Teleconference Collaboration

Written by Peter Buxbaum

MIT 2010 Volume: 14 Issue: 1 (February)

DISA Eyes Enhancing a Popular Room-Based
Video Teleconference Service by Combining It
With Desktop-Based Collaboration Tools.

The new program, which will be called Defense Collaboration Services, will be combining and enhancing the capabilities of DISN Video Services (DVS), a longstanding program that provides room-based teleconferencing, and Defense Connect Online (DCO), a more recent program launched in 2008. DCO provides lower-end desktop-based video together with other collaboration tools such as whiteboarding, instant messaging and chat.

“DVS is primarily a room-based service,” explained Tony Montemarano, DISA component acquisition executive. “DCO is a desktop service. We will be bringing those two together in one program in the future. We’ve listened to industry and to our customers in making the decision.

“There needs to be a more seamless solution,” he added. “The advantage is that you have the option of including people sitting in a conference room and others sitting at their desktops in the same teleconference. It makes the technology more ubiquitous, convenient and flexible.”

DISA is currently strategizing and evaluating what industry can offer to bring the two services together. “We’re honing the specifics of the acquisition,” said Montemarano. “We’re still working out how the technologies will interface with one another and with Department of Defense unique attributes,” such as the Common Access Card. “Right now we’re building the technical framework before we move forward with a request for proposals.”

CLASSIFIED USE

DVS had its genesis in the late 1990s, when AT&T Government Solutions was awarded a contract known as DVS-Global following a full and open competition. “DVS operates around 140 video teleconferences every day,” said Montemarano. “It has been used very heavily on the classified side since 9/11.”

DVS currently has 3,500 authorized users around the world, who teleconference from some 5,000 locations.

DCO was originally known as the “second button” of collaboration services offered by DISA. The agency first awarded a contract to IBM for a suite of collaboration tools known as E-collabcenter. Then, DISA awarded Carahsoft a prime contract to operate DCO, launched in 2008, as an alternative and competitive service to the original IBM offering.

Later DISA decided to “streamline to a single collaboration service,” said Jon Anderson, a DISA spokesperson. “We believe both E-collabcenter and Defense Connect Online have been successful in creating cultural change. However, the cause of collaboration was best served with a single service accessible to all DoD users and mission partners.”

The DCO offering comprises three components, Mike Murtha, the DCO technical program manager at Carahsoft, explained recently. “The DCO portal is the entry point where users are authenticated and chat rooms set up.”

Web conferencing is provided through Adobe Connect. “It is based on Flash technology and is easy to operate with no complicated setups or downloads,” said Murtha. Chat and instant messaging capabilities are provided by Jabber.

“DVS primarily supports TDM as well as ISDN video teleconferences,” said Montemarano. “At the secret level, it also supports IP video teleconferencing.”

Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) and time-division multiplexing (TDM) are both methodologies that allow the simultaneous digital transmission of voice, video, data and other network services over a public switched telephone network. IP facilitates communications over the Internet or Internet- like networks.

DISN Video Services is operated by AT&T Government Solutions on a worldwide basis through six video centers—three located in the continental United States and one each in Hawaii, Germany and Kuwait—that provide the bandwidth resources and switching services required for the video teleconferences.

The Kuwait location currently provides IP video teleconferencing services for classified communications. As a result of the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process, one of the CONUS centers will soon be relocated from Fort McPherson, Ga., to Columbus, Ohio, at which it point it will be equipped to supply IP, as well as TDM, services.

“The center in Columbus will provide classified and unclassified IP as well as TDM communications,” said Montemarano. “We’re taking the opportunity under BRAC to add some new equipment. It doesn’t cost that much more, and since many of our users are moving to IP solutions, this would make it easier for them.”

AT&T Government Solutions provides the actual video bridging. “We are responsible for the operation and maintenance of video bridging centers, which provide the necessary multi-point control units 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” said Tina Gorman, the DVS-G program manager at AT&T Government Solutions.

A multi-point control unit is the equipment used to bring two or more video teleconference locations together. “Two units that want to set up a video teleconference can’t do it themselves,” explained Montemarano. “They have to go through a central switch to nail up the conference. Those are done at the six locations we have around the world.”

The actual circuits over which the video teleconferences are conducted are provided by the government, while the rooms themselves and the equipment required for the teleconference are provided by the users themselves, DISA’s customers.

