“Pushing the Content Boundary”

The July E2B Conference

11th July 2002Alex Jadavji

Managing Director – Synetrix

Alex.Jadavji@synetrix.co.uk

Agenda

Isn’t the written word enough?

Historical view of Video communication for commercial use

Extending the reach of teaching and learning techniques today by “clever” use of the Internet.

Empirical Evidence !

Origin of the species

Ability to share information through

technology

Time

Communication techniques evolving

Sharing of knowledge base

The 4 semi-permeable membranes(aka recall)

Visual – 45-55% 1st time retention

Audio/Visual – 55-75% 1st time retention

“I see what you are saying but…………..”

Audio – 35-55% 1st time retention

Text – 25-45% 1st time retention

[Audio/Visual/Practical – 85-95% 1st time retention!!]

Human nature to be short sighted and resistant to change?

“This ‘telephone’ has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of

communication.” “The device is inherently of no value to us.”

Western Union internal memo, 1876

But of course eventually……

The Telephone System Happened

“Should have done this years ago !”

Western Union internal memo

infrastructure before e-learning is enabled (i before e!)

The foundation of communication is infrastructure (i)

1990..

1995..

1997.....

ISDNH.320H.320

Point to Point (1 to 1 communication)

ISDN (bridged)H.320H.320

Multipoint (1 to many, or many to many)

Used by the those who afford the high cost of entry:1. Expensive end systems (£20,000-£50,000)2. Early systems supported Basic Rate ISDN (128Kbps)3. Unreliable (Operating system based, eg. OS/2)4. High cost of ISDN, especially internationally5. Low Quality

The foundation of communication is infrastructure (i)

1997.....

1998....

1999..

ISDN (up to 384Kbps)H.320H.320

Quality of ISDN improves and ATM arrives

ATM Private and Public networks

arrive

Gateways between ISDN (H320) and ATM (H321)

H.321 H.321

Speeds now upto 384kbps for ISDN and ATM systems now

able to use MPEG1 OR MPEG2 (>8Mbps)

25Mbps ATM

155Mbps ATM

34Mbps ATM622Mbps ATM

25Mbps ATM

PBX

LAN

Carrier

Video ConferencingISDN

Broadcast Systems

IP WAN

PBX

LAN

RegionalRegionalCentre Centre

Mr Manager

DoubtingThomas

The foundation of communication is infrastructure (i)

1999.....

2000....

2001..

ISDN (up to 384Kbps)H.320

H.320

ATM Private and Public networks

arrive

Gateways between ISDN (H320) and ATM (H321)

H.321 H.321

Speeds now upto 384kbps for ISDN and ATM systems now able to use MPEG1 OR

MPEG2 (>8Mbps)

25Mbps ATM

155Mbps ATM

34Mbps ATM622Mbps ATM

25Mbps ATM

Enter – IP and H323 video conferencing

H.323H.323

Legacy systems still in place.Needing to

“transcode” between H320 and now H323 to talk

to IP based devices

Internet

Quality/Class of service enabled and

H323 aware gateways and firewalls now being produced by

Cisco

“Another network to manage, but this one is

bigger than rest put together ! That’s no good !

We still have to contend with the Big “i”

Edge

Edge

Edge

Edge

The Internet (QOS/COS getting better)

Your campus LAN/MAN, QOS/COS enabled

LAN/MAN

H323 Everywhere (so “i” is now sorted !)

Internet

“Fine, but how do we manage such a distributed, abstract thing based on the Internet, as well as all the features that the old systems gave us???”

2000.....

2001....

2002..

Internet

Management of a converged network environment

“It would really useful if this could all be done from a browser for ease of use…”

Cisco AVVID partner programme

Enter -

Web Data Collaboration (sharing of applications and content)

Business quality desktop video (to suit the application) Integrated into how you work today (web based) Instant Messaging (Chat , whiteboards etc..) Streaming (live and stored) Ad-hoc and Scheduled Conferencing Control Simplicity Inclusion of legacy systems Works seamlessly with Cisco video solutions

(gateways, MCU’s etc)

“Now we are getting somewhere, tell me more”

(the “e” enabler)

Benefits - designed for use by students, pupils & users

No User Training Required! Ease of Use as a guiding principle

• Multiple ways to do things• Non-essential items at a lower level• Many functions automatically handled by system

User profile tailored to the individual At a glance view of current activities and information Presence indication Multiple locations and user mobility Delegates and guests Public meetings

“Sounds to easy to me, does it exist? What does it look like?”

Guide Page - Current Activities & Information

Today’s meetings Future meetings

• up to 5 days Messages

• from administrators

Notifications• invitations,

cancellations, etc.

‘How to’ section

Meet Page - Choose Participants & Resources

Members• Person• Room• Resource

Presence (available, busy, unknown, unavailable)

New directory paradigm based on role of group structure

• Personal directory• Tree hierarchy

“Even you-know-who could use this system!”

Meeting Editor

Appointment Attendees Advanced

Settings Send/Update

invitation Delete

invitation

Web Conferencing in use

Full Screen Video

Conference List

“List of Conferences” allows you to join any public conference or lecture that is being broadcast

Family

CTM Express CTM CTM for Exchange

Web Endpoint

Conference Server

MCU Scheduling

Other Resource Scheduling

Directory Management

Policy Management

Presence

Conference Moderation

Data Collaboration

Billing

Centralized Administration

Exchange Integration

Streaming

LDAP (Coming soon date TBC)

= supported = provided by Exchange

The

So what does an E2B video room look like?

Codec (Camera and Microphone with built in

Network Connection) or desktop system

Monitor (TV or Wall or Ceiling mounted Plasma

screen or pc screen)

Controls (remote / mouse/keyboard if

req’d)

User’s pc being used for data

sharing (could be a personal laptop)

Local Area Network Connection

Video call (point to point or multipoint enabled via PC onto the CRUK Click to Meet URL.

Think About your environment !!1. White walls and bright lights degrade the quality of the image

2. Loud ties and white shirts should be kept to a minimum !3. Camera’s should not be pointed at direct light sources

4. Keep you microphones away from noise sources

Summary

IP infrastructures can be created to provide usable converged voice, video & data networks

that are accessible to all

They can be managed and use the resources that often already exists (data network and internet

access)

The video solutions now use efficient protocols that will give you reasonable quality that is

affordableThe ability to provide more stimulating

content direct to the end user now exists –

After all it is all about content!

And Finally….

“Who the hell wants to hear actors talk ?”

HM Warner, Warner Bros., 1927

“I think that there is a world market for maybefive computers.”

Thomas Watson Chairman of IBM, 1943

It’s all about Strategic Vision

Introduction