Videoconferencing Out on a Lim

It seems like this is the third year in a row that sometime in March we have really weird H.261/263/264 dialing conflicts. We upgrade software, and all of a sudden bridges are crashing, sites just ring & ring and won’t negotiate, and one site can take down the whole conference. Is it just me or is this happening to you too?

When you do a lot of connections with multiple vendors’ units involved in the call, once in a while you get caught in between upgrades. The upgrade of one vendor breaks the connections with another vendor and they haven’t fixed it in their latest version yet. Has this happened to you?

It seems like it’s never a good idea to upgrade anything in the middle of the school year. However, sometimes we want to upgrade to fix a problem. It seems like a no-win situation.

That’s my rant for today! Do you have any words of wisdom? Please comment!

It’s been quiet here because I’m living RAP matching night and day at the moment. But…. check this out!

Wainhouse Research has just reviewed Polycom’s new Lost Packet Recovery capability that’s included in the new HDX units. It’s propietary right now, but Polycom is pushing the industry to accept this as a standard. It sure would be helpful in some of my districts!! I hope it comes out soon on the VSX 7000s!

Here’s an interesting new tool. Polycom has a blog for their Grant Assistance Program. It includes links to webinars for various videoconferencing sectors and finding funding in that area; upcoming grant deadlines; and links to grant sites. There are only a couple of posts since they just started, but already they have two podcasts posted! Check it out & subscribe!