Philippe Galvez California Institute of Technology October 19, 2000 Virtual Room Videoconferencing System Update

V i5tual R oom V ideoconferencing S ystem

Current System VRVS is a production system: VRVS is a production system: è As of today, more than 3458 machines from 2107 different users are registered into the system. è During the year 1999, 872 Multipoint Conferences were conducted (Total 2325 Hours). è More than 3000 point to point connections were established. è Since January 2000: 100 multipoints (300 hours) of videoconference per month in average. è The system provides Video, Audio, Whiteboard, Chat in multi- point and point to point connections. è Organizing videoconference via a full graphical booking system. è Advanced options are available, such as the access control via passwords, the recording and the playback of session.

VRVS Statistics

User Statistics: Scheduling

Full Documentation and Tutorial A download VRVS package area Latest News page A user profile editor with identification and general information Virtual Room Booking, Scheduling; Request Reserved Bandwidth the Virtual Room Join process Point to Point meeting within Registered Persons the “About” section with all the information about the organization and the project User Interface 1/6

The Schedule Manager The Schedule Manager è Booking a Virtual Room is performed in the same way as you would book a local conference room. è If all the Virtual Rooms are booked, it means that the (pre-set) maximum number of parallel conferences has already been reached. User Interface 2/6 Select the Virtual Room Select the scope of your videoconference Continental Virtual Rooms World Wide Virtual Rooms

User Interface 3/6 Schedule Manager Different views are provided like a Year, a Month and a Day view from the calendar. The user can see in one shot what is reserved and what is available. Some options are available: è è the conference can be recorded automatically è è a previous conference already recorded can be played back è è a customized password can be entered to to control the access è è URLs about the subject of the conference can be added

User Interface 4/6 How to join a videoconference in VRVS ? è Select the scope area as in the Schedule Manager è Enter the already booked Virtual Room. è Fill the password requested for the security enhance session. è Start the client applications. Information: Virtual Room name,Title, Current time and ending time Participants: geographical origin, media started, Full name and Click to start: audio, video, whiteboard and web links

User Interface 5/6 Client Applications currently used in VRVS. Client Applications currently used in VRVS. è Public-Domain or Free Players è Good “Sense of Presence”: 10 Frames/sec Within Kbps or Frames/sec within Kbps è Tunable Bandwidth/Quality/Resource Matching è Multi-Platforms : Linux, Unix’s, Windows95/98/NT/2000, Macintosh (only with QuickTime) è Efficient, Tunable RAT VAT VIC QuickTime Player 4.x CHAT WhiteBoard

User Interface 6/6 Example: Example: 9 Participants, CERN(2), Caltech, FNAL(2), Bologna (IT), Roma (IT), Milan (IT), Rutherford(UK)

Implementation 1/4 : Reflectors è Europe: k Switzerland: CERN (2) k Italy: CNAF Bologna k UK: Rutherford Lab, Wales k France: IN2P3 Lyon, Marseilles k Germany: Heidelberg Univ. k Finland: FUNET k Spain: IFCA-Univ. Cantabria k Portugal: LIP k Israel: Weizmann Institute è Asia: k Academia Sinica (Taiwan), k KEK (Japan) k APAN/SingaREN (Singapore) è Russia: k Moscow State Univ., k Tver. University k JINR Dubna  United States of America  West : Caltech, LBNL, SLAC k Center : FNAL, ANL k East : BNL, Jefferson Lab k DoE HQ Germantown k Internet2 : Ann Abor k Esnet : Berkeley  Canada  University of Alberta è South America  Venezuela: CeCalcula k Brazil:University de Rio de Janeiro 31 reflectors Running around the world.

Implementation Modeldone Partially done Work in progress Continuously in development QoS VRVS Reflectors (Unicast/Multicast) Real Time Protocol (RTP/RTCP) Mbone Tools (vic, vat/rat,..) QuickTime V4.0 H.323 MPEG Others?? Network Layer (TCP/IP) CollaborativeApplications VRVS Web User Interface

R&D : Future System VRVS Future evolution/integration (R&D) è Deployment and support of VRVS. è High Quality video and audio (MPEG2,..). è Shared applications, environment and workspace. è Integration of H.323 I.T.U Standard into VRVS. è Quality of Service (QoS) over the network. è Improved security, authentication and confidentiality. è Remote control of video camera via a Java applet.

