Many to Many web video conferencing is a combination of two web casting services named video conferencing and web conferencing. Video conferencing means collaboration of one or more than one people at same time while sharing sounds and videos with each other live. Web conferencing is an expansion pack of video conferencing. It includes not only live audio and video conferencing but also remote desktop sharing for sending or receiving documents, files and folders from one pc to another. Many to Many term is used when people are interconnect with each other in such a way that all participants can see, listen and speak with each other independently. It is just like a gathering in single room where everyone has independent access to each other. In a business meeting, business partners and co workers collaborate with each other to analyze their business objectives, sharing reports and making new business plans. When someone talks, all are able to listen and discuss at any point. This is a routine business meeting is real world. Many to Many web video conferencing is the best alternate of routine business meeting by providing virtual collaboration of business personnel through internet.

Why many to many web conferencing :

Question is why someone needed many to many web video conferencing rather than physical collaborations. What are advantages of web conferencing which replaced traditional business meetings with virtual business collaboration by using online web video conferencing technology? Answers are not much complicated. During current era, boom of technology creates enormous opportunities of business and trade. Horizontal and vertical expansion of business identifies the need of fast collaboration among different departments. Whole world was becoming a global village and geographical boundaries were no more barriers for any industry to establish its business and find new target markets. Need to be fast collaboration provides the opportunity of online virtual business meeting without travelling. Online Many to Many web video conferencing make it possible by availing this colossal opportunity. It saves travelling time from one region to another. There is no extra travelling and residential cost. Everyone has access to meet his partner at computer screen while sitting his workplace. Invention of web conferencing makes files and documents sharing very easy. there is no need to travel out of region with holding your pc. Someone can access his own computer from a long distance by using online remote desktop sharing solutions. During Many to Many web video conferencing, everyone can share business reports, videos and other data by sharing their personal computers with each other.

History:

History of online audio video conferencing is old as development of internet. In early 60s, a small program for distance learning was developed. It was designed for single class room and is called Plato. This program was much costly and main frame computers were used to run and operate it. During next few years, it was much developed and organized. In the mid of 70s, it was launched for commercial use. Hundreds of companies started to use video conferencing in next ten years. History of web video conferencing take a turn when main frame base Plato terminated in 1980 due to much high cost and low quality communication system. Mainframe computers were replaced with latest micro computers. Audio video conferencing technology enhanced to web video conferencing solutions. lot of expansions were added to facilitate and simplify online collaboration. Today’s online web video conferencing solutions has become an industry which serves telemedicine, online seminars, online business meetings, law firms, religious organizations and online marketing companies.

How it works:

In many to many web video conferencing process, powerful dynamic streaming system is used today to run, stop, pause, and rewind online web video conferencing. It is latest technology till the day which works with integrated HTTP server. Adobe flash media streaming server 3.5 is a powerful mechanism to run all technical operations of web video conferencing. One person hosts the whole conference and invites guests by sending them conferencing link through email. Guest accepts this invitation to join many to many web video conferencing. Desktop sharing ID provides him access to desktop of another computer with him.

Coverage industries:

Many to Many web video conferencing is a bridge for telemedicine industry to Secure plus cure the health without any geographical restrictions. Get online Medicare by web video conferencing with your doctor while sitting at home. Online hospitals have become mature industry. Patients save time wastage, travelling expenses and other worries by instant consulting with their doctor. Online marketing companies are second largest coverage sector of Many to Many web video conferencing. Daily online collaboration made easy for online marketing companies to target achieving. Personal online meetings and virtual business collaboration are possible through face to face gathering by using many to many web video conferencing solutions.

But in the recent past we have experienced a very different kind of tourist visitors, they bring with them lap tops, i – phones then halfway ‘dress up’ and look semi official in their casual safari gear. This has come to the surprise of the many natives most of whom are hotel staff used to back packers and the real safari gear. Safari camps and lodges are suddenly flooding with flip charts and overhead projectors, internet hot spots and very many branded pens and pads in their storage rooms.
It’s no surprise that each resort in the wild and the beach resorts are either developing or have heavily invested in world class business meeting venues. Some of which have the capacity to accommodate over 200 guests. City colleges and institutions are stating to avail courses on handling this kind of clientele to ensure continuity.
This trend if encouraged would turn around the countries economy and challenge the old tourism guards to invest in this viable direction. A big ‘thank you’ to the tourism ministry for embracing this venture.
The IT technology that came with mobile phones, video conferencing and wireless internet has by far mostly assisted in developing this sector and here is a country that its people shall forever be grateful for the Wildlife, rolling landscapes and diverse culture, a life time cocktail.
After a seven months undercover investigation to really find out whom among the safari resorts and camps have captured and is sufficiently ready to accommodate this new enterprise dubbed ‘business function venues of the 20th century’ on top of my list just to name a few of my favorites concluded as follows.
The Masai mara bush tops camp takes the trophy for originality. They have set up a 24 persons conference tent overlooking a water hole where animals take water from, if the LCD projector is too much to look at, or you just don’t like the maker pen ink color they decided to use on the flip chart, just look down your left and enjoy a family of giraffes as they take their mid morning bath, or if you are lucky a cheater will make lunch out of some other animal as you watch! Just don’t say a word as you might just get expelled off the executive class room.

