Video conferencing services

Video conferencing services
 Videoconferencingisaconductofvideoconferencebyasetof
telecommunicationtechnologieswhichallowtwoormorelocations
tocommunicatebysimultaneoustwowayvideoandaudio
transmissions.
 Itdiffersfromtheusualvideophonecallsandisdesignedtoserve
foraconferencei.e. amultiplelocationsratherthanindividuals.
 Itisanintermediateformofvideotelephonyfirstdeployed
commerciallyintheUnitedStatesbyAT andTcorporationduringthe
early1970s.
 Ithasmadesignificantinroadsinthebusinesseducationand
medicalfieldbecauseof the relativelylowcostandhighcapacity
broadbandtelecommunicationservicesandthepowerful
computingprocessors and videocompressingtechniques.
 Videoconferencingsystems hasevolved rapidlyduringthe1990s
frombeingvery expensiveproprietaryequipmentsoftwareand
networkrequirementstoastandardsbasedtechnologythatis
readilyavailabletothegeneralpublicatareasonablecost.
 Inthe2000sthevideotelephonyhasmadetoeveryhouseinthe
nookandcrannyvia Skype andvideochat.
 Likealllongdistancecommunicationtechnologiesbyreducingthe
needtotraveltobringpeopletogether,italsocontributesto
reductionincarbonemissionsandtherebyreductioninglobal
warming

Index
 Getting Started With Video Conferencing
 Components Of Vc
 IT Prerequisites
 End User’s Requirements
 Bridging For Multiparty Conferences
 mcu
 Gate keeping Services
 Management Services
 Scheduling Services
 Vbp
 Cma
 Dma
 Rss
 Vbp in detail…
 Vmc
 Mcu Management

Getting started with videoconferencing
 It provides the benefit of having face
to face meeting without leaving the
office.
 Reduces travel, usage of facilities and
recruitment costs.
 Establishes and enhances the team
collaboration and ability to connect
with geographically dispersed teams.
 Implementing visual communications
network requires to take steps for
ensuring the systems and apps
selected to meet the end user usability
requirements and the organization
must be prepared from a management
and IT perspective.
 IT considerations means installing end
points ,bridges, management software
as well as NAT Firewall Traversal and
recording and streaming solutions.
 Along with installing the above
mentioned components as per
requirements ensuring the network
has sufficient bandwidth to meet the
demands of users is also important.

Components of Vc
 End point devices for rooms and
individuals.
 Bridges for multiparty video calls.
 Solutions for network management,
gate keeping and scheduling.
 Nat firewall traversal for calling
people outside the network.
 Recording and streaming solutions.

IT pre-requisites
 Increase and manage bandwidth to ensure quality of experience for
every video call.
 Manage quality of service on the network.
 Determine if MPLS is needed on your network.
 Coordinate all elements of video conferencing networks, including
video endpoints, conference bridges , Nat firewall traversal to safely
conference with users outside the organization.
 Provision , deploy and manage the video conferencing elements. The
management tools must embrace the standards and allow for
integration with the existing communication infrastructure.
 Enforce security with using standards based encryption of audio ,
video , data streams that traverse firewalls.
 Ensure scalability as usage is likely to grow as employees become
familiar with the system.
 Make video on demand and / or streaming accessible for all
employees.

End user’s requirements
 The video conferencing solution is successful enough or not depends upon the
extent to which the users requirements are met, which are as follows:
 Ease of use : End users should not need to know IP addresses, E.164 numbers
or ISDN numbers. To find a room or person to call, users should simply be able
to access an enhanced search directory connected to the corporate LDAP
directory, making it as easy to find the intended party for video as it is for email
or IM.
 A variety of conferencing options : The video conferencing solution should offer
options that accommodate the needs of different types of users within your
organization. For example, your organization can incorporate immersive
telepresence for executives, desktop video conferencing for people in
small/remote offices, as well as traditional room-based video solutions.
 Presence capabilities :Presence capabilities allow end users to determine
whether a conference room or a contact’s personal video system is available to
receive a video call or if it is busy, offline, or in ―do not disturb‖ mode.
Presence dramatically adds to the usability of a real-time video conference.
 Video on demand : Scheduled video conferencing was once the norm, but more
and more organizations are moving to an ad-hoc or video on demand policy,
using scheduling only for critical ―white glove conferencing. Video on demand
makes it easier to leverage human resources, training and corporate
communications across the organization. It allows employees to access
important video communications when it is most convenient for them.
Reporting embedded in the management solution enables the organization to
easily track and record who has accessed each video.

