Prepared by: Steve Smith MITP MIET MIEEE Technical Director Astro Communications Ltd Date: 18/02/2014 THE ENTERPRISE GUIDE TO VIDEO CONFERENCING This document is intended for anyone considering video conferencing or video calling for their organisation. We look at the implications of deploying self-hosted and cloud based video conferencing infrastructure, including free cloud based enterprise quality video calling software. Astro Communications Ltd Hawley Manor Hawley Road Dartford Kent DA1 1PX
1 The Enterprise Guide to Video Conferencing Table of Contents Introduction... 3 Who Is This Document For?... 5 What do you want to achieve?... 6 Video Calls... 6 Video Conferencing... 7 Document Sharing... 7 Recording... 7 Web Streaming... 8 Video Messaging... 8 Who are your users and what are their job roles?... 8 Where are your users and what devices will they use?... 8 What are your capacity requirements?... 9 Number of users... 9 Concurrent users... 10 Network Capacity... 10 Server Capacity... 11 PC Processor and Memory Capacity... 11 What is your budget?... 11 What is your required Return On Investment?... 12 System Considerations... 13 Endpoints... 13 Room System... 13 Desktop System... 14 Software System... 14 Infrastructure... 15 Multipoint Control Unit (MCU)... 15 Gatekeeper... 16 Firewall Traversal Server... 16 Management... 16 Integration... 17 Recording... 17 Other Infrastructure Components... 17 User Interface... 17 Scheduled Calls... 18 Unscheduled Calls (Ad Hoc)... 18 Directory... 19 Integration... 19 Security Considerations... 21 User Authentication... 21 Auto Answer versus Manual Answer... 21 Endpoint on Internal Network Side of the Firewall... 21 Endpoint in DMZ... 22 Endpoint on Public Internet Side of the Firewall... 22 Video Conferencing Infrastructure with Firewall Traversal... 23 The Future... 24 Design & Specification... 25 Design & Architecture - Endpoints... 25 Design & Architecture - Infrastructure... 25 Hardware... 25 Virtual Infrastructure... 26
2 The Enterprise Guide to Video Conferencing Hosted... 26 Cloud... 27 Hybrid... 27 Physical Network Requirements... 28 LAN and switch port speed and duplex... 28 Spanning Tree... 28 Proxy Servers... 28 IP Addressing... 29 WAN & Internet Bandwidth Requirements... 29 MCU/Bridge Requirements... 29 Network Security... 29 Resilience/Redundancy... 30 Integration... 30 User Trial... 30 Users... 30 Endpoints... 30 Infrastructure... 31 Bandwidth... 31 Security Restrictions... 31 Success Criteria... 31 Stakeholders... 31 Sign Off... 31 Deployment... 32 Planning... 32 Preparation... 32 Installation... 32 Configuration... 32 Infrastructure... 32 Endpoint... 33 Directories... 33 Testing... 33 Network Infrastructure... 33 Internal Private Call Testing... 34 External Private Calls... 34 Public Calls... 34 Document Sharing... 34 Training... 34 Operational... 34 User... 34 Documentation... 35 Maintenance... 35 Next Steps... 36
3 The Enterprise Guide to Video Conferencing INTRODUCTION "We have a video conferencing system in the boardroom but nobody uses it so it was a very expensive waste of money. We use a free service now." If there is one statement about video conferencing that frustrates me the most this is it. I hear it far too often. It frustrates me because it is leaning towards implying the system has been miss-sold - even if the original decision to buy and supply was fully justified. And, more importantly, it frustrates me because the organisation concerned are likely to miss out on the significant cost savings and productivity gains video conferencing can bring now and in the future as this experience is preventing any objective evaluation in the future. This is a typical response if I should happen to mention video conferencing in conversation, whether at a business or social gathering. When I probe a little deeper the most common reasons for the failure of the video conferencing system are: The system is too complicated and no one really knew how to use it. The video quality was poor we stopped using it. The video conferencing system is not accessible to anyone other than the board or senior managers. Our board members and managers enjoyed travelling and meeting in person. Video conferencing is no longer confined to board rooms. There are many endpoints available including: room systems, desktop systems, systems for PCs and laptops systems for tablets and smartphones. If your video conferencing deployment is going to be successful it must be accessible and simple to use. Effective video meetings can make significant efficiency improvements and productivity gains leading to a rapid return on investment. So what are the benefits video conferencing can bring to your organisation? The first and most obvious is the well-publicised reduction in travel and accommodation costs. Please consider that video conferencing will not - and was never intended to - replace all 'in person' meetings; it is intended to reduce and enhance them. Richer communication experience encompassing expression as well as verbal elements. Some managers have expressed concern that it is impossible to determine whether participants in audio conference calls and telephone calls are paying full attention to the content of the conversation or presentation.
4 The Enterprise Guide to Video Conferencing For organisations with a distributed workforce there are significant benefits through an improved collaborative experience. This includes better face to face communication between team members, delivery of training sessions and product updates and allowing remote workers to be present in meetings whether they are in their homes, hotels or literally on the road, Video meetings can be more frequent and focussed, and therefore, shorter and more productive than physical meetings. Internal and external industry experts can 'drop in' to a video meeting from their place of work as and when required. This can remove days - maybe weeks - from approval and decision making processes. Specialists or managers from remote offices can be brought in to the interview process when seeing candidates for a job role. Improved communication and collaboration with partners and suppliers. Video conferencing enables more regular face to face meetings with customers enabling you to provide an enhanced customer service experience at a reduced cost. Reduced carbon footprint. These benefits are in no particular order and there are likely to be many other benefits specific to your particular industries that are beyond the scope of this document. Please note that fully immersive telepresence suites - those typically costing over a hundred thousand pounds per end are beyond the scope of this document. Any mention of telepresence relates to the endpoint equipment rather than a system integrated into two geographically separate rooms to appear as one.
5 The Enterprise Guide to Video Conferencing WHO IS THIS DOCUMENT FOR? This document is for anyone considering deploying video conferencing in their small, medium or large organisation; whether it is your first deployment or you are replacing or expanding an existing video conferencing facility. I will address the objections noted above by discussing all aspects of video conferencing from endpoint to endpoint including the infrastructure in between. If your experience of video conferencing in the past has been poor, there are a number of reasons why I urge you to read on before dismissing video conferencing: Some video conferencing systems have very simple and intuitive user interfaces that are removing the need for user training, making use of video conferencing as easy as using a telephone. Availability of Internet and WAN bandwidth capable of carrying video traffic combined with the development in video technology has addressed the video quality issues and reduced costs. Falling costs of video conferencing endpoints and infrastructure is making it accessible across and beyond the organisation. A wide range of hardware and software based endpoints are available to make video conferencing accessible to everyone. All organisations are in the process of reducing costs. Although video conferencing will not completely remove the need for in person meetings, it will keep in person meetings to a minimum. Also, any delays in the decision making process can be costly, replacing occasional day long in person meetings with more frequent focussed shorted meetings with the appropriate people involved will improve organisational efficiency.
