Features added in previous releases
This section summarizes the features and enhancements that were added in previous releases of Pexip Infinity software.
Features added in version 13
Pexip Infinity version 13 added the following features and enhancements:
Feature | Description | More information |
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Dynamic bursting to the AWS cloud |
Pexip Infinity deployments have the ability to burst into the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud when primary conferencing capabilities are reaching their capacity limits, thus providing additional temporary Conferencing Node resources. This provides the ability to dynamically expand conferencing capacity whenever scheduled or unplanned usage requires it. The AWS cloud Conferencing Nodes instances are only started up when required and are automatically stopped again when capacity demand normalizes, ensuring that AWS costs are minimized. |
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Video watermarking via themes |
Video watermarking overlays a small transparent image onto the main speaker video during a conference. This enables you to add your own imagery, logos or information to the video stream. Video watermarking is enabled by default, and applies a Pexip logo to all conferences (VMRs and Virtual Auditoriums) running on new installations and on upgrades of existing installations. Watermarks are not added to calls placed via the Pexip Distributed Gateway. The watermark image can be disabled or customized via the theme applied to the conference, allowing you to have a different watermark per VMR, if required. |
File requirements for themes |
Device provisioning via LDAP | Pexip Infinity can bulk provision devices from directory information contained in an AD/LDAP server. This complements existing functionality to provision VMRs via LDAP. As a consequence, "VMR sync templates" are now referred to more generically as "LDAP sync templates". | Provisioning VMRs and devices from Active Directory via LDAP |
Ability to send a provisioning email to a VMR or device owner | When bulk-provisioning VMRs or device aliases from Active Directory via LDAP, an email can be sent out to the VMR owner telling them the properties of their VMR, such as its aliases and security PINs, or to the device owner telling them the device alias properties, such as its associated username and password for registration purposes. | Sending provisioning emails to VMR and device owners |
Directory (phone book) of devices and VMRs for registered Infinity Connect clients | Pexip Infinity now provides a search facility to its registered Infinity Connect clients that enables them to look up the contact details of other devices and VMRs, making it easier for the Infinity Connect client to call those devices or VMRs. | Directory (phone book) of devices and VMRs for registered Infinity Connect clients |
External policy API enhancements including directory and registration requests |
The external policy API has been enhanced to include:
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Using external and local policy to control Pexip Infinity behavior |
Audio-only call licenses |
Pexip Infinity's call licensing model can support audio-only call licenses, port (video call) licenses, or a combination of the two. On upgrade to version 13, all existing call licenses are treated as port (video call) licenses. |
Pexip Infinity license installation and usage |
Ability to disable individual codecs | You can choose, on a global basis, which codecs to offer in audio/video negotiation. | About global settings |
Support for presenting PowerPoint files from Lync / Skype for Business clients | Participants connected to the Pexip VMR in a Lync / Skype for Business Fusion or gateway call can now see shared content if a Lync / Skype for Business user presents PowerPoint files. | Supported codecs and protocols |
New alarms |
New alarms have been added on the Management Node for when nodes are not correctly synchronized for NTP, and when there are connectivity or configuration synchronization issues between nodes. The alarm icon displayed on the Pexip Infinity Administrator interface is now a red triangle. |
Viewing alarms |
Historical backplane statistics | Historical conference backplane data, including media streams, is available via the Pexip Infinity Administrator interface and the management API. | Viewing historical information about conferences |
Improved resilience and retransmission for Chrome-based clients |
Significantly improved media transport robustness for Chrome-based WebRTC clients (Infinity Connect desktop client and Infinity Connect Web App on Chrome browsers). Negative acknowledgements and RTP retransmission have been implemented for video sent between Chrome-based clients and Pexip Infinity. |
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Administrative usability improvements |
The following administrative usability improvements have been made:
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Transferring a participant to another conference |
Additional layout | A new 2 + 21 layout is now available. | Selecting the layout seen by participants |
Changes in functionality in version 13
Feature | Description | More information |
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Video watermarking is enabled by default in the base theme and in all preconfigured themes |
Video watermarking, which overlays a small transparent image onto the main speaker video during a conference, is enabled by default in version 13 in the base theme and in all preconfigured themes. After upgrading to version 13, the default Pexip watermark will be applied to all conferences, even if an existing custom theme has been applied to that VMR. If you want to remove watermarking or use a different watermark image, you need to create a customized theme with either watermarking disabled (by changing the themeconfig.json file to state "disable_watermark_icon" : true,) or with a different image (by replacing the watermark_icon.png file), and then apply that customized theme as either the new default theme for your system, or apply it to individual services (VMRs, Call Routing Rules etc). If you have an existing custom theme, you can update that theme either to disable watermarking (by adding "disable_watermark_icon" : true, to the themeconfig.json file) or to use a different watermark image (by adding your own watermark_icon.png file). Note that you cannot modify the base theme — you must upload your own customized theme and set it as the new default theme, or apply your custom theme to individual services. |
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Changed images in the Base Pexip theme | The Base Pexip theme contains different images for the PIN entry screens and other information screens such as "Capacity exceeded", "Insufficient licenses", "Connecting", and so on. You can change any of these images, if required, by uploading your own customized theme. | |
HSTS (HTTP Strict Transport Security) has been enabled | Pexip Infinity nodes now enable HSTS to ensure greater security. This means that if your deployment moves from using a valid TLS certificate to using an invalid certificate (e.g. you redeploy a Conferencing Node, or your certificate expires or is invalidated for some reason) then certain web browsers will stop you from accessing that node via the web when using the DNS name of that node, until you correct the certificate issue. You may browse directly to the IP address of the node in the meantime. This applies to the Management Node and Conferencing Nodes. | Managing TLS and trusted CA certificates |
