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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.

One of the most remarkable systems in the history of video conferencing was the CU-SeeMe developed for the MacIntosh system in 1992. Although the first version didn’t have audio, it was the best video system developed to that point.
By 1993, the Mac program had multipoint capability, and in 1994, CU-SeeMe Mac was true video conferencing with audio. Later, considering the limitations of Mac software in a Windows world, developers worked hard to to roll out the April 1994 CU-SeeME for Windows (no audio), followed closely by the audio version, CU-SeeMe v0.66b1 for Windows in August of 1995.
In 1992, AT&T introduced their own $1,500 video phone. That same year, the world’s first MBone audio/video broadcast took place and in July INRIA’s video conferencing system was introduced. This is the year that saw the first real explosion in video conferencing for businesses around the globe and
eventually led to the standards developed by the ITU.
The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) began developing standards for video conferencing coding in 1996, when they established Standard H.263 to reduce bandwidth for transmission for low bit rate communication. Other standards were developed, including H.323 for packet-based multi-media
ommunications. These are a variety of other telecommunications standards were revised and updated in 1998. In 1999, Standard MPEG-4 was developed by the Moving Picture Experts Group as an ISO standard for multimedia content. In 1993, VocalChat Novell IPX networks introduced their video conferencing system, but it was doomed from the start and didn’t last. Microsoft finally came on board the video conferencing bandwagon with NetMeeting, a descendent of PictureTel’s Liveshare Plus, in August of 1996 (although it didn’t have video in this release). By December of the same year, Microsoft NetMeeting v2.0b2 with video had been released. That same month, VocalTec’s Internet Phone v4.0 for Windows was introduced.

The history of video conferencing starts in 1960’s with introduction of AT&T’s Picturephone at the World’s Fair in New York. Sadly, it never became popular because it was too expensive to be practical for most consumers when it was offered for $160 in 1970.
Commercial potential of video conferencing was realized after Ericcson’s demonstration of the first trans-atlantic LME video telephone call. Soon after this other companies began refining video conferencing technologies, including such advancements as network video protocol (NVP) in 1976 and
packet video protocol (PVP) in 1981. However, none of this were put into commercial use and stayed in the laboratory or private company use.
In 1976 video conferencing (VC) between Osaka and Tokyo was established by Nippon Telegraph and Telephone. After that a VC running at 48000 bps was estalished between IBM Japan and Uinted States so that they could have weekly meetings.
In 1982 Compression Labs introduces their $250,000 VC system with lines for $1,000 an hour. This system was amazingly huge and used enormous recources capable of tripping 15 amp circiut breakers. But it was the only working VC system available until 1986, when PictureTel’s VC hit the market in 1986 with their substantially cheaper $80,000 system with $100 per hour lines.
In the time between the appearance of this two systems, there were other video conferencing systems developed that were never offered commercially. In 1984, Datapoint was using the Datapoint MINX system on their Texas campus, and had provided the system to the military.
In the late 1980’s, Mitsubishi began selling a still-piture phone that was basically a flop in the marketplace. In 1991 IBM introduced the first PC based video conferencing system - PicTel. The black and white system cost $20,000 with $30 per hour for the lines. In June, 1991, a transcontinental IP
network of over a dozen research sites in the United States and Great Britain using T1 trunks. Today, Dartnet has evolved into CAIRN system, which connects dozens of institutions.