Internet2 Commons Video and Collaboration Services

Bob Dixon

Megan Troyer

Jonathan Tyman

Recent Video Events Supported by the Internet2 Commons

Bob Dixon

OARnet and Ohio State University

Internet2 Spring Meeting - April 24, 2007, Washington DC

Recent Video EventsSupported by the Internet2 Commons

• Megaconference VIII

• Collaboranza II !

• Gigaconference II

• Megaconference Junior IV

• Rutgers Internet2 Day

• ViDe Conference

Megaconference VIII

• November 6, 2006 - Everywhere!

• World’s Largest Internet Video Conference

• 360 Locations Worldwide; 5000 People

• 25 Countries on 5 Continents

• 12 Hours long; all time zones

• 26 MCUs cascaded together

Megaconference VIII (cont)

• 26 Interactions (formerly Presentations)

• 17 Door Prizes

• 8 Vendor Presentations

Megaconference VIII (cont)

• Official Welcome from Ohio State University President

• Huge and Wonderful China Participation; 50 sites

• Second Life - Virtual World participation

• http://www.megaconference.org

• Streaming archives and DVDs available

Collaboranza II !

• Dec 4, 2006 - Chicago Internet2 Meeting

• Collaboration Tools; Pre-Conference Workshop

• Presentations and Hands-on Demonstrations by Internet2 Commons Hosting Environment Member Vendors

Collaboranza II ! (cont)

• EVO (formerly VRVS)

• inSORS (Access Grid)

• Marratech

• Microsoft Conference XP

• RADVision Click-to-Meet• http://commons.internet2.edu/rtc/collaboranza

Gigaconference II

• High Definition Video Conferencing Special Event

• What is the current State of the Art?• December 5, 2006 - Chicago Internet2

Meeting and Everywhere.• All Internet2 Corporate Member High-

Definition Equipment Manufacturers• 16 Remote High-Definition Sites Worldwide

Gigaconference II (cont)

• LifeSize

• Polycom (MCU and endpoints)

• Tandberg

• Codian (MCU)

• Streaming Video Archive and DVDs Available

• http://commons.internet2.edu/gigaconference

Gigaconference Firsts

• Largest-Ever HD VC. 24 locations.

• First large-scale use of new Codian MCU

• First cascade between Polycom and Codian HD MCUs.

• First large-scale use of Polycom HD recorder

Special Event

• Special VIP Show of Computer Art and Animation

• From the Advanced Computing Center for the Arts and Design, Ohio Supercomputer Center

Gigaconference Results

• All the endpoints of all these vendors are interoperable.

• All these MCUs are interoperable.• Very high data rates are not necessary for HD

VC.• All the vendors cooperated and worked

together.• Recordings and (SD) streaming video

available.

Special Thanks

• Polycom for $5000• LifeSize for $2500• Codian for $2500• Allowed us to rent the high-quality HD

projector.• Codian, flew in the new special HD MCU from

England for this event.• Polycom, provided the HD recorder for this

event.

Megaconference Junior IV

• Run by and for students• Feb 22, 2007, Everywhere!• 170 locations• 16 countries• 22 presentations• Student VJs• 12 hours• Streaming Video archive available• http://www.megaconferencejr.org

Rutgers Internet2 Day

• March 21, 2007• 6 locations: • 3 at Rutgers University in New Jersey • University of Maine• DeSales University in Pennsylvania• Internet2 Washington Office

• Internet2 Commons hosted HD Codian MCU for the event

Rutgers Internet2 Day (cont)

• Rutgers locations used LifeSize High Definition Video

• 200 attendees at Rutgers

• Well received by local officials; to be done annually

• http://www.cs.rutgers.edu/cs/Events/Internet2_2007

ViDe Conference

• THE WHOLE SHEBANG: Converged Communication Technologies in the Campus Information Ecosystem. Are We There Yet?

• Mar 26-29, 2007, Georgia Tech, Atlanta, Georgia

ViDe Conference (cont)

• Commons provided:• Video Connections to remote presenters• Streaming Video• Archiving of the conference

• http://www.vide.net/conferences/spr2007/

Internet2 Commons H.323 Services Update

Megan Troyer

The Ohio State University

Arlington, VA

Some Numbers

• Since The Commons moved to a subscription service October, 2003• Almost 1800 conferences• Over 27,000 port-hours of usage• Now have 34 current Subscribers• Data current as of March 31, 2007

Commons usage by month—not counting the Megas

0.00

200.00

400.00

600.00

800.00

1000.00

1200.00

1400.00

1600.00

1800.00

Month

Po

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Internet2 Commons Certified Site Coordinators

• Now have 436 people who have filled out the SC certification form, • 241 have “Approved” Status

• For the complete list: http://commons.internet2.edu/ > Site Coordinators

• Contact me if your name is missing or your status is incorrect

Site Coordinator Trainings

• Site coordinator training via H.323 and The Commons aka “VC-by-VC” has been extremely popular

• Teaching about every 2-3 months to full classes (35 seat maximum in the class)

• Next class: May 17, registration coming soon!

What MCUs do we have?

• Old faithful: Radvision viaIP MCU• This is the host of the Ad Hoc service

• Production Polycom MCU• Has the highest level of administrator

control

• Special Events Codian• Has unique features and connect-ability

What do we have for streaming or archival?

• Starbak VCG• Production live streaming/archival engine

• Codian MCU• Has the ability for live stream of conference

scheduled on this MCU

• Codian IPVCR• Ability to archive H.239 as second stream

video

What do we have for testing?

• There are GDS numbers for all three MCUs on the Commons testing website

• http://commons.internet2.edu/testing

• Not on the website (yet):• H.239 testing: 0011897800239• HD Voice Switched: 0011897800264

What’s new?

• Codian and Polycom MCUs have H.239 compatibility

• Polycom MCU has High Definition capabilities for Voice Switched conferences

• Ad Hoc conferencing capabilities with subscription• No streaming or phone bridge• Limited support

What else is new? ViDe GDS Update!!

• Internet2 is now hosting the backup North American Root Gatekeeper

• gatekeeper.internet2.edu

Pilot Program

• Administrator-level rights• MAGPI, OSHEAN, NIH have administrator

or sub-administrator level rights to some of the Commons gear

• They can start, stop, and/or download their own archives

• MAGPI has the ability to manage conferences on the Codian

What’s coming?

• Last October we installed Tandberg Management Suite (TMS)

• Have been testing permission levels and set-up features• Working on Commons-specific help

documentation

• Will Pilot in Summer 07 with the goal to be live Fall or Winter 2007

The Internet2 Commons Mission

Jonathan Tyman

Internet2

Arlington, VA

Internet2 Commons: Mission

• Promote and facilitate remote collaboration throughout the Internet2 research and education community by means of innovative and integrated, standards-based Internet technologies.

• Work with Internet2 members to create

collaboration services that are: easy, reliable, scalable, sustainable

Internet2 Commons: H.323 Service

• H.323 Service: Polycom, • Radvision, Tandberg, Codian• Streaming, Archiving, • Multipoint bridging, POTS• GDS, SIP, H.264, H.239• Help desk support• $2,000 for 300 port-hrs 37+ subscribing organizations

• Collaboration Services: inSORS, Marratech, • Click-to-Meet, MSR Conference XP, EVO

• Trainings: Live/Online “Certified Site Coordinators”

Any questions?

commons-techsupport@internet2.edu