Codian MCU 4210 Product Review

[Entropy3XD]

Codian MCU 4210 – First Impressions

Codian, a UK based IP video bridge manufacturer, has allowed use of its California based MCU to VTCtalk users. I had the honor of being taken on a tour of the bridge last week by William MacDonald, Codian’s Vice President of Sales and Marketing. I walked away quite impressed.

To start, this unit is extremely easy to use and is very user friendly. The bridge can be setup to register conference numbers with a gatekeeper or for those who wish to forgo the gatekeeper, the IP address of the MCU can be dialed. When dialing into the main number or IP address, the user is prompted with a menu screen which allows users to scroll through and select the conference they wish to join. Conferences can also be created by selecting new conference, giving the conference a number, as well as a password if desired.

The bridge is end user managed by using the far-end camera control of the VTC unit. Once dialed into the bridge, the user selects far-end camera control then uses the directional arrows to select or start a conference. Passwords are entered via DTMF tones.

Once in a conference, the user can then select any number of video display modes. Video displays are also selected using far-end camera control from the users VTC unit, then using the directional arrows to change layouts. The bridge uses dedicated DSP chips for each user dialing in, enabling a user to choose a display mode which works for them while not changing the modes for anyone else in the conference. There is also the ability to control remote PTZ cameras within the conference.

This is a hardware based bridge with two gigabit Ethernet ports for use in firewall traversal. One NIC is used for the internal LAN, while the other NIC is dedicated for the DMZ. The DMZ port is only allowed for conferences which are setup as “public�, not allowing traffic to flow into private conferences setup on the internal network. The MCU is also set so that you can not perform any administrative functions through the DMZ port, making it much more secure for use in bypassing the firewall.

Another outstanding feature is the web based management. Using a web browser and entering the IP address of the MCU, the user is able to see a list of conferences, allowing access only to those conferences in which the user is allowed. From this page a user can select the “Watch� command and is presented with the option for a video stream in either QuickTime or Real Player format. The user is able to select the bandwidth preferred for the stream.

Once a conference is selected, the user is then presented with a list of participants showing time connected as well an audio bar and video preview window. The video preview is a still image which can be updated by clicking the window. This page also shows previous participants with connect/disconnect time and cause of disconnection. End points can be invited into the conference from this page and there is also VNC support for displaying your PC graphics within the conference. A statistics tab shows the start time and duration of the conference, as well as gatekeeper ID and statistics on number of VTC and streaming participants. From what I have seen so far, there is no support for disconnecting participants or muting audio/video from the web based management.

There are three models, with 4MB for each video participant. Here is a list of the models showing number of video, additional audio, unicast stream, and multicast stream participants:

MCU 4210 - 20 Video, 20 audio, 100 unicast, unlimited multicast
MCU 4220 - 40 Video, 40 audio, 200 unicast, unlimited multicast
MCU 4240 - 80 Video, 80 audio, 400 unicast, unlimited multicast

The MCU 4210 lists for just under $30,000 (US).

Codian has setup a permanent conference on their bridge for VTCtalk users. If you have not already, I highly recommend you give the MCU a call and try it out. You may be able to catch William on video and he can take you on the full tour. The IP address of the bridge is 64.71.128.186. Once in the bridge select the “VTCtalk Chat (333)� to join.

Codian has also created an entry on the VTCtalk gatekeeper. Register to the gatekeeper at 68.50.225.125 and dial 333. This will take you directly into the VTCtalk chat conference.

For detailed company and product information, please go to Codian’s web site at www.codian.com.

Useful Information:
Codian MCU: 64.71.128.186
Codian MCU web management: http://64.71.128.186/
VTCtalk gatekeeper: 68.50.225.125
VTCtalk Chat Conference E.164: 333

[Kevin]

Hi Entropy3XD - thanks for the review.

It is great to see people's positive response to this product - people seem so suprised at its ease of use while having so many powerful features.

Just a quick bit of info regarding one point you made:

From what I have seen so far, there is no support for disconnecting participants or muting audio/video from the web based management.

Infact you can do this from the web page - when logged in as either a user or administator (rather than as a guest). I set up a user level login for vtctalk users - just login as "vtctalk" with a password of "vtctalk" without the quotes.

When logged in as a user or adminstrator (rather than as a guest) you will see far more options available, such as muting audio or disconnecting participants, calling out to H323 or VNC endpoints, sending text messages, selecting layouts and much much more...

[Entropy3XD]

Outstanding!!! I thought you guys would probably have those features covered. Thanks Kevin.

