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As the number of individuals linked to digital networks continues to expand, the desktop computer's importance increasingly will revolve around its communications-related capabilities.
Indeed, desktop videoconferencing appears poised to become one of the leading applications on tomorrow's broadband nets.
"While it's true that the industry has standardized on H.320 for desktop videoconferencing, even widespread standards compliance, married to the best technology, still cannot make people want to use videoconferencing," according to Multimedia Research Group's recently released "ISDN-Based Desktop Videoconferencing and Collaborative Computing Report."
"Yet, shifts in business conditions, new environmental regulations plus falling costs are signaling a greater-than-ever need for desktop videoconferencing." The report explains the typical scenario by which many organizations are moving from plain old telephone service (POTS) to integrated services digital network (ISDN) in an effort to expand conferencing capabilities.
They list the steps of progression as follows: (1) Multipoint audio conferencing (POTS);
(2) Point-to-point audiographics conferencing;
(3) Internet access via ISDN;
(4) Multiplexing of basic rate interface (BRI) channels for
videoconferencing; (5) Videographics collaborative computing (point-to-point,
multipoint)
(6) One-to-many video presentation with computer graphics assist
and two-way voice interaction;
(7) Widespread point-to-point desktop videoconferencing with
audiographics assist. While ISDN has failed to take off in the past as many industry observers expected, the call of the Internet may at last be the compelling application that promotes ISDN usage--and,...