Prototyping Next Generation Communications
The Internet2 Commons, an Internet2 collaborative services framework, accelerates the adoption of IP-based collaboration technologies for the Internet2 research and education community. Supported by and developed with its members, the Internet2 Commons has deployed an H.323 Videoconferencing Service for multi-site connections. Standards-based, vendor-neutral videoconferencing through this scalable service allows subscribing members to schedule and hold distributed working groups, classes, meetings, and conferences in support of research and education.
In an effort sparked by a demonstration of the Internet2 Commons at the Fall 2004 Member Meeting in Austin, Texas, ten collaboration clients created by seven different corporate or university members successfully connected into a single multi-point videoconference for the first time ever. The event was a dynamic demonstration of the positive influence that application creators and users have on each other. It also highlighted the role of the Internet2 Commons in encouraging the development and deployment of innovative, interoperable standards-based IP collaboration tools that meet the needs of the Internet2 community.
After they arrived at the member meeting, engineers from various organizations tweaked code to conform to each other’s implementations of standards. This type of cooperative engagement, fostered within the Internet2 community, is a necessary part of promoting the wide adoption of media-rich, real-time IP communications capabilities. The interoperability demonstration also helped showcase the next stage of Internet2 Commons offerings, which includes an array of complete real-time collaboration suites suited to the needs of researchers, educators, and collaborators on projects of all kinds.