6 The Enterprise Guide to Video Conferencing WHAT DO YOU WANT TO ACHIEVE? Choosing a video conferencing solution is no different to choosing any other business application for your organisation. You probably already have an idea of the business problem you are trying to solve or the cost you are trying to reduce. Your requirements are likely to include one or more of the common benefits mentioned in the Introduction above. However, taking some time to explore some the other potential features and benefits video conferencing may bring to your organisation may help your business case and in particular provide you with a more accurate view on the return on investment. So with this in mind let's look at some of the major features provided by video conferencing systems. Not all vendors support all features, so it is important to understand in business terms rather than technical terms what you want to achieve with your video conferencing facility. Typical features include: Video Calls Video Meetings Document Sharing Recording Streaming Video Messaging Let s look at these and the scaling aspects in more detail VIDEO CALLS The ability to make a video call to another party in the same way as we make telephone calls. It really should be that simple and intuitive. The major difference between the likes of Skype, FaceTime and other free systems are the free systems are generally proprietary and require the same video application at each end of the call. Video calls are typically unscheduled or ad hoc but may also be scheduled. Some companies simply want their employees to be able to talk to other people face to face, but true video conferencing involves three or more parties on the call. Standards based enterprise quality video calling software is available for a range of devices as part of a freemium service offering.
7 The Enterprise Guide to Video Conferencing VIDEO CONFERENCING To extend the video calling capability to video conferencing we need the ability to meet the other video callers at a common location. This is no different to using a teleconferencing facility where telephone users call into a conference bridge to engage in multi-party telephone calls. Video conferences are typically scheduled as all participants need to know to be at the 'meeting' location at a specific time. However, it may be desirable to have the facility to call participants in to a scheduled meeting as and when their contribution is required. Video conferencing also enhances collaboration, allowing people to work together from various locations as though they are in the same room. DOCUMENT SHARING A document sharing facility allows you to share your PC view with the other parties and may include other collaboration features like white-boarding. RECORDING Having the ability to record the video call or video conference for later viewing is a very useful option. Team members unable to attend the conference can view to content at their leisure and participants that were on the
8 The Enterprise Guide to Video Conferencing call can view the content as a refresher. The recorded video conferencing session can be posted to a web site for later viewing by a wider audience. WEB STREAMING Web streaming is an extension of the recording option. It is the ability to simultaneously stream the video conference or presentation to a web site for a wider audience to view live or at a later date. VIDEO MESSAGING Video messaging may be used in the same way as voice mail in that you can record a video message for someone unable to take your call. It could also be used to pre-record a message that can be sent out to a wider audience to be viewed at their convenience. Video calls, video meetings and document sharing are fairly common features of video conferencing systems. Recording, streaming and messaging are less common but can add significant value to your business case. WHO ARE YOUR USERS AND WHAT ARE THEIR JOB ROLES? Your intended video conferencing users and their job roles and behaviour patterns will have a bearing on the type of solution required and an impact on your return on investment. Do your intended users hold regular meetings? If so, are they small meetings for one or two people or large group meetings? Are the meetings planned or dynamic? What is the typical duration of a meeting? Do you have any field staff such as first responders dealing with emergencies? Will you be delivering training sessions via videoconferencing links? Will any of your team be video conferencing with suppliers, customers or any other external third parties? Would there be any benefit in recording meetings for people unable to attend the original meeting, presentation, broadcast or training session or for those needing to review the content? It is advisable to go through as many of your organisation s job roles and work scenarios as possible and consider whether a video conferencing facility would have a positive impact on that role by reducing costs or improving productivity. It may also help to prioritise the job roles in order of impact as this will help with a phased implementation plan should this be your deployment preference. Your original intention may have been to provide a video conferencing solution for one team but by identifying other potential users and offering the facility to them, your return on investment could be significantly improved. WHERE ARE YOUR USERS AND WHAT DEVICES WILL THEY USE? Internal team members working at head office may need to communicate with a distributed workforce, suppliers
9 The Enterprise Guide to Video Conferencing or customers. Will your head office users be video calling remote parties individually or collectively as part of a video conference? If individually, a desktop or software solution may be appropriate, if collectively as part of a meeting, a room system will be required. If you are planning on deploying a room system, how many people will be in the room? Will you be using desk top sharing or any other collaboration technology? This will enable you to determine the room system requirements such as: number of cameras, camera types, number of microphones and the size and number of monitors. Will your remote users be located in remote offices? Do they need room systems or desktop or software endpoints? Are they working from home, on customer premises or on the road? Do they need to use tablets or smartphones? Do you have a bring your own device policy and allow staff to use their personal smartphones and tablets for business use? Some vendors support a wide range of mobile device types while others only support a limited range. These are critical factors when determining the best video conferencing solution for your organisation. If the videoconferencing solution will be used to communicate with external parties such as suppliers, customers and partners, you will need to ensure your chosen solution can interoperate with video conferencing systems from other vendors. If video conferencing with parties outside of your organisation it is essential that your chosen system uses standards based video conferencing. In the event that one or more of the external parties use nonstandards based video conferencing, you may need to provision for this in your design. In any case, I would always advise on a system based on standards as this will provide you with the best chance of interoperability and improve your return on investment. WHAT ARE YOUR CAPACITY REQUIREMENTS? A successful video conferencing deployment depends on capacity requirements being met. Inadequate capacity provisioning will result in a poor user experience. If user experience is poor, the video conferencing facility will not be used and your return on investment is unlikely to be achieved. There are many factors that need to be taken into consideration including: Number of users How many users will have access to the video conferencing solution? For room systems this is a fairly simple calculation as the room system is generally installed in a room or on a trolley moving between rooms. The room system will count as one end point or a single video conferencing user. When there are a large number of desktop, PC, software and other individual user endpoints it is important to establish how many of these users you will be allowing to make calls at any given time, i.e. the number of concurrent users. The actual number of
