Virtual Room Videoconferencing System

1. Virtual Room Videoconferencing System H. Newman & P. Galvez & G. Denis, Caltech C. Isnard, CERN CHEP2000 February 6, 2000

2. VRVS Current & future • VRVS is now a production system: • As of today, more than 2010 machines from 1310 different users are registered into the system. • During year 1999, 872 Multipoint Conferences has been Conducted (Total 2325 Hours). • More than 3000 point to point connection established. • 7 Virtual Rooms are available for World Wide Conferences in addition to the 4 available for each Continent (America only, Europe only, Asia only). • VRVS Future evolution/integration (R&D) • Deployment and support of VRVS. • High Quality video and audio (MPEG1, MPEG2,..). • Shared applications, environment and workspace. • Integration of H.323 I.T.U Standard into VRVS. • Quality of Service (QoS) over the network. • Documentation and user-configuration recommendations. • Improved security, authentication and confidentiality.

3. Reflectors Software deployment • 23 reflectors Running in U.S. Europe and Asia • Switzerland: CERN (2) • Italy: CNAF Bologna • UK: Rutherford Lab • France: IN2P3 Lyon, Marseilles • Germany: Heidelberg Univ. • Finland: FUNET • Spain: IFCA-Univ. Cantabria • Portugal: LIP • Russia: Moscow State Univ., Tver. U. • U.S: • Caltech, LBNL, SLAC, FNAL, • ANL, BNL, Jefferson Lab. • DoE HQ Germantown - Asia: Academia Sinica.Taiwan - South America: CeCalcula.Venezuela - Latest: Weizmann Institute. Israel

4. VRVS Statistics

5. R&D Medium Term Plan • A Next Generation Integrated Environment for Collaborative Work Across Internets • Principal Investigator: Caltech and ESnet • Collaborators: CERN, Internet2/UCAID • The new system aimed at using the capability of Internet2 and ESnet for rapid data exchange, will be based on VRVS • Develop, prototype and start deployment of high performance next generation Integrated Environment for Collaborative work • We will adapt and extend VRVS API to accommodate and support high performance multimedia application suites (MPEG1 and MPEG2 streaming video, shared iGRID applications, integration with H.323.) • QoS tests over ESnet and Internet2 networks

6. VRVS Model Implementation VRVS Web User Interface Others ?? MPEG QuickTime V4.0 Mbone Tools (vic, vat/rat,..) H.323 Collaborative Applications VRVS Reflectors (Unicast/Multicast) QoS Real Time Protocol (RTP/RTCP) Network Layer (TCP/IP) done Partially done Continuously in development Work in progress

7. VRVS Web Distributed Model 2 - Update local databases with registered host www.vrvs.org VRVS Root VRVS Asia Community Y VRVS Europe Community X A VRVS America C B VRVS root - vrvs America - vrvs Europe - vrvs Asia - Community X - Community Y - ... 1- vrvs host registration with automatic or manual assignation to the local vrvs web server - ex: C 2- http vrvs redirect 3- vrvs connection 1- direct access to vrvs services 1- http vrvs request VRVS Europe - UP - Italy - France - .. Community Y - UP - A - .. .. ...

8. WorkPlan FY00 • Continue Deployment and Support of VRVS. • Extend Reflector topology in new sites/countries. • More users registered implies more questions and supports. • More meetings implies more monitoring of the system. • High Quality video and audio (MPEG1, MPEG2,..). • See next slides • Shared applications, environment and workspace. • Study a set of tools around the collaborative environment • VNC (Virtual Network Computer under investigation) • Modify/Integrate them in the VRVS framework. • Features foreseen (all Web based): Chat, Synchronize Web browsing, exchange of file between participant, shared desktop • Quality of Service (QoS) over the network • Tests over the transatlantic line using different protocol (CAR, ATM QoS, DiffServ,..) will be performed. • Test will be extended to End to End nodes (Caltech, CERN, others sites).

9. Workplan FY00 (2/2) • Integration of H.323 I.T.U Standard into VRVS. • step 1: Develop a “H.323 VRVS Gatekeeper”. • step 2: Allow H.323 clients to initiate a point to point videoconference using VRVS user interface. • step 3: Use VRVS reflector to perform H.323 multipoint videoconference. • step 4: Develop the necessary software to have interoperability between H.323 clients and Mbone (Vic, Vat/Rat) applications. • step5: Possibility to perform VRVS multipoint videoconferencing independently of the videoconferencing clients (Mbone/H.323) • Documentation and user-configuration recommendations. (http://vrvs.cern.ch/Doc/Hardware/hardware.html) • Test and advice different Cameras, microphones, projectors, .. • Regular Update of the recommendation document. • Work in close collaboration with ESnet and all VRVS users in order to provide a large choice of working and tested devices..

10. MPEG2 deployment plan (1/2) Goal : To deploy MPEG2 technology among HENP community. MPEG2 will provide full TV quality, full frame and full interactivity in a range of 2 to 15 Mbps • Acquisition of Minerva MPEG2 Encoder/Decoder boxes. • Support for the RTP (Real Time Protocol) • Very low latency (around 120 ms for full duplex mode) during real-time communication (videoconference). • Availability of a Video Development Toolkit (VDK) for integration with existing applications or with the VRVS framework. • ESnet already selected Minerva as the preferred solution for MPEG2 deployment inside ESnet. • One box has been installed at two sites: Caltech and CERN • Are others HENP Institutes interested in participation to the test and deployment phase ??

11. MPEG2 deployment plan (2/2) • Integration plan of MPEG2 into VRVS framework • step 1: Perform and valid bi-directional point to point and interactive communication between 2 sites • Caltech and CERN -- Done Successfully December 14, 1999 -- • Caltech and Esnet sites • CERN and ESnet sites -- Done Successfully January 15, 2000 -- • step 2: adapt/modify VRVS reflector in order to make MPEG2 multipoint videoconferencing between 3 or more sites • Caltech, CERN and ESnet sites • step 3: adapt/modify VRVS Web interface and use the MPEG2 development kits in order to initiate MPEG2 videoconference in a “click and start” fashion. • step 4: Use the whole VRVS system and philosophy (registration, scheduling, etc..) with automatic attribution to the closest reflector and start the conference by just clicking after joining a Virtual Room as of today.

12. Example: GLAST meeting (October 14,1999) 10 participants connected via VRVS

13. Example::LEPC broadcast from CERN (November 9,1999) 35 participants connected via VRVS

14. Example: 9 Participants, CERN(2), Caltech, FNAL(2), Bologna (IT), Roma (IT), Milan (IT), Rutherford(UK)

15. Conclusion • VRVS is now a production system with more than 2010 registered host computers located in more than 40 countries. The frequency of VRVS conferences is tending to increase rapidly; • I2-DV (Internet2 Digital Video) Initiative steering committee looks forward to use VRVS framework as a foundation for new video and multimedia services to be deployed throughout Internet 2; • VRVS will support all type of videoconferencing; from the Mbone and H.323 applications to very high video and audio quality like MPEG2; • QoS study and tests over the transatlantic line is more then ever a very important task in order to run Differentiated Service for real-timeapplications as well as other sensitive applications (distributed database); • Strong effort will be done to investigate development in new areas such as Shared Virtual Spaces and Data Applications;