Subject: Re: bandwidth (and other support) required for multicast

From: Michael Richardson <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 01 Apr 2001 14:31:49 -0400

>>>>> "Keith" == Keith Moore <[email-masked]> writes:
    Keith> it might be that we need to support unicast playing, or some kind
    Keith> of multicast tunneling, in addition to native multicast.   but that's
    Keith> not by itself a reason to give up on the use of open standards.

  I would say that we need to have something available. For money even.

  I tried for SanJose95, Munich97, LA98 to get multicast feeds.

  In the case of IETF 39 (Munich), I actually started trying at the previous
IETF in Memphis. I have never succeeded in getting a feed.

  My ISP does not have multicast --- we tried, but the transit ISPs don't
have it. We were not able to get any kind of peering connection. It has been
a couple of years since I last tried mind you.

  As for the other questions:

>1. poll WG chairs from the last IETF to see how many people contributed
>things in real time from remote locations.  

  I've never seen it happen. But I've only once or twice seen the chairs
  ask if there was anyone there. I've also heard that sometimes the "mic
  override" switch is set, so that listeners wind up with no way to indicate
  that they have something to say.

>2. if we have a list of email addresses of multicast participants from 
>the last IETF, ask those folks how well it worked for them.

  Do we have such a thing? I'd think that it should be a standard "blue
  sheet" addition!
	
>3. for the next meeting, update the IETF web pages to describe how to
>attend the meeting via multicast - where to get the tools for your
>particular platform, how to determine whether your ISP supports 
>multicast, and so on.

  This is a good idea.

  While I do not think that the IETF should broadcast in Real*, if there
is a real demand for that, then it should be simple for someone to provide
unidirectional translation services if desired.

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---

From: Keith Moore <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 01 Apr 2001 16:37:50 -0400

> IETF in Memphis. I have never succeeded in getting a feed.

I've been to most of the IETFs over the past 10 years, so I have rarely
needed one for that reason.  But I have also experienced difficulty 
getting multicast feeds.

Perhaps there is another hidden message here - if you want to be able
to access an IETF meeting remotely, you're probably going to need to
make some advance preparation.  e.g. installing the necessary tools,
arranging for a multicast feed, etc.  Otherwise you're going to end up
trying to debug the problem while the meeting is taking place.

perhaps the meeting announcements should make this clear, and have 
pointers to not only the tools you will need to participate remotely,
but also pointers to test cases (so you can tell whether things are 
working).

Keith