Recently in Video Conferencing Category

Today, Microsemi is launching a new line of midspans which feature integrated lightning protection. This marks the first time a PoE midspan features lightning protection. As more and more PoE devices are used outdoors, including outdoor wireless Access Points (APs), outdoor security cameras, and more, having lightning protection is critical. One lightning bolt strike and it can wipe out your entire networking and IT infrastructure. While lightning is great & all since it bestows Captain Marvel his super powers, when it comes to networking equipment, not so much.

The new PowerDsine 9001G-40/SP is a single-port, high-power Gigabit solution for remotely powering both current and emerging high-power networking terminals and equipment while also providing surge protection optimized for outdoor devices such as security cameras and wireless LAN access points.


                 Rear product view

According to Microsemi, "Until now, PoE could only be deployed safely outdoors with a costly surge-protection unit installed alongside it, to prevent direct or nearby lightning strikes from damaging or destroying both the powered devices and their network switch. Surge and lightning protection units can cost from $250 to $400."

"A high percentage of outdoor PoE installations, especially in the enterprise, do not implement surge protection units because of their high cost or a lack of awareness," said Sani Ronen, senior product manager for Microsemi's PowerDsine midspans. "Nearby lightning strikes are much more common than most people think. Strikes as far as a mile away can induce a voltage level that can damage outdoor devices. Without lightning protection, surges also can move quickly along the Ethernet cable to damage expensive indoor network switches. Our new midspan delivers that protection at a cost savings of as much as 50 percent."

Microsemi's newest midspan has been tested successfully to the GR-1089 lightning standard for surges up to 2500V/500A. It can power devices designed for either the IEEE 802.3af standard, or the recently ratified IEEE802.3at standard for high power over Ethernet applications.

The 9001G-40/SP offers up to 40W of power which means it can support power-hungry devices such as 802.11n access points, pan-tilt-zoom cameras and WiMAX customer premises equipment.

"The 9001G-40/SP was designed to deliver the latest benefits of the new high-power 802.3at standard while also offering a cost-effective, single-box solution for powering and simultaneously protecting outdoor PoE systems from lightning damage or destruction," Ronen said.

KEY FEATURES
- Interoperability with IEEE802.3af and IEEE802.3at devices
- Lightning protection up to 2500V/500A
- 10/100/100-BaseT support

Pricing and Availability
The PD-9001G-40/SP Midspan is available in production for a unit list price of $119. Additional information is available at Microsemi's website here: http://www.microsemi/PowerDsine.com.

What an inglorious end to the Verizon Hub, which Verizon Wireless promoted as the greatest VoIP phone ever. Sure it was sexy, and sure it was gadgety - doubling as a Web tablet and digital phone frame, but apparently users just weren't buying. Not even a year after Verizon Wireless launched the Hub they have killed it.

Verizon Wireless said Sept. 30 it was discontinuing sales for its Verizon Hub. The Hub retailed for $199 and required a $34.99 monthly fee. Too high a price if you ask me. What they should have done is sold it for $50, but lock customers into a 2-year contract or something to offset the costs of this phone device. If they terminate early, then you charge them full-price. Verizon Wireless should know this pricing model from their cellphone plans. But who am I to give financial lessons?

RIP Verizon Hub, we barely knew you...


Via PC Magazine

Microsoft today just released the Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 XMPP Gateway, which is available at no cost. That's right, it's free and is immediately downloadable. The XMPP gateway allows basic presence sharing and instant messaging (IM) with Cisco Jabber and Google Talk. OCS users can now instant message Cisco Jabber and Google Talk users.

The Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 XMPP Gateway can be downloaded here. Also, check out this video featuring Ashima Singhal (Senior Product Manager) and Albert Kooiman (Senior Product Manager) from the Communication Server team who discuss IM interoperability between different networks and show how the XMPP Gateway works.

