Industry Related News and Events

CYBERTECH RECEIVES 2008 PRODUCT OF THE YEAR AWARD FROM CUSTOMER INTERACTION SOLUTIONS MAGAZINE
12/19/2008

AMSTERDAM, December 19, 2008 - CyberTech International today announced that CyberTech Pro has received a 2008 Product of the Year Award from Technology Marketing
Corporation's Customer Interaction Solutions magazine (www.cismag.com), the leading publication covering CRM, call centers and teleservices since 1982.

CyberTech Pro was globally deployed in 2008 by many financial institutions, call centers and public safety organizations. They choose CyberTech for its unique ability to positively impact business outcomes in key areas such as compliance and customer satisfaction. Customers also appreciate CyberTech Pro's ability to integrate using internal server and network security standards.

"Our growing global customer base is standardizing on CyberTech Pro because of best-in-class features and ability to execute," said Arno Sybrandy, global marketing director, CyberTech International.

The 11th Annual Product of the Year Award winners will be featured in the January 2009 issue of Customer Interaction Solutions magazine. For more information about the Customer Interaction Solutions' 2008 Product of the Year Awards or any of the TMC media properties, please visit www.tmcnet.com.

Radvision Bridges Videoconferencing Divide
07/07/2008

Scopia Conferencing Platform manages to coax disparate conference room and desktop videoconferencing solutions into relative harmony.

With Scopia Desktop, Radvision extends an affordable, highly scalable and robust videoconferencing solution to Windows-based desktops. However, Radvision's real value derives from its Scopia Conferencing Platform's ability to tie together its customers' disparate investments in conference room video systems and desktop conferencing solutions that previously would not play nicely together.

I tested Radvision's Scopia Conferencing Platform 5.5, which included the Scopia 100-24 MCU appliance (which does all the media transcoding and supports both SIP and H.323), the iView Management Suite (a Windows Server 2003-based application through which all conferences are created and scheduled) and the Scopia Desktop solution (which provides audio and videoconferencing plus H.239 data presentation capabilities on Windows-based desktops). The Scopia platform also offers the ability to integrate with third-party desktop conferencing solutions like Microsoft Office Communications Server or IBM Lotus Sametime, or HD conference solutions like those from LifeSize Communications.

Best of all, since the MCU provides per-connection transcoding, Scopia will not down-mix HD endpoints when Standard Definition endpoints join a conference, allowing all endpoints to utilize the best resolution supported by the device and the network.

Licensing for the Scopia 100-24 is surprisingly straightforward, as the base price includes all relevant licenses and connection types. For the $50,000 list price, the Scopia 100-24 supports up to (or a combination of) 16 High Definition ports, 24 Standard Definition ports, 48 Scopia Desktop connections, 72 audio-only connections or 144 streaming connections. This standard license includes the ability to integrate with third-party desktop and room-based conferencing solutions, plus the license for Radvision's iView management and scheduling suite (although companies with multiple Radvision MCU appliances will need to pay extra for iView).

The Scopia Desktop client utilizes the user's standard Webcam and headset, allowing users to participate in videoconferences without a significant hardware investment for desktop equipment. In addition to audio or videoconferencing, Scopia Desktop users have access to H.239-compliant data presentations (allowing the conference mediator to share an application or their entire desktop or pass control to another user), text chat and conference moderation .

The Scopia Desktop software can be downloaded and installed directly from the conference log-in page, and can be installed on as many PCs as you want - keeping in mind that the 100-24 MCU will only support 48 active users at one time. Scopia Desktop also provides built-in NAT (Network Address Translation) and firewall traversal capabilities, making it easy to join and participate in conferences without worrying about the local network setup.

At the time of my tests, Scopia Desktop only provided an SD video feed to users, but with the recently announced Version 5.6, users can view 720p High Definition feeds emanating from HD conference room equipment. The new version also gives Scopia Desktop users the ability to record audio, video and data presentations.

Radvision aimed to provide a familiar communications experience to OCS users, so it added a Scopia log-in to the Office Communicator interface. From the bottom of the Communicator dialog box, I could log directly in to a Radvision conference—or, more specifically, I could signal the Radvision equipment to call me back so I could join the videoconference. Once joined, I could see and speak to Scopia Desktop users—as well as conference room systems—but I could not view presentations or shared desktops, as the integration does not yet extend to H.239 data collaborations

Enabling the OCS integration requires some modifications: on the Scopia MCU, in OCS and on the OCS client machine. Oddly, Radvision's documentation instructs administrators to create a communication channel directly between the Radvision equipment and the primary OCS server, rather than using the OCS mediation server. This meant that I had to manually ensure that the MCU prioritizes codecs that OCS supports natively (722.1), as the OCS server can not transcode to another codec when the mediation server is not used.

At the desktop, I had to distribute registry changes to OCS clients to enable the Scopia plug-in in Communicator and add the Scopia iView server to the Internet Explorer Trusted Zone because the plug-in is enabled via XML. Microsoft desktop administrators will find it easy to deploy these changes via their standard software deployment tools, even if Radvision hasn't done anything special to package up these changes for delivery.

Radvision also offers an option for users that need join the conference remotely from unmanaged machines. Remote users can view a stream of the videoconference and presentation via a QuickTime-enabled Web browser. In tests, I found the QuickTime stream lagged significantly behind the live presentation (which is not a big deal), but was also highly sensitive to network conditions. Several times I noticed that the streaming audio and video got significantly out of sync (up to 10 seconds' separation at times) when the network became somewhat congested or I needed to traverse a firewall that Scopia Desktop had no trouble navigating.

