Unified Conferencing: What is it - Insight Web...

Unified Conferencing: Why Unified Conferencing? What is it? What are the benefits? How to implement it.

Unified Conferencing: Why Unified Conferencing?

What is it? What are the benefits? How to implement it.

Technical White Paper

Document Overview

This document provides an overview of

the issues, capabilities and benefits to be

expected from a single platform solution

for voice, video and unified conferencing.

What can be expected in a unified

conference experience, and the benefits of

having this capability is also provided.

Polycom Unified Conferencing addresses

these challenges with revolutionary, truly

converged conferencing on one MGC

platform.

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Table Of Contents

INTRODUCTION............................................................................................... 3

WHY UNIFIED CONFERENCING? .................................................................. 4

Separated Conferencing Architecture Creates Multiple Barriers ...............................................4

Meetings At A Distance Need To Do More...............................................................................6

WHAT IS IT ?.................................................................................................... 6

One Platform ..............................................................................................................................6

One Conference, One Conference Experience...........................................................................7

Conference Entry Queue ........................................................................................................7

Conference Management........................................................................................................7

Presentation Of Content And Collaboration...........................................................................8

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF UNIFIED CONFERENCING ? ..................... 8

Flexible Meeting Options, Anytime, AnyPlace .........................................................................8

More Robust, Productive Meetings............................................................................................8

More Productive Conference Support ........................................................................................9

Superior Return On Investment..................................................................................................9

HOW TO IMPLEMENT IT. ................................................................................ 9

Polycom Unified Conferencing Built On MGC Technology.....................................................9

Supports Multiple Networks.....................................................................................................10

Ease Of System And Conference Support................................................................................11

Feature Rich..............................................................................................................................11

Flexible Deployment Options...................................................................................................13

Superior Return On Investment................................................................................................13

THE POLYCOM OFFICE................................................................................ 13

SUMMARY: POLYCOM UNIFIED CONFERENCING BENEFITS................. 14

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Introduction

With ever-increasing deployments of voice and video bridging infrastructure, as well as Web

collaboration, end users are demanding much more than “plain vanilla” conferencing services.

End users now want the ability to:

��Integrate voice, video and web collaboration into the same conference

��Have simple, intuitive user interfaces

��Have ad hoc conference service support, regardless of communications media

Networks today are delivering:

��An ever-expanding range of network technologies

��An increasing range of endpoints with different communications media and network

connectivity

Decisions to invest in infrastructure and conferencing technologies are getting more complex,

with a wide array of equipment, software, and network choices, and uncertainty about where

these technologies and their end users are headed. As a result, support personnel require help

in making these decisions, as well as alternatives that minimize the risk of the investment

decisions they are required to make.

Today’s separated communications and conferencing technologies reside on different

networks and, different platforms, requiring different management interfaces for support.

These communication boundaries are major barriers to the effective deployment of mixed /

feature rich media conferencing services. A unified conferencing solution that supports

unified conferencing services, and that can be managed with a single management interface, is

required to overcome the complexities associated with these historical barriers.

To provide effective voice and video conferencing services, organizations are looking for a

converged solution, a solution that will answer all the above challenges. There is a need for a

unified conferencing bridge that can seamlessly connect voice and video end points to the

same conference, on the same platform, with the same robust features and management

interfaces for both end users and system support.

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Why Unified Conferencing?

Voice and video conferencing products and services are well established, heavily demanded

solutions to business and consumer needs to communicate, and to work with others, at

geographically dispersed locations. Voice and video multipoint and gateway conferencing

solutions have followed different development paths on different platforms, creating

complexity, increased costs, and separated conferencing solutions, with significant differences

in conferencing features.

These islands of conferencing technologies, products, and services are not capable of the

flexibility needed in today’s world to deliver a scheduled or ad hoc conference that can

seamlessly connect all needed participants, regardless of their location, voice or video

endpoint or network connection. These limitations are more significant today with the global

trend towards a mobile workforce, dispersed geographically among different business and

home office locations. Using a contract workforce to perform office, technical, and

professional jobs and projects is now a common business practice and another key trend that

creates more need for a converged conferencing solution.

