H'323

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H.323 Global Deployment Insights from the
Internet2/RE Community
Mary Fran Yafchakmaryfran_at_sura.org IT Program
Coordinator, SURACo-chair, Internet2 Digital
Video GroupMember, LSVNP Steering Committee
ViDe
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Whats all this I2 and RE?

• Internet2, led by over 170 U.S. universities
  working in partnership with industry and
  government, is developing and deploying advanced
  network applications and technologies,
  accelerating the creation of tomorrow's
  Internet.
• http//www.internet2.edu

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Not Your Typical IP Customer

• The Internet2/RE community
• Has infinite IP bandwidth
• Operates as a multi-platform, multi-user,
  transitional user environment
• Gave birth to the public Internet and is intent
  on advancing global IP communication
• Has the capability and the need to push
  technology design and development

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The Simple Act of Communication
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A Global Communication System

• Must provide
• Scalability of Services
• scaleable to all inhabitants of the Earth -
  Tyler Johnson, CAVNER/ViDe
• Support for incremental deployment
• Authentication by User, not Device
• Support for User Mobility
• Growth in accordance with an Internet mindset,
  not a Telco mindset

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Investigating H.323 for RE

• ViDeNet
• http//www.vide.net/videnet
• A project of ViDe
• LSVNP (Large Scale Video Network Prototype)
• http//www.cavner.org/lsvnp
• An overlay on ViDeNet

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Who is ViDe?

• CANARIE (Canada)
• College of William and Mary
• George Washington University
• Georgia Institute of Technology
• North Carolina State University
• NYSERNet (New York State Research Education
  Network)

• Ohio State University
• University of Alabama at Birmingham
• University of Hawaii
• University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
• University of South Carolina
• University of Tennessee
• Vanderbilt University
• Yale University

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What is ViDe?
http//www.vide.net

• The goal of The Video Development Initiative
  (ViDe) is to promote the deployment of digital
  video in higher education

by leveraging collective resources and expertise
towards addressing challenges to deployment
poor interoperability, volatile standards and
high cost.
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What is ViDeNet?
http//www.vide.net/videnet
a testbed and model network in which to develop
and promote ViDe's goals for highly scalable and
robust networked video technologies.
...serves as a forum for discussion and an
experimental testbed for ideas related to
improving the state of inter-networked video and
voice over IP architectures.
...quickly evolving into a global virtual
network interconnecting advanced voice and video
networks around the world.
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ViDeNet Goals

• Bring video/voice over IP to every human being
  on the planet
• Enable and support distributed control
• Reduce/eliminate the need for PSTN services
• Serve as a production testbed for the
  development of video voice over IP technologies
  and best practices

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Current ViDeNet Sites

• American University in Cairo
• Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
• CINECA
• The College of William Mary
• Columbia University
• ESnet
• HEAnet
• Internet2
• LSVNP
• MCNC
• Natonal Sun Yat-Sen University
• Natl Technical University of Athens
• NC State University
• NYSERnet
• Ohio State University
• OARNet

• OneNet
• Penn State
• Proctor Gamble
• RADVision
• SURFnet
• University of Akron -Wayne College
• University of Hawaii
• University of New Brunswick
• UNC, Chapel Hill
• University of Pennsylvania
• University of South Carolina
• University of Tennessee
• Virginia Commonwealth University
• Wright State University
• Yale University

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Current Equipment Set

• H.323 Gatekeeper (required) - With desired level
  of intra- and inter-domain control
• RADVision, Cisco, others?
• H.323 Clients (required) - The more, the
  merrier - Interoperability very important
• Intel ProShare 500, VCON Escort25, Escort 75 Pro,
  Falcon, MC8000, ViGo, Zydacron Z340 Z360,
  Polycom Viewstation ViaVideo, VTEL P3/Galaxy
  SmartStation/H.323, Seimens IP Phone, Sorenson
  Envision, PictureTel LiveLAN, Microsoft
  NetMeeting??, others?
• MCU (optional) - Enables multi-point conferences
• RADVision, Accord, Ezenia(Videoserver), others?
• Gateway(s) (optional) - Enables communication
  with other popular communication types, e.g.
  H.320, Voice, H.321
• RADVision H.323/320, Cisco/VoIP,
  Ezenia(Videoserver) H.323/H.320, others?

