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•About the Cisco Unified Videoconferencing 5100 MCU
•About Cisco Unified Videoconferencing 5100 MCU Architecture
•About Cisco Unified Videoconferencing 5100 MCU Topologies
The Cisco Unified Videoconferencing 5100 MCU enables multimedia, multiparty collaboration in applications such as group conferencing, distance learning, training and video telephony. The MCU supports multimedia, multiparty communications in the board room, at the desktop, in the home, or on the road over wireless.
The MCU provides core IP-centric functionality, a wide range of layouts, powerful audio and video transcoding, support of web-initiated data collaboration, and software upgradeable technology. The system can be fully customized according to the needs of the administrator.
Table 1-1 lists the main features provided by the Cisco Unified Videoconferencing 5100 MCU for effective audio and videoconferencing and a satisfying user experience.
The MCU provides a flat capacity of 10 ports (for the 5110 unit) and 15 ports (for the 5115 unit). This capacity is regardless of the call bit rate or resolution. Each video call consumes a single port.
High Definition calls can connect at up to 720p at 30fps.
Enhanced Definition calls can connect at up to 4CIF/352p at 30fps.
In some cases, the frame rate of calls using 4CIF might drop but not to less than 15fps.
The Cisco Unified Videoconferencing 5100 MCU enables both voice-only and video conference calls for H.323, SIP, H.320, SCCP and regular PSTN network phones. H.323 and SIP devices can connect to a conference directly through the Cisco Unified Videoconferencing 5100 MCU. Other devices such as phones and video conferencing terminals (H.320) can connect to a conference through a gateway, such as the Cisco Unified Videoconferencing 3545 Gateway.
Figure 1-1 Supported Devices and Protocols
The 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.
The Cisco Unified Videoconferencing 5100 MCU can work in a centralized or cascaded topology. This section describes these two options.
In a centralized topology, the MCU performs media processing for all connected terminals, regardless of their location. The MCU can handle multiple conferences simultaneously.
Figure 1-2 Centralized Topology
The 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 MCU are distributed between participating MCUs. Costly phone 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 MCU 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 MCUs.
Figure 1-3 Cascaded Conference