Lucent Technologies Announces New Internet-Based Videoconferencing System,
Lucent Collaborative Video
(Business Wire; 01/19/99)
MURRAY HILL, N.J. (Jan. 19) BUSINESS WIRE -Jan. 19, 1999--Lucent Technologies
today announced an innovation in Internet-based videoconferencing that delivers
high-quality video and audio to multiple parties in a low-cost PC-based
solution. With the Lucent Collaborative Video system, customers can extend
their existing Internet Protocol (IP) networks to include seamless multipoint
video meetings (in NTSC or PAL), real-time application sharing, and management
and storage of video.
The first customers for the system are: Click3X, a New York City-based
postproduction facility; Agora Interactive, a PC-based entertainment company
based in Louisville, Kentucky, and Telemedicine Solutions, International in
Silver Spring, Maryland.
The Lucent Collaborative Video system, designed and developed at Bell Labs,
Lucent's research and development arm, has been tested over the past three
years in high-profile global collaborative trials.
"Customers want Internet solutions for their communications needs, and this
extends to high-quality videoconferencing. The Lucent Collaborative Video
system delivers an ideal toolkit for next-generation Internet video," said Bob
Gaglianello, the system's inventor and a member of the Bell Labs multimedia
communications research department. "This system is a piece of the larger
broadband communications revolution that Lucent is leading. The technical and
creative freedoms that are unleashed with this system will make Internet video
communication as seamless tomorrow as e-mail is today."
The Lucent Collaborative Video system is a hardware and software solution that
uses proprietary algorithms from Bell Labs to simultaneously encode and
compress the video at multiple resolutions along with audio. It supports three
resolutions, from 160x120 to 640x480 at selectable frame rates ranging from 30
frames per second (fps) to 0.1 fps.
Lucent Collaborative Video sells for between $3,000 and $4,000, depending on
configuration. The product will be sold through Lucent's Datanetworking
Systems sales force (www.lucent.com/dns) and through D&A Integrated Solutions,
Inc. (704-377-5009; www.dna1.net). "The next generation of the Internet will
see greater collaboration between people, rather than the storage and retrieval
of information," said Sid Ahuja, director of the Multimedia Communications
Research Laboratory at Bell Labs. "The commercial release of Lucent
Collaborative Video is a significant milestone for the video industry."
The system supports Motion-JPEG, MPEG-1, H.263/261, and T.120 standards and
requires Windows NT 4.0 or Windows 95 and Service Pack 3, as well as a Pentium
5 or better with 64 MB RAM and TCP/IP network adapter. For more information on
the Lucent Collaborative Video system, visit the Web site at
www.multimedia.bell-labs.com/lcv.
"Lucent Collaborative Video demonstrates Lucent's commitment to commercializing
Bell Labs innovations," said Allen Eisdorfer, technical supervisor with the
Bell Labs Research Effectiveness department. "Bell Labs has a long history of
groundbreaking video work, and the Lucent Collaborative Video system is part of
this heritage." POST-PRODUCTION
Click3X, part of the IllusionFusion group of digital media companies, delivers
digital effects, animation, and broadcast design services for clients ranging
from Sony to ITT Industries.
With offices in New York, San Francisco, Atlanta, and Los Angeles, Click3X
wants to maintain real-time relationships with remote clients. The Lucent
Collaborative Video system allows Click3X to maintain continuous creative
sessions with those clients, whether in California or Tokyo. Preliminary edits
of commercials can be displayed through LCV, eliminating the need to ship tapes
back and forth through overnight mail.
"The Lucent Collaborative Video system eliminates the boundaries between client
and production house in a way that makes the entire creative process more
engaging," said Chuck Heuer, Vice President and National Director of
Technology for Click3X. "We want to develop the first interactive post-
production studio in the industry, and we now feel that, through Lucent, we can
deliver this to our customers." INTERACTIVE GAMING
The $22 billion interactive coin-operated amusement industry now has an
enabling system for high-quality Internet gaming. Agora Interactive, based in
Louisville, Kentucky, is developing a network of video arcades that deliver
multiplayer games through the Lucent Collaborative Video system. The initial
trial of the Agora system will consist of eight arcades in separate cities in
the United States, which will enable a pay-per-use model for each game. Compaq
Computer will provide Agora with the PC hardware and support, and PSINet will
deliver high-bandwidth connections to their global IP backbone.
Through Agora's Global Access Total Entertainment (G.A.T.E.) system, the Lucent
Collaborative Video system will help deliver content - ranging from video
games, videoconferencing, advertising - to a wide audience of users.
"There are more than 1,000 PC games introduced each year, and our ability to
deliver multiplayer gaming through a network of interactive kiosks is very
potent," said Andrew Prell, CEO of Agora Interactive. "The Lucent
Collaborative Video system creates a transparent experience for game players,
who are not aware of the technology at all." MEDICAL ^ The medical industry
has been using videoconferencing for various applications, including
educational sessions, patient consultation, and remote collaboration. The
introduction of low-cost Internet-based videoconferencing, through the Lucent
Collaborative Video system, allows customers such as Telemedicine Solutions,
International in Baltimore, Maryland, to extend this use. ^ "We have
dramatically increased our use of videoconferencing through the Lucent
Collaborative Video system, and have found new ways to communicate that were
not previously available or affordable," said Dr. Ernest Carter, president of
Telemedicine Solutions, International. "Our productivity has gone up without
adding cost to our budget and this system integrates flawlessly with our
network." ^ Derrick Knox, CEO of D&A, a Charlotte, North Carolina-based
reseller and systems integrator, has worked with a wide range of international
customers who use the Lucent Collaborative Video system.
"The ability to share documents while on a videoconference with no delay is a
tremendous customer advantage. The variable frame rate of the system provides
options that are, frankly, amazing. We have had high-quality audio in
videoconference sessions where the data rate is only 56 kilobits per second,
and that's phenomenal," said Knox. "My customers are using the Lucent
Collaborative Video system for applications that they never knew existed over
the Internet and they're doing it at a reasonable cost." ^ Click3X is a
commercial design company specializing in 3D animation, special effects, and
design work. For more information on Click3X, visit the company's Web site at
www.click3X.com. ^ Agora Interactive, Inc., based in Louisville, Kentucky,
is creating the interactive communication system for the 21st century. Agora's
technology links consumers to entertainment and e-commerce venues while they
are away from home. Agora has developed and is planning to manufacture and
operate a worldwide network of interactive kiosks. Further information about
Agora Interactive can be found at www.agorainteractive.com. ^ D&A Integrated
Solutions, Inc., based in Charlotte, North Carolina, is a systems integrator
with several contracts for services that are then made available to other
government agencies such as basic ordering agreement, fixed fee, and cost plus
fixed fee. D&A offers ATM switches, routers, PBXes, fiber optics, video
teleconferencing, CCTV, access control points, and electronic security systems.
For more information on the company, visit their Web site at www.dna1.net. ^
Lucent Technologies, headquartered in Murray Hill, N.J., designs, builds and
delivers a wide range of public and private networks, communications systems
and software, data networking systems, business telephone systems and
microelectronic components. Bell Labs is the research and development arm for
the company. For more information on Lucent Technologies, visit our web site at
www.lucent.com.