The pieces are coming together, the technology is real as is the value. Interoperable desktop video is the next UC game changer.
Video conferencing rooms are useful, but generally require advance planning and can be intimidating. Technology marches on--now it's called Telepresence with improvements such as HD picture quality. While waiting for your appointment in the Telepresence studio, let's make some video calls. It is called visual communications, and it's taking place at your desktop. If VoIP was the industry of the last decade, the next ten years will belong to desktop video. The pace of progress in this area is staggering, and the pieces are all falling into place.
About a year ago, Polycom released the VVX 1500 "Media Phone" (video phone). At the time, I wrote, "The new Polycom VVX 1500 is probably the single most exciting and useless product ever released from Polycom." My complaint was with its interoperability (or its lack thereof). Polycom knows video and Polycom knows phones--but somehow this new model was incompatible with both sectors. Evidently, it was one of those "if you build it, they will come" products, and a tremendous number of changes have occurred since it was released.
Desktop Video Past
Perhaps one of the most famous examples of technology "bait and bait"--was the 1964 unveiling of Bell's PicturePhone at the New York World's Fair. The system wasn't quite ready for mass production at that time. It wasn't until 1970 that Bell offered commercial PicturePhone service in downtown Pittsburgh. AT&T executives incorrectly predicted a million PicturePhone sets would be in use by 1980.
Several factors have conspired to create an environment where desktop video is now possible, easy, and frequently free. The changes include widespread adoption of broadband networking, codec improvements, the proliferation of webcams, VoIP, IM, microprocessors, and SIP. The real excitement will come with interoperability between different types/networks of desktop video users as well as desktop-to-room systems.
Desktop Video Present
Cisco published this Visual Communications Index prediction last year: "Video communications traffic growth is accelerating. Though still a small fraction of overall Internet traffic, video over instant messaging and video calling are experiencing high growth. Video communications traffic will increase tenfold from 2008 to 2013." Subsequently, Cisco made a series of announcements that prioritized video, acquired Tandberg, and launched two new video phones. The cynic might conclude that Cisco's real motivation is network infrastructure upgrades, but Cisco is not alone with its video vision.
Avaya also has a comprehensive video strategy, largely built around the Avaya one-X software client for the desktop. Avaya's solution offers integration with Microsoft OCS and IBM Lotus Sametime--as well as kiosks and a range of products from Tandberg and Polycom including a desktop video phone produced by Tandberg. Microsoft is big on desktop video with OCS, and also created a 360-degree USB table camera. IBM, Siemens, Mitel, ShoreTel, NEC, Digium, BroadSoft, and many others offer at least one desktop video solution. In addition to soft clients and video phones, desktop SIP HD appliances are emerging such as the VC240 recently jointly announced by Radvision and Samsung.
Suddenly, the enterprise landscape seems highly desktop video-capable. But desktop video won't really take off until interoperability is improved. Most systems work great within their network domains, but that isn't enough. Consumer-focused solutions such as Skype, AOL, Google, Fring, and others are readily available between organizations (and borders), but are also limited to specific network services and clients. There are four levels of interoperability the industry needs to overcome:
1. Between different types of endpoints (hard and soft, different brands).
2. Between different sites and brands of phone systems
3. Between desktops and conference rooms (room systems)
4. With Skype and/or other public desktop visual communication services
After upgrading to Mitel's latest release, I found the Polycom VVX 1500 now worked beautifully as a multi-line SIP video phone. There is no cross endorsement or mutual testing between Mitel and Polycom, it just worked. It also just works on Asterisk, BroadSoft, NEC, Zultys, and probably many others that support SIP (a different software load is available for Cisco). This was not the case a year ago, evidently SIP video is evolving rapidly. This phone not only works on multiple phone systems/services, but can also send/receive video with other SIP devices using H.264 or H.263 encoding such as the Grandstream GXV3140 or the Counterpath Bria SIP softphone. For further interop testing, we moved the Polycom video phones to an Asterisk system. Then the big surprise came: flawless end-to-end video calls with one phone on each phone system.
Does this mean inter-system SIP video works? Almost. My two phone systems were connected over an IP LAN, not over traditional SIP trunks. Today's SIP trunks don't do a good job of supporting external video calls. The issue is passing video parameters during call set-up and bandwidth management during the call. Fortunately, The International Multimedia Telecommunications Consortium (IMTC) recently announced recommendations for SIP use for video conferencing. The new expanded SIP reference documents will be submitted for consideration to the ITU and IETF standards bodies next month. Of course end-to-end video still requires adequate bandwidth and codec compatibility, but the pieces are falling into place.
