Last Updated on June 11, 2019 by GrahamWalsh
Overview
A frequent question I get is how many Microsoft Teams Cloud Video Interop Servers do I need? This would typically be for a global organisation. Like with any Pexip deployment, distribution is key. This provides any user with the best possible experience by bringing them to the closest datacentre as possible.
The reason for this is because the way Microsoft Teams hosts the meeting. Tom Arbuthnot wrote a great blog post regarding this here. In summary, the first person to join a Microsoft Teams meeting is where the meeting will be hosted. This is regardless of where you are, even if you scheduled it. If you are in the UK and you invited a colleague from New York, if they join the meeting first, then the Teams meeting MCU would be in the US. This means that everyone has to join the MCU in New York, regardless of where everyone else is.
So how does this relate to Microsft Teams Cloud Video Interop? You want to get the VTC closest to the Teams Meeting server. Let’s imagine that you have one Cloud Video Interop server in London. It means if there is a VTC in New York, it has to connect into London. It would be on the Azure network back to New York from London. If three CVI servers deployed, NYC, London, and Sydney, with Geo-DNS routing, the VTC join the Teams connector in NYC. It would then get to the Teams Meeting server in New York over the Azure network. This results in less latency between the two, giving the user the best video experience possible.
Typical Pexip Global Deployment
Below is a typical multisite Pexip Infinity deployment. There is a central management node, along with multiple conference nodes in each region and Teams Connectors in each region too. As this is a Scale Set, they can easily be increased in Azure to add more servers. You would do this for resiliency and redundancy, along with capacity planning. Depending on the number of VTCs, the management node and conference nodes could be deployed within the customer network to keep media on-premises. The Teams Connectors must be Microsoft Azure and within one of the datacentres that have Automation and Fs Series servers. Full details here. At the of writing, it is possible to deploy in any one of the 16 datacentres. Pexip Infinity Management Node and Conference Nodes can be deployed in any one of the Azure datacentres as it’s just IaaS.
How does the Pexip Cloud Service handle this?
With the Pexip cloud service, there are 16 datacentres globally for entry to the network. There are four locations for the Microsoft Teams Cloud Video Interop servers. It means Pexip will get you into their network as a quick as possible and then onto the Azure network as soon as possible. Why is this? Well, this means Pexip can give the VTC users the best video experience as possible with little latency.
In summary, if you have a global organisation, ensure you deploy services globally too, resulting in a great experience. Or just subscribe to a service that has done all this for you.