university of alaska fairbanks...video conferencing services is a statewide department that provides...

DRAFT 1

UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA FAIRBANKS

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

RFI NO. 000000000

Video Conferencing System Refresh

MAIL OR DELIVER INFORMATION TO: INFORMATION SHALL BE SUBMITTED NO LATER

THAN:

University of Alaska Fairbanks February 23, 2004

Purchasing Department 5:00 P.M., Alaska Standard Time

Administrative Services Center, Rm. 103

3295 College Rd

PO Box 757940

Fairbanks, Alaska 99775-7940

NOTICE TO OFFERORS - SINGLE POINT OF CONTACT FOR RFI INQUIRIES:

John A. Hebard Mailing Address

Senior Contracting Officer

University of Alaska Fairbanks

Phone: (907) 474-6831 Purchasing Department

Admin. Services Ctr., Rm 103

FAX: (907) 474-7720 3295 College Rd

PO Box 757940

Email: [email protected] Fairbanks, Alaska 99775-7940

mailto:[email protected]

DRAFT 2

The person designated above in this notice shall be the only contact for any or all inquiries regarding any aspect of

this RFI or its requirements. An electronic copy of this document may be found at

www.uaf.edu/purch/solicitations.html

The University of Alaska shall not award a contract on the basis of this solicitation or otherwise pay for the

information solicited. This solicitation is issued for the purpose of obtaining information pertaining to design

and installation of a ALOS data production system for the Americas ALOS Data Node (AADN), which may be used

to prepare a formal solicitation at a later date.

ISSUE DATE: January 23, 2004

John A. Hebard, C.P.M.

Senior Contracting Officer

VC Refresh RFI 000000000

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DRAFT 3

TABLE OF CONTENTS

GENERAL INFORMATION AND DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECT ..................................................................... 4

PROBLEM STATEMENT ....................................................................................................................................... 4

PROPOSED FUTURE STATE .................................................................................................................................. 4

PROJECT CONSIDERATIONS AND SCHEDULE ............................................................................................................. 5

VIDEO CONFERENCING SERVICES .......................................................................................................................... 6

CURRENT VIDEO CONFERENCING INFRASTRUCTURE .................................................................................................. 6

PREFERRED APPROACH .............................................................................................................................. 12

NATURE OF SERVICE REQUIRED ................................................................................................................. 15

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION RESPONSE FORMAT .................................................................................... 15

TOPICS TO BE INCLUDED IN THE NARRATIVE .............................................................................................. 16

EXPERIENCE ................................................................................................................................................... 16

PERFORMANCE ............................................................................................................................................... 16

DESIGN ........................................................................................................................................................ 16

MAINTENANCE ............................................................................................................................................... 17

GENERAL ...................................................................................................................................................... 17

SCHEDULE & BUDGET ...................................................................................................................................... 18

SUBMITTAL INFORMATION ........................................................................................................................ 18


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General Information and Description of the Project

Problem Statement

OIT Video Conferencing Services (VCS) is in need of an upgrade to university's video

conferencing platform, including infrastructure. The current infrastructure is out of date

and no longer being manufactured. End-of-support dates for the equipment start as early

as June 2018. A new video conferencing solution is needed in order to stay current with

industry trends and accommodate the increasing need for video conferencing at the

University of Alaska. Below are the specific problems the Video Conferencing Refresh is

trying to solve:

The current VCS infrastructure provides a limited number of available ports (120) for video

conferencing from endpoints and devices, recordings, and livestreams. UA is close to the

maximum capacity of ports to provide the number of video conferences requested.

Service support for Standard Definition (SD) bridges expires September of 2018. Service

Support for High definition (HD) bridges expires July 2020. OIT-VCS will be unable to

secure vendor or manufacturer support. This is a liability for UA because there will be no

guarantee that UA will be able to provide video conferencing if the infrastructure breaks.

VCS pays about $183k annually for H.323 conferencing (the ability to send voice and video

based on an IP address) and Sip conferencing (which is not dependent on having a

consistent IP address). VCS would like to find a lower cost solution through vendor

consolidation.

