Web conferencing for Cisco® Unified MeetingPlace® voice and video conferencing.
PRODUCT OVERVIEW
Cisco® Unified MeetingPlace® conferencing-part of the Cisco Unified Communications family of products-is a complete rich-media conferencing solution that integrates voice, video, and Web conferencing capabilities to make remote meetings as natural and effective as face-to-face meetings for increased productivity. The Cisco Unified MeetingPlace solution is deployed on-network, behind the firewall and integrated directly into an organization's private voice and data networks and enterprise applications, to provide significant cost savings, security, and a superior user experience.
The Cisco Unified Communications family of voice, video, and IP communications products and applications helps organizations communicate more effectively-helping streamline business processes, reach the right resource the first time, and increase profitability.
Cisco Unified MeetingPlace 5.4 Web Conferencing is a core component of the Cisco Unified MeetingPlace solution that allows users to share content and collaborate with colleagues and offers easy setup, attendance, and management of rich-media conferences (Figure 1).
Figure 1. Manage Voice, Video, and Web Conferences from a Single Browser Window that Displays Participants and Shared Content for Viewing and Collaboration
Leading enterprises and government organizations use Cisco Unified MeetingPlace conferencing to expand their market reach, improve operational effectiveness, and speed decision making. Common applications include collaborative meetings, sales demonstrations, product development, support, training, and presentations.
Cisco Unified MeetingPlace conferencing can be deployed in a variety of ways-on-premises or hosted in offsite facilities and customer managed or outsourced. Outsourcing can provide system administration and end-user help desk functions for on-premises or hosted systems-combining all the benefits of dedicated on-network conferencing with the convenience of outsourced services.
KEY FEATURES AND BENEFITS
As part of the Cisco Unified MeetingPlace rich-media conferencing solution, Cisco Unified MeetingPlace 5.4 Web Conferencing allows users to set up and conduct effective, productive virtual meetings involving voice, video, and Web conferencing.
Tightly Integrated Rich-Media Conference Scheduling and Attendance
For easy setup and attendance of integrated voice, video, and Web conferences, Cisco Unified MeetingPlace offers a Web browser interface and advanced, proven integration with Microsoft Outlook and IBM Lotus Notes calendars. Meeting invitees automatically receive notification by e-mail or calendar invitation and can attend rich-media conferences with a single click. Cisco Unified MeetingPlace also allows users to initiate rich-media conferences, including video, from secure instant messaging (IM) clients such as Jabber Messenger and from touch-tone and Cisco Unified IP phones.
The Cisco Unified MeetingPlace solution integrates industry-leading video setup and control capabilities to meet the needs of organizations looking for a single enterprise-class solution and user environment for voice, video, and Web conferencing. Video setup includes the ability to reserve capacity on multiple Cisco Unified Videoconferencing Multipoint Control Units (MCUs) to search for, check availability of, and schedule specific video terminals that automatically connect to the MCU when the meeting starts; and to select from multiple, preconfigured service codes that define bandwidth, video layout, and access restrictions on a per-meeting basis.
Advanced Rich-Media Conference Control
Cisco Unified MeetingPlace tightly integrates voice, video, and Web conferencing for advanced in-meeting control (Figure 2). Without disrupting a meeting, users know who is attending, how they are attending (voice, video, or Web), who is speaking, and who is sharing. To help ensure that meetings run smoothly, users with the appropriate privileges can control a broad range of meeting characteristics, including Web conferencing permissions, speaking permissions (such as mute and listen only), recording, and meeting security. Users can control their personal meeting environments, including muting and unmuting their phones, the video layout of their endpoints, play and pause of video, and private discussions. When a user chooses to leave or is ejected from a meeting, all media types-voice, video, and Web-are disconnected simultaneously.
Figure 2. To See Who Is Speaking, Sharing, and Participating in the Voice, Video, and Web Conference, Click a Menu Option
Powerful Web Conferencing
From a firewall-friendly browser console, users can share any application, document, Website, whiteboard, or presentation for participants to view, annotate, and discuss in real time. For highly interactive meetings, participants can pass control of the shared application securely. Users can co-browse and simultaneously access streaming media. Chat and polling capabilities allow private communication and group feedback.
