Video conference is one of the useful developments in communication for interacting with people at number of different locations.

Video conference systems could be attained on hire, sale or lease.

Video conference is a new development in communications where people can interact with each other from different locations as if they are talking face to face to each other seating in the same room. Now we shall explain the purpose of video conference.

Video conference or audio video conferencing are of various types depending on the suitability of your IT structure available and what results you require. In the past purchasing a video conference equipment was expensive but is slowly down and making it possible to purchase for companies and home users.
Video conference systems are available for hire, lease or sale. They can be installed on the desktop PC, a dedicated video conference suite and mobile (for using when and where the need arises). Each setup has its own purpose, advantages and disadvantages.

The speed for the equipment is shown as Frames Per Second (FPS). The higher the frame rate the greater the data load, so also the need of speed of internet connection. The minimum requirement for full motion video and audio between the two points 768 kbps. It is then broken up into two parts; 64 kbps for audio and 320 for video.

There are two types of video conferencing and then they are further divided. The two types are Point to Point and Multipoint. Point to Point allows a live video / audio communication between any two locations. In multipoint the links are made between three or more locations.

Point-to-Point Videoconferencing

Let us suppose that two video conferencing terminals are connected to the Internet. The vct and its associated peripherals allow users to communicate with the other clients by entering the IP address of the remote vct. Once the setup is done clients exchange their data streams over the internet.

The Gatekeeper

To reduce the problem of IP dialing, the H.323 standard defines the use of a gatekeeper.

The gatekeeper is a system that connects to the Internet just like the client terminals. The gatekeeper’s IP address is configured into the client terminals and when the clients "power up" they communicate with the gatekeeper and transfer certain information to the gatekeeper that describes the vct. The client then registers with the gatekeeper and pass their IP numbers which then enables the local user to dial a remote user.

Multipoint

Through multipoint, live video and audio links between three or more locations are done. To handle this situation, the H.323 standard introduces the concept of a Multipoint Control Unit (MCU). The MCU can be thought of as a "video bridge".
A MCU, depending on the capacity of its design, can handle a certain number of simultaneous videoconferences each with each videoconference being logically separate from the others and with each having a specified number of users.