End Point Devices
 Videoconferencing endpoints are standards-based terminals that provide real-
time two-way communications. The most popular standard used for video
conference today is H.323, which enables video conferencing over IP networks,
including the Internet. However, H.320, which uses ISDN lines for video calling,
continues to be a very popular standard in some countries. H.324 is a video
standard that was used with video phones in the recent past; however, recent
multi-purpose business media phones are based on SIP so the H.324 standard
has all but vanished from corporate video communications. Since most new
video network deployments employ H.323 endpoints and network equipment,
this white paper will focus on H.323 solutions. However, many solutions offer
the ability to dial over both ISDN and/or H.323 networks.
 To identify the User or H.323 endpoint to conference with, videoconferencing
systems use a Dial Plan to allocate a unique number to an H.323 endpoint. This
number is referred to as the H.323, E.164 or User Number. This H.323 User
Number is registered with a Gatekeeper, which in turn translates the User
Number into an IP address. An example is the phone extension in your office.
Internal users dial a four or five digit number while external callers dial a seven
or ten digit number .

Bridging for multiparty conferences
 Bridging is necessary when three or more people wish to
see and hear each other as part of a video conference.
The most common way to conduct a multipoint video
meeting is for each participating video system (meeting
room, desktop, etc.) to connect to a single bridging
device, called a multipoint conferencing unit or MCU.
 Video bridges are available either embedded within the
video endpoint itself or as a stand-alone hardware device.
While MCUs embedded within video endpoints can
provide a cost effective way to host high-quality
multipoint meetings, they support a limited number of
participants and provide a limited feature set.
 Many of Polycom’s endpoints include embedded MCU
functionality. However, when deploying ten or more
endpoints a centrally located bridging solution is highly
recommended .

Cma desktop
 The CMA Desktop is part of a powerful, management, scheduling and
gate keeping application, the Polycom Converged Management
Application(CMA).
 CMA allows you to centrally deploy, manage, and provision visual
communication tools across your organization from large conference
rooms to individual desktops.
 Polycom CMA Desktop comes free with the Polycom CMA and is a fully
standards-based video conferencing application that can be easily and
quickly installed on thousands of PC’s across the video network.
 The Polycom CMA Desktop speeds deployment and makes it easy to
locate contacts and resources through 2009 Polycom, Inc. All rights
reserved.
 Polycom and the Polycom logo design are registered trademarks of
Polycom, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective
owners. Information is subject to change without notice.
 integration with existing corporate directory services. Integrated
Presence-awareness and status icons enable users to instantly verify
contact and resource availability. An intuitive click-to-dial IM-style
interface allows easy and high quality point-to-point and multipoint
video interactions among users. A point-and-click interface makes it
easy for end users to share content with other users and, as a
standards-based application, it can join any multipoint video call or
communicate with any other H.323 endpoint on the network. .

Mcu or Rmx A multipoint control unit enables conferencing between three or more
endpoints. It consists of a mandatory multipoint controller (MC)and zero or
more multipoint processors (MP). Although the MCU is a separate logical unit it
may be combined into a terminal, gateway, or gatekeeper. The MCU is an
optional component of an H.323-enabled network.
 The multipoint controller provides a centralized location for multipoint call
setup. Call and control signaling are routed through the McCoy that endpoints
capabilities can be determined and communication parameters negotiated. A
MC may also be used in a point-to-point call which can later be extended into a
multipoint conference. Another useful job of the MC is to determine whether to
uncast or multicast the audio and video streams depending on the capability of
the underlying network and the topology of the multipoint conference. The
multipoint processor handles the mixing, switching, and processing of the
audio, video, and data streams among the conference endpoints.
 The MCU is required in a centralized multipoint conference where each terminal
establishes a point-to-point connection with the MCU. The MCU determines the
capabilities of each terminal and sends each a mixed media stream. In the
decentralized model of multipoint conferencing, a MC ensures communication
compatibility but the media streams are multicast and the mixing is performed
at each terminal.