10 The Enterprise Guide to Video Conferencing users with a video conferencing capability has no bearing on capacity or performance, it is the number of users allowed to make a video call or enter a video conference at any given time that we need to cater for. This is the same for any other communications or network technology using shared resource, the major difference is video communication places a heavy demand on endpoints and the network. Concurrent users How many simultaneous video conferencing connections is the system required to support? For example, if there are 100 video conferencing endpoints, it will not be feasible or possible for all of the endpoints to be in use at the same time. Almost all communications and network systems are designed on the principal that not all users will try and connect at the same time so this is not specific to video conferencing. However, failing to plan for even a small number of video conferencing users making calls across inadequate links will result in a poor user experience and could prove disastrous for other business applications. In contrast a lack of planning for most other traffic types may result in a negligible impact on performance. I hasten to add, I would never advocate unleashing any application on a network without knowing the likely impact before going live. Network Capacity To ensure a good end user video conferencing experience your network must have sufficient capacity to support your desired video conferencing solution. Insufficient bandwidth will result in a number of symptoms ranging from no video at all, video data corruption (pixellation, see image on left), image freeze and an inability to share your desk top. Video traffic can be very demanding especially on WAN links. It can cause a serious degradation of service to other network users potentially rendering business critical applications unusable. It is vitally important to consider how much bandwidth your video conferencing solution requires and identify any potential bottlenecks during the planning stage. Locations with multipoint control units require particular attention. An MCU is a hub to a number of video conferencing endpoints, it is the place they call to meet other parties for a video conference. The MCU location must have sufficient bandwidth to cater for a number of video conferencing connections. Some video conferencing endpoints have embedded MCUs. If an embedded endpoint MCU is hosting a six way video conference it will be supporting five video streams (as far as the network is concerned as one stream will be local and within the endpoint equipment). If the five remote video conferencing endpoints are using high definition video the streams, this could be in the region of 2Mbps each requiring a total of 10Mbps of WAN bandwidth
11 The Enterprise Guide to Video Conferencing required for the endpoint with the embedded MCU. You may need to consider additional WAN or Internet access links to provide an overlay for your video traffic. If this is a consideration I recommend taking expert advice as there are a number of options. An overlay network can be totally dedicated to video conferencing or it could be used to provide additional bandwidth and resilience for other services using policy routing and/or load balancing technologies. Server Capacity If you intend to host your own infrastructure you will need to ensure you have sufficient hardware and/or virtual machine capacity to support the applications. The video conferencing infrastructure may include: multipoint control units, firewall traversal to enable video traffic to pass securely through your firewalls, video control, video recording and more. PC Processor and Memory Capacity This applies to software endpoint clients where PC processor load could result in a poor user experience that may have little or nothing to do with the video conferencing solution. Many video conferencing solutions have failed in the past as a result of lack of attention to capacity planning. If the video conferencing solution fails your organisation will miss out on significant productivity and financial gains. Whereas, adequately and appropriately provisioned video conferencing solutions are rarely under-utilised. WHAT IS YOUR BUDGET? Often the budget is based on estimated savings on travel and accommodation costs. Other considerations may include a potential increase in productivity once the video conferencing facility is installed and available for use across your organisation. Understanding your requirements in some detail along with the expectations of the potential users will play a big part in setting the budget. Desk top and mobile video calling can easily be achieved on a low budget whereas a high quality video conferencing system for 20 participants will require more investment. The video conferencing endpoints are just one aspect of your video conferencing solution. The cost of the video conferencing infrastructure must also be taken into consideration. Just as there are many endpoint options, there are also many options available for the infrastructure, including hardware infrastructure components, virtualised infrastructure, hosted infrastructure services, cloud infrastructure, or a hybrid of some or all of these options.
12 The Enterprise Guide to Video Conferencing If your Internet, LAN and/or WAN infrastructure is inadequate for video conferencing network traffic, budget will need to be allocated for upgrading the network and potentially overlaying WAN and Internet links. You may also need to consider introducing quality of service (QoS) on your network to prioritise the audio and video streams. It is important to understand these potential costs during the planning stage as failure to provide sufficient and reliable bandwidth will result in a poor user experience and the system will not be used. Finally, and only something to bear in mind is that you may also need to consider some changes to your meeting rooms to enable a good video conferencing experience. Some meeting rooms have very poor light and acoustics making it difficult to hold in person meetings so this is not specific to video conferencing. If a room provides a good environment for an in person meeting it will generally suit a video conferencing solution. Providing supplementary lighting can improve the video quality and placing soft furnishings in the room can make a big improvement on the acoustics, and sometimes simply opening a window can have a positive impact on the sound quality. When all aspects of a video conferencing solution are appropriately planned, scoped and provisioned, video conferencing will deliver clear and tangible benefits to your organisation. Your video conferencing supplier will be able to scope an appropriate solution and provide accurately costed options once they have a good understanding of your requirements and your existing network infrastructure. They will be able to help you identify potential cost savings and productivity improvements. Fortunately, there are solutions available to fit most budgets, and it is possible to start with a modest investment and then use the cost savings to fund future expansion. WHAT IS YOUR REQUIRED RETURN ON INVESTMENT? Video conferencing has very good potential for a relatively short return on investment. Going through the processes outlined in this document to identify all of the costs associated with the video conferencing solution versus the costs of in person meetings and all of the associated travel should enable you to determine a reasonably accurate return on investment. The value of more effective communication with staff, suppliers and customers along with potential productivity gains may be difficult to assess until the solution is in place. If there are any doubts as to whether video conferencing will be used effectively in your environment, consider running a structured trial and involve as many people, teams and departments as possible as this will provide valuable feedback to aid your ROI calculation. Your video conferencing partner will be able to help set up a trial and they will also be able to help you with your ROI calculation. After going through the processes outlined in this document you should have a very good idea of what your organisation expects from a video conferencing solution, along with the deployment costs, running costs and the cost savings.
13 The Enterprise Guide to Video Conferencing SYSTEM CONSIDERATIONS ENDPOINTS There is a wide range of video conferencing endpoints available ranging from room systems with dual screens and multiple cameras to apps for smartphones. Whatever your requirements, there is almost certainly an endpoint appropriate to your requirements. The most appropriate endpoint may be different for each video conference call. Just as we access our systems with the most appropriate device at that time whether that is our desktop PC, laptop, tablet or smartphone. Let s take a look at some of the endpoints and where and how they may be used. Room System A room based video conferencing system typically comprises one or more monitors, a control unit or codec (coder/decoder, converts video and audio signals into digital signals and vice versa), one or more cameras either a fixed webcam type camera or a conference PTZ camera (pan, tilt and zoom) and one or more microphones. Room systems are generally used for group meetings, and there are room systems to cater for different room and group sizes. There are no set rules but for a small group for example, a fixed camera may be adequate, but for any more than four to six people a PTZ camera is the preferred choice for a good user experience. The layout of the room will also have a bearing on camera types as the wide angle feature of the PTZ may be required. As a very loose guide a typical endpoint system in relation to room size may be: Huddle room system Single small to medium sized screen, fixed camera (web cam), microphone, control unit and control interface. Small room system Single medium to large sized screen, fixed camera (web cam), microphone, control unit, control interface. The control unit may include an integral multipoint conferencing unit. Medium to large room system Single or dual medium to large screen, conference pan/tilt/zoom camera, two microphones, control unit and control interface. The control unit may include an integral multipoint conferencing unit. Mobile room system These are very popular for organisations that have several meeting rooms sharing a video conferencing facility.
