After my first article for rAVe Ed came out, I had several people email or tweet me questions or comments.  I thought they were so good, and thought provoking, that I decided to respond to them here.

Mike Tomei (@miketomei) and Conner Krey (@connerkrey) wrote to me asking more about the Bonjour protocol.  Mike wanted to know more about what it meant that Bonjour was not routable, while Conner was interested in which vendors were coming up with solutions for this problem.  I worked in IT before I started in the AV world, so I have some experience with networks, but am by no means an expert.

I explained to Mike that a routable protocol is one that can go across different networks.  For example, your wireless networks, and your wired networks are separate networks (or separate subnets, in technical lingo), and there are routers that let them talk to each other.  The Bonjour protocol works at a layer that does not allow routers to “send” the protocol to the network where it belongs. Since this was designed for home networks, that is fine for most people at home, but not for enterprise situations.

There are some workarounds to this that would be suitable for a one-off situation but not for a widespread install.  For example, you could buy a wireless router from your local Best Buy and connect your Apple TV to it.  Then you could connect to that same router with your iDevice. It would work because both devices are on the same subnet.  There is only one problem with this solution: your network administrators would never let you do it, and who can blame them? The last thing they need is rogue routers out on the network.

However, for a very special situation, in which all you needed was the ability to display an iDevice to a monitor, you could have this same set-up, but not connect the Best Buy router to your local network.  So, this would allow you to use AirPlay, but the Apple TV would not be able to download movies or connect to your iTunes.  Also, while connected to the Best Buy router, your iPad would not have access to the Internet. Your network administrators won’t mind because it is not on their network.  Aruba Networks is one of the major vendors working on solutions for this issue, and  I sent Conner a link to the following article from last May, which explains some of the moves that Aruba Networks is taking to work better with AirPlay: http://www.thevarguy.com/2012/03/23/aruba-networks-simplifies-airplay-connectivity-with-airgroup/

In turn, Conner returned a very interesting link to me about Apple possibly working to make Bonjour play a little nicer with Enterprise Networks.  The great thing about this article is that it is an example of how big special interest groups (like EduCause) can put their collective weight towards driving change in the industry.  Here is the link: http://arstechnica.com/apple/2012/11/apple-working-to-make-bonjour-compatible-with-enterprise-networks/

Another comment came from Brock McGinnis (@brockmcginnis).  Brock questioned how this product scales.  Brock owns and loves the Apple TV, but asked, “will 30 work in one building?”  He also expressed concern with “using any device in an application it wasn’t specifically designed for.”

Well Brock, I think you raise valid issues on both points.  I don’t see a reason why 30 would not work in one building. Changing the name of the devices is easy enough, so they could all be named according to what room they are in.  However, as you point out, the issue is with permissions to who can display in what room.  As I mentioned in my article, you can password-protect the AirPlay access on the AppleTV.  However, the iDevice remembers that password.  So, the next time you go to connect you don’t need to re-enter the password.  That could be a problem if some students thought it would be funny to interrupt a class as they sat in their dorm room.

There is some hope on this front, though. Apple has added a feature called on-screen code. If enabled, in addition to a password, there is a code that shows up on the screen and you have to enter that code in order for your display to show on the AppleTV.   This at least forces the person who is trying to cause problems to be in the room.

As far as the issue of using devices for something that they were not designed, that is a tough issue.  I think we all deal with this in our own ways, and it depends on the circumstances.  I feel comfortable using this in one or more classrooms across campus for the faculty who want this feature and understand its limitations.  However, like you, I would probably be hesitant to make this a standard in classrooms, or install 100 of them campus-wide without some more experience and a little more management capabilities.

Finally, on the rAVe Pubs website, a question was entered in the comments section.  David asked whether or not there is a similar technology for Droid-based devices.  I don’t know that I can give you a solid answer, David, but here is my attempt: Very soon there will be an alternative for those Droid users out there.  It is called Miracast and you can read more about it here: http://www.wi-fi.org/wi-fi-certified-miracast%E2%84%A2

So, the potential downfall to this technology is that both devices, the source (phone, tablet, etc.) and the display need to beMiracast-certified.  You can see at the link above, though, that many devices are going to meet this certification.

Additionally, just late last month Google did announce that Android 4.2 would have Miracast capabilities.  You can read about that here: http://androidandme.com/2012/10/news/android-4-2-adds-official-support-for-miracast-wireless-display/

You will note on this same web page that Miracast dongles will soon be on the market.  This will plug into an HDMI port on your display.  So, if you have a display that is a older and does not have the built-in technology, you can easily add it.  I am sure there are going to be some obstacles in this implementation. Unlike Apple, which has complete control over both the source and the display, there are many different vendors playing in this arena and sometimes they don’t get along. But, that is why we have standards, right?!

One final point to make about the Miracast technology.  It uses a technology called Wi-Fi direct.  So, the source device does not travel through your corporate network to get to the display.  Rather, it connects directly to the display through its own Wi-Fi.  This will certainly eliminate some of the issues we are having with Bonjour and AirPlay.

That is all for the follow-up to “AppleTV: Wireless that Works!” Your comments and feedback are fantastic.  As I try to answer the questions, I learn more and more myself.  So please, keep them coming!!