The huge differences in interactive communication features between today’s voice and video

conferencing products and services translate into huge differences in conference productivity.

A truly converged conference that seamlessly connects voice and video participants into a

conference must have a common set of conference features and end user interfaces if it is to

be a productive conferencing solution. This means that the level of shared conferencing

features must be set at the highest, not the lowest level, of features. This means that robust

voice conferencing features with IVR/DTMF interfaces must be supported by video endpoints

in a video or converged conference, creating a truly unified conferencing experience.

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The technical barriers to having the capability to conduct a truly converged, unified

conference of voice and video participants, are greater when issues of different switched,

dedicated, and packet networks and support are considered.

Many large, businesses and institutions that have a geographically dispersed workforce and/or

customers have moved from a public voice or video conferencing service to an in-house based

conferencing service. Almost none of the businesses and institutions have brought both voice

and video conferencing services in-house. The answer to the “why not” question is that

separate conferencing platforms, separate management systems, and separate network

services supporting voice and video conferencing require duplicate costs, duplicate training,

duplicate support and less productivity.

The following graphic depiction of separated voice, video and data conferencing platforms

on separate networks highlights several other significant technical barriers to delivery of a

simple, intuitive unified conferencing solution. Without robust and automatic capabilities to

transcode across different audio and video algorithms, different network protocols, and

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transmission data rates, connection of different voice and video endpoints across different

networks will not be seamless. In fact it will not be possible to achieve an acceptable level of

reliable conference set-up.

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Like any meeting, meetings at a distance very often require the delivery of content and

application-based collaboration. These service capabilities are different for voice and video

conferencing with, in-band delivery of content and collaboration in a videoconference, and

web based service used in voice conferences.

The current separated conferencing architecture also means different end user interfaces,

leading to less productivity during the conference, as well as creating a barrier to end user

cross-over from their current, familiar conferencing service to another unfamiliar

conferencing service, even though that service may be more appropriate for their conference

application.

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Most businesses, organizations, governments, and institutions use voice and/or video

conferencing services on a regular basis. Many now regularly use Web-based collaboration

services in conjunction with audio conferencing services. Growth in demand for these

conferencing services has consistently been strong and is, in fact, accelerating for Web

collaboration services, resulting in increasing demand for related audio conferencing.

Increasingly dispersed and mobile workforce, markets, and customers are not the only trends

driving demand for these conferencing services. Issues of costs, productivity, security, travel,

and family are also now key drivers of need and demand for voice, video and web

collaboration conferencing services.

The limitations of separate conferencing solutions, with huge differences in connectivity,

features, interfaces, and productivity, are technical barriers that must be overcome to be able

to connect from anywhere, anytime into a unified, feature rich, highly productive, meeting at

a distance. There needs to be flexibility to support whichever voice, video or unified

conference that is most appropriate for the customer application with the same set of features

and interfaces.

What is it ?

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Unified conferencing supports ISDN video, IP video, PSTN voice, VoIP, and mixed

voice/video conferences simultaneously on one platform, with the same set of conferencing

features, one set of end user interfaces, and one management application. Key technologies

required to support unified conferencing include:

��Full, automatic transcoding

��Multi-network support for switched, packet and dedicated networks

��Resource sharing of software and hardware resources

��One management application to support the conferencing platform as well as voice,

video and unified conferences

��One set of interfaces that the end user uses to schedule and manage their voice, video

and unified conferences

A unified conferencing solution must be able to support both scheduled and ad hoc

conferencing services, as end user demand for scheduled and ad hoc conferences varies by

conference application, by type of conferencing services (voice, video and web), and by

organization. To concurrently support both scheduled and ad hoc conferences, without having

serious resource contention problems, priorities and rules for system resource allocations and

conflict resolution between scheduled and ad hoc conferences must be enforced by the unified

conferencing bridge.

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A unified conference seamlessly connects a mix of voice and video endpoints on different

networks to one conference, on one platform that provides each conference participant with

the same conference experience.