Registered aliases returned in status queries are lower case | All registered aliases in status information shown on the Pexip Infinity Administrator interface or returned via the management API are always in lower case, regardless of the capitalization of the alias that was actually registered. |
Features added in version 12
Pexip Infinity version 12 added the following features and enhancements:
Feature | Description | More information |
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Microsoft Azure cloud service support |
Pexip Infinity can now be deployed on the Microsoft Azure cloud service. Using a cloud service provides scalable computing capacity and eliminates your need to invest in hardware up front, so you can deploy Pexip Infinity even faster. (Note that Pexip Infinity can also be deployed on Amazon Web Services.) You can use a cloud service to launch as many or as few virtual servers as you need, and use those virtual servers to host a Pexip Infinity Management Node and as many Conferencing Nodes as required for your Pexip Infinity platform. You can scale up or down to handle changes in requirements or spikes in conferencing requirements. This means that you can also use the cloud service provider's APIs and the Pexip Infinity management API to monitor usage and bring up / tear down Conferencing Nodes as required to meet conferencing demand. Pexip publishes disk images for the Pexip Infinity Management Node and Conferencing Nodes. These images may be used to launch instances of each node type as required. |
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1080p (Full HD) support | You can now enable 1080p (Full HD) across your deployment. | Enabling Full HD (1080p) |
Routing rules for outbound calling |
Routing rules can now optionally be applied to outbound calls made from within a conference service, such as when dialing out to add a participant to a Virtual Meeting Room or when configuring an Automatically Dialed Participant. Within the Pexip Infinity Administrator interface, the menu path is now and "Gateway Routing Rules" are now generally referred to as "Call Routing Rules". When configuring routing rules you can decide whether the rule applies only to incoming Pexip Distributed Gateway calls (the default, and as per behavior in previous releases), or only to outgoing calls placed from within a Pexip Infinity conference, or to both incoming gateway calls and outgoing calls from conferences. Routing rules can also be temporarily disabled, allowing you to more easily test configuration changes. |
Configuring Call Routing Rules |
Ability to route calls to registered devices only |
When configuring Call Routing Rules you can specify whether the call is to be routed to registered devices only, or — as per previous behavior — to route the call to a matching registered device if it is currently registered, otherwise attempt to route the call via an external system such as a SIP proxy, Lync / Skype for Business server, H.323 gatekeeper or other gateway/ITSP. Note that on upgrading to version 12, any existing rules that have a SIP proxy of "nowhere.invalid" will be automatically changed to a "registered devices only" rule (as any rule with a proxy of "nowhere.invalid" could never result in a call to an external system). |
Configuring Call Routing Rules |
Simplified routing of Pexip Distributed Gateway calls into Lync / Skype for Business meetings |
Pexip Distributed Gateway routing rules can be explicitly configured to route calls into an ad hoc or scheduled Lync / Skype for Business meeting, based on the Conference ID. This allows end users direct entry into a Lync / Skype for Business meeting without requiring them to go via a Virtual Reception (IVR) first. |
Configuring Pexip Infinity as a Lync / Skype for Business gateway |
Holding screens when there is only one video participant in a conference |
When a participant is the only device in a Pexip Infinity conference or Pexip Distributed Gateway call that is sending video, that participant now sees a holding screen until other video participants join the conference. The holding screen indicates either that the participant is the only participant in the conference, or that all of the other participants are audio-only (and they are shown via their audio-only indicators as usual). The holding images are fully customizable via the theme associated with the service (Virtual Meeting Room, Call Routing Rule etc). |
Selecting the layout seen by participants and Customizing images and voice prompts using themes |
Guest-only conferences with control-only Host | A Host can join a conference as a control-only participant and start the conference, allowing Guest participants to join. This means that the control-only Host can manage the conference without being a participant. (Previously the Host would have had to join as a video or audio participant in order for Guests to join.) | Using Infinity Connect in-call controls |
Participant transfer | You can use the management and client APIs to transfer a participant to another conference. | |
Improved TLS certificate management |
You can more easily upload and view individual TLS server certificates, and configure the node(s) to which each certificate is assigned. You can also import multiple certificates in one step, for example a TLS certificate and its associated CA bundle. An alarm is raised if the Management Node or a Conferencing Node has no associated TLS certificate, or if a TLS certificate has an incomplete chain of trust to the root CA certificate. |
Managing TLS and trusted CA certificates |
SIP TLS FQDN and TLS certificates specified during deployment | You can now specify the SIP TLS FQDN and TLS certificate to be used by a Conferencing Node at the time you deploy it (rather than after it is deployed). | Deploying new Conferencing Nodes |
Web App participants can view presentations in a separate window |
Infinity Connect Web App participants can elect to view the current presentation in a separate pop-out window. This applies to the presenter as well as those viewing the presentation. |
Introduction to Infinity Connect |
Audio notification when participants waiting to join a locked conference | A new audio file has been added to the base theme that plays a notification to all participants in a locked conference to indicate that there is a participant waiting to be let in. | Locking a conference and allowing participants to join a locked conference |
WebRTC support for Infinity Connect Web App clients using Microsoft Edge | Infinity Connect Web App clients using Microsoft Edge version 20.10532 or later will now connect to Pexip Infinity conferences over WebRTC. Earlier versions of Microsoft Edge will continue to connect over RTMP and use Flash video. | About the Infinity Connect Web App |
DTMF conference controls | Host participants using telephones or SIP/H.323 endpoints that support DTMF can now lock and unlock a conference, mute and unmute all guests, and terminate a conference, using DTMF controls. The controls are customizable on a per-theme basis via the themeconfig.json file. | Using DTMF to control a conference |
Including the PIN in VMR dial strings | SIP and H.323 endpoints and Lync / Skype for Business clients that dial into PIN-protected conferences can bypass the PIN entry screen by including the PIN in the dialed alias. | Including the PIN in the dial string to bypass the PIN entry screen |
