Transcript DoE99 review

David Collados
California Institute of Technology
European Organization for Nuclear Research
October 25, 2001
What Is VRVS?
 Web oriented multipoint videoconferencing system.
 Multi-platform system: Windows, Linux, Solaris, Irix and
Mac.
 The mechanism to interconnect different
videoconferencing clients/tools:
MBone: VIC, RAT.
H.323: Polycom (ViaVideo, ViewStation), Microsoft
(NetMeeting), Zydacron (OnWan), SmithMicro
(VideoLink Pro), etc.
MPEG2: Minerva Networks (VCP).
The Origins Of VRVS
 Born in 1995 at Caltech to provide a low cost system for
videoconferencing and remote collaboration over
networks for the HEP community.
 ISDN versus IP videoconferences:
 High costs for international ISDN videoconf.
 Manpower for scheduling and operation of ISDN
and IP systems (but not using VRVS.)
 IP from any machine.
 IP more flexible: different OS and applications.
 IP for different multipoint working environments.
About The Site
Structural Layers In VRVS
VRVS Web User Interface
Mbone Tools
QuickTime
H.323
MPEG
Others
4.0 & 5.0
QoS
VRVS Reflectors (Unicast/Multicast)
Real Time Protocol (RTP/RTCP)
Network Layer (TCP-UDP/IP)
??
Collaborative
Applications
(vic, vat/rat,..)
Virtual Rooms Concept
Enter a Virtual Room Through Your Nearest Reflector
American side
European side
Reflectors’ Deployment 1/2
Reflectors’ Deployment 2/2
33 Reflectors Running Around The World.
Europe:
North America:
Switzerland: CERN (2)
Spain: IFCA, RedIRIS
UK: Rutherford (2), JET, Swansea
Israel: Weizmann, Hebrew Univ.
Italy: INFN
Finland: Funet
Poland: Cracow
Portugal: LIP
Czech Republic: Cesnet
Asia:
Canada: University of Quebec
United States:
West:
Caltech (2), SLAC
Midwest: FNAL, ANL (Chicago)
East:
BNL (New York)
Internet2: New York, Ann Arbor (Detroit),
Denver, Georgia Tech (Atlanta),
Indiana, Orlando, Texas
Taiwan: Academia Sinica
Japan: KEK
South America:
Venezuela: CeCalcula
Brazil: UFRGS (Univ. Fed. Rio Grande do Sul)
Steps To Use The System
 Have a PC with a full duplex soundcard (a video
camera if you want to send video).
 Go to http://www.VRVS.org
 Register your machine.
 Download the latest VRVS package.
 Check recommendations before buying additional
devices:
http://www.VRVS.org/Doc/Hardware/hardware.html
 Check your local audio/video setup.

Book a Virtual Room and
“Join” it.
Booking A Virtual Room 1/2
The Scheduler
 Booking a Virtual Room is performed in the same way
as you would book a local conference room.
 If all the Virtual Rooms are booked, it means that the
(pre-set) maximum number of parallel conferences has
Select the
been reached.
Virtual Room
Select the scope of
your videoconference
Continental
Virtual Rooms
World Wide
Virtual Rooms
Booking A Virtual Room 2/2
The Booking Process
Different calendar views: one Year, one Month, or one Day.
The user can easily appreciate what is already reserved,
and which are the available time slots.
Options
 A password can be entered to control the access.
 Documents (URLs) can be attached to the conference
(or “pop-up” URLs during the conference to the other
participants through the chat window.)
Mbone Integration
H.323 Integration
MPEG2* Integration 1/2
 Acquisition of Minerva VCP MPEG2 Encoder/Decoder. Very low
latency, ~120 ms + supporting RTP (Real Time Protocol.)
 MPEG2 integration into VRVS:
 Perform bi-directional and interactive P2P communications
between 2 boxes.
 Adapted/modified VRVS reflectors to make MPEG2 multipoint
videoconferencing possible among 3 or more sites.
 New site to administrate the MPEG2 videoconferences.
