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Shared Workspace for sites with no permanent internet connectivity

One of the purposes of the CMMC is to allow sites with no internet connectivity to take part in conferences, and to this end, we support sites connecting to the CMMC using ISDN. However, all the forms of shared workspace activity use IP to provide their remote display.

ISDN sites will eventually connect in to the CMMC using a number of different technologies. Where this involved running IP over the ISDN link, there is clearly no problem to use this link for the shared workspace activity in addition, provided enough bandwidth is available. Where ISDN sites connect to the CMMC using videophones or similar, we have several options:

• Some sites will have both ISDN and Internet, and will use ISDN for audio and video because their Internet path is not suitable. However their internet path may be suitable for the shared workspace on its own. In which case, there is no problem, just an unusual configuration.
• Some videophones support an RS232 (or similar) user data channel at fairly low data rates (9.6Kb/s is typical). It may be possible to configure the CMMC to route over this user data channel to a workstation at the remote site to provide shared workspace, albeit at very low data rates.
• If a remote site has both a videophone and a workstation supporting ISDN, it way be possible to use one ISDN channel with the videophone to provide audio and video connectivity, and connect the other ISDN channel to the workstation to provide an IP over ISDN link.
• If none of these options are possible, it may be possible to run a proxy shared application at the CMMC, and send only the display of the application to the remote site using their video link. It may be possibly to use in band signalling (such as touchtones) to control what the remote site sees.