Video Callers Unite!
I have been socializing with many friends on the topic of where we stand with video these days.
First of all, I think the Internet has proven itself to be capable of delivering quality video on demand. My wife watches Netflix on TV. The kids do Hulu: Everyone’s content.
I also have participated in Telepresence and Skype Video calls that have been extraordinarily crisp and clear.
So it was no wonder that Apple gave the all clear that video was allowed and bought the name Facetime.
Now I have my kids asking about Facetime, the community asking Apple about SIP and me wondering who is going to bridge the gaps.
I think we need to unite on the common thread of delivering video calls between carriers and to conferencing systems.
This is harder than it sounds for two reasons.
1. You never know what’s ahead of you. While VoIP has solved much of its NAT / Firewall issues, or at least become tolerated enough to not have to seek port 80, the video world still has not become accepted as desired traffic. A heavy payload ofUDP aimed at corporate firewall looks like barbarians at the gate and very few companies are looking to change that.
2. The pricing models do not make any sense currently. If you make a stream voice or video over the net it’s free, if you make a call it costs. That is legacy but logical. Now you try to figure out what to charge for video calls and some folks see them as more value that voice, others see them as free, and too many of them see a video conference bridge as a cash cow that has never given them enough milk.
3. What we need is some common sense about what to do when a person to person video call goes across to carriers and what to do when a number of users want to be connected to a video bridge.
These worlds are not exactly on the same page but they should be. The drivers for the marketplace are heating up as H.264 keeps expanding in use and scope these scenarios have to be navigated. I would like to see this done and would be willing to hold a conference call about it.
If you would like to participate please contact me. Carl@4GWE.com
