IP Videoconferencing on JANET Internet2 International Task Force Internet2 Member meeting

1. IP Videoconferencing on JANET Internet2 International Task Force Internet2 Member meeting 27th October 2002 IP VC on JANET

2. Report: David Salmon UKERNA Slides: Roger BolamVideo Development Engineer UKERNA IP VC on JANET

3. Outline • Background to JANET Videoconferencing • IP Videoconferencing Pilot • Service Components and Capabilities IP VC on JANET

4. History of Videoconferencing Services on JANET • Mid to late 90’s • High quality studio based service over ATM network • Limited number of sites • Centralised videoconferencing service to community for five years • Mix of ISDN and ATM technologies IP VC on JANET

5. Drivers for IP Videoconferencing Service • Plenty of SuperJANET4 capacity • Initially 2.5Gb/s, now 10Gb/s backbone • ATM Closure of Scottish MANs Videoconferencing Network (SMVCN) • Welsh Video Network developments • 90 studios now equipped and operational • A requirement from our community IP VC on JANET

6. Recent IP Videoconferencing Work • H.323 Architecture Group • Report and recommendations • Budget approval • EU Procurement for centralised service components • Pilot Activities – Welsh Video Network IP VC on JANET

7. Service target • Service aimed at all organisations with direct connections to JANET • 800+ HE, FE & Research Council • Open to all endpoints subject to passing a QA test • “Endpoints” are mostly VC studios • “Desktops” can apply to register IP VC on JANET

8. Service Architecture • Centralised Service • MCUs, Gateways and Gatekeepers • Equipment located in Core Points of Presence (CPoPs) and on JANET • Conference Booking System • Management and advisory service • Security and resilience IP VC on JANET

9. IP VC on JANET

10. Results of Procurement • Two Accord MGC 100 MCUs • International Gatekeepers (Cisco MCM) • National Gatekeepers (Cisco MCM) • MCU Gatekeepers (Cisco MCM) IP VC on JANET

11. Accord MGC 100 MCU/Gateway • Can support: • 48 IP sites @ 2 Mbit/s IP • 64 sites @ 384k ISDN • Full Gateway capabilities between IP and ISDN • Full inter-operation between different audio and video protocols - real time trans-coding IP VC on JANET

12. Service Gatekeeper Hierarchy • Three levels of Gatekeeper: • International (resilient) • National (resilient) • Site • supports Global Dialling Scheme • Collaborative effort • European NRNs and ViDeNet adopting same Gatekeeper Hierarchy and Global Dialling Scheme IP VC on JANET

13. JANET recommendations to sites • CODECs capable of initiating calls at speeds between 384kbit/s & 2 Mbit/s IP • Implement a local gatekeeper • can register with centralised JANET site gatekeeper(s) • Interim measure • Proxy server or H.323 aware firewall for security • Suitably provisioned JANET Access ( i.e. enough bandwidth • Force a full-duplex ethernet LAN infrastructure: auto-negotiation does not work IP VC on JANET

14. Institution Firewall H.323 Gatekeeper/Proxy Cisco Multimedia Conference Manager (MCM) 366x IP VC on JANET

15. Site Service Usage Requirements • Sites must be fully QA tested • Separate QA Testing for IP and ISDN • Sites must be registered with a gatekeeper • Conferences must be booked using the JANET Booking System IP VC on JANET

16. Service Management • Central management service • Booking system operation and development • Conference scheduling and equipment configuration • QA testing service • Advice and consultancy service for the community IP VC on JANET

17. QA Testing • QA Tests to check all registered sites. • Mix of objective & subjective AV quality checks • Initiated with the ISDN video service • Made a big difference as quality improved during the service roll-out • Audio and Video can be compared to standard benchmarks • Tests include: echo cancellation quality, ambient noise levels, line noise, audio levels, video jitter, video pixellation IP VC on JANET

18. QA testing - 2 • Repeated every 6 months or so • Systems which pass remain registered • Systems which fail • Advice offered by testers • Deeper problems/issues passed to VTASconsultancy service for investigation • Users can provide anonymous feedback • Identify poor sites and trigger QA tests IP VC on JANET

19. JANET Videoconferencing Booking System • Developed in-house for ISDN/ATM service • System has been further developed to add IP bookings. • Some 300 sites registered • Approximately 90% are “studios” • Automated booking – manual resource scheduling checks and configuration • Aim for more automated resource scheduling in future • Accommodate Ad-hoc bookings • Currently needs ~24hours notice IP VC on JANET

20. Timescales • Contract was placed for major service components 14th June 2002 • Pilot started September 2002 • Full Service 2003 IP VC on JANET

21. Quality of Service • Real time applications benefit from QoS • UKERNA QoS project • Prototyping QoS mechanisms on JANET • IP Premium using Diff Serv EF • QoS must to be End to End IP VC on JANET

22. Further Information • VIP Project http://www.ja.net/development/video/vip/reports/ • H.323 Architecture Group Report http://www.ja.net/development/video/arch/ • Pilot Information http://www.ja.net/development/video/pilot/announcement/html IP VC on JANET

23. Contact Details for Further Information Roger BolamVideo Development Engineer UKERNA Email r.bolam@ukerna.ac.uk IP VC on JANET