Rich-Media Conference Recordings
Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web Conferencing securely captures and stores meeting recordings. From either the phone or Web interface, users can initiate recording of their meetings and can play back synchronized Web and voice meeting recordings using common Web browsers-no separate hardware or software is required.
Secure Web Conferencing
Security-conscious organizations use Cisco Unified MeetingPlace conferencing. Cisco Unified MeetingPlace conferencing combines on-net conferencing with advanced architectural and application security. Unlike Internet-based conferencing services, the Cisco Unified MeetingPlace solution allows users to isolate internal meetings behind the firewall, while making meetings with partners, customers, and suppliers Internet accessible. Meetings can be encrypted, access can be limited to specific users, and a variety of in-meeting security settings can be used to keep out unwanted participants.
Proven Deployment and Self-Help Tools
Cisco Unified MeetingPlace 5.4 Web Conferencing includes extensive deployment and self-help tools. The Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Reference Center, a Web-based self-help portal included with all Cisco Unified MeetingPlace systems, includes quick-start tools, reference cards, self-paced learning modules, meeting tips, and application examples. Customers can readily configure the Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Reference Center and customize the self-help tools to reflect their preferences and company-specific information.
PRODUCT ARCHITECTURE
Rich-Media Conferencing
The Cisco Unified MeetingPlace 5.4 Web Conferencing application is run on one or more Cisco Media Convergence Servers (MCSs) as part of a Cisco Unified MeetingPlace solution. Using the IP network, the software communicates with a Cisco Unified MeetingPlace 8100 Series Audio Server and integrates with Cisco Unified MeetingPlace for Microsoft Outlook, Cisco Unified MeetingPlace for IBM Lotus Notes, Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Video Integration, Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) E-Mail Gateway, and Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Instant Messaging. Refer to the respective datasheets for more information about these integrations.
Secure Web Conferencing
Unlike shared conferencing services that can be accessed by anyone on the Internet, Cisco Unified MeetingPlace 5.4 Web Conferencing can be deployed on multiple servers, both inside the corporate firewall in a less-secured network area. This deployment flexibility allows an organization to secure its confidential meetings behind its firewall and have the flexibility to meet with partners and customers using the same familiar system.
High Availability
Cisco Unified MeetingPlace 5.4 Web Conferencing servers can be clustered for system scaling, load balancing, and failover. In a load-balanced deployment, meetings automatically are started on the least-loaded server, and if a server fails, meetings automatically resume on alternate servers.
SYSTEM CAPACITY
Cisco Unified MeetingPlace 5.4 Web Conferencing can support up to 1152 concurrent Web conferencing users with a cluster of Cisco MCSs. Each server in a cluster can support up to 200 concurrent Web conferencing users; the maximum meeting size is 150 for presentation sharing meetings and 100 for application sharing meetings (see "Web Conferencing" later in this document).
FEATURES
Rich-Media Conferencing
• Integrated voice conferencing-Cisco Unified MeetingPlace 5.4 Web Conferencing integrates with the Cisco Unified MeetingPlace 8100 Series Audio Server voice conferencing platform to provide an integrated voice and Web conferencing solution.
• Integrated video conferencing-With Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Video Integration, Cisco Unified MeetingPlace 5.4 Web Conferencing integrates with Cisco Unified Videoconferencing systems to provide an integrated voice, video, and Web conferencing solution.
• Integrated IM-With Cisco Unified MeetingPlace for Jabber Messaging Integration, users can easily initiate integrated voice, video, and Web conferences from Jabber Messenger.
Meeting Management
• Meeting console-Cisco Unified MeetingPlace conferencing provides a browser-based interface to manage the voice, video, and Web elements of meetings, as well as to share content (see "Web Conferencing" later in this document).
• Personal controls-Meeting participants can call out to their phone or video endpoints, mute and unmute themselves, pause and play video, change their video layout from active speaker to multiple videos (continuous presence), disconnect from video, move to breakouts (phone), and leave the meeting (which disconnects their voice, video, and Web sessions).
• Meeting controls-The meeting organizer can change voice and Web conferencing permissions, mute and unmute others, mute all participants, pause and play video from others, rename users, move the meeting from an internal to an external Web server, record the meeting, change voice conference announcements, lock the meeting, eject users, and end the meeting.
