1. ID 407
Seeing is Believing:
Advanced Video Technology for IBM Sametime
Pat Galvin IBM Sametime® Architect
Bhavuk Srivastava IBM Sametime® Architect
© 2013 IBM Corporation

2. Please note:
IBM’s statements regarding its plans, directions, and intent are subject to change or withdrawal
without notice at IBM’s sole discretion.
Information regarding potential future products is intended to outline our general product direction
and it should not be relied on in making a purchasing decision.
The information mentioned regarding potential future products is not a commitment, promise, or
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future features or functionality described for our products remains at our sole discretion.
Performance is based on measurements and projections using standard IBM benchmarks in a
controlled environment. The actual throughput or performance that any user will experience will
vary depending upon many factors, including considerations such as the amount of
multiprogramming in the user's job stream, the I/O configuration, the storage configuration, and the
workload processed. Therefore, no assurance can be given that an individual user will achieve
results similar to those stated here.
2 © 2013 IBM Corporation

3. Agenda
 Video in Sametime Today
─ A brief look at what we have
 Challenges
─ Changing landscape (devices, networks, user expectations)
─ Pain points and lessons learned from the field
 Concrete Solutions
─ Building blocks
─ Meeting the challenges
 Q&A
© 2013 IBM Corporation

4. Agenda
 Video in Sametime Today
─ A brief look at what we have
 Challenges
─ Changing landscape (devices, networks, user expectations)
─ Pain points and lessons learned from the field
 Concrete Solutions
─ Building blocks
─ Meeting the challenges
 Q&A
© 2013 IBM Corporation

5. Sametime 8.5.2 – Multimedia Architecture
Voice / Video Component
Meeting Server
Sametime Dependency
3rd Party Component
Sametime Proxy
Sametime Unified Telephony
DMZ Community Server
Telephony
Application Server
HTTP Reverse Proxy
Media Manager
Telephony
Conference Manager SIP Proxy / Registrar
Control Server
TURN Server
TCSPI
Sametime
SIP Edge Server
Audio / Video Bridge Enterprise Telephony
Firewall Traversal
Partner Audio Bridge
HTTP
Virtual Places (VP)
Partner Video Bridge
SIP
Media (RTP)
API
© 2013 IBM Corporation

6. Sametime 8.5.2 Video – Baseline for Comparison
 SIP-based Signaling
 H.264 AVC Video Encoding
 Voice-activated Switching MCU
 Desktop Only (Windows®, Mac, Linux®)
 Third-Party Product Integration
─ “User Oriented” integration via TCSPI adapters
─ “Device Oriented” integration via SUT Lite (direct dial)
─ Continuous presence available only through partner
© 2013 IBM Corporation

7. Agenda
 Video in Sametime Today
─ A brief look at what we have
 Challenges
─ Changing landscape (devices, networks, user expectations)
─ Pain points and lessons learned from the field
 Concrete Solutions
─ Building blocks
─ Meeting the challenges
 Q&A
© 2013 IBM Corporation

8. Challenge #1 – Video Everywhere
 All Devices / Platforms
─ Desktop – Windows, Mac, Linux
─ Browsers – IE, Firefox, Safari, Chrome
─ Mobile – iOS, Android, Others as needed
 All Networks
─ LAN, WAN, Broadband
─ Private, VPN, Public
─ Adaptive, to deal with poor network conditions
 All deployments
─ On-premise, private cloud, public cloud
© 2013 IBM Corporation

9. Challenge #2 – Continuous Presence
 See everyone in the meeting continuously
─ Not just the active speaker
 Flexible
─ Different clients can have different views
─ Based on device capabilities, network conditions, or user preference
 Scalable and Affordable
─ Support many simultaneous conferences per server
─ Software only, with full support for virtualization
© 2013 IBM Corporation

10. Challenge #3 – Interoperability
 Support direct connections to other SIP-based video endpoints
─ Rooms systems, desktop systems, soft clients
 Support bridging to PSTN devices
─ Connect via SIP/PSTN gateway
─ Permit dialing to or from devices such as cell phones, land lines, etc.
 Backward compatibility with previous Sametime releases
─ New clients with old servers
─ Old clients with new servers
─ Mixtures of clients in the same session
─ Any reasonable combination
© 2013 IBM Corporation

11. Challenge #4 – Geographical Distribution
 Servers deployed to different geographies to support local
users
 Support automatic cascading of MCUs with no user
intervention
─ Reduce local latency
─ Optimize WAN traffic
 Permit capacity overflow to remote geographies to handle
load during peak hours
─ Most efficient use of deployed resources
 All governed by policy
© 2013 IBM Corporation

12. Challenge #5 – Mission Critical
 Support failover within a geography
─ N+1 clustering to provide cost-efficient fault tolerance
 Support failover across geographies
─ Further cost reductions by permitting failover to remote systems during non-peak hours
 Support disaster recovery scenarios
─ Entire data center can be lost, with load shifting automatically to surviving data center
© 2013 IBM Corporation

