Cisco TelePresence® Conductor software simplifies multiparty video communications, orchestrating the different resources needed for each conference as required. It allows the video network to be configured so that conferences may be easily provisioned, initiated, and accessed.
The Cisco TelePresence Conductor simplifies and enhances conference resource management, making conferences easy to join and to administer. It uses knowledge of all available conferencing resources and their capabilities, to help ensure dynamic, intelligent conference placement and optimum resource usage. It delivers powerful, comprehensive administrative control, making simple, natural conferencing a reality.
Administrators can specify the exact service level and experience required for each user. For example, administrators can determine whether users enjoy standard- or high-definition video, how many participants may connect, the maximum service level available to attendees, and even which Cisco TelePresence Server or Cisco TelePresence Multipoint Control Unit (MCU) is selected, according to geographic location.
Figure 1. Conference resource orchestration with Cisco TelePresence Conductor
Figure 1 shows a sample deployment of Cisco TelePresence Conductor working with Cisco Unified Communications Manager. Cisco TelePresence Conductor also works in conjunction with Cisco TelePresence Video Communication Server (VCS) where required; for example to support H.323/SIP interworking and/or provide firewall traversal.
Cisco TelePresence Conductor offers many benefits:
• Supports service differentiation, allowing administrators to define specific classes of service for conference attendees to ensure that conferences are effectively delivered to maximize the value each attendee gains
• Simplified administration through virtualization and intelligent optimization* of multipoint resources eases the administration and management with conference configuration
• Supports spontaneous, rendezvous (MeetMe) and scheduled conferencing modes to help ensure that the user experience is always consistent irrespective of user, meeting type, and endpoint
• Allows conferences to dynamically grow and even exceed the capacity of individual conferencing resources, ideal for larger conferences, or when the number of participants expected on a conference is unknown
• Scales from small businesses to large enterprises, supporting expansion as usage increases.
* Only supported on Cisco TelePresence Server
Cisco TelePresence Conductor is available as a virtualized application running on Cisco Unified Computing System™ (Cisco UCS®) platforms or 3rd party server platforms. Alternatively it is available as a dedicated appliance (Figure 2).
Figure 2. Cisco TelePresence Conductor Appliance
Features of Cisco TelePresence Conductor include:
• Supports the industry-leading Cisco TelePresence Server and Cisco TelePresence MCUs
• Offers conference virtualization: Cisco TelePresence Conductor dynamically selects the most appropriate Cisco TelePresence resources for each new conference
• Pooled resource orchestration and load balancing means that having a TelePresence Server or an MCU out of service need not affect service availability
• Up to three Cisco TelePresence Conductors can be clustered together to further improve resilience
• Customizable templates to define the exact characteristics of a conference, tailored for each participant: The solution handles the differing demands and service entitlements of conference attendees
• Conference personalization helps ensure the conferencing experience is tailored to meet each user's personal preferences for settings such as layout and personal identification numbers (PINs)
• Cisco conference modes supported include:
– Meeting: The conference has one type of participant, and all participants are given the same priority
– Lecture: There are two types of participants with different levels of priority; each participant type has a different alias to dial in to the conference
– Role configuration for conference attendees: Chairperson, Guest or Participant
• Supports dynamic conference growth
• Supports dynamic conference growth and ad-hoc conference escalations, allowing dynamic two-way to three-way conferencing
System Capacity
• Cisco TelePresence Conductor software can be downloaded as a virtualized application and installed without a release key in limited capacity mode for development and test purposes, enabling conference resource orchestration for a single, unclustered Cisco TelePresence Server or Cisco TelePresence MCU.
• Support in limited capacity mode is provided through Cisco Support Community forums only. For deployment in production environments Cisco recommends customers purchase a separate support agreement and upgrade to a fully licenced installation of TelePresence Conductor
• Up to thirty MCUs or TelePresence Servers or 2,400 calls are supported by one fully licenced Cisco TelePresence Conductor appliance or cluster.
