I still remember the first video conferencing network I helped implement almost 20 years ago. It was an H.320-based system that used multiple ISDN channels to connect endpoints at the relatively high (for the time) speed of 768 kbps. However, building the video conferencing network was actually easier than using it. Users had to navigate through a complex array of parameters such as service provider IDs (SPID) and telephone IDs (TID) using a 30-button remote control just to set up the session. A common joke at the time was that video conference meetings would always start 20 minutes after the scheduled start time; this gave the users enough time to get the proper connections up and running.
And that was just for video. The audio conference was provisioned independently, usually by dialing into an expensive operator-assisted service that used a completely different network than the video conference.
Today, collaboration has moved far beyond old-fashioned circuit-based audio and video conferencing. The nature of communications in many industries has been changed forever by the widespread adoption of mobile technologies, the emergence of global markets and supply chains, and an increasingly distributed workforce. At the same time, broadband and IP have enabled collaboration as a virtualized service that can connect users any time, anywhere. This new paradigm for collaboration is no longer based on SPIDs, TIDs, and dial tone, but rather on a portfolio of unified, presence-enabled services that bring together the worlds of voice and video, the PC and the telephone, and wired and wireless networks.
New standards, more-efficient ways of encoding audio and video signals, and breakthroughs in chronic roadblocks such as firewall traversal are enabling companies to communicate and collaborate more effectively than ever before across both geographic and organizational boundaries. The impact of these changes can help streamline virtually every business process in an organization, decreasing the time it takes to develop new services or products, driving efficiencies in how products are manufactured, reducing the sales cycle, enabling competitive differentiation, and improving customer loyalty. In the new “networked virtual organization,” the barriers between businesses, partners, and customers are beginning to dissolve.
As technology has advanced, the design of conferencing and collaboration systems has become more complex. Voice and Video Conferencing Fundamentals provides a comprehensive view of audio and video conferencing concepts, and a clear and concise description of the information needed to understand and administer modern conferencing systems; it is a reference book for how we collaborate in the twenty-first century. Thiya, Scott, and Steve have used their practical, hands-on knowledge and expertise to provide insights not only into the fundamentals of building today’s IP-based collaboration systems, but also into avoiding the most common pitfalls of deploying next-generation conferencing and collaboration systems.
Donald R. ProctorSenior Vice PresidentVoice Technology GroupCisco Systems, Inc.