Alcatel-Lucent Video Conferencing

6.8 Visual collaboration and video

6.8.1 Alcatel-Lucent Video Conferencing

The Alcatel-Lucent OpenTouch offer includes all facets of video conferencing and collaboration:

 Room systems

 Desktop devices and software

 Unified communications-based video conferencing and collaboration

 Video infrastructure—NAT/firewall, multipoint conferencing, gateways, management apps Your needs can all be satisfied by the offer.

Unified Communications video services offer video media as a primary component of visual communications and collaboration.

The services provided include:

 Peer to peer video calling

 Multipoint video conferencing, using voice-activated video switching, native to the OpenTouch platform

 Multipoint video conferencing, using an external video multipoint control unit (MCU), which offers continuous display and supports an array of third-party video endpoints

Alcatel-Lucent offers endpoints and clients that benefit from the video quality of the OpenTouch platform. End users can use the MyIC Phone and webcam, integrated systems from LifeSize, the OpenTouch Conversation for PC (OTC PC), and the OpenTouch Conversation for iPad (OTC iPad).

LifeSize systems and devices address the need for enterprise group video conferencing and desktop video conferencing. LifeSize systems can be deployed with no integration to the OpenTouch, or they can be deployed in a tight and well-tested integration where the LifeSize device is a native part of the OpenTouch call flow.

The OTC PC and OTC iPad clients are most suitable for personal use. These applications run on standard devices and can interoperate with LifeSize systems. OpenTouch Conversation clients offer advanced unified communications features such as application and desktop sharing, presentation sharing and annotation, presence and IM, call routing, and conference administrative functions.

See the Alcatel-Lucent Application Partner Program for information on third-party video systems support.

Video solution

OpenTouch Communications can operate with one or several media:

 Audio only

 Audio and video

 Audio and data sharing

 Audio, video and data sharing

There are different ways of establishing video communication from the OpenTouch Conversation for PC (OTC PC) client.

Peer-to-peer session between two endpoints (e.g.: the OTC PC and MyIC phone). Peer to Peer is based on Direct RTP. The quality and performance depends on network configuration and video equipment (codec/webcam)

Multiparty video conferencing is a conference between three or more participants. These participants can use the client of their choice.

Within the multiparty video conferencing there are different types of conferences:

 Ad Hoc

 Scheduled

 Meet Me Conferencing

Ad hoc conferencing (immediate or on-the-fly) - this is an unscheduled conference that requires no advanced preparation. This type of conference is initiated by:

 Selecting several contacts through a user interface (e.g.: from the OTC PC) and pressing a video call button.

 Calling additional people during a call or conference.

Three-party and six-party conferences operate in the same way as Ad hoc conferences. No conference identification is provided or required. No conference resource is reserved. They are acquired from a pool of resources. If no resources are available, the conference is not established.

Scheduled conferencing - this is a scheduled conference organized in advance, where:

 The date, time, duration, and possible reoccurrence of the conference are defined using the OTC PC, OTC iPad, or Outlook

 Conference participants receive dial-in numbers and a conference invitation URL – if Outlook is used to schedule the conference, participants receive an Outlook Calendar appointment

Meet-me conferencing is a “reservationless” conference - this is a scheduled conference with an expected long duration. The conference “room” is always open and can contain persistent chat conversations and documents. Scheduled and meet-me reservationless conferences can be password protected for an additional layer of security.

The meet-me conference consists of:

 Dial-in phone numbers

 Conference invitation URL (meeting URL)

For meet-me, scheduled conferencing, and ad-hoc conferencing with more than three participants, the Conferencing option must be purchased.

There are two main modes of multiparty video conferencing:

 Voice-activated video switching (selective presence)

 Video mixing (continuous presence)

Depending on video communication requirements, CPU processing requirements can differ. An external video MCU, which is a dedicated hardware solution, is required for multi-party video conference with continuous presence or video mixing.

Voice-activated video switching (selective presence)

Selective presence means that only one participant is displayed at any specific time, this applies to presentations where the speaker must be seen by all the audience members.

In this context, video multiparty conference can be handled by the embedded OpenTouch software or an external hardware MCU solution.

Generally, with a software solution:

 All the devices connected to the conference must be running with the same video codec—

codec conversion is not possible

 There is no resolution adaptation

 There is no possible framing modification

When the speaker changes, the new video stream is selected and broadcast to all participants thanks to the VAD mechanism (Voice Activity Detection).

To ensure the image quality on each of the video endpoints, all the video client must have the same configuration in terms of supported codecs, resolution and framing.

Video mixing (continuous presence)

Video mixing (continuous presence) requires an integrated LifeSize UVC Multipoint system.

LifeSize UVC MP supports:

 Codec conversion (transcoding)

 Resolution adaptation (trans-scaling)

 Framing modification (trans-rating)

In addition to video collaboration solutions for PCs and in partnership with major actors of the videoconference market, Alcatel-Lucent offers:

 Full HD (1080p) videoconference facilities, to ensure optimum conference room conditions

 Multipoint Control Unit (MCU)

 Telepresence (HD video on a one-to-one scale)

 ISDN compatibility for external connections on ISDN

 Firewall management for IP external connections

 Administration solutions to pilot and configure all the devices from a central platform

 Recording platform for video streaming