• Up to three Cisco TelePresence Conductor appliances or virtualized applications may be clustered to provide resilience
System Specifications
Table 1. Specifications of Cisco TelePresence Conductor
User interface
• Supports the following web browsers: Internet Explorer 8 or 9, Firefox 3 or later, Google Chrome, Safari
Supported Cisco Unified CM and Cisco VCS versions
• Supports CUCM 8.6.2 or later
• Supports Cisco VCS Version X6.0 or later
Management interfaces
• Supports industry standards such as RS-232, Secure HTTP (HTTPS), XML, Simple Network Management Protocol(SNMP), secure copy (SCP), and Secure Shell (SSH) Protocol
• Supports embedded setup wizard on serial port for initial configuration
• Supports scheduling, management and monitoring of Cisco TelePresence Conductor Conferences with Cisco TelePresence Management Suite (TMS) version 14.1 or later
• Supports call logging and diagnostics
• Supports logging to a syslog server
Resilience
• Can be deployed in triple-redundant cluster
• Supports duplicated databases and supports duplicated data
TelePresence Server and MCU support
• Supports Cisco TelePresence Server 7010 v3.0 or later
• Supports Cisco TelePresence Server MSE 8710 v3.0 or later
• Supports Cisco TelePresence MCU 4200 Series Version 4.2 or later
• Supports Cisco TelePresence MCU 4500 Series Version 4.2 or later
• Supports Cisco TelePresence MCU 4501 Series Version 4.2 or later
• Supports Cisco TelePresence MCU 5300 Series Version 4.3 or later
• Supports Cisco TelePresence MCU MSE 8420 SD Version 4.2 or later
• Supports Cisco TelePresence MCU MSE 8510 HD Version 4.2 or later
Server requirements for Conductor Virtualized Application
• Cisco UCS B- or C- Series Servers or 3rd Party Servers that meet the minimum requirements
• VMware vSphere or vCentre server running ESXi v4.1 or 5.0 update 1
• Two 2GHz (min) Host CPU Cores per TelePresence Conductor Virtual Machine (VM); 6GB RAM per VM; 132GB Disk Space per VM (4GB virtual Disk 1 plus 128GB virtual Disk 2)
• For full configuration and requirement details see the Cisco TelePresence Conductor Deployment Guide
Cisco TelePresence Conductor Appliance
Physical dimensions (H x W x D)
• 1.72 x 16.8 x 18 in. (43.5 x 426 x 457.2 mm)
• 1-rack-unit (1RU) rack-mount chassis
Interfaces
• Four 10/100/1000 BASE-TX Ethernet ports (RJ-45) (front)
• One RS-232 console port (RJ-45) (front)
Weight
• 17.6 lb (8 kg) (unpacked)
Power
• Auto-sensing 250W (maximum) 580 BTU per hour power supply
• 90-264 VAC full range at 47 or 63 Hz
Cooling system
• Five 1.58-in. (40-mm) fans for system cooling
System control and indications
• One power LED, One alarm LED, Four act/link/10/100/1000 LEDs on Ethernet ports
• One power on/off switch (rear)
Environmental data
• Operating temperatures: 32 to 104°F (0 to 40°C)
• Storage temperatures: -4 to 140ºF (-20 to 60ºC)
• Relative humidity: 10 to 90% (noncondensing)
Certification
• LVD 73/23/EC
• EMC 89/366/ECC
Approvals and compliance
• Directive 73/23/EEC (Low Voltage Directive)
• Directive 89/336/EEC (EMC Directive)
• Standards EN 60950, EN 55022 Class A, EN 55024, EN 61000-3-2/-3-3
• Approved according to UL 60950 and CAN/CSA C22.2 No. 60950
Cisco offers a wide range of services programs to accelerate customer success. These innovative services programs are delivered through a unique combination of people, processes, tools, and partners, resulting in high levels of customer satisfaction. Cisco Services help you to protect your network investment, optimize network operations, and prepare your network for new applications to extend network intelligence and the power of your business. For more information about Cisco Services, visit Cisco Technical Support Services or Cisco Telepresence Services online.
This product includes software developed by Computing Services at Carnegie Mellon University. This product includes software developed by the University of California, Berkeley, and its contributors.
