When we accepted Intel's request to have us test TeamStation, their conference room
videoconferencing product, in TMC Labs, we were very intrigued. Traditionally, the
conference room has been dominated by products from PolyCom, Picture-Tel, and VTEL, which
made Intel's request all the more interesting. We were unaware that Intel had a high-end
videoconferencing product designed with the conference room in mind, which made us quite
anxious to get our hands on this product. We were not disappointed.
Interestingly enough, the TeamStation product uses some of Intel's ProShare technology
in its implementation, but with many enhancements. The Intel TeamStation System allows
users to conduct a high-quality video conference over an ISDN or LAN connection.
TeamStation delivers video at up to 30 frames per second, and supports FCIF (full common
intermediate format) video at 128 Kbps and 384 Kbps, as well as up to 400 Kbps full-duplex
over the LAN using IP. This product features excellent interoperability with other H.320
or H.323 ITU standards-compliant products, including support for H.323 proxy/firewalls and
gateways. Intel informed us that they did extensive interoperability testing with other
industry-leading conference room video conferencing products to ensure compatibility.
Under the hood of the TeamStation, Microsoft NetMeeting is hidden to allow for easy
collaborative computing, including data and file sharing, as well as application sharing.
We should point out that the NetMeeting SDK (Software Developers Kit) is not used for the
video portion, since NetMeeting is not optimized for high-end video. Rather, Intel uses
its own optimized code to handle the video encoding, decoding, and post-processing.
Currently, this product supports 128 Kbps ISDN calls, but will be upgradable to
higher-quality 384 Kbps in the second half of 1998, perhaps by the time you read this. In
addition, the TeamStation supports both the H.261 and H.263 standards.
Since the TeamStation is actually a Windows NT Server 4.0, managing the system is quite
a bit easier than a proprietary solution. Since it is running on NT, you can make the
system part of your existing LAN infrastructure, allowing you to access the corporate
Intranet, spreadsheets, documents, or other files. Another advantage of running on a PC is
the ability to monitor the TeamStation utilizing TeamStation Manager software, which
provides system readiness alerts, call status, and the ability to remotely set up calls.
The software detects events such as ISDN line disconnected (or down), camera not
responding, and other important events.
DOCUMENTATION
Intel sent us an Acrobat PDF file of their Administrator's Guide, which was 72 pages
long. We printed it out and determined that the documentation was good, but not perfect.
The table of contents was excellent, as was the index; however, the documentation came
more from an Administrator's point of view and not the user's point of view. Thus, the
documentation did not address how to show users how to actually use the product utilizing
step-by-step instructions with screenshots. The online help does describe in detail how to
make a telephony or video phone call and how to control the camera movement. The online
help could always be printed, but we believe a small user's guide or even a single sheet
quick reference guide would be handy when using the system for the first time. Overall,
the documentation earned a pretty good 4 rating.
A recent update to the TeamStation came out just after we tested it. These updates
include some bug fixes and enhancements. These include, but are not limited to:
- Support for VCR playback as secondary video input.
- Added support for external audio devices.
- AdminTools has a new tab that lets you choose an audio input device other than the
microphone supplied with the system. You can also select whether your audio input device
includes its own Acoustic Echo Cancellation (AEC) capability.
- G.722 audio support for PictureTel LiveLAN conferences.
- Voice calls not affected by changing ISDN protocol. You can now change to or from the
Euro-ISDN protocol (switch) without affecting the audio quality.
- You can now share multiple files using the same application.
- To prevent others in a conference from seeing what has been copied to the Clipboard,
Clipboard sharing has been disabled.
- Elimination of irrelevant ISDN messages. If you do not use ISDN or if you disable it
using AdminTools, you will no longer receive messages about ISDN.
FEATURES
General Features:
- Networked connectivity
- File Transfer capabilities
- Centralized document management system for quickly locating needed files.
- Turnkey system with built-in manageability.
- Wireless keyboard and mouse.
- High-resolution 29" VGA multimedia monitor (option available in North America
only).
Conferencing Features:
- ISDN: Single BRI 2B+D, 112-128 Kbps (384 Kbps option with on-board I-MAX - planned
availability: fall 1998).
- Supports audio/video/data conferencing over ISDN (H.320) and LAN/IP (H.323).
- Supports H.261 and H.263+ video standards.
- Supports G.711, G.722, G.723 and G.728 audio standards.
- Make plain voice calls (no video).
- PSP/host balanced load architecture, with advanced Intel post-filtering algorithms.
