Server based Video Conferencing Solution?

[dfeig]

I recently got a dedicated server on the Internet. I am hoping to use this to host video conferencing between me and my clients (I do oursourced software development from Latin America.)

I know there is a lot of software out there that allows for peer to peer conferencing but, due to firewalls and NAT I think that is not really the level of simplicity I need to convince a client to try it.

Since video conferencing has been around so long I expected I would be able to find a free solution. (I am on a very tight budget.) I can't seem to find anything!

I would really appreciate any suggestions.

[tom9933]

I would look into using one of the various free IM clients. The video quality is not what we typically consider business grade but for free its not bad. I personally like MSN but I’m told that Yahoo is also quite good. Another one to use is Skype and then add in the third party video support. I’ve used Skype on the audio side with great success but have not done much with the third party video packages.
Good Luck,

[dfeig]

I would look into using one of the various free IM clients. The video quality is not what we typically consider business grade but for free its not bad. I personally like MSN but I’m told that Yahoo is also quite good. Another one to use is Skype and then add in the third party video support. I’ve used Skype on the audio side with great success but have not done much with the third party video packages.
Good Luck,

Tom, thanks for the advice. I am aware of these solutions, I was just hoping that I could increase the video quality and simplify the configuration/installation by providing some kind of a proxy/reflector on the server. That way, users won't need to worry about firewall holes for incoming UDP traffic or incoming TCP connections. Also, there wouldn't be any problems with NAT traversal requiring port mapping.

Do you know of any solutions that would work for this? Since my server is on the Internet, it could easily proxy connections from both sides of the conference. Since it has a 10Mbps Internet connection, bandwidth isn't an issue.

[jahlberg]

Maybe check out http://www.openh323.org/. Also Microsoft has a something is supposed to work with Exchange Server.

I've never used it but I'm sure at some piont an open source server will be available.

What video unit are you using? Maybe just add the multipoint to it.

[doctor]

if you want a clear audio you may use Skype , or google talk , its a lot better than YM , but for the video conference , i guess MSN video conference is the best .. even the MSN messenger is a lot better when it comes to video con against YM video con ...

[Harvell]

I've been able to lab and setup gnugk (linux server based gatekeeper/Proxy) I'm really considering using this solely for our enterprise however I've not been able to set this up as a proxy yet. However that would be the way to go for free. Check out http://www.gnugk.org

They do have a version for windows.

You would need a dual nic setup for this to work though. If you want to work with this I'll be more that happy to forward you a config example on how it would work....

[vikramsharma]

I've been able to lab and setup gnugk (linux server based gatekeeper/Proxy) I'm really considering using this solely for our enterprise however I've not been able to set this up as a proxy yet. However that would be the way to go for free. Check out http://www.gnugk.org

They do have a version for windows.

You would need a dual nic setup for this to work though. If you want to work with this I'll be more that happy to forward you a config example on how it would work....

Hi, I want to setup a gnugk server at my office but am new to this. I am searching for some tutorials also. A sample config would be very helpful for me, thanks in advance.

[Burt.Kloppers]

Hi Dfeig,

If you would like to explore a software based video conferencing system I suggest that you look at the software package Alicestreet.com

It is brilliant, I have worked with it, it is not standard based but download the demo and see how it will work.

Burt

[TommyM]

Hi Dfeig,

Although you mentioned you know Skype technology I am not sure if you know that Skype recently anounced 100 person internet conferencing?

https://skypecasts.skype.com/skypecasts/home

Perhaps this is now more useful to your requirements?

[outlooker]

Maybe Microsoft conference XP 4.0 could help, it is free and especially right for developer.
http://research.microsoft.com/conferencexp/