[Videoconferencing] Changes to TRIUMF eZuceSRN/SeeVoghRN service

[Andrew Daviel]

On Thu, 25 Oct 2018, Akira Konaka wrote:

> Dear Andrew.
>
>  Recently, some collaborations are moving away from eZuceSRN which sometimes
> have connection problems. ZOOM and Bluejeans seem to have stable connections,
> and I found both are very reliable. KEK has recently adopted Vidyo.developed
> at CERN as well. Is Vibe considered providing more stable connections? Would it be
> worth considering some of these other tools?

Vibe has some changes, described as

New Features!

         H.264 SVC Codec: Better video over poor connections
         Enhanced Chat Experience: Persistent chat for rooms and private chat
         SIP Softphone: Connect to your organizations phone system
         Applications Tabs: Web apps open while in meetings
         Easy access to community meetings: Connect with colleagues easier
         And many more!

They have also updated the Panda servers (the concentrators that do 
transcoding and replication, such as the one we host here).

So there may be some noticable improvements.

Vidyo as I recall was an existing commercial product which CERN decided 
to adopt, not a CERN software. (irrelevant, I know)
As I recall, CERN host a Vidyo server, which is used for e.g. ATLAS 
meetings. That costs something like $30,000. There is one at BC.net 
which we might be able to use. I don't doubt there are some ongoing 
service costs as well.

I don't know the costing model for Bluejeans or Zoom.

For Vibe/eZuce, we pay an annual fee, prorated since we host a Panda 
server, giving us unmetered usage for any TRIUMF user. There are still a 
fair number of meetings being booked.

The issues in room 223 are separate

Andrew