3Com Corporation and AG Communication Systems have announced that the two companies have established a joint marketing initiative to deliver flexible and economical high-quality video conferencing and data services over asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) metropolitan and wide area networks (WANs).
The two companies have already successfully deployed distance learning networks at Shenandoah Telephone Company (Virginia) and Washington Township Public Schools (New Jersey), as well as a high-performance network at University Hospital (Colorado).
The companies will jointly market their respective products to bring focus to the advantages of deploying video over ATM. AG Communication Systems` ATIUM VIA 188 transfers MPEG-2 video from standard sources over ATM, explains 3Com SA`s pre sales manager, Paul Ruinaard.
"Its ATIUM Time and ATIUM View software make conference scheduling and management simple through a user-friendly browser or graphical interface," he says. "3Com`s ATM high-function switches and WAN access switches support the wide range of applications and features critical to ATM networks."
The ATIUM VIA 188 interoperates with 3Com`s products for multipoint broadcasts, enabling powerful room-based video networks for distance learning, remote arraignment, telemedicine and corporate conferencing applications.
"Together, AG Communication Systems and 3Com bring great value to our current customers and potential new customers for powerful video networking and ATM capabilities," said Mark Emery, vice president and general manager of AG Communication Systems` New Ventures Group. "This relationship will accelerate the application of new technology and drive customer successes in both campus and WAN environments."
"Together, our companies can harness the power of ATM to provide high-quality video efficiently over heterogeneous, cost-effective, multi-purpose ATM networks instead of over more costly, stand-alone, dedicated video broadcast networks," says Richard Forberg, 3Com`s director for ATM LAN/MAN Solutions. "We`ll work together to bring these next-generation interactive video capabilities to targeted domestic and international markets, such as education, military, business and service providers. The relationship will also allow us to explore synergies with common partners and resellers."
Current Joint Customer Deployments
In the northern Virginia region outside of Washington, D.C., AG Communication Systems and 3Com have connected three local high schools with Lord Fairfax Community College in a distance learning network. Shenandoah Telephone Company provides the ATM infrastructure to link six ATIUM VIA 188s through a 3Com CoreBuilder 7000 high-function switch. The distance learning network has been in use since 1996.
"We`re a small, rural telecommunications company that`s providing state-of-the-art technology to our customers," says David Ferguson, vice president of customer service at Shenandoah Telephone Company. "Our distance learning partnership using AG Communication Systems and 3Com technology prevents a school`s staff resources from being a limiting factor in our children`s education."
In the Delaware Valley of southern New Jersey, AG Communication Systems and 3Com have linked 12 schools in a distance learning network in Washington Township. Fourteen VIA 188s are connected through CoreBuilder 7000 ATM switches, providing distance education classes since the fall of 1997.
"The AG Communication and 3Com solution provide our schools with an opportunity to deliver curricula to many classrooms simultaneously, thus improving the efficiency and effectiveness of education," says James Dubois, director of technology for Washington Township Public Schools. "Moreover, it ensures consistency in the delivery of the curricular material by one instructor."
In February 1998, 3Com completed installation of a powerful enterprise network at Denver`s University Hospital based on 65 CoreBuilder7000 ATM switches. ATM data and video connectivity is extended between its existing campus and its new Fitzsimons site seven miles away using 3Com`s PathBuilder WAN access switches. Currently, two VIA 188s link the separate locations for telemedicine applications, including remote consultation and medical training.
Efficient, Scalable, High-Quality Video
With the VIA 188, end users benefit from a solution that transfers both video and data with downstream LAN/WAN connectivity in a unit about the size of a home video cassette recorder. The VIA 188 works with off-the-shelf video equipment and monitors and offers point-to-point and point-to-multipoint connectivity for operational and economic efficiency. And because the VIA 188 supports multiple MPEG-2 decoders, fewer units are needed for video conferencing networks.
The VIA 188 allows users add/drop capability, so they can send multiple-encoded ATM MPEG-2 streams over one OC-3 or DS-3 facility to an ATM switch or inverse multiplexer, saving on ATM facilities and switch port costs, explains 3Com`s Ruinaard.
"In conjunction with the VIA 188, AG Communication Systems provides additional value to its customers with its ATIUM Time and ATIUM View software products," he says. "With ATIUM Time, users program the times and locations of videoconferences through a user-friendly graphical interface that utilizes and manages SVC ATM video connections."
The ATIUM Time management system also provides conference usage and diagnostic data. "The ATIUM View element manager provides in-band ATM control of the VIA 188," Ruinaard adds. "With a GUI interface for network, VIA and card-level views, it also provides channel status, channel rates and performance history."
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