So, have you seen the rumblings of using the SIP standard instead of H.323 in schools?
I ran into this during Read Around the Planet.
Some schools with TANDBERG installations on the east coast gave out their address to dial as an email address! This caused some confusion and trouble for Read Around the Planet this year. They didn’t seem to know that most schools with H.323 couldn’t dial it or didn’t know how to.
I don’t really understand all the technology – but I see the effect on educators trying to connect “advanced videoconferencing” with other schools who have “advanced videoconferencing” (i.e. Polycom, Lifesize, Cisco-TANDBERG, etc.).
These are the questions that are raised in my brain. What about for you?
- How does an old Viewstation connect to SIP?
- What has to be in place for H.323 to connect to SIP?
- Why is it that the school with the new TANDBERG HD installation couldn’t dial an IP address with the dial protocol on auto? They had to select H.323. That’s not very educator/user friendly. Most educators don’t know the difference between H.323 and SIP. I barely understand it!
- Why is it that this school with new TANDBERG HD equipment couldn’t call older Polycom systems during Read Around the Planet? I think it might have been Viewstations they were trying to dial. Shouldn’t H.323 be able to call any H.323?
- If a content provider buys a new system that uses SIP – who will advise them on how to connect to schools that can only dial out?
- Is Cisco-TANDBERG really pushing SIP now?
I am trying to understand the ramifications of this for programs such as Read Around the Planet, collaborations between schools through CAPspace, connections between schools and content providers around the world, etc.
What do you think? Any ideas? Please comment!
We’ve run into similar problems. I hope to find some answers at this year’s ISTE conference. In a related note, there was some recent discussion of Cisco Telepresence Systems on the megacon listserv. According to the thread it seems CTS do not currently support SIP or H.323 and native H.323 support may never happen. They mentioned the need for a TelePresence Interoperability Protocol (TIP) system for making these connections and that the Internet2 Commons will soon offer TIP service for a fee (http://commons.internet2.edu/). More discussion of interoperability here: https://blogs.internet2.edu/archives/82
BTW, I could not use copy/paste when I tried to comment on this post using my iPad. Doesn’t seem to work with whatever mobile theme you are using.
Jason – I’m sorry the copy/paste didn’t work. This blog is hosted at wordpress.com. I looked all through the settings to even find anything about the mobile theme and couldn’t find anything. So I don’t know what else I could do to help with that. I’m sorry!
Perhaps it isn’t as complicated as it seems….? Even so, having these extra steps/understandings doesn’t make implementing vc in the classroom any easier. If you figure it out, let the rest of us know!
[…] What’s Up with SIP? by Janine Lim | April 18, 2011 | Categories: Techie Stuff | URL: http://wp.me/pmtK-13a […]