[Stravex]

Codian MCU 4210 – First Impressions

Codian, a UK based IP video bridge manufacturer, has allowed use of its California based MCU to VTCtalk users. I had the honor of being taken on a tour of the bridge last week by William MacDonald, Codian’s Vice President of Sales and Marketing. I walked away quite impressed.

To start, this unit is extremely easy to use and is very user friendly. The bridge can be setup to register conference numbers with a gatekeeper or for those who wish to forgo the gatekeeper, the IP address of the MCU can be dialed. When dialing into the main number or IP address, the user is prompted with a menu screen which allows users to scroll through and select the conference they wish to join. Conferences can also be created by selecting new conference, giving the conference a number, as well as a password if desired.

The bridge is end user managed by using the far-end camera control of the VTC unit. Once dialed into the bridge, the user selects far-end camera control then uses the directional arrows to select or start a conference. Passwords are entered via DTMF tones.

Once in a conference, the user can then select any number of video display modes. Video displays are also selected using far-end camera control from the users VTC unit, then using the directional arrows to change layouts. The bridge uses dedicated DSP chips for each user dialing in, enabling a user to choose a display mode which works for them while not changing the modes for anyone else in the conference. There is also the ability to control remote PTZ cameras within the conference.

This is a hardware based bridge with two gigabit Ethernet ports for use in firewall traversal. One NIC is used for the internal LAN, while the other NIC is dedicated for the DMZ. The DMZ port is only allowed for conferences which are setup as “public�, not allowing traffic to flow into private conferences setup on the internal network. The MCU is also set so that you can not perform any administrative functions through the DMZ port, making it much more secure for use in bypassing the firewall.

Another outstanding feature is the web based management. Using a web browser and entering the IP address of the MCU, the user is able to see a list of conferences, allowing access only to those conferences in which the user is allowed. From this page a user can select the “Watch� command and is presented with the option for a video stream in either QuickTime or Real Player format. The user is able to select the bandwidth preferred for the stream.

Once a conference is selected, the user is then presented with a list of participants showing time connected as well an audio bar and video preview window. The video preview is a still image which can be updated by clicking the window. This page also shows previous participants with connect/disconnect time and cause of disconnection. End points can be invited into the conference from this page and there is also VNC support for displaying your PC graphics within the conference. A statistics tab shows the start time and duration of the conference, as well as gatekeeper ID and statistics on number of VTC and streaming participants. From what I have seen so far, there is no support for disconnecting participants or muting audio/video from the web based management.

There are three models, with 4MB for each video participant. Here is a list of the models showing number of video, additional audio, unicast stream, and multicast stream participants:

MCU 4210 - 20 Video, 20 audio, 100 unicast, unlimited multicast
MCU 4220 - 40 Video, 40 audio, 200 unicast, unlimited multicast
MCU 4240 - 80 Video, 80 audio, 400 unicast, unlimited multicast

The MCU 4210 lists for just under $30,000 (US).

Codian has setup a permanent conference on their bridge for VTCtalk users. If you have not already, I highly recommend you give the MCU a call and try it out. You may be able to catch William on video and he can take you on the full tour. The IP address of the bridge is 64.71.128.186. Once in the bridge select the “VTCtalk Chat (333)� to join.

Codian has also created an entry on the VTCtalk gatekeeper. Register to the gatekeeper at 68.50.225.125 and dial 333. This will take you directly into the VTCtalk chat conference.

For detailed company and product information, please go to Codian’s web site at www.codian.com.

Useful Information:
Codian MCU: 64.71.128.186
Codian MCU web management: http://64.71.128.186/
VTCtalk gatekeeper: 68.50.225.125
VTCtalk Chat Conference E.164: 333

I’d like to know about prices possibility purchase of Codian MCU-4210 (20 Port Enterprise IP MCU). I'm from germany. Perhaps anybody knows to get it not so expencieve My mail info@stravex.com

[Kevin]

I’d like to know about prices possibility purchase of Codian MCU-4210 (20 Port Enterprise IP MCU). I'm from germany. Perhaps anybody knows to get it not so expencieve My mail info@stravex.com

Hi Stravex,

Thanks for the interest! Our German distributor should be in touch with you very soon :)

Thanks
Kevin

[Laurence@msu.edu]

The Codian list price for the 4210 is more like $39,000. The smaller unit (4205) has just 12 ports and lists for $29,000. Unfortunately, Codian also appear to be in a get tough (on users) mode on price discounting - currently the mode is no more than 15% discount. Its a pity that the company is taking this hard line strategy so early in their product life. They could have been a real asset to the video conferencing community.

