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Pexip Infinity and Lync / Skype for Business integration features

Pexip Infinity enhances the feature set of Microsoft Lync and Skype for Business* by providing users with their own personal Virtual Meeting Room that is available at all times, and can be used for ad-hoc and scheduled meetings for any number of people.

In addition, Pexip Infinity can be used as a direct gateway between any two users, regardless of device or technology. As a gateway, Pexip Infinity enables users to join from any system to an AVMCU meeting. This allows non-Microsoft users with anything from web browsers to traditional group videoconferencing systems to join an AVMCU meeting just like any Lync / Skype for Business user.

Pexip's tight integration with Lync includes Pexip Fusion features such as simulcasting, multistreaming and even the ability to merge a Pexip VMR conference with an AVMCU conference to provide a HyperNative experience for all participants.

Note that where this documentation refers to "Lync" or "Microsoft Lync", it represents both Lync and Skype for Business unless explicitly stated otherwise.

Pexip Infinity as a Lync / Skype for Business gateway

Pexip Infinity can act as a gateway between Lync and standards-based endpoints. This enables Lync clients to:

  • invite H.323/SIP endpoints and registered Infinity Connect clients into a Lync AVMCU multi-party conference
  • use the Pexip Distributed Gateway service to route incoming calls directly into an ad hoc or scheduled Lync AVMCU multi-party conference
  • when dialed into a Pexip VMR conference, invite other Lync or external contacts into that same Pexip VMR (this creates a new Lync AVMCU conference which is merged with the existing Pexip VMR)
  • receive and initiate point-to-point calls with standards-based devices.

The Pexip Distributed Gateway is configured as a series of Call Routing Rules which specify which calls should be interworked and to where.

For information about to how configure the Lync gateway functionality, see Configuring Pexip Infinity as a Lync / Skype for Business gateway.

Simulcast from Pexip Infinity to Lync / Skype for Business AVMCU

Pexip Infinity can send the video streams of gateway participants at multiple resolutions to a Lync AVMCU multi-party conference.

This means that if Lync clients request different video resolutions from the AVMCU, Pexip Infinity will support the equivalent request for that resolution from the AVMCU.

This optimizes the Lync user experience for all AVMCU conference participants, and for all device sizes from a mobile client to the Microsoft Surface Hub.

When viewing the status of the backplane media streams via the Pexip Infinity Administrator interface, a separate stream is shown for every resolution currently being sent. This example shows 3 current simulcast streams:

Simulcast to Lync AVMCU is automatically enabled on Pexip Infinity from version 11 and requires no administrator configuration.

Multistreaming from Lync / Skype for Business AVMCU to Pexip Infinity

Pexip Infinity can receive multiple video streams from an AVMCU multi-party conference. This provides an enhanced conferencing experience for all participants connected to an AVMCU conference:

  • Participants in a Pexip VMR that has been merged with an AVMCU conference see a combined set of Pexip VMR and AVMCU participants.
  • Participants connected to an AVMCU conference via the Pexip Distributed Gateway see a full combined set of both AVMCU and any other Pexip gateway participants in the conference. They always see the default Pexip 1 +7 layout (large main speaker and up to 7 other participants), and at a resolution optimized for the participant's device, as shown below:

Note that:

  • There are always 6 video streams negotiated with the AVMCU, one in HD and the others at thumbnail resolution. However, no unnecessary resource capacity is used on Pexip Infinity if a stream is not active.

    When viewing the status of the backplane media streams via the Pexip Infinity Administrator interface, each of the 6 negotiated media streams is shown. In this example, only 2 of the 6 streams are currently active:

  • As the AVMCU can only send a maximum of 6 video streams, if more than 6 AVMCU participants are shown on the stage in a Pexip Infinity layout (as seen by Pexip VMR participants or a Pexip gateway participant), those additional AVMCU participants display as a broken camera.
  • When an AVMCU participant is spotlighted, all other AVMCU participants switch to audio only:
    • Pexip VMR participants see audio indicators instead of video for all of the other AVMCU participants, but still see video from other VMR participants.
    • Pexip gateway participants see audio indicators instead of video for all other participants.

Lync AVMCU multistreaming is automatically enabled on Pexip Infinity from version 11 and requires no administrator configuration.

