WHITEPAPER: VIDEO TECHNOLOGIES

FUTURE OF WORK

Video technologies.

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CONTENTS

WHITEPAPER: VIDEO TECHNOLOGIES

Executive summary.01 Executive summary

02 Video and collaboration changing Australia’s future

02 Video Communication Network management Bandwidth requirements Compatibility between vendors Compatibility between organisations Audio-visual requirements Cost People and process Critical mass Preparing for Video

05 Conclusion

Optus believes video technologies are revolutionising the way Australians interact at work and at home. We are seeing that video product prices are declining, high definition is becoming the norm, and video is being integrated with business applications such as collaboration tools. In addition, suppliers are offering a range of pricing models that allow businesses to adopt video technologies at a reasonable cost.

We expect a sharp increase in the use of video across fixed and mobile networks, due to:> improvements in ease of use of video technologies > growth in the availability of bandwidth> greater standardisation and compatibility between

equipment from different vendors> improving business-to-business (B2B) video

connectivity> greater awareness of audio-visual requirements> lower costs> widespread recognition of the need to manage

people and processes as well as technologies> take-up reaching critical mass.The benefits of video technologies to business can be considerable, including minimising costs and productivity losses due to travel, reducing an organisation’s environmental footprint, and increasing face-to-face time spent with colleagues, partners and customers.

Video and collaboration changing Australia’s futureIn early 2011, Optus asked market researchers Stancombe Research & Planning to survey more than 300 IT and human resources (HR) executives from medium-sized and large organisations to understand what their workplaces would look like in the future.The Optus Future of Work report found that of the organisations surveyed:> Organisations expected to increase their use of

collaboration applications, particularly those that allowed real-time communications, such as instant messaging, Twitter-style applications and presence technologies.1

> Organisations were also planning to ramp up their use of video technologies such as Web-based video conferencing and video-on-demand libraries.2

This paper will examine the business implications of video technologies, and assess a range of issues your organisation should consider when deciding if and how to implement them.

1 Optus Future of Work Report, pages 282 Optus Future of Work Report, page 26

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Video communicationsVideo communication appears to be becoming entrenched in business. Services such as Skype, Google Video and YouTube grew popular by allowing consumers to make calls, establish libraries, post videos and showcase their creativity. Skype – which Microsoft acquired in May 2011 for US$8.5 billion – recorded 207 billion minutes of calls in 2010, 42 per cent of which were video. YouTube is the world’s second largest search engine.

In business, video technologies now enable people to clearly see and hear colleagues thousands of kilometres away.

As video technologies mature, we are seeing that product prices are declining and high definition is becoming the norm. Video is also being integrated with business applications such as collaboration tools. In addition, suppliers are offering a range of pricing models that allow businesses to adopt video technologies at a reasonable cost. Meanwhile, the market is consolidating as technology vendors, telecommunications providers and systems integrators snap up niche and smaller players. Video is poised to proliferate across networks – be they fixed or mobile.

How has the market arrived at this point? Businesses first used video in 1984 when the first integrated services digital network (ISDN) video endpoints became available. However, several barriers prevented widespread adoption.

These barriers mostly related to complexity and difficulty of use. Each device manufacturer had different user interfaces, audio and video settings, call bandwidth selection, self-view settings, camera zoom, audio levels and presentation levels. This made it difficult, and often impossible, to make video calls to anyone who wasn’t using equipment from the same vendor, and resulted in widespread poor end-user experience.

The good news is that user interfaces are becoming more intuitive, and call scheduling and calendar integration tools are minimising the complexities for end users. New integrated platforms are even enabling people to make video calls with one click in a corporate directory.

There are four main types of business video:

> Immersive telepresence: create a lifelike experience using high-definition video and high-quality audio. These systems are often configured as virtual meeting rooms, where users sit at one side of the table and their remote colleagues appear to ‘sit’ at the other side on large video screens.

> Room systems: provide traditional meeting room-style video conferencing.

> Desktop systems: enable users to connect to video conferences from their desks across public/private cloud platforms using webcams or built-in laptop cameras.

> Digital media management systems: capture and distribute video from sources including terrestrial and cable TV, digital video cameras and video conferencing end points.

There are eight areas an organisation should review before deploying video. These are: network management, bandwidth requirements, compatibility between vendors, compatibility between organisations, audio-visual requirements, cost, people and process, and critical mass.

NETWORk mANAGEmENTMost organisations are adept at managing servers, routers and personal computers. If a piece of equipment fails, automated processes or response teams generally correct the problem before it impacts users.

However, many businesses do not apply the same rigour to managing their video equipment. In some cases this is because older video conferencing equipment is not compatible with core management systems; in other cases, it is due to ownership of the video system being assigned to a meeting room facilities coordinator or an executive assistant, rather than someone with the relevant networking skills.

Poorly managed, monitored or supported video networks can lead to poor user experiences. IT operations managers should manage and monitor these networks, while a room or facilities manager can provide an on-site response.

BANDWIDTH REquIREmENTSThe bandwidth required to make a good quality video call largely depends on the size of the screen the call is displayed on: large high-definition screens need high bandwidth, low bandwidth is sufficient for tablets and smart phones.

