DoE99 review

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Global Platform for Rich Media Conferencing and
Collaboration
Philippe Galvez California Institute of Technology
Nov 6th, 2003
RedIRIS conference
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VRVS What it is ?

• The Virtual Rooms Videoconferencing System has
  been developed by Caltech since 1995 to provide a
  world wide videoconference service for education
  and research communities.
• VRVS is a realtime distributed system which
  provide a scalable communication infrastructure
  for large collaboration dispersed all over the
  world.
• Different technologies and protocols are
  supported (and mixed) and allow users to connect
  their preferred videoconference.
• Supports Mbone, H.323, SIP, QuickTime, Access
  Grid, JMF and MPEG2.
• The system is composed of 1 main server and
  several reflectors (network servers) spread
  around the world.

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VRVS Web Service Design

• Unified Web User Interface to schedule and
  join/leave a meeting independently of the
  application.
• Multi-platform Windows, Linux, MacOS and Unix
• Easy to use Everybody (from 4 to 77 years old)
  knows how to click on a web page today. Not true
  for running a VCR
• Virtual Room Concept, Scheduling Create a
  virtual space were people can exchange real-time
  information
• Join or Leave a Collaborative session anytime.
  Do not need to know in advance how many
  participants and booked ports capacity. Just
  announce the meeting and people will join from
  anywhere.
• Full Documentation and Tutorial
• Self service Dont need a technician or expert
  to organize and join a conference

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VRVS Reflector Implementation

• Avoids Duplication of Streams on a given Link
• Can be set to Unicast or Multicast mode or both
• Connection peer-to-peer with neighbors network
  servers. Connectionless (more reliable to network
  breaks)
• Enables Optimized Routing
• Enables Bandwidth Control
• Provide low latency communication
• Could be use for real-time interactivity or
  broadcast
• Provide elegant solution to cross firewall/NAT
• Remote Management Features.
• Compliant with IETF RTPv2 Protocol, ready for new
  applications.

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VRVS Model Implementation
VRVS Web User Interface
Mbone Tools (vic, vat/rat,..)
SIP
H.323
QuickTime Player
MPEG Minerva
Collaborative Applications
VRVS Reflectors (Unicast/Multicast)
QoS
Real Time Protocol (RTP/RTCP)
Network Layer (TCP/IP)
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VRVS Deployment and Usage
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VRVS Reflectors Deployment
78 Reflectors deployed worlwide
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VRVS Reflectors Deployment
78 reflectors Deployment World wide in 27
Different Countries
USA 27
Spain 5
Brazil 5
Switzerland 5
UK 3
France 3
Slovakia 3
Canada 2
Taiwan 2
Greece 2
Portugal 2
Israel 2
Japan 2
Pakistan 2
Italy 1
Finland 1
Chile 1
Poland 1
Venezuela 1
Hungary 1
China 1
Ireland 1
Russia 1
Czech Republic 1
Belgium 1
Romania 1
Germany 1
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VRVS registered users and current usageas of Nov
4th, 2003
6285 different Users Registered from 93 Countries
USA 1533
Spain 1007
Italy 429
Switzerland 387
France 343
Brazil 334
Germany 312
UK 249
Japan 118
Canada 118
Taiwan, Greece, Argentina, Russia, Slovakia,
etc
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Machines and OS

• VRVS support different
• Operating Systems
• according to the need
• and the demand of the
• final users
• 1st Windows
• 2nd Linux
• 3rd Macintosh
• 4th Other UNIX

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VRVS connection per communities
A community hosts a dedicated set of Virtual
Rooms (currently 10 communities)
Universe 90496
RedIRIS 34218
Astro 7413
Fusion 7982
Slovakia 3072
REUNA 854
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Some Examples
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VRVS on Mac OS X
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VRVS on Windows
KEK (JP)
Caltech (US)
RAL (UK)
Brazil
CERN (CH)
AMPATH (US)
Pakistan
SLAC (US)
Canada
AMPATH (US)
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Example 1 20 participantsBRAZIL (3 sites)
SWITZERLAND (CERN) USA (Caltech)
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Exemple 2 17 participantsJAPAN UK
SWITZERLAND BRAZIL USA (SLAC FERMILAB)
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Some Features
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Network and Security

• Possibility of tunneling (TCP or UDP) between
  reflector servers. All communications use only
  ONE port !
• Peer-to-peer design with high scalability and
  flexibility
• Solution for Firewall and NAT
• Perform some packet recovery
• Aggregate dynamically bandwidth for H.323
  multipoint conference between End Points to an
  overall maximum conference bandwidth
• Fix incompatibility between several H.323 end
  points
• Remotely mute/unmute video or/and audio
• Optimized network bandwidth utilization
• Real-time packet loss monitoring
• Support up to 16,000 Virtual Rooms (parallel
  meetings)

