Keynote presentation to TENET hosted gathering of key decision makers in South African higher education institutions and research organisations, as well as other stakeholders

1. Rob
Bristow,
NREN
Exchange
Fellow,
TENET
4th
Nov
2014
Video-conferencing for higher education and research

2. Introductions
» Who
am
I?
› On
secondment
from
Jisc
in
the
UK
for
two
years
– Part
of
Jisc
Futures
division
– Worked
at
Jisc
on
video-­‐conferencing
projects
› What
is
Jisc?
– UK
NREN
parent
company
– Janet
is
the
TENET
equivalent
–
runs
national
video-­‐
conferencing
service
– Jisc
runs
services
and
development
programmes
in
all
areas
of
technology
and
tertiary
education
› What
do
I/Jisc
know
about
video-­‐conferencing
and
education?
– Quite
a
lot!

3. Why
are
we
here?
» It
is
clear
that
there
is
an
unmet
need
aroundvideo-­‐conferencing
» TENET
ran
PoC
with
hosted
VMRs
› Take
up
was
patchy
(for
a
number
of
reasons)
› In
the
end,
being
able
to
connect
H.323
rooms
to
each
other
was
not
that
useful
› Expensive
and
not
that
flexible
» What
else
can
we
do?
» Is
Adobe
Connect
the
answer?
» Should
there
be
a
central
“bridge”?
4th
Nov
2014
TENET
3

4. Responses
to
questionnaires
» Really
good
response
rate
-­‐
So
Thank
you!
» Responses
show
desire
for:
› Interoperability
› Understanding
of
the
mixed
nature
of
what
is
in
place
› Desire
for
some
sort
of
central
bridging
facility
» Demand
for
more
bandwidth
» H.323/SIP,
Lync
and
Skype
predominate
as
deployed
technologies
» Streaming
and
wider
delivery
seen
as
important
by
some
4th
Nov
2014
TENET
4

7. What
is
Video
enabled
collaboration?
Teliris
Express
Telepresence
conference
» Anything
that
involves
collaboration
and
video
(but
may
also
include
other
things)
» From
Telepresence
to
the
desktop
» Room-­‐based
conferencing
» Desktop
conferencing
» Web
conferencing
» These
things
are
now
converging
–
mobile
is
here
» The
goal
is
a
system
that
spans
from
web-­‐conferencing
to
Tele-­‐Presence
» How
to
join
things
up?
» Interoperability!
Desktop
Conferencing
using
Vidyo

8. Key
benefits
(From
Jisc
study)
» Reduced
stress
&
time
of
travel
(75%)
» Better
control
of
time
(61%)
» Easier
to
stay
in
touch
(49%)
» Better
work-­‐life
balance
» Compensate
for
travel
difficulties
» Easier
to
arrange
meetings
» Involve
more
people
» Improved
communication
with
external
partners
» Tangible
travel
and
subsistence
savings
8

9. What’s
wrong
with
conferencing?
» The
room
is
booked
out
or
locked
» The
support
people
have
gone
home
» The
equipment
is
out
of
commission
» There
is
echo
on
the
audio
feed
» The
system
I
have
is
not
compatible
with
the
one
the
other
people
are
using
» The
network
is
up
and
down
and
the
video
quality
makes
this
system
unusable
» I
can
conference
from
a
room
but
why
can’t
I
join
from
my
laptop
or
cell
phone
or
iPad
at
my
desk,
or
at
home
or
from
anywhere
in
the
world?
» I
want
to
easily
share
content
from
whichever
device
I
am
using
» Etc…
9

10. Jisc
Project
conclusions
» There
are
considerable
benefits
accruing
from,
and
opportunities
for
more,
virtual
meetings
» Virtual
meetings
don’t
always
replace
travel
› new
uses
–
enabling
that
which
simply
used
not
be
possible
› stimulating
and
sustaining
contact
» Considerable
CO2
benefits
for
all
› largest
element
in
research
intensive
universities
is
(long
haul)
air
» Air
travel
generally
dominates
CO2
equivalent
travel
» But
overall
business
benefits
are
mainly
related
to
short-­‐medium
distance
travel
air
travel
10

11. Video-­‐conferencing
» Parts
to
this
presentation:
› The
changing
landscape
of
video-­‐conferencing
› Meeting
the
needs
of
South
African
Higher
Education
› The
intentions
for
this
workshop
11

