HDViper: high definition video conferencing

This project, promoted by the i2CAT Foundation, presents its results at Celtic Event 2009. It is a new open and scalable platform for high definition video conferencing.

Based on an application called Snake, the i2CAT Foundation has developed the project HDViper destinado a facilitar la comunicación por videoconferencia en alta definición. Las conclusiones de este proyecto se han presentado en Celtic Event 2009, evento organizado por el programa europeo de Investigación y Desarrollo Celtic, celebrado esta semana en París. Se trata de una novedosa plataforma abierta y escalable de videoconferencia en alta definición (HD) basada en una nueva aplicación llamada Snake, que permitirá un servicio fiable y atractivo tanto para los usuarios como para los operadores.

La aplicación está basada en la Arquitectura Orientada a Servicios (SOA), que define el uso de servicios para dar soporte a los requerimientos de software del usuario. En ésta, los diferentes nodos de la red hacen disponibles sus recursos como servicios independientes a los que se tiene acceso de un modo estandarizado, sin conocimiento de su implementación subyacente. A través de esta arquitectura, se podrán acceder a servicios multimedia, de control y de red.

The Foundation, technical coordinator of the European consortium of the project, has been responsible for the implementation of the core of the multivideoconferencing platform (MCU, Multipoint Control Unit). This new platform will take advantage of new access technologies (FTTx, VDSL and ADSL+) to develop authentic high definition video conferencing adaptable to many different markets.

“In the current phase of the project, prototypes are being developed to test them in different scenarios: residential, the health and e-health sector, the business sector and e-learning,” says Flaminio Minerva, coordinator of the Audiovisual Cluster of the i2CAT Foundation. The expected impact of the project is the “expansion of the videoconferencing market, thus promoting the role of Europe and, specifically, Spain as technological leaders in HD videoconferencing services over the Internet,” he adds. The Spanish role in the consortium of this project is important, since, in addition to the i2CAT Foundation, Telefónica I+D, Alcatel-Lucent Spain and Androme Ibérica participate.

Likewise, the i2CAT Foundation has presented another of its most representative European projects at the Celtic Event: DRMSolution OF, which will provide an interoperability and convergence solution for the different DRM technologies existing on the market. It develops a hybrid P2P fixed-mobile superdistribution system, “aligned with the current interests of telecommunications operators, who seek to offer services with strong user demand, without this massive access collapsing their network infrastructure,” says Minerva. “The project will allow the user to use their protected content on multiple devices, thus enjoying the content downloaded on their mobile phone on the PC, as well as linking the usage rights to the user's identity, not the device, and purchasing usage rights for another user,” he adds. Telefónica I+D, Telefónica Móviles and the i2CAT Foundation participate in this project at the Spanish level.

The HDVIPER and DRMSolution NG projects are developed in collaboration with the mediaENTEL-BAMPLA research group of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya and are partially financed by the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Commerce.

The i2CAT Foundation is a non-profit entity founded in 2003 and chaired by the Secretary of Telecommunications and Information Society of the Generalitat of Catalonia. The foundation puts Internet research and innovation at the service of society, through collaboration between the public administration, companies and research groups from universities and the educational world for the development of innovative projects in the field of new network technologies.