- Integrated data conferencing using Microsoft NetMeeting.
- Audio/video/data multipoint conferencing ready (requires multipoint control unit).
- H.323/IP LAN/WAN conferencing up to 800 Kbps (400 Kbps each way).
- Support for H.323 firewalls/proxies and gateways.
- VCR record and playback support.
Camera Features:
- An OEM version of the Sony EVI-D30.
- On-screen near-end and far-end camera controls, with three presets and auto-tracking.
- Optional wide-angle lens adapter available.
- Second camera/VCR input available.
- High-performance pan/tilt/zoom camera with auto tracking and on-screen software-based
camera controls.
Audio System:
- Full-duplex speakerphone with advanced echo cancellation for clear voice communications.
- High-quality wideband audio support.
- Omnidirectional microphone.
OPERATIONAL TESTING
We tested the TeamStation on their standard system, which includes a Pentium II-333
MHz, a wireless keyboard and mouse, a pan/tilt camera, an integrated speakerphone audio
system, and an optional large monitor. The audio microphones have been optimized and
engineered by Intel to provide minimal amounts of echo.
Without echo cancellation, any sound picked up by the local TeamStation's microphone
should be sent over to the remote end. Then on the remote end, the sound should come out
of the monitor's speakers and back into its microphone. This same sound is then
retransmitted back to the local end. What you have here is what programmers like to call a
"recursive loop," but what most in the CTI and Internet telephony industries
refer to simply as "echo." An exaggerated example would be when you are at a
concert and the musician holds a microphone too closely to the speakers, resulting in
feedback.
Now, since it can be very loud or noisy in the conference room, you need the
microphones and echo cancellation to be of high quality. Intel engineered their product to
handle noisy conference rooms, keeping in mind that most conference rooms have different
acoustic properties.
Here's how it works. After first dialing another party, a very brief click is heard,
which comes out of the monitor's speakers. The audio from the speakers travels into the
air, and into the microphone, which is usually sitting in the center of the conference
room table. The TeamStation detects this sound and then figures out which sounds are
coming out from its own speakers, and which sounds are coming from actual voices in the
room. This brief click is performed at the beginning of every call to make sure that the
audio is optimized not only for each room, but also for the varying number of people in
the room, which directly affects the acoustic properties of a room.
We actually had Intel come by TMC Labs and demonstrate their product. They arrived with
two TeamStations, since we obviously needed to dial into another system. We were quite
impressed that the Intel representatives were able to take 2 huge boxes and some smaller
boxes and put it together in just over an hour. We watched them install one of the
systems, and helped out for a good portion of the installation. They essentially worked
off a "Getting Started Quick Guide," which was laid out on our conference room
table. The "quick guide" was a single page, with pictures and diagrams,
color-coded for connecting various items. It was also broken down step-by-step, making it
extremely easy to install. All in all, the "quick guide" was what we like to
call "dummy proof."
After both the TeamStations was configured, one in a conference room, and the other by
an office cubicle, we made a call from the conference TeamStation to the other unit over a
"clean" (no other traffic) 100Base-T network. We should point out that bandwidth
utilization is 800K, which would still only occupy a small percentage of a 10-BaseT
network. After connecting, we were pleasantly surprised by the quality of the video coming
over the 100Base-T network. The 29" monitor displayed a very clear and large picture
of the person on the remote end. We had the person on the remote end move her arms and
hands, and the frame rate was extremely good - excellent in fact. TMC Labs was so
impressed with the video quality of the TeamStation, we thought about checking the back of
the TeamStation to make sure Intel didn't "rig" the remote camera directly to
the local monitor/TV screen! Then again, with an 800 Kbps video transmission, the video
quality should be very good.
Bundled with the TeamStation, Intel uses a high-resolution Sony EVI-D30 camera with
on-screen, near- and far-end camera control, with a 12X zoom lens, and a very quick
auto-focus. Another feature of the camera is "auto-tracking," which
automatically "locks on" to a particular person's face (head). Then, as that
person moves, the camera will automatically move and "track" that person,
similar to a guided missile. This is a neat feature, which is certainly useful for
moderators who like to pace around a conference room when speaking. We tested this feature
and it worked remarkably well. You could, of course, outrun the camera and step out of
frame, but if you walk back into the camera's view, the camera will lock back onto your
face again.
We tested the camera's zoom feature as well as the auto-focus feature. The auto-focus
capability was extremely quick, usually taking less than a fraction of a second, even when
zooming in or out very quickly. The lens is so powerful, we were even able to read CTI�
Magazine's Editorial Calendar on a cubicle wall at a distance of over 20 feet.
