A technical implementation guide for multi-site videoconferencing

With the increased cost, time and potential risk or hassle involved in traveling, videoconferencing has become a popular alternative for meeting people from geographically distributed locations. Videoconferencing tools have also become widely available, and videoconferencing technologies have improved substantially over time. This paper provides a basic technical implementation guide for those involved in setting up videoconferencing in an organization. The technical infrastructure, the interaction between users and the technology, group dynamics, and the organization of the content of the videoconference, are the four key factors towards a participatory videoconferencing session. This paper examines one of the four variables, the technical infrastructure, which is a necessary condition for a successful session. This paper aims to provide a practical guide for those who are given the task to obtain, set up or improve a multi-site videoconference system. It outlines a list of required technical components and potential issues that need to be addressed when setting up a multi-site videoconference. This paper starts with a checklist of requirements, followed by an introduction of different types of videoconferencing systems, the basic technical components, and some related issues in selecting and implementing a multi-site videoconferencing system.