned enough bandwidth to serve your video requirements, but also to continue delivering all the other services like email, file transfer etc that are co-resident on a converged network.

Returning to the new C word, when trying to understand the place that Video assumes in the modern organisation, it would be a mistake to consider it in isolation – that is, just another IP service. It is clear, that the services moving onto a converged network are themselves converging. This level of what you might call organisational led convergence is, as the title suggests, based very much on meeting the requirement of the organisation that is deploying. Depending on the specific application, a modern videoconference could be said to have three content components – Voice, Video and Data. It is easy to see that within a single organisation, content may simply be data, all three for some and just voice for others. A modern business solution demands all this and the ability to accommodate this and from multiple locations including the office, airport, home or the car. While the location e.g. the car, will impose limitations to what is practical, these restrictions cannot come from the system, though they may come – temporarily at least – from the current limitations in infrastructure technology; for example, 3G coverage.

In considering today’s requirements in the context of the past, the old way of doing things was very prescriptive and inflexible. It is possibly acceptable for an event like a monthly meeting to be scheduled in advance, as all of the arrangements can be pre-ordered. But what about a developer in one location working with a production engineer in another who needs to meet now and across different time zones? This requires an entirely different approach – access must be simple (no technical stuff to set up), access points must be ubiquitous – the desktop is good – and quality must be high, with functionality flexible and simple to access.

If the need is to move away from this prescriptive approach, then the corporate network and all of its facilities start to make a lot of sense.

In order to assess and meet the needs of a deploying organisation, it is important to understand exactly what is taking place – meeting, talking, sharing, discussing, developing? In one word the users are collaborating. It is this change in thinking that is changing the fundamentals of how the market presents itself and how each unique solution is constructed and operated. Unified collaborative
Communications (UCC) as some suppliers increasingly tag it, is swallowing up the technology provided by the voice and data suppliers. Each organisation has at this juncture to address a fundamental point – will your strategy be video, voice or data centric? This will totally depend upon your requirements, now and in the future.

The offerings under the UCC banner are substantial and most vendors can accommodate the ever present – if not much used – legacy investment. For example it may be a requirement for a particular call to take place, that the hosting system can receive calls made from a mobile phone, an old ISDN video system and a range of other disparate standards. There needs to be a level of embedded intelligence in the hosting system and it is, in many of today’s offerings. The solution can be broken down into two components – the infrastructure and the end points. Even though most vendors can offer this level of backward compatibility, it is necessary to have a strategy that considers bringing some or all components of the system to the latest standard – there could be operational cost savings in doing so, for example, under-utilised bandwidth.

As with all new technology, there are a number of deployment considerations to make and in consideration of the needs of an organisation there are three progressive steps. 1. For some, good a high-quality, audio conferencing facility will suffice.
2. Others may require the addition of sharing data.
3. Finally, the requirement may in its fullest form, define the need for a complete Video, Voice and Data solution.

Having tackled the aspect of the required service, there is the corollary decision of how to provide it. Here there are two basic choices – premises based and hosted. If your use is likely to be low and irregular, the hosted option will suit if you select an offering that is charged out, based on your usage. Others will feel more comfortable in paying to outsource the infrastructure component, with the end points owned in house. The possibility of establishing the collaboration culture will not require such extensive capital investment in this case and ‘in-sourcing’, can remain an option for consideration in the future.

Returning to the point of the cost of such facilities. In today’s ‘techscape’, any vendor that produces technology that is affordable only by the few will not succeed. It is therefore gratifying to note that some vendors – Polycomm for example – can provide an endpoint terminal with all the benefits of a larger system. For a price of just over £6,000, it is possible to acquire an end point terminal with multi port (four port) capability. This terminal is scalable into a much larger system and is highly functional. As with all things, this price point will fall, I am sure.

We all have to consider security today in ways we have never thought of. Can you imagine the fallout of an intruder entering the conference call of the board meeting of a quoted company? The pressure is on to reduce risk to exceptionally low levels. The most basic form of security is going to be access control – most systems will allow entry under pre-determined conditions. In addition to this and particularly important when considering the hosted deployment option, will be encryption. This in turn must be re-enforced by a comprehensive security strategy on the network. On a more general point, this is an excellent illustration to those reviewing their security strategy, that the effective security model is complex, varied and changing.

With acquisition and operating costs falling, there is another chance to improve the way in which we collaborate to do our jobs. The possibilities are endless and the imagination can run riot. The technology is an enabler – the real winners will be those organisations and individuals, who can apply it for their own advantage and this by definition, will not be a vendor led prescription.

Finally, the applications for video over the network are not confined to conferencing or collaboration – IP based security, is just one example of an application poised to make an early land grab and there are many more for the creative implementers out there.

 -- Who wants the thrust of their meeting to be reduced by jerky video and poor sound?

User expectations and technology advances increasingly advance together, and in the case of users, often ahead of current capability.

Learning from the past, new market entrant, LifeSize Communications, Inc. recently announced its entry into the video communications market, with the launch of its innovative, industry-altering, high definition, video communications product suite. It claims to offer the industry's first high definition product designed to provide ten times the quality of existing solutions and unparalleled simplicity for the end user and IT manager.

Commenting, Andrew W. Davis, of Wainhouse Research LLC, said. "High definition video begins a new and very exciting phase for the Video conferencing industry. The improved image clarity and audio fidelity, makes the remote experience much closer to 'being there' and offers a significant advance in price/performance ratio." --


 -- Bridging the ‘virtual office’ technology gap.
A solution, which allows users of legacy video conferencing systems to join web-based meetings from PCs and laptops, received its first public demonstration recently.
The H.323 software kit from Marratech allows a conventional video conference to be dialled into a secure web meeting, direct from any laptop.
Said chief strategy officer, Magnus Hedberg: “We have invested many hours of research into solving the issues which faced users of web conferencing wishing to include audio and video communications from H.323 systems. Our solution solves the problem of including the standard in an encrypted cross-platform environment and is another first for Marratech.”
Conference delegates were able to see a web meeting on laptops, linked to a separate meeting using video equipment, proving they can still gain effective use from legacy systems in today’s web environment.
Added Mr Hedberg: “We believe this bridges a technology gap in the development of the virtual office. “ --


 -- Security keeps up with advances in Video?
Toshiba Research Europe, has claimed an industry first - the application of quantum cryptography to the transmission of video and voice over IP. This paves the way for ultra-secure telecommunications applications, such as video conferencing, voice calls and other high bandwidth applications.
Toshiba claim that other companies are able to encrypt static data, such as still images, while they are the first to provide continual encryption. This allows each frame of IP video, for instance, to be encrypted with a unique digital key, creating an unbreakable sequence of IP traffic.

The development is made possible by the Toshiba Quantum Key Server, which produces up to 100 quantum keys per second. --


Ray Smyth is from TBN ADVANTAGEwho mentor organisations to create leadership advantage in their IT, Business Services and Customer Management functions. He can be contacted at Advantage@LeBiz.co.uk.
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VIDEO Over IP

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