VCS primarily makes use of H.323, described above, however they would like to move

towards industry trends, which is the sole use of Sip conferencing. Sip conferencing is

easier to support, both technically and operationally.

1. University of Alaska (UA) users are unable to schedule video conferences

independently, unless a Google Hangout, or an unsupported solution, is used.

Google Hangouts are unable to be recorded and Google Hangouts are incompatible

with the H.323 endpoints limiting who users are able to connect with.

2. Every conference, whether administrative or academic in nature, has to be pre-

scheduled by VCS or an approved distributed tech. During the academic year this

averages nearly 40 conferences per day. This means that UA users are unable to

schedule their own ad hoc conferences, therefore monopolizing VCS resources

which could be spent improving provision of the service, such as perfecting room

builds.

Proposed Future State


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A suitable system would incorporate the following attributes:

1. A flexible port model to accommodate the growing need for video conferencing.

Ability to add ports with no-notice as demand dictates. Ability to scale on demand

and for short bursts. Alerts, notifications and analysis to know when we are

exceeding or bumping up against port limits. This model will be able to increase

port limits with little notice. This aligns VCS infrastructure with current market

trends.

2. The need to refresh expensive infrastructure, such as conferencing bridges, is

significantly reduced or eliminated. This could be achieved through a cloud

solution or an on premise solution, as long as the cost model avoids the need for

frequent upgrades.

3. Consolidate licensing and cost model which will reduce the cost to the university

customers and the cost to maintain videoconference equipment. UA will have one

license to pay for annually, ideally at a lower rate, and VCS will be able to pass this

savings off onto their customers.

4. A solution which moves primarily towards SIP conferencing technology. SIP

conferencing allows Uniform Resource Identifiers (URI), rather than an Internet

Protocol (IP) based conferencing system, allowing for easier connections on any

mobile device.

5. UA users throughout the system will be able to independently conduct both

scheduled and ad hoc meetings, both administrative and academic in nature. While

enhancing distance delivery of classes and presentations.

6. With scheduling and administrative functions reduced, VCS resources will be better

utilized by being directed towards room builds, operation support and service

improvements.

7. A device and endpoint agnostic framework which supports the next generation of

VCS users with better integration of mobile devices and a variety of platforms.

Increase support for mobile devices and a broader range of desktop clients.

8. Expanded integration with other conference systems through adoption of SIP

protocol

9. Integration or hybrid solution to bridge the two worlds together while we

transition to a new solution. With so many end points there will be a need to exist

in both worlds while end points are phased out and new one brought online

10. System will provide for capacity planning, reporting and usage analysis and

statistics.

11. Recordings must be stored, archived, retrieved in accordance with UA’s retention

policy.

Project Considerations and Schedule


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DRAFT 6

As a “cloud first” organization, OIT looks to reduce its reliance on locally hosted solutions to help moderate and reduce long term costs. To that effect, OIT would like to minimize the physical infrastructure footprint. This reduces the burden of costly cyclical hardware refreshes and maintenance contracts. This further eases the strain on shrinking personnel staffs. The current hardware is approaching the end-of-support date. Some dates, as early as Jun 2018. With that in mind, the university would like to have a new solution in place prior to the start of fall semester, August 2018.

Interested parties may make arrangements to discuss this request with VCS prior to the

deadline to gain more detailed understanding of VCS operations, infrastructure and

processes.

Upon review of the responses submitted to this request, VCS may:

Issue a Request For Proposal (RFP); or

Determine that such enhancements can be best addressed through other

procurement means.

Video Conferencing Services

Video Conferencing Services is a statewide department that provides service to the

university’s three main campuses and 13 community campuses. VCS supports over 300

h.323 endpoints across the system, as well as recordings, web streams, and WebRTC

applications for users to join via portable device. VCS schedules, monitors, and

troubleshoots on average 40 conferences a day across all campuses. VCS is also available

for equipment consultation and room installations from small conferencing rooms to large

auditoriums.

