Videoconference service in the NIIF network

Authors: András Kovács, Ede Fehér, Tamás Máray, János Mohácsi

Infrastructural developments accomplished during the last year in the HBONE network and the large amount of available bandwidth make the deployment of brand new communication services for the Hungarian academic community possible. Plenty of successful videoconference projects being run by US and European national research networks indicate the world-wide scale usage of videoconference techniques in any field of research and education.

Hungarian researchers are involved more and more frequently in international research projects and expectedly the rate of participation will rise in the next few years. Videoconference services have been often used in international project collaborations during past years, providing increased utilisation of human resources and effective, rapid making of decisions at reduced costs.

The NIIF videoconference project targets deployment of a countrywide academic videoconference service, available - according to project plans - in year 2003 for 10-15 institutions having high speed network access. The project covers the implementation of a central videoconference server infrastructure, the procurement and deployment of professional videoconference end systems. Moreover, the project will investigate available streaming technologies and solutions, providing a suitable system to disseminate and broadcast remarkable Hungarian research and education events through the network.

In this presentation, the current achievements, short- and long-term plans of the NIIF videoconference project and technical background of the service will be introduced.