Equant releases new IP video conferencing product

Equant has unveiled a new video over IP VPN solution that creates a dedicated IP class of service for video conferencing applications. Equant officials said the platform allows real-time point-to-point video over the same IP connection as voice and data traffic without the interference caused by jitter, packet loss and latency.

Equant’s technology creates five classes of service for its VPN products, each designated priorities throughout the network. Data operates on three separate classes with voice and video each running in separate classes, said Michael Burrell, senior product manager for convergence solutions.

When video conferencing is in use, a significant portion of the VPN’s resources are designated to the conference, while data resources are constricted, giving highest priority to critical applications. When conferencing is not in use, the video resources are redistributed among the data classes, Burrell said.

The platform is the first that treats video as a separate entity, Burrell said. Previous IP video solutions lumped video in with data. And while those solutions may have given video high priority, video faces different problems in the network. Issues of jitter and packet loss are critical in conferencing and must be treated separately from other data applications, Burrell said.

The new platform is the first of five new video conferencing products Equant plans to release this year. Burrell said Equant plans to support ISDN to IP conferencing as well as conferencing between multiple locations. Ten customers are in the process of implementing the new platform, said Equant.