720256AgoraClosedGRD Development of PrototypeInnovate UK*The Problem: A) To reduce costs and increase efficiency companies are increasingly using Video Conferencing (VC) for departmental meetings, training, interviews and meeting customers. Companies want to enhance VC capabilities economically by combining new, cost-effective, software based solutions with existing hard endpoints (endpoints house camera, microphone and video display). B) Companies existing hard VC equipment and infrastructure (dedicated VC servers) is expensive (service, maintenance, IT support & training) and not flexible enough to meet changing needs. C) Complete interoperability is essential between all VC systems (hard and soft) both within a company and those used by external companies/individuals. However many different VC systems (20+) exist with limited interoperability between them, causing serious reliability issues. D) To support the interoperability of a wide range of different endpoints, external management and control of all VC systems involved in a Video Call is required. However, this is prevented by security systems such as firewalls and proxy servers used to protect corporate networks. This is a major problem facing all VC management companies. *How project will address the problem: This Project will create a prototype of Agora, a software application that will enable UCi2i to traverse firewalls and proxy servers to control, at an Application Programming Interface (API) level, all VC equipment involved in a video call. Agora will enable: A) Companies to enhance VC capabilities by adding new flexible soft endpoints, without compatibility issues with existing equipment. B) Companies to use their existing VC equipment without needing an expensive dedicated network to support it. C) Unnoticed equipment failure and incorrect VC settings cause most video call failures (UCi2i, 2012). Agora will allow UCi2i to remotely monitor equipment and adjust settings of all VC endpoints used in a Video Call to ensure reliability & interoperability.