MeetingPoint Conference Server, version 4.0 by White Pine Software is a software-based
virtual conferencing product that enables group meetings across IP networks. Users can
share data, audio, and text with any H.323 standards-based client. MeetingPoint offers
easy integration into existing networks, and works with NT Server or Sun Solaris. (A Linux
version will be available later in the year.) White Pine has created a product that
intelligently manages the amount of bandwidth required for group meetings, takes full
advantage of IP multicast technology, andis able to work with third-party products that
support billing and tracking.
MeetingPoint also has the ability to share audio, video, and T.120 data. T.120 is an
International Telecommunications Union (ITU) standard for
real-time data conferencing. An additional White Pine Software product, CU-SeeMe, can be
seamlessly integrated to work within MeetingPoint.
INSTALLATION
We installed the software on a PC running NT Server. We used a decent box —
266 MHz (though White Pine technical support suggests a minimum of 333 MHz), 128 MB of RAM
— and hooked it into our network. We installed the MeetingPoint Conference Server CD,
staying with the defaults most of the time. A series of serial keys was needed to install
the software, and that was the only part of the install requiring a large set of
keystrokes. At one point we were asked to provide the IP address for the server, which
required that the appropriate network settings be enabled.
Far more complicated was the actual configuration of the NT Server PC. We decided to
install the system software from the ground up. A full install of MeetingPoint also
requires users to have a third-party HTTP server installed on the same system, and we went
with a supported choice, Internet Information Server (IIS), which is part of the Windows
NT 4.0 Option Pack. This can be found on the NT Server CD (on the second CD of the two-CD
set). However, complications abound, because the Option Pack will only install on NT
machines running Service Pack 3 and Internet Explorer 4.01 or greater, which we are
familiar with from past installations.
So it’s important to note these requirements, and have the necessary software
available. Since MeetingPoint is a complicated program (as are most packages that require
an NT Server), we decided to reformat the hard drive and not let any software or files
from previous products possibly affect the performance of the product or the outcome of
our testing. As we mentioned earlier, the actual MeetingPoint software install was no
problem. The most complicated part of the install was keying in four different 25-letter
key codes, and waiting for the log window to open up. We opened the services control panel
to confirm that the MeetingPoint services started automatically (which they did) and that
was the extent of the actual software installation.
Configuration of the software, once installed, was done through browser software. We
installed Internet Explorer 5.0, and were able to bring up the administration window by
entering the path to the software in the browser. This brought up the page asking for our
login name and password. At this point, it was time to configure the software, and begin
our operational testing.
DOCUMENTATION
Two large manuals (over 200 pages each) come with MeetingPoint Conference Server —
the User Guide and the Telnet Interface Guide, both in version 4.0. The User Guide is much
less technically oriented than the Telnet Interface Guide, which is full of
less-than-friendly commands, formats, and programming terms.
The User Guide also serves as the administrator’s manual, which leads the user
through the setup of the server, as well as the actual use of the product. It covers both
NT and Sun Solaris setup, in sequence. The guide covers the installation, administration,
and troubleshooting of MeetingPoint in great detail, which is no small task, as
MeetingPoint is a complex program, with many portions requiring detailed administration.
Far more complex (and technical) is the Telnet Interface Guide. This is not a required
part of the setup of the program, and is only recommended for the high-end technical user.
Configuring MeetingPoint using Telnet commands requires editing the application’s
configuration file (mpcs.cfg) directly. Using this method is far more complicated than the
standard method (the one we used for our testing) and can be daunting, even to an
experienced administrator.
The online help section is excellent. It basically duplicates the text in the
User’s Guide, but is well organized and very easy to navigate. The browser window is
split, with the contents in the left frame and the text in the right frame. At the bottom
of the text are backward and forward arrows, and links to other related topics. This has
been well thought out and is much better than the average help file found in most other
complex programs.
FEATURES
MeetingPoint Conference Server is feature rich. Among the most important features of the
program are:
- Uses existing IP network infrastructure;
- Allows users to share video, audio, whiteboard, and text chat;
- Easy to use Web-based administration;
- Real-time conference monitoring;
- Continuous presence supported by MeetingPoint; and
- CIF, QCIF, and sub QCIF video are supported.
There are also many advanced components to MeetingPoint: A video conferencing server
(H.323 compliant), conference administrator Web pages, and several Java applets. These
applets include MeetingPoint MeetingPlanner, which allows users to create and schedule
their own meetings, H.323 CallOut Applet, which enables users to make call outs or
invitations to conference participants, and H.323 Video Switcher Applet, which allows
conference participants to watch and listen in on an H.323 conference.
In addition, there are several add-on options. These include the continuous presence
mode, which allows users to enable a single video stream that is a composite of four video
images, and the streaming media option, which allows users to route an audio/video stream
from a conference to a streaming media encoder. The MeetingPoint stream can then be
broadcast over a network, live or on demand, through a streaming media server.
OPERATIONAL TESTING
On the NT Server, MeetingPoint is a service application. (A service application is a
program that performs a task but is usually not visible to the user.) Services can be
started automatically upon booting, by configuring “Services” in the Control
Panel.
MeetingPoint works with a standard Web browser, and does not require proprietary
software. After successfully installing the software, we started our first conference. We
launched our Web browser, and typed in the URL in the following format:
http://100.1.1.1:80/mpcs/mpcs.html. This address opened the MeetingPoint server login
page. (A simpler, and recommended method of opening the same page would be launching the
MeetingPoint Conference Server Login icon, which is in the programs menu under the start
menu.) We logged in, following the instructions in the user’s manual.
