What’s this FaceTime Thingy?
We’ve been hearing this a lot lately from NVCS customers and indeed even
from our own staff here at AARNet. Apple has crafted a lot of hype around their
own implementation of a mobile/desktop video conferencing product. Cleverly
produced TV commercials give viewers a warm fuzzy feeling about communicating
with their family members and friends face to face despite being separated by
distance.
So what does this mean for me you ask?
Well unless you are a Apple Mac or iPhone/iPod user not much but for
many of us who are this is quite a development.
So what is FaceTime?
Essentially Apple has created a one touch to dial interface around their
mobile devices that uses industry standards (albeit in a proprietary way) to videoconference
with other devices that use the FaceTime standard. Up until recent days this
was restricted just to mobile devices such as the iPhone 4 or iPod Touch but
now with FaceTime for Mac this has been extended to any Mac running Mac OSX
“Snow Leopard”. This includes Mac desktops, laptops and probably the next
version of the iPad, which is widely known to be including a FaceTime camera.
So how easy is it to use?
Compared to most mobile video calling devices and software it’s
incredibly easy to use and the quality is unsurpassed. FaceTime uses the H.264
video compression codec as well as the G.711 audio codec, which is used by most
video conferencing endpoints and hardware.
NVCS has been testing iPhone 4’s with FaceTime and with the beta release
of FaceTime for Mac we’ve been able to connect and communicate in good quality
video and audio quite successfully for the most part. The fact that FaceTime
for Mac is still a beta product a bet quite a good one still has a few ways to
go to match up to most desktop clients.
Below are some screenshots of testing between NVCS members:
So How Does It All Work?
Testing by various sources online have revealed FaceTime is using the
SIP protocol for call control but is using it’s own proprietary authentication
however this is not always a bad thing. Apple has promised to open up the API
for FaceTime and publish their FaceTime protocol, whether this happens remains
to be seen.
Essentially though your mobile device registers your ID with it’s
servers just like a video conferencing endpoint does with a GateKeeper. When
you make a call the gatekeeper knows where the other party is and if it’s
online will process all the call control and hand over the call to the devices
concerned.
In the case of an iPhone being a phone with a SIM card and a phone
number, this number is used to dial the phone. In the case of an iPod or a Mac
computer this is your email address registered with Apple or your AppleID.
Below is a screenshot of FaceTime dialling on a Mac:
FaceTime picks up your address book and allows you choices to dial via
email or via a phone contact for an iPhone client.
When in a call the display will automatically switch between portrait
and landscape modes depending on the other party. If the iPhone user turns
their phone sideways the FaceTime display on the Mac automatically switches to
landscape as well.
Initial tests showed the first couple of calls sometimes fail upon
connection. My guess is that it takes a couple of goes for the Apple servers to
get you authenticated properly but after that it seems to work pretty much all
the time.
This being beta software its inevitable that issues will persist.
So what does this all mean?
Apple traditionally never enters a marketplace unless they are sure they
will get a good proportion of market share otherwise it’s not worth their time.
The fact Apple has come up with FaceTime is a big indication that they are
looking for market share hence there is no reason why they wont open up the API
and interoperability for FaceTime.
Indeed I expect a Windows version of
FaceTime in the next 6 months to appear sealing the deal that FaceTime can
indeed work across all the various platform giving Apple a unified standard
that others can build upon and extend from.
What does this mean for us?
You can expect FaceTime to be available on most platforms both desktop
and mobile in the next 12-18 months I would imagine and various other software
and apps that can either interface with the FaceTime client or use it as a
backend for their own version.
Whether or not you decide to use FaceTime is up to you. The fact that
it’s one touch and simple to use makes it ideal for the platforms its going to
run on. There will be other devices and software that does the same thing and
that’s the best thing about competition and diversity!
So what does this mean for AARNet and NVCS?
We’ll certainly be using FaceTime along with all the other slew of tools
that NVCS has at it’s disposal. We’ll certainly consider any integration and
interoperability between FaceTime devices and clients and our existing services
and infrastructure. We welcome all vendors who have FaceTime products and
services to get in touch with NVCS for evaluation and consideration for
addition to our services.
Until then, see you on FaceTime!