Mconf: An Open Source MulticonferenceSystem for Web and Mobile DevicesValter Roesler, Felipe Cecagno,Leonardo Crauss Daronco and Fred Dixon

Summary of paper

Presented by Kasandra IsaacSANReN

4 groups of Video conference Systems1. Room: Hardware, eg. Polycom, Tandberg, Lifesize, Radvision

2. Telepresence: Cisco telepresence

3. Desktop: Installs and launches system on computer eg. Vidyo, Vsee, Zoom, Blue Jeans,EVO, Skype

4. Web: Run within a browser: Adobe Connect, big blue button, Mconf

What is Mconf?An open source Multiconference

System for Web and Mobile Devices Education, Remote meetings,

Broadcasting eventsBased on Big Blue ButtonOpen source web conferencing

system for distance educationClient runs with Adobe Flash PlayerRoles of viewer or moderator

Mconf as an Alternative to commercial web conferencing

Project undertaken by Brazilian NREN, RNP

Open sourceCompares well with Adobe

connect use and features

Mconf features (already tested by SANReN)

Real-time communication with audio and video.

Screen and presentation sharing, chat, and shared notes during the session.

A web portal developed specifically to make it easy to start and participate in web conferences.

Works in all modern web browsers (Chrome, FireFox, Internet Explorer) and operating systems (Windows, Mac, Linux).

Mconf features (Still to be tested by SANReN)Recording ServerIntegrated with highly adopted web

applications such as Moodle; and with an API that makes it possible to integrate it with any other web application.

Scalable (grow on demand) and monitoredMobile client compatible with Android and

iOS. All components are highly customizable (make them look exactly like you want them to) and can be integrated with existent solutions.

Federated Identity integration

Difference between Mconf and BigBlueButtonMconf is composed of four main entities: 1. a web portal that provides access to web conferences, shared

documents, spaces and more 2. a load balancer that allows the system to scale to thousands of

users 3. a web conference system powered by BigBlueButton ™ 4. a mobile web conference client. It is developed in the research

group PRAV at UFRGS (Brazil), and funded by RNP.

Uses 3 Servers: Mconf Web – Mconf’s web portal Mconf Live - Mconf's web conference solution, powered by

BigBlueButton Mconf Recording

Since BigBlueButton is open source, the Mconf team has the option to improve the code and contribute those improvements back to the BBB team.

Example of BBB web conference

Mconf project

Mconf add-ons to BigBlueButton Improved web portal (Mconf-Web) allows for user room and community rooms

Provides creation of virtual rooms, discussion forums, and event scheduling.

Android client, which is compatible to both BBB and Mconf-Web. The Android client allows web conference managing and fully participation through mobile devices.

Possibility of federated service and scalability: Mconf-Web has recently been integrated with a Shibboleth23 module, providing federated login in the website. Shibboleth is a middleware architecture that allows users of different security domains to employ their security information to access a federated service.

Related to scalability, one BigBlueButton server is designed to support about 25 simultaneous users with video and audio, so, a scalability strategy must take place to increase the service capacity. Mconf Live Server, replaces BigBlueButton server for scalability to form part of the Global Mconf Network.

The solution being developed by Mconf includes a monitor module on BigBlueButton that generates statistics like CPU, memory and network, that are collected by the web portal.

When there is a new room to be created, the web portal decides which server is more suitable to the target users, based on statistics plus geographic location and delay.

Scalability is especially important if the service is to be offered as a centralised service from the NREN.

Integration with Moodle (To be tested)

Mconf Web portal: http://mconf.c4.csir.co.za/

Allowed rooms and permissionsThe permissions inside a web conference will depend on several factors, but mostly onthese:Who is the user?Is it a user room or a community

room?Is the room public or private?

Current Mconf installation is for trial purposesAssessment of productAssessment of user experienceExperiment and provide feedbackWalk through with screenshots…

To be tested

Lock speak/Push to talk functions

Idea is to be able use your mobile phone as a remote to conduct conference

Main future developments promised by MconfTo create an HTML5 client, in order to have

web conference in other mobile platforms such as iOS and Windows Phone;

To simplify the web portal, allowing the user to know who is available in each community and create easily a web conference with them;

To allow interaction with room systems like Polycom, using H.323 or SIP.

Further infoFor testinghttps://mconf.c4.csir.co.zahttps://mconf.orgFor documentshttps://

mconf.c4.csir.co.za/spaces/mconf-web-conferencing-meeting/attachments

http://dev.mconf.org/redmineFor videoshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHTZvbL1NT4&feature=youtu.behttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LS2lttmPi6A&feature=youtu.be

Questions

Next steps

Thank you for attending