Current Video Conferencing Infrastructure

The following diagrams provide an overview of the myriad of video conference

configurations supported by the current infrastructure:


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DRAFT 7

FIGURE 1

Figure 1 depicts a typical scenario which may be used for both academic courses and

administrative meetings. There are 4 Cisco gatekeepers (one for each main campus and

one for redundancy) that manage the H.323 traffic. Many of our academic and

administrative conferences connect multiple endpoints through the bridges. These

endpoints are installed in conference rooms and classrooms alike. Each conference is

booked on TMS by a VCS technician prior to the conference. Participants only need to

arrive to the room and unmute the mic to participate. Participants do not initiate any

calls; that is done for them by the VCS technician.


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DRAFT 8

FIGURE 2

Figure 2 is similar to the previous example. This diagram adds an audio conferencing line

to the standard conference. Using a PRI line connected to a Codian ISDN Gateway, we are

able to set up a dial string to the 800 number of our outsourced audio conferencing

provider (Two Rivers) to the bridged conference. We then add the gateway to the

conference as a non-video participant. VCS enters the moderator code for the connection.


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DRAFT 9

FIGURE 3

Figure 3 adds recording to the standard conference. There are 2 options available to

record a conference. In the drawing above, we connect 2 Tandberg/Cisco content servers

to our instance of Telepresence Management Suite (TMS) and add the recorder to the

conference as a passive participant to the bridged conference. This will record all of the

participants in the conference and have a separate content channel. The recordings are

kept on our NAS storage.

The other way for us to record a conference is to connect a Pexip WebRTC virtual meeting

room to the bridged conference and connect an RTMP link as a participant in the Pexip

room that sends it to our instance of Kaltura.


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FIGURE 4

In figure 4, H.323 codecs in classrooms/conference rooms connect to the conference

through the bridge and also connect to our instance of Pexip to a virtual meeting room.

Desktop/Tablet/Smartphone users are then able to call into the virtual meeting room to

be connected to the rest of the conference. If there is a Pexip participant from outside the

UA network, that is not a problem since Pexip has a public facing IP to connect the virtual

meeting room.


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DRAFT 11

FIGURE 5

Figure 5 includes the capability to include participants from outside the UA network. In

order for a video conferencing unit outside of the UA network to connect, the external IP

is dialed to by our bridge as it has a public facing IP. If the outside endpoint is behind a

firewall, they are able to dial our bridge IP address and placed in an auto-attendant, then

placed in the correct conference.


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DRAFT 12

FIGURE 6

Figure 6 combines all of the previous options into one conference.

Preferred Approach

In order to determine current trends in the marketplace and identify relevant features and

capabilities, the first objective should be a solicitation of information through the issue of

a Request for Information (RFI) by the Contracting and Procurement Office.

Based on results of the RFI, Video Conferencing Services will work with select end users

and other stakeholders to determine the best approach, define the scope, develop a

comprehensive list of requirements which will be used during the Request for Purchase

(RFP) process.

A Solicitation of bids, via the RFP should be initiated early enough in 2018 to allow for

deployment and go-live prior to the beginning of the Fall semester.

A preferred approach must support the following use-cases:


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DRAFT 13

SCENARIO 1

SCENARIO 1

Connect video conference capable rooms which may be located through the UA system.

SCENARIO 2

Connect video conference capable rooms which may be located through the UA system

and include 3rd party audio conferencing participants.


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SCENARIO 3

Capture/Record live stream events

SCENARIO 4

Include web participants


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DRAFT 15

SCENARIO 5

Connect video conferencing capable room located either inside or outside UA network.

Nature of Service Required

The goals for this project are: 1) Selection and deployment of comprehensive video

conferencing platform which supports the needs of the university’s faculty, staff and

students. 2) Expand the administrative functions available to the customer to include room

reservation, participant invites and configure conference options. 3) ???.

Request for Information Response Format

The University asks that respondents not only answer all questions included in this RFI but

shall also provide any additional information necessary to allow the organization to make

informed decisions about solution(s) for a future procurement. University representatives

may contact the respondent to further discuss or to clarify any information provided.

Responses are to be provided for informational purposes only and at no obligation to the

University.

