A beginner's guide to Pexip Infinity
If you're new to video conferencing, or just to Pexip Infinity, this section covers the basics of what you need to know about the Pexip Infinity solution.
What is Pexip Infinity?
Pexip Infinity is a scalable, secure video conferencing platform designed for organizations that need control over their communications. It offers its own native web-based video client, and the ability to create and configure your own meeting rooms hosted directly on the platform. You can also use Pexip Infinity to connect any video device (regardless of protocol) to any video meeting — whether hosted on Pexip Infinity or another provider such as Microsoft Teams, Zoom, or Google Meet.
The Pexip Infinity platform is supplied as software that you install on standard servers, either on-premises or in the cloud. Its distributed architecture is designed to allow as many of these servers as required to be spread around a range of locations, providing videoconferencing resource where and when it is required, reducing bandwidth usage across your organization.
Why shouldn't I use what I have now?
Many free video calling and video conferencing solutions exist, but they often lack the security, flexibility, and scalability required for organizations with strict operational and compliance requirements. There may be limitations to the number of people who can connect into a single meeting; a lack of cross-platform support (for example, for connections from others not using the same solution, or wanting to use devices such as telephones); and concerns over data sovereignty that make these solutions unsuitable.
What to look for in a videoconferencing solution
There are many things you should consider when deciding upon a videoconferencing solution.
Security
Security is a critical consideration when choosing a video conferencing platform. Pexip Infinity is designed for organizations that need full control over meeting access, user authentication, and data handling. Whether you need to comply with government or industry regulations regarding data retention, data sovereignty, or personally identifiable information (for example GDPR, HIPAA,or FedRAMP), or deploy in air-gapped environments, Pexip Infinity ensures your communications stay private and secure.
Pexip Infinity integrates with standard single sign-on (SSO) Identity Providers to give you granular control of who can configure the platform and access meetings. And because Pexip Infinity software can be installed on any compatible server, you decide where and how it is deployed — from completely air-gapped environments, on-premises datacenters, through to sovereign, private, or public clouds, or a hybrid approach.
Customization
Out-of-the box solutions may not meet your organization's specific workflow and security requirements, and often can't be customized to reflect your organization's branding. Pexip Infinity gives you complete control over the configuration and use of your video environment via a web-based Administrator interface and extensive APIs. The native web-based client is also fully customizable and brandable, allowing you to control the look, feel and functionality available to end users.
Lets any device talk to any other
Most organizations have a mix of endpoints that are used to make video calls. Meeting participants might want to call from a dedicated meeting room equipped with a big-screen video endpoint; a desktop client such as Skype for Business; a web browser; or even a telephone. In the past, these systems weren't able to connect to each other. But Pexip Infinity can act as an interpreter for all these systems, allowing participants to use whatever device they prefer to call in to a meeting. We even offer our own desktop, mobile and web-based clients for those users who don't have access to traditional video devices.
Virtual meeting rooms for everyone
Pexip Infinity Virtual Meeting Rooms (VMRs) are always available and ready for use. VMRs that aren't currently being used don't take up any resources, so you can create one for every person in your organization. Whenever someone wants to hold a meeting over video, they can just invite the participants into their VMR.
Making direct calls to other people or other meeting platforms
Pexip Infinity doesn't just provide VMRs – the Infinity Gateway feature also allows users to make direct calls to each other. This is particularly significant if the two people on the call are using different video devices or solutions that would not otherwise be able to connect to each other.
It also lets you join meetings that are running on other systems such as Microsoft Teams, Zoom, or Google Meet.
Registering your device so it can be called
If you have access to a video endpoint, you can usually use it to make outbound calls. However, if you want to be able to receive calls, you need to register your device and the address that can be used to find it, so that others can make calls to it. There are special systems that can handle registrations within an organization, but Pexip Infinity has this functionality built in.
Integrations
Your organization may already be using many standard enterprise products for scheduling meetings, providing authentication, and managing user accounts. Pexip Infinity integrates with many of these products, allowing you to make use of the resources you already have.
The advantages of software
Latest features
Because Pexip Infinity is simply software, you have immediate access to the latest releases and all the new features – for free. Just download the software and install it on your servers – it really is that simple.
Add and remove resources as required
As long as you have access to computing resources – either on-premises servers or cloud-based solutions such as AWS or Azure – you can create additional instances of Pexip Infinity to provide any additional capacity, as and when required, and in a matter of minutes. This can even happen automatically.
Next steps
- Choosing a deployment environment explains your options for deploying Pexip Infinity on your own servers or on a cloud service.
- Our installation guides then provide full information about how to obtain and install the Pexip Infinity software on your chosen platform.