The Defense Collaboration Services Program Management Office, within Defense Information Systems Agency’s Enterprise Services Development Division, will deploy Web Conference 2.2 to the non-secure internet protocol router network in August. The secret internet protocol router network instantiation will migrate the following month, DISA said in a release.
The newly enhanced web conferencing service will use the web programming language known as HTML5 to replace DCS Web Conference’s Adobe Flash-based client. Adobe announced it will retire Flash at the end of 2020.
“Flash will be completely removed from all browsers by the end of next year, so DISA wanted to get ahead of the curve,” he said. “Adobe will cease updates and further distribution of Flash player because it is extremely inefficient and has security issues,” said Derek Westray, DCS lead engineer.
WC 2.2 will feature a modern HTML5-based replacement to Adobe Flash for DCS Web Conference. It will provide a number of developments to improve real-time communication, which include higher quality video and screen sharing. WC 2.2 will enable users to screen share without the need to download and run a separate Java application and will eliminate the need for users to download the Flash client to join a DCS Web Conference session, DISA explained.
Migration advantages include: A user interface that is more responsive, cleaner and more modern looking, presented in a single layout that will also provide the option of presenting slides in full screen mode.
Westray notes that Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome are the preferred browsers for use with DCS capabilities. Microsoft Internet Explorer will not support DCS WC 2.2. However, users will be able to use Microsoft Edge in addition to Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox.
For more information regarding the migration, contact the DCS Program Management Office.