Presence and IntComm WG

["Ben Chinowsky" <>]

*Action Items as of February 24*

(new)
[ACTION] Jeremy will recruit speakers for the Spring MM session, and draft an
abstract of the session.
[ACTION] Candace will coordinate a test of Eyebeam, Session, and Communicator
with PALS from 3:00 to 4:00 EST on February 24 (immediately before the PIC
call).

(from previous calls)
[ACTION] Candace will try to get Bruce involved in the Eyebeam testing.
[ACTION] All will get Jeremy their input on PIC's activities at the Spring
Member Meeting as soon as possible.
[ACTION] Jamey will look into ways of addressing Dennis's concerns about solo
testing on the PALS server.
[ACTION] Jamey will test Eyebeam against the 090 prerelease version of SER,
which is what PALS is running now.
[ACTION] Candace will write a description of a simple way to append PUBLISH
messages from the client to the servers, in order to provide a basic way to
do location and presence tracking.
[ACTION] People will research skiff-like offerings from various companies:
- Dennis - Newbury
- Steve - Airwave
- Candace - Airespace (being bought by Cisco)
- Jeremy - Eckehau (via Walt Magnusson)
[ACTION] Jeremy will outline a high-level paper on the PIC WG's experiences 
and
lessons learned.
[ACTION] Ben T. will write a short document describing the motivation for the
paths-in-the-snow approach to PIC development.
[ACTION] Jamey will update the interface requirements document.
[ACTION] Jamey will continue working on the future of the skiffs, and solicit
opinions from PIC members as needed.
[ACTION] The group will continue its discussion of what kind
of package to provide for paths-in-the-snow-engineering trials.

*Attendees*

Jeremy George (chair) - Yale
Jamey Hicks - HP
Candace Holman - Harvard
Rodger Wills - Ford
Joe Rork - Ford
Dennis Baron - MIT
Steve Blair - Penn
Deke Kassabian - Penn
Ben Teitelbaum - Internet2
Ben Chinowsky (scribe) - Internet2

*Discussion*

The group discussed the new Internet2 Commons SIP service -- see
http://commons.internet2.edu/pilot.html. There have been concerns that this
sends a mixed message -- the pilot has endored the WaveThree product, but
without having rigorously evaluated its interop claims; as tested,
interoperability just means the ability to call into the Radvision MCU. There
was general agreement that while it would be good to have more rigorous 
testing
and better communication among the various involved groups, this project 
offers
significant opportunities for PIC, e.g. placing a PALS server in this
environment for Internet2 members to use in evaluating the various PIC
technologies. The Commons people are mostly concerned with video, so they're
happy to have us take the lead on presence. Ben T. suggested this would also 
be
a good place to explore the pros and cons of centralized MCU approaches vs.
P2P approaches.

PIC has been approved for a single 75-minute session at the Spring Member
Meeting. Candace expressed concern that a full packaged version of the demo 
will
not be ready by then; it was agreed that a minimal packaged version plus a
roadmap to a full packaged version will be sufficient. The session will be
primarily aimed at CIOs; Ben T. suggested that the main message should be that
you don't need to buy a proprietary solution -- simple IM and presence is 
really
happening and almost ready for prime time. The group agreed to keep the 
session
high-level, but to make the technical details available at an information 
table.
The group agreed on a four-part presentation: a speaker presenting the big
picture, the demo, a second speaker explaining the demo, and a pitch for
paths-in-the-snow deployments. The group discussed possible speakers; [ACTION]
Jeremy will recruit speakers for the Spring MM session, and draft an abstract 
of
the session.

Finally, the group agreed to a new round of testing with the new Eyebeam 
client,
WaveThree Session, and Pulver Communicator. [ACTION] Candace will coordinate a
test of Eyebeam, Session, and Communicator with PALS from 3:00 to 4:00 EST on
February 24 (immediately before the PIC call).