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The TENET Vidyo Service Progress and update
| Date post: | 13-Apr-2017 |
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Technology |
| Upload: | rob-bristow |
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The TENET Vidyo Service
Progress and update
Introductions
• Rob Bristow– on secondment from Jisc – the UK NREN organisation
• Wesley Adriaanse– TENET Intern Network Engineer
• This presentation will provide:– An update the SA NREN Videoconferencing service and how it can
support the work of higher education and research in South Africa– Provide an update on the service and what further developments
are likely in the next year to 10 months– Explain how to access the service and how to get support
Why provide collaboration shared services for South Africa?
• Videoconferencing has come of age– New software based architectures for video and audio routing and
encode/decode– The Scalable Video Codec (SVC) and WebRTC– Desktop and mobile computing power and ubiquitous webcams– Flexible cloud like provisioning options– Integration options for existing H.323/SIP estate
• Ability to work with off-the-shelf hardware and existing infrastructure
• Robust network• Cost
Problems with old school conferencing• ‘Standards based’ conferencing
– Expensive– It needs proprietary room CODECs and back end MCUs– Licensing and support costs– Inflexible– Generally lacks cost effective clients for desktop/laptop/mobile
use– Generally stuck in expensively equipped boardrooms
• It does not scale well for big meetings– Big meetings mean many MCU ports = more expense– Big tranches of web conferencing licences don’t come cheap
• It is hard to share capacity among different organisations and users
• The quality is not that good– Tends to take quality down to lowest common denominator
• Latency
TENET’s Chosen Service
• Standardised on Vidyo• Capacity sufficient to support all of South African
Higher Education and Research institutions• Support for integrating existing H.323/SIP
endpoints• Freely available desktop, web and mobile client
endpoint software– Native WebRTC using SVC support next year
• Free at the point of use• Integration with institutional Directory Systems• Skype for Business integration available
What’s available• Free access to VidyoDesktop (Windows. Mac, Linux) and other endpoint
software• Your own institutional “Tenant” area
– some customisation options and – Integration with your Directory (LDAP/AD or SAML)
• Up to 100 concurrent connections from Desktop and Mobile• Up to 12 Full HD (1080p) ports of H.323/SIP bridging• Access to Record/Replay/Streaming service at Full HD (1080p)• Advice and guidance
– Training for Admins and operators– Advice for setting up Vidyo equipped meeting rooms– Telephone support via TENET SOC– Escalation to SA Distributor’s technical team and beyond them to Vidyo
Benefits for Universities• Cloud like shared service
– One pool of licenses shared across multiple users and countries– Resilience– Extensibility
• Start small, grow as needed or funds allow• Not “rip & replace” – existing H.323 estate can continue to participate• Reduced costs from elimination of expensive MCUs and associated support costs• Performance!
– Full HD (1080p) or better on suitable desktop hardware – Ability to host big meetings without loss of quality
• Robust enterprise quality platform (Vidyo)– Good support from distributors in country and from Vidyo– Development road map
Use cases for universities
• A common platform across HE and Research– Teaching and learning– Collaboration with external partners
• In South Africa, more widely in Africa & rest of the world– Internal collaboration for teams in dispersed locations– Admin meetings between different locations– Management and steering group meetings– Outreach and dissemination– Mentoring and professional development– Vivas– HR applications – interviews
Recent Developments - Infrastructure
• Extension of Full HD (1080p) capability– VidyoGateway for H.323/SIP
• 12 ports of Full HD connection, or• 21 ports HD, or• 48 SD, etc – or some mixture of these
– Recording and Streaming server• Availability of pool of VidyoRoom SE Licenses
– Use your own PC (preferably i7 with decent graphics card) to run high end Vidyo CODEC
• WebRTC Server (experimental)– Allows guests to join meeting via browser with no plugin download– Limited number of ports so available on request
Recent Developments – Room/User• Ability under VidyoRoom SE to have
Vidyo on one screen and Windows 7 on the other
• New VidyoRemote App for iOS Tablets– Enables complete control of VidyoRoom
systems by touch screen• More in-call controls in VidyoDesktop
(mute mics, etc.)• Support for new USB high end cameras
(Mimray UV950 & Sony SRG-120DU)• New “VidyoDesktop Getting Started
Guide” – Email [email protected] for copies
Future plans
• Vidyo indicate native WebRTC using SVC end of 2016 or early 2017
• New Room System CODECS• Better reporting and dashboards• Simplified Desktop client option
Connecting to MombassaLink up between academic in Cape Town, Heads of Institutions in Kenya and the University of Nairobi
