Critical Evaluation of Software Based Videoconference Solution for Telemedicine

要旨

Video-conference is one of the main features of any telemedicine technology platform. Currently, telemedicine platforms deployed across the country are hardware based. For mass scale deployment it will work out expensive. Alternate video-conference solution based on software needs to be worked out which not only meet the purpose but also work out cheaper and can be configured in portable telemedicine platform. A study to this effect was carried out at the School of Telemedicine and Biomedical Informatics, SGPGIMS, Lucknow to evaluate the video-conference based on IP solutions available currently on the following parameters - quality of video and audio, option of VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), compatibility with industry standard protocols, ease of installation & integration , user friendliness and machine dependency, conference recording, features of desktop and application sharing, file transfer and power point sharing, optimum bandwidth requirement etc. Result of comparative evaluation forms the basis of this study.