A direct online report from the ceremony could be viewed on the Jagiellonian University website. Thanks to this, the online community was also able to take part in the meeting with the Dalai Lama in Krakow.
– Following the advice of Veracomp, we decided to use the Internet, a communication channel that is common today, especially among young people. Thanks to the knowledge of Veracomp SA employees and professional consulting in the field of using modern technologies, Internet users were able to follow the facts of such an important event for our university on an ongoing basis – said Dr. Józef Oleszkiewicz, head of the Network and Server Services Section of the Jagiellonian University. – The previously owned Polycom videoconferencing equipment was supplemented by Veracomp with the latest devices, which together created a system that carries out video streaming broadcasts on the Internet with very good quality for several thousand recipients.
Such a large number of recipients could be supported thanks to the parameters of the devices and also thanks to the existence of a backbone network infrastructure with gigabit throughput. The system enabled transmission from two different locations on the Jagiellonian University campus. Specialists from VERACOMP configured and launched the entire solution within two days. The team was also supported by a specially delegated Polycom employee and Jagiellonian University IT specialists.
– We feel honored that we could play our part in supporting the Dalai Lama’s visit to Krakow. The video streaming solution we prepared allowed for the direct online broadcast of the events. This experience showed the undoubted advantages of videoconferencing systems and the benefits that educational institutions can derive from their use – emphasized Bartek Madej from Veracomp SA.
Video streaming to the Internet was carried out by a pair of devices: Polycom RSS 2000 and VMC 1000 Polycom Video Media Center. The signal source was HDX 9004 videoconferencing terminals, which connected to the RSS 2000 recorder. The recording of the meeting and streaming to the VMC 1000 device took place simultaneously on the recorder. The task of the VMC 1000 was the further distribution of the streaming, this time directly to the Internet. The license installed on it allowed for the simultaneous transmission of 1000 independent streams. Each interested person received a video stream with a bitrate of 512 kbps.
The ceremony of awarding the honorary doctorate of the Jagiellonian University to His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama took place on December 8, 2008, at 9:00 a.m. in the Collegium Novum auditorium of the Jagiellonian University during a ceremonial meeting of the University Senate. The laudation was delivered by Prof. Beata Szymańska-Aleksandrowicz (Institute of Philosophy, Jagiellonian University), and the text of the doctorate was read by the Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy, Prof. Maria Flis. In the afternoon, at 3:00 p.m., a meeting with the academic community was held in the large auditorium of Auditorium Maximum of the Jagiellonian University. Both meetings were broadcast on the Internet via video streaming.