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Bandwidth management within Pexip Infinity

Bandwidth usage

The Conferencing Node to which the current speaker is connected sends an HD video stream of the current speaker, plus a lower-resolution thumbnail (a smaller image at the bottom of the screen which shows the participant's video) of each of the other participants connected to it.

The Conferencing Node to which the previous speaker is connected sends an HD video stream of the previous speaker, plus lower-resolution thumbnails of each of the other participants connected to it.

All other Conferencing Nodes send lower-resolution thumbnails of each of the participants connected to it.

Bandwidth usage when current and previous speakers are connected to different Conferencing Nodes

As shown in the diagram above, if the current and previous speakers are connected to different Conferencing Nodes, there is one HD stream in each direction between the two nodes, plus one smaller stream for every participant being shown in a thumbnail.

Bandwidth usage when current and previous speakers are connected to the same Conferencing Node

As shown in the diagram above, if the current and previous speakers are connected to the same Conferencing Node, that Conferencing Node sends an HD video stream of the current speaker plus lower-resolution thumbnails of each of the other participants, to all other Conferencing Nodes. The other Conferencing Nodes send lower-resolution thumbnails of the other participants.

This architecture means that there are major bandwidth savings when compared with traditional MCU deployments where all conference participants regardless of location connect to the same MCU and individual HD and thumbnail video streams are sent between the MCU and every endpoint.

Significant bandwidth savings are achieved due to fewer and smaller video streams being sent between locations.

Note that:

  • One HD stream uses about 1.6 Mbps.
  • One thumbnail stream uses about 64-192 kbps.
  • A presentation stream (not shown in the diagrams above) uses an additional 1.6 Mbps from the presenter.
  • Pexip Infinity supports up to 6 Mbps per participant (this will vary depending on the deployment environment, video resolutions, etc).

Downspeeding

Pexip Infinity will automatically downspeed and upspeed individual calls in response to fluctuating network conditions.

Bandwidth restrictions

Administrators can individually restrict the bandwidth available to participants accessing each Virtual Reception, Virtual Meeting Room and Virtual Auditorium, and per Call Routing Rule. Restrictions can also be applied across an entire deployment. For more information, see Restricting call bandwidth.