Emulating Access Grid features at web endpoints

In this paper we present a system that captures and processes streams from Access Grid virtual rooms (venues) and distributes them to web endpoints. Its distinctive advantage is the emulation of Access Grid features using standard web clients. The system includes a toolset to handle audio and video contents, demultiplex the different sources, transcode them to adequate formats and store the resulting multimedia streams in repositories in real-time. A specialized server delivers those streams to standard web browsers that synchronize them, emulating typical Access Grid features like multiple windows or dynamic video selection. Web browsers can compose multiple independent streams, providing the appearance of Access Grid presentations. This paper presents the design principles, the system architecture and our current implementation in detail.