Notice the different network icons (Yahoo!, AOL, Gmail/Google Talk)


Demo of Communicator client IM'ing a Google Talk user.

Some more good news - a PIC License will no longer be required for federation with American Online (AOL).  Customers qualify for federation with AOL if they have Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Standard CAL or active Software Assurance on their current LCS/OCS license.  Alas, customers who want Yahoo! federation will continue to purchase PIC licenses, but the price of PIC will be reduced by 50%, effective October 1, 2009.

Via Office Communications Server Team blog

Cisco bought Tandberg, a video conferencing company for $3 billion. But is this good for the video conferencing industry or bad? Let's have a recap of Cisco's "openness" and adoption of standards.

First, Cisco was very late to adopt the SIP standard, finally embracing third-party SIP phones back in 2006. However, Cisco plays some serious licensing shenanigans that make it very cost prohibitive to use 3rd party SIP phones with Cisco CallManager. If you look at Cisco's CallManager licensing guidelines, a third-party SIP Device (Basic) that supports one line consumes three license units and a third-party SIP Device (Advanced) that support up to eight lines and video consumes six license units. As an example, for just a basic IP phone you must purchase (three) license units at $50/each for $150 total on top of the cost of the phone itself. However, an inexpensive  Grandstream GXP-2000 (a $85 phone) is classified as 'Advanced' since it supports multiple lines, thus requiring six license units for an additional $300, bringing the grand total of the handset to $385!

Further, Cisco has their own proprietary IOS, usually requiring certified Cisco personnel to manage. Although they have recently added web admin tools, to get to nitty gritty, you still need to know the command line commands.
So Cisco doesn't have a track record of supporting standards.

Now back to video. I recently scolded the single play VoIP providers for not offering interoperable video phones. Why can't a Packet8 videophone call a ACN videophone? I wrote:

If the single play providers were smart, they'd take my advice and make their videophones interoperate. Forget trying to hold your customers hostage by forcing them to stay with your service in order to keep their videophone capabilities. A customer that signs up with ACN and gets the videophone should not only be able to videocall Packet8 videphones, he should also be able to leave ACN, join Packet8's service and continue to use his videophone. With standards such as SIP, H.264, etc. there's absolutely no reason why videophone shouldn't interoperate. Further, with mobile phones increasingly adding more processing horsepower, and embedded cameras, making 2-way video calls from a Windows Mobile phone or Apple iPhone should be quite feasible. It's all about the standards, baby!

Which brings us back to the Cisco/Tandberg deal. I should mention that Tandberg and Cisco have a relationship going back to at least 2005, when Cisco OEM'ed the Cisco IP Phone 7985G Videophone from Tandberg. Tandberg reported revenue of $809 million in 2008 and sells various video-conferencing products, including high-end HD video systems that compete with Cisco. So it's a smart move by Cisco. But is it good for the enterprise business? I don't think so. My guess is that Cisco will do what they did with their native Skinny-protocol IP phones, which is if you want interoperability, you'll have to license the SIP protocol. I suspect something similar will happen to businesses that wish to deploy video telepresence solutions. You will either go 100% native Cisco/Tandberg for all your video endpoints, or you will pay through the nose to use a 3rd party video endpoint.

Rich Tehrani wrote something this morning along the same lines and he quotes Polycom. Rich wrote, "Companies like Polycom are not pleased with the situation. Stefan Karapetkov, Emerging Technologies Director for the company had this to say in his blog:"

Cisco announced today that they will acquire Tandberg, and this will have significant impact on the video communications market. It will reduce competition, and limit customers' choices, especially in the telepresence space. It will, hurt Radvision who now fills the gap in Cisco's video infrastructure portfolio.

I am however more concerned about the standards-compliance that have been the pillar of the video communication industry for years. Tandberg and Polycom worked together in international standardization bodies such as ITU-T and in industry consortiums such as IMTC to define standard mechanisms for video systems to communicate.