Gate keeper
 A gatekeeper is a very useful, but optional, component of an H.323-enabled network.
Gatekeepers are needed to ensure reliable, commercially feasible communications.
 A gatekeeper is often referred to as the brain of the H.323 enabled network because of the
central management and control services it provides. When a gatekeeper exists all
endpoints (terminals, gateways, and MCUs) must be registered with it.
 Registered endpoints' control messages are routed through the gatekeeper. The gatekeeper
and the endpoints it administers form a management zone. A gatekeeper provides several
services to all endpoints in its zone. These services include [Trillium]:
 Address translation: A gatekeeper maintains a database for translation between aliases,
such as international phone numbers, and network addresses. Admission and access
control of endpoints: This control can be based on bandwidth availability, limitations on the
number of
 simultaneous H.323 calls, or the registration privileges of endpoints.
 Bandwidth management: Network administrators can manage bandwidth by specifying
limitations on the number of simultaneous calls and by limiting authorization of specific
terminals to place calls at specified times.
 Routing capability: A gatekeeper can route all calls originating or terminating in its zone.
This capability provides numerous advantages. First, accounting information of calls can be
maintained for billing and security purposes.
 Second, a gatekeeper can re-route a call to an appropriate gateway based on bandwidth
availability. Third, re-routing can be used to develop advanced services such as mobile
addressing, call forwarding, and voice mail diversion.

Management services
 Management services allow administrators to remotely
monitor, troubleshoot or upgrade endpoints. This
greatly simplifies an IT administrator’s job when there
are multiple sites, departments or locations that have
video conferencing systems. Additionally these
management services will allow administrators to
support remote or traveling users .

Scheduling services
 Many organizations mandate that video
conferencing only be used in a scheduled
environment. This approach is used mainly when
limited video conferencing rooms and resources
are available and demand is high, meaning that
people going into the room on an ad-hoc basis
would be disruptive to other employees.
 Scheduling plug- ins can be installed so that
users can perform scheduling using Microsoft
Outlook, Lotus Notes or an independent web
scheduler.
 Polycom solutions provide gate keeping,
management and scheduling services in a single
solution.

Nat Firewall Traversal
 NAT firewall traversal products make calling off the Intranet to
other users such as vendors, partners, colleagues, or
specialists (over the Internet) seamless for the end user yet
secure for the organization. NAT and Firewall Traversal devices
allow organizations use to video-enable their users, regardless
of location.
 Traditional IP communication for voice and data has largely
been secured through specially-built firewalls, but with video,
firewalls often block required ports and often mistranslate IP
addresses passed through in H.323 call signaling. The result of
these failures is dialing and ringing but no negotiation, or one-
way audio and video with little or no connection.
 NAT translation helps to modify IP addresses used in the
transfer of packets from one network to another and is helpful
for protecting devices from external exposure. NAT’s can also
free up or allow IP addresses to be re-used on a different
network without causing conflicts .

VBP
 Polycom’s NAT Firewall Traversal solution is:
 Video Border Proxy (VBP)—VBP allows all members of an
organization to video conference with anyone outside of
the network while protecting critical IP communication
components. Complying with the ITU-T H.460 standard,
VBP routes video and voice traffic via the shortest path
and supports 1Mbps up to 85 Mbps of traffic in any
combination of voice, video or data—depending on
product model. It protects H.323 gatekeepers and
multipoint conference units from network-based attacks
and eliminates security risks by providing a stateful
packet inspection firewall in combination with an
application layer gateway.
 The Polycom VBP (ST models) combined with the
Polycom CMA also provide a way for CMA Desktop users
to make and receive calls when not connected to the
corporate network and when VPN access is not available.

DMA
 The Polycom DMA system is a highly reliable and scalable
video collaboration infrastructure solution based on the
Polycom Proxias application server. It performs two
primary functions and can be deployed in three
configurations. The Polycom DMA system’s Conference
Manager uses advanced routing policies to distribute
voice and video calls among multiple media
servers(Multipoint Control Units, or MCUs), creating a
single virtual resource pool.
 This greatly simplifies video conferencing resource
management and uses MCU resources more efficiently.
 The Polycom DMA system integrates with your Microsoft
Active Directory, automating the task of provisioning
users for video conferencing.
 Combined with its advanced resource management, this
makes reservation less video conferencing on a large
scale feasible and efficient, reducing or eliminating the
need for conference scheduling.

