Audio Video Conferencing Software

NetMeeting is audio video conferencing software which does not work with H.323 gatekeepers; client-based restrictions are used as an alternate way to limit bandwidth utilization. Keeping your clients friendly (making sure they're not using too much bandwidth) will be an important task.

Otherwise, too many NetMeeting conferences could bring your network to its knees. With a gatekeeper, NetMeeting clients would have to contact a gatekeeper to start a call. If too much bandwidth was in use by other conferences, your call could be rejected (equivalent to placing a telephone call and getting the recorded message "all circuits are busy"). No user wants to have his or her call rejected, but this approach does ensure that network utilization stays within limits.

With client-based restrictions, each client sets fixed limits on its use of the network. On a LAN, the network throughput is usually much larger than that used by a single connection, but multiple connections may be in use, so in the aggregate they could still exceed the network maximum. Reducing the quality, and hence the bandwidth, of audio or video conferences reduces overall network utilization-if all connections abide by the restrictions. This also assumes that the number of simultaneous connections does not rise significantly, which could occur after a successful, limited trial installation of NetMeeting.

You can also limit the kinds of services available for a connection. For example, you may allow audio conferences but not video conferences. Voluntary limitations are fine, but the Windows 98 and Windows XP system policy settings can be used as well. The policy settings can be read from a Windows XP Server when a user logs on to the workstation, but this feature must be installed on Windows 98 prior to its use. (System policy support is not installed by default under Windows 98.) Many networks may already use the policy settings because they can limit access to other aspects of Windows-such as the ability to change video or network settings.

NetMeeting comes with a system policy administration template file. Open this file from the policy editor program, and then open the registry or a system policy file. You can adjust as many NetMeeting settings as necessary, make life easier for users by presetting the ILS name or IP address, prevent users from making changes to the system settings, and eliminate bandwidth-hungry features like video conferencing. Windows system policies can be set globally for groups or for individual users. You can allow changes by administrative users. Use of an H.323 gatekeeper will not eliminate the need for the system policy settings. The gatekeeper can provide other services, such as tracking calls, but the system policies are the only way to enforce other NetMeeting restrictions, such as allowing changes to various NetMeeting settings.

Today's hub-based 10BaseT and 10Base2 networks can handle multiple data conferences and half a dozen audio or video conferences, assuming the current network is not heavily loaded with other traffic. Switch-based networks are a good investment if the number of audio and video conferences is greater than this amount. Fast Ethernet hubs, Fast Ethernet switches, and ATM-based networks can also handle NetMeeting conferences without significantly impacting normal network operation.