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A Videoconferencing Service for the German Network for

Research and Education “DFN”

Renate Schroeder - DFN Germany

Internet2 - Member MeetingSpring 2004

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Contents

• DFN Association

• DFNVideoConference (DFNVC)– Service Architecture– Service Model and Operational Model– Service Provision Components– Service Features and Advanced Features– Statistics– Further Plannings

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DFN: ObjectivesTarget Community: Higher Education and

Research (universities, research institutions, industry, government agencies, schools)

• Provision of national and international connectivity by means of a leading edge infrastructure (G-WiN)

• Bundling of community requirements• Set up of testbeds for next generation network

technologies and promotion of new applications• Taking part in international collaborations• Not-for-profit organisation => operational

costs must be fully covered by institutions

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G-WiN Topology

Leipzig

Berlin

Frankfurt

Karlsruhe

Garching

Kiel

Braunschweig

Dresden

Aachen

Regensburg

KaiserslauternAugsburg

Bielefeld

Hannover

ErlangenHeidelberg

IlmenauWürzburg

Magdeburg

Marburg

Göttingen

Oldenburg

Essen

St. Augustin

Core node10 Gbit/s2,4 Gbit/s2,4 Gbit/s622 Mbit/s

as of December 2003

Rostock

Global Upstream

GEANT

Hamburg

Stuttgart

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DFNVC: Managed Video Conference Service

• Increasing need for audio and video transfer with acceptable quality

• Deployment of a videoconferencing service under ITU standard H.323 started in 2001

• Pilot service from Q1 2002 to Q1 2003• Managed and charged DFN service since

April 2003

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ISDN UserVC system

UserVC system

GK

Organisation with own zone (scenario 1)

UserVC system

UserVC system

Organisation without own zone (scenario 3)

Organisation without own zone (scenario 2)

VC Portal

WorldGK

CountryGK

GW toISDN users

DCS

DFNGK

MCU (s)

DFN zone

DFNVC: Service Architecture

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• Who may use the service?– Users in DFN member organisations and

users in national/international partner organisations (guests)

• How to use the service – Member organisations contract DFN and pay a

flat charge to DFN according to the bandwidth of the DFNInternet connection

DFNVC: Service Model

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• DFN - responsible for– Management of service components (MCU, Gateway,

DCS, DFN-GK, Country-GK)– Setting up of a dial plan for the GK structure– Provision of the VC portal– Training courses for local administrators– Hotline, mailing lists

• Participating Organisations - responsible for– Establishment of a technical administrator– Attendance in training courses– Choice of VC systems & operation of a gatekeeper– Training & First level support for their users

DFNVC: Operational Model

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DFNVC: Service Provision Components (I)

• Same equipment in two locations (Berlin and Stuttgart)

• MCUs:– Premium Equipment:

• per location 2 Radvision MCU-60/G.722 with TCM 30 Audio Transcoder Board -> 240 Ports

• per location 2 Radvision MVP 30 Video Boards

– Standard Equipment:• per location 1 Radvision MCU-100 -> 200 Ports

• Gatekeeper, Gateways and DCS– per location 1 Gatekeeper Radvision ECS 2.0– per location 1 Gatekeeper GNU-GK 2.0.2– per location 1 Radvision Gateway gw-P20– per location 1 Radvision Data Collaboration System

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DFNVC: Service Features

• The service :– > allows ad hoc conferences– > offers Dial-In for ISDN-based VC systems– > takes part in the Global Dialing Scheme– > supports preparation, initiation and

management of conferences– provides test results and descriptions for VC

systems– offers training courses for administrators

and hotline

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DFNVC: Service Features

• The service :– allows ad hoc conferences– offers Dial-In for ISDN-based VC systems– takes part in the Global Dialing Scheme– supports preparation, initiation and

management of conferences– > provides test results and descriptions

for VC systems– offers training courses for administrators

and hotline

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DFNVC: Video Competence Center

• VCC TU Dresden (Video Competence Center)

– responsible for VC systems– ongoing tests of VC systems (new releases)– descriptions and instructions for

installation and configuration for the most common VC systems

– interoperability matrix of VC systems and other VC components

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Compatibility of VC Systems

Quality:

Good, reliable

good, unreliable

no function

sufficient, reliable

sufficient, unreliable

unsufficient, reliable

unsufficient, unreliable

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DFNVC: Service Features

• The service :– allows ad hoc conferences– offers Dial-In for ISDN-based VC systems– takes part in the Global Dialing Scheme– provides a VC portal– supports preparation, initiation and

management of conferences– provides test results and descriptions for

VC systems– > offers training courses for

administrators and hotline

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DFNVC: Advanced Services

• Observing the quality of network (LAN and access lines):

– Performance measurement on IP connection:• packet loss, one way delay, jitter• tests with a measurement system of the University

of Erlangen

– H.323 Beacon• tests with some organisations

– Prioritisation of IP-adresses• tests with special organisations

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Statistics

• Participants in the production service– contracts signed with 159 organisations and

institutes– ongoing negotiations with further

organisations– nearly 50% with own gatekeeper

• 17 training courses since April 2003 with 10-15 participants per course

• Several hundreds of conferences per month

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DFNVC: Further Plannings

• Migration to E.164 / DNS / ENUM• Service administration via LDAP (H.350)• Locking VC portal against unauthorized users• Integration of new functions (e.g. SIP based

signalisation, VoIP-structure)• Reservation system

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Thank You !

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DFNVC: Links

Links for interested parties

– Introduction into the topic• Videoconference Cookbook

http://vcc.urz.tu-dresden.de

• VC portal http://www.vc.dfn.de

– Procurement of VC systems and gatekeeper• VCC Dresden (Video Conference Center)

http://vcc.urz.tu-dresden.de/vc-systeme/