HDVIPER will design an open HD video conference platform, where the following services will be accessed through a unified Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) over the Internet Protocol (IP):

• media services;
• control plane services;
• network services.

To accomplish with this objective, Web Services will be used in order to provide and exploit services by interacting with the application, and a specialized version of the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) will be used to establish real-time HD sessions.

The ultimate mission of the project is to provide a converged platform for High Definition video conferencing (point-to-point and multi-point transmissions), to be integrated in a set-top-box and in a PC environment (pre-commercial prototype) and to be tested in the following scenarios:

• residential video conferencing, where residents can freely communicate by using motion picture;
• healthcare sector and e-health, where distance consultation can be held between hospitals in Europe, within national and international expert networks;
• business video conferencing (also including distributed collaboration for product and service development within the industry and service sector), where small (point-to-point) and large scale (multi-point) conferences can be held; furthermore, internal company communications can be managed by combining voice communications with HD video;
• distance education and e-learning for minority languages and specialized education.

The expected impact of HDVIPER is to open up the traditional video conferencing market, thus promoting the role of Europe as a leading technological player in High Definition video conferencing services over the Internet.