Streaming media may be a solution for those looking to extend videoconference audiences. White Pine and PictureTel have new solutions that allow interactive videoconferences to be streamed across the Internet for viewing by thousands.
White Pine today released Version 4.0 of its H.323-based MeetingPoint server with optional support for streaming media and a new feature it calls continuous presence. MeetingPoint connects multiple IP-based videoconferencing endpoints into a single conference. Now, the entire conference can be streamed to viewers using Microsoft NetShow or MediaPlayer. The company will soon be adding support for both RealPlayer and Cisco's IPTV, according to Roger Wallmanm senior product manager at White Pine. In addition to being streamed live, conferences can also be recorded and played back as a video on demand for later viewing.
White Pine's continuous presence option lets a user view up to four conference participants in a single window, rather than seeing only the person who is talking. The White Pine server accomplishes this by taking the separate incoming audio/video streams and combining them into a single output, reducing the amount of needed bandwidth.
Paul Brinckmann of Paul Brinckmann & Associates in Atlanta is impressed with White Pine's improved audio/video quality and better CPU and bandwidth utilization. "MeetingPoint learns from the endpoint how much it is capable of sending and receiving, then scales down the stream to the level of the endpoint. Version 3.51 had this capability but it was not the best," Brinckmann says.
The technology White Pine acquired from Labtam Communications has improved MeatingPoint's T.120 support for data collaboration. White Pine formerly used a third-party solution to provide T.120 support. "It's a lot more reliable and I don't have to worry about it," Brinckmann says. "Now it's their own code so if something goes wrong they can fix it."
"White Pine is doing the right things to get into the mainstream market," says Marc Beattie, an analyst with Wainhouse Research/Forward Concepts. "The key challenge is to break out of the niche consumer space of consumer, Intranet and education."
MeetingPoint 4.0 is available for both Windows NT and Solaris with a base price of $8,995 for a 10-user server. The continuous presence and streaming media options are $4,995 each.
Get the Picture
PictureTel is also looking to get into the mainstream with last week's announcement of its eVideo Application Server for creating, managing and distributing streaming media across IP networks.
Using technology it acquired when it bought Starlight Networks, the eVideo Server can record and stream videoconferences. It supports Network's G2 server, NetShow and Starlight's own MPEG streaming servers.
In addition to extending videoconferences to the masses via streaming, the eVideo Application server can also synchronize slide and video presentations, handle text-based Q&A chats between the audience and presenter and handle surveys and instant voting to get audience feedback.
The eVideo announcement is part of PictureTel's Visual Collaboration for the 'Net (VCN) strategy designed to add infrastructure and services to the stagnant videoconferencing endpoint market. "We think this will help stimulate the endpoint business like cell phones did once the infrastructure got better," says Brian Heuckroth, vice president of sales and marketing.
The eVideo Application Server will be available in the fall as both a standalone product running on NT or as managed service from PictureTel. Pricing has not yet been announced, but will be based on concurrent users per server.
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