Video streaming and conferencing is starting to pervade both
corporate intranets and the Internet. Although normally associated
with big companies, smaller, lower cost systems are now entering
service in the SME sector
Background
Video conferencing has been a long time coming of age. The Star
Trek generation that dreamed of perfect quality screens, with near
instantaneous transmission across great distances will be
disappointed for some years yet. However, the current crop of
devices is a breathtaking when compared to the earlier attempts.
The very first videoconference coincided with the birth of
television when, in 1928, John Logie Baird set-up a live broadcast
up between England and America. The monochrome, five-minute event
was subject to delay as the signal crossed the Atlantic, but
commentators of the day forecasted that the "moving picture
telephone" would be in every house by the end of the century. The
most spectacular use of video conferencing was probably in 1969
when the Apollo 11 mission first put humans on the lunar surface.
In terms of cost, it still the most expensive conferencing event
ever conceived.The pre-Internet information networks utilised by
large corporate entities in technology, engineering and
manufacturing took great pride in showing off video conferencing
suites. Unfortunately, these systems were notoriously unreliable
and proprietary in nature. Worse still, getting rival
manufacturers' systems to work alongside one another was almost
impossible. The performance was still abysmal and the cost of
bandwidth for video conferencing made it less attractive than
flying to an important meeting.The next major leap in VC technology
occurred in the early 80s, as both communication engineers and
academics applied the breakthroughs they had made in digital
compression, to audio and video transmission. Telecommunications
bodies such as ITU and the compression experts at MPEG formed a
number of international standards to allow dissimilar manufacturers
and products to work together, alleviating the problem of
incompatibility. The most common of these is the ITU H.320
standard, allowing users in different countries and with different
products to synchronise their VC kit in a pre-defined way that
offers a guaranteed level of basic services.The Internet opened the
floodgates to the mass market. Low cost cameras linked to new
streaming media technologies, like Realmedia and QuickTime,
empowered web users to use video for both business and leisure. The
cost of enabling video conferencing started to come down but this
new flood of low-cost Internet video, some are claiming, is
starting to affect the Web's overall performance.
The
marketThe video conferencing market is still evolving rapidly.
The market is generally split along business and consumer lines.
Although the consumer space potentially has a lot more sales, the
consumer level cameras and software are very similar in price and
performance and offer limited functionality and
performance.Generally, a consumer class VC package consists of a
1CCD digital camera and basic software. Video and audio is
converted into output packets suitable for transmission over the
Internet via IP. Many consumer VC packages claim a constant 25 fps
with radio quality sound. However, in reality, this is never
achieved. The average frame rate is closer 10-12 fps and that will
often drop down dramatically depending on Internet "weather"
conditions and line quality. Major manufacturers in the consumer
space include just about every scanner and digital camera
manufacturer, but often the units are re-badged Sony or Canon
products.The business space is clearer cut, divided between
PictureTel, Polycom and Vtel, with Sony starting to make inroads.
Although sales figures are hard to find, PictureTel is currently
leading the market in installed user bases. However, both Sony and
Polycom have leads in different market sectors and territories
outside of the US. The business-focused products tend to have more
robust and upgradable architectures, with dedicated connections to
leased lines services such as ISDN and E1/T1 fibre links.A good
example of a business video conferencing solution is the VTEL 755.
The unit is a floor standing, integrated solution with a remote
controlled camera and 35-inch. colour monitor. Connectivity is
provided by up to 6 combined 128kb ISDN channels or via a T1
connection. The system has integrated software to allow features
such as multimedia slide shows and whiteboard information running
concurrently with video conferencing. Because the system uses the
H320 standard, any compatible VC system can connect with it but
some of the more advanced multimedia features are dependent on the
VTEL software suite. The quality of both audio and video can be
scaled depending on bandwidth and user preference, but even on the
highest setting, the quality only reaches stunning when utilising a
full 768k link.
Applications of visual communicationsVideo
conferencing applications broadly fall into three categories:
education, collaboration and legal.Education is a great example of
VC technology use. Distance learning for languages or medical
diagnoses is being exploited all across the world, especially since
qualified trainers can therefore spend their time teaching instead
of travelling. Aso, with some systems, a time delay factor can be
added to allow preparation of subtitles or voice-overs for multiple
language support.Collaboration, whether in business or academic
fields, is another most popular VC application. Planning meetings,
press briefings, even hiring and firing can be improved via visual
systems. If an organisation requires the participation of a senior
manager, VC can provide a truly global meeting without lengthy
travel times.The use of VC in judicial or legal matters is a large
growth area, especially in the US. Prisoners on remand are
increasing attending court via VC links, while witnesses who live
great distances from a courtroom can give evidence via VC, even if
they reside outside of the country. Affidavits and wills can also
be conducted via video conferencing, with all statements considered
as evidence, even over an electronic link.The UK has its fair share
of major VC users. Imperial Tobacco, Coca-Cola and Independent
issuance all have major installations that cover both UK offices
and European outposts. Independent Insurance, for example, uses the
VC system for discussing presentations, working on electronic
documents and international meetings. One of the UK leading
authorities on VC is Rob Portwood. After eight years at Alcatel
managing video services for Northern Europe, Portwood founded
Videocall Ltd, specialists in visual technologies. As both an
integrator and consultant, he has strong views on the UK market.
"Video conferencing has often been kept behind a wall of jargon.
Traditionally, VC suites installed five years ago were the
preserves of huge multinationals and cost in excess of £50,000 a
piece. The market is now changing, especially as bandwidth is now
much cheaper and systems are starting to be produced in greater
numbers."Because the number of VC products sold is still relatively
small, sales figures tend to be highly guarded. Portwood estimates
that 60,000 systems were sold around the world last year. This
makes the VC market potentially worth between 500-700 million
pounds. Portwood also disputes the claims that video is "killing"
the Internet, saying: "Loss of bandwidth due to video is a common
misconception. Of the systems we integrate, over 95 per cent of our
customers are using dedicated lease line technology. Internally, on
modern switch networks, modern prioritisation techniques (802.1p)
stops video from compromising other more essential data
streams."
The futureThe future looks bright for VC. This
summer see the launch of the next generation video products using
advanced compression and streaming techniques, which claim
"broadcast quality". The arrival of metropolitan networks using DSL
and lower cost ISDN again offers the possibility of the videophone
for home users. For business intranets, the corporate web is the
next battleground for the VC vendors. Having video conferencing
(either one way or bi-directionally) straight from the desktop is
simplified by IP and the cost of implementing these solutions is
starting to come down. Although wide scale acceptance of VC is
still a while away, newer products now provide provision for future
IP transmission standard, within their firmware of their devices.
For a business wanting to exploit VC technology, the first step is
working out what benefits it brings to the day-to-day running of
your organisation. As one industry analyst said: "VC is to often
reduced to selling the sizzle without the sausage." VC can provide
a real benefit to most businesses, but without an application, it
is still just an expensive toy.
Will Garside