Cisco on the other hand is less interested in standards, and considers proprietary extensions as a way to gain competitive advantage. The concern of the video communication industry right now should be that the combined company will be so heavily dominated by Cisco that standards will become last priority, far after integrating Tandberg products with Cisco Call Manager and WebEx.

Telling is the fact that both Tandberg and Cisco declined participating in interoperability events over the last few months.

Not participating in interoperability events isn't necessarily the "smoking gun", especially with many companies cutting back on travel. However, it isn't a good sign. If indeed Cisco plans is to bring Tandberg's video solutions "into the fold" and make it unattractive to use with other 3rd party video solutions, then I for one will be rooting for those that adopt industry standards, including Polycom, HP, Grandstream, and others. I just hope other purchasing decision makers feel the same and force Cisco into adopting standards without extravagant licensing fees.

Check out the quick video recording I made of two Polycom VVX 1500 IP video phones making a test video call. I used an iPhone 3GS to capture the video of the test call between the two phones. The iPhone's video recording quality isn't too shabby, but doesn't truly give you an idea of the quality of the Polycom's VVX 1500 touchscreen. (Note: The video phone was tilted far back, so it was aimed directly at the fluorescent lighting in the ceiling. So you see some whiteout when the VVX 1500 camera gets blinded by the ceiling lighting.)

Having a touchscreen IP videophone is pretty cool and I'm enjoying testing it so far. This is just a quickie video demo. I hope to do a full review of these phones very soon. Till then, enjoy the Youtube video below:

Livestream today is launching the world's first solution for wireless live streaming at HD quality by bonding six load-balanced 3G/EVDO modems over three carriers. Called Livepack, this unique solution enables you to have a roaming live video studio anywhere you can get 3G/EVDO connectivity. Livestream says it can stream HD video at far lower costs than traditional solutions such as broadcast trucks.

 Of course, bonding six 3G/EVDO modems together has some other fringe benefits - like ludicrous wireless Internet speed! Wonder if you can tether the Livepack to your laptop and get super high-speed Internet access while on the road? Imagine streaming HD Netflix movies or downloading Bittorrent files while driving down the road. - your passenger doing the laptop mouse & keystrokes of course!

Livepack fits in a custom-designed backpack and is a turn-key hardware solution for wireless live streaming at HD quality to thousands of viewers on the web using encoding hardware, Firewire cable, and 30 hours of streaming uplink time per month.

Livestream said: "Livepack is ideal for live broadcasting any events including concerts, interviews, sporting events, town hall meetings, paparazzi, university graduations, weddings, ceremonies, transmission from a moving car, and a variety of enterprise applications."

"Livepack is like having a satellite television truck in a backpack," said Max Haot, CEO and co-founder of Livestream. "If you want to live stream in high quality at an event where you don't have a reliable fixed Internet connection, broadcasting with a cell phone cannot yet deliver either the high video quality or network reliability you need. The only other solution available is a traditional broadcast truck and satellite signal which can cost up to $50,000 a day."

Livepack is an integrated solution using hardware provided by Livestream's partner, LiveU, that has been fully integrated with Livestream's streaming video platform and content delivery network (CDN). 

Livepack product details and recordings of live videos can be viewed at www.livestream.com/livepack. Livepack was recently used for coverage of the MTV Video Music Awards, NY Fashion Week, Harry Potter movie premiere and Pixie Lott Live,

Livestream's groundbreaking Livepack redefines simplicity for live mobile HD quality video streaming. Once Livepack is powered up, and a DV camera is connected, all it takes is just one press of a button to start the live streaming, enabling broadcasters to deliver live, on the scene, video coverage at just a fraction of what a satellite truck costs to rent and operate.

Livepack quickly establishes a reliable Internet connection and is not tied to one wireless network, as it includes six 3G/EVDO modems for redundancy. Because it integrates with Livestream's streaming video platform, Livepack does not require any additional re-encoding or server in your offices to reach its destination. Once the video reaches the Livestream content delivery network the video is immediately streamed in your Livestream player, as well as being captured and securely archived.

