What's new in version 30?

Pexip's Cloud Video Interop (CVI) integration with Microsoft Teams has been enhanced:

• Management of the Teams Connector certificate has been improved:

  • The certificate is now stored in the Azure key vault and can be updated without having to redeploy the Teams Connector.
  • New alarms are raised on Pexip Infinity when the Teams Connector certificate is due to expire within the next 30 days, and if it has expired.

• There is a new Teams-like layout for VTC systems that looks and operates in a similar manner to the meeting experience seen by native Teams clients. In this layout, spotlighting, use of avatars for audio-only participants, active speaker indication and raised hand indicators all have a similar look and feel to the native Teams layout. Note that:

  • As with other alternative layouts for Teams interoperability, you have to use policy to apply the layout by setting a "teams" view and enabling the relevant speaker indicators.
  • The layout cannot be customized via themes.
  • It has the same hardware resource usage requirements as the Adaptive Composition layout.
  • This layout is a technology preview feature, and is only recommended for use with Teams gateway calls.
• Content presentation is now stopped if a CVI participant's role is changed to Attendee while it is currently presenting to the conference.

• Other administrative changes are:

  • You must be using Az module version 7.0.0 or later (previously the minimum was 5.1.0).
  • The procedure for uploading Teams Connector logs to Pexportal has changed.

Note that version 30 of the Teams Connector contains updates that necessitate an upgrade to your Pexip platform to ensure compatibility with the latest updates to the Microsoft Teams APIs and to the Teams Connector's latest features. We strongly recommend that you upgrade your Pexip deployment — both the Pexip Infinity platform and the Pexip Teams Connector — to version 30 as soon as practicable.

When a participant raises their hand, an indicator slides out on the left side of the layout, and remains in view while the hand is raised. This applies to classic layouts only (i.e. not supported in Adaptive Composition layouts), and is typically only used by default in Virtual Auditoriums.

There is an associated, new themes graphic icon_raise_hand.svg.

A new release of the Connect web app, "Pexip Connect for Web", is now available. This release includes:

• an updated user interface
• revised join flows — one for regular users, and one for less experienced or "guest" users that guides them through their pre-call setup
• background replacement
• native support for over 20 languages; additional languages can be added by an Administrator
• simplified branding
• noise suppression
• improved troubleshooting

• WCAG 2.0 compliance (for accessibility)

• integrated support for upcoming new Pexip Infinity features.

Administrators can choose which version of the Connect web app is offered to users by default via the Global Settings page. Note that this has resulted in a change in functionality around the how the default web app is determined, and the preconfigured URLs used to access the web app.

Additionally, users themselves can elect to use a specific web app version by appending /webapp1/, /webapp2/ or /webapp3/ to the IP address or domain name of a Conferencing Node (or reverse proxy), for example:
https://meet.pexample.com/webapp3/

About Connect web app versions

Using Pexip Connect for Web

The Connect web apps now support sharing audio when you share your screen in a conference.

When you select Share my screen, there is a new option to Share system audio (if you share your entire screen), or Share tab audio (if you share a browser tab).

Supported on Chrome and Edge browsers only. On Mac and Linux, you can only share audio from a browser tab. On Windows you can share either system audio or browser tab audio.

Pexip's Google Meet integration has been enhanced:

• Background noise is now removed from the audio streams. This feature is enabled by default but can be configured via a new Denoise audio setting when configuring the Call Routing Rule for Google Meet integrations. There is also an associated new built_in_denoising object in the vendordata.json theme customization file where you can identify any endpoints that perform their own built-in denoising.
• If a Google Meet conference is transcribed, relevant audio prompts indicating that transcribing has been started/stopped are played to callers who are gatewayed via Pexip Infinity into the conference, and a transcribing indicator is displayed.
• VTC participants can now use DTMF/keypad controls to control the meeting layout during an ongoing conference.