CMA And Its Models
 This system allows users with basic of advanced
scheduler consent to schedule conferences from
their desktops.
 Using CMA system web schedulers interface,
schedulers can create persistent conferences in a
manner similar to their favorite calendar application.
 Single microprocessor CMA 4000 system supports
up to 400 concurrently registered endpoints and 240
concurrent calls. This is not available in redundant
operation.
 The dual microprocessor CMA 5000 supports 5000
concurrently registered endpoints and 1500
concurrently calls in direct mode and 3000
concurrent calls in routed mode. This is available in
redundant configuration .

Features and capabilities
 CMA desktop client is an easy to use video audio
conferencing that enables users to easily talk and
see the people they are having conference with.
 Automatic device provisioning is there for
dynamically managed CMA desktop clients
 Provision of scheduled device is their for standard
managed and legacy devices.
 For dynamically managed CMA desktop clients
automatic device soft updates are available.
 Provision is there for on demand conferencing using
either embedded or external MCU’s.
 Firewall managing capabilities that enable
videoconferencing across firewalls.

RSS
 The Polycom RSS 4000 system is a complete recording
and streaming server that allows you to record, live
stream, and archive video and telepresence calls.
 The Polycom RSS 4000 system supports the recording of
point-to-point and multipoint video conferences, including
H.239 content. It can record and archive up to 1080p, and
live stream calls up to 720p. The Polycom RSS 4000
system supports the multicast function and can perform
the one-to-many transmission of video streams.
 The system only needs to send the video streams once so
that multiple computers can simultaneously share live
streaming or recorded videos, so as to greatly reduce the
demand for transmitting network video streams and save
the network bandwidth.
 The Polycom RSS 4000 system supports the
simultaneous multicast of up to 20channels.

Vbp in detail….
 Polycom Video Border Proxy (VBP) ST Series solutions enable
your virtual workforce to benefit from seamless, secure, remote
access to video collaboration. Easy to use and manage, the ST
solutions provide access to every remote user within your
company domain who needs to securely collaborate. It also
delivers versatile networking and security solutions that help
you protect your communication investments.
 With Polycom Video Border Proxy (VBP) ST Series solutions,
you can:
 Accelerate your return on investment (ROI) from your existing
networks by easily extending telepresence and video to new
user groups
 Increase the quality of your communication with customers,
partners, and remote colleagues· Reduce the impact of
telepresence and video on the network, thanks to secure traffic
optimization
 Protect your existing communication investments through
support of all standards-based video endpoints, gatekeepers,
and multipoint conferencing platforms

VMC
 The VMC 1000 manages live and video-on-demand (VOD) content created by
Polycom RSS devices and manages video streams created by other devices and
uploaded to the VMC 1000.
 It provides scalable and reliable content access by means of streaming
protocols to end users across the entire enterprise.
 The VMC 1000 discovers new live and archived video calls recorded by RSS
devices by periodically polling all registered servers for a list of live and
archived calls.
 After each request, the VMC 1000 compares the current list with a list obtained
by the previous request and discovers the difference between the two states
(i.e. which live conferences and recorded files were added).
 The VMC 1000 uses this information to create assets (Resource Bin items) and
published events (Programs) to be accessed by end users (Content Owners,
Site Administrators, and Viewers).
 The VMC 1000 uses different time frames to query for live and recorded content
- for example, it could query every 10 seconds for new live streams and every 60
seconds for new recorded files. Once a live stream from the RSS device is
discovered, it is connected to an entry point (publishing point) on a standard
Windows Media Server 9. The VMC 1000 only requires a single stream to be
pulled from a recording and streaming server to enable hundreds of streams.

RMX Management The mcu management pane enables a user to understand all types of
conferences and its parameters such as bit rate, layout and encryption.
Conference Profiles are saved to Conference Templates along with all
participant parameters, including their Personal Layout and Video
Forcing settings, enabling administrators and operators to create,
save, schedule and activate identical conferences. Conference
Templates enable administrators and operators to create, save,
schedule and activate identical conferences.
 A Conference Template:
 Saves the conference Profile.
 Saves all participant parameters including their Personal Layout and
Video Forcing settings.
 Simplifies the setting up telepresence conferences where precise
participant layout and video forcing settings are crucial.