Availability and Pricing
Livestream Livepack is available in the U.S. for monthly or yearly rental directly from Livestream, and includes the hardware unit, custom designed backpack, dedicated IP address for the Livestream channel, all 3G/EVDO network charges, and 30 hours of streaming uplink time per month.  Neither a DV camera nor tripod are included. Month-to-month rental without commitment is $2,500 per month plus the cost of shipping. Yearly rental is $1,500 per month plus the cost of shipping.

Today, Mitel unveiled the next phase of its comprehensive software strategy with Mitel Series X Collaboration, showcasing Mitel's complete suite of collaboration solutions including Mitel Unified Communicator Advanced (UC Advanced) and the Mitel TeleCollaboration Solution. Mitel Series X aims to deliver a single solution to integrate business communications. Mitel's UC Advanced integrates your communications tools including phones, mobile devices, video conferencing, voice mail, instant messaging (IM), and email.

The sexy product within the Series X platform is Mitel TeleCollaboration, a 3-screen, high-def video conferencing solution that provides the ability to have up to 5 parties of video in a single screen without any degradation in video resolution. Mitel TeleCollaboration enables the group to view and edit documents within the application, in real time, without needing a dedicated room for the screens. It features the H.264 codec with enhancements made to reduce bandwidth requirements and improve tolerance. It sports 1080p x 1920p high definition (HD) video on 46" screens running at 30fps. It also supports wideband audio. According to Mitel, "Because it uses considerably less bandwidth than competitors (about 2.5 Mb for a full video, audio and collaboration session), Mitel's TeleCollaboration Solution saves you the expense of purchasing bandwidth guarantees. Lower bandwidth also means no need to dedicate a LAN segment." They're obviously going after Cisco TelePresence with this offering.

Mitel Unified Communicator Advanced (UCA) is a powerful communications client that integrates presence and availability, secure instant messaging, audio conferencing and web and video collaboration, document sharing and call control capabilities.

From within UC Advanced users have access to Mitel Dynamic Extension, Mitel Audio and Web Conferencing, Mitel NuPoint Unified Messaging, Mitel Teleworker Solution, Mitel TeleCollaboration Solution, UC Advanced Softphone, and UC Advanced Console.

Latest UC Advanced Capabilities:
 
•    Evolution of Dynamic Extension - Users now have a sophisticated interface to configure up to eight devices of choice with Mitel or non-Mitel phones as extensions of the corporate network.
•    Dynamic Status - Allows users to configure their status and presence including call routing options and calendar integration.
•    Visual Voice Mail - UC Advanced integrates with NuPoint Unified Messaging to provide users with the ability to see and access their voicemails. At the same time, they can see the presence status of internal callers and respond in the appropriate manner.
•    Web and Mobile Portals - Provides access to the UC Advanced interface securely from a web browser or on a user's mobile device.
•    Business Continuity - UC Advanced also plays a critical role in organization's business continuity plans as it provides the tools to allow employees to work and collaborate regardless of location in the event of pandemics and/or natural disasters. Integrated RSS feeds also allow for mass notification.

Mitel TeleCollaboration Solution:

•    The TeleCollaboration Solution combines collaboration with multi-party, high-definition, video conferencing technology providing full visual interaction with real-time desktop sharing.
•    Being software-based, the TeleCollaboration Solution leverages legacy equipment, protects organizations' investments, and integrates available standard components.

Latest Mitel TeleCollaboration Solution Capabilities:
•    Ability to record meetings and capture snapshots of the collaboration session.
•    Inclusion of remote workers or third-party participants through a simple web browser.
•    Requires only 2.5 megs of bandwidth with the ability to adapt to network fluctuations.
•    Mitel claims it has the lowest total cost of ownership (TCO) compared to similar offerings.

