VIP
• Visually Impaired Program
• A specialized program to train and certify
teachers for visually impaired children and
adults at Stephen F. Austin in Nacogdoches
Texas is asked to help fill a need across
Texas and in Idaho, Montana, Washington
and Wyoming in the summer of 2001.
Visually Impaired Program
• The program is mature, the professors are
experienced with distant learning technologies
including multi-point interactive television ( ITV
).
• Courseware consists of face to face, web, email,
chat and interactive television
• Part of the problem is the number of and
remoteness of several endpoints where students
are located.
VIP – Internet 2
• Commodity internet including dial-up
connections will support web, chat and
email, the ITV is another story.
• Existing H.320 ISDN networks do not reach
all students needing courses and are
prohibitively expensive to utilize for transcontinental course delivery where the
networks do reach near the students
VIP – Internet 2
• How can we economically deploy ITV to
several sites spanning 2300 miles ?
• Solution determined to be H.323 for ITV
component. Why ? Affordable, relatively
easy to implement, sufficient for current
needs.
• How to accomplish this ?
VIP – Internet 2
• Okay, so its multipoint H.323 for the
solution. How can we do this ?
• Now we need an H.323 MCU and need to
locate or develop H.323 endpoints or locate
and schedule bridges from H.323 to existing
H.320 networks and endpoints.
• MCU choices – Narrowed to Accord or
Cisco 3540
VIP – Internet2
• We determined that the Cisco 3540 was a better fit
for our needs at SFA (RADVision H.323 stack
native H.323 supprort etc.)
• SFA has an existing H.320 teleconferencing
network built around a Teleos / Madge Model 200
ISDN switch with interconnectivity to other H.320
networks.
• Along the way we decided to migrate our existing
H.320 teleconferencing systems to H.323 as our
aging Teleos / Madge Model 200 ISDN switch
needs an upgrade path
VIP – Internet 2
• So we now have a grant, order and deploy
the 3540 MCU October2001. Now how can
we reach the students ?
• All states involved have Internet 2 and
Abilene connectivity. However these are
large states and the connectivity is several
hundred miles away from several students’
locations ( K-20, SEGP ? Not yet. )
VIP - Internet 2
• We need at least 384k of reliable bandwidth to the
students for the H.323 to function reliably.
• Internet 2 connected sites are a solution.
• H.323 is not widely deployed.
• We can’t get Abilene to all the endpoints
• We settle for switched ethernet connections near
the students hoping our ISP will get us there.
VIP – Internet 2
• We order Polycom Via-Video units to be
shipped to remote endpoints without H.323
nor Internet 2 connectivity – these must
suffice for now.
• We locate and schedule H.323 rooms for
students where and when available.
• Testing begins.
• Classes begin January 2002
VIP – Internet 2
• Problems include :
• Endpoint technical support – students may be
visually impaired themselves, sites do not always
have H.323 expertise yet.
• Firewall issues – public IP or ‘hole’ in firewall
• Connectivity issues where we have yet to achieve
Abilene connectivity, our ISP ( NTT-Verio )
provides excellent connectivity, the ‘last mile’ can
be a problem.
VIP – Internet 2
• Solutions include :
• Developing expertise with H.323 ITV at
many locations – ViDE can help here.
• Solving firewall issues ( NAT etc. )
• Extending Abilene access to more
endpoints, the K-20 Initiative, and the
Sponsored Educational Group Program can
help with this.
VIP – Internet 2
• This program is funded for 5 years,
intended to train and certify teachers and to
develop programs in other locations beside
SFA. We have an opportunity to learn much
and enhance affordable and ubiquitous
interactive television services for many
other applications on the horizon.
VIP – Internet 2
• Communication, coordination and
collaboration are necessary to ensure
success.
• Network engineers, administrators, ITV
technical support, security administration
and course coordinators need to work
together. This often crosses many
administrative domains.
VIP – Internet 2
• Stephen F. Austin State University in
Nacogdoches Texas is utilizing Internet 2 to
deliver programs to students who will aid visually
impaired citizens in cities and in remote rural
locations in Idaho, Montana, Texas, Washington,
and Wyoming.
• The problems being resolved now can allow many
other programs to be developed and deployed.
VIP – Internet 2
• What’s next ?
• Keep this program going and growing
Braille instruction starts Summer 2002 !
• Build an environment for on demand
interactive television.
• Continue to Communicate and coordinate
with many constituents to ensure continued
successful programs.