Connie Gentry, director of the Telecommunications Department, sees the same potential with her department's latest technology, a new videoconferencing facility set to go on line by the end of this month that will offer point-to-point videoconferencing. Gentry oversaw the renovation of a training room on the third floor of Cox Hall into a videoconferencing facility that soon will be available for use by faculty, staff and students. The $8,000 renovation provides the sound and lighting conditions needed for a videoconferencing facility. The equipment, which cost about $92,000, will allow the Emory community to videoconference with 10,000 locations in 35 countries, which represents a potential savings of thousands of dollars in air travel and hotel costs.
The videoconferencing system consists of two 35-inch Mitsubishi color monitors and a camera mounted in cabinetry that contains an Ascend mix, a VCR and a 486 personal computer connected to the campus Ethernet. The system will support three different transmission speeds.
The videoconferencing room, which continues to be used for telephone and voice mail training, is ideally suited for videoconferences involving up to 10 people. Gentry said that while the room will seat as many as 24 people, many campus users might find a number that large unwieldy.
Other features of the new facility include:
*Accessibility to other sites: Thanks to the Sprint Switched Video Service Bureau that telecommunications decided to use, the videoconferencing facility can connect with other non-compatible videoconferencing systems. "This lets us be more flexible and reach more sites," Gentry said.
*The videoconferencing system is PC-based and will be connected with the campus Ethernet system. Files from anywhere on the Internet can be pulled and displayed during a videoconference. PC-based applications also can be used.
*The system uses ISDN, digital technology that telecommunications has been installing on campus to support various activities.
Gentry said that telecommunications will provide a staff member to operate the equipment during the conference, but the facility can be set up so that a customer can operate the equipment independently. She also is encouraging future users to broaden the ways in which they think about videoconferencing beyond the traditional meeting format. Alternative uses being considered at Emory include: enabling prospective employers to interview current students, allowing Emory Admissions staff to interview prospective students, and holding videoconferences between smaller regional groups of Emory alumni.
The videoconferencing service should be available to the Emory community by the end of September, Gentry said. Although telecommunications would like as much advance notice as possible, the minimum time frame for scheduling a videoconference is 24-48 hours, depending on the site.
As videoconferencing becomes more common and the cost for systems comes down, telecommunications operations manager Perry Eidson expects the use of desktop videoconferencing to increase. "I hope this new service will generate interest from the departments," Eidson said, "and prompt more people to look at installing their own systems."
For information, contact Gentry at 727-0242.
--Dan Treadaway