Global Platform for Rich Media Conferencing and Collaboration Philippe Galvez California Institute of Technology Nov 6th, 2003RedIRIS conference

VRVS: What it is ? u The Virtual Rooms Videoconferencing System has been developed by Caltech since 1995 to provide a world wide videoconference service for education and research communities. u VRVS is a realtime distributed system which provide a scalable communication infrastructure for large collaboration dispersed all over the world. u Different technologies and protocols are supported (and mixed) and allow users to connect their preferred videoconference. u Supports Mbone, H.323, SIP, QuickTime, Access Grid, JMF and MPEG2. u The system is composed of 1 main server and several reflectors (network servers) spread around the world.

VRVS Web Service Design u Unified Web User Interface to schedule and join/leave a meeting independently of the application. u Multi-platform: Windows, Linux, MacOS and Unix u Easy to use: Everybody (from 4 to 77 years old) knows how to click on a web page today. Not true for running a VCR u Virtual Room Concept, Scheduling; Create a virtual space were people can exchange real-time information u Join or Leave a Collaborative session anytime. Do not need to know in advance how many participants and booked ports capacity. Just announce the meeting and people will join from anywhere. u Full Documentation and Tutorial u Self service: Don’t need a technician or expert to organize and join a conference

VRVS Reflector Implementation u Avoids Duplication of Streams on a given Link u Can be set to Unicast or Multicast mode or both u Connection peer-to-peer with neighbors network servers. Connectionless (more reliable to network breaks) u Enables Optimized Routing u Enables Bandwidth Control u Provide low latency communication u Could be use for real-time interactivity or broadcast u Provide elegant solution to cross firewall/NAT u Remote Management Features. u Compliant with IETF RTPv2 Protocol, ready for new applications.

Mbone Tools (vic, vat/rat,..) VRVS Model Implementation done Partially done Work in progress Continuously in development QoS VRVS Reflectors (Unicast/Multicast) Real Time Protocol (RTP/RTCP) SIP Network Layer (TCP/IP) H.323QuickTimePlayerMPEGMinerva CollaborativeApplications VRVS Web User Interface

VRVS Deployment and Usage

VRVS Reflectors Deployment

USA27 Spain5 Brazil5 Switzerland5 UK3 France3 Slovakia3 Canada2 Taiwan2 Greece2 Portugal2 Israel2 Japan2 Pakistan2 Italy1 Finland1 Chile1 Poland1 Venezuela1 Hungary1 China1 Ireland1 Russia1 Czech Republic 1 Belgium1 Romania1 Germany1 78 reflectors Deployment World wide in 27 Different Countries

VRVS registered users and current usage as of Nov 4 th, 2003 USA1533 Spain1007 Italy 429 Switzerland 387 France 343 Brazil 334 Germany 312 UK 249 Japan 118 Canada 118 Taiwan, Greece, Argentina, Russia, Slovakia, etc… 6285 different Users Registered 93 Countries from 93 Countries

Machines and OS VRVS support different Operating Systems according to the need and the demand of the final users: 1 st : Windows 2 nd : Linux 3 rd : Macintosh 4 th : Other UNIX

VRVS connection per communities Universe90496 RedIRIS34218 Astro7413 Fusion7982 Slovakia3072 REUNA854 A community hosts a dedicated set of Virtual Rooms (currently 10 communities)

Some Examples

VRVS on Mac OS X

VRVS on Windows

Example 1: 20 participants BRAZIL (3 sites) + SWITZERLAND (CERN) + USA (Caltech)

Exemple 2: 17 participants JAPAN + UK + SWITZERLAND + BRAZIL + USA (SLAC + FERMILAB)

Some Features

Network and Security u u Possibility of tunneling (TCP or UDP) between reflector servers. All communications use only ONE port ! u u Peer-to-peer design with high scalability and flexibility u u Solution for Firewall and NAT u u Perform some packet recovery u u Aggregate dynamically bandwidth for H.323 multipoint conference between End Points to an overall maximum conference bandwidth u u Fix incompatibility between several H.323 end points u u Remotely mute/unmute video or/and audio u u Optimized network bandwidth utilization u u Real-time packet loss monitoring u u Support up to 16,000 Virtual Rooms (parallel meetings)

Administration Interface o o Pure Java J2EE + XML o o HTTPS/SSL secure web interface o o Monitoring reflectors and users in ongoing conference o o Full control on database

Monalisa: Real-Time Monitoring

VRVS Virtual Setup 1 dual processors PC With special 4 output graphic card 6400 x 4800 pixels Most powerful VRVS End Node

What next ?

