Introduction to Infinity Connect

The Infinity Connect suite of clients allows users to join conferences (Virtual Meeting Rooms, Virtual Auditoriums and so on) within the Pexip Infinity deployment.

In addition to sharing audio and video, Infinity Connect users can also control the conference, view presentations, share content, and exchange chat messages with other conference participants. Infinity Connect can also be used in conjunction with the Infinity Gateway to make person-to-person calls, or join conferences hosted on other platforms, such as Skype for Business / Lync meetings.

All Infinity Connect clients can make calls to Pexip Infinity services. The Infinity Connect desktop client can also register to Pexip Infinity in order to receive calls and use directory services.

Infinity Connect clients are available for almost any device:

All Infinity Connect clients are available for free with the Pexip Infinity platform (although, as with any other endpoint, you must still have a license with sufficient call capacity before you can place calls).

See Comparison of Infinity Connect and other video endpoints for a comparison of how the conference experience differs between Infinity Connect users and participants using other types of endpoints.

Which clients should I use in my deployment?

The Infinity Connect suite of clients all offer identical conference join and control features, and have the same high-quality video experience. You can use a combination of some or all Infinity Connect clients within your deployment, depending on your requirements. In general, we recommend the following:

  • Users connecting from outside your organization and who do not have their own video device should generally use the Infinity Connect web app to access VMRs. This means that they won't need to download or install anything in order to access meetings, but will still have the same high-quality user experience and functionality of participants using the Infinity Connect desktop client.

    You'll need to make sure that at least one Conferencing Node is accessible externally, and you'll also need to set up appropriate DNS records for connections from both inside and outside your network.

  • Users connecting from inside your organization should also use the Infinity Connect web app, unless you want them to be able to register to receive incoming calls — in which case they need to use the Infinity Connect desktop client.

  • The Infinity Connect desktop client should be used if you want to take advantage of the additional registration (to receive incoming calls) and internal directory service features. Administrators can also set up Call Routing Rules that apply to registered devices only, meaning that you can permit registered Infinity Connect desktop client users to make calls that Infinity Connect web app users cannot.

    If you are deploying the Infinity Connect desktop client in your environment, we recommend that you make use of provisioning, and you'll also need to set up appropriate DNS records.

  • The Infinity Connect mobile client is aimed at users who want to be able to control a conference and view presentations while in a meeting using a video device that does not support those features — for example, a video conferencing endpoint in a meeting room.
  • The Infinity Connect mobile client can also be used to join a meetings as an audio or video participants, but because of the nature of mobile devices this may result in intensive battery use.

Choosing which web app version to use

The current suite of Infinity Connect clients was first released with Pexip Infinity v18. You can choose whether your deployment uses the latest web app, or whether to use the legacy version. For more information, see Switching to the legacy Infinity Connect web app.

Making calls from Infinity Connect clients

For an Infinity Connect client to make a call, it must be able to connect to a Conferencing Node that can route that call on its behalf.

Infinity Connect web app clients connect directly to a Conferencing Node or Reverse Proxy (via the host's FQDN or IP address). When a call is placed from the client, it is treated as an incoming call request by the Conferencing Node, and routed accordingly. For more information, see Service precedence. All other Infinity Connect clients typically use DNS SRV records to find a Conferencing Node to connect to.

You must ensure that your deployment has appropriate internal and external DNS configured to allow clients located inside and outside your internal network to resolve the Conferencing Node address successfully. The actual address clients use when attempting to locate a host Conferencing Node depends on the domain being called and the client's own configuration. For more information, see Setting up DNS records and firewalls for Infinity Connect client connectivity.

Receiving calls to Infinity Connect clients

For an Infinity Connect client to receive a call, it must register with a Conferencing Node. The client's Registration Host setting specifies the domain, FQDN or IP address of the Conferencing Node that it should register to; therefore, you must ensure that the address used is reachable from the client from the internal or external network as appropriate, and that any FQDNs can be resolved via DNS lookups. For more information, see Registering and provisioning the Infinity Connect clients.

Currently, only the Infinity Connect desktop client can register to a Conferencing Node.

Branding the Infinity Connect clients

The branding and styling of the Infinity Connect clients (web app, mobile and desktop) can be customized. This changes the look and feel of the Infinity Connect client regardless of which service is being accessed. See Customizing the Infinity Connect clients for more information.

Enabling and disabling use of Infinity Connect clients

Access to conferences from all Infinity Connect clients is enabled by default. If you do not want users to access conferences within your deployment from Infinity Connect clients, you can disable this functionality.

To disable or re-enable this functionality:

  1. Go to Platform > Global settings.

  2. From within the Connectivity section:

    1. Deselect or select Enable support for Pexip Infinity Connect and Mobile App. This controls access from all Infinity Connect clients and third-party clients using the client APIs.
    2. When Enable support for Pexip Infinity Connect and Mobile App is selected, you must also ensure that Enable WebRTC and Enable RTMP are deselected or selected as appropriate to enable the clients that use those protocols to access conferences.

When access is disabled, users attempting to use Infinity Connect clients to access a conference or make a call are presented with the message Call Failed: Disabled (you can customize the clients to change the wording of this message if required).