End-to-end encrypted calls between two WebRTC participants now supports the following additional features:

• A conference can now be escalated beyond the two WebRTC participants (using any call protocol such as WebRTC or SIP for the additional participants, including via dial-out from the conference) but this means the call is no longer a Direct Media call and instead is a standard, transcoded call with media sent via Conferencing Nodes. In conference history, the original participants are shown as being transferred to a new call. If the call de-escalates back to two WebRTC participants then it becomes a Direct Media call again.
• Support is now provided for chat, Connect app clients that are registered to Pexip Infinity, and joining as audio-only, and presentation and control-only connections.
• When defining (in a system location) the Client TURN servers that will be provisioned to Connect app WebRTC clients, there is a new Enforce media routing via a client TURN server option that, when selected, forces the WebRTC client to route its media through one of the specified client TURN servers.
• Media stream details and a Direct Media status flag are available when viewing participant status/history via the Administrator interface, and calls can now be monitored via Live View.

This is still a technology preview feature and can be enabled via Platform > Global settings > Tech preview features > Enable Direct Media, and then by enabling Direct Media on each required VMR (in the Advanced options section).

Tech preview features

Configuring Virtual Meeting Rooms (VMRs)

Using TURN servers with Pexip Infinity

Softmute is advanced speech-aware audio gating which helps to minimize noise coming from a participant who has their microphone turned on in a conference, but is not speaking. If non-voice noise is detected, this feature softens the gain from that participant. It does not entirely suppress noise from an audio signal.

This is a technology preview feature and can be enabled via Platform > Global settings > Tech preview features > Enable Softmute.

Tech preview features

Live captions are now supported on VMRs. Participants using the web app can now enable live captions where the live meeting audio is converted to a readable text (live transcription). Live Captions will be offered as an optional feature at an additional cost.

Pexip is considering additional language support in the future ( for instance: Spanish, Mandarin, Hindi, German, and French). Contact your your Pexip authorized support representative to record your interest.

There are also two associated, new theme audio files: conf-live_captions_started_48kHz_mono.wav and conf-live_captions_started_48kHz_mono.wav.

Tech preview features

Trusted CA certificate management

For CA certificates uploaded by the Administrator, only root CA certificates are now included in Pexip Infinity's list of trusted CA certificates used for verification purposes (previously, uploaded intermediate certificates were also included). This means that when Pexip Infinity needs to verify a far end connection, that far end system must present an entire chain of intermediate certificates in addition to its own leaf certificate. This means that:

• By default, Pexip Infinity will not use any intermediate CA certificates that have been uploaded to the Management Node for the purposes of verifying certificates for external services.
• Under normal circumstances this should not require any changes as those far end systems should already be presenting their entire certificate chain.
• If required, you can override this behavior for specific intermediate certificates by using a new Certificates > Intermediate CA certificates > Advanced > Trusted intermediate option which instructs Pexip Infinity to use that certificate in the TLS verification chain.

Hardware resource allocation rules have been updated to improve the accuracy of the Conferencing Node media load statistics:

• Gateway calls that use the Adaptive Composition layout now consume additional Conferencing Node resources (the actual amount depends on many factors, but as a guide, it uses an additional 0.5 HD of resource for each video participant that is on stage). This brings it into line with existing resource usage counting for VMRs that use Adaptive Composition.
• Connections to a Media Playback Service now use 1.2 times as much hardware resource as a connection to a VMR.

Hardware resource allocation rules

Configuring a Media Playback Service

The previous Do not default to the legacy Web App option (Platform > Global settings > Connectivity) has been replaced with a new Default web app option.

• For new v30 installations, Default web app will be set to Always use latest at upgrade which will result in Pexip Connect for Web being offered to users by default.
• For existing installations, after upgrading to v30:
  • if Do not default to the legacy Web App was previously enabled (the default), the new Default web app option will be set to Webapp2.
  • if Do not default to the legacy Web App was previously disabled, the new Default web app option will be set to Webapp1.

Preconfigured URLs used to access the previous web app are supported by the new web app, "Pexip Connect for Web", with the following exceptions:

• role=guest will result in the participant being offered an alternative join flow that takes them through the setup of their camera, microphone and speakers before they are able to Join the meeting.
• callType is no longer supported as the new join flow does not require it.