Global Platform for Rich Media Conferencing and Collaboration G. Denis, Caltech RESEARCH

Why to use this technology ? u Collaboration tools and technologies provide a very efficient way to work for spread group of scientists. u They improve the feeling of presence and to be a part of a team. u They avoid the wasted time and money on travels and hotels. u They allow larger collaborations. u The frontiers and the distances are not barriers anymore. u The lastest technologies give more than a remote meeting possibility but ways to share and contribute in documents, applications and developments.

Existing Technologies 1. Through Numerical Telephone Line (Obsolete) ISDN or CODEC (H.320) Good: secure, good hardware, no packet lost Bad: expensive, limited bandwidth, not flexible 2. Through IP Network Good: flexible, cheap, extensible, no bandwidth limitation, choice of standard and protocol Bad: no echo-cancellation always available, no QoS, not so secure 1. Mbone 2. H SIP 4. Others

Mbone Tools u These applications have been developed more 10 years ago to use the Multicast Backbone. The audio and video are split in 2 different applications. u VIC is the video application that can decode and encode several different codecs. It is very flexible and provide controls to set the frame rate, the compression and bandwidth of the video sent. It can display dozens of videos at the same time. u VAT and RAT are the audio applications. There’s no software echo cancellation built-in but they can code and decode a very large number of codecs. u These applications are using RTP/RTCP protocol through unicast or multicast connection. u Were the first videoconf. clients used in VRVS.

H.323 ITU Standard u The ITU designed this standard for IP conferencing. u It is based on the H.320 philosophy, adapted for IP networks. u The best hardware clients available today implement and use this standard. u It is technology adopted in the professional market. u Every component is expensive. u The H.323 multi-point solution (MCU) is complex, very expensive and limited in term of number of participants and scalability. It requires at least 1 MCU and 1 gatekeeper (kind of LDAP). u The next version of the clients soon will not be limited to 768kbs.

Session Initiation Protocol  SIP is a signaling protocol for Internet conferencing, telephony, presence and instant messaging.  Developed within the IETF MMUSIC (Multiparty Multimedia Session Control) working group, with work proceeding since September 1999 in the IETF SIP working group.  It is more recent than H.323 and has a better design to fit the IP networks needs, capabilities and constraints. No limitation and very open.  Already adopted by Microsoft (Messenger), Apple (iChat AV) and other open source projects.  Will be supported by VRVS very soon (already working in prototype version).

VRVS Description

VRVS : a Videoconf. Service u The Virtual Rooms Videoconferencing System have been developed by Caltech since 1995 to provide a world wide videoconference service for education and research communities. u A web based interface provides an easy to use graphical user interface to organize and participate to meetings. u No limitation on participants number. u Different technologies and protocols are supported (and mixed) and allow users to connect their preferred videoconferencing tool. u Supports Mbone, H.323, SIP, QuickTime, Access Grid, JMF and MPEG2. u It is composed of 1 main server and several reflectors (network servers) spread around the world.

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 does 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

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

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

Network and Security u u The reflectors are inter-connected according the best networking path. u u Optimized network bandwidth utilization u u Possibility of tunneling (TCP or UDP) between reflector servers. All communications use only ONE port ! u u are designed in Peer-to-peer with high scalability and flexibility u u Solution for Firewall and NAT u u Perform some packet recovery u u Dynamically adjust bandwidth for H.323 multipoint conference between End Points to an overall maximum conference bandwidth u u Real-time packet loss monitoring u u Support up to 16,000 Virtual Rooms (parallel meetings)

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

Extra Features

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 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

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

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 ?

Future Features (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   Improve Security   Transparent solution for NAT   Conference access control, user authorization   Develop a pure peer-to-peer VRVS reflectors network to be able to handle thousands of parallel sessions.

Future Features (2/2) u u Wireless/Mobile Client Integration: è è User Interface dedicated for small screens è è Integration of low end client: k k Provide dedicated software clients (VVP, JMF) k k Transcode streams to lower bandwidth k k Support MPEG4 u u Integration of new hardware/software for high-end interactivity. è è Already developed an MPEG2 MCU (using Minerva codec). Will port to other codec if demand. k k Provide dedicated software clients (VVP, JMF) k k Developed a multipoint videoconferencing system based on MPEG4 compression standard. k k Developed a system using HDTV standard If affordable hardware devices available.

VRVS Usage

VRVS : A production service since 1997 USA1210 Spain884 Italy376 Switzerland330 Brazil258 France248 Germany247 UK205 Japan108 Canada89 Number of Registered Users: 5200 users 5200 users m 86 Countries 61 users in Slovakia

VRVS Reflectors Deployment

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, Caltech Team Philippe Galvez Project LeaderPasadena (USA) Gregory Denis Main DeveloperGeneva (Switzerland) David Collados Administration DeveloperGeneva (Switzerland) Kun Wei Reflector DeveloperPasadena (USA) Dave Adamczyk CGI, Java and SIP DeveloperPasadena (USA) Joao Correia Support ResponsableGeneva (Switzerland) Pavel Farkas H.261 & H.263 codecsKosice (Slovakia) Juraj Sucik Mbone dev. + reflectors deployment Kosice (Slovakia) Michal Pauliny Mbone dev.Kosice (Slovakia)

Supported Operating Systems 1. 1.Windows 2. 2.Linux 3. 3.Mac OS X 4. 4.Other Unix (Solaris, IRIX…)