VRVS H.323 Integration (1/2) è Integration of H.323 I.T.U Standard into VRVS. k step 1: Develop a “H.323 VRVS Gateway”. k step 2: Allow H.323 clients to initiate a point to point videoconference using VRVS user interface. k step 3: Use VRVS reflector to perform H.323 multipoint videoconference. k step 4: Develop the necessary software to have interoperability between H.323 clients and Mbone (Vic, Vat/Rat) applications. k step5: Possibility to perform VRVS multipoint videoconferencing independently of the videoconferencing clients (Mbone/H.323)

VRVS reflectors topology (Only video from the speaker is sent to H.323 clients) VRVS H.323 Gateway 2 - contact VRVS Gateway R&D : H.323 Integration (2/2) VRVS Web Server 1 - Join a VR H.323 Client Mbone Client 1- Join a VR Join a VR 3 - H.323 Call 4 - Send video/audio to VRVS reflector

R&D : VRVS/H.323 Deployment Backbone Network Communication in Multicast or Unicast mode VRVS Reflector and H.323 Gateway University, Laboratory or Corporate company Firewall Individual User Run on the same machine (PC/Linux) or could be on different Machines

R&D : H.323 Integration

R&D : MPEG2 deployment(1/2) è Acquisition of MPEG2 Encoder/Decoder boxes. k Support for the RTP (Real Time Protocol) k Very low latency (around 120 ms for full duplex mode) during the real-time communication (videoconference). k Availability of a Video Development Toolkit (VDK) for integration with existing applications or with the VRVS framework. è Several boxes has been installed at two sites: Caltech and CERN è Other boxes are available among ESnet sites Goal : To deploy MPEG2 technology among HENP community. MPEG2 will provide full TV quality, full frame and full interactivity in a range of 2 to 15 Mbps

MPEG2 deployment plan (2/2) è Integration plan of MPEG2 into VRVS framework k step 1: Perform and valid bi-directional point to point and interactive communication between 2 sites r Caltech and CERN r Caltech and Esnet sites r CERN and ESnet sites k step 2: adapt/modify VRVS reflector in order to make MPEG2 multipoint videoconferencing between 3 or more sites r Caltech, CERN and ESnet sites k step 3: adapt/modify VRVS Web interface and use the MPEG2 development kits in order to initiate MPEG2 videoconference in a “click and start” fashion. k step 4: Use the whole VRVS system and philosophy (registration, scheduling, etc..) with automatic attribution to the closest reflector and start the conference by just clicking after joining a Virtual Room as of today.

VRVS MPEG2 reflectors (Only video from the speaker is sent to MPEG2 clients and the current speaker still receives video/audio from the previous one) R&D : MPEG2 deployment VNP MPEG2 box LLNL VNP MPEG2 box CERN VNP MPEG2 box LNBL Instance of MPEG2 topology already tested. Video: 2.0 Mbps Audio: 224 Kbps stereo VNP MPEG2 box Caltech

R&D : MPEG2 deployment

u No limitation of cascading numbers of reflectors u No limitation of number of participants or parallel conferences. The limitation will be only the network. u Optimize calling process for by passing firewall issues. u Possibility to have muticast/unicast between reflectors and multicast/unicast between the client and the reflector. u Possibility for the H.323 and MPEG2 clients to: è See the video from the speaker only è See all video from all the participants in a round robin way following a specified timer è See ONLY the video from one selected participant even if he is not the speaker è See all video using vic application or Java Media Framework (only H.323) R&D : H.323 and MPEG2 VRVS new features

u VNC (Virtual Network Computer) technology integrated in VRVS. u Possibility to share the working desktop between several participants. We have 2 different modes: è Broadcast mode: The desktop is seen by all the participants but remote participants cannot control it. è Full shared mode: All the participants see and can control the shared desktop (mouse, keyboard,.) u Need VNC server application running in the machine in order to be able to make the desktop sharable. u On the Client side, No application needed. A Java applet is download from the Web server. Client is Web-based and Multi-platform. R&D : Sharing Desktop (1/2)

R&D : Sharing Desktop VNC technology integrated in VRVS

Examples LEPC broadcast from CERN (November 9,1999) 35 participants connected via VRVS (ex. QuickTime Player)

Examples GLAST meeting 10 participants connected via VRVS (and 16 participants in Audio only)

Some Conclusions u VRVS is now a production system with more than 3458 registered host computers located in more than 50 countries. u VRVS is highly scalable and need a minimum a of support to organize multi-point collaborative sessions. All the set-up and configuration are done automatically. u VRVS supports all the types of videoconferencing; from the Mbone or the H.323 applications to a very high video and audio quality like MPEG2; u The user interface and VRVS philosophy are the same independently of the videoconference type. u In addition to the video and audio media, VRVS offers others services during the collaborative session like shared application or desktop, Chat, synchronized Web browsing, remote camera control.

Demonstration u Demonstration of the VRVS system on going at the I2 Demonstration area u Visit the booth to see real-time multi- point conferences (Mbone, H.323 and MPEG2) and get more details information.

Questions ? Philippe Galvez California Institute of Technology