12. State
of
play
of
conferencing
09/10/14
TENET
12

13. 2T3E/N10E/T1
4
13

14. Immersive
Telepresence
» Very
expensive
» Senior
executives’
toy
(the
private
jet)
» Has
been
described
as
‘telepresence
is
the
equivalent
of
a
company
having
a
single
“e-­‐mail
room”’
» In
the
end
-­‐
so
what!
23/10/14
TENET
14

15. “Legacy”
conferencing
» Otherwise
known
as
H.323
or
SIP
or
standards
based
» The
old
way
–
expensive
room
based
systems
and
heavy
duty
back
end
processing
» Betrays
its
telecommunications
roots
» Only
now
waking
up
to
the
growth
of
demand
for
mobile
and
desktop
conferencing
» Easy
to
use
(relatively)
» Limited
functionality
beyond
video
and
audio
(e.g.
content
sharing)
» Vendors
include
Polycom,
Lifesize,
Ayaya,
Cisco,
etc.
» Generally
business
–
not
education
focused
Polycom
TPX
204M
09/10/14
TENET
15

16. Web
conferencing
» The
other
end
of
the
spectrum
» Content
is
king
–
so
presentation
is
centre
stage
» Video
and
audio
not
usually
as
well
done.
Lack
of
echo-­‐cancellation
can
cause
really
bad
problems
» Good
for
push
–
webinar
or
for
where
interaction
is
not
so
important
» Examples
include
Adobe
Connect,
Cisco
Webex,
Blackboard
Collaborate
and
Big
Blue
Button/
MConf
(open
source)
» Doesn’t
really
move
off
the
desktop
to
enable
bigger
groups
to
interact
09/10/14
TENET
16

17. Consumer
and
desktop
clients
» Skype
› Great
for
one
to
ones
and
presence
› Network
parasite
› Can’t
interoperate
with
anything
else
» FaceTime
› Apple
only
» Lync
› Part
of
the
MS
Office
stack
–
so
on
a
lot
of
desktops
› Replacing
traditional
telephony
–
soft
phones
› Can
interoperate
with
many
other
systems
› One
to
watch
09/10/14
TENET
17

18. Transcoderless
and
scalable
Video-­‐conferencing
» These
use
variants
of
the
SVC
extension
to
theH.264
video
compression
standard
(Annex
G)
» Sends
a
base
layer
which
is
enough
–
and
then
enhancement
layers
as
the
circumstances
dictate
» Traffic
goes
through
a
media
router
–
but
the
decoding/encoding
is
done
intelligently
on
the
end
points
» Endpoints
get
the
resolution
and
detail
they
can
handle
» Advantages:
› Efficient
low
cost
infrastructure
–
backend
is
much
cheaper
than
traditional
MCUs
› Excellent
network
resilience
-­‐
copes
well
with
variable
bandwidth
situations
› Real
time
adaption
–
constant
tailoring
of
what
gets
sent
to
each
end
point
› Flexibility
» Gateways
to
H.323/SIP
world
» Lync
and
Outlook
integration
09/10/14
TENET
18

19. Access
Grid
Session
in
Progress
19

20. Uses
of
video-­‐conferencing
-­‐
Music
» LOLA
–
Low
Latency
Project
» Enable
real
time
musical
performances
where
musicians
are
physically
located
in
remote
sites
–
useful
for:
› Rehearsals
before
a
concert
› Masterclasses
› Performance
with
distributed
performers
» Heavy
network
requirements:
› Needs
from
94Mbps
to
500Mbps
end-­‐to-­‐end
› Network
jitter
must
be
very
stable
(<3ms
at
30fps,
<6ms
at
60fps)
› Hops
must
be
minimised,
and
firewalls
opened
» From
Conservatorio
di
Musica
Giuseppe
Tartini
from
Trieste
(Italy)
4th
Nov
2014
TENET
20

21. Cloud
services
&
Integrators
» But
we
may
still
have
islands
on
video-­‐
conferencing
» Enter
the
integrators
and
cloud
services
» But
most
of
these
mean
traffic
going
to
Europe
or
the
US
–
so
not
really
an
option
at
present
in
South
Africa
» Promise
of
any
system
connecting
to
any
system
–
but
this
really
means
going
via
H.323/SIP
for
now
4th
Nov
2014
TENET
21

