Radvision this week released an update to its MCU software that offers support for the H.264 video compression codec and the new H.239 standard for sharing data and presentations in parallel with video. Version 3.2 also features an increased port capacity making intra-office calls at up to 768K bit./sec without a price increase ($1,354 per port). The H.264 is key as the endpoint vendors (notably Tandberg and Polycom) have or are rolling out H.264-enabled endpoints. Network administrators will like H.264 because it offers the same video quality at half the bandwidth used by its predecessor, H.263.
So what is H.239? It’s a standard that seems to have flown under the radar until now. It defines multiple channels for delivering audio, video and data in a point-to-point or multipoint call. By my estimate, it’s a standards version of Polycom’s People+Content and Tandberg’s DuoVideo technology.