Virtual Reception support for Lync / Skype for Business clients |
Lync/Skype for Business clients can now use the Virtual Reception service to either join a VMR or to route calls via the Pexip Distributed Gateway. |
Virtual Receptions and Lync / Skype for Business clients |
Ability to restrict or transform the aliases entered into a Virtual Reception |
New Virtual Reception configuration options allow you to restrict the aliases or alias patterns that can be entered into a Virtual Reception and optionally transform the entered alias before the Virtual Reception attempts to route the call to that new destination. |
Restricting or transforming the aliases entered into a Virtual Reception |
Including the VMR alias / Conference ID in Virtual Reception dial strings |
SIP and H.323 endpoints can optionally bypass having to enter the VMR destination alias or a Lync / Skype for Business Conference ID via DTMF tones. Instead they can include the numeric alias of the VMR or the Lync / Skype for Business Conference ID in the Virtual Reception dial string. |
About the Virtual Reception IVR service and Configuring Pexip Infinity as a Lync / Skype for Business gateway |
Automatic daily backups |
You can choose to automatically backup the Management Node configuration data on a daily basis. Also, when restoring a backup there is a new confirmation step where you can see the Management Node IP address that will be restored. |
Backing up and restoring configuration |
Global bandwidth limits | You can now set the maximum inbound and outbound call bandwidth on a system-wide basis, as well as per service. | Restricting call bandwidth |
Additional Conferencing Node status information | Information regarding a Conferencing Node's current media load and total estimated capacity in terms of HD connections is now available via the main Conferencing Node status page of the Administrator interface. | Viewing Conferencing Nodes |
Adaptive strategy for registration refresh intervals |
When calculating the registration refresh interval for registered SIP and H.323 devices, Pexip Infinity now uses an adaptive strategy by default. It will automatically adjust the refresh interval depending on the number of current registrations on the Conferencing Node handling the registration request, in order to spread the load of registration refreshes. You can also configure separate registration refresh intervals for SIP endpoints that are registering from behind a NAT. |
Registering devices to Pexip Infinity |
Improved theme management | When adding or modifying a theme you can now assign the Call Routing Rules that will use that theme. | Creating and editing themes |
Dual streaming RTMP participants can be added via the Pexip Infinity Administrator interface | When using the Pexip Infinity Administrator interface to add an RTMP streaming participant to a conference you can now optionally enter the RTMP URL for a second (presentation) stream. | Manually dialing out to a participant from a conference |
"Keep conference alive" option for manually dialed participants | You can now determine whether participants who have been added to a conference by an administrator (either from the Administrator interface or using the Management API) have the ability to keep a conference alive. | Automatically ending a conference |
Display name for dialed participants | You can specify a display name for participants that are added to a conference either manually via the Pexip Infinity Administrator interface, as an automatically dialed participant, or via the management API. | Manually dialing out to a participant from a conference |
Audio output device selection | From Chrome 50, Infinity Connect clients will offer the option to select the device used for audio output. | About Infinity Connect client settings |
Changes in functionality in version 12
Feature | Description | More information |
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Maximum PIN length of 20 digits |
The maximum PIN length for Host and Guest PINs has been extended from 10 to 20 digits. If you use customized themes you should regenerate your PIN entry screen images to ensure that you have customized versions of the new screens (for the entry of 11–20 digits). This is particularly important if you use PINs with a trailing #. |
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Support for VMware vSphere ESXi 4.1 has been deprecated |
ESXi 4.1 support has been deprecated in Pexip Infinity v12 because ESXi 4.1 does not support AVX or AVX2, and these are required in Pexip Infinity v12 (see below). If you have upgraded to Pexip Infinity from a version prior to v12, you can still deploy Conferencing Nodes to servers running ESXi 4.1; however if you have a new deployment using v12 or later and attempt to deploy a Conferencing Node to a server running ESXi 4.1, that node will go straight into maintenance mode. |
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AVX or AVX2 required |
From version 12, new deployments of Pexip Infinity require AVX or AVX2 processor instruction sets. Conferencing Nodes deployed onto a server with older instruction sets will go straight into maintenance mode. Upgrades from previous versions to version 12 are not affected. Your existing Conferencing Nodes, and any newly deployed Conferencing Nodes, will run on SSE4.1. |
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Management configuration API now always allocates new resource object IDs. |
The management configuration API now always allocates a new object ID when creating a new resource. Previously, if a resource was deleted, its ID would have been reused when creating a new resource of the same type. |
Management configuration API |
Features added in version 11
Pexip Infinity version 11 added the following features and enhancements:
Feature | Description | More information |
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Multistreaming support from Lync / Skype for Business AVMCU to Pexip Infinity |
Pexip Infinity can receive multiple video streams from a Lync / Skype for Business AVMCU multi-party conference. This means, for example, that all endpoints connected to a Lync / Skype for Business meeting via the Pexip Distributed Gateway now see a full combined set of both Lync / Skype for Business meeting and any other Pexip gateway participants in the conference. Previously Lync / Skype for Business participants would see all Lync / Skype for Business meeting participants, but gateway participants would only see the currently active Lync / Skype for Business meeting participant. |
Pexip Infinity and Lync / Skype for Business integration features |
Merge a Lync / Skype for Business meeting with a Pexip Infinity VMR conference |
A Lync / Skype for Business meeting can be merged with a conference being hosted on the Pexip Infinity platform. This means that, for example:
When a conference is merged, participants in the Pexip VMR see a combined set of Pexip VMR and Lync / Skype for Business meeting participants, and the Lync / Skype for Business meeting participants see the Pexip VMR stage alongside the other Lync / Skype for Business meeting participants. |
Pexip Infinity and Lync / Skype for Business integration features |
H.264 simulcast from Pexip Infinity to Lync / Skype for Business AVMCU |
Pexip Infinity can now send the video streams of gateway participants at multiple resolutions to an AVMCU multi-party conference. This means that if Lync / Skype for Business clients request different video resolutions from the AVMCU, Pexip Infinity can now support the equivalent request from the AVMCU. This optimizes the user experience for all conference participants, and for all device sizes from a mobile client to the Microsoft Surface Hub. |