CyberTech offers improved and unique means for recording Cisco VoIP telephony
12/19/2008

Solution Places CyberTech at the Forefront of Internet Telephony Voice and Data Capture for Global Distributed Businesses CyberTech International today announced Gateway Selective Recording for Cisco VoIP networks. The fastest growing and most advanced recording-solutions supplier compliant with Cisco -- the world's top Internet telephony provider -- CyberTech now offers the most resilient and cost effective solution to worldwide financial and call centre businesses.

CyberTech delivers selective recording functionality in a highly reliable, easy to install and economical solution. The company's VoIP gateway recording for Cisco uniquely enables organisations to achieve the highest levels of flexibility, quality assurance and liability protection while supporting existing hardware and infrastructure. With CyberTech, Cisco Gateway Recording is predetermined by designated extensions and customer phone numbers that pass through the gateway. This capability reduces costs and maximizes efficiency for large multinational companies with widely distributed operations. The CyberTech recording system may be implemented remotely or centrally with no negative impact on extensions recorded.

"We are proud to be the first to offer the global marketplace and our many multinational customers this best-in-class solution that is strategic to continuing optimised operations," said Gerben Stam, CyberTech director of Product Management. "They recognise the significant upside that CyberTech, alone, provides by eliminating -- to cite just one advantage -- the need to purchase Cisco CTI licenses to enable VoIP recording."

Telepresence and Videoconferencing Insight Newsletter
01/05/2009

RADVISION is chosen as our “Video-enabled Unified Communications Company of the Year 2008”. RADVISION is the world’s leading provider of high quality, scalable and easyto- use products and technologies for videoconferencing, video telephony, and the development of converged voice, video and data over IP and 3G networks

RADVISION is chosen as Telepresence and Videoconferencing Insight’s “Unified Visual Communications Company of the Year 2008”. RADVISION’s infrastructure products, management tools and applications provide unified visual communications over IP, 3G and emerging next generation networks.

The RADVISION SCOPIA platform offers a complete set of infrastructure products for unified communications: The SCOPIA™ 100, SCOPIA™ 400 and SCOPIA™ 1000 MCUs and the SCOPIA™ 100 Gateways. SCOPIA 1000 chassis is a carrier-grade, standards-based, highavailability platform designed for demanding multimedia services and applications. The SCOPIA 100 Gateways are ideal for connecting IP videoconferencing networks with ISDN endpoints and networks to fully utilize existing videoconferencing infrastructure investments. The SCOPIA platform offers the ability to integrate with third-party desktop conferencing solutions like Microsoft Office Communications Server or IBM Lotus Sametime, or HD VC systems from LifeSize, Aethra, Sony and other vendors. Cisco OEMs RADVISION products and is a major Customer.

The SCOPIA 100 or 400 MCU includes an unlimited number of licenses to use the SCOPIA Desktop HD videoconferencing client on desktop and laptop PCs free of charge. The SCOPIA 100-24 supports up to 16 High Definition ports, 24 Standard Definition ports, 48 SCOPIA Desktop connections, 72 audio-only connections or 144 streaming connections; or a combination of these in a mixed conference. This standard license includes the ability to integrate with third-party desktop and room-based conferencing solutions, plus the license to use RADVISION`s iVIEW Management and Scheduling Suite.

The software-only SCOPIA Desktop client (previously called `Click-to-Meet`) utilizes the PC user`s standard Webcam and headset and power of the PC microprocessor; hence it enables users to participate in videoconferences without a significant hardware investment. PC users can obtain 480p video at 30fps and 720p HD video at 15 fps with a powerful PC and 720p at 30 fps with a super-powerful PC with a 2.8 GHz dual core microprocessor. One participant can show a presentation and mark up to others; but there is no support for application sharing which enables other participants to edit materials.

In 2008, the capabilities of the RADVISION SCOPIA MCU were developed further with new versions 5.6 in July 2008 and 5.7 in December 2008. RADVISION SCOPIA version 5.6 enabled SCOPIA desktop users to view 720p High Definition feeds emanating from HD conference room equipment; SCOPIA version 5.5 of 2007 provided HD feeds to HD room viewers but only an SD video feed to SCOPIA Desktop users. The new version 5.6 also gave SCOPIA Desktop users the ability to record audio, video and data presentations.

RADVISION SCOPIA version 5.7 further improved the performance of the SCOPIA MCU and the SCOPIA Desktop through a complete rewrite of the audio/video PC codec subsystem and the integration of the desktop client with GIPS voice codec for VoIP. The SCOPIA MCU provides per-connection transcoding. SCOPIA will not down-mix HD endpoints when Standard Definition endpoints join a conference; all endpoints can utilize the best resolution supported by their endpoint and the network.

RADVISION now recommends using the Quickcam Pro 9000 webcam from Logitech with a MSRP in the United States of $99.99. Webcams are getting better and better. For HD video it helps that Logitech has deployed a 2 Megapixel sensor and Carl Zeiss optics for autofocus. RADVISION is chosen as our Unified Visual Communications Company of the Year 2008 because the company now offers this easy-to-use solution for incorporating HD desktop videoconferencing into an enterprise's communications network. The other influencing consideration is RADVISION's prowess and high market share in providing toolkits for connecting VC endpoints, VoIP phones, 3G phones and other devices.

Millions of people worldwide communicate using products and solutions based on or built around RADVISION's development solutions including RADVISION Toolkits such as H.323 protocol, SIP, MEGACO, RTSP and the Multimedia Terminal Framework. In 2008, RADVISION added its Advanced RTP/RTCP (Real-Time Transport Protocol/Real-Time Transport Control Protocol) Toolkit designed to address the requirements of mature, production IP telephony applications. The Toolkit includes support for security and IPv6 and can seamlessly work with other RADVISION Toolkits.

For all these reasons, RADVISION is chosen as our "Video-enabled Unified Communications Company of the Year 2008", a repeat of the Award we made in 2007.