Pricing info:
Mitel Unified Communicator Advanced - For a 200-person company it is approximately $100/user for core UC Advanced. This price varies depending upon specific options selected for each user.

Mitel TeleCollaboration Solution - office configuration in the low $40,000s, meeting room configuration low $60,000s.

The IEEE recently ratified 802.3at, a new Power over Ethernet Plus standard. The IEEE 802.3at-2009 Power over Ethernet (PoE) Plus standard defines the technology for powering a wide range of powered devices at up to 25W over existing CAT5e and above cables.

Mike McCormack, Chair of the IEEE P802.3at Task Force said, "IEEE 802.3at uses the Link Layer Discover Protocol (LLPD) from IEEE Std 802.1AB, which allows dynamic power allocation and negotiation down to 1/10th of a Watt, and associated technology including Type, Length, Values (TLVs) from IEEE 802.3bc, which was also recently approved. This will allow equipment manufactures to manage their power supply costs and efficiencies at levels not possible with previous standards, and to cut their costs in the process."

I contacted Daniel Feldman, Director of Marketing, Telecom, Microsemi and he responded to Mike's quote by saying, "This is a mis-interpretation of what can be actually done. All LLDP allows is for more devices to be powered with a given power supply, it does not increase the power supply efficiency in any way."

Mike McCormack also stated,  "In addition, we have increased available power up to 25W. This will allow Power over Ethernet (PoE) to address applications such as high power Wireless APs, gimbal mounted cameras, and even some netbooks, as well as newer emerging applications."

The new standard is fully compatible with IEEE Std 802.3. "The improvements made in IEEE 802.3at are all fully compatible with any device built to the 802.3-2005 standard," said McCormack.

Soon we should start seeing low-power and high-power IEEE802.3at-2009-compliant VoIP phones, WLAN access points, network cameras, WiMAX subscriber stations and more.

One firm, Microsemi claims that their PD-9000 Midspan family offers the industry's only solutions to combine IEEE802.3at-2009 compliance, mutual midspan-to-midspan backup capabilities, uninterruptible power supply (UPS) communications, and pre-programmed powered device shutdown, all with simple network management protocol version 3 (SNMPv3)--a secured management that can run on Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6). In addition, the PD-9000G family provides a safe and cost-effective PoE solution for Ethernet end terminals. More devices can be powered via the network, thus eliminating the need to use a power supply and install costly power outlets close to the end device.

The PD-9000 family is available in 1-, 6-, 12- and 24- port versions in a 1U format, and a virtual 48-port 2U midspan.  Microsemi also offers a 60W midspan family capable of powering network cameras and other devices at up to 51W, without infringing on the new IEEE802.3at-2009 standard.

Interesting that Microsemi is able double the standard 802.3at-2009 maximum of 25W and go up to 51W without breaking the standard. I asked Daniel about this and he responded, "This is possible because the IEEE802.3at-2009 standard changed the definition of a Powered Device, compared to the text existing in IEEE802.3-2005's Clause 33. The new standard considers the PD the power interface, and not the whole device being powerd. This means that one can have two power interfaces, each taking 25.5W inside the same box. And nothing precludes these to be connected one over the 2-pairs using lines 1,2,36 and the other using the 2-pairs that use lines 4,5,7,8. "

And who is creating devices that suck 51W of power if Microsemi is the only midspan that supports 51W over Ethernet cables? Daniel responded, "One good example that can be directly powered is the Axis Q6032E. The beauty of the Microsemi business model is that we don't create only Midspans, we also create PoE splitters. In this specific case, we created a 51W capable splitter that delivers 12 or 24 volts, and we are working on a version that delivers 18V. So ANY application that takes these input voltages and uses 12, 18 or 24 volts could be powered over Ethernet today. We have customers in the Access Control market very excited about our 60W solution."