Once we logged in, we were in the MeetingPoint Conference Server page, and we had
several choices, each represented by a button (network, conferences, users, monitoring,
help, and log out). To set up a conference, even a simple one, we had to configure several
areas of the software. The help and log out files are self-explanatory, but the other
options are important to configuring the server.
The network option brings up the most complicated, and the most important of the
choices. Under the network option, choices are available to add members, define server
layout templates, and synchronize the user database and conference configuration
information among MeetingPoint domain users. The other three relevant choices are
conferences, users, and monitoring. These are simpler than the network option, and are
where the major conference server configuring is done. Under these options the
administrator defines the users, the conferences, and the attendees. There are different
types of conferences, each with different technical specifications. The administrator can
select a conference type from the list, or create a conference with custom parameters. We
decided to host a conference of fellow TMC Labs employees, to test the software in action.
We set up a conference, which would be typical in a real-life business situation. On
the users’ PCs we used Microsoft NetMeeting, because of its H.323 compatibility and
its prevalence on most desktop PCs. To host a conference, the administrator has to define
the conference, including the conference type. There are unicast and multicast
conferences, and each are handled in a different way. Unicast is a point-to-point
connection where data is sent from one sender to one receiver, requiring a separate data
stream for each recipient, while multicasting allows the administrator to send a single
stream to the group “address.” This allows the administrator to be able to limit
the amount of bandwidth that the conference uses.
There are some manual ways to limit the amount of bandwidth a conference takes up.
Limiting the number of participants in a conference and how much data the users can send
and receive are two important ways, and there are ways to manually change settings in the
configuration of a conference.
We hosted several conferences to test MeetingPoint. Our first test was simple: We had
several users meet using NetMeeting 3.01, using one of the preset conferences offered by
MeetingPoint. This worked well, the video quality was good, but slightly jumpy at times,
and the audio was better than average, with a slight bit of latency. The only problem with
NetMeeting is that there is little flexibility in the interface. The chat feature and the
whiteboard worked well over the network, but the limitations of NetMeeting in a
sophisticated conference didn’t cut it. We were only able to get two video views: One
other party and a self-view. Since multiple participants can be part of the video
conference, and since NetMeeting can only display one remote video at a time, NetMeeting
will “autosense” who is speaking and then switch the video to display the video
stream of the person speaking. This worked well in both the preset conference and the
custom conference we created ourselves.
We then installed another White Pine product, CU-SeeMe Pro, on the PCs. This is a
higher-end video conferencing product. With CU-SeeMe Pro installed, we had greater
flexibility with the interface of our conference, and still had the ability to use the
chat feature and whiteboard. The audio and video features worked well using CU-SeeMe Pro,
despite having to manually switch the microphone to the “on” position. We also
tried a “mixed” conference, using both CU-SeeMe Pro and NetMeeting. Again, it
worked seamlessly, and confirmed that MeetingPoint is H.323 compliant. Bandwidth
limitations and the quality of the camera are two factors that determine the quality of
the video during the conference. Unlike NetMeeting, Cu-SeeMe Pro allows you to view all
parties’ video at the same time — in this case, three simultaneous video
streams.
Other important specifications about MeetingPoint include support for G.711 or G.723
audio and H.261 or H.263 video, and we achieved a constant video rate of four frames per
second using the more common H.261 standard. We were impressed by the quality of the
conference (both audio and video), and the ease of setup for the end user, both in
NetMeeting and CU-SeeMe Pro. They were both easy to use, and the average end user would
have no trouble using it, or doing the simple configurations (adjusting the audio,
improving the quality of the video, etc.). Overall it was a satisfying test, and we were
quite happy with the results.
ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT
MeetingPoint Conference Server is very solid with few major flaws. The program, though
very complex, worked well in our configuration and testing. However, there are two items
that could be improved: The way the User’s Guide is set up, and the HTML programming
on some of the pages.
The manual intersperses the Sun Solaris sections with the NT sections. For example,
directly following the section on how to configure the software on NT Server, is the
equivalent section on Sun Solaris. I would prefer two books, or the different platforms in
different sections of the book. This is slightly distracting when trying to follow the
steps of installation and configuration in sequential order.
More importantly, the GUI and HTML programming are below par. For example, in the users
mode, under search, you are able to search by many strings: Username, Last Name, First
Name, IP Address, etc. Hitting the enter button on the keyboard does not press the submit
button, but instead cancels the search, forcing you to start over. Since most
administrators would only enter data into one field for a search, this is a slight
disadvantage. The pages could’ve been slightly more optimized to allow the
administrator the ability to navigate the pages easily, without having to use the mouse.
Otherwise, all the other aspects of the package are solid. For our lab to review a
product as complex as MeetingPoint Conference Server and not find a few major functional
flaws says a lot about the product.
Also, changing the settings in a few areas of the server, mainly the conference
attributes and the user’s settings, is somewhat awkward. As described earlier with
changing attributes in the user’s setting, there is no fast way to change a
particular conference setting without some scrolling to different sections of the page. A
nice addition would be a “save” button at the top of every page.
Finally, MeetingPoint requires that all endpoints be running the same algorithms, such
as H.261, G.711, etc. It does not support transcoding to allow mixed algorithms in a video
conference. We’d like to see support for mixed algorithms in a future release.
CONCLUSION
A solid player in the IP conferencing field, MeetingPoint Conference Server delivers a
powerful package to facilitate conferences over IP. Much more powerful than a
software-only, or software and video board system, White Pine has produced an excellent
product that works with Microsoft NetMeeting as well as their own CU-SeeMe Pro software.
MeetingPoint Conference Server is a winner. |
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