Conferencing at CERN

Thomas Baron4th June 2012

CERN Environment

» 20 member states» 2300 staff people in 10 departments» >10000 users on site

˃ 608 universities and 113 nationalities

» 2 sites CH/F + satellites around the accelerator ring˃ 257 physical meeting rooms

» Big scientific collaborations: ATLAS, CMS, ALICE, LHCb˃ 1000s of collaborators from hundreds of institutes.

CERN Environment

» Huge need for remote conferencing» Specific services

˃ Room Videoconferencing˃ Desktop Videoconferencing˃ Audioconference˃ Live Webcast˃ Lecture/Meeting recordings˃ Software: Indico

» Newly created conference Room service

CERN Environment

Room Videoconferencing

» Since about 10 years» Currently 65 equipped rooms» Industry-standard equipment: H323/SIP

compatible» Standardisation

˃ Common interfaces everywhere˃ Reliability˃ Tandberg/Cisco devices

» Central management˃ TMS

Desktop Videoconferencing

» Vidyo system˃ Recently acquired and deployed (3Q2011)

» Capacity˃ 20.000 users˃ 1000 simultaneous connections

» Multiplatform» Accessible from VC Rooms, desktops, phones,

tablets

Webcast

» Complementary to the VC˃ Powerful and cost effective alternative to VC for large audiences and

one-way addresses

» Higher capacity˃ 7000 internally˃ Reached up to 700.000 users for major CERN media events

» 12 rooms equipped (the biggest!)» Relative importance of slides and videos

˃ Specific display format

» Remote operation and monitoring

Recording

» Based on same technical setup as webcast» Long-term archival of important events» Specific display format

˃ https://cdsweb.cern.ch/record/1451544?ln=en

» Remote operation and monitoring

Indico: Conferencing Software

» Indico: Integrated Digital Conference» Data repository:

˃ Long term archival of events related material (slides, minutes etc…)

» Event organisation web application» Live event support tool» Hub for CERN collaboration services» Stats:

˃ 180k events˃ 770k talks˃ 1M files˃ ~10.000 visitors per day

Indico: Features

Indico: Features

» Helper for event organiser˃ Creation of agenda˃ Upload of meeting files˃ Participants registration + payment˃ Badges, posters etc.

» Full protection scheme» Booking of conferencing resources/services

˃ Physical room booking˃ Videoconference booking˃ Webcast/Recording booking˃ Starting room VC sessions˃ Requesting local support in major rooms

Conference Rooms

FP

IT

DG

TE

GS

EN

BE

HR

PH

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 903

2

12

11

13

14

21

16

24

48

0

5

2

3

5

6

4

7

14

25

0

0

1

1

1

4

1

3

1

10

Small Medium Large

Conference Rooms

» Before 2011˃ Each department managed their rooms˃ Non-standard equipment˃ Often no available support or technical contact

» IT created a dedicated service in 4Q2012˃ Standardising equipment˃ Installation and Maintenance˃ On-site support

» Resources˃ 1 service manager˃ Outsourced team of 5

Conference Rooms

» Strategy˃ Same setup/equipment everywhere˃ Remote monitoring and operation˃ Preventive maintenance (lamp change, battery replacement, regular

visits, managed PC)˃ Backed-up with an EAM tool: InforEAM˃ Integrated Incident management

Conference Rooms

» Equipment˃ Network everywhere!

+ Easy for some: projectors, room permanent PCs, VC devices+ Less for others: electrical screens, lights, switches etc.+ Solution: opt for local control system which themselves are

networked (Extron, Crestron…)˃ Tracking and stock management: InforEAM

» Maintenance˃ Preventive (weekly tour of rooms)˃ Corrective (through the intermediate CERN Service portal)˃ Improvements˃ All tickets in InforEAM

Conference Rooms

» Monitoring and remote operation˃ Each equipment category has its own monitoring tool

+ VC devices: TMS (Tandberg Management Suite)+ Projectors: EPSON EasyMP Monitor+ PCs: CMF (CERN PC management suite)

˃ Need to build various control interfaces+ Operation: For managers (web), supporters (tablets), users (touch

screens in rooms)+ Operation: On-Air signs in auditoria

˃ Easier to centralise all network monitoring and operation through a dedicated middleware

+ MASTRO

Conference Rooms

» MASTRO (CERN Room Status Manager)˃ Centralises all the knowledge needed to

+ query status data from devices+ control devices

˃ Extensible+ Plug-in system to adapt to new devices network protocols

˃ Middleware to end-user monitoring and control interfaces

» Dashboards˃ For managers and customers˃ Centralise all monitoring data and service KPIs

Conference Rooms

» Public Information˃ Data extracted from Indico DB˃ Uses the Scala digital signage software

Conference Rooms

» Future˃ Complete the user interface optimisation programme˃ Add more «intelligence»?

+ All the technical pieces are there (easy remote control, centralised data management)

+ Better say automated «proactivity»?– Connect rooms to VC sessions automatically– Start webcast and recording automatically

+ Danger: Planned timings are not always respected+ Improving room locks (e-locks)