This is a transcript of notes of a webcast by Polycom, demonstrating the new CMA product and desktop client.

John Palaszynski Medical upstate NY, Vermont govt, health-care and education rep.
Bill Torrey – Sales Engineer

CMA – Polycom Converged Management Application

It is a little ironic, but I’m attending a Microsoft LiveMeeting web presentation about Polycom’s new video client, which is a web-based client (Windows only for now), which will supplement or replace Polycom’s PVX desktop software application.

The irony is that we’re dialing in to an 800 number for the audio portion of the program, and they are showing PowerPoint slides on the LiveMeeting. (later…. the demo is very interesting. )

CMA has Management and Gatekeeper functionality and a downloadable desktop client

CMA Desktop Client looks like

CMA is a server (Dell rack-mount server, running Windows 2003 server)
Control endpoints

Polycom has a MPLS network worldwide

No specific talking points when comparing with Tandberg Movi 2.

Control bridges
Control recording and streaming devices

Can tie into active directory (as a read-only application)
Can assign rights and privileges (scheduling conferences, monitoring conferencing, troubleshooting)
Provides XML and XMPP (provisioning endpoints.

Buddies list – status of everyone in the list
Start a chat
Escalate to a video call

Dell rack-mount server
Server 4000- 200 seat license, can scale up to 400 seats
Server 5000 500 seat license and can scale up to 5000 seats
5000 has additional hardware redundancy

Gatekeeper
Policy and bandwidth management
Participant admission
Least cost routing (if you use ISDN)
RTP statistics
OneDial (E.164) four-digit dialing plan

Scheduling via Outlook and Lotus Notes

Video client
Licensing – if it is inactive for a default 30 days it automatically pulls the license back into the license pool. This is unlike PVX, where those licenses are essentially “gone” after they are distributed.
MSI installs are supported.
Can receive HD video assuming you have the bandwidth available. It will transmit at 4CIF and is limited to that for transmission for now.
This is an H.323 client – can call into any other H.323 client.
You can do far-end camera control.
CMA does not include T.120 support for data sharing, (and actually the latest PVX client doesn’t support it either…as the standard is considered obsolete)
Recommend the Logitech 9000 camera

The Polycom Communicator is also helpful for 22Khz audio. (This is a USB microphone/speaker with built-in echo cancellation)

The CMA client will NOT work if you don’t have VPN or Polycom firewall product (the S/T5300 ad S/T6400 line)
CMA has “deep integration” with Microsoft Office Communication Server/Client

CMA is an upgrade to the SE200 (management/gatekeeping box). There is an upgrade path.

Demonstration: — The setup screens look very similar to PVX
Shows the desktop

Lost Packet Recovery (LPR) error recovery code

CMA 500 server management application

Think of the CMA clients as just another endpoint. The main difference is that the PVX client doesn’t require connections to a licensing server. So, for multipoint you need to have access to an MCU.

The CMA replaces the MGC manager. This means you can use a web interface instead of the loaded MGC manager.
Right now CMA t won’t go into the bridge and hard reserve a port that the MGC manager does. (Available at the end of the year December).

Discussion of created “Meeting Rooms” configured on the bridge.
Sounds like you still have to use both the MGC and CMA together to be able to reserve ports.
RMX is the more recent Polycom bridge product.