Table Of Contents
About the Cisco Unified Videoconferencing 3515 MCU
About Cisco Unified Videoconferencing 3515 MCU Users
Cisco Unified Videoconferencing 3515 MCU12 Port Capacity
Cisco Unified Videoconferencing 3515 MCU24 Port Capacity
About Cisco Unified Videoconferencing 3515 MCU Architecture
About Cisco Unified Videoconferencing 3515 MCU Topologies
Functionality
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About the Cisco Unified Videoconferencing 3515 MCU
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About the Cisco Unified Videoconferencing 3515 MCU
The Cisco Unified Videoconferencing 3515 MCU enables multimedia, multiparty collaboration in applications such as group conferencing, distance learning, training and video telephony. The Cisco Unified Videoconferencing 3515 MCU supports multimedia, multiparty communications in the board room, at the desktop, in the home, or on the road over wireless.
The Cisco Unified Videoconferencing 3515 MCU provides core IP-centric functionality, a wide range of layouts, powerful audio and video transcoding, an open API for customer application development, support of web-initiated data collaboration, and software upgradeable technology. Services are pre-configured so that they suit most conferencing requirements. However, when necessary, administrators can create customized services to suit their networks and user needs.
About Cisco Unified Videoconferencing 3515 MCU Users
The Cisco Unified Videoconferencing 3515 MCU provides an intuitive web interface with a single point of entry for configuring, controlling and monitoring the Cisco Unified Videoconferencing 3515 MCU unit and conference sessions. Access to the interfaces is password-protected for four types of users—Administrators, Moderators, Operators and conference users.
Administrators
Administrators use the Administrator interface for configuring, controlling and managing the Cisco Unified Videoconferencing 3515 MCU, conference services and supporting devices and applications.
Moderators and Operators
Moderators and Operators can use the Conference Control interface for controlling audio, video and data connections, for selecting advanced conference view image positioning and multiple layouts, and for creating new conferences and sub-conferences.
Moderators can use the Conference Control interface to view conference details and manage a specific conference.
Operators have a global view of all current conferences, and can act as Moderators for all current conferences.
Conference Users
Conference users participate in actual video or audio conferences.
Main Features
Table 1-1 lists the main features provided by the Cisco Unified Videoconferencing 3515 MCU for effective audio and videoconferencing and a satisfying user experience.
Port Capacities
The Cisco Unified Videoconferencing 3515 MCU12 and Cisco Unified Videoconferencing 3515 MCU24 are delivered with a predetermined number of ports.
The Cisco Unified Videoconferencing 3515 MCU supports Continuous Presence High Definition (CP HD) services. CP HD services support split-screen (continuous presence) up to 4 Mbps and offer resolutions of 1280 x 720 pixels (720p).
The Cisco Unified Videoconferencing 3515 MCU supports switched High Definition (HD) video service types. The switched HD service enables Voice Activated single-screen displays at up to 4 Mbps, and offers resolutions of 1280 x 720 pixels (720p) and 1920 x 1080 pixels (1080p). Switched HD service types also enable you to set a minimum downspeeding bandwidth rate that is common to all endpoints participating in a conference.
Cisco Unified Videoconferencing 3515 MCU12 Port Capacity
Cisco Unified Videoconferencing 3515 MCU12 supports a fixed number of ports:
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High definition participants must have H.264 only and receive 720p in order to view the conference in high definition, otherwise the endpoint is considered as a standard definition endpoint.
Cisco Unified Videoconferencing 3515 MCU24 Port Capacity
Cisco Unified Videoconferencing 3515 MCU24 supports a fixed number of ports:
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High definition participants must have H.264 only and receive 720p in order to view the conference in high definition, otherwise the endpoint is considered as a standard definition endpoint.
About Cisco Unified Videoconferencing 3515 MCU Architecture
The Cisco Unified Videoconferencing 3515 MCU enables both voice-only and video conference calls for H.323, SIP, H.320, SCCP and regular PSTN network telephones. H.323 and SIP devices can connect to a conference directly through the Cisco Unified Videoconferencing 3515 MCU. Other devices such as voice telephones and video conferencing terminals (H.320) can connect to a conference via a gateway, such as the Cisco Unified Videoconferencing 3500 Gateway.
Figure 1-1 Supported Devices and Protocols
The Cisco Unified Videoconferencing 3515 MCU supports devices that can send and receive video streams, as well as those that cannot send but only receive video streams. This means that terminals without a video camera or video capturing capabilities can participate in a conference as voice-only participants while benefiting from seeing the other participants.
About Cisco Unified Videoconferencing 3515 MCU Topologies
The Cisco Unified Videoconferencing 3515 MCU can work in a centralized or cascaded topology. This section describes these two options.
Centralized Topology
In a centralized topology, the Cisco Unified Videoconferencing 3515 MCU performs media processing for all connected terminals. The Cisco Unified Videoconferencing 3515 MCU can handle multiple conferences simultaneously.
Figure 1-2 Centralized Topology
Cascaded Conferences
The Cisco Unified Videoconferencing 3515 MCU allows you to combine two or more conferences resulting in a larger conference with many more participants. This is called cascading. Cascading creates a distributed environment that helps reduce the drain on network resources. In addition, the processing resources required by the Cisco Unified Videoconferencing 3515 MCU are distributed between participating MCUs. Costly telephone or ISDN line usage can be further reduced with the mediation of a gateway.
Cascading occurs when one conference with "x" number of participants invites another conference with "y" number of participants. The two conferences effectively become one large conference. The bandwidth required across a cascaded conference link is only that of one audio/video stream between the two conferences. This is significantly less than the accumulated bandwidth of all the participants. Each separate Cisco Unified Videoconferencing 3515 MCU unit participating in a conference retains control of its individual conference resources and participants.
The cascaded conference in Figure 1-3 minimizes the use of network bandwidth while distributing processing among the participating the Cisco Unified Videoconferencing 3515 MCU units.
Figure 1-3 Cascaded Conference
