Web conferencing architecture
MeetingServer's architecture is optimized for large-scale Service Provider deployments, supporting 10,000s of simultaneous web conferencing users (ports), but is also available for entry-level single server systems. A deployment can easily be enlarged simply by adding new servers, with no conference downtime.
The following diagram illustrates a distributed multi-server web conferencing deployment based on MeetingServer. The components shown in the diagram are described below.
- Front-end web servers provide the web-based user interface.
- Conference servers control active web conferences.
- Recording servers record both the audio and web parts of the conference as required.
- Streaming servers provide real-time streaming of recorded conferences.
In each server farm, multiple servers can be used for load balancing and fault tolerance. If you are setting a small conferencing deployment you may not need this, and can install all the conferencing features on a single server.
MeetingServer is integrated with audio bridges from several third-party vendors to offer a combined web and phone-based audio conferencing solution. Different audio bridge types can be used in a single MeetingServer deployment, presenting a unified conference bridge interface to users.
MeetingServer integration
When a Service Provider deploys a web conferencing service, it needs to ensure that the system meshes with other elements of the features it offers to its customers. MeetingServer is easily integrated with elements like billing, scheduling and authentication, and the interface look-and-feel can be customized for tailored, rebranded deployments. Data Connection can provide experienced Professional Services engineers to help.
Scheduling
MeetingServer uses a reservationless, "on demand" model for conference scheduling. As a result, no integration of scheduling databases is required.
Billing
MeetingServer writes billing information to a database. It is simple to configure MeetingServer to write this information into the appropriate fields of an existing, external billing database to combine web and audio conferencing details.
Authentication
For security purposes, some deployments require users to be authenticated before joining the conference. MeetingServer uses a simple HTTP request/response interface to authenticate clients with an external web server. No integration of user databases is required.
Branding
MeetingServer can be branded to project your own look-and-feel, and internationalized, by simply modifying text-based template files.
For more information about Data Connection's conferencing solutions, please contact .