1. Building Consensus on Middleware for Digital Video
VidMid
Building Consensus on Middleware for Digital Video
Mary Fran Yafchak,
Southeastern Universities Research Association

2. Getting Started Once upon an I2 meeting room in Washington DC….
Attendees: I2 MW, ViDe (with ANU, Gatech, SURA, SURFNet, UAB, UNC, UT), GSU
Meeting purpose: Compare notes, share project ideas & approaches, decide if there is more to be done

3. An Initiative is Born “Vidmid” - Middleware for Digital Video Goals:
Identify needs (MW for near term DV)
Develop/prioritize usage scenarios
Examine approaches for design/development
Discussions so far: Naming the group (!), DoD & ENUM, related activities, project scoping

4. Current Members (5/9/01) Ken Klingenstein (U-Colorado/I2) Acting Chair
Ben Chinowsky (I2) Scribe
Egon Verharen (SURFNet)
Ivana Belgers (SURFNet)
David Pokorney (U-Florida)
Mary Trauner (GaTech)
Mike Staman (Macon State)
Bob Riddle (I2)
Michael Gettes (Georgetown)
Art Vandenberg (GSU)
Ted Hanss (I2)
Amy Philipson (ResearchChannel)
Keith Hazelton (U-Wisconsin)
Pat Jackson (Va Tech)
Bob Morgan (U-Washington)
Tyler Johnson (UNC)
Bob Dixon (OSU)
Larry Amiot (ANL/NWU/I2)
Renee Frost (I2)
Markus Buchhorn (ANU)
Mark Poepping (CMU)
Dan McCarriar (CMU)
Ellen Vaughan (I2)
Keith Portis (U-Nebraska)
Jill Gemmill (UAB)
Mairead Martin (UT)
John McNair (UT)
David Kuhlman (UT)
Phil Galanter (NYU)
Mary Fran Yafchak (SURA)
Orit Levin (RADVision)

5. Middleware - An Early View
A “Ted Talk” from Sept
Technology Scope of Middleware:
QoS
Digital video/audio
Security
Collaboration
Directories
Multicast
File systems
Measurement
Remote instruments
IMS
Transaction systems
Meta-computing
Management
IP telephony
Accounting/billing
E-commerce
Object brokers
Search mechanisms
Printing

6. Middleware - Today’s View
Application-Oriented
Middleware
Identifiers
Certs & PKI
Authn
Authz
Directories
Ubiquitous
Computing
Grid
Admin
Secure multicast
Bandwidth Brokering
Core Middleware
Network-Oriented
Middleware

7. And now: DV Middleware
DV middleware - the middleware necessary to support scaleable useful DV usage scenarios
Voice/Video/Data “call” scenarios
Streaming & On-demand scenarios
DV-to-Directory Services scenarios

8. Scenarios: Directory Services
Examples (from Art Vandenberg/GSU):
User can look up person information in a directory. Search interface is simple, “intuitive” and provides contact details. Directory details include attributes specific to supporting videoconference connection (IP address, type of equipment, local time zone info, bandwidth…?).
User’s video conferencing software provides an LDAP interface to the directory information user has set up. The result of a lookup can be used to initiate a conference connection (“click to connect”) and the software can use the configuration details in the directory to negotiate the connection.

9. Scenarios: Directory Services
More examples:
Added feature of user’s directory is that user can index video datasets or other objects that they wish to access during conference. Convenient interface permits them to organize folders, assign sharing access, etc.
User’s directory information is stored in a standard objectClass that enables the information to be discovered easily, promoting interoperability. User is not expected to know details of directory infrastructure. Directory transparently masks any distributed integration required for deployment, performance, or synchronization..

10. Others scenarios soon.. Voice/Video “call” scenarios:
Tyler Miller-Johnson, UNC
Data Collaboration scenarios:
Mary Trauner, Georgia Tech
Streaming/VOD scenarios:
Mairead Martin, UT

11. *A.K.A “Related Activities & Initiatives”
One Big Happy Mess*
I2 Middleware - Early Harvest/Adopters, MACE (eduPerson, DoDHE, Shibboleth)
Standards makers - ITU, IETF, DMTF, Others?
“Development Communities” - ViDe, TERENA, the I2 Commons, Federal PKI, CREN, PKI & ICS, CSG, Grid Community, Others?
*A.K.A “Related Activities & Initiatives”

12. Today’s Bonus: MFY Working Group Prayer
Interested in More?
Today’s Bonus: MFY Working Group Prayer
“May we be big enough to be inclusive yet small enough to get things done!”
For all interested - the Vidmid Web site:
To join the group, contact any vidmidder
Know someone else who ought to know about vidmid? Pass it along!