Conference Entry Queue

At its simplest level, unified conferencing is a single phone number that all voice and video

participants use to enter the same conference entry queue, regardless of whether they are on

switched or packet networks. To initiate an ad hoc conference, the conference chairperson

needs only to dial the single number assigned to their personal virtual meeting room. All other

conference participants can join the conference using the same number and conference PIN

code.

Each voice (PSTN and VoIP) and video (ISDN and IP) participant enters the same conference

entry queue. As they enter the entry queue, each voice and video participant hears the same

IVR greeting and prompt to enter the conference PIN code. Each voice and video participant

then using their endpoint keypad or keyboard enters the conference PIN code. Different IVR

messages services could also be selected to require a chairperson PIN code and/or a billing

code.

When the requested PIN codes are entered correctly, each voice and video conference

participant is prompted to record their name, that is used to announce new participants as they

enter the conference, during the conference when there is a request to hear the roster of

conference participants, and when a participant exits the conference.

Conference Management

Once all voice and video participants have entered the conference, the conference chairperson

and all conference participants (voice and video) have available to them the full set of voice

conferencing features that can be accessed with IVR/DTMF. Chairperson conference

management features that can be controlled from either a voice or video endpoint should

include:

��Conference security (lock and unlock the conference)

��Put conference on-hold

��Invite new conference participants, delete participants (voice or video)

��Request operator assistance for the conference

��Mute all participants audio, except the chairperson audio

��Request roll call of all conference participant names

��Extend or terminate the conference

��Initiate and terminate question and answer sessions

��Initiate voting/polling sessions, monitor and email results

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Presentation Of Content And Collaboration

The feature capability to present meeting content, and to have interactive collaboration, exists

today in the separate worlds of voice and video conferencing. In a videoconference, delivery

of content and collaboration is embedded in the data stream used to transmit both voice and

video. In a voice conference, the transmission of content and collaboration is accomplished

over the IP LAN and/or Internet. In-band transmission of content and collaboration in a

videoconference excludes the participation of voice participants in this critical part of the

conference.

A truly unified conference must include a unified experience of content presentation and data

collaboration. The best solution to address this requirement is web-server-based, enabling

every conference participant to receive the content presentation and to fully participate in

applications-sharing and white-boarding sessions, regardless of their location and network

access.

Using the features supported in today’s web conferencing products, the conference

chairperson can conduct a one-way or interactive presentation of content that allows the

chairperson and all conference participants to view, highlight, and annotate specific points of

the presentation. If the unified conference requires workgroup collaboration, this also can be

accomplished in a one-way or interactive format, using application-sharing and

white-boarding.

An added advantage of using a web-server-based solution, for a unified experience of content

presentation and collaboration, is the ability to use Instant Messaging during the conference.

With Instant Messaging in a unified conference, the conference participants have a greatly

enhanced capability to interact without disrupting the flow and focus of the conference.

Important features that the conference chairperson (voice or video endpoint) has available to

manage participant interaction during the presentation and conference includes “mute/unmute

all but me”, question and answer sessions, and voting/polling sessions.

What Are The Benefits Of Unified Conferencing ?

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One of the most important benefits of a unified conferencing solution is the flexibility to start

a conference when it is needed (scheduled or ad hoc), that includes the appropriate conference

participants regardless of their location, the capabilities of their endpoint equipment, or their

network connection.

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Merging the best features and capabilities of voice and video conferencing into a unified

conferencing experience creates a uniquely robust and more productive meeting environment.

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The gains in support productivity that come with a single platform, single management

system supporting both voice and video conferencing, provides a powerful justification for the

unified conferencing product solution.

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Unified conferencing eliminates the need to make duplicate investments in voice and video

conferencing equipment and upgrades. Network services do have to be duplicated. Training

costs are significantly reduced for support and end users. Manpower required for operations

support is significantly reduced.

How To Implement It.

