NETWORK WORLD FUSION FOCUS: NEAL WEINBERG on PRODUCT REVIEW OF THE WEEK
Today's Focus: Videoconferencing picture clears up
03/14/00

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Today's Focus: Videoconferencing picture clears up
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By Neal Weinberg

If you,ve been turned off by the jumpy frames and poor audio quality
associated with real-time videoconferencing, the Reviewmeister has good
news for you.  There,s a new generation of videoconferencing end-point
devices that provide business-quality pictures and sound for under
$12,000.

We grabbed a box of popcorn and tested eight videoconferencing systems,
using 384K bit/sec ISDN and IP connections.

In the category of videoconferencing appliances  that is, standalone
systems that go in a conference room for group video sessions with
colleagues or business partners  Polycom,s ViewStation MP was the
clear winner.

The Polycom ViewStation provided outstanding video and audio quality.
In addition, it was easy to install, configure and use.

In the category of PC-based products, which are especially good for
virtual collaboration from your desktop, VCON,s MC800 was the hands-
down winner, based on its high-quality components.

The beauty of these products is they allow you to have a real-time
video image of the person you,re conferencing with in one corner of
the screen, with the rest of the space available for data collaboration.

If you,re in the market for a system, be sure to get one with a Sony
EVI D30/31 video camera; an unidirectional boundary microphone, like
the Audio Technica; and a quality sound mixer. And look for remote
administration and system management tools. For example, the
ViewStation allows you to upgrade software, change settings, or change
address book entries directly from the administrator,s system.

Most systems will allow you to transmit over ISDN or IP, but we found
performance over IP was dragged down by IP,s overhead requirements. For
the complete product review, go to:
http://www.nwfusion.com/reviews/2000/0313rev.html

Of course, there,s more to videoconferencing than end points, so we
whipped up an implementation guide that lays out the network topology,
bandwidth and quality-of-service issues.
http://www.nwfusion.com/reviews/2000/0313rev2.html

Based on our testing, the Reviewmeister says now is the time to start
pilot-testing a videoconferencing system. Your chief information
officer will love it when you tell him you can slash your company,s
airline and hotel bills because you,ve got people from all over the
company in virtual rather than face-to-face meetings.

Next week: We loaded Windows 2000 on a PC and a server and ran Gigabit
Ethernet to the desktop. Guess where the bottleneck was?

To contact Neal Weinberg:
----------------------
Neal Weinberg is features editor at Network World, in charge of product
reviews, Buyer's Guides, technology primers, how-tos, issue-oriented
feature stories and the Technology Insider series. You can reach him at
mailto:nweinber@nww.com.

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FOR RELATED LINKS -- Click here for Network World's home page:
http://www.nwfusion.com
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Videoconferencing picture clears up, Network World, 03/13/00
http://www.nwfusion.com/reviews/2000/0313rev.html

But implementation is still fuzzy, Network World, 03/13/00
http://www.nwfusion.com/reviews/2000/0313rev2.html

How we did it, Network World, 03/13/00
http://www.nwfusion.com/reviews/2000/0313how.html

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