Lab-to-lab links

As one of the nation's foremost science and engineering laboratories, Sandia National Laboratory in Albuquerque is always looking for cutting-edge solutions to encourage collaboration and cut costs. Videoconferencing is one of them.

The lab, part of America's World War II atomic bomb development effort

The lab first began exploring videoconferencing options in 1988, installing a dedicated system between Livermore (Sandia/CA, 1,000 employees) and Albuquerque (Sandia/NM, 7,000 employees).

'Our primary objective was to enhance planning and data collaboration capabilities between the two sites,' says Jim Berry, lead communications engineer on collaborative conferencing at Sandia/CA. 'In addition, we have many projects which involve other Department of Energy facilities, universities, and private industries. We needed multipoint videoconferencing capabilities to allow us to link three or more sites at one time.'

Sandia bought a second set of systems in 1989, installing them in the main auditoriums between the corporation's two main locations. The auditorium link became even more important as the Berlin Wall fell, ending the cold war and forcing the nation's weapons development complex to re-evaluate goals and watch costs more carefully than ever.

Sandia used the videoconferencing system to participate in a multipoint conference that hosted the first congressional heating using the technology. The House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology held a series of meetings that addressed the future of the Department of Energy laboratories with representatives in Washington, D.C. The video link allowed congressmen to hear and see testimony from witnesses at the New Mexico and California sites, and also demonstrated the prospects for teleconferencing in conducting routine government business.

THE NEXT STEP

Sandia began to look at new videoconferencing options in 1990, and ultimately chose PictureTel videoconferencing technology.

'Vendor support was a primary consideration. We felt this was crucial,' says Berry. 'We installed PictureTel 4000s in 1990, as we saw a potential for videoconferencing beyond the dedicated point-to-point group sessions. Usage ballooned after that. Participants appreciated the dial-up, on-demand availability of videoconferencing. Sandia now has 60 dial-up group systems.

'The logical extension to our group-conferencing environment is to develop desktop collaborative conferencing pilots,' says Berry. 'The desktop pilots are used primarily to explore the functionality of using conferencing for engineering distributed interaction. We are setting up distributed meeting environments where individuals can give presentations and host periodic meetings for project planning.'

VIDEOCONFERENCING OPTIONS

Sandia now offers point-to-point conferencing, multipoint conferencing, viewgraph/document sharing, videotape playback, computer-based presentations, and remote viewing of auditorium presentations from any group videoconference room.

An ATM link between Sandia's two sites allows the lab to use desktop systems such as PictureTel's LiveLAN and Microsoft Net Meeting over its computer networks.

'Due to our security requirements, ISDN is not a viable desktop conferencing option for most of our customers, who are connected to a private internal network,' says Berry. 'In these cases, we have elected to use H.323 (LAN videoconferencing) and T.120 (data conferencing) as our standard for corporate desktop communications.'

Berry sees rising demand for videoconferencing services, particularly in meetings involving multiple small groups from multiple locations. He says Sandia is still working on LAN infrastructure issues, such as dealing with firewalls and ISDN/LAN gateway operation.

'Overall, we anticipate desktop videoconferencing demand will increase rapidly once LAN-based multipoint videoconferencing becomes available,' he says.

Berry advises others who are investigating videoconferencing technology to closely evaluate a vendor's customer support capabilities. 'Particularly with a new technology, it is crucial to develop a working relationship with the manufacturer, who will help you work through any difficulties you may encounter along the way. Additionally, they must support interoperability standards and backward compatibility to protect your investment.'