Fwd: Upcoming change in teleconference services: WebEx now available to W3C groups, Zakim end of life

Hi all! Please see notes about W3C changing teleconference system to webex.

Thanks!

Natasha


Natasha Rooney | Web Technologist | GSMA | nrooney@gsma.com<mailto:nrooney@gsma.com> | +44 (0) 7730 219 765 | @thisNatasha | Skype: nrooney@gsm.org<mailto:nrooney@gsm.org>
Tokyo, Japan


Begin forwarded message:

From: Ralph Swick <swick@w3.org<mailto:swick@w3.org>>
Subject: Upcoming change in teleconference services: WebEx now available to W3C groups, Zakim end of life
Date: May 1, 2015 at 11:35:16 AM GMT+9
To: Chairs <chairs@w3.org<mailto:chairs@w3.org>>
Resent-From: <chairs@w3.org<mailto:chairs@w3.org>>

Chairs and other interested parties,

Over the next several weeks your Team Contacts will be helping you to
transition teleconferences from W3C's Zakim teleconference bridge to
MIT's badged Cisco WebEx service.

Though many features we enjoy in the integration of the Zakim bridge and
irc will end with this transition, two new capabilities will become
available to you:

1. International dial-out to any phone number of your choosing
2. VoIP connectivity via Cisco's WebEx client(s)

A wiki page [1] has been started with some recommended best practices
for using WebEx in W3C meetings.  I know that some of you have
experience with WebEx; I invite you to improve this best practices
document.  The document may also serve as base guidance for the use of
other teleconference systems in the W3C environment.

[1] https://www.w3.org/2006/tools/wiki/WebExBestPractices

W3C's Zakim teleconference system has served us long and well.  Times
move on, however, and the hardware comprising the Zakim system lacks the
capability to provide connectivity that is of growing importance to some
of our community.  Three years ago we began a search for a
current-generation system that would provide both PSTN and direct SIP
access from a vendor who would also commit to WebRTC support.  We are
still looking for such a system that fits our limited budget.

Meanwhile, the MIT campus telephone infrastructure has also undergone a
major overhaul and the financial arrangement we have enjoyed with MIT
that provided the physical telephone circuits to our Zakim bridge is
coming to an end this June.  This is forcing us to make a change sooner
than we otherwise would have.

We will continue to monitor the progress of WebRTC deployment in the
hope that we will have available a system that meets our needs in the
not too distant future, including PSTN interconnection and APIs for
integration into our W3C infrastructure.

Regards,
-Ralph



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