Report from Fall 2003 Internet2 Meeting on Directory Enabled Voice and Video Over IP

At the Fall 2003 Internet2 Member Meeting the ViDe.Net team successfully demonstrated a number of systems using the H.350 standard for integrating video and voice over IP. I would like extend thanks to everyone who has helped make this a reality. It was quite impressive to see commercial and research efforts coming together to support a solution the Internet2 community has needed for some time.

Special thanks to: Internet2’s Video Middleware Group ViDe ITU-T Study Group 16

We were able to show:

• H.350 distributed directory searching across multiple universities to find people and their H.323 or SIP addresses.

• RADVISION ECS gatekeeper that supports H.350 so that you simply point your gatekeeper at your directory and it automatically picks up all user’s H.323 addresses. No need to enter users into the gatekeeper.

• A sample endpoint from RADVISION that uses H.350 to automatically configure itself using user’s single sign on credentials. No more mis-configured endpoints. This endpoint is sample code available to vendors developing their own endpoints.

• A SIP proxy from HCL technologies that supports H.350 so that you simply point your proxy at your directory and it automatically picks up all user’s SIP addresses. No need to enter users into the proxy.

• Directory enabled SIP video user agent from Claremont Graduate University that can self configure from LDAP and access users from the directory. This endpoint uses the DynamicSoft stack and supports directory tools right in the client.

• Directory enabled presence, instant messaging and voice over IP using a SIP user agent from HCL. This user agent was not H.350-enabled and the purpose of the demo was to show how directory enabled proxies can be used to manage standard SIP functionality.

• A SIP video user agent from Wave3. This user agent is not H.350 aware, but does support clickable dialing. One can simply type a name into the ViDeNet directory search and click on a result to launch a SIP videoconference. This demo showed the value of institutions implementing H.350 even if they don’t use directory enabled call servers.

Details and links to these products are available at: http://www.unc.edu/video/middleware/I2FMM2003/demo/

For more information on H.350, see the Video Middleware Cookbook: http://lab.ac.uab.edu/vnet/

With sincere appreciation, Tyler Johnson University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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