With room systems, interoperability took years to resolve. It is now reasonably straightforward using H.323. One solution is to extend H.323 to desktop systems and the PBX, but the protocol's death has been predicted (exaggerated) for years. If the goal is to make room systems more PBX friendly, it appears to be less effort to bring SIP to the rooms. Radvision's Tsahi Levent-Levi recently wrote:
So H.323...will fade away, but a lot slower than SIP enthusiasts want. The last stronghold of H.323 is definitely the enterprise video conferencing market, as most deployments today are H.323 deployments, and SIP is only used on the fringes of this market. In this context, SIP is a solution looking for a problem, as nothing that SIP can do--H.323 can’t...The move to SIP won’t come from the users--they couldn’t care less. It will come from the vendors who need to connect it to PBXs.
Being able to include desktop participants into a room conference is highly useful and a great use of the technology. Option one is to use H.323 end-to-end. This is possible with many of the enterprise soft clients available. The Polycom VVX 1500 D is a dual stack phone that simultaneously supports SIP and H.323. The problem with this approach is it bypasses the phone systems, complicating call setup. The other option is to use SIP end-to-end, but this requires upgrades to most room systems. Most room system vendors have not embraced SIP (yet).
The final option is a gateway approach. Polycom, for example, now supports SIP in some of its multipoint gateways. It is likely room systems will begin to embrace SIP as it gains in desktop popularity.
The above demonstrates impressive video progress, but what about Skype? Skype clearly has intentions to expand more into business communications. So far, enterprise vendors seem to either consider Skype a competitor or simply ignore it. But as Verizon recently did, embracing Skype could offer a competitive advantage. Skype's low cost solution forces compromises on quality (both video and voice), but many consider the compromise an equitable arrangement. But that could change too--Facevisions recently announced an HD webcam for Skype. Nor is Skype just a desktop application either. Designed for the home, a room system could be created soon with Skype-enabled televisions from Panasonic or LG Electronics.
Getting Skype to play with enterprise desktop video solutions can be a bit trickier. Skype published detailed gateway specifications for audio and video. I've discussed this with several enterprise vendors which are considering integrating Skype into their products, but so far none have announced such intentions. Lifesize recently took a partial step by integrating Skype's IM client into their endpoint. Another option available today is SkyStone Video from Imagicle. This software gateway connects the Skype network to H.323 and/or SIP systems including Cisco, Avaya, Radvision, Lifesize as well as "any next-generation IP PBX".
Polycom is in an interesting position as this sector develops. Polycom has extensive H.323 video and SIP telephony experience, and perhaps more importantly holds a number of key partnerships that could drive interoperability. Polycom works closely with Microsoft, BroadSoft, Avaya, Juniper, Siemens, and IBM on video technologies. Recently, Polycom announced Outlook integration with its HDX video products, a new alliance with Siemens Enterprise Communications, a residential Telepresence solution with IBM, and "H.264 High Profile" - a more efficient codec.
Desktop Video Future
It is becoming clear that desktop video is coming. Room systems are interesting and will continue, but desktop video will explode. The major hurdles of interoperability are on course for resolution. So what's next?
Skype is an interesting part of the puzzle, and direct integration into the enterprise may be more useful than a gateway approach. Note, both Skype and Avaya (and Nortel) are under common majority ownership with Silver Lake. Integrating Skype directly into an enterprise client may have strong benefits for all involved brands. Remember, both Skype and Avaya are working to improve and maintain desktop clients for presence, IM, audio, video and collaboration. Also both companies could benefit from new desktop appliances. There is no doubt conversations are taking place, but everything is speculation at this point.
Mobility is a big focus for the enterprise right now. Many cell phones already support video playback and recording. Mobile video conferencing could be on the horizon. iPhone OS 3.2 was recently confirmed to support video calling, positioning future iPhones/iPads for portable visual communications. The Saygus V1 Android smartphone designed for video conferencing is now rumored to be headed for Verizon--most likely in conjunction with Skype Mobile. Verizon recently demonstrated live video conferencing over LTE using portable units from Creative Labs. As the technology matures, wireless visual communications are inevitable. You just never know when a plane might land in the Hudson River again or other CNN iReport opportunity presents itself.
In a previous No Jitter Feature, I wrote about the IP phone redefining itself. Desktop visual communications provides that opportunity. The pieces are coming together, the technology is real as is the value. Interoperable desktop video is the next UC game changer.
Dave Michels is a frequent contributor and posts regularly at his blog PinDropSoup.
