Facts, Features, Tools and Trends in Collaboration and Communication

DESY Computing Seminar 5. November 2012

Reinhard Eisberg, DESY-IT

Overview:

• Technical Terms, Standards, Protocols

• Milestones in Development

• Utilisation of Video Conferencing – in General / at DESY

• Evolution VRVS – EVO – SeeVogh

• Vidyo at CERN

• Market Review on Video Conferencing Solutions

• DFN and ESNET Video Conference Services

• Summary

Technical Terms:

• Protocols: H.320, H.323, SIP

• Infrastructure : Gateways, Gatekeepers, MCUs, Registrars, CUCM

• Codecs (coding/decoding):

– Video H.261, H.263, H.264 AVC, H.264 SVC, H.265 …

– Audio a-law, μ-law, G711, G723, PCM, MP3, Speex …

Video Conference Protocols - Standards:

• Standardization organisations:

• ITU – International Telecommunication Union

• IETF – International Engeneering Task Force

• H.320 – ITU ISDN

• H.323 – ITU Voice and Video over IP

• H.239 – ITU Presentation

• SIP - IETF VoIP, Voice and Video over IP

• Skype proprietary protocol for audio/video

H.323 Protocol

• Standard of the International Telecommunication Union ITU (1996)

• Protocol for Transmission of Voice and Video over IP

• responsible for Connection estabishment and Communication among Codecs, Gatekeepers, Gateways and MCUs (Multipoint Control Units)

• based on hierarchical International Network of Gatekeepers and a

Global Dialing Scheme (GDS) – E164 Number: International Prefix – Area Code – Institution –

Device Extension, e.g. DFN: +49 100 979 xxxxxx or ESNET: +11 349 MCU-ID Conf-ID

H.323 Protocol

• H.323 dial-up:

• Point-to-Point dialing the IP address

• E164 Number of the Device or an MCU Conference-ID

– All Devices must be registered to a Gatekeeper

• H.323 Annex O URI Dialing:

– Dial-up without Gatekeeper Registration

– Syntax is Vendor-specific

– Lifesize, Polycom: mcu.vc.dfn.de##E164

» CISCO/Tandberg, Mirial: E164@mcu.vc.dfn.de

» Sony: mcu.vc.dfn.de#E164

SIP

• Session Initiation Protocol:

– Standard Protocol for VoIP World

– developed by Internet Engineering Task Force IETF (1996)

– In the meantime extended to Video (e.g. Tandberg MOVI / Cisco Jabber Video for Telepresence …)

– therefore alternative Solution to H.323

– Naming Convention for SIP Addresses is Email-like: Name@Organisation

Infrastructure

• Gateways – H.323 - ISDN, – H.323 – Telephone

• Gatekeepers – provide Services to Terminals, Gateways and MCUs – Address Resolution, Endpoint Registration, Admission Control, User Authentication

• MCUs – Conference Bridges – Allow mixing and Switching of Video – Multipoint Data Collaboration

• Registrars – SIP Component - accepts User Registrations – provide Location Service

• CUCM – CISCO Unified Call Manager – Call Processing System for VoIP Networks – Interface between SIP and H.323 World

Video Codecs

• H.261 – MPEG-1

– 1984 Developed for ISDN Videoconferencing

• H.263 – MPEG-4

– 1995 replacement of H.261, still used for YouTube, Google Video

• H.264 – MPEG-4

– AVC – Advanced Video Coding – Standard for Blue-ray and HDTV (2004)

– SVC – Scalable Video Coding – extension of AVC, fault tolerant (2007)

25 Years of Video Conferencing Milestones in Development

• 1986 – ISDN Video Conferencing (H.320)

• 1996 – IP Video Conferencing (H.323)

• 2003 – Foundation of Skype

• 2004 – Proposal for H.264/MPEG-4 SVC Video Standard

• 2005 – Launch of HD / Foundation Vidyo

• 2006 – CISCO Telepresence

• 2007 – Aproval of the H.264/MPEG-4 SVC Video Standard

• 2010 – Aquisition of Tandberg by CISCO

• 2011 – Aquisition of Skype by Microsoft

Scenarios of Usage:

in General: • Distance- / e-Learning in University Environment

• Telemedicine

• Customer Support

• Job Interviews

at DESY:

• Group meetings

• Live Broadcast of Meetings with back channel

• Board of Directors Meetings, DESY PT, BMBF

• Job Interviews

Groups using Videoconferencing at DESY Nutzer H.323 EVO VIDYO andere

ALPS x

LHC ATLAS x

LHC CMS x (x)