Pexip Infinity and Lync / Skype for Business integration features |
Optimized Lync / Skype for Business gateway functionality | Pexip's Lync / Skype for Business gateway functionality has been improved to reduce the bandwidth and quantity of streams sent to the AVMCU based on what is requested. (This improvement has no detrimental impact to the user experience.) | Pexip Infinity and Lync / Skype for Business integration features |
Amazon Web Services (AWS) support |
The Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) service provides scalable computing capacity in the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud. Using Amazon EC2 eliminates your need to invest in hardware up front, so you can deploy Pexip Infinity even faster. You can use Amazon EC2 to launch as many or as few virtual servers as you need, and use those virtual servers to host a Pexip Infinity Management Node and as many Conferencing Nodes as required for your Pexip Infinity platform. Amazon EC2 enables you to scale up or down to handle changes in requirements or spikes in conferencing requirements. This means that you can also use the AWS APIs and the Pexip Infinity management API to monitor usage and bring up / tear down Conferencing Nodes as required to meet conferencing demand. Pexip publishes Amazon Machine Images (AMIs) for the Pexip Infinity Management Node and Conferencing Nodes. These AMIs may be used to launch instances of each node type as required. |
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KVM, Xen and ESXi 6.0 hypervisor support |
The Pexip Infinity platform can be deployed on KVM and Xen hypervisors. The Management Node and Conferencing Nodes can now be deployed on KVM and Xen hosts as well as VMware vSphere and Microsoft Hyper‑V hosts. Support for VMware ESXi 6.0 has also been added. |
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Intel AVX2 processor instruction set support |
Pexip Infinity can make full use of the AVX2 instruction set provided by modern Intel processors. This increases the performance of video encoding and decoding. For VMware platforms, ESXi 6 is required to enable this optimization. |
Detailed server hardware requirements |
Web App branding upload |
Infinity Connect Web App branding packages can be uploaded to the Management Node and automatically pushed out to all Conferencing Nodes. You can upload the branding packages that are generated by the Pexip branding portal, as well as any manually created customizations. |
Customizing the Infinity Connect Web App |
Additions to theme feature |
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Customizing images and voice prompts using themes |
H.323 gatekeeper functionality |
H.323 endpoints can now register to Pexip Infinity. This means that Pexip Infinity now acts as a SIP registrar and as an H.323 gatekeeper. Note that the Infinity Connect desktop client and the Android mobile client can also register to Pexip Infinity. |
Registering devices to Pexip Infinity |
View registered aliases | You can see a list of all device aliases that are currently registered to the Pexip Infinity platform. | Viewing registrations |
Ability to change a Conferencing Node's location | You can change the system location of an existing Conferencing Node via the Administrator interface (which then automatically reboots the Conferencing Node). | Configuring existing Conferencing Nodes |
VMR provisioning via LDAP enhanced with daily sync, customizable fields and string length filter |
The facility to bulk-provision VMRs from directory information contained in an AD/LDAP server has been enhanced:
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Provisioning VMRs and devices from Active Directory via LDAP |
Improved trusted CA certificate management |
You can now upload, view and delete individual trusted CA certificates, in addition to being able to import a file of one or more certificates. An alarm is raised when a certificate is due to expire within the next 30 days. |
Managing TLS and trusted CA certificates |
Ability to limit the media capability |
You can now specify the maximum media capability of certain calls. Options are audio-only, main video only, or main video plus presentation. This feature allows better resource management and smaller SDPs when calling out to known audio-only devices. You can place restrictions on a per-conference basis (for Virtual Meeting Rooms and Virtual Auditoriums) or a per-call basis (for outbound and Distributed Gateway calls). You can also limit the capability of a Virtual Reception. |
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Configurable auto-escalation of Lync / Skype for Business audio calls |
You can configure whether a Lync / Skype for Business audio call is automatically escalated so that it receives video from a conference. Previously, such audio calls were always escalated to receive video. From v11 this behavior is configurable and is disabled by default. |
Automatically escalating Lync / Skype for Business audio calls |
Changes to Host and Guest PIN behavior |
Conference PINs can now optionally end with #. This means that:
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Using # at the end of a PIN |
Lync / Skype for Business Response Group support |
SIP Replaces support (RFC 3891 - "Replaces" Header) has been implemented. This enables support within Pexip Infinity for Lync / Skype for Business Response Group call management. |
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Lync / Skype for Business IVR gateway conference lookup location |
When configuring the Lync / Skype for Business IVR gateway functionality, you can specify the system location that will perform the Lync / Skype for Business Conference ID lookup on the Lync / Skype for Business server. This can assist in scenarios where an external device connects to a Virtual Reception via a Conferencing Node in the DMZ and that node is not trusted by the Lync / Skype for Business FEP. |
Configuring Pexip Infinity as a Lync / Skype for Business gateway |
Option to mute all guests in a Virtual Auditorium | Virtual Auditoriums have a new option to automatically mute all Guests when they first join a conference. After the conference has started, Hosts can use the Infinity Connect client to unmute Guests, either individually or as a group. | Configuring Virtual Auditoriums |
Send DTMF to manually dialed participants |
DTMF sequences can be configured when manually dialing out to participants from a conference via the Administrator interface. The DTMF is transmitted 3 seconds after the call connects to the participant. |
Manually dialing out to a participant from a conference |
Last conference participant timeout |
You can configure at the platform level the length of time (in seconds) for which a conference will continue with only one participant remaining. The type of participant (Host, Guest, automatically dialed, streaming etc.) is irrelevant. By default the Last participant backstop timeout setting is configured to never eject the last participant. |
About global settings |
Additional options to determine whether an ADP can keep a conference alive |
In addition to the existing behavior (where a conference would be terminated if the only remaining participant was an Automatically Dialed Participant, unless there were two or more ADPs and at least one was a Host), there are now two other options:
