High definition collaboration is being employed across the Tasman with AARNet staff taking part in a video conference call with their New Zealand equivalent, REANNZ, on the KAREN network using AARNet's High Definition Codian 4510 MCU.
Our Kiwi colleagues were trialling a Sony PCS-HG90 720p video conferencing unit running at full 1280x720/60fps resolution to a variety of AARNet sites utilising desktop webcams and room based systems. The ClearVision feature on the Codian MCU was certainly in full swing managing to switch a continuous presence view across all sites from CIF to HD resolutions.
QUESTNet 2007 was held in Cairns this year and was managed by the Central Queensland University. AARNet provided network connectivity and also assisted in the delivery and management of the conference local area wired and wireless networking services. AARNet was acknowledged as a key supporter of the conference and was awarded with Gold partner status.
Peter Johnson presented his analysis of AARNet’s current VoIP Toll bypass services. He then provided details on the new network that was being designed to support a broader set of real time applications (voice, video, instant messaging, presence etc.) and support for legal intercept requirements using session border controllers.
Brett Rosolen presented details of his review of the sector in the use of media capture, editing and distribution solutions for teaching and learning and the promotion of research. AARNet presented details of an infrastructure that will be built to support a number of content streaming applications. Jim DeRoest’s keynote speech at the conference highlighted the work that AARNet has done to develop ResearchOne, an on demand portal of video content. Brett concluded that through his analysis of the sector, there was more demand for assistance in the capture, edit and delivery of video on demand through easy to use portal tools, hence the focus on ResearchOne.
Kewin Stoeckigt (AARNet) and Kevin Sutherland (ACMA) presented the findings of the two year ENUM trial. Follow on discussions highlighted that delegates were keen to explore infrastructure ENUM to simplify and secure their VoIP services.
Jason Bordujenko presented on the National Video Conferencing Service (NVCS) - being launched at QUESTNet as an initiative to support video conferencing in the Australian Research and Academic sectors. Jason also demonstrated a Sony high definition video conferencing system in the AARNet hospitality suite and previewed the Codian High Definition MCU in connecting to other AARNet sites.
Glen Turner stated that the bottlenecks to network performance are moving towards applications. Programmers can use the guidelines from this paper and presentation to avoid errors which can dramatically lower the network performance of their application (paper).
The conference presentations are now available online.