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Administration Interface

• Pure Java J2EE XML
• HTTPS/SSL secure web interface
• Monitoring reflectors and users in ongoing
  conference
• Full control on database

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Monalisa Real-Time Monitoring
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VRVS Virtual Setup
1 dual processors PC With special 4 output
graphic card 6400 x 4800 pixels Most powerful
VRVS End Node
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What next ?
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On-going and Future developments (1/2)

• Adaptation to emerging standards IPv6, SIP
• Develop advanced monitoring and tracking tools
  for ad-hoc conference as well as scheduled
  multi-site conferences
• Develop advanced network monitoring agents (based
  on Java and web services) to run on each network
  servers.
• Possibility to automatic rerouting between VRVS
  network servers to find a better network path.
• Improve Security (Firewall, NAT, Authentication,
  Encryption)
• Develop a pure peer-to-peer VRVS reflectors
  network to be able to handle thousands of
  parallel sessions

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On-going and Future developments (2/2)

• Wireless/Mobile Client Integration
• User Interface dedicated for small screens
• Integration of low end client
• Provide dedicated software clients (VVP, JMF)
• Transcode streams to lower bandwidth
• Support MPEG4
• Integration of new hardware/software for high-end
  interactivity.
• Developed a multipoint videoconferencing system
  based on MPEG4 compression standard.
• Developed a system using HDTV standard If
  affordable hardware devices available.

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VRVS, Caltech Team
Philippe Galvez Project Manager Pasadena (USA)
Gregory Denis Main Web Developer Geneva (Switzerland)
David Collados Administration Developer Geneva (Switzerland)
Kun Wei Reflector Main Developer Pasadena (USA)
Dave Adamczyk CGI, Java and SIP Developer Pasadena (USA)
Dennis Lattka System operation responsible Pasadena (USA)
Joao Correia Support Responsible Geneva (Switzerland)
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WWW.VRVS.ORG

• Contact_at_VRVS.org
• Support_at_VRVS.org

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Additional Slides
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Virtual Access Grid

• User can connect to either unicast or multicast
  videoconferencing with full supported features
• User can create his/her own virtual AG node and
  virtual venues and integrated into VRVS
• Different Video modes possible
• Voice switched default mode for H.323 clients.
  one video stream at a time
• Timer switched browse through all the video
  based on preset timer. One video stream at a
  time.
• Selected Streams Click among the video
  participants to view selected video streams (one
  or several streams available).
• All Streams

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VAG with Mbone Clients
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• Conclusion We believe that VRVS offers the
  following unique differentiators
• Usability VRVS web-based user interface is
  easy to use and allows almost any desktop of
  videoconference suite to connect to a VRVS
  virtual room conference with only few clicks. Its
  default client apps enable multi-standards audio,
  video and data collaboration.
• Scalability VRVS scales up with the needs for
  quality and volume more elegantly and beyond
  anything possible now.
• More simultaneous participants in a same virtual
  room
• More simultaneous virtual room conferences
• Wider range of video and data sharing quality

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• Flexibility VRVS allows inter-operation of
  collaborative communications between end points
  of various audio, video and data sharing
  capabilities as well as different types of
  connectivity.
• Efficiency VRVS server software makes efficient
  use of bandwidth by routing required information
  only to various nodes.
• Ubiquity VRVS ease-of-use and scalability
  unlocks the value of network-based collaboration
  tools and allows anyone, anywhere, anytime to
  improve their collaborative experience.
• Robustness VRVS is field tested on a large
  scale for a long period of time. It has
  demonstrated exceptional reliability and
  simplified its deployment and use beyond anything
  available today (except maybe POTS and email!)

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Web based interface

• VRVS provides a natural and intuitive interface
  to organize and manage your meetings.
• Several interfaces let you see in 1 shot all
  current conferences, let you book a new one in 3
  clicks.
• Several academic communities are handled by
  VRVS. Each one has its specific Virtual Rooms.
• VRVS manages multi international time zones in a
  transparent way.
• Its use do not require technical knowledge nor
  technician action.

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Connection Interface

• Connect / Disconnect the selected videoconference
  client
• Provide different video modes
• Allow CHAT and Private messages
• Can share your computer desktop
• Remote control of video cameras.

• co-browsing of web sites
• real time list of connected participants
• share computer desktop with other participants