• Real-time identification of speaker and sharer-Users can view a list of who is speaking and sharing at any given moment.
• Participant list-Lists all voice, video, and Web conference participants with associated annotation colors and permission icons.
• Chat-Users can send public and private text messages within open-forum meetings (see the discussion of open-forum and lecture-style meetings later in this document). In lecture-style meetings, presenters can chat with anyone, and audience members can chat only with presenters.
• Use tracking-Separately track meeting console use and general Web conferencing use for billing purposes.
Web Conferencing
• Presentations-Users can share or view PowerPoint presentations using only a Web browser under Windows, Mac OS, or UNIX.
• Annotations and whiteboards-Users can annotate shared applications, presentations, and whiteboards.
• Application and desktop sharing-Users can share any document or application or their desktops from Windows (browser or T.120), Mac OS (Safari browser), or UNIX (T.120).
• Remote control-When allowed, users can take control remotely of a shared application, presentation, document, Web site, or desktop to collaborate or provide remote assistance.
• Polling-Polling allows users to gather feedback and make decisions quickly. Participants can create polls, surveys, and brainstorming sessions before a meeting or in real time during a meeting. Presenters can administer polls and manage the display of results using bar charts, pie charts, and lists of anonymous or named responses. Results are available during and after the meeting.
• Customizable view-Attendees can view all shared content and controls in one window, or they can hide participant information and chat to maximize their view of shared content.
• Recording-Users can automatically record and play back synchronized Web and voice meeting content without the need for additional hardware or software at the desktop. Voice recordings can be stored as Waveform Audio (WAV), MPEG Layer 3 (MP3), or Windows Media files.
Meeting Setup and Attendance
• Reservationless meetings-Always available voice, video, and Web conferences can be set up with a personalized meeting ID for each designated user. Reservationless meetings can be configured as internal or external meetings, and a maximum number of ports can be set for a reservationless meeting.
• Video scheduling and attendance-Integrated rich-media meetings can be scheduled with voice, Web, and multiple video Cisco Unified Videoconferencing Multipoint Control Units (MCUs), and video terminals. Users can also search the directory for, check the availability of, and schedule specific video terminals that are automatically outdialed from a Cisco Unified Videoconferencing MCU when the meeting starts. Users can also setup video-only meetings that connect through an MCU or that are point-to-point video calls. User can select from multiple, preconfigured service codes that define bandwidth, video layout, and access restrictions.
• Open-forum and lecture-style meetings-Cisco Unified MeetingPlace conferencing allows users to set up open-forum meetings for small, peer-oriented meetings such as project and staff meetings, and lecture-style meetings for large, controlled meetings such as presentations and training sessions. In lecture-style meetings, only designated individuals can speak and present, whereas in open-forum meetings, all users by default have speaking and presentation permissions. In both meeting types, the meeting organizer can change user permissions as needed.
• Invitations-Calendar or e-mail invitations are automatically distributed to invited participants with the information needed to attend the integrated rich-media conference.
• Point-and-click attendance-Users attend voice, video, and Web conferences directly from their calendar, e-mail notification, URL link, IM, or browser.
Security
• Dedicated, on-network system-Each customer is provided with a dedicated Cisco Unified MeetingPlace system that is integrated into the organization's private network.
• Internet lock-out controls-Meetings can be set up either as internal meetings and held entirely behind the corporate firewall, or as external meetings, which are also accessible to Internet participants. Administrators and meeting organizers have complete control.
• Access authentication-Meeting organizers can require that participants authenticate themselves using individual logins to attend a meeting or to access the documents and recordings for a meeting. In addition, the Cisco Unified MeetingPlace system can automatically block out users after multiple failed login attempts.
• Automated account management-Cisco Unified MeetingPlace conferencing integrates with corporate directories, automatically removing accounts of employees who leave the company. For more details, see the Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Directory Integration Data Sheet.
• Single sign-on-Single sign-on simplifies user authentication. Windows Integrated Authentication and LDAP authentication are supported for easy, secure access.
• Encryption-Cisco Unified MeetingPlace conferencing supports encrypted Web pages and Web conferencing traffic using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL).
• In-session meeting controls-Meeting organizers can change voice and Web conferencing permissions, specify announced entry and departure, require passwords, lock the meeting, and eject unwanted attendees.