14 The Enterprise Guide to Video Conferencing Single medium sized screen, fixed or conference camera, microphone, control unit and control interface. The control unit may include an integral multipoint conferencing unit. Board rooms and lecture theatres Dual large screens or projector screens, multiple cameras, multiple microphones, control unit and control interface. The control unit may include an integral multipoint conferencing unit. Desktop System Desktop video conferencing endpoints are typically purpose built systems including the screen, fixed camera, control unit and control interface. They are used when you want to deliver a good video conference user experience and not be at the mercy of the build, configuration and processor loading of a desktop PC. The major difference between desktop video conferencing systems and video conferencing software on a desktop PC is the presence of a hardware codec. Hardware codecs are dedicated to processing the video and audio streams whereas software codecs must contend for processor time with other applications. Some desk top systems have dedicated monitors while others allow you to use your existing monitor with a PC while the video and audio processing is provided by the video conferencing control unit. For regular video conferencing users this option is much preferable to any of the software options. Software System Vendor offerings vary considerably on their software video conferencing solutions. Software solutions are available for a wide range of operating systems and devices including: Windows XP/7/8 MAC OS ipad iphone Android It is important to note that while the majority of video conferencing end point vendors offer software solutions, not all vendors support all operating systems or hardware platforms. Also, some vendors provide their software clients free of charge while others charge a premium.
15 The Enterprise Guide to Video Conferencing INFRASTRUCTURE Endpoints are only a part of the video conferencing solution. There are a number of system components that enable video conferencing endpoints to function effectively and efficiently. The most common components of the video conferencing infrastructure are described below. This is intended as a brief explanation as to the role of each component, where it sits in the video conferencing solution architecture. Multipoint Control Unit (MCU) A Multipoint Control Unit or MCU enables multipoint conferencing. The MCU is responsible for maintaining communication and control between all endpoints on a multipoint video conference for voice, video and data communications. To engage in a multipoint conference IP video conferencing endpoints must call a Multipoint Control Unit. MCUs will ideally be standards based with the ability to handle code conversion. This is to enable a range of endpoints from different manufacturers and ages to join a video conferencing call and communicate effectively. MCUs are sometimes referred to as a bridge or bridging service. Historically MCUs were ISDN bridges, similar to telephone conference bridges. Pre IP video conferencing endpoints used ISDN as their communication method. ISDN endpoints would dial into a bridge to meet other endpoints in the video conference call.
16 The Enterprise Guide to Video Conferencing MCUs come in various forms including: dedicated hardware MCU, MCU embedded in a video conferencing endpoint controller, virtual machine MCU, hosted MCU service and cloud based MCUs. MCUs or bridges can also provide an interface between IP endpoints and ISDN endpoints. Gatekeeper There are two common control standards used in video conferencing: H.323 and SIP. A gatekeeper is used in H.323 networks providing the intelligence to define and control real time communications across an IP network. H.323 endpoints register with their nominated gatekeeper. The gatekeeper provides a range of services including: set up, maintenance and clear down of calls; address handling to resolve local device names to IP addresses as well as connection denial, control and limitation to prevent the network becoming congested with video traffic. A gatekeeper is only required if you need to support H.323 endpoints within your video conferencing environment. Gatekeepers also come in various forms including: dedicated, self-hosted hardware gatekeepers, software gatekeepers as well as virtual machine, hosted and a cloud based gatekeepers. Firewall Traversal Server Video conferencing systems use complex protocols and dynamic communication paths that are difficult to provision for within firewall rules. Whether to position the end point in front of the firewall to make it easier to connect to remote sites or behind the firewall for protection has been a constant dilemma for video conferencing administrators. To enable video conferencing to function correctly when the endpoint is behind the firewall requires so many ports to be opened that it defeats the object of having a firewall. There are also complications around making the endpoint accessible to external and internal remote endpoints. Firewall traversal enables video conferencing endpoints to communicate freely and securely with internal and external endpoints without opening up numerous ports through the firewall. Firewall traversal is a very important aspect of video conferencing. Firewall traversal servers provide a simple but safe method of enabling your endpoint to communicate freely from behind a firewall by creating a safe and secure traversal path through the firewall. Firewall traversal servers can be provided in a number of forms: dedicated self-hosted hardware or virtual appliance, software, hosted service or a cloud based solution. See the Security Considerations section in this document for more information on firewall traversal. Management Many vendors offer some kind of management platform to enable their entire video conferencing estate to be managed from a single location. This may be to provide a central point of configuration management of endpoints, gatekeepers and firewall traversal. It may also include remote establishment and management of
17 The Enterprise Guide to Video Conferencing point to point and multipoint video conferencing calls along with recording. Management systems may also include real time reporting, alarms and monitoring. For large installations central management is an essential requirement. Video conferencing management platforms are typically available as software to load on a PC or virtual machine, a hosted service or provided as part of a cloud video conferencing solution. Integration Some vendors have specialist products to integrate into other platforms and systems such as a unified communications solution, legacy video conferencing systems or other non-standards based video conferencing systems. This could be self-hosted hardware or virtual appliance, software application, hosted service or a cloud based integration service. Recording Some vendors provide the ability to record video conferencing sessions within their user interface and stream to a web site to allow web users to view the session live. A common recording and web streaming facility can be provided as part of the video conferencing infrastructure. The recording system could be a self-hosted hardware or virtual appliance, a hosted service or cloud solution. Other Infrastructure Components It is not my intention to provide an exhaustive list of infrastructure components. There may be other infrastructure components to cater for specific requirements. Some customers prefer to self-host their infrastructure components either within one of their offices or in a central data centre, while others choose to outsource some or all infrastructure components to a specialist hosted service provider. Cloud offerings are also available providing a comprehensive infrastructure service supporting a range of endpoints. It is important to identify the endpoints and infrastructure components required to meet your requirements and then review the available deployment options hardware appliance, virtual machine, hosted service or cloud. USER INTERFACE The user interface is critical. If the user interface is complex and requires anything more than a few minutes familiarisation training the return on investment is already at risk. Video conferencing user interfaces should be as intuitive as using a telephone. The actual user interface will depend on the vendor. Some opt for TV style remote control devices with an array of buttons to enable you to make your on screen choices. Recent developments on this type have interface have led to the introduction of remote controllers with only a
18 The Enterprise Guide to Video Conferencing few buttons. In this case the user makes their choice from a scroll bar of options. Other user interfaces include telephone handset type control panels with hard push buttons and some with touch sensitive tablet type screens. The easiest way to determine what is the best user interface for your environment is to place the controller in the hands of someone who has never seen the system before, preferably the least technical people you can find. In the past some video conferencing systems have been over complicated to use, even for communications engineers and IT teams. My advice is, if the system doesn t have an intuitive user interface seriously consider alternatives. Assuming the system administrator will populate directories the main purpose of the user interface is to make and receive video calls. Secondary functions may include near and far camera control, desktop sharing and audio adjustments. If these functions are all intuitive and very easy to use, and the video and audio quality is good, the participants will soon forget about the technology and focus on the content of the meeting. If users forget about the technology, they will use the system without thinking increasing the potential for a quick return on investment. In a typical video conferencing deployment there are two types of call: scheduled calls and unscheduled calls. Let s look at these in more detail Scheduled Calls Scheduled video conferencing meetings are much the same as in person meetings in that they are diarised in advance and all participants know they must be in the meeting room or dialled into the MCU at a pre-arranged date and time. The room system control unit can be used to set up the call as the meeting starts but if there are more than a few endpoints required to join the meeting this can be cumbersome, even when choosing directory entries on screen. Some vendors provide management software to enable scheduled meetings to be pre-configured and established ready for the start of the meeting. Unscheduled Calls (Ad Hoc) Unscheduled calling is more common with desktop, PC and mobile video conferencing. The calls are usually one to one and are made in place of a telephone call. The video call provides a richer communication experience with the benefit of expression and focus on the conversation that you may not achieve on a telephone call. If the solution has an MCU facility it is possible to make multipoint calls and may be possible to call a third party into the meeting mid call. The ad hoc call would be established using various methods appropriate to the endpoint device. This may be a specific system control device such as a telephone handset or remote control unit, PC or laptop keyboard or tablet screen. Room systems can be used for ad hoc calling, but having to move away from your desk to make the call makes this a less likely, and certainly less efficient, use of the solution.