SomeparametersofRMXmanagerpane
 Bit Rate - The transfer rate of video and audio streams. The higher the bit rate, the
betterthevideoquality.
 Audio Algorithm - The audio compression algorithm determines the quality of the
conference audio. Video protocol, video format, frame rate, annexes, and interlaced
videomode-Theseparametersdefinethequalityofthevideoimages.
 Lost Packet Recovery (LPR) - LPR creates additional packets that contain recovery
informationusedtoreconstructpacketsthatarelostduringtransmission.
 Video Clarity - Video Clarity feature applies video enhancing algorithms to incoming
videostreamsofresolutionsuptoandincludingSD.
 Standard Definition (SD) - A high quality video protocol which uses the H.264 video
algorithm. It enables HD compliant endpoints to connect to Continuous Presence
conferencesatresolutionsof 720X576pixelsfor PALsystems and720X480pixels for
NTSCsystems.Bitrates
 High Definition (HD) – HD is an ultra-high quality video resolution. Depending on the
RMX’s Card Configuration mode, compliant endpoints are able to connect to
conferences at resolutions ranging from 720p (1280 x 720 pixels) to 1080p (1920 x
1080 pixels) (in MPM+ Mode) at bit rates ranging from 1024 Kbps to 4 Mbps (6 Mbps
withHDVSW).ForSDrangefrom256Kbpsto2mbps.

Supplemental conferencing features
 H.239 – Allows compliant endpoints to transmit and receive two simultaneous streams of
conference data to enable content sharing. H.239 is also supported in cascading
conferences. Both H.263 and H.264 Content sharing protocols are supported. If all
endpoints connected to the conference have H.264 capability, Content is shared using
H.264, and otherwise Content is shared using H.263.
 Lecture Mode – The lecturer is seen by all participants in full screen while the lecturer views
all conference participants in the selected video layout.
 Presentation Mode – When the current speaker’s speech exceeds a predefined time (30
seconds), the conference layout automatically changes to full screen, displaying the current
speaker as the conference lecturer on all the participants’ endpoints.
 During this time the speaker’s endpoint displays the previous conference layout. When
another participant starts talking, the Presentation Mode is cancelled and the conference
returns to its predefined video layout.
 Presentation mode is available with Auto Layout and Same Layout. If the speaker in a video
conference is an Audio Only participant, the Presentation Mode is disabled for that
participant.
 Video forcing works in the same way as in Lecture Mode when Presentation Mode is
activated, that is, forcing is only enabled at the conference level, and it only applies to the
video layout viewed by the lecturer.
 Telepresence Mode - enables the connection of numerous high definition telepresence
rooms and of different models (such as TPX and RPX) into one conference maintaining the
telepresence experience. This mode is enabled by a special license.
 Encryption – Used to enhance media security at conference and participant levels
 Conference Recording - The RMX enables audio and video recording of conferences using
Polycom RSS 2000 recording system.

Video Layout Options
 When there is a change of speaker in a Continuous
Presence conference, the transition is set by default to fade
in the current speaker while fading out the previous
speaker. To make this transition visually pleasant, fading in
the current speaker while fading out the previous speaker is
done over a period of 500 milliseconds. The Fade In / Fade
Out feature can be disabled by adding a new flag to the
System Configuration.
 Further the skins tab is selected to modify the background
and frames.
 In the figure the classic view is selected in which the first
two options the frames fill screen with their borders
touching. When telepresence mode is enabled then the
skin options are disabled as the system uses the black
background and frames and speaker indicators are
disabled.

