Overview

The objective of the project is to provide all the technology components, other than the data network itself, to support collaborative research and technical development through the deployment of enhanced tools for multimedia collaboration in Europe. The project will improve and deploy the existing conferencing toolsets with a particular application aim of distance education and of conferencing. Improvements will occur in many important aspects:

Better integration of the multimedia conferencing tools to make them easier to use by untrained users
Capability for optimum video, audio, shared workspace and applications sharing over heterogeneous bandwidths
Identify the additional support and management facilities required to meet and enhance the end-user applications
Inter-operable cross-platform support
Better support for the introduction and recording of multimedia information in conferences
Support for network reservation and multicast deployment over concatenated networks technologies
Improved inter-operation between IETF and ITU-T standard conferencing systems
Integration of low-speed access facilities via intelligent packet filtering, multiplexing and transcoding gateways with distributed, secured, control
Facilities for secure conferencing - with the keys distribution compatible with a large-scale CA infrastructure
Distributed measurement, monitoring and management of Resource Reservation and Quality of Service
Conference announcement and invitation

Verification activities will be pursued both inside the project and in other Telematics projects which stress each of the technical activities.

Project plan

This is an edited draft of the project plan, the complete version is available on the private section of the server.

Project partners

The following institutions are partners in the MECCANO project:

Academic Computer Centre CYFRONET
Communications Research Centre, Canada
EUTELSAT
Hewlett-Packard European Laboratories, UK
INRIA Sophia Antipolis
New Learning AS
Rechenzentrum Universitaet Stuttgart
School of Slavonic & East European Studies, University of London
Shell International Exploration and Production B.V.
Teles AG
Universitaet Bremen
Universitaet Erlangen-Nuernberg
Universitaet Freiburg
Universitaet Mannheim
University of Oslo
University College London

and they are located here:

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Events and Publicity

The project is featured in the Prosoma Showcase

We have a repository of posters and other publicity materials.

The project is committed to multicasting a series of seminars.

Demonstrations

14-16 September 1998 : ACM-MM, Bristol: Abstract
Recent growth in those having useful access to the Internet has been matched by a significant improvement in the tools available for multimedia conferencing. The demonstration is of secure conferencing with the use of high quality audio, a multimedia server and a transcoding gateway.
30 November - 2 December 1998 : IST 98 Vienna: Information Society Technologies Conference & Exhibition
The outline programme includes an Investment Forum and features the 1998 European IT Prize Awards ceremony, a range of Austrian-themed events, a celebration of NetD@ys Europe, and the launch of the European Commission's Information Society Technologies (IST) Programme.
25-26 February 1999 : The Launch of TEN 155 at the launch of the Fifth Framework programme, Essen: The demonstration was visited by the German Federal Minister for Education and Research, Edelgard Bulmahn
Press release from TEN 155
7-10 June 1999 : TERENA-NORDUnet Networking Conference, Lund, Sweden: The Challenge of Gigabit Networking; MECCANO had a stand for demonstration. The project also participated in the Telematics for Research Open Seminar on the 8 June, presenting a progress report on the project after it's first year.
10 May 2000 : XVII World Telecommunications Congress incorporating ISS2000: Demonstrated secure conferencing using the Secure Conference Store (SCS) and the Multimedia Conference Recorder (MMCR).

Other events

5 June 1998 : HP Labs, Bristol: Demonstration of IP-multicast based videoconferencing during the official opening of new facilities at HP Labs. (screenshot)
27 July 1999 : UCL, London: Visit by the UK Secretary of State, Department of Trade and Industry. Parts of the event were multicast at 1 Mbps via a TEN-155 VPN link to INRIA and thence via the Eutelsat HOT BIRD satellite to those sites able to receive the transmissions.

Software

The following software is produced and/or recommended by the project partners:

The selection of tools produced and/or recommended by the UCL Networked Multimedia Research Group
FreePhone and Rendez-Vous from INRIA.
The AOFwb (Authoring on the Fly Whiteboard), The AOFrec (Authoring on the Fly Receiver) and wbcontrol from the University of Freiburg.
The digital lecture board from the University of Mannheim.

In certain cases, specific releases of some of these applications may form project deliverables.

The SuperJANET videoconferencing advisory service maintains a comprehensive list of Mbone conferencing tools which may be useful. A similar list is maintained in Germany.

Further information

Further information is available for project partners on the private web server. Alternatively, type your question here and a chatterbot will try to answer it:

Disclaimer

MECCANO is a research and development project coordindated by University College London and supported by the European Commision Telematics Applications Programme, Research Sector, Project 4007. The opinions contained on this server do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of the European Commision. Please see http://europa.eu.int/ or http://www.echo.lu/telematics/

The MECCANO project is not related in any way with the construction toy of the same name. "Meccano" is a registered trademark of Meccano SA, Avenue de Saint Exupery, Calais 62100, France. More information on Meccano may be found here.

Last updated 16 February 2000 by Roy Bennett.

MECCANO ran from 1 June 1998 to 31 May 2000.

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