Videoconference Rooms Refurbishing

General Requirements

• Extensibility: the systems proposed are extensible. This is an important factor since the needs for collaborative equipment may change and need in many situations to be extended (enhance the audio systems; include Touch Panels, Smart Boards etc.). Hence, all the presented solutions are based on a core setup that can be extended to adapt to new needs.

• Scalability: all the proposed solutions are modular and can be adapted to rooms of different sizes

• Harmonization: all the systems proposed are intended to be standard in the mode of operation; this means that a user will have the same user interface, regardless of the room used with a simplified setup. In addition, they will require minimum operator intervention, being self-service setups. The standardization of the user interface implies that a specific equipment provider is chosen and that its range of products should share the same user interface and is wide enough to adapt to all the rooms at CERN (ranging from small meeting rooms to auditoria).

• Quality: all the endpoints under consideration provide the latest technologies in respect of video and audio codecs. These endpoints are high-quality devices. However, one should be aware that the quality of videoconference or collaborative work in general is dependent of all the participants, namely the infrastructure that supports the endpoints (namely the network). Although this is not an issue at CERN since the network service has a general very good quality, this might not be the case in some of the remote collaborative sites. However the endpoint quality at CERN side needs to be guaranteed.

• Simplicity of installation and maintenance: none of the systems under consideration are complicated or require a significant effort to install or maintain. They are supposed to be as much self-service and easy to setup as possible.

• Compatibility: All the endpoints are compatible with the main multipoint services most commonly used at CERN (i.e.VRVS/EVO, EsNet and Hermes MCUs, etc.)

• Integration: Following a common identified need (also identified by RTAG12) one should use the same device for videoconference and phone conference. The presented solutions, with varying levels of integration, offer this possibility.

• Common interface management: IT-UDS-AVC requires a tool for the remote management of the installed endpoints. Through this framework, not only endpoints software can be maintained and administrated (software updates, general troubleshooting, etc.) but also it can perform bookings and provide statistics. There is also the possibility of interfacing it with relevant CERN systems.

Meeting Rooms

Pilot Projects

• 40-4-C01
• 40-R-B10

Other rooms

Here is the list of the other rooms to be refurbished:

• 40-5-A01
• 40-2-A01
• 40-R-A10 (powerplugs)

Auditoria

• 40-2S-A01
• 40-2S-B01

Open Questions

Insurance

• 08/05/2006 DSU has been contacted and confirmed that thefts in the meeting rooms are not covered by any insurance. Discussions go on to get an idea of the price of such an insurance.

-- ThomasBaron - 18 Apr 2006