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Current Target Areas

• Inter-zone gatekeeper communication
• A Model for Internet-extensible H.323
  Communications The ViDeNet Reference Gatekeeper
  Model http//www.cavner.org/cavner_info/wp.html
• Extensible dialing plan (on and off the Net)
• http//www.cavner.org/cavner_info/wp.html
• Increase cross-organizational communication
• Additional work with vendor/developers
• Experimental Production

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Current Target Areas

• Inter-zone gatekeeper communication
• A Model for Internet-extensible H.323
  Communications The ViDeNet Reference Gatekeeper
  Model http//www.cavner.org/cavner_info/wp.html
• Extensible dialing plan (on and off the Net)
• http//www.cavner.org/cavner_info/wp.html
• Increase cross-organizational communication
• Additional work with vendor/developers
• Experimental Production

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What is LSVNP?
http//www.cavner.org/lsvnp
An advanced networking project investigating and
deploying a model architecture for video-IP
services

• LSVNP is managed for ViDe by
• The University of Tennessee
• The Georgia Institute of Technology
• NYSERNet
• The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Sponsored by SURA BBN/GTE Internetworking
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Summary of LSVNP

• A focused project investigation overlaid on
  ViDeNet
• Provides a highly managed set of H.323 services
  to a targeted group of users
• 160 users in 15 diverse projects
• Seeks to define a model for full video-IP
  conferencing service deployment

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LSVNP Projects

• Middle America Earthquake Center - Researcher
  collaboration at UIUC
• National Center for Early Development and
  Learning - Research on childhood development at
  UNC-Chapel Hill
• Virtual Design Studio - Architectural Design at
  Georgia Institute of Technology
• Louisiana Statewide Research Network - Video
  collaboration at LA Board of Regents
• Virtual Rounds - Veterinary medicine clinical
  support at University of Tennessee, Knoxville
• SCUPSONet - Economic development, assisted by
  UNC-Chapel Hill
• University of Alabama - Statewide medical school
  collaboration, UA at Birmingham

• PEPNET - Univ. of Tennessee Center on Deafness
• Marine Sciences - Interconnection of laboratory
  and teaching facilities, UNC-Chapel Hill
• Public Health - Provision of services to rural
  public health facilities, through UNC-Chapel Hill
• Social Work - Teaching and training over the
  Internet, UNC-Chapel Hill
• Virginia Educational Alliance - Assisting K12
  teachers with technology in the classroom
• Vanderbilt University - Engineering collaboration
• Emergency Telemedicine - University at Buffalo,
  emergency medicine in Western New York
• Speech Language Pathology - Teaching and
  diagnosis at New York University

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LSVNP Web Site
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LSVNP Logical Configuration
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LSVNP - Early Findings I

• Equipment selection purchase, project
  integration, timing - significant milestones!
• Most support required for initial client
  installation and training on LSVNP service
  conventions
• Second-most support required for use of fickle
  semi-interoperable clients - but improving!
• Back-end services (GK, MCU) are generally the
  most reliable part

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LSVNP - Early Findings II

• Firewalls H.323 - not a pretty sight!
• Call aspect most in need of improvement Data
  collaboration application sharing
• Still waiting for that Internet-extensible
  gatekeeper...
• H.323 at/around 384K works over commodity
  Internet as well as Internet2 - (O.K., not
  predictably)

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Not So Simple After All?

• Client application issues
• Gatekeeper issues
• Going Global issues
• Human issues

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Not So Simple After All?

• Client Application Issues
• Client/Platform Choice
• Data collaboration doesnt mean Net Meeting
• Functionality sells! Voice mail, call hold, call
  forward, call transfer, caller ID...
• Dont decide for the network (no bandwidth
  restrictions!) but work with network services
  (e.g., QoS, whatever it may become)

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Not So Simple After All?

• Gatekeeper Issues
• More robust implementations (improved operating
  systems, processes as system services or daemons)
• Expected Internet server-like security (remote
  access, usage/error logging, CERT-ifiable see
  http//www.cert.org
• DNS-aware (gatekeeper-to-gatekeeper
  communication, alphanumeric naming, e.g.,
  user_at_gatekeeper.domain)
• Anticipate/support need for shared (inter-zone)
  services
• Improvements in user account management (external
  vs. internal user lookup, concept of groups)
• Not be everything, work with everything (Name
  server, Policy broker, Directory server)

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Not So Simple After All?

• Going Global Issues
• Tight integration with Voice-over-IP...It just
  makes sense.
• Prepare to join the Grid - User authentication
  vs. device authentication, multi-user
  authentication on multi-user systems
• Communication with global directory servers as
  they evolve
• Communication with network policy servers as they
  evolve
• Definition of H.323 metadata type for Web
  integration
• Gateways, gateways, gatewaysfor the foreseeable
  future

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The Truth of Implementation
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The Truth of Implementation
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The Truth of Implementation
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The Truth of Implementation
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The Truth of Implementation
Time passes Human appetite prevails...
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The Truth of Implementation
Time passes Human appetite prevails...
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Questions or Comments?

• maryfran_at_sura.org
• US 315-593-0718