JANET(UK) has published the results of its recent survey to find out the current trends for videoconferencing in research and education.
The survey, commissioned with Prodata Partners Ltd, formed part of a wider programme of activities to better understand the use of videoconferencing in these sectors. Participants included both current users of JANET Videoconferencing and those not yet registered to use the service. IT Managers from Research, Higher Education, Further Education, Local Authorities and Regional Broadband Consortia were asked to participate in the survey.
A summary report of the findings can be found at: http://www.ja.net/documents/services/video/vcreport.pdf
Hi,
I was curious about the desktop to desktop, non standards based other platforms that people are looking for interoperability with. Are you able to provide more information on this aspect of the survey results? We have a similar demand to meet here in NZ.
cheers, Nick
Hi Nick,
Maybe I should have given some specific examples in the video. When videoconferencing from their desktop people tend to to use the desktop application that they are already familiar with or that their IT Service has provided for them. In some cases where the user has the choice this is often Skype as they have used it for social reasons at home. Adobe Connect and Elluminate are also well used in the UK Higher Education Community.
We want to investigate ways to make sure that these proprietary video clients are not left out of the H.323 standards based community and can interoperate with others using H.323 via The JANET Videoconferencing Service (www.ja.net/video). There are a number of ways to do this with Skype that we are investigating (The Skystone Bridge and The Bluejeans Network) and we hope that the manufacturers of other proprietary systems will see the benefits of a more open approach.
It would be interesting to hear how you plan to address this in New Zealand
Tim
tim.boundy@ja.net
Hi Tim and all.
at GARR we are also working with Skystone Bridge developers (the company is in Italy) to develop an integration from legaty H.323 into skype in a more flexible way. At the moment the biggest issue is that the company is not allowed by Microsoft (the unfortunate Skype owner) to use a wider license to develop what should really be needed bu our community. Said this, we hope MS will release soon this, and let them work properly with us. I guess the more we are, the better the outcoming gateway/brdge will be. Whoever is insterested, just talk to me!
Claudio.Allocchio@garr.it
Claudio,
We have had some great results from the BlueJeans Networks service since I wrote this last response. They have a licensing agreement with Skype, and this certainly shows in the quality of interoperation between H.323 and Skype clients. Predictably, BlueJeans does come at a premium price compared to the Skystone Bridge.
I agree that it would be great for the community and for innovators (although maybe not for BlueJeans) if MS were able to share the Skype API more widely. I’ll not be holding my breath though.
Tim
We have used JVCS Desktop Conferencing with mixed results
The present client does not work ‘out of the box’ with our proxy server
We had a session discontinued after a certain time and fouind this was a problem with proxy servers and there was no workaround
JVCSDesktopV2 looks like the solution so when can we have it?
We are rolling out the MS Lync client and server.
In an ideal world we would like to use the one client (Lync) to access all VC resources including JVCSDesktop
We have been trialling ConferenceMe2 with a select user group and plan to launch it officially to the community on April 10th.
The new version has proved highly successful for users with web proxy issues and we expect a significant increase in usage when this is announced.
Please contact service@ja.net directly should you wish to trial the new version prior to the launch date.
We have been trialling ConferenceMe2 with a select user group and plan to launch it officially to the community on April 10th.
The new version has proved highly successful for users with web proxy issues and we expect a significant increase in usage when this is announced.
Please contact service@ja.net directly should you wish to trial the new version prior to the launch date.