Indications to counter the spread of the pandemic from Coronavirus they forced the entire Italian population - and not only - to lock themselves at home and go out only for strictly necessary needs. Fortunately, thanks to the Informatic tecnology, these restrictions did not automatically translate into stopping working, studying and socializing.
Who already used the software for video conferencing or platforms for online learning it has intensified its use, making it a daily appointment, while those who did not know these possibilities offered by technology have literally discovered a world. For this reason i search engine have recorded, in the last month, an increase in queries: “videoconferencing” and “zoom”, just to give an example. This last search term matches the name of the most popular software that has reached the maximum number of downloads.
Remove them school platforms proprietary, videoconferencing solutions can be used for any type of use and are aimed at both individuals and companies. In addition to "Zoom", the most popular software are:
- Microsoft Teams
- Cisco webex
- Google Hangouts Meet
- Slack
- GoToMeeting
- Marco Polo App
The surge in clicks on the relevant pages from where these applications can be downloaded is undoubtedly due to forced imprisonment, but the ease of use and the versatility of the systems, suitable both for desktop computer as for the smartphone, did the rest. Yet such success has been matched by a similar increase in traffic and therefore in revenues network problems for the servers that provide these services. In non-emergency times, videoconferences had definitely better audio and video quality, now the network is inevitably under stress and interruptions or lowering of the audio/video definition are very frequent.
even WhatsApp experienced an excessive load for exchanging video and audio through the app. In India, to avoid the collapse, the duration limit of video messages has been reduced from 30 to 15 seconds and there is already someone on the net who thinks that this restriction could also reach Italy.
All the platforms that allow remote video calls are growing in numbers. Among these, in addition to the aforementioned WhatsApp, there is also Facebook, but in general, it is precisely the bandwidth that passes through the classic ports of the web, i.e. those that are exploited by normal Internet browsers, which risks saturation. This is because, to make the use of videoconferences within everyone's reach and faster, most software allows the use of the web interface, ie access via the usual Internet pages.
But what was the need that most prompted the use of videoconferencing and e-learning software? For sure, one of the biggest incentives has been the need to catch early strategic decisions to organize work during the period of restrictions, secondly, le educational activities they have found their natural evolution online, between courses held remotely, tuition and tutoring.
In this regard, it is appropriate to point out the existence of the solidarity and participatory project "I stay at home. work” based on completely open source software to which the most important players of the Italian Internet infrastructure have joined: the Garr (Group for the Harmonization of Research Networks) and the Cnr (National Research Centre. Unlike other commercial platforms, the initiative uses a system (Jitsi meet) which allows users to make video calls without any limits and completely free of charge (even in the case of many participants).
In general, the basic functions of all other software are also free, but it is enough to increase the number of participants in videoconferences, that of the particular functions required, such as the possibility of recording meetings or having a blackboard available multimedia or sharing one's screen, it is enough just to ask for higher video or audio quality, greater usable bandwidth or even to increase the maximum duration of the videoconference and the offer is immediately transformed into a fixed fee or cost lump sum.
In contrast, the Italian platform project is nonprofit, based on a supportive and collaborative approach in which multiple organizations can participate by pooling their servers. This is how the first two servers were joined by others made available by companies such as BeFair, IFInet and Seeweb, associations such as the Italian Linux Society, and the aforementioned institutions such as Garr and Cnr, together with the Institute of methodologies for environmental analysis (IMAA).
