Users connect over IP using the H.323 international standard for videoconferencing over packet-switched networks. Alyeska also uses an H.320 ISDN gateway for external videoconferences and to connect with one of its owners, British Petroleum, in the United Kingdom.

The company is also piloting Cisco Systems' IPTV, a desktop-broadcasting solution. Alyeska plans to enable every desktop with IPTV, because one-way video fits the bill for some training and corporate communications applications.

However, providing a reliable network is easier said than done in a region as challenging as Alaska. Alyeska's network environment is dedicated, meaning it's non-switched. Because of reliability and contract problems with its fiber provider, Alyeska is now using a combination of analog satellite and digital microwave for videoconferencing. "When we started, we had as much bandwidth as we needed. Then we went down to minimal bandwidth with latency from the satellite. Hopefully, we'll be back with fiber soon, with as much bandwidth as we can use," says Ward. "We've found that with the satellite links, the latency causes issues. The refresh rates drop down and you get more pixelation."

When this happens, videoconference users sometimes drop the audio from the link to regain bandwidth for video. They then establish a separate audio conference over a regular telephone service to carry voice, while using the satellite to carry video.

Alyeska's Valdez complex sits in a fjord and is surrounded by mountains. Atop one of those mountains is the microwave repeater. But because winds often gust up to 80 miles an hour, knocking the repeater, the microwave signal is inconsistent.

A critical success factor for Alyeska is that the company has put quality of service (QOS) in its routers. This allows network administrators to determine bandwidth allocation policies based on specific data types. Alyeska has prioritized video over other services on its network. Without QOS, users would experience far more jitter and video quality dropouts because the routers would start buffering.

The IT team has found that users expect high-quality video and audio. "They can do with a little bad video, but bad audio stops your communication cold. That's the breaking point for an end user. At that point, they pick up the phone" and drop the video link.

Big Pipe For Training
Alyeska's standards engineer Rick Simmons has overcome both audio and video problems in using videoconferencing for distance learning or training. Simmons, in Fairbanks, coordinates the company's design-control program and communicates with pump-station managers about procedures for modifying pumps, valves, and instruments along the pipeline. "The modification-control program is a very important part of our business," Simmons explains. "It's what the government watches closely. Any modification to the pump stations gets the managers' ears up."

The 12 pump stations, which currently move about 1.2 million barrels of oil per day, are located along Alaska's James B. Dalton Highway, formerly known as the Haul Road. The highway, built by Alyeska in 1974 and now owned by the state, extends from the Yukon River in central Alaska to the oil source near Prudhoe Bay in the North Slope. "It becomes a real challenge to get out to all the pump stations and down to Valdez to train everyone," Simmons says. Valdez is where workers load the oil onto tankers. Weather, travel time, and pump-station schedules all impede training. "I would be at the northern half of the line for three months going back and forth because some people were on at only certain times," Simmons says. "I would drive from one pump station to the next until we trained everyone. It was unreasonable."

Another option was to bring all of the managers to a central location for training. But while that would require less of Simmons' time, it would severely impact eight people's schedules. So Alyeska's IT organization encouraged Simmons to try yet another option: videoconferencing. Simmons took the cue and organized a four-hour distance-learning session for eight pump-station managers. The managers joined the videoconference from their own offices spread out along the pipeline.

For much of the meeting, slides filled the screen as Simmons explained new procedures. At regular intervals, Simmons minimized the video of the slides and maximized the video of each manager. "Pump station 1. Do you have any questions?" Simmons queried before moving on to the next pump station until receiving input from all eight managers. "The only downside is the lack of [immediate] feedback. You can't look into the audience to see if people are getting what you're saying," Simmons says. And then there's the issue of camera shyness. "We had one individual who pointed the camera at the view out his window."