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Keeping a conference alive |
Infinity Connect one-click join | The process of joining conferences via Infinity Connect has been streamlined. Users now elect, prior to joining the conference, whether they will join a conference with full video and audio, with audio only, or as presentation and control only. | |
Infinity Connect supported in Microsoft Edge | The Infinity Connect Web App is now supported in Microsoft Edge. | Using Infinity Connect via Microsoft Edge |
Infinity Connect users can change the role of other participants | Infinity Connect users who have a role of Host can change the role of other users in the conference. This is useful, for example, if a Host needs to leave the conference; they can promote one of the Guests to a role of Host so that the conference will continue after they disconnect. | Changing a participant's role from Guest to Host (and vice versa) |
Infinity Connect users can automatically mute microphone on joining | Many videoconference users mute their microphones unless they are actually speaking, to reduce the level of background noise. This option allows users to join with their microphone muted by default. | |
New parameters supported in preconfigured URLs |
Additional parameters are now supported in URLs that can be provided to Infinity Connect Web App users to preconfigure conference joining information:
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Creating preconfigured links to conferences via Infinity Connect |
Alarm raised when Management Node limit is reached | An alarm is raised if the Management Node does not have sufficient resources for the current deployment size (number of Conferencing Nodes). | Viewing alarms |
Features added in version 10
Pexip Infinity version 10 added the following features and enhancements:
Feature | Description | More information |
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VMR provisioning from Active Directory / LDAP |
Pexip Infinity Virtual Meeting Rooms can be bulk-provisioned from directory information contained in a Windows Active Directory LDAP server, or any other LDAP-accessible database. This means, for example, that you can automatically provide a personal VMR for every employee in an organization. Data such as employee names can be imported from the directory and used to generate a unique name and alias for each VMR, following a pattern such as meet.<username>@example.com. Other VMR attributes such as PIN numbers can also be generated, depending upon how you configure your VMR template. After the VMRs have been generated you can periodically re-run the provisioning process to resynchronize your VMRs to cater for additions and removals to the directory. |
Provisioning VMRs and devices from Active Directory via LDAP |
Lync IVR gateway |
Within on-prem Lync deployments a Virtual Reception can act as a "Lync IVR lobby" to route calls based on the Lync Conference ID into any ad hoc or scheduled Lync multi-party conference. This means that Lync users can schedule and use Lync conferences in the normal way. A Lync conference ID is generated when an on-prem Lync deployment is configured with a dial-in access number. Non-Lync users (H.323, SIP, Infinity Connect endpoints etc) can then dial a URI or IP address of the "Lync IVR lobby" and enter that Lync conference ID to join the Lync conference from the video endpoint. Lync users and video endpoint users can then see each other and present to each other. |
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Pexip StudioSound™ |
Pexip’s new StudioSound™ audio feature brings recording studio technology and quality to video, audio, and web conferencing. It greatly improves the overall experience by making conferences and meetings sound better, with improved intelligibility. StudioSound™ is part of the standard Pexip Infinity feature set and is utilized automatically in all conferences. |
How meticulous studio quality sound engineering improves meeting efficiencies (article on www.pexip.com) |
Infinity Connect clients can register and receive calls |
Infinity Connect desktop clients for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux, and Infinity Connect Mobile clients for Android can register to Pexip Infinity Conferencing Nodes. This means that users who have registered their Infinity Connect client can be dialed in to a Pexip conference, and can receiving incoming calls placed via the Pexip Distributed Gateway. |
Registering devices to Pexip Infinity |
Infinity Connect enhancements |
Further enhancements have been made to Infinity Connect clients. These include:
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Introduction to Infinity Connect |
New audio-only indicator |
Audio-only participants are now represented by an avatar on the left side of the video window. Whenever an audio-only participant is speaking, their avatar slides out to show their name; the most recent video participant to speak will remain in the main video window. You can use an external policy server to personalize the avatar for individual participants, otherwise the avatar will be an icon of a telephone handset. Note: As a consequence of this change, the audio_avatar.jpg theme file was deprecated in v10 and has been removed completely in v11. |
Selecting the layout seen by participants |
Separate RTMP streams for video and presentation content |
Pexip Infinity can stream the main video and presentation content channels separately over RTMP. This means that when streaming a conference over RTMP — to streaming and recording services such as YouTube — viewers can simultaneously access the main video stream of the participants and a separate presentation content stream. |
Streaming a conference over YouTube |
Active speaker shown when receiving single-stream presentation | When sending presentation content to a single-stream endpoint such as Skype or broadcasting via an RTMP stream (when not dialed out with dual streaming), Pexip Infinity sends the video stream of the active speaker in a small window in the upper right corner of the presentation. | Selecting the layout seen by participants |
Send content with a video thumbnail to Lync Room Systems | Pexip Infinity can now send presentation content to Lync Room Systems (SMART and Crestron) in main video with the active speaker as a thumbnail. This allows both content and main video to be seen whenever an LRS system connects directly to a Pexip VMR. | |
Improved status reporting for Infinity Connect and Lync clients |
When viewing the status of conference participants, Infinity Connect and Microsoft Lync clients are now shown as a single participant instance, regardless of whether they have active media streams or if they are presenting content. Each participant's status shows the individual media streams, and for completed conferences it may show multiple instances of each stream type (for example if the participant had started presenting, stopped and then started presenting again). |
Viewing participant status |
Reject calls via external policy |
When responding to a service configuration request, an external policy server can instruct Pexip Infinity to reject the call associated with that service request. If the policy server does not return the service configuration data and it does not instruct Pexip Infinity to reject the call, then Pexip Infinity will continue with its standard processing behavior (it will attempt to obtain the relevant information from its own internal database). |
