Internet Phone and Video Conferencing

1
Internet Phone and Video Conferencing

• Provide a mechanism to do audio only chat
  (Internet Phone) or Audio/Video chat (Video
  Conferencing)
• Why would you want to talk using an Internet
  Phone as opposed to a real phone?
• Cost typically free, why?
• Convenience
• Possibility of video
• Ability to use other applications with the person
  you are talking to at the same time
• Anonymous chat with people you may not know at
  all
• For business, the possibility of reduced travel
  costs

2
Potential Problems

• The initial Internet Phone products all used
  proprietary technology. To call someone they had
  to use the same product that you were using.
• How would that work with regular phone calls?
• Today a standard called H.323 has emerged that
  allows you to use any H.323 software to call
  anyone else with H.323 software or to talk to
  H.323 compliant hardware
• Quality is an issue. Internet bandwidth is often
  limited, and that bandwidth is not guaranteed.
  The quality of the audio or video will vary with
  the amount of bandwidth available at any point in
  time.
• Many companies that do video conferencing for
  business purposes still setup point-to-point ISDN
  connections for conferencing as a result
• Most companies that do video conferencing also
  utilize higher end desktop cameras as opposed to
  consumer webcams. They also frequently use
  specially designed conference rooms with robotic
  cameras that follow the people that are talking

3
Additional Obstacles

• In business applications, room based solutions
  not completely satisfactory
• If you have video of a room, it is hard to see in
  great detail each person in the room which is
  probably why you want to video conference in the
  first place
• For consumers, initial applications you were
  limited to talking to others that also had a
  computer and Phone/Audio Conferencing software
  installed. Now there are products like
  Net2Phone that allow you to talk to people that
  have regular phones only for a per minute fee
  (2-3 cents/min). On expensive international
  calls this can result in significant saving
• Locating people to talk to can be a problem.
  There is no directory like there is with
  traditional phones. Computers need to know the
  IP address of who you want to connect to, how do
  you know that especially when so many machines
  use DHCP to get their address?Several
  solutions to this problem have been tried, we
  will look at them later

4
Conferencing Applications

• Despite these obstacles, there is tremendous
  momentum behind using this technology, so much so
  that some of the traditional phone companies have
  been quite concerned.
• First popular desktop-based Internet application
  for video conferencing was a product called
  CUSeeMe
• Developed at Cornell in the early 90s, initially
  Mac only but later ported to the PC. Initially
  just black and white
• Software was later turned over to White Pine
  software for commercial development

5
CUSeeMe

• Designed to support multiple users in a
  conference concurrently
• Each user appeared in a TINY window (1 inch by 1
  inch)!
• Frame rate was VERY low 1 or 2 frames a second
  was considered good, 1 frame every 10 seconds was
  typical!
• No audio initially, you had a text chat to go
  along with the video
• Used the concept of reflectors
• These were servers running software that allows
  the video/audio from each person to be sent to
  all
• To join a conference you need to know the
  reflectors address and perhaps something called a
  conference IDSince one server might have
  multiple conferences at the same time, need to
  identify both
• Could also connect 11 to another person without
  a reflector if you knew their IP address

6
Microsoft NetMeeting

• Designed primarily for 11 audio and video
  conferencing
• Initially free with Internet Explorer, Windows
  98/00/NT but in XP it is there but hidden (as the
  functionality has been moved into Messenger)
• Allowed you to not only talk and see video, but
  also to share a whiteboard, share applications,
  text chat etc.
• Initially used Internet Locator servers to help
  you find someone you wanted to talk to

7
Things to note.

• Recall this problem of calling someone
• How do you do that without a directory and
• In an environment where addresses change?
• MS created Internet Locator Servers and setup
  several by default in NetMeeting. You were
  expected to open that directory, select a name
  from the list and call them, but
• How well do you think that scales?
• Do you really want to see a list of everyone that
  you have to scroll through before you can
  connect?
• How are people listed in the Directory to begin
  with?

8
Problems with ILS Servers

• Many people that were using NetMeeting were using
  it for adult activities. So off-color
  names/words were appearing in the directory.
• Microsoft tied to setup adult ILS servers and
  family servers but it didnt work.
• So many people were trying to use these servers
  that they were overloaded, so it was hard to get
  listed in the directory so know one could find
  you unless they knew your IP address
• In later versions of NetMeeting MS removed their
  ILS servers and make you use a Web based search
  mechanism
• Could also use your organizations own ILS server
  if you preferred and they set one up for you

9
Integration with Instant Messaging

• The solution that Microsoft adopted was to
  abandon the idea of NetMeeting as a separate
  application, and instead add that functionality
  to their Instant Messaging Client
• IM already has a provision for a contact or buddy
  list so the directory problem is potentially
  solved
• With the buddy list you had control over who you
  could talk, not surprise calls from unwelcome
  folks
• IM already did text chat, adding sound and video
  is just an extension to the same idea
• As a result today we dont see NetMeeting as a
  separate application any longer it has been
  integrated in Windows and MSN Messenger
• Other IM products such as Yahoo Messenger also
  supporting video conferencing, this isnt unique
  to Microsoft

10
Hosted Video Conferencing and Meetings

• Pay as you go services that charge by the minute,
  or by the number of users in the conference
• Allow you to do large scale conferencing with
  minimal investment in infrastructure on your end
• May however get expensive as your use increases
• Often are completely web based, you dont have to
  install a separate video conferencing application
  to participate
• May also have features for a text chat, to share
  PowerPoint slides live, and audience
  participation (so people listening in real time
  can ask questions)
• May allow you to archive the live conference for
  playback later

11
Video Conferencing Conclusion

• Lots of options today for both individual and
  business applications
• Use is growing rapidly, features improving,
  quality getting better
• It may be the next best thing to being there we
  have so far, but far from perfect