[djackson]

Unfortunately, Codian also appear to be in a get tough (on users) mode on price discounting - currently the mode is no more than 15% discount. Its a pity that the company is taking this hard line strategy so early in their product life. They could have been a real asset to the video conferencing community.

Sounds un-American to me. However, it is still a good bang-for-the-buck box. (my apologies to all international users for the American analogy how about "Sounds un-Canadian")

[pbraatelien]

Quit whining Laurence. What you perceive as hard line is not reflected in the user community whatsoever. It seems as though you are so used to Polycoms market strategy of letting everone and their mother sell products (with no value add) with the subsequent deep discounting and ensuiing melee, that real value means nothing to you.
Your other statement that they "could" have been (past tense) an asset...like they are dead somehow? Codian is taking the market by storm and everyone (including their competitors) acknowledges it. If they want to set a cap and avoid the channel churn and price gouging, more power to them!! Remember, companies have to actually make money to stay in business.

[mazzarak]

agreed Paul, after all if they are that hard line, they must reaaaally be struggling to sell them ;)

[Glen Sykes]

As a reseller I support any manufacturer policy that prevents channels from trashing pricing. Something this industry lacks in a big way is any perception of value in the reseller / integrator. To some manufacturers, we are almost a neccesary evil, relocating money from a customers bank account into theirs via ours and nothing more. This of course is ridiculous.

Good resellers play a very important role in videoconferencing, ensuring that customers get the right equipment for the purpose, and making sense of manufacturer propaganda for them!

It's refreshing that Codian are getting tough on channels that trash prices, as it's these guys that inevitably contribute to the failure of projects through the lack of quality support they provide (either that or they expect the manufacturer to pick up the pieces).

It's no surprise that Laurence feels this way when some established manufacturers treat their channels like dirt and practically give away products and expect the reseller to make a pittance on it.

This situation needs to change, all it serves to do is perpetuate the problem of customers not getting the support they require becuase their reseller made next to nothing on a deal.

That said, Laurence, your rabble rousing has clearly backfired, both on here and on Wainhouse, and I'm happy to say that being from the UK, will never have the opportunity of you beating me up on price :silly:

[stevenjack]

I bought a 4210 for the University and my initial impression is that it works pretty well. I am scheduling recordings of 3 way conferences using Tandberg 's TMS.
The ability to create an E.164 address for the playback is very feature allowing playback to be added to the schedule or for the remote site to dial it up.
The only drawback is that adding the E.164 number is a manual process, but I guess it would be difficult to automate that in any sensible way.

H.239 recordings work okay from the Tandberg, however although the presentation image can have its size defined, it appears the video content cannot. This is a problem as most of our systems have a 1024X768 resolution and hence the video take up most of the screen and you can only see the data by scrolling. Perhaps I am missing a config setting!

Also the H.239 dual screen content is displayed by a dynamic JPEG java applet, which has a slow refresh rate, this gives problems with slide transitions and effects and totally rules out dual video sources.

My 2p
Steven Jack
Videoconferencing Manager
University of Glasgow
Scotland

[Kevin]

.... however although the presentation image can have its size defined, it appears the video content cannot. This is a problem as most of our systems have a 1024X768 resolution and hence the video take up most of the screen and you can only see the data by scrolling. Perhaps I am missing a config setting!

Also the H.239 dual screen content is displayed by a dynamic JPEG java applet, which has a slow refresh rate, this gives problems with slide transitions and effects and totally rules out dual video sources.


Hi Steven

In "Settings -> H.239" change "Web viewing applet size" to someting smaller so it will all fit on one screen. You'll also be able to increase the "Web viewing applet bandwidth" to increase your refresh rate - I've seen it work very will with motion video.

Cheers
Kevin

[nordal]

Good to see some more product reviews!

[Lloyd Dowell]

I am a reseller in the UK. We are not authorised to sell Codian but i have a customer who wishes to purchase through me and no one else. I have asked Codian and they have been no help. does anyone know if Codian have any authorised distributors in the UK who could sell the solution to me and i can in turn sell to my Customer?

your help is appreciated,

[Toney]

What is the compatibility like with Codian MCUs with management & scheduling solutions? I'm specifically looking at the Polycom Readimanager SE200. Any integration stories with VC infrastructure would be welcome.
Thanks for the insightful review...

[tom9933]

I don’t know of any support in the SE200 but there is a company that makes some software specifically designed to work with the Codian products. Check out: http://www.facetoface.biz/

[abouton]

hello all,
very good information in here. I personally think that Codian know what they are doing and their products are from the bests on the market!

No I got a question that maybe one of you could answer... I was wondering how possible it is to add new layouts to the existing (and quite exhautive) list?
Thanks