eScience Collaboration Tools: EVO & Access Grid Dr. Greg Wickham APAN 24 th Jan 2008

Overview Overview of the Tools Access Grid EVO Comparison Summary

Overview Overview of the Tools Access Grid EVO Comparison Summary

Access Grid What is an Access Grid? A collaboration environment Where? a venue - A virtual location where people can meet Collaboration? Audio Video Shared applications Shared Desktop Shared Web Browser Extensible Shared Resources

Access Grid Cross platform: Windows Linux Mac OSX Technology: Transmission: Multicast (predominately) Unicast (alternatively) Venue server and client Multiple computers combined in a node

Access Grid Environment: Room based (most common) Multiple computers controlled by the Venue Client Desktop (same software) Community

Heritage MBone tools ( 90s ) VIC – Video Conferenecing Application RAT – Robost Audio Tool Access Grid V1: Venue Server concept Access Grid V2: (2002) Same (basic) tools Globus Toolkit (Web Services) Access Grid V3: (Aug 06) Jabber client integration

AG Node

Access Grid Monitors combined to increase screen area (ie: 3072 x 768 pixels) Video Resolution: Usually CIF (352 x 288) c/w H.323 University of Queensland has demonstrated HD integration Enhanced VIC to display MPEG2

Venue Client control centre of the AG software Navigate between venues Venues are organised hierarchically Each Venue has:

Venue Client control centre of the AG software Navigate between venues Venues are organised hierarchically Each Venue has: List of available rooms

Venue Client control centre of the AG software Navigate between venues Venues are organised hierarchically Each Venue has: List of available rooms has a URI

Venue Client control centre of the AG software Navigate between venues Venues are organised hierarchically Each Venue has: List of available rooms has a URI a list of participants

Venue Client control centre of the AG software Navigate between venues Venues are organised hierarchically Each Venue has: List of available rooms has a URI a list of participants a chat client

VIC & RAT

Access Grid on a Desktop

Overview Overview of the Tools Access Grid EVO Comparison Summary

The Tools: EVO What is EVO? A distributed collaboration tool incorporating: Video Audio White Board Share files Where has EVO come from? Funded by the High Energy Physics community (LHC) Where is EVO going? Gaining acceptance outside the HEP community Support contracts available

So exactly what is EVO? Closest Analogy Desktop Based Access Grid Features: Uses Java – No software needs to be installed Firewall friendly H.323 Integration Desktop sharing Whiteboard Commercial support SIP & POTS Shibboleth Integration Multilanguage

EVO Running

Participants wearing headsets

EVO Running Speaker is emphasised

EVO Running Layout controlled automatically

Terminology EVO – Enabling Virtual Organisations Panda Server – Back end infrastructure Koala – User client Vievo – Video Conferencing Client jRAT – Java Robust Audio Tool EVOWB – White Board

Architecture Each Koala connects into the panda cloud All traffic to/from a Koala is to a specific panda

Architecture Panda servers exchange data (audio, video, etc) as necessary The panda cloud is hidden from the end user

Koala

Redundancy Panda servers are the data warehousing point All users data is exchanged to the EVO environment through the chosen panda server Upon connection the closest panda server is chosen User can prefer another panda server

Redundancy If the preferred panda server isnt available – the next closest is chosen No actions required by the user

Monitoring

Overview Overview of the Tools Access Grid EVO Comparison Summary

Feature Comparison FeatureAccess GridEVO CODECH others(1)H H.263 TransmissionMulticast / Unicast (2)Unicast (Multicast) (3) 1.Other codecs available (ie: MPEG2, HDTV) although not in the current AGTk distibution 2.Multicast is the default; using a bridge Unicast is possible 3.Multicast available through the JANET UK community

Feature Comparison FeatureAccess GridEVO FirewallDifficult (1)Yes (2) NATNo (3)Yes (4) 1.Ports defined on Venue Server; Unicast ports can vary (range) 2.All traffic (video/audio/IM/Presence/booking/..) uses a well defined unique port 3.Yes if using Unicast 4.All video / audio handled through TCP connection to Panda

Feature Comparison FeatureAccess GridEVO Data Transfer Direct between participants; or through bridge All data through Panda server Control Channel Venue Server (no redundancy) Panda server (redundancy) Installation Platform Specific Binaries Java & Java Web Start

Feature Comparison FeatureAccess GridEVO H.323NoYes (1) SIPNoYes POTSNoYes (2) 1.Using a gate keeper possible to dial into an MCU or the PSTN using a standard phone number 2.EVO Phone gateway in several places in US, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Slovakia

Feature Comparison FeatureAccess GridEVO RecordingExternal ApplicationYes ChatYes(1)Yes(2) 1.Chat is limited to the currently active room 2.Separate chat windows are maintained for each community and the currently active room

Feature Comparison FeatureAccess GridEVO PresenceNoYes Multiple CamerasYes (1)Yes (2) Experience LevelModerateBeginner Room BasedCommonPossible DesktopYesCommon 1.Different Node configurations managed through venue server; rich configuration of cameras available 2.Start additional cameras using aux video; camera control very simple

Feature Comparison FeatureAccess GridEVO Shared ApplicationsDesktop, Browser, (1)Desktop, Whiteboard Open SourceYesNo 1.Shared Applications can be written an integrated into the AG environment

Overview Overview of the Tools Access Grid EVO Comparison Summary

Access Grid and EVO are both powerful multi-user collaboration tools Access Grid has: A large user base Strong community EVO has: Easy to use Cross Platform (Uses Java)

Summary Access Grid and EVO are both powerful multi-user collaboration tools Access Grid has: A large user base Strong community EVO has: Easy to use Cross Platform (Uses Java)

Summary So which one to use … Depends on the community … Access Grid works very well in room based systems EVO is a very simple desktop based system Your choice!