Polycom has taken the best of the industry leading VideoPlus and VoicePlus conferencing

products and developed Polycom Unified Conferencing that takes conferencing to the new

level needed to provide truly converged, feature rich conferencing. Polycom Unified

Conferencing is the first solution in the industry to offer full-featured voice and video on a

single platform, in the same conference, with the same set of conference features and end user

interfaces.

All of the conference features of a feature rich voice conference are now provided in a

Polycom unified voice and videoconference. Any combination of conferencing features, such

as roll call, conference invite, mute/unmute, questions and answers, voting / polling, and even

request for operator assistance, can be utilized by all conference participants using their voice

or video endpoint keypad or key-board.

Polycom Unified Conferencing takes multipoint conferencing to a new level that adds

significant value and increased productivity well beyond traditional voice and video

meetings-at-a-distance.

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Polycom developed the Multipoint Gateway Controller (MGC) conferencing bridge to

support multipoint and gateway conferencing that seamlessly bridges conferences across

different networks, as well as different endpoints, with different communications media

support and performance capabilities. Automatic transcoding of differences in audio and

video algorithms, video resolution, video frame rates, transmission rates, and network

protocols are integral to the MGC architecture. Transcoding capability across these

technology boundaries is an essential feature of the Polycom MGC, enabling support of ISDN

video, IP video, PSTN voice, and VoIP conferences on a single platform.

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The MGC architecture also includes the ability to share hardware and software resources

across all switched and IP video, voice, and mixed video/voice conferences. Key benefits of

the MGC shared resource design include lower costs of equipment needed to support video

and voice conferencing, improved resource module backup, and more efficient use of

platform “real estate” that can be used for future system upgrades.

Polycom’s MGC conferencing bridge is designed to deliver high levels of system reliability

and ease of support. Hardware modules and power supplies are all accessible from the front of

Polycom’s MGC 50 and MGC 100 platforms, and are hot-swappable. The self-configuring

design of the MGC 50/100 hardware modules means that replacing a module does not require

an engineer or a technician.

For enterprises that require workgroup and distributed deployments of unified conferencing,

Polycom provides the compact MGC 25 platform in standard configurations.

The diagnostic and fault resolution capabilities of all Polycom MGC platforms enable

effective remote diagnostics of alarms down to the DSP level. These combined system

capabilities, with the shared resource architecture of the MGC, results in the high levels of

system reliability and ease of support needed for an effective Unified Conferencing Bridge

solution.

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Polycom Unified Conferencing streamlines voice and video services by providing a single

entry point to multiple networks, protocols, standards, and services integrated for IP, ISDN,

POTS, and wireless (cellular) multipoint and gateway conferencing applications. The ability

to seamlessly provide video and voice communications connectivity, from anywhere to

anywhere, across different networks on the same platform, is a major benefit that should be

demanded from a single conferencing platform solution. The complete and automatic

transcoding capabilities of the MGC are essential to achieving this key benefit.

The resource sharing design of the Polycom MGC provides the opportunity to reduce the

required investment in network resource interfaces. It also provides the opportunity to reduce

the costs of network service, as the same switched or IP network connections can be used to

support ISDN video, IP video, PSTN voice, and VoIP conferences.

The capability of the MGC to support multiple networks on a single conferencing platform

also brings important benefits in future migrations to new system support for additional

network protocols and standards. The fact that these migrations, like ISDN video and voice to

IP networks, occur over many years, is a very important reason why an effective single

conferencing bridge solution is needed to address the complexity, increased costs, and

inefficiency in supporting different multipoint and gateway conferencing platforms.

The MGC capability to use the same IP resources to support video and/or voice multipoint

and gateway conferences means that decisions and investments in IP are leveraged in the

ability to support the migration to IP video and voice, at whatever rate it occurs.

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A key requirement and benefit of a single platform conferencing bridge is that both the system

and the conferences are easy to support, both from a support and end user perspective. A key

component of system reliability is having a management application that enables easy

monitoring of conferencing operations, to quickly resolve any system or conference alarm.