On-going and Future developments (1/2)   Adaptation to emerging standards: IPv6, SIP   Develop advanced monitoring and tracking tools for ad-hoc conference as well as scheduled multi-site conferences   Develop advanced network monitoring agents (based on Java and web services) to run on each network servers. è. è Possibility to automatic rerouting between VRVS network servers to find a better network path.   Improve Security (Firewall, NAT, Authentication, Encryption)   Develop a pure peer-to-peer VRVS reflectors network to be able to handle thousands of parallel sessions

On-going and Future developments (2/2) u u Wireless/Mobile Client Integration: è è User Interface dedicated for small screens è è Integration of low end client:   Provide dedicated software clients (VVP, JMF)   Transcode streams to lower bandwidth   Support MPEG4 u u Integration of new hardware/software for high-end interactivity.   Developed a multipoint videoconferencing system based on MPEG4 compression standard.   Developed a system using HDTV standard If affordable hardware devices available.

VRVS, Caltech Team Philippe Galvez Project ManagerPasadena (USA) Gregory Denis Main Web DeveloperGeneva (Switzerland) David Collados Administration DeveloperGeneva (Switzerland) Kun Wei Reflector Main DeveloperPasadena (USA) Dave Adamczyk CGI, Java and SIP DeveloperPasadena (USA) Dennis Lattka System operation responsiblePasadena (USA) Joao Correia Support ResponsibleGeneva (Switzerland)

Additional Slides

Virtual Access Grid  User can connect to either unicast or multicast videoconferencing with full supported features  User can create his/her own virtual AG node and virtual venues and integrated into VRVS  Different Video modes possible:  Voice switched: default mode for H.323 clients. one video stream at a time  Timer switched: browse through all the video based on preset timer. One video stream at a time.  Selected Streams: Click among the video participants to view selected video streams (one or several streams available).  All Streams

VAG with Mbone Clients

Conclusion: We believe that VRVS offers the following unique differentiators: Usability – VRVS’ web-based user interface is easy to use and allows almost any desktop of videoconference suite to connect to a VRVS virtual room conference with only few clicks. Its default client apps enable multi-standards audio, video and data collaboration. Scalability – VRVS scales up with the needs for quality and volume more elegantly and beyond anything possible now. è More simultaneous participants in a same virtual room è More simultaneous virtual room conferences è Wider range of video and data sharing quality

Flexibility – VRVS allows inter-operation of collaborative communications between end points of various audio, video and data sharing capabilities as well as different types of connectivity. Efficiency – VRVS server software makes efficient use of bandwidth by routing required information only to various nodes. Ubiquity – VRVS’ ease-of-use and scalability unlocks the value of network-based collaboration tools and allows anyone, anywhere, anytime to improve their collaborative experience. Robustness – VRVS is field tested on a large scale for a long period of time. It has demonstrated exceptional reliability and simplified its deployment and use beyond anything available today (except maybe POTS and !)

Web based interface u VRVS provides a natural and intuitive interface to organize and manage your meetings. u Several interfaces let you see in 1 shot all current conferences, let you book a new one in 3 clicks. u Several academic communities are handled by VRVS. Each one has its specific Virtual Rooms. u VRVS manages multi international time zones in a transparent way. u Its use do not require technical knowledge nor technician action.

Connection Interface u Connect / Disconnect the selected videoconference client u Provide different video modes u Allow CHAT and Private messages u Can share your computer desktop u Remote control of video cameras. u u co-browsing of web sites u u real time list of connected participants u u share computer desktop with other participants