19 The Enterprise Guide to Video Conferencing Directory Most vendors, if not all vendors, allow you to build a directory of endpoints that your users can select from a menu system. Some vendors allow you to create specific user directories that are either associated with the endpoint or the user as well as global directories available to all endpoints on the system. In addition to this, some offer the ability to customise on screen or control panel menus to enable the top level custom menu to be populated with favourites. Medium to large organisations may require full integration of their corporate directory structure (such as Microsoft Active Directory). Some vendors offer this as a dynamic feature of their solution while others offer an upload service to provide the initial population of the global directory. It is important to bear in mind that where vendors can only provide the initial population of the directory, additional administration will be required to maintain the video conferencing directory. However, if staff turnover is low this may not present any serious issues. INTEGRATION Video conferencing solutions can be deployed as a standalone system with its own overlay network providing bandwidth for video calls. The video conferencing solution could also be partially or fully integrated into the unified communications (UC) architecture but this will depend on the video conferencing vendor and the UC vendor. Some unified communications providers have their own video call facilities integrated into their system providing video calling capabilities to desk phones, tablets and mobiles. Other UC vendors have technical partnership arrangements with video conferencing vendors. It is important to have an understanding of the level of integration required before choosing a video conferencing vendor, especially if the unified communications solution is already in place and operational. Full integration may be considerably more expensive than deploying a separate video conferencing system. One of the benefits of unified communications is presence the ability to see the availability of your colleagues at a glance. At least one video conferencing provider has a presence feature as standard, although it is a standalone video conferencing solution. The best safeguard for integration and interoperability are standards. There are many standards associated with video conferencing; there are also many proprietary solutions, especially among the free options. A true enterprise grade video conferencing solution will typically have the ability to communicate using a range of standards. Standards based video conferencing provides some level of assurance that your system will talk to third party systems new and old. When the systems connect they will agree a communications protocol for video and audio taking in operational considerations such as the available bandwidth and the codec types used by each endpoint. There are two common signalling standards used in video conferencing H.323 and SIP. However, it is important to note that these are only two of many protocols and buying a SIP based system only defines the
20 The Enterprise Guide to Video Conferencing signalling protocol, there are many more protocols involved in video, audio and data communication. It is also important to note that there are a mix of standards based and proprietary video conferencing solutions on the market. If you are considering buying a new video conferencing solution but you already have some equipment that you would like to continue to use, check with your potential vendor that the legacy system can be integrated into the new solution. If the new system is standards based (I strongly recommend that it is) and the third party systems are standards based, integrating the old endpoint into the new solution in many cases will be possible. However, it is important to note that any communication with the old video conferencing endpoint may reduce the overall user experience.
21 The Enterprise Guide to Video Conferencing SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS Historically, video conferencing equipment has been of a proprietary nature, and deployed in such low quantities that it has stayed clear of the interest of Internet hackers. It is no longer safe to assume this is the case especially as businesses extend their installations of both software clients and personal devices. The increase in use of video conferencing room systems is also making these more interesting to hackers, the fact that many installations have been left with minimal protection makes them an easy target. USER AUTHENTICATION The issue of authentication is often missed in video conferencing, due to the fact that you are able to see the person at the remote end. Consequently, you may presume that this is the only authentication required. It is possible that someone can intercept your call and remain unnoticed. This situation is best referred to as a manin-the-middle attack. This is made possible since most video conferencing endpoints do not make sure that the communication path is protected from end-to-end. It is feasible for a hacker to arrange a separate and independent communication path with each of the participants. This could be brought about through standard off the shelf hardware or the use of malicious software. As soon as a call has been intercepted, the hacker is able to remain on the call unnoticed, and in addition will be able to record the video conference, capturing all video, audio and data. AUTO ANSWER VERSUS MANUAL ANSWER There is a genuine and considerable security risk when endpoints are configured to automatically answer inbound calls. Unfortunately, certain video conferencing endpoints have automatic answer set as a default by the vendor. Even when it is not, users typically set endpoints to auto answer because it is just easier for the end user. Furthermore, users may think they have switched everything off when they physically switch the TV monitors off. Yet, this is not true, unless the video conferencing endpoint is shut down, automatic answer will stay on, enabling anyone to purposefully or accidentally dial into the video conferencing room and continue to be unseen. ENDPOINT ON INTERNAL NETWORK SIDE OF THE FIREWALL Organisations that recognise the vulnerabilities associated with conventional video conferencing solutions may opt to run a closed video conferencing network. A closed network will only allow video calls to be placed between endpoints connected to the corporate LAN, WAN and possibly VPN. Although this may achieve the goals of making the network secure, it significantly reduces the value of the investment made in the solution, by isolating any endpoints outside the corporate network. Depending on the firewall configuration, internal usrs may be able to make calls to external endpoints but not receive them.
