Group (Room-Based) Videoconferencing

Yu-Cheng Su (Editor: Scott Partridge)

Today, people start talking about videoconferencing (VC) as a new generation of communications technology beyond mail, telephone, and fax machines. The advent of this two-way audio and video device with full motion communications symbolizes the human vision seen in television sci-fi episodes years ago has finally come true. Even though the technology has been evolving very well in implementing videoconferencing, it’s still too early to assume that VC will successfully penetrate family life in the way that the telephone has. However, what we can be sure now is the maturity of group VC which has been pioneered in the whole VC technology will continue to promote the communications uses within businesses.

HISTORY

The development of VC technology can be traced back to 1964 when AT&T first introduced the concept of videophone. Their product, named Picturephone, was demonstrated to target at the common family uses. It was originally promoted to change the way people communicate, but it had not appeal much recognition from the public then. Although the result might be disappointing, the idea of communicating through full-motion pictures seemed to be motivating, especially in business fields.

It was not until 1982 when U.S.-based Compression Lab, Inc announced an international VC system to enable two-way, full-motion color video graphics and data transmission, the potential of VC market had emerged. Then, the following fifteen years have been fulfilled with constantly improving technological innovations. Before it combined with multimedia and Internet to evolve into desktop VC age in the mid-1990s, VC technology had been developed mostly in the room-to-room services.

CODEC (CODER-DECODER)

The advancement of compression technology is the major factor in pushing the VC vision to reality. Codec, which is used to compress/decompress full-motion, video, audio, and data signals for transmission over networks, is the central component of a VC system.

STRUCTURE & STANDARD

There are two standards now used in VC and they are both published by International Telecommunications Union (ITU). The H.320 standard issued in December 1990 is a standard set of communications protocols and video and audio algorithms. The H.320 are standard for ISDN (Integrated Service Digital Network) – compatible VC transmission systems. ISDN is the widely dispersed broadband network with minimum transmitting speed of 128 Kbps. ISDN also has the high capability to execute many functions simultaneously without transmission interruption. Currently, 95 per cent of VC for business is processing over ISDN (Pender 1997).

The H.323 standard, published in May 1996, enables the interoperability for all applications running on the TCP/IP networks. VC over the IP(Internet Protocols) based network is growing since the rise of Internet and multimedia technology. LAN (Local Area Network) are the transmission pipeline that combines with the widely installed IP networks in most corporate offices to process the internet-to-intranet VC for enterprises.

IP-based LAN’s with H.323 systems have the potential to become the future standards because they are more available than ISDN. besides, they are more cost-effective since video and Internet access share the same pipe. LAN’s are, after all, closed networks that are more suitable for small group or office desktop VC uses. In order to reach remote users, distant connection, like WAN or ATM, would be necessary. Furthermore, it’s hard to effectively transmit video with the limited bandwidth over LANs.

EQUIPMENT

The room-based VC requires basic equipment including a camera, microphone, codec, monitor, and speaker. Other auxiliary equipment to enforce the functionality contains document cameras, whiteboard (for graphics), PC applications, slider converter and VCRs.

BUSINESS: THE EARLY PLAYERS

Before 1988, only large companies could afford expensive VC equipment and high costs of transmission over dedicated telecommunications circuits. Service providers like AT&T and Isacomm established their own room systems in several major cities and leased them to companies. Aditionally, the hotel industry including Holiday Inn and Hilton that equipped one-way video, two-way audio systems were the early contributors to the development of group VC. Those services were very expensive then.

THE CRUCIAL CHANGES

Some technological and market changes occurring in the mid-1980s helped reduce the market barriers. First, the breakup of AT&T in 1984 reallocated bandwidth resources and increased options for gaining bandwidth. Secondly, the technological advancement of codec made bandwidth use more efficient. Thirdly, increased services such as Fractional T1 expanded VC transmission choices. Most importantly, the proposal standard would be first approved in June 1990 by CCITT (Consultative Committee of International Telegraph and Telephone). Those changes largely promoted bandwidth supply and reduced costs and thus made 1988 become a crucial year when the market started to see its soaring future.

THE ADVENT OF COMPUTER INDUSTRY

After 1990, computer industry started to involve in the VC market as they envisioned multimedia technology would boost the desktop VC. The importance of desktop VC is the potential for the common uses in people’s ordinary life. The big computer companies like Intel Corp., IBM, and Microsoft Corp. have all jumped into the market.