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Improved scalability for WebRTC calls | Scalability improvements for WebRTC video handling in distributed conferences. | |
Login history | You can view the 100 most recent attempts to log in to the Pexip Infinity Administrator interface. | Viewing login history |
Limited duration snapshot | As an alternative to generating a full diagnostic snapshot, you can specify the number of hours to include in a limited duration snapshot. | Downloading a diagnostic snapshot |
Customizable Lync contact list avatar for gateway contacts | The Lync contact list avatar that is displayed for contacts reached via the Pexip Distributed Gateway can be customized. You can do this by modifying the presence_avatar_image.jpg file contained in the default theme. | Presence and contact lists in Lync / Skype for Business environments |
Features added in version 9
Pexip Infinity version 9 added the following features and enhancements:
Feature | Description | More information |
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Infinity Connect Web App and desktop client enhancements |
Instant Messaging and chat Conference participants using a variety of clients can chat and share links with other participants. Supported clients include Microsoft Lync, Skype, and Skype for Business. Chat is also natively supported in Pexip's own Infinity Connect suite (Web App and desktop client). Microsoft Lync and Infinity Connect clients can also chat when calling each other directly via the Pexip Distributed Gateway. Content sharing All users can now share images and PDF content from any browser. Notifications and selective unlocking for a locked conference When a new participant attempts to connect to a locked conference using a guest PIN (or without a PIN if it is an open conference), the Hosts are notified that the participant is waiting to join. Hosts can then selectively either allow the participant to join the conference, or reject the request and disconnect the participant. While waiting, the participant is held in the conference lobby, where they will see and hear the waiting for conference host message (these items are customizable via themes). Conference control Host participants now have the options to mute all Guest participants simultaneously, and to disconnect all participants simultaneously. Role selection when adding participants You can select the role (Host or Guest) when adding a participant to a conference. New and improved design The Infinity Connect Web App and desktop clients have been redesigned with a new look and workflow to support the chat, content sharing and conference control features. This allows, for example, conference participants who are using a video conferencing endpoint, or a Microsoft Lync client, to use Infinity Connect to connect to the conference without audio and video, but have access to all of the advanced features. Simplified rebranding It is now easier to rebrand the styles and images used in the Infinity Connect clients. You can add a logo, a background image and set the colors to match your own corporate branding. Existing customers who have rebranded the Infinity Connect Web App have to reapply their branding in version 9. Any textual changes to labels and messages also has to be reapplied. As any existing branding on the Conferencing Nodes will be removed when upgrading, customers may want to prepare their updated branding prior to upgrading. |
Locking a conference and allowing participants to join a locked conference |
Outbound video streaming to Content Delivery Networks and public services | Pexip Infinity can output a dedicated multimedia stream to enterprise CDN (Content Delivery Network) streaming and recording services such as Wowza, Adobe, VBrick, and Microsoft Azure, and to public streaming services such as YouTube. Any Pexip conference can be streamed as a live event to an unlimited number of viewers, and can be recorded and stored for later consumption. | Streaming a conference over YouTube |
Device registration | Endpoint devices can register to Pexip Infinity Conferencing Nodes. This allows Pexip Infinity to route outbound calls to those registered devices without having to go via a SIP proxy or rely on DNS. | Registering devices to Pexip Infinity |
External policy |
Pexip Infinity's external policy feature allows call policy decisions to be taken by an external system, based on the data sources that are available to that system. This allows Pexip Infinity administrators to implement routing decisions based on their specific requirements. The external system can, for example, return VMR configuration data and JPEG avatars to represent participants in a conference, and decide the location for the placement of media on a per call basis. |
Using the external policy server API with Pexip Infinity |
Backup and restore | Administrators can backup and restore configuration data via the Pexip Infinity Administrator interface. | Backing up and restoring configuration |
Location-based call control enhancements |
Pexip Distributed Gateway You can optionally configure Call Routing Rules to place the outgoing call from a Conferencing Node in a specific location (rather than from the node that received the call). This means that internal LAN-facing nodes and NATted DMZ-facing nodes can act as a gateway between internal and external traffic. Automatically dialed participants You can optionally configure an Automatically Dialed Participant to be called from a Conferencing Node in a specific location (rather than from the node being used by the participant who initiated the conference). |
About the Pexip Distributed Gateway service
and Automatically dialing out to a participant from a conference |
Microsoft Lync integration enhancements |
Per-location Lync MSSIP domain You can specify the Lync MSSIP domain per location. If configured, it is used instead of the global Lync MSSIP domain in outbound calls to Lync from Conferencing Nodes in that location. This makes it easier for service providers, for example, to support multiple Lync domains. Direct gateway calls into the AVMCU Calls received via the Pexip Distributed Gateway can now be configured to call directly into an AVMCU multi-party conference (both ad-hoc and scheduled calls hosted on AVMCU). Audio-only calls When making audio-only calls from Lync to a Pexip Virtual Meeting Room, the participants in the VMR will only receive your audio. However, the Lync user will receive video and audio from the VMR. The Lync call can be escalated to video in the normal way by starting video, if required. Resizing shared application content When a Lync user shares an application (rather than their screen), additional black borders are now removed and the shared content is resized to cover the full dual video stream for receiving endpoints/clients. |
Integrating Microsoft Lync / Skype for Business with Pexip Infinity |
STUN servers |
Conferencing Node STUN servers You can configure the STUN servers used by Conferencing Nodes on a per location and per gateway rule basis. This enables a Conferencing Node to discover its public NAT address in deployment scenarios where the TURN server is not located outside of the enterprise firewall. Infinity Connect WebRTC client STUN servers You can configure the STUN servers to be used by Infinity Connect WebRTC clients when they connect to a Conferencing Node in a specific system location. In previous releases, Infinity Connect WebRTC clients always used stun.l.google.com. This STUN server address is included by default in v9. Customers upgrading from previous releases will have the stun.l.google.com server address added automatically to all existing system locations, resulting in no change to previous behavior. |
