Can a MultiSITE call be promoted to a MultiWAY call?

[Anthony Thomson]

I have a client that currently has a number of endpoints with Multisite licenses, primarily 6000MXP units.  The client has grown to the point where 6-way calls are no longer adequate, and they're going to have to buy an MCU.

My question is:

Can the client still take advantage of the built-in MCUs in the 6000MXP codecs, and use a MultiSITE call until such time as the participants are too many, and then escalate to a MultiWAY call?

Is there a better way to migrate the client to the use of an MCU, perhaps through the use of personal bridge aliases?

[Martin Koch · Accepted solution]

Hi Anthony!

 
Can the client still take advantage of the built-in MCUs in the 6000MXP codecs, and use a MultiSITE call until such time as the participants are too many, and then escalate to a MultiWAY call?

No, it is not possible to escalate a running Multisite call to a Multiway or MCU call (neither MXP nor C Series).

On endpoints which shall be able to initiate Multiway call it is an exlusive setting, so you have to

either select Multisite, Multiway (or disable Multipoint completly).

In addition Multiway must be supported by the endpoint, most recent Cisco/Tandberg endpoints support to

initiate a Multiway call and many (incl. 3rd party) support to be joined into a Multiway call.

This is also dependent on the software version.

In short, with Multiway you also risk that endpoints which do not support beeing redirected

to the MCU (for example external parties where you do not have conrtol over software versions, ...)

fail beeing joined into the conference.

Is there a better way to migrate the client to the use of an MCU, perhaps through the use of personal bridge aliases?

Is there a better way to migrate the client to the use of an MCU, perhaps through the use of personal bridge aliases?

To exchange the MXP multisite with a Cisco (old Codian) HD MCU is a great idea anyhow, this will not only bring

the capability of bigger conferences but also enhances the quality. Every participant will get its own optimized

video stream instead of the single video stream where the worst participant defines what you will get.

As you said, having personal meeting room numbers (with findme or some vcs rules you can also make named uris,

like firstname.lastname.meetme@company.com), generic virtual meeting rooms or booking via TMS/Scheduler

can be the solution.

[Andrew Vasel]

Martin,

I thought the C-series can allow for both MultiWay and MultiSite to be actively configured on the codec while the MXP's required a choice of either or? Either way, it doesn't solve this particular issue, but I believe you could use a C60 to be scheduled in MultiSite calls but also allow it to be used in an ad-hoc function for MultiWay calls...

[Martin Koch]

Hi Andrew,

you have to differentiate in between the active and passive multiway.

Sure a C60 with multisite can be joined into a multiway call, even if multiway is not configured.

Endpoints only need to support the h323 routeToMC facitliy or SIP REFER.

Anyhow escalating a Multisite call to a Multiway call on TC will not work.

To join others you need the multiway uri and your infrastructure properly configured.

And I just retested it with my EX90, if I have the multiway uri configured it will only use multiway

and loose the multisite capability (even if the license still shows up).

I also remember on a c20 TC4.1, you get an additional audio call, which you will loose again

if the multiway uri is added.

So with the current software versions I  say: Multiway and Multisite still seem to be exclusive features.

[Anthony Thomson]

Thanks Martin.

That's what I thought, but I no longer have a unit with Multisite licensing to actually try it out with.

One thing: the client does not have FindMe.  I'm curious how you would make named URIs via VCS rules.  Or were you simply referring to numbers in this case, probably using a service prefix, assigning 1 number per user type of thing?

[Martin Koch]

Hi Anthony,

Yes, you can do transform or search rules, one for each personal virtual meeting room pointing to a

unique number on the mcu. To use a prefix is anyhow a good idea, reg or service.

If its fine to use more generic names like meetme.10@company.com, meetme.23,meetme.42,...

you can do some regex and handle 100 rooms with one rule :-)

Many like these self explaining names, anyhow the MCU E164 numbers will still work in parallel.

If you have bigger deployments, it will be interesting to see what the TP Conductor will bring in the future:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps11775/index.html

Please vote messages and set it to answered if the question is answered for you. :-)

[Andrew Vasel]

I'll have to test that out. I thought that MultiWay was not available yet on the EX-series. Maybe it came in the latest dot release, and I wasn't paying attention...