[*] At present time, VRVS is the only MPEG2 software/system
available in the world for MPEG2 multipoint videoconferencing.
MPEG2 Integration 2/2
VRVS MPEG2 Reflectors
(Just the video from the current speaker is sent to the MPEG2 clients.
The current speaker keeps on receiving video/audio from the previous one.)
VCP MPEG2 CODEC
VCP MPEG2 CODEC
LNBL
CERN
VCP MPEG2 CODEC
LLNL
VCP MPEG2 CODEC
Caltech
Instance of MPEG2 topology.
Video: 3.0 Mbps
Audio: 224 Kbps stereo
Desktop Sharing
 VNC (Virtual Network Computer) desktop sharing
technology is integrated in VRVS.
 Possibility to share the working desktop between
several participants in 2 different modes:
Broadcast mode: The desktop is seen by all the
participants but they cannot control it.
Full shared mode: All participants see and can
control the shared desktop (mouse, keyboard, … )
 Need the VNC server application running in the machine in
order to share your desktop.
 On the Client side, No application is needed.
A Java applet is downloaded from the Web server.
The Client is Web-based and Multi-platform.
At Present Time
 Moving outside HEP community.
 To Educational and Research communities:
CESNET: Czech National Research & Edu Network
EFDA: European Fusion Development Agreement
GLAST: Gamma Ray Large Area Space Telescope
Internet2
RedIRIS
VRVS Deployment in Internet2 1/3
 Internet2 is a U.S. national initiative that regroups
more than 180 U.S. Universities in close collaboration
with partners (including most of the international
research networks.) See at http://www.internet2.edu
 VRVS has been selected as one of the primary
technologies to support as part of the Internet2
Commons initiative (a Large-Scale, Distributed
Collaborative Environment for the Research and
Education Community.)
 I2 will provide software and documentation along
with leadership in the area of developing gateways
among different videoconferencing technologies.
VRVS Deployment in Internet2 2/3
 Installation of 7 Reflectors in several GigaPoPs over the
Abilene backbone (Summer 2001)
 Creation and announcement of a new I2 mailing-list for
people interested in VRVS related announcements:
[email protected]
 Creation of a second support/help mailing list:
[email protected]. The goal is to allow experts in the
community to help newcomers.
 Help on VRVS online documentation and packaging.
VRVS Deployment in Internet2 3/3
VRVS REFLECTORS
Sept. 2001
AcessGrid Integration
http://www.vrvs.org/accessgrid.html
See all AccessGrid video
See participants list
Start the tools
(Mbone or H.323)
Select the video mode:
- Select video
- Timer video
Enter to a AG Virtual Venue
VRVS Statistics 1/3
VRVS is currently in widespread production:
At present time, more than 6800 machines used by
4100 users at 50 countries are registered in VRVS.
During 2000 year, 1300 Multipoint Conferences
were performed (Total 3800 Hours).
More than 3000 point to point connections were
established.
Since January 2001: 190 multipoint (600 hours)
videoconferences per month have been hold on
average.
Oct-99
Nov-99
Dec-99
Jan-00
Feb-00
Mar-00
Apr-00
May-00
Jun-00
Jul-00
Aug-00
Sep-00
Oct-00
Nov-00
Dec-00
Jan-01
Feb-01
Mar-01
Apr-01
May-01
Jun-01
Jul-01
Aug-01
Sep-01
Oct-01
VRVS Statistics 2/3
Machines and Users registered in VRVS
Machines
Months
Users
7000
6500
6000
5500
5000
4500
4000
3500
3000
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0
VRVS Statistics 3/3
Hours of Scheduled Videoconferences
1000
900
800
700
600
1998
1999
500
2000
2001
400
300
200
100
0
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Examples 1/5
Examples 2/5
Examples 3/5
Examples 4/5
LEPC broadcast from CERN
35 participants connected to VRVS (ex. QuickTime Player)
Examples 5/5
Questions ?
David Collados
CALTECH/CERN
[email protected]