Special Subject Interview with Dan Tanel, Chief Technology Officer of BCS Global Networks, on their  very important White Paper “Evolving towards a B2B Global Video Network”

26 April 2010. Dan Tanel, has been Chief Technology Officer of BCS Global Networks since 2004. As BCS Global’s Chief Technology Officer, Dan Tanel is responsible for helping drive the company’s technological innovations and strategy, in line with BCS Global’s corporate goals. When we interviewed him on 15 March 2010, he mentioned the recent BCS Global White Paper “Evolving towards a B2B Global Video Network”. You can get a copy of this whitepaper from: www.bcsglobal.com.  

In this interview, we asked him to go into more detail about a B2B Global Video Network and the steps need to create it. Dan is well known in the industry as a far-sighted thought leader and you will find this a challenging and concise record of what needs to be done if B2B video meetings are to be much more widely used than they are today.  Their PVSN (Public Video Service Network) initiative should be welcomed by the industry as the next vital step the industry must take.
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Editor: Can your Global Video Exchange service make connections with other companies - customers and suppliers anywhere in the world?

Dan:  Yes. Customers connected to the BCS Global service and different carrier networks can connect together via the BCS Global Video Exchange.

Editor: What are the unique features of BCS Global’s Global Video Exchange service?

Dan: Video infrastructure located in regional points of presence (North America, Europe, APAC) connected via our global IP Video backbone; Connectivity into numerous international and in-region carriers; and Interoperability between vendor technologies, network carriers.

Editor: Can you establish inter-company calls with companies that are the clients of another Video Exchange provider?

Dan: Yes, but today it is performed using the Internet and ISDN as the medium.

Our PSVN initiative is underway to connect to other managed service providers via quality IP B2B exchange.  The first partner announced is Iformata. (See next news Byte - Editor.)

Editor: What difficulties does a Global Video Exchange encounter if you have to link multiple Telepresence systems on the networks of different carriers?

Dan: There are many issues to settle, including
·    Protocol interoperability (SIP and H.323)
·    Video codec interoperability
·    Global directory
·    Dial plan management
·    Policy management
·    Security
·    Connectivity – bandwidth, QoS
·    IP address – translation

Editor: How does one overcome these difficulties and are connections as reliable as they should be as a result?

Dan: Agreements in place between managed service providers in addressing each of the challenges.  Once certified, then yes the connections are reliable in addition to high performance and quality.

Editor: What are wholesale video exchange services and who offers them in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific? Are they open to all and reliable?

Dan: Key challenge in the marketplace is the lack of desire for carriers to deliver High Quality Video Communication services for “off net” calling.  Without a robust inter-carrier program, the demand for quality B2B video services in the marketplace is being serviced by the managed service providers. Solutions are often bespoke in nature.

Editor: What do you mean by “off-net” calling?                    

Dan: The reference to “off net” calling is in the following context.  Carriers (i.e. carrier A) are happy to deliver video traffic over their MPLS networks.  Third party endpoints that are connected to carrier B’s MPLS network are considered “off net”. Carriers are not keen to connect these endpoints today over the MPLS networks. Their rationale perhaps is that they want all customers to be on their MPLS networks.  This is an unrealistic expectation in my view.

Editor: What are retail video exchange services ?

Dan: Retail exchange services are offered by pay-per-use providers such as Regus that connect the public facilities to private customer facilities.

BCS is able to connect the exchange to public facility providers in traditional ISDN and Internet methods and in some cases over quality IP networks.

Editor: Are there today Video Exchange islands that are not easy to link together?

Dan: Yes. Cisco Telepresence is one example.

Editor: You have written a white paper “Evolving towards a B2B Global Video Network”. What steps need to be taken over the next five years to achieve this goal?

Dan: There needs to be solid commitments from many parties to achieving this vision and goal.
·    Commitment to the end user community that the end user experience is at the heart of our thinking throughout this journey
·    Commitment from industry leaders to collaborate and drive solutions into the marketplace
·    Industry standards for vendor interoperability
·    Carrier commitment to support quality IP off net B2B video communications
·    Acceleration in connecting managed service providers across the globe
·    Business to Consumer gateway services

Editor: Is it desirable that a private non-profit  independent telecom body like IMTC be set up to provide a formal structure to ensure progress is made in defining concepts and organizing testing of inter-carrier video links?

Dan: Yes, organizations like IMTC can certainly add value.

Editor: If ITU is to provide a helping role in setting standards, what standards issues should it address as a priority?

Dan: Vendors, carriers, need to agree on standards and bring technology to market that interoperate.  For example:
·    SIP and H.323
·    Video codec (Microsoft RTV, H.264)
·    Global Directory
·    Inter-company access control and policy management
·    End to end QoS/CoS standards
·    CDRs
   
Editor: What further steps are needed to create a B2B Global Video Network?

Dan: Collaboration amongst the service providers is needed to connect their private video exchanges together to form the foundation of a public B2B Global Video Network.

Editor: Dan. Thank you for these valuable insights.

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