Expanding the Possibilities of Video Collaboration

Expanding the Possibilities of Video Collaboration

The video conferencing market has long been dominated by powerful and expensive room-based systems that required advanced scheduling and the support of IT staff in order to conduct meetings. While those systems still make sense for large group meetings, several new developments are helping to drive the power of video collaboration into all corners of the workforce.

The chief issue with monolithic, room-based video conferencing systems is that they simply aren’t very agile. They don’t lend themselves to the type of rapid, impromptu conversations that often drive key business decisions.

As the pace of business changes, people need the ability to conduct informal and unscheduled meetings, often within the framework of their workflow. The following trends are lowering the barriers to video collaboration and contributing to increased productivity and enhanced decision-making.

Cloud-based platforms

Cloud-based video can come in the form of fully outsourced Video-Conferencing-as-a-Service (VCaaS) platforms, as well as all-in-one integration platforms. In either case, the cloud masks much of the typical complexity involved in running video conferencing.

VCaaS solutions allow you to access a feature-rich platform without investing in equipment or the technical resources to maintain and support that equipment. Most services allow users to quickly set up a virtual meeting room to which they can invite meeting participants.

Cloud-based integration platforms allow tight integration between video and unified communications and collaboration platforms. For example, integrating ShoreTel Connect with a platform such as Lifesize Cloud widens communication to mobile devices, room-based conferencing systems and video chat.

WebRTC

Web Real-Time Communication is an open-source application programming interface (API) that enables real-time voice, video and data communications through a web browser. This dramatically simplifies cross-platform communications.

Platform interoperability has always been an issue with video conferencing. Participants are often on disparate systems that use of variety of video coding and decoding (codec) formats. Typically, these various media streams must be translated and converted to a common language through the use of a gateway. However, this is a resource-intensive process that can affect video and audio quality.

WebRTC eliminates all that because the browser contains all the underlying codecs as well as all the required encryption, bandwidth management and NAT/firewall traversal tools.

Software-based codecs

Hardware codecs are dedicated chips that encode and decode a digital media stream. For a long time, it was really the only way to ensure a quality video session. However, these chips vary from vendor to vendor — there can even be variables between chipsets from the same vendor. That limits customization and creates platform compatibility issues.

Software codecs run on the CPU and were long considered to be too slow for heavy-duty video. However, dramatic improvements in graphics and CPU processing power over the past few years have altered the dynamic.  Software codecs now offer more flexibility and more customization at a better price point with no discernible performance penalty.

These advances and more are transforming the way we use video to enhance business. Conducting a video conference no longer has to be a rigid process that requires a complex set up to connect participants at a predetermined time. Improvements in software, processing power and interoperability are democratizing the technology and extending its reach to the entire workforce.


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