Introduction
The Videoconferencing facilities for Birmingham schools are IP/H.323 based. 75 Secondary schools have Polycom Viewstation SP 128 units, 6 CLCs have Polycom Viewstation 512 room based units. James Brindley Hospital schools have Polycom Ipower units. All units are room based, with TV, microphone and remote controls. They are centrally managed by Education IT (EdIt) using Polycom Global management software (GMS). The IP Intranet (BGFL) has been engineered to support Quality of Service (QoS). QoS is key to providing usable video quality by giving video traffic priority over all other traffic flowing through the network.

Additional Services
The following technology has been installed for the videoconferencing network.

Virtual Conference Rooms
When you need to Videoconference with more than two sites use the conference facility. We have a number of virtual conference rooms setup. Just choose a conference room and ask all your guests to meet you in that room. Alternatively, you can create your own conference room and invite your guests. The conference can also be streamed to other users if you choose. Additionally the conference can also be recorded again if you choose. The Conference rooms can also be accessed via the Internet using any H.323 Videoconferencing unit or Polycom PVX or Microsoft Netmeeting.In order to view and book the conference rooms you will need to access digi-share.bgfl.org web site. To get a userid and password for this site please email This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it .

ISDN Gateway
If you need to connect to another site anywhere in the world via the ISDN network we provide a Codian ISDN gateway supporting a full E1 Primary rate line (30 x64 kbps channels). You do not need to have the expense of ISDN line rental at your school, just use the gateway and you will billed only for your call minutes. To use the service all you need is an account id, this tracks your usage for billing. Apply for an account via email This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it Once you have an account number, just type in the ISDN number, choose auto and speed, its that simple.

Gatekeeper and H.323 Proxy
A Cisco router provides the gatekeeper service. All Videoconferencing units in the BGFL Intranet register with our gatekeeper at power up. All requests to connect to another videoconferencing unit go first to the gatekeeper, it acts much like a PBX in a telephone network. Users connect to other users using an E164 number, the Gatekeeper uses its number plan to locate the destination user and convert E164 numbers to IP addresses and vice versa. If the destination number cannot be found on our gatekeeper we connect to the next gatekeeper in the hierarchy to find that number out in the public Internet if required. We also use a H.323 Proxy, we need this to convert from our private IP addresses to public IP addresses used in the public Internet.

IP Connectivity via the WMnet
The WMnet is connected to 14 other LEAs via gigabit backbone managed by Synetrix. This network connects to the SuperJanet network that links Universities in the UK. It is now possible to have IP videconferences outside of the BGFL Intranet to sites on WMnet and SuperJanet. We are currenly piloting this with Birminham University and Telford LEA.

Latest News

New Web Sites to support Digital Learning
To help support and manage the digital learning programme in Birmingham a new site for its users has been created at digi-share.bgfl.org You will need a userid and password. To obtain this please mail This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it . The site is a forum for users to communicate and share information on ideas and working practices in Digital Learning.

JANet Video Conferencing Services
Birmingham as part of WMnet is participating in a national project (funded by DFES and managed by UKERNA) to share video conferencing services with universities, colleges and schools all over England. The JVCS includes a central booking service provided by UKERNA (they manage the SuperJanet University network). The booking system can be used when you wish to connect to other schools via a conference bridge or ISDN. We are currently going to register schools that request this service.

More information is available via this link http://www.jvcs.ja.net/schools/