All Mgrs Mtg-2005.12.07-Access Grid

Access Grid by Jimmy Miklavcic, CHPC. Access Grid is an open source application for video conferencing / collaboration. MBone technology used (RAT, FIC). See www.accessgrid.org - it will run on Linux, PCs, and Macs. AccessGrid Toolkit is version 2.4 (3.0 out soon). All Python-based software. They load very fast. It is secure (uses globus authentication) - limits wayward people from strolling in. Go in to the AGScheduler to schedule meetings or join other meetings. AG Portal has been added in - forums to communicate, additional plug-ins (whiteboards, shared desktops, multicast midi service, etc.) : http://portal.accessgrid.org (AG Central). While running Access Grid, you'll be prompted for a password then get a Venue client. Make sure multicast is running on your network. CHPC has its own venue server - lots of people are coming up with their own. List of video feeds that are online. Constantly have lectures and demonstrations online. An initiative to get this into classrooms (K-12) for enhanced learning. Jimmy uses it daily for collaboration. Used last April for performance - 6 sites simultaneously. Microphone has an echo canceller. Large system would need a larger echo canceller. Jimmy recommends two systems to capture video and audio separately. Two packages that capture RPT streams for archival purposes - see AG Central. H.261 so video quality not that hot, additional plugin use other higher quality protocols. Both ends have to agree . . . default is the H.261 (limit is 320). DVTS can be run as a separate stream. Server software is also open source. Client is acting as a server as well. You can have as many machines running feeds as you want. A lot of national labs are using Access Grid. Any DV camera can be used, but must use a USB microphone of some sort. NAT translations and firewalls could cause problems - must make sure ports are available. Multicast-unicast bridge works about 50 % of the time. Software that allows you to connect via unicast and then make a multicast connection. Can use RealVNC to share PPTs. Microsoft has a product to share files via multicast. AG Connector could handle problems on a private network . . . acts like a bridge. Contact Jimmy if you'd like a more complete demonstration for your department.