Polycom’s answer to this requirement is the MGC Manager, a Windows-based system and

conference management application that enables support to manage either a single or an entire

network of MGCs. From the MGC Manager application window, video and voice conferences

are scheduled and managed, conferences and systems can be monitored for alarms, and

problems are resolved. Hardware alarms can be diagnosed down to the DSP level, and reset or

taken off-line to allow continued use of all other hardware resources for video and voice

conference support.

Maintaining the MGC platform at current release levels of software is a simple download of

the latest release of the MGC operating system. The MGC automatically upgrades the

software level of hardware modules, whenever a new software release is downloaded.

At the enduser level, the requirement for management tools and interfaces that are simple and

easy to use is equally important. The benefits of a single conferencing platform solution are

significantly reduced if the end user must learn to use different interfaces in scheduling and

managing their video and voice conferences. Different user interfaces means: more end user

training, more end user errors that require more support, and less crossover utilization of

different conferencing media.

Polycom’s Web Commander is a browser-based interface for end users to schedule and

manage voice, video or unified conferences on a single or multiple network of MGC

gateways, MCUs, and Unified Conferencing Bridges. All voice and video end users also have

the same IVR/DTMF interfaces to all of the conferencing features that are supported in a

VoicePlus conference.

Having a single interface to access and manage any combination of video and voice

conferences, whether the network is switched, dedicated, or IP, means that meetings will be

more productive and will use the communications media that best addresses the end user’s

conference requirements.

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Ease and simplicity of use are not of sufficient benefit to have an effective single

conferencing platform solution, if it does not also support the full set of video and voice

conferencing features required by the end user. Most of today’s video MCUs are capable of

supporting either ISDN or IP videoconferences, with expected conferencing features, as well

as multipoint ISDN or IP voice conferences. In the latter case, the voice conferencing

capabilities of these video MCUs do not include the voice conferencing features that the end

user expects. The lack of features such as roll call, voting and polling, and IVR/DTMF

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interfaces are key reasons why these solutions for video conferencing have not displaced any

significant share of voice conferencing services or equipment sales.

Polycom Unified Conferencing provides the end user with fully featured video and voice

conferencing capabilities that are also, in many cases, replicated across these different

conferencing environments. Support for attended, unattended, and ad hoc voice, video and

unified conferencing services provides both the end user and operations support with

important service level consistency, as well as the flexibility to use a level of service that best

supports the needs of the conference. Equally important in this regard is a consistent interface

for the end user to schedule and/or manage their conferences.

Polycom’s Web Commander is the only browser-based interface the end user requires to

schedule or manage a video, voice, or mixed conference on the Polycom Unified

Conferencing Bridge. Polycom’s Web Commander also supports the integration of video and

voice conferences with Web-based collaboration, the Polycom WebOffice. The integration of

voice and video conferencing services with Web collaboration is now a baseline service

capability that a single conferencing platform solution should address.

Integration of conferencing features and services is the direction that end users are expecting

and vendors are rapidly developing. By definition, a single conferencing platform solution

should offer both a rich selection of possible conferencing features, and a seamless integration

of different conferencing and communications media.

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Polycom MGC Unified Conferencing supports the flexible deployment of multipoint and

gateway conferencing capabilities, whenever and wherever they are needed. The MGC-25

(2U) platform, MGC-50 (8 slot) platform, or an MGC-100 (16 slot) platform can be selected

to configure a video and/or voice multipoint, gateway, or unified conferencing system

configuration.

As requirements for video and voice multipoint and gateway conferencing change, upgrades

to add additional video and/or voice conference capabilities can be easily accomplished with

the addition of the appropriate hardware resource modules and software support. All MGCs,

regardless of configuration and conference support capabilities, use the same platforms,

hardware resource modules, and operating system software, making it both easy and cost-

effective to support a network of systems. Any or all can be easily upgraded to the full

conferencing capabilities of a single platform MGC Unified Conferencing Bridge.

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A single multi-point and gateway conferencing platform should deliver feature-rich service

level capabilities and seamless integration of media.