For a small business trying to decide on a network solution which will be required to support video conferencing …. the journey can be aggravating.

Basically ….. Give me an open check and I will spend every dime on bandwidth pipes. Give me a fixed budget and I will squeeze every dime of bandwidth with compression techniques and accept the quality trade off.

Therein lies the dilemma ….. bandwidth vs quality.

So this is really not a question of bandwidth, but QoS (Quality of Service).

If you’re willing to accept some risk in QoS to keep your budget under control…..there are options open to you.

With the bandwidth, you would scale to the number of users using the video/multimedia streaming network. About 384kbps per active connection per direction is the scaling for basic video conferencing(320×240). For 640×480 double it, and for 1080i HD 3-7Mbps for each feed.

LAN – Local Area Network, the one you buy and build

WAN – The one you lease and pay for, DSL etc

DSL – Digital Subscriber Line, 3-7Mbps

VPN – Virtual Private Networking, key technology for your solution

For your LAN network topology you want Ethernet at each video conferencing location. This is standard for most all LANs. Your WAN or Wide Area Network connection is the one that needs speculation. Just 10 years ago your choice would have been either a few T-1’s at 1.5Mbps each, T-3 at 45Mbps, or Fibre for near limitless bandwidth depending on the above calculated bandwidth need.

Today’s internet backbone is much more developed and can handle VPN over cable/DSL very well. VPN is creating a virtual software driven dedicated connection over a broadband connection like DSL.

Many (Linksys) network routers come with VPN capabilities. This should be the first solution attempt because it is exponentially cheaper than any other way. All you would require is a VPN router (Linksys $100) and 3-7Mbps DSL/Cable at each video feed location. Don’t forget to get static IP’s for each DSL location so you can make your VPN a permanent structure of the internet.

That’s the basics. If you need help finding a DSL or cable provider in your area that won’t steal your wallet …. visit us at Broadband Nation.

The downside to videoconferencing exists. Despite its many advantages, it still depends on technology and human interaction. Therefore, errors glitches in technology, and inefficient use of this exist. Video conferencing is a pros and cons decision; once the cons are identified, you can attempt to learn how to troubleshoot these issues.

The desktop videoconferencing industry as a whole has had a few false starts. The main problems up to now have included proprietary hardware and software incompatible software packages, bandwidth constraints, and difficulty of use. Of all these challenges, insufficient bandwidth has been the most prominent. Decent video requires a lot of bandwidth, which means some form of broadband connection. Until recently, the average user did not have access to broadband.

A little understanding how the technology works is the best way to illustrate the downside of videoconferencing. The majority of videoconferences take place over an ISDN or IP-based network in a point-to-point call between two machines or a multipoint call between three or more video endpoints. ISDN calls are usually made at a data rate of 64K, 128K or 384K bit per second using the H.320 protocol. The higher bandwidth used means better call quality. ISDN uses the public switched telephone network and not the Internet. The downside of the technology is that one has to be located at least 18,000 feet from a local phone office. If the distance is further, requiring additional equipment and specialized lines drives up the cost.

IP-based conferencing uses a standard Ethernet connection and the H.323 protocol for connecting endpoints to a network. It is becoming more the standard for videoconferencing. Connection speeds can go as high as 768K bit per second. In the past, it was a dial-up world. Not many people had access to IP technology.

Now, of course, IP is relatively inexpensive and Ethernet connections can be found in most corporate settings. It still has its problems when used with videoconferencing. Network congestion is becoming a major issue. Experts advise planning your videoconferences early in the day when the Internet is least crowded. Alternatively, you can hire a gate keaper. Gatekeepers can be used to reserve and set up conference calls. These services have network backbones dedicated to video conferencing traffic, minimizing the potential disruptions and keep individual call quality high. Keep in mind that flawed connections can create jittery images, dropped calls, delay and other problems in the videoconference. This is particularly true for conferences over the public Internet.

Firewalls are crucial to any companys system. Corporate firewalls may block its traffic coming in or out of the local-area network. Before any videoconferencing can take place, a port must be found to allow the connection to take place.

Another downside of video conferencing is the cost. A connection between conference participants is only part of the equation. The videoconferencing endpoint can also have an impact on the overall call quality. Endpoints range from a pair of $50 web cams connected to PCs running Microsoft NetMeeting to $50,000 boardroom-based systems that have multiple cameras and microphones.

There is cost involved in the service as well. Service providers have network backbones dedicated to videoconferencing traffic, minimizing the potential disruptions. Using a service provider and dedicated lines can provide for a better connection and overall experience, but can be expensive if videoconferencing is only used on a limited basis.

Basically, there are two pricing models. A subscription per month usually ranges from $25 to $150 per month for up to twenty people. There are usually steep fees for setup. The other model is to charge a per minute fee per participant. Rates vary from 12 to 40 cents a minute for local calls. Long distance and international calls of course run much higher. It is decidedly cheaper than business travel, but the monthly fees can be a downside if your organization only holds two or three meetings a year.

Finally, there is the people factor to consider. People must actually attend these meetings, whether in real time or via a taped session. Also, the benefit of person-to-person interaction cannot be duplicated by even the most sophisticated and expensive video conferencing system. A firm handshake, a sincere smile, the easy conversation over a business lunch all go far in establishing trust and cementing good business relations.