No new technology develops smoothly, and video conferencing had more than itsshare of bumps along the way before becoming the widely used communicationsstaple it is today. The history of video conferencing in its earliest form goesback to the 1960's, when AT&T introduced the Picturephone at the World's Fair inNew York. While viewed as a fascinating curiosity, it never became popular andwas too expensive to be practical for most consumers when it was offered for$160 a month in 1970.

Commercial use of real video conferencing was first realized with Ericsson'sdemonstration of the first trans-Atlantic LME video telephone call. Soon othercompanies began refining video conferencing technologies, including suchadvancements as network video protocol (NVP) in 1976 and packet video protocol (PVP)in 1981. None of these were put into commercial use, however, and stayed in thelaboratory or private company use.

In 1976, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone established video conferencing (VC)between Tokyo and Osaka for company use. IBM Japan followed suit in 1982 byestablishing VC running at 48000bps to link up with already established internalIBM video conferencing links in the United States so that they could have weeklymeetings.

The 1980's introduce commercial video conferencing

In 1982, Compression Labs introduces their VC system to the world for$250,000 with lines for $1,000 an hour. The system was huge and used enormousresources capable of tripping 15 amp circuit breakers. It was, however, the onlyworking VC system available until PictureTel's VC hit the market in 1986 withtheir substantially cheaper $80,000 system with $100 per hour lines.

In the time in between these two commercially offered systems, there wereother video conferencing systems developed that were never offered commercially.The history of video conferencing isn't complete without mentioning thesesystems that were either prototypes or systems developed specifically forin-house use by a variety of corporations or organizations, including themilitary. Around 1984, Datapoint was using the Datapoint MINX system on theirTexas campus, and had provided the system to the military.

In the late 1980's, Mitsubishi began selling a still-picture phone that wasbasically a flop in the market place. They dropped the line two years afterintroducing it. In 1991, the first PC based video conferencing system wasintroduced by IBM - PicTel. It was a black and white system using what was atthe time an incredibly inexpensive $30 per hour for the lines, while the systemitself was $20,000. In June of the same year, DARTnet had successfully connecteda transcontinental IP network of over a dozen research sites in the UnitedStates and Great Britain using T1 trunks. Today, DARTnet has evolved into theCAIRN system, which connects dozens of institutions.

CU-SeeMe revolutionizes video conferencing

One of the most famous systems in the history of video conferencing was theCU-SeeMe developed for the MacIntosh system in 1992. Although the first versiondidn't have audio, it was the best video system developed to that point. By1993, the MAC program had multipoint capability, and in 1994, CU-SeeMe MAC wastrue video conferencing with audio. Recognizing the limitations of MACcompatibility in a Windows world, developers worked diligently to roll out theApril 1994 CU-SeeME for Windows (no audio), followed closely by the audioversion, CU-SeeMe v0.66b1 for Windows in August of 1995.

In 1992, AT&T rolled out their own $1,500 video phone for the home market. Itwas a borderline success. That same year, the world's first MBone audio/videobroadcast took place and in July INRIA's video conferencing system wasintroduced. This is the year that saw the first real explosion in videoconferencing for businesses around the globe and eventually led to the standardsdeveloped by the ITU.

International Telecommunications Union develops coding standards

The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) began developing standardsfor video conferencing coding in 1996, when they established Standard H.263 toreduce bandwidth for transmission for low bit rate communication. Otherstandards were developed, including H.323 for packet-based multi-mediacommunications. These are a variety of other telecommunications standards wererevised and updated in 1998. In 1999, Standard MPEG-4 was developed by theMoving Picture Experts Group as an ISO standard for multimedia content.

In 1993, VocalChat Novell IPX networks introduced their video conferencingsystem, but it was doomed from the start and didn't last. Microsoft finally cameon board the video conferencing bandwagon with NetMeeting, a descendent ofPictureTel's Liveshare Plus, in August of 1996 (although it didn't have video inthis release). By December of the same year, Microsoft NetMeeting v2.0b2 withvideo had been released. That same month, VocalTec's Internet Phone v4.0 forWindows was introduced.

