1. Internet2 Commons Dr. Bob Dixon Chief Research Engineer OARNet
Ohio State University
Internet2 Commons Meeting
April 20, 2004
Washington, DC

2. Internet2 Commons History
Outgrowth of Megaconferences community
Free Love MCU
Equipment donations by
RADVision
Polycom
Starbak
Initially free service of Internet2
Site coordinator training.
(Over 150 trained so far)

3. The Megaconference is:
World’s largest Internet video conference.
EVERYONE is invited. H.323 Standard.
A professional conference with no central
location. The speakers and audiences are
distributed throughout the world.
Fully interactive.
Worldwide network of Multipoint Control Units,
cascaded together.
A test of and a push for the state of the art.
Largest Internet VC mutual-help list

4. The Megaconference is:
Professional Presentations
Musical Events
Roll Calls, with Door Prize Drawings
Open Discussion Times
Awards
Pranks
Hats

5. About Megaconference V
December 10, 2003
13 Hours, in 3 sessions because of global time
200 Organizations
1000 People
27 Countries
5 Continents

6. Megaconference VI Coming this fall to a video conferencing
station near you !

7. Current Internet2 Commons Status
Extensive H.323 Video Conferencing Services
Primary North American Gatekeeper for GDS
Video Conference Streaming and Recording
Subscription-based Services
Sponsored support of major events such as
Megaconference
Megaconference Jr
Keystone Conference
Consultation on equipment evaluations,
interoperability and integration

8. Future Internet2 Commons Developments
Automatic scheduling of H.323 video conferences
Other video conferencing technologies, such as:
VRVS
MPEG-4
MPEG-2
DVTS
etc
Other collaboration tools, such as:
Polycom Web Office