DIR x

IT x x

ILC x

FLA x

FLC x

H1 x

HERMES x

HASYLAB

M-Bereich x

OLYMPUS x

PT x

Theorie

x

ZEUS x

H.323 Infrastructure at DESY Hamburg

Room Hörsaal SR1b 2b 313

BAH SR2

BAH 304

30b 459

24 200

CMS CMS SR

ATLAS

Hardware 1 1 1 1 1 3 3 3 2 3

Software

Room XFEL AER 19-21

SR1 SR2 SR3 SR3a SR4a SR4b SR5 SR7 BAH SR1

Hardware 2

Software 2 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 1

Room 66 13

2b 005

Gäste Speiseraum

25b 235

28c SR

49 108

O1 435

DIR DIR FH

GD

Hardware 3 3 3

Software 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

14 Video Conference Codecs - Tandberg MXP (1) Tandberg Edge95 (2) Tandberg C20 (3)

16 Software Clients - Polycom PVX (1) Polycom Telepresence m100 (2)

H.323 Infrastructure at DESY Zeuthen

Room 2R09 PITZ 1K03

ATLAS 2L25

Betriebsrat 1L04

SR1 3H01

SR4 4L03

SR6 1H102

Hardware 2 3 3 1 3 3

Software

6 Video Conference Codecs - Tandberg MXP (1) Tandberg Edge95 (2) Tandberg C20 (3)

• Network of redundant PANDA Servers – tunnelled Multicast Backbone Network

• Multipoint Conferences in Virtual Rooms

• Koala Client - Java Application - independent of Operating System

• Communication through Java Applets

• Audio, Video, Presentation through VIEVO Application (OpenGL)

• Gateway Functionality for H.323, SIP and Phone

EVO Communities and permanent Virtual Rooms for DESY Statistics period: April 12th. 2011 – July 12th 2011

Communities (6) DESY H1 ZEUS Terascale XFEL HERMES

Permanent Rooms (12) 5 1 1 4 1 -

Registered Users (1039) 359 149 229 318 42 142

Meetings per Month (38) 10 4 8 2 8 6

Meeting Duration (Hrs/Month) (582) 173 72 94 89 37 117

Phonebridge (Hrs/Month) (18,6) 6 0,2 2,2 4,5 2,2 3,5

Skype Gtwy (Hrs/Month) (5,3) 2 0 0 0 0 3,3

Panda Servers and Phonebridge Node for DESY

Usage Hrs/Month %

LHC (Atlas, CMS, LHCb, Alice) 790 57

DESY (H1, ZEUS, HERMES, Terascale, XFEL) 582 43

Total 1372

VRVS EVO SeeVogh

January 1997

June 2007

2012/13

January 2009

October 2011

developed by Caltech/CERN with exclusive Funding by US DoE

VRVS becomes EVO Complete Redesign

2008 Reduction of the DOE Funding

Shutdown of DoE Funding

Utilization of Vidyo becomes mandatory for CERN End of EVO

Commercial Product based on EVO Technology

• Product of Evogh, Inc. Pasadena

• since the Internet2 Spring Member Meeting 2012

part of the Internet2 Net+ Cloud Services Partnership

• 2 fold Service-Package:

– SeeVogh Research Network

– SeeVogh Hybrid Cloud Video Collaboration Service

• makes Use of existing EVO Network Infrastructure (Pandas, Phonebridge …)

• Transition EVO – SeeVogh – Timeframe: – SeeVogh Hybrid Cloud Service available as Beta version since spring

2012 – SeeVogh Research Network starting in Summer 2012 ready use for

interested Communities free of charge until end of 2012 – charged service starting from January 2013

– link to SeeVogh Research Network: http://research.seevogh.com/ – link to Hybrid Cloud Service: https://seevogh.com

• Foundation: 2005

• Client Server System

• + Hardware Codecs

• H.264 / MPEG-4 SVC Video Standard (Extension of the H.264 AVC Standard – developed at Fraunhofer/Heinrich Hertz Institute) – fault-tolerant with respect to bandwidth

– Video rendering tailored to display device (Mobile / HD Codec)

• provides Point-to-Point and Multipoint-Conferences

• Large-Scale – Top Argument for CERN decision

• Operating Systems: Windows, Mac, Linux, IOS, Android

• Minimum Requirement: Portal Server, Router + Client Licenses

• Optional: Gateways for H.323, Phone and Streaming/Recording

• since October 2011:

• Official Video Conference Tool at CERN for the LHC groups, (CMS starting early in 2013)

• Completely replaces EVO

• Booking and Moderation of Vidyo Meetings only with CERN Vidyo Account in CERN INDICO

• Registration for CERN Vidyo Accounts requires a valid CERN User Account

• each registered Vidyo User has his own Virtual Room for Personal Meetings

• Participating in Vidyo Meetings as “Guest” is possible

Connect to CERN Vidyo Meetings

• Public Meetings: CERN INDICO provides Link to the Vidyo Meeting otherwise Link can be sent by Email

• Personal Meetings: in own Virtual Rooms – Host invites Guests

• CERN Policy : prefered to call Participants rather than let them dial into a Vidyo Meeting by H.323:

– dialstring: 3 VidyoMeetingExtension*PIN @vidyogw1.cern.ch

Connecting to CERN Vidyo Meeting by Phone:

• PhoneBridgeNummer VidyoMeetingExtension #

• PhoneBridge:

• Genf (CH) +41 225330322

• US (Toll-free) +1 8665777460

• London (UK) +442030510622

• Prag (CZ) +420228880755

• Madrid (SP) +34911233708

• Tokyo (JP) +81345790501

• Hamburg (DE) ???

