Video conferencing @ Swinburne  

What is it?

Video conferencing uses telecommunications of audio and video to bring people at different sites together. This can be as simple as a conversation between two people (point-to-point) or involve several sites (multi-point) with more than one person at different sites.

The video conferencing facilities provided by ITS allow you to link up with the various Swinburne University campuses as well as establishing video links with other places in Australia or the world. Telephone calls can also link into the facilities.

Why use it?

Video conferencing services are useful to facilitate meetings, classes and presentations across distances. For those staff traveling between campuses, this is a way to reduce your travel, and as such reduce Swinburne’s carbon footprint.

Hardware Endpoint Equipment

In order to integrate into the Swinburne videoconference infrastructure all hardware endpoints must be H323 compliant. Current ITS recommended units are:

Medium to large meeting rooms/classrooms

• Tandberg H.323 capable MXP Set Top Series

Desktop/Small meeting rooms

• Tandberg H.323 capable Centric 1000MXP
• Cisco Unified Video Advantage (formerly Cisco VT Advantage) adds video to your desktop by providing video telephony functionality to Cisco Unified IP phones (7900 series, and Cisco IP Communicator softphone application). These units plug into a USB port on your PC as well as your IP Cisco phone

Software Endpoints

Software endpoints require a web-camera and associated conference application. Most H.323 compliant software endpoints should work, however given the large number of software options available limited support is available. The following endpoints are known to work with the existing infrastructure:

• Windows: Netmeeting, ViaVideo, PVX
• Mac: Xmeeting
• Linux: GnomeMeeting, Ekiga

How to call another location

The Swinburne videoconference architecture supports the following videoconference calls, provided the registration to the recommended Gatekeeper is adhered to:

Internal Point to Point Conferencing Procedure

1. First time users need to set up their video conference systems to link with the Swinburne gatekeeper. Call 5000 for assistance. After this has been done, continue with step 2.
2. Book all rooms that contain video conference equipment (via GroupWise, under: Meeting rooms), Prahran: PK212, Lilydale: LA322, Hawthorn: HLB312, Wantirna: WS102. (There are other rooms owned by Faculties and Departments for own use. Bookings for those by local procedure)
3. Call the other party directly via the unique phone number. Numbers are preloaded in most Swinburne video conference units. If they are missing here is a list of numbers:

External Point to Point Conferencing Procedure

1. First time users need to set up their video conference systems to link with the Swinburne gatekeeper. Call 5000 for assistance. After this has been done, continue with step 2.
2. Book all LOCAL rooms that contain video conference equipment (via GroupWise, under: Meeting rooms), Prahran: PK212, Lilydale: LA322, Hawthorn: HLB312, Wantirna: WS102. External rooms as per your contacts. (There are other rooms owned by Faculties and Departments for own use. Bookings for those by local procedure)
3. Call the other party directly via the unique phone number e.g. Sydney 61292xxxxxxx. External parties can also call Swinburne parties direct using the local phone number of the video conference unit (see list above)
   Endpoints (external or internal) not registered to a gatekeeper cannot participate in a videoconference with Swinburne endpoints.

Multipoint Conferencing

Swinburne provides multipoint conference facilities via a Cisco MCU for links to more than 2 parties. Internal and external endpoints may connect to one of the pre-defined virtual meeting rooms on the Swinburne MCU.
Videoconference endpoints and telephone handsets can join a conference on the MCU. There are 3 conference numbers available depending on the size of the conference.

Procedure

1. First time users need to set up their video conference systems to link with the Swinburne gatekeeper. Call 5000 for assistance. After this has been done, continue with step 2.
2. Book all LOCAL rooms that contain video conference equipment (via GroupWise, under: Meeting rooms), Prahran: PK212, Lilydale: LA322, Hawthorn: HLB312, Wantirna: WS102. External rooms as per your contacts. (There are other rooms owned by Faculties and Departments for own use. Bookings for those by local procedure)
3. Book a virtual room (via GroupWise, under Virtual Meeting Rooms). Room 5601 (up to3 endpoints), Room 5602 (Up to 5 endpoints), Room 5603 (up to 10 end points).
4. Internal parties: Call the virtual room number: 5601 or 5602 or 5603. External parties call: 0061392145601 or 0061392145602 or 0061392145603.
5. Those wanting to dial in by phone only: dial Internal 5601 or 5602 or 5603, OR External: +61392145601 or +61392145602 or +61392145603 – Maximum 10 Endpoints

Video conferencing hardware and software is constantly evolving, please contact ITS, Client Services, before purchasing a videoconference endpoint to ensure suitability for the Swinburne environment.

A list of all Swinburne Video Conference Endpoints and their associated contact numbers will be created soon and published on the web.

For help with setting up video conferences please call ITS Client Services, Ph.5000.

Costs

Currently there are no call charges for video conference calls over IP. Calls over ISDN incur TELSTRA charges.

Technical information for those interested

Endpoint Addressing

All Swinburne Video Conference endpoints require a unique E.164 Number which adheres to the Global Dialing Scheme (GDS). http://commons.internet2.edu/gds.html

Staff wishing to use their desktop H323 video conference endpoints can use their phone number extension appended to “006139214xxxx” as their unique E.164 Number, but must register with the Swinburne Gatekeeper.

Endpoints located in conference rooms and classrooms will be allocated a number by ITS Client Services and will also need to be registered with the Gatekeeper. Please contact the service desk to have a number allocated to your meeting room endpoint.

Gatekeeper Registration

All Swinburne Video Conference Endpoints must be:

• Registered to the Swinburne Internal video conferencing Gatekeeper: 136.186.73.19

External to Swinburne Video Conference Endpoints must:

• Register to any gatekeeper that is part of the Global Dialing Scheme; OR
• Register to the Swinburne External Gatekeeper 136.186.1.252

If a non-GDS compliant gatekeeper is in use, external institutions can provide details of their gatekeeper IP Address and endpoint E.164 Numbers. Once provided these details can be permanently added to the Swinburne Gatekeeper to facilitate conferencing between the two sites. Contact ITS Service Desk: (03) 92145000