• Public key infrastructure (PKI) support- Cisco Unified MeetingPlace conferencing supports PKI certificates between the client and the Web server.
Enhanced Access
• Common interface-The Cisco Unified MeetingPlace solution is accessible from standard Java-enabled Web browsers (Windows, Mac OS, and UNIX), telephones (public switched telephone network [PSTN], private branch exchange [PBX], IP, and wireless), and standards-based video endpoints (H.323, H.320, and Skinny Client Control Protocol [SCCP]).
• Java-less mode-To maximize the number of users who can participate in Web conferences, Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web Conferencing provides presentation support for users with browsers lacking Java.
• Firewall friendly-HTTP and HTTPS tunneling technology allows users behind firewalls to participate in Web conferences.
• Connection-speed detection-Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web Conferencing automatically detects the user connection speed and optimizes the Web conference performance to accommodate the available bandwidth.
Additional Features
• Configurable user interface-System administrators easily can show or hide fields and change English text and field labels.
• Multilanguage support-Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web Conferencing supports English, Japanese, French, German, Spanish (Latin America), and Portuguese (Brazil).
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
Table 1 lists the system requirements for Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web Conferencing.
Table 1. System Requirements
Feature
Requirements
Hardware
Voice conferencing platform
• Cisco Unified MeetingPlace 8100Series Audio Server
Videoconferencing platform
• Cisco Unified Videoconferencing (optional)
Web conferencing platform
• Part numbers MCS-7835-H1-RC1 or MCS-7835-I1-RC1 (media convergence servers)
• Supports up to 50 Web conferencing licenses per server
• Part numbers MCS-7845-H1-RC1 or MCS-7845-I1-RC1
• Supports up to 200 Web conferencing licenses per server
Server Software
Included with Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web Conferencing software
• Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
• Microsoft SQL Server 2000
Customer-provided third-party software
• Microsoft PowerPoint 2003 (required for part number MP-WEBCONFSW-5.4)
• XingMP3 Encoder (optional; provides MP3 voice recording using the Web interface)
• Windows ME, Windows 2000 Pro/SE/AS SP2, Windows XP, or Windows 2003
• Internet Explorer 5.5 SP2 or later
• Netscape 7.1* or later
• Firefox 1.5
• Microsoft Java Virtual Machine (JVM) 3309 or later (Internet Explorer 5.5)
• Microsoft JVM 3802 or later (Internet Explorer 6.0)
• Sun Java Runtime Environment (JRE) 1.4.2 or later
Mac OS
• Mac OS 10 or later**
• Netscape 7.1*** or later, Safari 1.2* or later
• Sun JRE 1.4.2 or later
UNIX
• Solaris 9 or later
• Netscape 7.1*** or later
• Sun JRE 1.4.2 or later
*Users can present, view, annotate, whiteboard, collaborate, and share applications, Websites, desktops, and presentations as well as chat.
**Mac OS X 10.3 or later is required to share an application from a Macintosh.
***Users can present, view, annotate, whiteboard, and collaborate using applications, Websites, desktops, and presentations as well as chat.
ORDERING INFORMATION
Table 2 lists the ordering information for Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web Conferencing. The software and user licenses can be ordered as options with any Cisco Unified MeetingPlace 8106 or 8112 Series bundle or as options for the bundle with part number MP-LICENSE-UPG. To place an order, visit the Cisco Ordering Home Page.
Table 2. Ordering Information
Product Name
Part Number
Cisco Unified MeetingPlace 5.4 Conference User Interface (included in Cisco Unified MeetingPlace system bundles; includes five concurrent Web conferencing user licenses)
MP-CONF-UI-5.4
Cisco Unified MeetingPlace 5.4 Web Conferencing (includes 20 concurrent Web conferencing user licenses)
MP-WEBCONFSW-5.4
Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web Conferencing User License Bundle (includes 20 user licenses)
MP-WEB-UL-20
Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web-Voice Recording System License
MP-RM-RECORDING
SERVICE AND SUPPORT
Cisco Systems® 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 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, refer to Cisco Technical Support Services or Cisco Advanced Services.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
For more information about Cisco Unified MeetingPlace conferencing, visit http://www.cisco.com/go/meetingplace or contact your local account representative.