VRVS links global research centers

The Virtual Room Videoconferencing System (VRVS) project at Caltech-CERNkicked off in July of 1997. They developed the VRVS specifically to providevideo conferencing to researchers on the Large Hadron Collider Project andscientists in the High Energy and Nuclear Physics Community in the U.S. andEurope. It has been so successful that seed money has been allotted for phasetwo, CalREN-2, to improve and expand on the already in-place VRVS system inorder to expand it to encompass geneticists, doctors, and a host of otherscientists in the video conferencing network around the world.

Cornell University's development team released CU-SeeMe v1.0 in 1998. Thiscolor video version was compatible with both Windows and MacIntosh, and hugestep forward in pc video conferencing. By May of that year, the team has movedon to other projects.

In February of 1999, Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) was launched by MMUSIC.The platform showed some advantages over H.323 that user appreciated and soonmade it almost as popular. 1999 was a very busy year, with NetMeeting v3.0bcoming out, followed quickly by version three of the ITU standard H.323. Thencame the release of iVisit v2.3b5 for both Windows and Mac, followed by MediaGateway Control Protocol (MGCP), version 1. In December, Microsoft released aservice pack for NetMeeting v3.01 (4.4.3388) and an ISO standard MPEG-4 versiontwo was released. Finally, PSInet was the first company to launch H.323automated multipoint services. Like we said, 1999 was a very busy year.

SIP entered version 1.30 in November of 2000, the same year that standardH.323 hit version 4, and Samsung released their MPEG-4 streaming 3G video cellphone, the first of its kind. It was a hit, particularly in Japan. Ratherpredictably, Microsoft NetMeeting had to release another service pack forversion 3.01.

In 2001, Windows XP messenger announced that it would now support SessionInitiation Protocol. This was the same year the world's first transatlantic tele-surgerytook place utilizing video conferencing. In this instance, video conferencingwas instrumental in allowing a surgeon in the U.S. to use a robot overseas toperform gall bladder surgery on a patient. It was one of the most compellingnon-business uses in the history of video conferencing, and brought thetechnology to the attention of the medical profession and the general public.

In October of 2001, television reporters began using a portable satellite anda videophone to broadcast live from Afghanistan during the war. It was the firstuse of video conferencing technology to converse live with video with someone ina war zone, again bringing video conferencing to the forefront of people'simaginations.

Founded in December of 2001, the Joint Video Team completed basic researchleading to ITU-T H.264 by December of 2002. This protocol standardized videocompression technology for both MPEG-4 and ITU-T over a broad range ofapplication areas, making it more versatile than its predecessors. In March of2003, the new technology was ready for launch to the industry.

New uses for video conferencing technologies

2003 also saw the rise in use of video conferencing for off-campusclassrooms. Interactive classrooms became more popular as the quality ofstreaming video increased and the delay decreased. Companies such as VBrickprovided various MPEG-4 systems to colleges across the country. Desktop videoconferencing is also on the rise and gaining popularity.

Companies newer to the market are now refining the details of performance inaddition to the nuts and bolts of transmission. In April of 2004, Applied GlobalTechnologies developed a voice-activated camera for use in video conferencingthat tracks the voice of various speakers in order to focus on whoever isspeaking during a conference call. In March 2004, Linux announced the release ofGnomeMeeting, an H.323 compliant, free video conferencing platform that isNetMeeting compatible.

With the constant advances in video conferencing systems, it seems obviousthat the technology will continue to evolve and become an integral part ofbusiness and personal life. As new advances are made and systems become morereasonably priced, keep in mind that choices are still determined by networktype, system requirements and what your particular conferencing needs are.

This article on the "The History of Video Conferencing" reprinted withpermission.
Copyright © 2004 Evaluseek Publishing.

About the Author
Lori Wilkerson is a full-time freelance writer who loves her job because itgives her the opportunity to learn more about the world every day. Right now,she knows a little bit about almost everything, and a lot about video conferencing,renting a video conference facility, and which videoconferencing conferencing solution is best for small groups. She has two dogs who are spoiledand one teenager who is not. She does her video conferencing in pink bunnyslippers.