MeetingPlace 8.0 / 8.5 web conferencing without ANY connection to cloud

[jritmanis]

Already some time I am trying to find out if MeetingPlace 8.0 / 8.5 or any other newer versions are able to host internal and external web meetings without any connection to WebEx cloud like 7.0 version. Could somebady clarify if it is possible or not ?

[Tim Smith]

Hi,

Currently..

MP7 can do local on-premise web conferencing

MP8 can only do Webex, but internal web users can be hosted on-premise with Webex node for MCS (Video is always mixed in the cloud)

There is no local option in MP8, it is Webex for web or nothing.

I've only seen basic info on 8.5 so I'm not sure, but direction seems very Webex focussed.

I'm actually thinking the full on-prem solution may be dead.

Instead they will focus on enhancing the cloud, and maybe off-loading some more functionality onto on-prem node components.

I'm looking forward to 8.5 to see what improvements they make.

Cheers,

Tim.

[Rhonda Shepard]

MeetingPlace 7.0 and 8.0 also integrate with IBM Sametime Web Conferencing, which would be on-net.

[Tiberie Kirijas]

What about "Web Meetings Launched from Cisco Unified PersonalCommunicator" ??

On this link: http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/voice_ip_comm/meetingplace/8_5/english/userguide/b_mp85_userguide_chapter_00.html#c_aboutshareonlymeetingsusingciscounifiedpersonalcommunicator

"Cisco Unified Personal Communicator users can launch ad-hoc web meetings from their Cisco Unified Personal Communicator clients to share and collaborate on a whiteboard, desktop, application, or document. These ad-hoc meetings do not include Cisco Unified MeetingPlace audio. Users can not dial in to the meeting or dial out to a phone from the meeting room."

[jsmcniel88]

Web meetings from CUPC utilize webex meeting rooms which would require a webex Meeting Center host license.

Meeting Place 8.5 has some different licensing. This is what we found during our implementation:

If you buy the minimum it is 25 "Host" users. These are users that use web, video and personal meeting rooms. Audio only users do not take up these licenses so you can configure as many people to schedule and dial in only as you want.

I tested the audio only users with CUPC and if the user tries to initiate the conference from CUPC they receive a error.

If the user is configured as a "Host" on webex then CUPC will throw each contact involved in your chat session into a meeting center room. It is truly awesome.

This was sent to me while I was implementing our 8.5 with WebEx.

If I am wrong about this I would be glad to hear other wise. The 8.5 WebEx licensing is so new that getting a good answer was a long path to follow.

[Rhonda Shepard]

The discussion was about how to have web conferences with MeetingPlace audio without going to the Cloud.  MP 8.5 with WebEx (even with the WebEx Node) still uses the Cloud for external meetings. 

jritmanis, the next collaboration solution from Cisco (not named yet) is expected out at the end of this year and will have a solution similar to MP Web 7.x and lower (customer owned license based, instead of subscription based).

This should solve the issues that customers have with conferencing in the cloud.

[jritmanis]

Thanks for the update.
These are really great news.

[Tiberie Kirijas]

Thank you jsmcniel88 for the information.

As I understood the concept, MP 8.5 with WebEx (even with the WebEx Node) still uses the Cloud not just for external meetings, also for internal meetings too. The Web Conferencing data is mixed in the Cloud. Just the Audio and MP Video is done on the Node (wheatear MCS or ASR). If it's WebEx video, than the video too gets mixed in the Cloud.

[acidburn82]

Yes, as far as I know, then it will be a new solution for onpremises based conferencing. Forgot the name, but it was good. smth like quant, quot, qwint.. don't know.

[Tim Smith]

Sorry slight correction..

Tiberie Kirijas wrote:
Thank you jsmcniel88 for the information.
As I understood the concept, MP 8.5 with WebEx (even with the WebEx Node) still uses the Cloud not just for external meetings, also for internal meetings too. The Web Conferencing data is mixed in the Cloud. Just the Audio and MP Video is done on the Node (wheatear MCS or ASR). If it's WebEx video, than the video too gets mixed in the Cloud.

Node for MCS mixes the Web Conferencing part only.

If you have MeetingPlace, then this would mix your audio (although with 8.5 you can also have another audio provider attached to your WebEx site as well - i.e. WebEx audio - you simply select provider when scheduling)

WebEx video is mixed in the cloud, unless you have node for ASR - I believe this can mix video on board.

So with WebEx, MeetingPlace and Node for ASR you can have an internal meeting that does not hit the cloud.

With Node for MCS you could do the same exlcuding WebEx video.

Cheers,

Tim.