22 The Enterprise Guide to Video Conferencing ENDPOINT IN DMZ For single endpoint installations it is possible to place the endpoint in a DMZ. This provides a good level of security for the internal network and a reasonable level of security for the video conferencing endpoint. Video calls to internal video conferencing endpoints would only be possible by opening up all ports associated with video conferencing communication. This would significantly reduce the firewalls ability to protect the internal network. If the video conferencing endpoint was compromised a hacker would be able to launch an attack on the internal network from the endpoint. ENDPOINT ON PUBLIC INTERNET SIDE OF THE FIREWALL The placement of endpoints on the public Internet side of a company's firewall is common practice as it presents the most convenient way to enable video calling with other organisations, and outsourced video conferencing infrastructure service providers. It is also fairly common for the endpoints to be installed with remote management enabled with default login credentials unchanged. This allows hackers easy access to the endpoint. Compromised endpoints can be used to launch 'denial of service' attacks on other organisations. Installation of
23 The Enterprise Guide to Video Conferencing endpoints in front of firewalls also exposes any vulnerability in the software, to enable hackers to do irreparable system damage. Many endpoints have published IP addresses to enable external parties to call into the organisation. This also makes it very easy for the hacker as they now know the IP address, and they know it is a video conferencing system. VIDEO CONFERENCING INFRASTRUCTURE WITH FIREWALL TRAVERSAL To overcome the limitations of installing endpoints in the DMZ or on the internal side of the network and to avoid the risks associated with installing endpoints on the public Internet side of the firewall, organisations may install a firewall traversal solution. This may provide a level of security by having a predetermined white list of permitted IP addresses, i.e. those pre-authorised to connect into the organisation. This is a good method, but one that may require constant
24 The Enterprise Guide to Video Conferencing maintenance. Even more so when you take into account that some home broadband connections obtain new IP addresses on a daily or weekly basis. Some firewall traversal solutions get around the addressing issues by establishing a VPN connection to remote locations allowing hardware and software based video devices to connect to the network. It is important to note that this adds another layer of administration and complexity to the solution which can in turn create additional demands on your IT team. THE FUTURE At least one cloud video conferencing vendor is allowing organisations to securely open up their network to external video calls. Users on the Internet, whether they are clients, suppliers, home workers or mobile workers, can communicate safely and securely from remote locations into the corporate network as the cloud controller takes care of the firewall traversal, MCU, gatekeeper and authentication processes. If by chance there is a security violation, such as theft of a home user's equipment or a mobile worker's laptop, that account can be either removed or have its credentials changed immediately to disable any unauthorised calls into or out of the organisation with no impact to other users.
25 The Enterprise Guide to Video Conferencing DESIGN & SPECIFICATION DESIGN & ARCHITECTURE - ENDPOINTS There are many aspects to designing a video communications solution. Even if the requirement is for a single endpoint with no MCU facility it is still important to go through the design process to ensure the solution is going to work effectively and the end users are going to enjoy a good video conferencing experience. The process includes: ensuring the physical location is suitable for the endpoint; there are power sockets and a network port available; there is sufficient LAN capacity between the location and the Internet or WAN connection; the endpoint has a static IP address or has access to a DHCP server; firewall traversal requirements are considered and catered for; there is sufficient Internet or WAN bandwidth, and more. Video traffic is demanding so it just is not feasible to take a chance on whether the endpoint will work or not. Thinking about all of the aspects of a single endpoint will help when this process is multiplied by tens or even hundreds of endpoints across a large network encompassing many sites. The requirements will be the same or at least very similar for each endpoint and each location. When there are many endpoints in the installation the next requirement is to determine, or estimate, the number of concurrent calls the video conferencing and network infrastructure needs to support. This needs to be considered for all locations to determine the Internet or WAN traffic to ensure the access circuits have adequate bandwidth. If it just is not feasible to provide the bandwidth to meet the concurrency requirements, then it is essential to revisit the calculations and reset expectations as to what can realistically be delivered across the available bandwidth. DESIGN & ARCHITECTURE - INFRASTRUCTURE There are many options for the infrastructure design to provide central video conferencing services such as: MCU, firewall traversal, gatekeeper, management and recording. Not all vendors support all infrastructure facilities or hosting options. This section explores some of the infrastructure considerations. Hardware If your preference is to buy or lease your own hardware infrastructure components there are a number of factors to take into consideration, such as location, equipment housing, power, network connectivity and bandwidth. The location is vitally important but other aspects of the design, especially bandwidth will have a bearing on the best
26 The Enterprise Guide to Video Conferencing location for your hardware. Wherever the equipment is located, it needs to be housed in a secure location with adequate power and cooling in line with your chosen vendors recommendations. If your proposed endpoints are distributed across a wide area and they are in clusters within geographic areas such as countries or cities, the infrastructure may need to be distributed across a number of locations. In larger networks a distributed infrastructure will be more efficient and may be configured to provide some resilience in the event of a failure in one of the hosting centres. The infrastructure locations may be hosted within a server room or data centre within your own premises or colocated in a purpose built data centre with all of the associated environmental controls. The key to a successful deployment is to always consider the bandwidth required to deliver a good user experience for the planned number of concurrent users, and the impact of the demanding video conferencing traffic on other corporate services. As with any hardware solutions, it is important to scope the hardware accurately during the design stage as any expansion above the maximum hardware capabilities is likely to require a potentially expensive upgrade. On the other hand, it would put your return on investment in jeopardy to buy equipment far beyond your requirements on the premise that you will expand into it. Virtual Infrastructure There is at least one video conferencing vendor offering a virtual infrastructure solution on the market. The virtual infrastructure has a number of benefits, including: reduced cost of deployment you buy the software for your own virtual machines; the infrastructure components share a common interface so you can switch on and configure what you need, you only have to buy what you need now so no unnecessary up front costs. You need to ensure you have sufficient virtual machine capacity to accommodate the infrastructure software as well as the other considerations mentioned in the hardware section above, however, the majority of the hardware requirements would have been covered in the initial virtual machine deployment. The bandwidth requirements will be the same as for a hardware solution. Hosted Deploying your own video conferencing infrastructure can be costly, and is sometimes overlooked when going through the video conferencing selection process. Historically, for single endpoint deployments, the infrastructure components may not have been discussed, especially as it was considered safe to connect the video conferencing endpoint to the public internet in front of corporate firewalls. As mentioned above in the security section many organisations are now taking the security aspects of their video conferencing installation seriously so for many organisations firewall traversal is becoming a mandatory requirement. In addition to this, many
27 The Enterprise Guide to Video Conferencing organisations are reluctant to deploy their own video conferencing infrastructure for financial and sometimes technical reasons. There are a number of third party video conferencing infrastructure offerings on the market. Some only offer a bridging or MCU capability, while others provide a more advanced (and possibly vendor specific) service that includes, firewall traversal, recording and more. Hosted services are generally charged on a monthly or annual basis per feature. For example, a basic price for bridging (MCU) ports with an increase for firewall traversal and another for recording. Hosted services can significantly improve the return on investment, especially for less frequent video conferencing users. Cloud The recent cloud solutions are very interesting in that they may completely remove the need to deploy any of your own video conferencing infrastructure components. There is potential for significantly reducing the cost of deployment as the infrastructure is all within the cloud. The cloud infrastructure takes care of many aspects of the infrastructure including firewall traversal, bridging (MCU) facilities, gatekeeper functions and security. There are cloud services available that support a wide range of endpoints including room systems, desktop systems, PC and laptop software endpoints as well as tablets and smartphones, but not all cloud offerings support all devices. Some cloud solutions provide the ability to support legacy video conferencing endpoints via a gateway service. Cloud solutions are typically priced in a similar way to hosted services with a monthly charge that may be on a per user basis or per concurrent user basis. The major benefits of a cloud solution over the self-hosted and outsourced hosted service are ease of deployment, ease of maintenance and ease of use. Cloud solutions can be installed in a fraction of the time of traditional video conferencing systems. Software updates can be provisioned automatically without IT support intervention, reducing the overhead of running the video conferencing solution. Hybrid It is also possible to build your video conferencing infrastructure using a mix of self-hosted hardware, hosted services and cloud infrastructure. An example of this may be using a cloud infrastructure to provide bridging (MCU), firewall traversal, gatekeeper and security functions and an outsourced hosted service to provide recording and web streaming capabilities. There too many options for hybrid endpoint and infrastructure solutions to cover in detail in this document, your reseller will be able to help you to determine the most practical and cost effective solution for your requirements.
