Eric Atkinson, Department Head, Information Systems

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One OLIVE or Two? Shaking (or Stirring) Up
Library Service with Videoconferencing
Technology Information
Eric Atkinson, Department Head, Information
Systems Orange County Library System Orlando,
Florida
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Technology Issues
Applicable Standards Point-to-Point vs
Gatekeeper Codec Quality Hardware Vendors
Tandberg, Polycom, D-Link
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Connection Protocol Standards
H.320 used for point-to-point ISDN connections
H.323 used for IP connections and important for
gatekeepers
Most quality equipment supports both. H.320 is
important for PBX and legacy support, H.323 is
important for network growth
Video Compression Standards
H.263 supports MPEG-2
H.264 supports MPEG-4
Equipment supporting either standard will provide
good video quality, but H.264 uses far less
bandwidth.
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Point-to-Point
Each customer unit connects to the same call
attendant. If the attendant is online and a
second call comes in, the second caller gets a
busy signal
Gatekeeper
Customer units connect to a Gatekeeper which
routes the call to the next available attendant.
Costs about 8,000
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Codec encode / decode
Used to convert audio / video to digital format,
then back to analog
Far and away the most expensive part of the
videoconferencing equipment, but also determines
the quality of the call
Can be hardware or software
Hardware codecs run on dedicated microprocessor
and range from 200 to 4,000.
Software codecs run on a PC, cost less and can
provide reasonable quality on fast PCs
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Tandberg T1000
Completely integrated system including camera,
12.1" LCD screen, speakers, microphone and cables
Superior video quality incorporating the H.264
standard also supports H.323, H.320 SIP
Send and view presentations and presenter
simultaneously with Dual Stream technology on
single or dual monitor setup
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Tandberg SL550
Provides an armored telephone handset to ensure
customer privacy.
Designed for use in a public environments. Camera
assembly and 15 LCD display are enclosed in a
Polyethylene housing with a durable Lexan cover
that protects all components from accidental
damage as well as allowing it to be easily wiped
down with regular household cleaners.
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D-Link Videophone
Build-your-own (Videophone, LCD TV, Phone, custom
case) total cost approximately 1,000
Lower cost (approx 200), but much slower codec
(lower quality video)
H.323 (IP communications) H.263 Support
Speed Dial List (10 Entries) , no auto-dial