video over ip and mpls

quality of service (QoS)

Sending and receiving video and audio signals successfully over an IP network has been possible for many years - when using a dedicated circuit. But mixing real-time, streaming data with normal network data traffic has been and remains difficult due to the lack of a standardised quality-of-service (QoS) mechanism in the IP specification (IP was never designed to carry video).

When streaming media is mixed with bursty data traffic, the streamed packets can be delayed by varying time periods, delivered out of sequence or even lost all together.  None of this is a problem for normal data but for streaming media packets, it causes video freezing, picture blocking effects and audio drop-out and, even at moderate severity, quickly renders a videoconference unusable.

In the local area network (LAN), sufficient bandwidth is usually available to mitigate against these effects and a small amount of cross-network videoconferencing is usually possible.  However, by their nature, most video calls are long-distance and it's in the bandwidth-limited wide area network (WAN) where the most serious problems occur.

The consequence of these QoS issues has been that most videoconferencing is still carried over circuit-switched ISDN networks.  

ISDN has delivered good service over the years and, at least within national boundaries, it has been reliable enough for most business use.  However, reasonable quality video needs at least four and, preferably, six ISDN bearer channels to be aggregated together to provide sufficient bandwidth and that means connecting up to six separate phone calls and keeping those calls connected for the duration of the meeting.  This can prove very difficult particularly over national boundaries and at peak voice traffic periods (e.g. transatlantic calls in the US East Coast morning).

ISDN is also expensive.  A 90 minute meeting each week from the UK to the USA could cost over $70,000 per year at BT's standard rates.  Small wonder then that many organisations that have proven the strong business case for videoconferencing are looking for a better deal on both cost and reliability.  

Fortunately, there is now a way to achieve both.

high QoS private digital network

Videoconferencing first developed in the USA over private digital circuits dedicated to video use.  But to implement a private IP network dedicated to video outside the US and/or internationally has been, up till now, so expensive as to be unthinkable for all but the wealthiest of organisations.

MPLS (multi-protocol label switching)

A new WAN technology called MPLS has changed that calculation fundamenatally by allowing an IP network to carry many different types of data without compromising the QoS of the video traffic.  It has also allowed large data pipes to be split securely between customers who do not need the whole data space significantly lowering the cost of carrying their traffic.

what are the benefits of a video-over-MPLS private IP network?

Two offices - one in New York, USA and one in London, UK

Usage example: three video calls per week at an average of 60 minutes each

Bandwidth: 384kbps (6 x ISDN channels)

* BT published ISDN call rates at Aug 2009

Intermedia can help you decide if a private IP/MPLS network is the right solution for your organisation.

And even if ISDN remains your best option, we can show you how, again using an MPLS network, ISDN videoconferencing can be made much more reliable and up to 50% cheaper.

Contact us to learn more

videoconferencing ¦ video streaming ¦ video over ip ¦ video over MPLS ¦ VoIP Skype Conferencing

Skype Speakerphone ¦ video capture ¦ web conferencing ¦ videoconferencing training & consultancy ¦ telehealth

home ¦ about us ¦ contact us ¦ terms & Conditions  ¦ privacy