Briefing for senior IT leaders in South African Higher Education at the Spring 2014 ASAUDIT Institutional Conference

1. Rob
Bristow,
NREN
Exchange
Fellow,
TENET
23/10/2014
Video-conferencing as an NREN Service

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
– 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. 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

4. 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
screen
only
shows
tiny
thumbnails
of
participants
» 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…
26/11/2013
Jisc
Co-­‐design
4

5. Video-­‐conferencing
» Parts
to
this
presentation:
› The
changing
landscape
of
video-­‐conferencing
› Meeting
the
needs
of
South
African
Higher
Education
› TENET’s
plans
5

6. Jisc
Project
conclusions
» There
are
considerable
benefits
accruing
from,
and
opportunities
for
more,
virtual
meetings
» Virtual
meetings
don’t
always
replace
travel
› new
uses
› stimulating
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
» Best
maybe
to
target
UNPRODUCTIVE
travel?
6

7. State
of
play
of
conferencing
09/10/14
TENET
7

8. “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.
» Business
–
not
education
focused
Polycom
TPX
204M
09/10/14
TENET
8

9. 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
where
interaction
is
not
so
important
» Examples
include
Adobe
Connect,
Cisco
Webex,
Blackboard
Collaborate
and
Big
Blue
Button
(open
source)
» Doesn’t
really
move
off
the
desktop
to
enable
bigger
groups
to
interact
09/10/14
TENET
9

10. 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
10

11. “Modern”
approaches
» 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
are
available
» Lync
and
Outlook
integration
09/10/14
TENET
11

12. 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
09/10/14
TENET
12

13. 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
–
connect
from
anywhere
» Unified
communications
–
presence,
IM,
telephony
and
video
» The
right
tool
for
the
job
» Video
in
browser
–
WebRCT
09/10/14
TENET
13

14. 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
14

15. UK
Developments
» 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
15

16. VIDYO
» Best
of
breed
(IOHO)
» 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
16

17. 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
17

19. Vidyo
at
SKA
» Needed
to
expand
video-­‐conferencing
hugely
» Existing
and
emerging
H.323/SIP
technologies
were
difficult
to
use,
and
very
expensive
and
were
not
good
for
the
desktop/mobile
» Trialled
other
systems
(Zoom,
Blue
Jeans),
as
well
as
consumer
level
applications
(Skype,
Google
Hangouts)
but
came
down
for
Vidyo
» It
is
planned
that
South
African
end
of
SKA
will
use
Tenet
service
09/10/14
TENET
19

20. Vidyo
Infrastructure
» Portal
(VM)
› Authentication
and
licensing
› Tenant
set
up
and
Admin
– Capable
of
handling
multiple
tenants
(i.e.,
one
per
university
or
even
more
finely
grained)
» Router
(VM)
› Intelligent
packet
switching,
so
no
decode/compose/re-­‐encode
overhead
–
tailors
video
feeds
to
match
each
end
point
abilities
› Up
to
100
concurrent
users
per
router
» Gateway
(Vidyo
hardware)
› Link
to
H.323/SIP
systems
» Replay
(Vidyo
hardware)
› Recording
and
streaming
server
09/10/14
TENET
20

21. Vidyo
Infrastructure
Part
2
09/10/14
TENET
21

22. Enhancement
Layer
Base
Layer
AVC
-­‐
Single
Layer
vs.
SVC
-­‐
Multi-­‐Layer
Single Layer (AVC) Significant
Impact
Multi-layer (SVC)
Minor
or
No
Impact
Source
-­‐
Vidyo

23. Possible
model
of
provision
» Pay
as
you
use
model
› X
Rand
per
named
user
who
uses
the
system
in
a
given
month
– Don’t
for
forget
that
users
can
invite
guests
who
do
not
count
towards
that
number
of
users
– Cost
per
user
decreases
as
number
of
users
grows
» TENET
will
provide
virtual
machines
to
run
most
of
the
infrastructure
and
buy
some
Vidyo
kit
(Gateways)
› Institutions
can
manage
their
Tenant
areas
–
connect
to
LDAP
and
AD
» Support
within
office
hours
» Training,
familarisation,
evangelism
publicity
materials,
etc
» This
is
not
“Rip
&
Replace”
–
your
H.323
investments
can
co-­‐
exist
and
will
reach
a
whole
lot
more
people
› Also
–
you
can
easily
bring
your
Lync
users
to
the
party
09/10/14
TENET
23

24. 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
– But
probably
not
Adobe
Connect
as
cost
implications
are
worrying
if
usage
took
off
Looking
with
SANReN
at
Mconf
(Supported
by
Brazilian
NREN)
09/10/14
TENET
24

25. 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
25

26. Video-­‐conferencing
workshop
» Johannesburg
4th
&
5th
November
» Looking
for
up
to
two
people
from
each
institution
› IT
Manager
with
responsibility
for
video-­‐conferencing
› And/or
person
with
day
to
day
engagment
» Opportunity
for
debate
and
discussion
and
sharing
problems
and
good
practice
» Email
g
23/10/14
TENET
26

27. Thank you
Rob Bristow
r.bristow@tenet.ac.za
@robbristow