13. Agenda
 Video in Sametime Today
─ A brief look at what we have
 Challenges
─ Changing landscape (devices, networks, user expectations)
─ Pain points and lessons learned from the field
 Concrete Solutions
─ Building blocks
─ Meeting the challenges
 Q&A
© 2013 IBM Corporation

14. Building Block #1 – H.264 SVC
 SVC enables the efficient encoding
of video that can be realized at
different resolutions, frame rates,
quality
 A video image is organized into
layers; clients choose how many
layers to receive and process.
 This approach can save bandwidth
because clients can request fewer
layers when necessary.
 SVC is more robust since
transmission can gracefully degrade
to lower frame rates / resolutions
when experiencing packet loss.
 Continuous Presence is effectively * An example of layering
built-in, since each client can request
video from multiple participants (at
reduced quality, if necessary), and
then format the view locally; no need
for expensive hardware video MCUs.
© 2013 IBM Corporation

15. More about SVC Layering
 SVC layers are constructed across three
dimensions:
 Temporal
● Frames rate, e.g. 30 fps, 15 fps, etc.
 Spatial
● Resolution, e.g. QCIF (176×144), VGA (640x480),
HD (1920x1080).
 Quality
● The fidelity of compression; how close the reconstructed
frame is to the original input.
 Clients choose the layers they want. For
example:
● HD room station will choose full size, quality & frame rate.
● Mobile device will choose smaller frame, possibly lower
frame rate.
© 2013 IBM Corporation

16. Building Block #2 – Native Clients for All Platforms
 Windows, Mac, Linux
 IExplorer, Firefox, Safari, Chrome
 IOS, Android, Others
© 2013 IBM Corporation

17. Building Block #3 – SVC Video MCU
 Software only
 Avoids media transcoding, whenever possible
─ Works by adaptively routing appropriate SVC layers to clients
 Supports Scalable Audio Coding
─ Layered audio, mixed at client
 Provides interoperability with previous generation standards-based endpoints
─ Mixed audio
─ H.264 AVC video
© 2013 IBM Corporation

18. SVC Routing
 When all endpoints are SVC-enabled,
there is no need for media transcoding
 Provides for a rich and flexible user
experience
 Highly scalable, with optimized
network use
© 2013 IBM Corporation

19. Building Block #4 – Intelligent Video Distribution
 Manage a pool of SVC MCUs, within or across geographies
 Balance load across the MCUs based on policy, load, and user proximity
 Intelligently cascade MCUs to achieve optimum use of expensive WAN
connections
 Cluster for scalability and reliability
 Multiple clusters can further distribute load, and provide for disaster recovery
© 2013 IBM Corporation

20. Video Subsystem – Clusters and Pools
 Two new component types
─ Video Managers (VMGR)
Site 1 Site 2
─ Video Multipoint Control Units (VMCU)
 VMGR instances can be deployed in Clusters Video Manager
Video Manager
Video Manager
Video Manager
Video Manager
Video Manager
─ Scalability and reliability
─ Fronted by a Load Balancer
─ Conference assigned to specific node at run-time
─ Can failover to alternate node when necessary
─ Disaster recovery is achieved by deploying two Video MCU Video MCU
clusters in different geographies
 VMCU instances are managed in Pools VMCU Pool
─ Pools can span any number of VMCUs across any
number of geographies
─ A Pool is managed by a VMGR (single or cluster)
 Sites for Clusters and Pools can be different
© 2013 IBM Corporation

21. Automatic Video MCU Cascading
 Cascading refers to the use of two or more
VMCUs in the same conference
 Automatic cascading can enhance: Site 1 Site 2
─ Scalability – If a VMCU in use reaches capacity, Video Manager Video Manager
Video Manager Video Manager
another can be engaged Video Manager Video Manager
─ Localization – Users automatically connect to the
closest available VMCU
 Localization ensures the best possible
experience
Video MCU Video MCU
─ Lower latency within a given geography
─ Optimization of expensive WAN connections
 These two modes of cascading can be VMCU Pool
enabled/disabled independently
© 2013 IBM Corporation

22. Enhanced Voice / Video Architecture (Planned)
Voice / Video Component
Meeting Server
Sametime Dependency
3rd Party Component
Sametime Proxy
Sametime Unified Telephony
DMZ Community Server
Telephony
Application Server
HTTP Reverse Proxy
Media Manager
Telephony
Conference Manager SIP Proxy / Registrar
Control Server
TURN Server
TCSPI
SIP Edge Server
Enterprise Telephony
Firewall Traversal Site 1
Video
Manager
HTTP
Site 2
Virtual Places (VP)
Video MCU Video MCU SIP
VMCU Pool Media (RTP)
API
© 2013 IBM Corporation

23. Sample Worldwide Deployment
Site 2
Video
Manager
Video MCU
Video MCU
Site 1
Video MCU
Site 3
© 2013 IBM Corporation

24. Questions?
© 2013 IBM Corporation

25. Legal disclaimer
© IBM Corporation 2013. All Rights Reserved.
The information contained in this publication is provided for informational purposes only. While efforts were made to verify the
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25 © 2013 IBM Corporation