eScience Collaboration Tools: EVO & Access Grid

Dr. Greg Wickham

APAN24th Jan 2008

Overview

Overview of the ToolsAccess GridEVO

Comparison Summary

Overview

Overview of the ToolsAccess GridEVO

Comparison Summary

Access Grid

What is an Access Grid? A collaboration environment

Where? “a venue” - A virtual location where people can meet

Collaboration? Audio Video Shared applications

• Shared Desktop

• Shared Web Browser

• Extensible

Shared Resources

Access Grid

Cross platform: Windows Linux Mac OSX

Technology: Transmission:

• Multicast (predominately)

• Unicast (alternatively)

Venue server and client Multiple computers combined in a node

Access Grid

Environment: Room based (most common)

• Multiple computers controlled by the Venue Client

Desktop (same software)

Community http://www.accessgrid.org

Heritage

Heritage MBone tools ( 90s’ )

• VIC – Video Conferenecing Application

• RAT – Robost Audio Tool

Access Grid V1:• Venue Server concept

Access Grid V2: (2002)• Same (basic) tools

• Globus Toolkit (Web Services)

Access Grid V3: (Aug ‘06)• Jabber client integration

AG Node

Access Grid

Monitors combined to increase screen area (ie: 3072 x 768 pixels) Video Resolution:

Usually H.261 @ CIF (352 x 288) c/w H.323

University of Queensland has demonstrated HD integration Enhanced VIC to display MPEG2

Venue Client

“control centre” of the AG software

Navigate between venues Venues are organised

hierarchically Each Venue has:

Venue Client

“control centre” of the AG software

Navigate between venues Venues are organised

hierarchically Each Venue has:

List of available rooms

Venue Client

“control centre” of the AG software

Navigate between venues Venues are organised

hierarchically Each Venue has:

List of available rooms has a URI

Venue Client

“control centre” of the AG software

Navigate between venues Venues are organised

hierarchically Each Venue has:

List of available rooms has a URI a list of participants

Venue Client

“control centre” of the AG software

Navigate between venues Venues are organised

hierarchically Each Venue has:

List of available rooms has a URI a list of participants a chat client

VIC & RAT

Access Grid on a Desktop

Overview

Overview of the ToolsAccess GridEVO

Comparison Summary

The Tools: EVO

What is EVO? A distributed collaboration tool incorporating:

• Video• Audio• White Board• Share files

Where has EVO come from? Funded by the High Energy Physics community (LHC)

Where is EVO going? Gaining acceptance outside the HEP community Support contracts available

So exactly what is EVO?

Closest Analogy“Desktop Based Access Grid”

Features: Uses Java – No software needs to be installed Firewall friendly H.323 Integration Desktop sharing Whiteboard Commercial support SIP & POTS Shibboleth Integration Multilanguage

EVO Running

EVO Running

Participants wearing headsetsParticipants wearing headsets

EVO Running

Speaker is emphasisedSpeaker is emphasised

EVO Running

Layout controlled automaticallyLayout controlled automatically

Terminology

EVO – Enabling Virtual Organisations

Panda Server – Back end infrastructure

Koala – User client

Vievo – Video Conferencing Client

jRAT – Java Robust Audio Tool

EVOWB – White Board

Architecture

Each Koala connects into the ‘panda cloud’ All traffic to/from a Koala is to a specific panda

Architecture

Panda servers exchange data (audio, video, etc) as necessary The ‘panda cloud’ is hidden from the end user

Koala

Redundancy

Panda servers are the ‘data warehousing’ point

All users data is exchanged to the EVO environment through the chosen panda server

Upon connection the closest panda server is chosen

User can prefer another panda server

Redundancy

If the preferred panda server isn’t available – the next closest is chosen

No action’s required by the user

Monitoring

Overview

Overview of the ToolsAccess GridEVO

Comparison Summary

Feature Comparison

Feature Access Grid EVO

CODEC H.261 + others(1) H.261 + H.263

Transmission Multicast / Unicast (2) Unicast (Multicast) (3)

1. Other codecs available (ie: MPEG2, HDTV) although not in the current AGTk distibution

2. Multicast is the default; using a bridge Unicast is possible

3. Multicast available through the JANET UK community

Feature Comparison

Feature Access Grid EVO

Firewall Difficult (1) Yes (2)

NAT No (3) Yes (4)

1. Ports defined on Venue Server; Unicast ports can vary (range)

2. All traffic (video/audio/IM/Presence/booking/..) uses a well defined unique port

3. Yes if using Unicast

4. All video / audio handled through TCP connection to Panda

Feature Comparison

Feature Access Grid EVO

Data TransferDirect between participants; or through bridge

All data through Panda server

Control ChannelVenue Server (no

redundancy)Panda server (redundancy)

InstallationPlatform Specific

BinariesJava &

Java Web Start

Feature Comparison

Feature Access Grid EVO

H.323 No Yes (1)

SIP No Yes

POTS No Yes (2)

1. Using a gate keeper possible to dial into an MCU or the PSTN using a standard phone number

2. EVO Phone gateway in several places in US, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Slovakia

Feature Comparison

Feature Access Grid EVO

Recording External Application Yes

Chat Yes(1) Yes(2)

1. Chat is limited to the currently active room

2. Separate chat windows are maintained for each community and the currently active room

Feature Comparison

Feature Access Grid EVO

Presence No Yes

Multiple Cameras Yes (1) Yes (2)

Experience Level Moderate Beginner

Room Based Common Possible

Desktop Yes Common

1. Different Node configurations managed through venue server; rich configuration of cameras available

2. Start additional cameras using ‘aux video’; camera control very simple

Feature Comparison

Feature Access Grid EVO

Shared Applications Desktop, Browser, (1) Desktop, Whiteboard

Open Source Yes No

1. Shared Applications can be written an integrated into the AG environment

Overview

Overview of the ToolsAccess GridEVO

Comparison Summary

Summary

Access Grid and EVO are both powerful multi-user collaboration tools

Access Grid has: A large user base Strong community

EVO has: Easy to use Cross Platform (Uses Java)

Summary

Access Grid and EVO are both powerful multi-user collaboration tools

Access Grid has: A large user base Strong community

EVO has: Easy to use Cross Platform (Uses Java)

Summary

So which one to use …

Depends on the community …

• Access Grid works very well in room based systems

• EVO is a very simple desktop based system

Your choice!