The Division of Information Systems pleased to announce the availability of a new Video Conference application, based on the RADVISION SCOPIA system and supported by both H.323 hardware and software. The core of the system consists of a RSDVISION Elite 5110 Multipoint Control Unit, or Video Bridge.

A Video Bridge is best thought of as a central meeting area, which allows users to create smaller "rooms" where they may hold meetings. These rooms can be made public, so that anyone on the bridge may join, or private, so that users wishing to join must enter a PIN to enter. A bridge can accommodate multiple simultaneous meetings of various sizes. Sometimes the bridge may have one room with many participants connected inside it, and other times there may be many rooms with 2 or 3 participants in each.

The Video Bridge we have constructed is currently capable of supporting up to 10 simultaneous High Definition screen or 40 in Standard Definition. In addition to this, up to 120 viewers can watch a live meeting or presentation via web streaming, which allows them to see and hear a video conference from their web browser.

Introduction

Virtual Rooms give subscribed users the ability to have their own permanent room on the WIS Video Bridge. This enables you to set up meetings without having to go through the scheduling process of creating and booking meetings via iView management (SCOPIA booking system). You can simply enter the virtual room meeting ID and password from SCOPIA Desktop and the Bridge will automatically create the virtual room and connect you on the fly.

NOTE: For every registered user the Computing Center will create a virtual room with default parameters, such as: Virtual room name, Meeting ID (virtual room number) and Moderator PIN (password), which defined by the user  during the VC service registration, and may incurr WICC charges in the future. The default virtual room number (Meeting ID) is constructed from 5 + the user's office phone extension. For example, if the user's phone extension is 2764, the virtual room number will be 52764.

Virtual Room - Introduction

NOTE: At this point there is no obligation to use RADVISION reservation utility to book a meeting, and user can send invitations simply by e-mail. Policy would change if the total number of meetings will grow and pass the Video Bridge number of spare resources.

System default invitation format:

You are invited to attend a meeting.

Meeting Subject: My first VC Metting

Meeting ID: 52764

Date: 11/12/2010

Time: 15:00 (Israel Standard Time)

Duration: 00:30


To connect from your desktop, go to http://vc.weizmann.ac.il?ID=52764&autojoin.

For other options including connecting with presentation only or watching the webcast, go to http://vc.weizmann.ac.il?ID=52764.

We recommend you install the desktop client beforehand. To install the client, go to http://vc.weizmann.ac.il?client.


Meeting Scheduling

SCOPIA Desktop is a software based solution for connecting users from their desktop computer to the WIS Video Bridge.

This allows anyone across campus and around the world to simply download the software package and login to view and participate in video conferencing meetings.

SCOPIA desktop can be used from anywhere:

  1. •Computers on the WIS Network - Israel, Research Institutes, and other organizations around the world.

  2. •SCOPIA is perfectly capable of connecting you to meetings from your home, or when on the move with a laptop.


SCOPIA software is free for download and installation for both PC & MAC, though, the VC service may incur WICC charges in the future.


While anyone may install SCOPIA for use, to hold meetings ,at least one participant must have account on Weizmann Video Bridge.

SCOPIA Desktop Overview

SCOPIA Desktop Installation - Video Tutorials

Windows

Mac

Machine Specifications for Standard Definition experience

  1. •PC Intel Pentium 4, 3.0 GHz or faster

  2. •PC AMD Athlon 3.0 GHz or faster

  3. •PC Intel Centrino Mobile Processor 1.8 GHz or faster

  4. •Mac with Intel Core Duo 1.8 GHz or faster

  5. •Netbook Intel Atom Processor 1.6 GHz or faster

  6. •1 GB of RAM or more

Machine Specifications for High Definition experience

  1. •PC Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz or faster

  2. •PC AMD Phenom IIx4 91- 2.6 GHz or faster

  3. •Mac with Intel Core 2 Duo 2.7 GHz or faster

  4. •Intel Core i5 or i7 are recommended for a high end experience

  5. •Minimum 2 GB of RAM, 3 GB of RAM or more recommended

Operating Systems (we recommend that you use the latest service pack of Windows operating systems listed in this section)

  1. •Windows XP (SP2 and higher, 32 and 64 Bit)

  2. •Windows Vista (SP2 or higher, 32 and 64 Bit)

  3. •Windows 7

  4. •Macintosh OS X version 10.5 (Leopard) or higher, Intel CPU only

Web browsers

  1. •For Windows: Internet Explorer 6, 7, and 8 (8 Recommended)

  2. •For Mac: Firefox 3.6 and Safari 4.0

Other

Quality HD Webcam with HD 720p or HD 1080p support,  and from one of the following vendors:

Logitech:     http://www.logitech.com/en-us/webcam-communications/webcams

Microsoft:   http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/digitalcommunication/Productlist.aspx?type=LifeCam


Prerequisites