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State Department Brass Backs Videoconferencing

by: Larry Greenemeier

In an effort to improve its diplomatic reach worldwide, the U.S. State Department this year will increase its use of IP-based videoconferencing. Seventy of the department's 200 videoconferencing systems run over IP, but that number is expected to grow as IP-based systems promise to deliver cheaper and more reliable communications than the department's more prevalent ISDN-based videoconferencing technology.

IP-based videoconferencing has since 2002 become an important part of the State Department's international outreach efforts and its own internal training programs, says Dave Round, a program manager for the department's Verification and Compliance Bureau. The bureau oversees both policy and resources needed to confirm compliance with international arms control, nonproliferation, and disarmament agreements and commitments. IP-based systems allow the department to use its existing IT infrastructure for videoconferencing at a cost that's up to 40% less than ISDN, which uses telephone lines.

Several current and future State Department officials have been impressed with videoconferencing's capabilities, and that bodes well for the technology's future within the department, says Peter DiMichele, also a program manager for the Verification and Compliance Bureau.

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick, who Friday was named as a replacement for Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, was impressed in July by the department's ability to coordinate videoconferences for him across five countries. "He was thrilled he didn't have to take a plane ride to each location," DiMichele says.

Secretary of State Colin Powell has used videoconferencing to receive technology demonstrations, and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, President Bush's nominee to succeed Powell, is also familiar with the technology. Says DiMichele: "We expect an explosion in the use of this technology."

Videoconferencing is becoming an important tool for helping the federal government meet its post-9/11 diplomatic and intelligence-gathering objectives. After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, it quickly became obvious to State that the department wasn't staffed to conduct the proper amount of worldwide outreach, Round says. "By adding video, we can still have worldwide reach without running our people into the ground."

The Defense Department's Defense Intelligence Agency, which has more than 7,500 military and civilian employees, likewise plans to rapidly increase the number of videoconferencing systems its intelligence analysts use. The agency's goal is to install desktop videoconference appliances for up to 20,000 intelligence analysts internationally. The first 2,000 will be operational by spring.

State's Verification and Compliance Bureau hosts as many as 250 videoconferences annually, a number that will grow as IP-based videoconferencing technology drives down costs while improving the reliability of such communications, Round says. "IP video is so much better [than ISDN] that people want to use it, whereas they'd shied away from videoconferencing before."

Videoconferencing will complement, although not replace, the department's time-tested text communications network, which creates an archived correspondence trail that's retained for official government records, Round says. The text-based system, however, doesn't offer videoconferencing's capability of letting State officials share maps and other visuals in real time, DiMichele says.

The foundation of the State Department's IP-based videoconferencing system is a dedicated network provided by Glowpoint Inc., a service provider that specializes in IP-based video communications. Glowpoint also provides live operator assistance as well as services that enable both IP- and ISDN-based networks to be included in the same videoconference. The department uses a combination of videoconferencing hardware from Polycom Inc. and Tandberg ASA, with screen sizes ranging from 12 to 40 inches.