28 The Enterprise Guide to Video Conferencing PHYSICAL NETWORK REQUIREMENTS The network requirements need to be defined at the design stage as it may be necessary to upgrade all or part of the network to cater for the video and audio traffic. There are several aspects to consider: LAN switch port speed and duplex Spanning tree Inter-switch trunk speed Prioritisation Quality of Service LAN and switch port speed and duplex This may seem obvious, but there are many legacy switches still in operation and these can present problems. A common issue on older switches is poor speed and duplex negotiation. For some applications, a duplex mismatch may pass unnoticed but it is likely to be disastrous for audio and video. If there is any doubt as to the reliability of the switch port I strongly recommend setting the speed to 100Mbps and the duplex to full. Spanning Tree The purpose of spanning tree is to prevent physical loops on the network. When a device is connected to the switch and is powered up, Spanning Tree Protocol will block the port until it is certain there are no loops detected on this port. This delay can cause timing issues for some endpoint devices. For end user devices such as IP phones, desktop PCs and video conferencing endpoints, spanning tree should be disabled. This is not a common problem, but when it does occur it can waste a lot of time localising the problem. Proxy Servers Proxy Servers may or may not cause operational problems for video conferencing endpoints depending on the type of system deployed. For example, endpoints in a cloud based video conferencing solution need to communicate with their cloud platform. A proxy server may prevent all or part of the endpoint to cloud communication. This may result in no service at all or a partial services such as audio but no video. Your design needs to take Proxy Servers into consideration.
29 The Enterprise Guide to Video Conferencing IP ADDRESSING For fixed room systems the IP addressing can be fixed or dynamic, for mobile room systems and desktop systems dynamic addressing is likely to be a better option as it is easier to manage. Software endpoints, tablets and smartphones will adopt the addressing protocol of the host device. WAN & INTERNET BANDWIDTH REQUIREMENTS The WAN and/or Internet bandwidth requirements are critical to the success of the solution. If your system is completely closed and will only be used by internal users across your estate it is essential that the WAN links have sufficient capacity to carry the video, voice and desktop sharing streams. To ensure the video conferencing traffic streams are given the bandwidth they require Quality of Service should be introduced. If you have an excess WAN bandwidth and your WAN links are under-utilised your users may enjoy a good video conferencing experience, however, this is rarely the case. Some organisations opt to keep their video conferencing WAN and Internet connectivity completely separate from the corporate network, this is sometimes referred to as an overlay network. If this is a consideration it is possible to make use of this additional bandwidth for corporate network activities when it is not in use for video conferencing. The overlay network can provide additional resilience to the corporate network in the event of a disaster. MCU/BRIDGE REQUIREMENTS Determining the bridge or MCU connection and port requirements needs careful planning. Bridge/MCU port capabilities may depend on the type of connection high definition video, standard definition video, low definition video or audio only. The higher the video definition the lower the number of connections supported. The process of scoping the bridge/mcu requirements will vary depending on your preferred vendor. Your video conferencing reseller will be able to assist with this process. NETWORK SECURITY How you secure your video conferencing installation will depend on your chosen infrastructure hosting options self-hosted, outsourced hosted service, cloud or hybrid. Some systems are inherently secure while others will need firewall traversal or special firewall arrangements. Whatever
30 The Enterprise Guide to Video Conferencing security methods are used, it is important to review them on a regular basis in line with your security policy. Your reseller will be able to assist with this. RESILIENCE/REDUNDANCY If the video conferencing solution is vital to your operation introducing you may need to consider building a resilient video conferencing infrastructure. Some outsourced hosted service providers have resilient architectures and true cloud infrastructure providers are inherently resilient. INTEGRATION Any integration requirements need to be carefully planned. If this is a critical element of the video conferencing solution it will spare a lot of time by starting with the integration requirements and building the design around the integration requirement. Starting the design from the perspective of integration into your unified communications or legacy system could rule out a number of unsuitable vendors at the outset - potentially leaving only one or two vendors. USER TRIAL If you have any doubts as to the suitability of video conferencing or a particular vendor for your organisation I strongly recommend running a trial or pilot installation. To give a video conferencing solution a fair trial there are a number of considerations detailed below. Users It is important to identify which users will take part in the trial. Involving a large number of people will ensure you get good feedback as to who is likely to use the system and how frequently to help with your return on investment calculations. Endpoints There will be a cost attached to the trial. Even if your reseller can provide a free trial you will still need to invest some time to ensure the trial has the best chance of success. If possible, run your trial with endpoints that are the same or very close to the endpoints you are considering. You may want to consider trialling a room system and a desktop system and some software clients for example. This will give you a good example of the user experience across different platforms.
31 The Enterprise Guide to Video Conferencing Infrastructure It may not be feasible to trial any self-hosted infrastructure but trialling infrastructure on an outsourced hosted service or cloud infrastructure may be fairly easy to set up. Some infrastructure provision may have to be in place to enable you to test the solution in your own environment. Your reseller will be able to advise you on the best way to trial a video conferencing solution with or without the infrastructure components being in place. Bandwidth Having sufficient bandwidth for the trial is essential. Some organisations choose to install separate broadband circuits for the trial to ensure the bandwidth is available for the video conferencing solution. Lack of bandwidth is the most common cause of poor video conferencing experience so it is vitally important to make sufficient bandwidth available for the trial. Security Restrictions It is important to establish any security restriction that may hamper the trial. This is particularly important if firewall traversal is not available for the trial. Also, cloud infrastructure solutions may require special configuration to work on a network with a proxy server. Your reseller will be able to assist with determining whether or not any special arrangements are required within your environment. Success Criteria As with any trial, it is important to document the success criteria. This is to protect your organisation as well as the reseller as both parties will be investing in the trial. Stakeholders It is important for the stakeholders to have some involvement in the trial. Sign Off It is also important for both parties to understand when the trial period ends and, if successful, the project will be signed off. The trial needs to be long enough for all of the trial users to get a good experience and if new to video conferencing to overcome any apprehensions. A typical trial would last between two and four weeks.
