The Observatory houses three video conferencing systems of which two are available to all Sterrewacht personel and one is specific for the METIS project.

These units can be used freely by all Sterrewachters, provided a reservation has been made through the Observatory secretariat (Oort 465).

• Tandberg Edge 80, Oort 531
• Cisco SX20, HL 1104

This unit is specificly installed for the METIS project and cannot be used by other Sterrewachters. The responsible person for this unit is Bernhard Brandl.

• Starleaf, HL 1109a

Video-enabled meetings happen in two distinct ways: either point-to-point or with multi-point.

In point-to-point, the simplest scenario is where one person or group is connected to another. The physical components (i.e. microphone and camera) that enable the meeting to take place are often integrated in to desktop computing solutions like a laptop or tablet, or can be combined into dedicated, room-based hardware solutions.

Where desktop solutions tend to be used by individuals, room-based solutions utilize dedicated video conferencing technology where groups of people can be seen, heard and can naturally participate in the meeting.

In multi-point video calls, three or more locations are connected together, where all participants can see and hear each other, as well as see any content being shared during the meeting.

In this scenario, digital information streams of voice, video and content are processed by a central, independent software program. Combining the individual participant’s video and voice traffic, the program re-sends a collective data stream back to meeting participants in the form of real-time audio and video imagery.