Cell phones and email and now it’s time for videoconferencing – Look back at cell phones and how this technology changed the way we communicate and the way we work. Imagine working today without email, and now our cell phones can accommodate email. Soon videoconferencing will be just as ubiquitous and become indispensable. And yes — Today we can videoconference through our cell phones.
It’s seems there is a new videoconferencing app popping up every month like the flavor of the month at the local ice cream store. This can be a bit confusing however this article will help you sort out the non-players in videoconferencing. There is good news with all this development. It is getting better and easier to implement and much easier to use at a lot lower cost. For videoconferencing to be as common as email and cell phones it must be developed on the ITU, (International Telecommunications Union), standards. The first question to ask — Does the videoconferencing app or equipment accommodate both H.323 and the SIP ITU standard algorithms? If the answer is no, stay far away from these apps and certainly the equipment, they will trap you into a communication silo that is a bridge to nowhere. It would be like buying a cell phone that only worked with the same model cell phone or same cellular service. Imagine trying to find out what cell phone service and what type of phone a person has just to see if you can call them. There are many conferencing apps that do not accommodate the ITU standards — This author calls these “Proprietary Conferencing.”
Make sure you can collaborate with the videoconferencing you choose. This is also an ITU standard called Duo Video or H.239. If your app or equipment does not have H.239 avoid it like you would avoid an unstable bridge. It’s like getting a cell phone that can’t text or have an email service where you cannot attach a file to the email. Here’s why the Duo Video H.239 standard is critical. This allows you to share content from your computer, iPad or videoconferencing equipment. Participants at the other end see both you and your content. You can show Power Point or any other application in real time. Most standards based videoconferencing apps using Duo Video will also allow you to highlight and annotate over the content. This is an expected feature on all videoconferencing solutions. The “collaboration” capability is critical in all videoconferencing.
All the ITU videoconferencing standards are very much refined throughout most of the equipment manufactures and becoming more prevalent within the new cloud applications. Make sure these standards are part of your solution in your videoconferencing deployment. If not, you and your constituency will be very disappointed. Remember to ask all potential vendors if the application or equipment works with H.323; SIP and H.239. If you get the deer in the headlights look from these vendors avoid using them all together.
J.W. Hornyak Videoconferencing & Telecommunications
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