Using STUN servers with Pexip Infinity |
Join/leave notifications | Themes now include the option to play audio tones to notify when participants join or leave a conference. | Playing notification tones when participants join or leave a conference |
Additional audio notifications |
New audio files have been added so that:
|
Audio files |
Preconfigured themes | Pexip Infinity now ships with 4 preconfigured themes that are either with or without entry and exit tones, and that refer to the "#" key as either "the hash key" or "the pound key". | Preconfigured themes |
Layouts |
The following enhancements have been made to layouts:
|
Selecting the layout seen by participants |
Disconnect all participants from a conference | You can disconnect all of the participants from a conference via the Administrator interface. | page on theDisconnecting participants from a conference |
Conference participant status | Conference participant status information indicates if the participant is currently on hold or if the participant is a streaming or recording device. | Viewing current conference status |
Syslog server connection protocol | You can choose the IP transport protocol to use — UDP, TCP or TLS — when configuring a remote syslog server. | Using a syslog server |
Ability to disable SIP UDP | You can enable or disable incoming calls on SIP UDP separately from those over SIP TCP/TLS. Disabling SIP UDP can help reduce SIP spam. On new installations of version 9, SIP UDP is disabled by default. Upgrades from existing versions will have SIP UDP enabled (assuming SIP was enabled previously), and can be disabled in Global Settings. | Enabling and disabling SIP, H.323, WebRTC and RTMP |
Pexip Infinity Administrator interface improvements |
Local timezone The Pexip Infinity Administrator interface now displays times using the administrator's local timezone. (Log timestamps continue to use UTC.) New Call control and Users navigation menu options There are now separate menu options for configuration (H.323 gatekeepers, SIP credentials, SIP proxies, Lync servers, TURN servers, STUN servers and Policy servers) and for configuration (User authentication, Account roles and LDAP roles). |
Timezones |
Alarm enhancements |
You will now receive a warning when:
Also, you can view all alarm activity by searching the Administrator log for administrator.alarm. This will show a list of all Alarm raised and Alarm lowered events. |
Viewing alarms |
Alarm raised and lowered events | You can view alarms that have since been resolved by searching the Administrator log for administrator.alarm. This will show a list of all Alarm raised and Alarm lowered events. | Viewing alarms |
Automatic Conferencing Node deployment improvements |
Verify VM manager certificate When automatically deploying a new Conferencing Node on a VMware host, you can control whether the certificate presented by the VM manager is verified before the connection is allowed. Faster resource path selection There is an extra step in the automatic deployment wizard to select a datacenter. The resource path selection is then filtered by the selected datacenter. |
Deploying new Conferencing Nodes |
Support for G.719 | Support has been added for the G.719 audio codec. | Audio and video specifications |
Endpoint IP addresses removed from analytics events | Endpoint IP addresses are no longer included in the information sent when usage reporting has been enabled. | Information sent when usage reporting is enabled |
Features added in version 8
Pexip Infinity version 8 added the following features and enhancements:
Pexip Infinity platform features
Feature | Description | More information |
---|---|---|
Additional codecs |
Support has been added for the following codecs: Audio
Video
|
Audio and video specifications |
Guest-only timeout | You can now specify the length of time a conference will continue with only Guest participants, after all Host participants have left. | Using PINs to differentiate between Hosts and Guests |
Optional reporting of usage statistics | We have added the option for administrators to provide us with anonymized deployment and usage information. This setting is disabled by default on upgrade from previous versions. | Automatically sending usage statistics |
Architectural improvements | As well as adding new features, this release includes a number of behind-the-scenes improvements, continuing our focus on further enhancing the stability, quality and capacity of the Pexip Infinity platform. | |
CDR improvements | All Conference Detail Records accessible via the Management Node now include the call video and audio details. |
Microsoft Lync interoperability features
Feature | Description | More information |
---|---|---|
Support for outbound RDP to Microsoft Lync | Pexip Infinity supports bi-directional RDP. Microsoft Lync users can now send and receive dual streams (previously Lync could send two streams but only receive a single stream). This means Lync users can now view presentation content and the presenter at the same time. To use this feature you must ensure that Pexip Infinity is configured to enable outbound calls to Lync clients. | Integrating Microsoft Lync / Skype for Business with Pexip Infinity |
Support for bi-directional content sharing for Lync AVMCU conferences | When an endpoint is brought into a Microsoft Lync AVMCU conference via the Pexip Distributed Gateway, the endpoint can send and receive dual stream presentation to/from the AVMCU. The Lync AVMCU participants will receive the endpoint presentation as a secondary RDP stream. When Lync clients are sharing desktop or applications in the AVMCU, the content can be viewed on the endpoint as H239/BFCP dual stream. | |
Support for Skype* | Skype users can connect a full audio and video call into a Pexip Infinity VMR or distributed gateway, either through direct federation to a Pexip Conferencing Node or through an on-premises Lync deployment. | |
* Technology preview only |
Web and mobile client features
Feature | Description | More information |
---|---|---|
New versions of Infinity Connect Mobile client | An update of the Infinity Connect Mobile client for iOS is now available, and includes a version for the SECTOR network. | |
Full support for RTMP | RTMP is now fully supported (previously available as technology preview in version 7). RTMP is the protocol used by Infinity Connect via Internet Explorer and Safari browsers. | Enabling and disabling SIP, H.323, WebRTC and RTMP |
Features added in version 7
Pexip Infinity version 7 added the following features and enhancements:
Pexip Infinity platform features
Feature | Description | More information |
---|---|---|
Firewall traversal support |
New firewall traversal features enable Conferencing Nodes to be deployed in a public DMZ:
|
Network deployment options |
Location overflow when media capacity is reached | If a location reaches its capacity for a conference instance, additional "overflow" locations can be utilized to handle the media for new conference participants that are connected (for signaling purposes) to nodes within that location. | Location capacity overflow |
DNS and NTP servers per location | DNS servers and NTP servers are now configured per location, and apply to all of the Conferencing Nodes in that location. You can also configure specific DNS servers and NTP servers for the Management Node. | |
