switch

SWITCH
PO Box
CH-8021 Zurich
Switzerland

netservices@switch.ch
http://www.switch.ch/

About the sponsor

The SWITCH foundation was established in 1987 by the Swiss Confederation and eight university cantons to promote modern methods of data transmission and to set up and run an academic and research network in Switzerland, thus enabling the Swiss universities to participate in the information society of the future. SWITCH is located in Zurich and operates some 40 sites throughout Switzerland which are all connected by a SWITCH-owned optical GBit/s backbone.

The vision of e-Academia as a community of students, researchers and lecturers, conveying the free flow of ideas, the exchange of discoveries and the scientific debate into the digital space, is to be translated into reality through the development and provision of a whole range of services. SWITCH, and more specifically its NetServices unit, is thus setting out to support the needs of a lively virtual community within the Swiss Higher Education System through coordination work and the provision of central services.

The excellent worldwide IP connectivity allows extensive use of videoconferencing over Internet, playing a vital part in supporting the virtual community. The practical use of videoconferencing, although technically not very difficult to implement, requires all involved parties to get acquainted with audio and video techniques and to cope with the special arena in e-conferences. Extensive training and helpdesk support are crucial for a successful virtual collaboration, which in turn encompasses more than just plain videoconferencing, such as sharing of applications, documents, pictures, interactive drawing, etc.

SWITCH is particularly thrilled to support the „AI Lectures from Tokyo“. It is a very challenging multipoint videoconferencing project with partners in distant places representing different cultures and introducing new technologies. It is going to be a show case of virtual collaboration and a proof of the quality and usability of our SWITCHvconf videoconferencing services.

Links

• NetServices
• SWITCHvconf