telepresence and how it fits in oartech
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Telepresence and How it Fits In with Other Kinds of Video Conferencing
Bob Dixon, OARnet and Ohio State Univ.
OARTech, April 8, 2009OARnet, Columbus, Ohio
Note there are a few other systems that do not fit into these categories
Levels of Videoconferencing– Web Conferencing
• PC and small camera • Collaboration tools such as Skype, Elluminate,
Dimdim….• Fair quality
– Standard H.323 Video Conferencing• Most common type today• Good quality
– High-Definition H.323 Video Conferencing • Like HDTV• Excellent quality
– Telepresence• HD, plus appearance of being in the same room
Ohio Board of Regents Telepresence Grant
• Grant to OARnet to investigate feasibility of Telepresence among Ohio universities
• Evaluate all available systems
• Install 2 pilot systems and MCU
Telepresence Systems
• All currently offered systems were investigated.
• All were found to be too expensive for most applications. Typically $250K and up.
• Some are proprietary, and incompatible with all others. HP, Cisco.
• Some require special or vendor-managed networks. Cisco requires that they certify your network.
• Some are standards-based and will become interoperable. Polycom, Tandberg, LifeSize.
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Tandberg Telepresence
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Cisco Telepresence
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Polycom Telepresence
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LifeSize Telepresence
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Who Uses Telepresence?• Typically corporate executives, for whom cost is no object.
• Rarely used in education. A recent poll shows fewer than 10 in USA.
• Reasons for little education use:
High cost, including purchase, installation and operation.
Typically not suitable for more than a few people at once.
May be incompatible with existing video conf equipment.
Will not dedicate a room to something that is rarely used.
High bandwidth and network quality required.
Requires multiple rooms.
• Standard high-definition video conferencing can do most
things that telepresence does, at much less cost
and complexity.
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The Telepresence Kit Approach
• LifeSize Corp was the first to offer low-cost high-definition video conferencing.
• Now they have offered an inexpensive kit version of Telepresence.
• $70K, including installation and one year maintenance.
• Installation by ID Solutions, of Indianapolis
• OARnet has installed 2 of these as a pilot program, funded by the Board of Regents, as affordable examples for other Ohio universities.
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Multipoint Telepresence Conferences
• Any video conference with more than two locations requires a multipoint control unit.
• We purchased a Codian 12 port HD MCU.
• Costs $54K.
• Supports 4 locations of 3 screens each, or any combination of 12.
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Interoperability of Levels of Videoconferencing
– Web Conferencing• Essentially no interoperability. Collaboranza! 2006• https://wiki.internet2.edu/confluence/display/Collaboranza/Home
– Standard H.323 Video Conferencing• Complete interoperability. Megaconference 1999-present• http://www.megaconference.org• 10th Anniversary Megaconference Nov 6.
– High-Definition H.323 Video Conferencing • Complete interoperability. Gigaconference 2005-2006• http://commons.internet2.edu/gigaconference2005• http://commons.internet2.edu/gigaconference
Telepresence Teraconference 2009• Little advertised interoperability
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Telepresence Interoperability
• Only one Telepresence vendor (Teliris) claims interoperability with any other Telepresence vendor.
• Some Telepresence vendors are natively H.323 compatible (eg - LifeSize, Polycom, Tandberg), making full TP interoperability possible in the future. Full VC interoperability exists now.
• A few vendors have limited interoperability gateways to non-telepresence VC systems (Cisco, HP).
• Telepresence systems typically use special dedicated MCUs.
• Telepresence systems typically do not use gatekeepers; hence they can call only via IP address. No Global Dialing System.
• Telepresence systems typically use proprietary control systems, to simplify operation. Eg - Crestron, AMX
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Conceptual Telepresence System
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Codec
Proprietary Control System
Codec
Codec Codec
Codec
Codec
Proprietary Control System
Location A Location B
Interoperable Telepresence System
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Codec
Codec
Codec Codec
Codec
Codec Bypassed or
ModifiedProprietary
Control System
MCU
Gatekeeper
Bypassed orModified
Proprietary Control System
Location A Location B
Telepresence Interoperability!
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Questions?
Thank you for coming!
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