Send DTMF to Automatically Dialed Participants | DTMF sequences can be configured for Automatically Dialed Participants. The DTMF is transmitted 3 seconds after the call connects to the participant. | Automatically dialing out to a participant from a conference |
Pexip Distributed Gateway support for bandwidth restrictions and DTMF |
Bandwidth restrictions can be applied to calls made via the Pexip Distributed Gateway. They can be applied to each Call Routing Rule. If the Pexip Distributed Gateway receives DTMF signaling from an inbound call, it will generate similar DTMF on the outbound call. |
|
Service tags | Administrators have the option to assign a unique identifier to a Pexip Infinity service (Virtual Meeting Room, Virtual Auditorium, Virtual Reception or Call Routing Rule) and then use this to track usage of the service. | Tracking usage with a service tag |
Customizable audio avatar | The image used in place of an audio participant's video stream is now customizable as part of a theme. | Customizing images and voice prompts using themes |
Default theme | You can now nominate a theme to be used by default for any services that do not have a theme selected. | Setting the default theme |
Conference locking | You can now lock a conference after it has started to prevent any further participants from joining. | Locking a conference and allowing participants to join a locked conference |
Improved media resilience | FEC support for VP8. | |
Support for 1080p* | All resolutions up to and including 1080p (1920 x 1080) at a full 30 frames per second are now supported. | |
* Technology preview only |
Microsoft Lync interoperability features
Feature | Description | More information |
---|---|---|
Improved Microsoft Lync interoperability |
|
Integrating Microsoft Lync / Skype for Business with Pexip Infinity |
* Technology preview only |
Web and mobile client features
Feature | Description | More information |
---|---|---|
Infinity Connect suite | This release includes Infinity Connect, a suite of software clients that allows end users to connect to Pexip Infinity services from a web browser, an installable desktop client, or a mobile client (supported on Windows, OS X and Linux). This incorporates design and usability updates to what was previously the Pexip Web App. | Introduction to Infinity Connect |
Browser-based client support extended | Access to the browser-based video client has been extended to Opera, IE* and Safari* (in addition to Chrome and Firefox). | |
Infinity Connect Mobile client for SECTOR Network | An additional Android version of the Infinity Connect Mobile client is available for use in enterprises that require mobile apps to work with management solutions based on OpenPeak's ADAM platform. | |
* Technology preview only |
Usability features
Feature | Description | More information |
---|---|---|
Support for Russian language | The Pexip Infinity Administrator interface can now be displayed in Russian, in addition to Simplified Chinese and English. | Changing the display language |
Features added in version 6
Pexip Infinity version 6 added the following features and enhancements:
Pexip Infinity platform features
Feature | Description | More information |
---|---|---|
Alarms | Notifications will appear on the new | page ( ) whenever a participant cannot join a conference because of lack of resources or lack of licenses.Viewing alarms |
Global settings page | Configuration of settings that apply to all Conferencing Nodes, or to the entire platform, have been incorporated on a new page ( ). | About global settings |
Limiting participant numbers | You can now specify the maximum number of participants that will be allowed to use a Virtual Meeting Room or Virtual Auditorium at any one time. | Limiting the number of participants |
Enabling or disabling SIP, H.323 and WebRTC | You now have the option to select which call protocols (SIP, H.323 or WebRTC) your deployment will support. | Enabling and disabling SIP, H.323, WebRTC and RTMP |
Lync MSSIP domain | You can now specify the name of the Lync domain to which this Pexip deployment belongs. | Integrating Microsoft Lync / Skype for Business with Pexip Infinity |
Lync presence | In a Lync environment, Pexip Infinity will publish presence information for Virtual Meeting Rooms and Virtual Auditoriums. | Presence and contact lists in Lync / Skype for Business environments |
Customizable avatars for Lync | You can customize the avatar that is displayed in Lync users' contact lists to represent a Virtual Meeting Room or a Virtual Auditorium. | Customizing images and voice prompts using themes |
Security features
Feature | Description | More information |
---|---|---|
Integration with external systems | You can now configure a username and password to be used by external systems (for example, CUCM) that are integrating with Pexip Infinity. | Integrating with external systems |
SIP authentication credentials | You can now configure the SIP credentials that Pexip Infinity will use if it is challenged for authentication credentials after making a SIP request. | Managing SIP credentials |
AD/LDAP integration | You can now enable administrators to use their Active Directory or other LDAP server credentials to log in to the Pexip Infinity web-based Administrator interface or management API. | Managing users and roles via LDAP |
Role-based authorization | If you are using AD/LDAP integration, you can create roles with different access rights for administrators accessing the Pexip Infinity web-based Administrator interface or management API. | Managing users and roles via LDAP |
OCSP support | You now have the option to use OCSP when checking the validity of TLS certificates. | Using OCSP to check the status of certificates |
SIP TLS verification | For SIP connections over TLS, you now have the option to require that peer certificates are verified. | Verifying peer certificates for SIP TLS connections |
SNMPv3 support | Pexip Infinity now supports SNMPv3, in addition to SNMPv2c. | Enabling SNMP |
Secure NTP | Pexip Infinity now supports synchronization of time over an encrypted channel. | Enabling NTP on the Management Node |
AS-SIP | Pexip Infinity now supports interoperability with Assured Services SIP (AS-SIP) compliant devices. | |
Configurable SSH access | You can now disable access over SSH to the Management Node and Conferencing Nodes. | About global settings |
Management web interface session timeout | You can now configure the number of minutes a browser session may remain idle before the user is logged out of the Pexip Infinity Administrator interface. | About global settings |
Login banner text | You can now specify informational text to display in a message box on the Administrator interface login page. | About global settings |
Pexip Web App features
Feature | Description | More information |
---|---|---|
Improved screen sharing for Pexip Web App users | Screen sharing from within the Pexip Web App is now enabled via a Chrome extension, and users now have the option to select whether they share their entire screen or a single application. |
Usability features
Feature | Description | More information |
---|---|---|
Logs have paginated view and support searching |
The entire contents of the administrator log and the support log can now be displayed in the Administrator interface via a paginated view. You can also search the logs using the new search box at the top left of the page. |
About the support log |
Localization | The Pexip Infinity Administrator interface can now be displayed in Simplified Chinese, in addition to English. | Changing the display language |