“The customer base of the DVS-G is primarily video teleconference rooms and dedicated mini-auditoriums that are distributed throughout the Department of Defense and are owned and operated by their users,” said Montemarano. “We provide certain equipment at the site, but the bulk of the equipment is provided by the site and owned by the site.”

IP TRANSITION

The move toward IP video teleconferences will provide several advantages, according to Bill Surrey, the operational lead for DVS at Apptis, which provides management services to the program. “IP provides higher speed and better sound and video quality with less pixelation. The biggest complaints we get today about DVS concern video quality.”

AT&T and DISA maintain interfaces that allow the agency to keep track of operational effectiveness and the provisioning process. “The interfaces are primarily personnel interfaces,” said Montemarano. “AT&T tracks all provisioning statistics, and we facilitate with a group of folks who also provide help to customers to get connected and to get scheduling for conferencing straight. It is as much a mechanical process as it is Zelectronic.

“One big thing in managing roombased video services involves the scheduling and reconciling processes,” Montemarano added. “This is necessary to ensure the availability of the appropriate level of network assets, which can be quite large.”

“The Web-based room reservation system is where users go out if they want to make a video call,” said Gorman. “Users indicate the date and time they want to make the call, and we use that information to make sure we have the right pieces of equipment in place.”

The reservation system and other management services for DVS are provided by Apptis. The Video Operations Center (VOC), managed by Apptis at the DISN Service Center Regional Network Operations and Security Center at Scott Air Force Base, Ill., represents the central nervous system of DVS. Providing the bridge between DVS’s worldwide subscribers and the VOC is the Web-based site registration and video teleconference scheduling system, known as DISN Video Services Web Site (DVS-WS), which was developed by Apptis.

“DVS-WS integrates site registration and video teleconference scheduling, as well as provides robust user access management,” said Surrey. “It provides a window into the business process, allowing users to track their conferences through various status conditions.”

The site also provides a range of reservation queries and reports. “DVS customers can quickly access site information and capabilities, and monitor site usages and trends,” said Surrey. “DVS-WS supports advanced scheduling. Any authorized user can check the system calendar, query for available times, and check for site conflicts.”

The Web scheduler replaced an earlier DVS scheduling system that used dial-up connectivity to a server by way of a modem. The Web scheduler represents an upgrade, allowing subscribers to access the system via the Internet.

The system grants teleconference participation and viewing privileges based on the level of access assigned to the individual subscriber. “Primarily this affects which conferences you can view and update as well as which conferences are displayed on reservation reports,” said Surrey.

Apptis also operates the DVS Operations Center, which centralizes the scheduling of video teleconferences for DVS subscribers. The DVS-OC, which was established in 2002, is in operation at all times to assist DVS subscribers with reservations, trouble management and problem resolutions. DVS-OC provides DVS users access to reservations and help via telephone, fax, and e-mail, in addition to the automated services provided at the DVS-WS.

“We monitor requests for teleconferences,” said Surrey. “At 3 p.m. each day we send a report to AT&T on the next day’s teleconferences, and they assign the proper resources to them. Sometimes they run out of resources, so the job of the night shift at the DVS-OC is to fix those issues and to work on resolving denials. The DVS-OC basically operates like a help desk.”

Fixes to resource problems will sometimes involve recruiting additional commercial digital switching capacity for a video teleconference or rescheduling the conference to a different room. The latter tactic often works for video teleconference participants at the Pentagon, which has multiple video teleconferencing sites. DVS-OC personnel also assist DVS customers in making conference reservations on the Web scheduler and provide DVS reservation service, assistance, and conflict resolution.

UPCOMING COMPETITION

The DVS-G contract will terminate at the end of 2010, while the DCO contract ends in October 2011. Montemarano envisions a full and open competition for the Defense Collaboration Services (DCS) program that will replace the two.

“The contract will include provision of both room-based and PC-based video,” said Montemarano, “together with PCbased chat and whiteboarding. Right now we are evaluating what industry has to offer and are establishing our own technical framework so the solicitation will be easy to respond to.”

Montemarano expects a draft RFP for DCS to be issued late in fiscal year 2010 and for the service to be initiated a year later.

“I suspect AT&T Government Solutions will be bidding on [DCS],” said Gorman. “We intend to continue to partner with DISA well into the future.” ♦

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