• CERN Vidyoportal: http://vidyoportal.cern.ch

Video Conferencing - Hardware/Software

• H.323/SIP Hardware – Devices

• Stand-alone Software Clients

• Client Server Solutions

• Cloud Service

Videoconferencing - Hardware-codecs

Hardware based on H.323/SIP

Provider:

– CISCO Tandberg

– Polycom

– Lifesize (Logitech)

– Radvision

– Vidyo

– Sony

– …

Software Clients

• Standalone Clients: – Polycom PVX / Telepresence m100 (Windows only) H.323, SIP -

comercial

– Mirial (Lifesize) Softphone (Windows, Mac OSX) H.323, SIP – comercial

– Xmeeting (Mac OSX) H.323, SIP – free

– …

Client – Server Solutions:

• requires Server Hardware on Site

• CISCO Jabber Video for Telepresence (formerly known as Tandberg Movi)

• Polycom CMA Desktop

• Adobe Connect

• Radvision Skopia Desktop

• LifeSize ClearSea (formerly known as Mirial ClearSea)

Cloud Services (VCaaS)

• Server resides at Provider Site

• registration required

• CISCO Jabber Video for Telepresence (SIP) free

• LifeSize ClearSea in the Cloud (H.323, SIP) 5 minutes free, otherwise comercial

• VideoMeet – Bluejeans Network/Deutsche Telekom (H.323, SIP, Skype, GoogeTalk) comercial

• Vsee.com, GotoMeeting (no Standardprotocol) free

• Zoom.us free

• …

DFN Video Conference Service:

• MCU Service: • 5 clustered HD-MCUs - Type CODIAN 4520

• 160 Full-HD Video Calls + 160 Audio Calls in parallel

• Conference-IDs obtainable at the DFN Website

• https://www.vc.dfn.de/konferenzen/start.html

• Each participant must have access to a H.323 Codec or Software Client

Mixed Video- und Phone Conferences using the DFN Service:

for Public Rooms at DESY permanent DFN Conference-IDs have been reserved

published on http://meetingservice.desy.de

Video-dialin with: +49 100 979 followed by the Conference-ID

dialin by Phone: +49 30 200 979 followed by the Conference-ID

all Participants have to dial the same number(s)

Webconferece Service at DFN

• DFN operates Cluster out of 3 Adobe Connect Servers

• 1200 parallel Webconferences

• Audio and Video (Flash)

• Presentation and Desktop Sharing

• Chat, Hand Raising

• Registration at DFN required

• participating in a MCU Conference possible, only Audio is sent to the MCU, Video can be received

• link to the DFN Web Conference Service: http://webconf.vc.dfn.de

ESNET videoconference service

• ESNET – Energy Sciences Network • aside Internet2 another Network Provider in US

• Location: Berkeley

• MCU Service with 2 Codian 8000 MSE Racks

• Location: Berkeley and Argonne 1xSD + 1xHD each

• Capacity: 2x 40 SD Video Ports each + 2x 40 HD Video Ports each

• Ad-Hoc Service: – dialin with prefix 0011349 followed by the MCU-ID followed

by the conference-ID

– MCU-IDs 75 and 85 for HD

– MCU-IDs 78 and 88 for SD

– The conference –ID is a 4-5 digits number of own choice

– can be used for DESY for Connections to US Partner Instituts

Skype

• founded in 2003 by Niklas Zennström (Sweden) and his Partner Janus Friis (Denmark)

• Proposed Product Name: Sky Peer-to-Peer Skype

• can be used free of charge for Point-to-Point Connections – Audio and Video (up to HD)

• Clients availabe for all known Operating Systems incl. Smartphones and Tablets

• Video Calls to the Public Telephone Network and Multipoint Calls are liable to Charges

• 2011 aquired by Microsoft

• 633 Million registered Users until 2011

Skype

• Skype can be seen as videoconference facility on the consumer market

• Skype is controversial

• Points of criticism:

• proprietary protocoll - cannot readily be connected to the rest of the video conference scene

• utilization of someone else‘s resources like excessive usage of bandwidth, security aspects

• encryption

• Years ago CERN has banned SKYPE from the campus

• In the meantime CERN is supporting Skype again (Vidyo-Skype audio gateway)

• since the aquisition by Microsoft progress in technical development:

• Skype apps on SMART TV (Samsung and Panasonic)

• Logitech Network Camera with Skype integration

Summary

• Video Conference Scene has changed much in the past 5 Years:

• Several spectacular Aquisitions

• Improved Video Quality since Introduction of High Definition Video

• H.264 SVC Video Standard is established

• H.265 is coming up (Anouncement of Vidyo)

• Trend towards Webconferencing and Cloud Service

• Integration of Mobiles – Smart Phones, Tablets

February 15, 2007 Source: S. Cisko - RCWG Update - ESCC 38

? How to keep world class experiments communicating

without adequate support and funding for collaboration resources.

??? questions ???