Fifth International World Wide Web Conference

May 6-10, 1996, Paris, France

Panel3: Multicasting & Real-Time Applications and the Future of the Web

Tuesday 7 May 1996 - 16:30-18:00

Panel Co-Chairs

R. P. C. Rodgers (U.S. National Library of Medicine)

Topic: Introduction to the panel, guidelines for participation

Participating from: Paris

Jaromir Likavec (Computer Graphics Center, Darmstadt, Germany)

Topic: Multicasting from the International World Wide Web Conferences, past and present

Participating from: Paris

Panel Members

Mark Handley (University College, London, U.K.)

Topic: The MBONE and multicasting -- a quick technical overview

Participating from: Paris

Van Jacobson (Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, Berkeley, California, U.S.A.)

Topic: What can multicasting offer to the web? What can the Web offer to multicasting?

Participating from: California

Steve Deering (XEROX PARC, Palo Alto, California, U.S.A.)

Topic: RTP and other key open standards pertinent to multicasting

Participating from: California

Don Brutzman (Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California, U.S.A.)

Topic:

Participating from: Monterey

Walid Dabbous (INRIA, Sophia Antipolis, France)

Topic: The INRIA experience with multicasting

Participating from: Paris

Jon Crowcroft (University College, London, U.K.)

Topic: Real-time and near-real-time video applications,

Participating from: Paris

Steve Casner (Precept, USA)

Topic:

Participating from: Bay Area

Jim Gemmell (Microsoft, USA)

Topic:

Participating from: Berkeley or California

Goals:

• To demonstrate MBONE technology live, by integrating remote panelists and questioners actively into the presentation.
• In consideration of the diverse audience and the fact that even technically well-versed attendees may not understand this area very deeply, each aspect of the presentation (written materials and live comments) will stress clarity for workers *outside* of this area: simple summaries and clear explanations will be put forward in as non-technical a manner as possible.
• Discuss cutting-edge events in the domain of real-time applications and multicasting as they relate to the Web.

Topics To Be Discussed

• Broadcast, unicast, multicast; relation to IP address space, and how these are related to and affected by IPv6 and by ATM.
• Major relevant communications protocols, comparison of technical strengths and weaknesses (IP, UDP, TCP, RTP, RMP, ...).
• The important audio and video compression standards, comparison of technical strengths and weaknesses (H.261, MPEG, MJPEG, Cell B, ...).
• Recent commercial systems, how they relate to open standards (RealAudio, Internet Phone, Netscape's proposal for "LiveMedia" ...). Consequences of commercial interests making unilateral modifications to open protocols.
• The MBONE: structure, tools, and current status.
• Attempts to integrate real-time applications into the Web, including commercial attempts at streaming audio and video. use of webcast at Darmstadt WWW Conference.
• Social & Economic Issues: privacy, impact of "indecency" portions of U.S. Telecomms. bill, recent suite by telecomms companies to forbid voice communications over the Internet, ...
• What multicasting has to offer the Web (e.g., strategies for decreasing impact of the Web on network bandwidth), and what the Web has to offer the multicasting community (e.g., a powerful conferencing aid).
• Multicasting tools for the "mass platforms" (Macintosh, PC).

Mail to the Organizers