Best and most efficient way to create interoperability with CTS TP

[Leuvenink]

I have a question. Our company has a TP installation with the following components:

• CTS 3010, CTS 500, CTS 1100 (multiple) endpoints (total 10+, software 1.8.x)
• CUCM, CTMS, CTS Manager

It is currently a closed system on 1 network.

I am interested in the options to "open up" the Telepresence system to communicate with other platforms, mainly Lync, H.323 (we have about 50 on different networks) and online meeting room facilities (like BlueJeans).

What is the best way to move forward? What are limitations, possibilities? It should be cost effective. Other requirements are:

• Low cost as possible
• Retaining high quality when using just CTS endpoints
• Conferencing and point-to-point
• Presentation sharing

I see three options, but maybe I am missing information:

1. VCS control and VCS expressway (is this limited given the CTS units?)
2. VCS control, connect to BlueJeans and use BlueJeans as sort of MCU
3. VCS + Cisco MCU (high cost)
4. ...

Any suggestions, best practices or even demonstrations would be welcome!

[Nick Halbert-Lillyman]

There's a few things to consider here.

VCS-C and VCS-E will give you both connectivity to the outside world as well as interworking with H323, but unless you or a 3rd party provider has an MCU that supports TIP, your 3-screen endpoints will only connect using a single video stream, in the same way as if you'd done a point to point call between a CTS-3010 and CTS-1100.

Interworking with Lync is a bit more complex and depends on if you are talking about Lync2010 or Lync2013.  Generally, you will need some kind of transcoding between CTS and Lync.  3rd party providers may have this capability but I can't give you specifics.

CTMS can only support TIP capable endpoints (CTS, C-Series, EX, MX, SX running newer software, registered to CUCM).  It's a great product when you have a fully standardised internal deployment but it doesn't really scale past that.

[Lawrence James]

The lowest cost solution in terms of upfront costs is a hosted/managed service plan that would give you the interop required without the upfront cost in the hardware/software you need to for interop.

Or depending on what you budget for high cost is investing in TMS, VCS and a 7000 Series Telepresence Server (TS)

Please take into account that CTMS and CTSMan are pretty much going away and you do not want to keep throwing money and support toward them when you could be putting resouses to a plafrom that has more of a future.

o  TMS and VCSE/VCSC connected to a hosted service that can provide Multipoint, and Lync interop

- this gives some internal control and scheuduling and sets up a platform for interop.    

- is relativly cheap in upfront cost

- depending on the service you may not need TMS and VCSx

o TMS, VCS-C/E, and Telepresence Server

[Leuvenink]

The MCU part could be filled in by BlueJeans I reckon... Not ideal in terms of bandwidth?