MUTUAL BENEFITS

The development of desktop VC helped broaden the dimensions of group VC. For example, the excellent PC software applications which perform the data, video and audio on the spilt windows bring the uses of other auxiliary equipment to group systems. The equipment then enforces the functionality of the room-based VC. On the other hand, individual PC users are forming group systems because having too many people around a PC is not an effective way to communicate. Group systems use higher quality equipment like cameras, which PC users want to install in their systems.

SERVICES

The growing market is partially due to many companies willing to install their own VC rooms instead of renting from suppliers. Therefore, many providers sell both equipment and services and professional room design has also become necessary. Players include telecos, computer industry (software and hardware), electronic devices industry, and integration service providers. Telecommunications companies are the most dominant players among the current attentive industries, because they hold the bandwidth resources and keep cooperation with other players meanwhile.

THE BRIGHT MARKET

According to a report by the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) and Multimedia Telecommunications Association (MMTA), the 1997 VC market is about $4.13 billion and it was forecasted to grow to $10.25 billion in 2001, according to Broadband Network News. The study showed a quite bright future for both group and desktop VC.

Group VC has been widely adopted in a variety of applications.

EDUCATION

Except for business use which is the originally driving force, educational use may be one of the most effective experiments. Tracing back to the early development of VC, the full-motion, one-way VC was the most suitable form for education. Those early experiments made distance learning acceptable in every educational level today. However, the impact of VC on the traditional education remains controversial with issues like the interactive relationship between teachers and students and the reconfiguration of the roles of teachers. Above all, the lack of budgets is perhaps the most destructive factor that might finally undermine the educational application of VC.

BUSINESS

The best example of group VC application is still with business uses from simple merchandise presentations to distant corporate meetings. The most obvious effects are improving communications and reducing travel budgets. In fact, many corporate managers consider the value of group VC as promoting the internal communications instead of lowering the travel expense. In addition, through the group VC, managers can always share immediate events and information and engineers can work virtually together to design products. That will certainly be helpful for the decision making. Other common group VC applications include interviews, distant seminars, medical consultations, and association meetings.

REDUCTION OF TRAVEL TIME & EXPENSE

Reducing travel time and expense was the first consideration in the development of VC. Studies by University of California at Irvine showed 75 per cent of business travel is for meetings, and a Bell System study indicated 60 per cent of those meetings are intracompany. Half of those meetings could be implemented through VC systems, with a company eliminating 20 per cent of its travel budget (Wilk 1982). Besides, many executives who have to travel frequently tend to admire the convenience of group VC

THE CHANGE IN MANAGEMENT

In recent years, many companies in U.S. have changed their managing style from a pyramid to a matrix organizational structure. Instead of strictly defined job functions, the latter style requires more group involvement to made decisions. This change increases the number of internal meetings. Hence, the group VC could be an effective resolution in saving time and meeting the demand of conference.

The major development of VC technology has been shifted from group service to desktop VC since the computer industry joined the market in the 1990s. Compared to desktop VC, group VC is now more mature and stable in both technology and quality.

STANDARD

Two different opinions on the future standard between two major vendors are taking their own path in determining if H.320 will live. Intel Corp. is investing in the recently developed H.323 standard that allows desktop video to broadcast over LAN’s or intranet while PictureTel Corp. believes that many remote users will stick with the current popular H.320 standard that allows VC to process over ISDN.

STRUCTURE

As the current players are holding different perspectives toward the future structure of VC, some companies like Sony are developing systems that are 320/323 compatible. With the reliable gateways developed, the 320-based systems can run over the corporate networks, and desktop and group systems can both process over ISDN and public switched networks.

VISION

Group VC has been evolved very rapidly in the past ten years. People in this industry tend to be confident with the future development regarding of aspects in technology, business, and even personal communications. It is believed only the cultural issues remain as problems. All the images are not exactly real-time and people are not accustomed to appearing on the screen. Those are the short-term problems that can be possibly improved or changed. However, the "shake-hand" culture that symbolized the mutual interaction between people instead of virtual meetings remains a more complicated social issue. Even so, this effect in business uses is considered trivial because group VC is essentially a complement tools for communications.

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