Profile Properties
 Conference IVR service: This option is set by default to change it we can choose
from other conference IVR service.
 Conference requires a chairperson: Select this option to allow the conference to
start only when the chairperson connects to the conference and to automatically
terminate the conference when the chairperson exits. Participants who connect
to the conference before the chairperson are placed on Hold and hear
background music. Once the conference is activated, the participants are
automatically connected to the conference.
 When the check box is cleared, the conference starts when the first participant
connects to it and ends at the predefined time or according to the Auto Terminate
rules when enabled.
 In order to keep a record of the conference we have parameter called Conference
profile recording as per which we can record the conference in the following
manner:
 Start recording: In this option we have an immediately recording option
conference recording is automatically started upon connection of the first
participant.
 Upon Request – the operator or chairperson must initiate the recording
(manual).
 Audio only : Select this option to record only the audio channel of the conference

Meeting Rooms
 A Meeting Room is a conference saved on the MCU in passive
mode, without using any of the system resources. A Meeting
Room is automatically activated when the first participant dials
into it. Meeting Rooms can be activated as many times as
required. Once activated, a Meeting Room functions as any
ongoing conference. All Meeting Rooms are based on a Profile.
A maximum of 1000 Meeting Rooms can be defined in the
system. Meeting rooms are listed in the meeting room list pane:
Meeting Rooms are listed in the Meeting Room list pane. To list
Meeting Rooms: In the RMX Management pane, in the
Frequently Used list, clicks the Meeting Rooms button . The
Meeting Rooms List is displayed. An active Meeting Room
becomes an ongoing conference and is monitored in the same
way as any other conference.

Entry Queue
 An Entry Queue (EQ) is a special routing lobby to access conferences. Participants connect to a
single-dial lobby and are routed to their destination conference according to the Conference ID
they enter.
 The Entry Queue remains in a passive state when there are no callers in the queue (in between
connections) and is automatically activated once a caller dials its dial-in number.
 The connection of ISDN/PSTN participants to conferences is enabled only via Entry Queues to
which an ISDN/PSTN dial-in number is assigned .A maximum of 40 Entry Queues can be defined in
the system.
 The parameters (bit rate and video properties) with which the participants connect to the Entry
Queue and later to their destination conference are defined in the Conference Profile that is
assigned to the Entry Queue. For example, if the Profile Bit Rate is set to 384 Kbps, all endpoints
connect to the Entry Queue and later to their destination conference using this bit rate even if they
are capable of connecting at higher bit rates.
 An Entry Queue IVR Service must be assigned to the Entry Queue to enable the voice prompts
guiding the participants through the connection process.
 The Entry Queue IVR Service also includes a video slide that is displayed to the participants while
staying in the Entry Queue (during their connection process).
 Different Entry Queues can be created to accommodate different conferencing parameters (by
assigning different Profiles) and prompts in different languages (by assigning different Entry
Queue IVR Services. The
 Entry Queue can also be used for Ad Hoc conferencing. If the Ad Hoc option is enabled for the
Entry Queue, when the participant enters the target conference ID the system checks whether a
conference with that ID is already running on the MCU.
 If not, the system automatically creates a new ongoing conference with that ID. An Entry Queue
can be designated as Transit Entry Queue to which calls with dial strings containing incomplete or
incorrect conference routing information are transferred.

Conclusion
 The growing demand of video conferencing and the benefits it offers in enhancing the
growth of a particular organization is endless. Videoconferencing has enabled individuals in
distant locations to participate in meetings on short notice, with time and money savings.
 Technology such as VoIP can be used in conjunction with desktop videoconferencing to
enable low-cost face-to-face business meetings without leaving the desk, especially for
businesses. The technology is also used for telecommuting, in which employees work from
home.
 Videoconferencing is also currently being introduced on online networking websites, in
order to help businesses form profitable relationships quickly and efficiently without
leaving their place of work. This has been leveraged by banks to connect busy banking
professionals with customers in various locations using video banking technology.
 Videoconferencing on hand-held mobile devices (mobile collaboration technology) is being
used in industries such as manufacVideoconferencing on hand-held mobile devices (mobile
collaboration technology) is being used in industries such as manufacturing, energy,
healthcare, insurance, government and public safety.
 Live, visual interaction removes traditional restrictions of distance and time, often in
locations previously unreachable, such as a manufacturing plant floor a continent away.
Consequently, personal videoconferencing systems based on a webcam, personal
computer system, software compression and broadband Internet connectivity have become
affordable to the general public

Video conferencing services

More Related Content

What's hot (20)

Viewers also liked (20)

Similar to Video conferencing services (20)

More from Smriti Tikoo (18)

Recently uploaded (20)

Video conferencing services