Ok, so 51W can be quite useful, but at what point does sending that kind of wattage over cables start to cause heating and wire melting issues? Well, last year I interviewed Amit Gattani, Director of Marketing for Akros Silicon and asked him, "There's no issues with the wires melting with this increased wattage in the wires, is there? Especially when these wires run up in the ceilings where it could post a fire hazard?"

Amit Gattani laughed and replied, "That's a very good question. At the standard level we spent a lot of time on this issue. Copper wire has a fairly high capability to carry current. However, heating of the cable, especially when these cables run in the attics and you're pulling 50 cables together in a bundle, heating of the cable can become an issue. One, 13W solutions you can use Cat 5 cable. For 30W it is Cat 5e and above and the reason is that Cat 5e and above have lower resistance drops so the heating issue is less." He added, "The 30W power limitation is actually put in place for a high degree of safety margin from the cable bundle heating up."

I asked Daniel this same question and he responded, "No issue whatsoever. The TIA and ISO/IEC data used to determine that maximum current of 600mA in IEEE802.3at (which is what heats the cable) used a model that assumed all 4-pairs are used, not only 2-pairs. This is because there is no gurantee that split cables are not going to be used in deployments. "

Good to know! Don't need the IT guy burning down the building just for PoE!

TANDBERG announced that their PrecisionHD™ USB camera is now shipping. The PrecisionHD™ USB camera is the first webcam to offer 720p high definition with 30 frames per second and is interoperable with Microsoft OCS.

The camera does not require additional drivers or software installations to operate the camera which is always nice - just plug and play.

I wonder how this HD camera compares with the HD-capable Microsoft LifeCam Cinema which is supposed to be coming out soon?

Below is a pic of the Microsoft LifeCam Cinema HD camera:

Microsoft released a new UC How To training application leveraging Microsoft Silverlight™ 2 to help users and administrators learn how to use Office Communications Server 2007 R2. The Microsoft Unified Communications "How-To" training tool provides step-by-step instructions for common UC tasks, such as find and add contacts, create groups in contact list, initiate a voice or video call, create a chat room, search chat history, and much more. It also goes into "etiquette" in instant messaging and etiquette in managing your presence status. I really liked this aspect of this training tool, since it is often difficult for IT/MIS folks to document etiquette procedures and get users to actually listen. So having a respected third-party such as Microsoft offer up their etiquette rules certainly will get users to pay more attention, which will result in better productivity.


Using the tool is very easy. You simply pick one of the main colored categories to the left and then drill down to the section you want to read. Interestingly, you can customize the How-To application based on the UC features you've installed in your organization. For example, if you have installed all UC features except Communicator Mobile and Communicator Group Chat, you can modify the XML file so that those features and topics do not appear in the interface. The How-To training tool is delivered as both a desktop application and a Web application. The desktop client must have a Web browser with the Silverlight 2 client installed.

Additionally, Microsoft also just launched Unified Communications Adoption and Training Kit 2007 R2. The Unified Communications Adoption and Training Kit for 2007 R2 provides guidance and resources for IT Pros, Helpdesk, and Trainers to speed adoption and usage of Unified Communications technologies in the enterprise. The kit includes Planning Checklists, Awareness materials, including Poster, Door Hangers, and E-mail samples, and User Education Materials such as Quick Reference Cards, Flash Cards, and links to Web-based Training. I played around with it and it also includes a mildy funny intro video. Definitely a useful kit, especially the Quick Reference Cards that you can print and give out to users.


Lastly, there is an online tutorial with six modules of multimedia training for the OCS 2007 R2 platform, including:

Module 1: Intro to UC and Enterprise Voice
Module 2: Communicator Instant Messaging and Presence
Module 3: Enterprise Voice-Soft phone Experience
Module 4: Desk Phone Experience
Module 5: Communicator - Audio and Video
Module 6: Microsoft Office Live Meeting & Microsoft® RoundTable™

Check it out: http://www.microsoft.com/communicationsserver/enduser/tutorials/