All information provided in this RFI shall remain confidential up until the time that a

resulting request for proposal is issued and a Notice of Intent to Award is made. If the

University does not issue an RFP, it may return all materials to the respondent if requested,

or retain the materials for possible use in future evaluations. A respondent must clearly

identify any sections of their RFI response that are being designated as confidential. The


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DRAFT 16

University will comply with such requests to the extent allowable by law.

The submittal shall consist of a narrative description addressing the proposed idea(s) or

concept(s) presented in the following section. This should include as much detail as

necessary to adequately depict the proposed scenario. Each narrative shall clearly mark

which question it is addressing. Where applicable, standard brochures or sales material

may supplement the narrative, but each response should be thorough and complete. If

multiple alternatives are available, please include those in the narrative response.

Topics to be Included in the Narrative

The following topics shall be addressed in the narrative response:

Experience Identify your firm’s qualifications and experience in providing video conferencing solutions. Include the names and addresses of any customers with comparable systems, preferably within higher education. Cite any previous business experience with the University of Alaska.

Performance How does your solution manage and ensure video and voice quality? How would your solution provide adequate quality of service for participants in remote locations around Alaska, some with limited satellite connections? What reliability factors and data recovery mechanisms have you considered in your recommendation?

Provide information about methodologies and mechanisms used in your solution to monitor and control production quality.

Design Do you offer an “end-to-end” solution? Describe the solution you would propose for the university. Include lists and specifications of major hardware and software components.

Is the system you propose modular and extensible?

Fully describe how your solution supports each aspect of the conference life cycle including initial request, scheduling, active conference monitoring and control, reporting and performance analysis.


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Describe your system’s fault tolerance with respect to network outage, host failure, and redundancy. Describe the ability of your solution to identify details regarding failures – anticipated or definite – and to aid support personnel in preventive maintenance and/or fault recovery.

Describe how your system could be expanded to handle increased production demand. Can your system be scaled both up and down in response to the cyclical demands of the academic calendar?

Maintenance

Describe in detail the maintenance and support philosophies for your solution. Is solution available 24/365? Describe your upgrade road map and methods.

Describe the proposed/available technical support to include hours, methods, response times? Describe available reference materials, online FAQs or knowledge bases available.

General How will your staff interface with VCS, UA project management during the implementation phase? Will on-site support staff be required during implementation or delivery?

Provide examples of how your system has been used to meet needs similar to the university.

Describe system capabilities to allow participants and VCS staff to make changes and have access privileges with respect to their areas only.

Describe data storage and access for any recorded or captured data. Include security and retention policies.


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DRAFT 18

What training does your solution require? Which basic skills will VCS personnel require prior to training? Will your firm carry out this training, or do you recommend a specific provider? Explain your strategy.

Schedule & Budget

The VCS current time line calls for vendor selection in late 2017 with the implementation to be completed by the end of June 2018. Explain fully whether you consider this schedule feasible?

Provide a price estimate for your proposed solution(s). Include separate prices for hardware, software, support licenses, and proposed labor charges for installation, on-going maintenance and training. This estimate may be a range if necessary. NOTE: All information, including cost estimates, shall remain confidential until such time as a Request for Proposals and Notice of Intent to Award has been issued.

Submittal Information

Number of Copies Required: Two copies of your response shall be submitted.

Submittal due by February 23, 2004, at 5:00 p.m. AST by mail or hand delivery to:

University of Alaska Fairbanks

Procurement and Contract Services

PO Box 757940

3295 College Road Rm. 103

Fairbanks, AK 99775-7940

Attn: John Hebard

Any questions regarding this RFI should be directed via email to [email protected] or

via fax to 907-474-7720, Attn. John Hebard.

Telephone questions or verbal requests will not be accepted.

The University shall not award a contract on the basis of this solicitation or otherwise pay

for the information solicited. This Request for Information is issued for the purpose of

obtaining information pertaining to ASF Process and Information Management

Enhancements at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, which may be used to prepare a formal

mailto:[email protected]


May ??, 2017

DRAFT 19

solicitation at a later date.

university of alaska fairbanks...video conferencing services is a statewide department that provides...

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