TF-VSS’s proposal of a European-wide videoconferencing service

Outline Videoconferencing basics Need for a European-wide effort Proposal from TF-VSS

Videoconferencing basics End point End point End point End point MCU gatekeeper IP address

Current status National deployments –MCU –GDS Gatekeepers; world hierarchy GDS, developed as a temporary solution, is being used in production –Otherwise, need IP address book –Lately, efforts towards transitioning to ENUM; but this is still being researched –Best effort support

Current status – TF-VSS survey User scheduling Multi-point videoconferences NRENEnd User

Usefulness of a EU-wide service

TF-VSS proposal Complementary, not competing with national deployments ! Motivation Target users What Whom When Costs

Motivation can improve collaboration at a higher level some NRENs would give up building national services (MCU) at a low utilisation could open new avenues in collaboration in Europe and possibly beyond that.

Target users the whole academic community, all the constituency of European NRENs NRENs without a national service less developed European NRENs' user community, fighting the digital divide

What – coordination of support Replace the ad-hoc coordination with a consistent framework for supporting VC throughout Europe Coordinate GDS support Troubleshooting Ticket system –Based on existing GN2 tools Monitoring and Diagnosing –Based on adding functionality to standard GN2 tools

What - equipment Central MCU –Small size – 40 ports –Support for H.323, SIP and perhaps HD PC Server –Gatekeeper –Monitoring system –Central VC directory (portal) –Calendar and Reservation system Open issue: where the install ? Geant2 PoP ?

Costs – how much ? Procurement, deployment and capacity planning: 8MM Establishing a central reservation website with federative authentication: 6MM Implementation of a modular reservation system: 8 MM Operational model and monitoring: 6 MM 1 MY for service support (one person, full time) Hardware cost estimate: –MCU: euro –Server: 4000 euro

Whom - participants Small amounts of manpower could be made available by the following NRENs (for now): CESNET CSC GRNET NIIF/HUNGARNET REDIRIS SWITCH

When - timeline start Oct 2007 Pilot running by Oct 2008

Summary of benefits