The history of video conferencing Part 3
The Virtual Room Videoconferencing system (VRVS) project at Caltech-CERN kicked off in July if 1997. It was created specifically to provide video conferencing to researchers on the Large Hadron Collider Project and scientists in the High Energy and Nuclear Physics Community in the U.S. and Europe. It was very successful and more money has been alloted for phase two, CalREN-2, to improve and expand on the already in-place VRVS system in order to expand it to encompass geneticists, doctors, and a host og other scientists in the video conferencing network around the world.
In 1998 CU-SeeMe v1.0 was released by Cornell University’s team. This version had color video and was compatible with both MacIntosh and Windows, and was a huge step forward in pc video conferencing. By May of that year, the team has moved on to other projects.
In February of 1999, Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) was launched by MMUSIC. The platform showed some advantages over H.323 that user appreciated and soon made it almost as popular. 1999 was a very busy year, with NetMeeting v 3.0b coming out, followed quickly by version three of the ITU
standard H.323. Then came the release of iVisit v2.3b5 for both Windows and Mac, followed by Media Gatewaay Control Protocol (MGCP), version 1. In December, Microsoft released a service pack for NetMeeting v3.01 (4.4.3388) and an ISO standard MPEG-4 version two was released. Finally, PSInet was the first company to launch H.323 automated multipoint services.
SIP entered version 1.30 in November of 2000, the same year that standard H.323 hit version 4, and Samsung released their MPEG-4 streaming 3G video cell phone, the first of its kind.
In 2001, Windows XP Messenger announced that it would now support Session Initiate Protocol. This was the same year the world’s first trans-atlantic tele-surgery took place utilizing video conferencing. In this instance , video conferencing was instrumental in allowing a surgeon in the U.S. to use
a robot overseas to perform gall bladder surgery on a patient. It was one of the most compelling non-business uses in the history of video conferencing, and brought the technology to the attention of the medical profession and the general public.
In October of 2001, television reporters began using a portable sattelite and a videophone to broadcast live from Afghanistan during the war. It was the first use of video conferencing technology to converse live with video with someone on a war zone, again bringing video conferencing to the forefront of
people’s imagination.
Founded in December of 2001, the Joint Video Team completed basic research leading to ITU-T H.264 by December of 2002. This protocol standardized video compression technology for both MPEG-4 and ITU-T over a broad range of application areas, making it more versatile than its predecessors. In March
of 2003, the new technology was ready for launch to the industry.
In 2003 interactive classrooms became popular as the quality of streaming video increased and the delay decreased. Companies such as VBrick provided various MPEG-4 systems to colleges acrosss the country. Desktop video conferencing is also on the rise and gaining popularity.
In April of 2004, Applied Global Technologies developed a voice-activated camera for use in video conferencing that tracks the voice of various speakers in order to focus in whoever is speaking during a conference call. In March 2004, Linux announced the release of GnomeMeeting, an H.323
compliant, free video conferencing platform that is NetMeeting compatible.
With the constant advances in video conferencing systems , it seems obvious that the technology will continue to evolve and become an integral part of business and personal life. As new advances are made and systems become more reasonably priced, keep in mind that choices are still determined by network type, system requirements and what your particular conferencing needs are.