In either case, network traffic needs to move quickly and consistently from A to B. However, there are many variables that can impact the user experience and hinder video adoption. For example, fixed, mobile and Wi-Fi networks all behave differently. In addition, if other applications are competing for the same bandwidth, then calls will be less reliable. This is why the bandwidth must be reserved for video use.

Video technologies are countering these problems by consuming network bandwidth more efficiently and being more resilient over Wi-Fi and mobile networks, and the Internet. In addition, the declining cost of bandwidth is paving the way for wide-scale video adoption. As Australia’s National Broadband Network is rolled out, it will make access to bandwidth even easier.

COmpATIBILITy BETWEEN VENDORSMany organisations that have already invested in video conferencing technologies have experienced compatibility problems.

They may ask, ‘Can my old equipment from vendor A make a call to my new equipment from vendor B?’ The answer may be ‘Yes’, but this is often the wrong question. They should be asking, ‘Can equipment from vendor A make a high definition (HD) call to equipment from vendor B?’ No! ‘Can A share a presentation with B?’ No!

Traditionally, video conferencing systems have had too many non-standard moving parts. Today, the leading vendors are promoting open standards and interconnectivity, either natively or through translating devices. While vendors are making great progress in these areas, organisations still need to ask the right questions when investigating compatibility.

COmpATIBILITy BETWEEN ORGANISATIONSIncompatibility between video equipment, a variety of settings, and security restrictions – combined with insufficient bandwidth – can make it hard to establish successful video calls between two organisations. However, many large telecommunications

companies are looking to provide standardised B2B video calling services, completely removing this interconnection complexity from businesses. A service of this kind would enable businesses to connect with ease to other businesses using room-based systems and immersive telepresence systems.

AuDIO-VISuAL REquIREmENTSThe success of a video conference depends heavily on the environment in which it is held. For example, glare from the sun can make the picture hard to see, hard surfaces can ‘bounce’ sound, a poorly positioned microphone can muffle voices, and people can be seated out of camera shot.

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Conclusion.The way we communicate and collaborate at work is changing. Technology improvements and generational change is driving greater use of video and collaboration tools, and your organisation can benefit.

The combination video and collaboration can unleash tremendous productivity and flexibility gains for organisations. Businesses that employ this combination can remove obstacles to communication, improve decision-making and outflank slower competitors. In addition, video and collaboration can assure an organisation’s future by making it a destination of choice for young, talented workers.

To minimise these problems, some vendors are even specifying how a video conferencing room should be laid out. The key for businesses is to implement a strategy that details each room’s audio-visual criteria for successful video conferencing and how these should be met.

COSTVideo is following the same trend as other technologies: prices decline as adoption increases. Technologies that may have been too expensive for some businesses are now within reach.

While immersive telepresence may still be too expensive for some, room systems are now more affordable. Desktop video conferencing is affordable to any organisation.

The bottom line is that no matter how much your organisation proposes to invest in business video, there are many powerful options available at all levels of the pricing scale.

pEOpLE AND pROCESSBusiness video brings the three pillars into play: people, process and technology. Organisations tend to invest the lion’s share of their budgets in the technology component. In doing so, they may fail to address change management or user adoption requirements.

For example, an organisation may invest heavily in the best video systems available. However, its people need to learn how to use the platform and why the business made this investment. If the organisation aimed to reduce travel costs, it must update its travel policy to clarify when staff can travel and when they are expected to use video. The staff and processes involved in booking travel should also recognise and flag when an employee books a flight between two video-enabled locations.

Without the correct focus on people and process requirements, an organisation risks not achieving the desired return from its technology investment. Addressing these factors early in the video planning process minimises potential problems.

CRITICAL mASSThe owner of the first fax machine would not have received many faxes! Until a communications medium has reached a critical mass of users, its reach is limited.

To date, video has suffered from this adoption challenge. Without compatible equipment, sufficient bandwidth, and network connectivity between video systems, proposed video conferences frequently become teleconferences. The good news is, bandwidth is becoming more available across fixed, Wi-Fi and mobile networks, and the industry is migrating towards uniform video calling standards.

In the near future, we are likely to see reliable, cross-vendor, device and network-agnostic, high-quality video calls. Soon Optus expects we will reach a point where any device we reach for will be capable of making a video call to any device in any location, just as easily as we make an audio call today. Once video reaches critical mass in the near future, this will strongly motivate adoption across businesses of all kinds.

pREpARING FOR VIDEO As a first step you may want to consider creating a visual communications strategy document. This is a necessary step towards preparing for video whether you need to integrate existing legacy equipment or you are starting from scratch.

Developing a clear strategy will help to achieve easy, reliable, any-to-any video calling. A strategy should give clear consideration to each of the business video segments: immersive telepresence, room systems, desktop video and digital media management. It should also address the eight key areas identified earlier.

Your strategy should also provide for people and processes as well as technology. Add to the list vendor selection based on open standards, and adequate network provisioning across fixed, Wi-Fi and mobile networks, and you are well on the way to succeeding in business video.

Video communications.