EVO- AG Bridging
Bridging allows people using both EVO and Access Grid software to join the same meeting.
How does the bridge work?
EVO and AG users can join the same meeting by using a virtual venue or room on their own system which is linked to a corresponding room on the other system. This bridge is operated using a dedicated EVO server which provides Access Grid format video and audio information. EVO bridging is written by CALTECH.
How do I bridge from EVO?
You simply join a bridged meeting. Bridged meetings are listed permanently within the JANET EVO community. EVO is available from http://evo.caltech.edu.
You can join the JANET community whenever you like by using the community icon on the Koala window. To join a bridged meeting from EVO simply select a bridged venue and ensure your colleagues on Access Grid are in the corresponding venue. If you want to test the bridging function, the EVO"Test-AG" room links to the Access Grid AGSC Test Room and can be used to check connections.
If you experience green blocky video in IOCOM AG you will need to alter the EVO video settings to be compatible with IOCOM video. (IOCOM video does not fully support intra- and inter-frame H.261 encoding.) This setting can be changed using the EVO setup function as described below.
To adjust EVO to communicate with IOCOM use the setup icon on the vievo window after you have joined the meeting. Select the encoder tab and check the box against INTRA mode only. Select close. This change is not needed for linking to Access Grid Toolkit video.
The AG end of the bridging process is described below. The EVO-AG bridge works with AGTK multicast and unicast and also IOCOM clients in multicast mode using the above adjustment. IOCOM servers are not compatible with native VIC & RAT so IOCOM clients cannot be used in unicast mode with the EVO bridge. EVO traffic can be encrypted up to the point when it is converted to AG however the AG encryption system is not compatible with the EVO system. If you experience other problems, please use the help button on the
Koala window to send a report to the EVO support team, or contact evosupport@vrvs.org.
How do I bridge from Access Grid?
You simply join a bridged virtual venue. The bridged venues are listed under "UK Shared Virtual Venues" on Access Grid Toolkit ("UK Shared Rooms" on IOCOM). They function in the same way as normal AG rooms. IP numbers are on our web page: Virtual Venue Addresses. Each bridged venue links to both EVO and VRVS although currently the name is prefixed with "VRVS-" to indicate that it has a bridging function.
To join a bridged meeting from Access Grid simply select a bridged venue and ensure your colleagues on EVO are in the corresponding venue. If you want to test this bridging function, the "Test-AG" room in EVO links to the Access Grid AGSC Test Room and can be used to check connections. For assistance contact support@agsc.ja.net.