22. Some
emerging
themes
» Software
endpoints
and
infrastructure
› Much
cheaper
› More
flexible
› User
provisioned
and
launched
» Cloud
based
offerings
–
pay
for
what
you
use
» Desktop
and
mobile
–
anyone
connecting
from
anywhere
» Unified
communications
–
presence,
IM,
telephony
and
video
» The
right
tool
for
the
job
» Video
in
browser
–
WebRCT
4th
Nov
2014
TENET
22

23. UK
Developments
» Janet
(UK
NREN)
recently
launched
new
service
called
V-­‐Scene
» Old
offering
was
a
farm
of
MCUs
and
a
rather
clunky
booking
service,
along
with
a
dreadful
desktop
client
» Some
advice
and
guidance
on
purchasing
and
use
» Quality
assurance
of
endpoints
» But
use
was
patchy
and
seemed
mostly
directed
at
schools
» Some
heavy
use
in
colleges
with
multiple
sites
» New
Platform
incorporating
Vidyo
for
desktop/personal
and
Cisco
MCUs
for
H.323/SIP
09/10/14
TENET
23

24. VIDYO
» Scalable,
modular,
flexible,
configurable
» Mostly
virtualised
» Good
traction
in
research
communities
(CERN,
SKA)
» Desktop
and
web
client
› All
participants
can
share
content
» All
registered
user
get
a
virtual
meeting
room
» Room
systems
» Gateway
to
H.323/SIP
» Pay
as
you
use
pricing
model
» API
and
SDK
allows
for
custom
intgration
options
09/10/14
TENET
24

25. Vidyo
at
CERN
» CERN
needed
to
scale
V-­‐C
capabilities
» Traditional
V-­‐C
was
way
too
expensive
» Settled
on
Vidyo
» 20,000
user
accounts
» Routers
in
many
locations
(one
coming
on
line
in
Cape
Town)
» Over
800
concurrent
connections
at
peak
» Cool
graphic
here:
http://avc-­‐dashboard.web.cern.ch/Vidyo
» CERN
asked
TENET
to
provide
hosting
for
Vidyo
Router
for
SA
use
09/10/14
TENET
25

27. So
what
to
use?
» What
do
you
want
to
do
› Teaching
and
learning
› Research
collaboration
and
coordination
› Outreach
› Administration
» What
does
you
have
in
your
university?
› Rooms
› Desktop
» What
can
you
get
access
to
via
the
cloud?
› Some
of
the
new
approaches
can
be
run
in
a
browser
–
Web
RCT
09/10/14
TENET
27

28. Who
will
use
it?
» Admin
› Split
sites
› Cross
institutional
organisations
» Research
collaboration
› Project
management
» Teaching
and
learning
› Video-­‐conferencing
everywhere
› Record
sessions
or
stream
to
wider
internet
› Role
here
for
Web-­‐conferencing?
09/10/14
TENET
28

29. And
finally
–
some
words
of
advice
» Local
Network
Configuration
needs
to
be
stable,
and
in
particular
firewalls
need
to
be
correctly
configured.
» Room
systems
need
to
be
properly
configured
including
network
and
routing
settings.
» Meeting
rooms
need
to
have
good
acoustics
and
good
light
» Provide
good
quality
audio
play
back
in
rooms
» Laptop
/
PC
/
mobile
users
need
to
have
reasonable
spec
hardware
&
preferably
headset
and
microphone
(although
Vidyo
has
built
in
echo
cancellation)
» Laptop
/
PC
/
mobile
users
can
connect
using
only
a
web
browser,
but
get
more
functionality
if
they
install
the
Vidyo
client
before
connecting.
» Test
the
setup
before
a
meeting
starts,
not
when
the
meeting
is
supposed
to
start
» However
good
the
hardware
is,
bandwidth
across
the
internet
will
always
be
a
limiting
factor,
however
latency
is
even
more
critical.
» User
familarisation
and
expectations
are
key
–
make
sure
people
understand
how
to
use
the
system
and
kit
23/10/14
TENET
29

30. 2T3E/N10E/T1
4
30

31. Thank
you
Rob Bristow
r.bristow@tenet.ac.za
079 1818 708
@robbristow