The Basics of Video Conferencing

Modern enterprise operations all share the same rapidly depleting commodity: Time. When time is leveraged, productivity and production invariably increases within a enterprise organization. Technology continues to supply workers and businesses with new tools to help leverage time. Video conferencing could prove to be one of the most important time leveraging enterprise tools of the 21st century.

Once a luxury for only the largest companies, video conferencing is starting to convert the scenery of how businesses narrate with both employees and clients. In its simplest form, video conferencing allows two individuals to be thousands of miles apart yet still effectively narrate as if they were in the same room. Systems in use today can now connect complicated parties across complicated continents - in real time with excellent and high capability video and audio.

Conferencing

The Origins of Video Conferencing

Video conferencing capabilities originated in the 1970s. Similar to every other technology in use today, video conferencing has changed dramatically since first being developed. Early proponents of video conferencing technology had no standards or protocols to rely on. This fact made a teleconference via video an expensive proposition - one that only huge clubs and government agencies could afford. In a time where cell phones were still a decade away for most consumers and businesses, video teleconferences were few and far between.

Today, affordable networks and systems are widely ready across the globe. Interoperability of video teleconferencing systems is virtually guaranteed now that standards and protocols have been clearly established.

Specific Standards and Protocols for Video Conferencing

To make any technology usable for the masses, standards and protocols are required to insure systems, software and hardware are ubiquitous across the board.

To help warrant video teleconferencing compatibility in the middle of manufacturers, the International Telecommunications Union advanced and defined a series of video conferencing standards. In place since the mid-1990s, current standards are defined in terms of H.3xx.

H.3xx are "umbrella" recommendations for video conferencing. They include the protocols for coding video/audio, multiplexing, signaling, and control.

The core H.3xx recommendations are as follows:

H.320 - Narrow-band video conferencing over circuit-switched networks (N-Isdn, Sw56, dedicated networks) H.321 - Narrow-band video conferencing over Atm and B-Isdn H.323 - Narrow-band video conferencing over non-guaranteed quality-of-service packet networks (Lan, Internet, etc.) H.324 - Very narrow-band video conferencing over the normal (dial-up) telephone network H.310 - Wide-band (Mpeg-2) video conferencing over Atm and B-Isdn H.323 is a appropriate for audio, video, and data transportation over Ip-based (Internet Protocol) networks.

All major video conferencing manufacturers produce Itu compliant equipment. When choosing video conference equipment, be sure that you pick a theory that does not offer only ownership methods of operation.

How Video Conferencing Works

The success of a video teleconference depends entirely on the equipment and network capabilities behind that equipment.

Since real-time video contains a colossal number of data, it is imperative that the theory being used can handle a high number of bandwidth at any given time. Fortunately, video conferencing systems are designed to "sample" and "compress" a determined portion of data (such as the unchanging "background' of the room) to help conserve bandwidth. This compression is terminated straight through what is commonly known as a "codec". A video codec is the expedient or software that enables video compression and or decompression for digital video.

It is the job of the codec to "sample" data at specific time intervals (fractions of a second) and then compress this data so that it can be delivered across the network. The codec on the receiving end then reassembles audio and video for transmission onto a television or computer screen. To conserve bandwidth, the codec focuses on the most important data - i.e. Intriguing objects such as people, props, etc. Intriguing objects take a significant number of processing power, so the great the codec, the higher capability your video conference will appear.

Questions to Ask Yourself Before choosing a Video Conferencing Solution

A wide collection of video conferencing systems are ready in the marketplace. Before purchasing equipment or services from vendors, reconsider the following as a starting point to narrow down the requirements of a theory that fits with your enterprise needs:

How will you be using video conferencing? A easy video conference in the middle of employees in the same town, construction or area will wish a more basic explication than video conferencing complicated parties across the vast distances. Settle the maximum video conference scenario you will be utilizing to narrow down bandwidth and equipment requirements.

How large is the meeting room where you plan to escort video conferences? Camera capabilities will depend on the size of the room and number of people involved. Conducting a video conference in a small auditorium with dozens of participants will wish a quite dissimilar explication than 1-2 individuals transmitting from a small office.

On what type of network will your video conference be hosted? The network you pick to host your videoconference will play a key role in allembracing reliability and performance. Most video conferencing systems sold today include an Ip interface with Isdn as an option. Settle the capabilities of your network before choosing on any one specific video conferencing solution.

The hereafter of Video Conferencing

Increasing productivity while reducing costs will always be an important part of any business. The popularity of video conferencing will admittedly growth in the advent years. Virtually all industries will eventually apply video conferencing in some form to help bring people together - at considerably less cost than corporeal travel for face-to-face meetings. As more corporations, health care providers and governments touch the value in video conferencing as a time and money-saving tool, the technology will become more necessity than luxury. The age of the video conference has just begun!

The Basics of Video Conferencing