On-premise Jabber for Windows video conferencing

[Nadav]

Hi everyone,

I'm new to UC video conferencing and I've read up that most Cisco video endpoints in an on-premise deployment use a Telepresence Server (optionally with a Conductor) to bridge video calls. However, from the latest SRND and Jabber Planning guide I understand that you can't use the TPS server for Jabber videoconferencing but rather you must have a separate server called CWMS.

If a CWMS is necessary on-premise, then must I have both a CWMS and a TPS in an environment where Jabber phones and desktop/immersive endpoints are expected to conference? Is there any intelligent way to manage CWMS resources such as a Conductor, or is the deployment static such as via a Media Resource Group?

Thanks for your time :)

[Jaime Valencia · Accepted solution]

In my lab I've done videoconferences with a virtual TP server and conductor with J4W without any issue, where did you read you cannot use it??

[Nadav]

Hey Jaime,

1) Take a look at the Deployment guide for Jabber 11.0, specifically chapter 10. The only On-Prem deployment that is discussed is CWMS.

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/voice_ip_comm/jabber/11_0/CJAB_BK_D657A25F_00_deployment-installation-guide-jabber-110.pdf

2) In the Jabber 11.0 Planning Guide, the beginning of chapter 3 specifically mentions only CWMS as the On-Prem video conferencing method:

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/voice_ip_comm/jabber/11_0/CJAB_BK_C04C09E7_00_cisco-jabber-110-planning-guide.pdf

It states: "Cisco WebEx Meetings Server - Provides on-premises meeting capabilities". This solution is elaborated in detail throughout this section of the chapter.

From reading these guides and the latest SRND, the impression I'm given is that not only is CWMS the only On-prem solution, but there is no way to integrate between video conferences on Jabber for Windows with other telepresence endpoints in the organization. Only by snooping around in forums and presentations did I hear of Webex Enabled Telepresence. WETP in itself isn't a comfortable solution since it entails installing a TMS in order to create scheduled conferences, which doesn't provide an ad-hoc solution nor a native integration of jabber clients to existing telepresence infrastructure.

I would appreciate a formal response from a Cisco employee on this matter since the documentation has led me to believe that Cisco will only support expensive and complex infrastructure for video conferencing on-prem with jabber in a heterogeneous environment. I also think the documentation should be updated in all documents if there is indeed missing information on the matter.

Hope this didn't sound like a rant :)

[Jaime Valencia]

Let's start by the fact that meeting is NOT the same as a conference

And yes, the Jabber documentation points to CWMS, or WebEx on the cloud for the conferencing server, it does sound confusing, it really should mean the meetings server

That has NOTHING to do with the actual HW/SW where you hold ad-hoc or meet-me conferences. For that you can use PVDM3+ or TP without any issue.

[Nadav]

I see, maybe you can help clear things up a bit Jaime since going over the documentation hasn't elucidated the matter entirely. Here are a few use cases which I'd like to know whether or not they are supported:

1) People meet up in a CMR, and then coworkers with Jabber for Windows wish to join.

2) People want to have an ad-hoc meeting between Jabber for Windows and other video endpoints (DX-series, Video-enabled deskphones...).

3) Several Jabber for windows clients want to meet up in a CMR of their own.

4) Several Jabber for windows clients want to meet up in an ad-hoc video conference.

Are all of these supported On-Premise without a Meetings server, needing only UCM+IM&P+TP+Conductor?

Which video endpoints on-premise can join and create a meeting, generally speaking?

Is Webex Enabled Telepresence required at all in any of these situations? Is it for cloud deployments only?

Thanks a lot for your valuable time :)