During the conference call with the other TeamStation, we also tested the collaboration
tools, which utilize the NetMeeting SDK. We were able to share applications very easily
just by clicking on a button at the top right corner of the application we wished to
share. We were also able to perform text chat, which is a useful feature if you want to
talk to someone privately in a multiple-participant video conference.
The overall graphical user interface is very intuitive and easy to learn, even without
documentation. We should emphasize that Intel's efforts to make usability a high priority
in developing this product, certainly shortened the learning curve, and it shows in its
ease of use.
We found that sending files while in the middle of a video conference is a breeze with
Intel's TeamStation. Intel included an integrated Document Server, which makes accessing
popular or common documents while in a video conference very quick and efficient to find
and open. The Document Server utilizes your default browser to load documents into, which
is a nice feature rather than having to load a separate application for each different
file type. We were able to open Word documents, PowerPoint slides, and Excel spreadsheets
all within a frame of an Internet Explorer browser. Netscape is also supported, but viewer
plug-ins may be required to display certain types of files within Netscape.
The Intel representatives opened a Word document called "letter1.doc.dot,"
which made us inquire if they had the ever-present "Concept Macro Virus." We
thought it would be pretty funny catching Intel with a virus considering they make their
own virus software! But wouldn't you know it? No such luck. It was a Word document saved
as a template on purpose. But if it were a virus, that would have been almost as funny as
seeing Bill Gates' Windows 98 demo crash at the Chicago Comdex!
Intel left their product for us to test for the rest of the day and part of the next
day. Once they left, we tinkered around some more with the product, and actually found it
fun to use. Especially with the powerful 12X zoom lens, which made for some interesting
testing, including "zooming" in on someone's cubicle calendar to find out when
the next important trade show was. We also planned on making a NetMeeting 2.1 call into
the system to test H.323 compliance, but we weren't sure if we changed to a valid IP
address on our LAN and rebooted, if we could log back onto the NT machine. We forgot to
ask Intel for the NT logon password. We decided to hold off until Intel returned the
following day to demonstrate an ISDN call.
The next day, Intel stopped by again, and we tested making an ISDN call through an ISDN
simulator. First we configured the TeamStation to accept ISDN calls, since originally that
feature was turned off. This was a simple change in the administration screen, which
contains tabs for each configuration element of the product. The administration program
was very centralized and we found it to be very organized and very user-friendly. Making a
video call is as simple as clicking on the phone GUI buttons or typing the numbers into
the number field. A directory also exists for speed dialing capabilities. After making an
ISDN call, the video seen on-screen was obviously not as good as our 400 Kbps full-duplex
IP connection, but nonetheless was very good quality for an ISDN 128 Kbps connection. In
fact, we were very impressed with the post-processing algorithms employed by Intel to keep
the video clear, with minimal frames lost and minimal artifacts.
What's really nice about the TeamStation is that it is a complete solution, including
data and file sharing, application sharing, voice/video conferencing, and ISDN and IP
connectivity. Often, other competing solutions require two separate products to have the
same connectivity (both ISDN and IP) and functionality as Intel's TeamStation, which
certainly adds additional cost. For instance, PolyCom, a leader in conference room
products, sells ViewStation for videoconferencing capabilities and ShowStation IP for
performing application sharing and IP connectivity.
ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT
We'd like to see the camera controls, which appear in the center of the screen for
panning and zooming, moved to the bottom of the screen, where they would be less
obtrusive. Intel mentioned to us that they heard the same suggestion, and that the next
version or revision would most likely have this feature.
We'd also like to see a paging capability implemented in the TeamStation Manager for
when failure event occurs, such as the camera not responding, ISDN line down, or something
unplugged. This would help system administrators to be immediately notified of a problem
with any of the TeamStations, particularly if they were not near the Team Manager
computer.
CONCLUSION
The Technology Editors of TMC Labs were extremely impressed with Intel's TeamStation
product. From the easy installation, extremely easy-to-use GUI, and rich feature set, to
the excellent video quality, and affordable price - we were all quite wowed! We feel that
this product is a perfect complement to any conference room, which is where most employees
typically spend a good portion of their day. We should note that TMC is expanding into
another building, which will require some sort of videoconferencing product to allow us to
stay in touch between offices. Intel's TeamStation certainly would top the list of choices
for providing a high-end videoconferencing solution to suit TMC's business needs.
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