32 The Enterprise Guide to Video Conferencing DEPLOYMENT PLANNING Assuming the design and architecture process was sufficiently detailed and all of the requirements are documented, the planning process should be a relatively straightforward process. For medium to large projects I always recommend assigning an experienced project manager to ensure the project is delivered on time and on budget, and relevant and realistic expectations are set. PREPARATION For a simple endpoint installation preparation is likely to be as simple as making sure power sockets and network connections are available and the space has been allocated and is ready for the endpoint installation. For larger installations preparation will include agreements with third parties such as the network infrastructure vendor, IT team, accommodation team and any other party involved in the video conferencing solution and locations where the endpoints and infrastructure components are to be installed. If there are any screens to be mounted on walls these may need to be installed outside of normal working hours. Also, it is important to establish that the structure of the proposed wall can take the weight of the screens. INSTALLATION When the design and architecture, planning and preparation stages have been completed the physical installation will be a straightforward delivery and positioning of the equipment. If there are any screens to be mounted on walls these may need to be mounted outside of normal hours due to the noise. CONFIGURATION The amount of configuration required will depend on the chosen vendor, the type of infrastructure whether selfhosted hardware, virtual machine software, hosted service, cloud or hybrid. The configuration falls into logical elements as outlined below. Infrastructure This includes configuration of all of the infrastructure components. If the design and architecture process was recorded the required infrastructure configuration should already be known and simple a process of configuring the parameters for your solution. This will include IP addressing, gatekeeper, firewall traversal, recording and any other infrastructure elements. The network infrastructure may also need to undergo some configuration changes to accommodate the video conferencing solution. If possible, I recommend making any network infrastructure changes in advance of installing the video conferencing solution to allow a period of operational time to elapse to ensure the network changes haven t introduced any problems.
33 The Enterprise Guide to Video Conferencing Endpoint Endpoint configuration may range from manual configuration of all parameters on each endpoint to configuration of all endpoint configurations in a cloud controller. In the latter option the configuration is automatically downloaded along with any software updates when the endpoint associates with the cloud controller. Directories Directories may need to be manually created, ported in via a vendor provided procedure, or made available through integration with Active Directory or other directory service. TESTING Testing the installation is a critical element in a successful video conferencing deployment. A test plan will ideally be developed as part of the planning process. This testing stage is also very important for the ongoing maintenance as this provides a chance to bench mark the installation as a future reference. All test results and observations should be recorded in the operation and maintenance manual. Some of the elements of a potential test plan are outlined below. Network Infrastructure It is essential to have a thorough understanding of how the network infrastructure is configured. In particular: the routing plan for specific traffic types; details of any quality of service (QoS) settings, and WAN application acceleration or performance enhancing appliances or services. Without this information, any test results may be invalid. The test plan should include network infrastructure tests to stress Internet and WAN links to identify any shortfalls before the video conferencing solution goes into service. If this falls into the responsibility of another department or team they will need to be involved in the planning process. If the links are shared with other business applications the stress testing may have to be phased. The first phase will be to stress test during a scheduled downtime period. The network may not actually be taken down but there is a risk of the stress test causing degradation to other applications to the point where they might fail. When you are confident that the network infrastructure is capable of handling the anticipated video conferencing traffic without detriment to other applications the second phase will be to carry out the same test during operational hours. More phases may need to be added for each link to suit operational requirements. For example, the second phase may be to test during a quiet operational period and the third phase to test during peak load period. It is essential to carry out these tests during live periods as the alternative is to discover the network infrastructure is under specified when your critical applications fail. I must stress that live testing in critical network environments should only be carried out following successful out of hours testing. For organisations operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week the emphasis is going to be on the planning and due diligence. If there is any doubt I recommend setting up bench test where WAN links can be simulated and the downtime
34 The Enterprise Guide to Video Conferencing testing be completed in a controlled and safe environment. Alternatively, the safer option may be to install an overlay network to support the video conferencing traffic away from your critical applications. Internal Private Call Testing If your video conferencing solution has the ability to video call internal endpoints across your estate it is important to test each of the connections and monitor the video and audio quality. Pay careful attention to the quality when there is movement across the screen. Any corruption, or breaking up of the video may indicate bandwidth restrictions or local network quality issues. External Private Calls External private calls relate to calls across a closed network such as a corporate WAN. The same tests apply as for internal calls but these calls will be crossing WAN links. The testing procedures must be aligned with the network configuration taking into consideration any Quality of Service (QoS) settings, policy routing and WAN prioritisation or acceleration. Public Calls It is not feasible to carry out test calls to every third party supplier, customer or other contact but if you plan on making regular calls to external organisations over the public Internet I recommend scheduling some test calls to bench mark the video and audio quality and identify any potential issues. It may not be possible to overcome any issues found as they could be due to limitations at the remote end such as limited bandwidth, legacy systems, poor lighting or poor acoustics but they can be noted and communicated to users to set expectations. Document Sharing Any document sharing features should be tested with the video and audio testing. It is fairly common for there to be some slight video corruption when the document sharing is enabled as the bandwidth is shared between the video and document sharing streams. TRAINING Training falls into two categories: operational and user training. The level of training required will depend on a number of factors including the size of the video conferencing solution, the type of infrastructure self-hosted, outsourced or cloud and the vendor. Operational If you are going to nominate someone within your organisation responsible for first line user support to assist with managing the video conferencing system and setting up meetings it is essential for them to have some exposure prior to installation. The ideal person will need to have an IT background with some basic audio visual skills. Ideally they will be involved in at least part of the procurement procedure and are actively involved in any solution demos and on site trials. If you have opted for the self-hosted hardware or virtual machine infrastructure solutions the training will ideally include these components in some detail. Some cloud infrastructure solutions have the added benefit of reducing the system management, and therefore, training requirement significantly. User The amount of user training required will depend on the chosen vendor. Some systems are still relatively complex and require some basic training at least. If the user interface is simple and intuitive, minimal
35 The Enterprise Guide to Video Conferencing familiarisation training will be required, possibly nothing other than a simple guide. DOCUMENTATION The entire installation should be documented, including all details from the design & architecture, configuration and testing stages. The documentation must be kept up to date to maintain relevance and to provide a constant reference and bench mark document for the future. MAINTENANCE The service level agreement (SLA) for your video conferencing solution should be tuned to your requirements. If video meetings are critical to the running of your organisation and you have no built in resilience or redundancy the SLA needs to take this into consideration. If you have a large network with many of the same devices it may be more cost effective to hold some spares rather than take out a formal maintenance agreement to cover every endpoint. Most resellers and vendors will provide a maintenance package to suit your specific requirements.
36 The Enterprise Guide to Video Conferencing NEXT STEPS There are some additional resources on our web site which may be of help, including a mind map of the above video conferencing selection and deployment process and a Word document with the headings of this document to help you to create your own document for your organisation. You can find these resources here: http://www.astro.co.uk/video-conferencing-resource/ If you need advice with your video conferencing strategy, or more information please contact us on +44 (0)1322 610 100 info@astro.co.uk