Merging a Lync / Skype for Business AVMCU conference with a Pexip Infinity conference

A Lync AVMCU hosted multi-party conference can be merged with a conference being hosted on the Pexip Infinity platform. This means that, for example:

  • A Lync user dialed into a Pexip VMR can use drag-and-drop to add a contact (such as a Microsoft Surface Hub system, or an external SIP/H.323 device) into the meeting. This will create an adhoc AVMCU conference and merge it with the Pexip VMR.
  • A Lync user in an AVMCU conference can drag and drop a Pexip VMR contact into the AVMCU conference to manually merge the conferences together.

The ability to merge a Lync AVMCU conference with a Pexip VMR is automatically enabled on Pexip Infinity from version 11 and requires no specific administrator configuration, however appropriate Call Routing Rules need to be configured on Pexip Infinity to enable calls to be routed to Lync contacts that are external SIP/H.323 devices.

Pexip Fusion and the HyperNative experience

The participant experience when a Lync AVMCU and a Pexip VMR conference are merged together depends upon whether the participant is connected to the AVMCU or the Pexip VMR. Pexip's Fusion technology delivers a HyperNative experience that ensures that both sets of participants retain their native conferencing experience for their device or platform.

For participants connected to the Pexip VMR:

  • All participants see a combined set of Pexip VMR and Lync AVMCU participants.
  • Standard rules apply (based on current and most recent speakers) for who takes the main speaker view and which participants appear as thumbnails in the VMR's stage layout.
  • Infinity Connect clients see the complete roster for the merged conference, including all remote AVMCU participants, however they cannot control those remote participants (disconnect, mute and so on).

For participants connected to the AVMCU:

  • All participants in the AVMCU conference see the Pexip VMR stage as a participant alongside the other AVMCU participants (all participant video streams are displayed as normal to Lync clients according to its selected viewing mode).
  • The participant list includes a single entry representing the Pexip VMR (displayed as the name of the service).
  • If there are no participants currently in the Pexip VMR, the VMR stage participant displays as a broken camera.

In addition, in their contacts list, Lync clients can see a Presence status for their Pexip service contacts and Pexip Distributed Gateway contacts (see Presence and contact lists in Lync / Skype for Business environments for more information).

Merged Lync AVMCU and Pexip Infinity conference with additional Pexip Distributed Gateway participants

This diagram shows a Pexip VMR conference that has been merged with a Lync AVMCU conference that has native Lync participants plus additional participants connected to the AVMCU conference via the Pexip Distributed Gateway.

In this scenario:

  • The AVMCU conference multistreams all AVMCU participants — including the Pexip Distributed Gateway participants — to the Pexip VMR.
  • Each Pexip Distributed Gateway participant receives a multistream from the AVMCU containing the Pexip VMR stage, native Lync clients, plus any other gateway participants connected to that AVMCU conference.
  • Native Lync client participants see the Pexip VMR stage as a participant alongside all of the other AVMCU participants (including each Pexip Distributed Gateway participant) according to the Lync client's layout mode.

Supported codecs and protocols

Supported codecs for calls between Pexip Infinity and Lync / Skype for Business:

  • Video: H.264 UC and multistream H.264SVC (Lync 2013 and Skype for Business), and Microsoft RTVideo (Lync 2010, Lync 2013 and Skype for Business).
  • Audio: G.722.

Desktop/application window sharing and RDP:

  • Desktop and single application windows can be shared from Lync / Skype for Business for Windows, and Lync / Skype for Business for Mac.
  • Pexip Infinity supports bi-directional RDP. Lync / Skype for Business users can send and receive dual streams.

Packet loss resiliency:

  • Pexip Infinity supports FEC only on content received from Lync 2010 clients, as defined in [MS-RTVPF].
  • Pexip Infinity does not support FEC with Lync 2013 / Skype for Business clients.

Limitations

For an on-prem Pexip Infinity deployment, if there are any firewalls in between the Lync server and the Conferencing Nodes, or between the internal Lync clients and the Conferencing Nodes, these firewalls have to be configured to permit the relevant traffic (see Firewall ports for Lync / Skype for Business integrations).

When using drag and drop to merge a PIN-protected Pexip conference into an AVMCU conference, you need to include the PIN in the Lync contact address using the format <vmr_alias>**<PIN>@<domain>. Note that this will make the PIN visible to other AVMCU conference participants. You can only merge a locked Pexip conference into an AVMCU conference if the Pexip conference is also PIN-protected.