Military adds video networking - Trends

Communications News, Feb, 2002

For the first time in U.S. Naval Air (NAVAIR) Systems Command history, nine strategic labs and sites located at China Lake and Point Magu, CA, and Paxtuxent River, MD, are able to access and share MPEG-2 video, voice, and encrypted data and telemetry over the Navy's secure, native ATM network.

NAVAIR is the military branch responsible for research, development, testing and evaluation of sea-based air defense weapons systems, including F-14 fighters, F/A-18 fighter/bombers, P3 submarine hunters, and E2C command and control aircraft. During a test or training event, video content and data can be fed, fully encrypted, directly into the network, and then accessed at any or all end points with just a click of the mouse.

Installed by Video Network Communications Inc. (www.vnci.net), the system provides the fully integrated video network required for the launch of the communications project.

The solution chosen provides full-motion, high-resolution video networking, enabling video broadcast distribution, retrieval of stored video-on-demand and interpersonal visual communications. In addition, by using VNCI's ISDN/ IP and Universal (ATM) Gateway solutions, the system's reach is extended from enterprise desktops out to the WAN.

According to Mark Kolstoe, chief architect and project leader of the NAVAIR lab network project, "We need to get the right information into the right hands instantaneously, or close to it. Every person and every piece of equipment has to be plugged into a virtual `matrix' of data and high-quality visual communications and content. We are now able to access information and work together as one unit--without leaving our workstations. That means everyone makes better decisions faster, and that saves lives."

As network architect, Kolstoe's challenge was to create an information backbone that integrated 21St-century video networking technology with the Navy's existing, secure ATM network, while conforming to strict budgetary and resource guidelines. Approximately $1.4 million of VNCI equipment has been installed to date.

While the system was implemented before the events of last Sept. 11, the project represents a trend by enterprises in the use of video-conferencing solutions. According to a study conducted by the National Business Travel Association, conducted after Sept. 11, 88% of companies polled said they would increase their use of videoconferencing. That trend was already in place by Sept. 11, due to the slowing economy as the cutbacks in organizations' travel budgets. With videoconferencing costs headed downward and its quality improves, the trend is expected to continue in the foreseeable future.

Cost, quality and accessibility were all factors in NAVAIR's decision-making process. VNCI's technology runs over existing telephone wires inside the labs, allowing NAVAIR personnel to simultaneously dial into any camera feed, collaborate in a secure multipoint videoconference, and run powerful simulation and design applications--without leaving their workstations and without disrupting the LAN.

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