The most important deliverable is a very attractive return on investment. This is inherent in

the purpose of having a single platform solution. In this regard, the design capability of the

Polycom Unified Conferencing MGC platform to share software and hardware resources, to

be managed with one interface, and to transcode across a full range of video, audio and

network standards, means the customer can leverage their investment in equipment and save

on support costs in ways that are both flexible and produce significant returns on investment.

The Polycom Office

The Polycom Office is the conferencing and communications vision that drives the integration

of all Polycom video, voice, network, and data products. Polycom Unified Conferencing is a

major advancement in making a feature-rich, seamlessly integrated conferencing environment

a reality.

The Polycom Office provides a proven end-to-end conferencing solution that includes

Polycom Unified Conferencing, voice and video endpoints, and network management and

support. With The Polycom Office, the benefits of interoperability, feature rich conferencing,

and shared resources and management that are provided with Polycom Unified Conferencing

are extended to the entire conferencing network, including voice and video endpoints,

collaboration and network management.

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Application Packages: Health; Legal; Education

Conquering Distance Communication

Polycom Global Services

Conferencing & Collaboration

Personal Group

Video

iPower Executive

WebOffice

VideoiPower

Executive Collection

Network Infrastructure and Management Solutions

The Polycom Office

Conferencing

VoiceSoundPoint

VOIP

VideoViaVideo

Personal Large ROOMGroup

Video

ViewStation

VoiceVoiceStationSoundStation

SoundStation IPPremier

VoiceVortex

SoundStation VTX 1000

Summary: Polycom Unified Conferencing Benefits

The power to bring together integrated services for voice and video into one platform is

beneficial on many levels. A Polycom Unified Conferencing MGC platform provides

seamless connectivity, management, interoperability, control and a simplified user experience

for the network manager, the conference administrator and the end user.

Binding these network layers, protocols, and applications together under a single, unified

platform has significant benefit. Let’s take another look at the challenges discussed earlier to

see how the MGC provides valuable solutions to those challenges.

Beginning with the network, it becomes clear that the MGC platform solves many issues

related to the network. The MGC provides physical interfaces to both voice and video

circuits. It is extremely important to have a common element when deploying mixed services.

Having a system that provides mixed services natively, within a reliable architecture,

alleviates many problems associated with simply getting the services deployed.

The MGC platform supports all of the standards and protocols associated with voice and

video services. This is important in itself, but the MGC goes a crucial step further. The MGC

solves the issue of mixing conferences that have differing standards and protocols. NO

LONGER are you limited to supporting a least common denominator method of conferencing

services. The MGC translates the various standards and protocols between each endpoint,

allowing each endpoint to participate in a conference session at its highest mode of operation.

This is achieved entirely without manager or end user intervention.

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The network manager now has a common entry point for monitoring, diagnostics and

management. It is much easier for the manager to have access to and manage one or more

systems, using the robust capabilities of the MGC Manager, ensuring with confidence that all

voice and video services are operational from end to end. The other key benefit to the

manager is that the MGC unified platform is based on the highly reliable MGC architecture,

providing both scalability and redundancy.

The conference administrator also now has a single point of entry for all scheduled or adhoc

conferencing services. This is very advantageous to the administrator when trying to

coordinate not only voice and video services, but also peoples’ schedules.

The end user now has a single point of entry for conferences and a common user experience

for voice and video services. The end user is able to focus on the issues at hand without

having to worry about using the technology.

The Polycom MGC eliminates issues related to differing levels of access control and

security. As described earlier, the MGC provides common entry points into the service, based

on a user, or group policies and permissions. The network administrator sets these policies

and permissions one time and, from that point on, the user’s experience remains the same.

The organization’s typical usage scenarios and requirements are now greatly expanded due to

the ability to mix and integrate both on-demand and scheduled voice and video services.

The organization’s goals for technical support, effective management of network, technology,

and application resources are now all synchronized through a core set of capabilities based on

the MGC Unified Conferencing Bridge.

All of these benefits result in a lower cost of ownership and operation, thereby providing cost-

effective services to the organization.

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