Just Video Conferencing Around in the Telecom Cloud at CTIA

I recently wrote about the Benefits of IMS Architecture in the Cloud for Hosted Video Conferencing Services, and at the recent CTIA event in Las Vegas, we showcased the power of our Cloud Video Conferencing solutions right from the show floor.

At CTIA, we set up an end-to-end technology showcase, similar to the Radisys Technology Showcase at MWC 2013. It included Radisys’ TOTALeNodeB software for LTE access gateways, along with Radisys T-Series platform hosting a Telecom Cloud that consisted of a virtualized Enhanced Packet Core and virtualized IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS). Inside our IMS was a video conferencing application server controlling Radisys’ Software MRF to perform video conference mixing.

What makes our video conferencing solution unique is our adherence to open IP interfaces and IMS architecture standards, which maximizes the flexibility and deployment options for our customers and partners. As an example of interworking flexibility, our CTIA video conferencing demo used Bria SIP video clients from our partner Counterpath. We installed Bria on multiple laptop, iPad and iPhone devices, and connected them to our Telecom Cloud using both LTE and Wi-Fi access.

Here is an image of our HD video conferencing solution in action, showing myself with my Radisys friends Laura Frease and Krzysztof Bujak in a Continuous Presence (CP) video conference. Video streams are received from each participant’s device camera into the Software MRF in the Telecom Cloud; the Software MRF then decodes, mixes and finally outputs a composite real-time CP display back to each Bria client.

While the image only shows three participants, the Software MRF is actually rendering a 6-pane Continuous Presence display. The bold white outline indicates that Laura was the active speaker at the time. (The Software MRF automatically redirects the border highlight as the active speaker changes during a call.)

Our MRF product strategy is to ensure feature consistency across our MRF product family. Radisys customers can deploy HD video conferencing services with Software MRF in a Telecom Cloud today, and as their business grows, they might choose to upgrade to our award-winning MPX-12000 Broadband MRF which can support 1000s of simultaneous video conference endpoints in a fault-resilient ATCA hardware platform – without changing the conferencing application or MRF interface!

As you can tell, I’m getting increasingly excited about the HD video conferencing capabilities we are bringing to market. We have many more product innovations in development that I hope to share with you soon.