1. Implementing Live Meeting with
Microsoft Office Communications
Server 2007
Product Group - Enterprise
Dell White Paper
By
Ananda Sankaran
Farrukh Noman
April 2008

2. Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................. 3
Microsoft Office Live Meeting service for Web Conferencing .......... 4
Audio & Video Support for Conferencing ..................................................................... 5
Instant Messaging Access............................................................................................... 5
Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007........................................ 6
Implementing On-Premise Web Conferencing............................................................... 6
Internal Access............................................................................................................ 8
External Access........................................................................................................... 8
Implementing On-Premise Audio and Video Conferencing........................................... 9
Internal Access.......................................................................................................... 10
External Access......................................................................................................... 10
Choosing a Web Conferencing Solution...................................................... 12
Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 13
April 2008 Page 2 Dell Product Group – Enterprise

3. Introduction
Web conferencing solutions have become an important communication tool for businesses today.
Communication tools such as telephony, e‐mail and instant messaging have provided a suitable
platform for transmitting information. Web conferencing enhances the communication process
by providing a rich platform that fosters real‐time discussion using various digital data aids and
collaboration capabilities. Although telephony, e‐mail and instant messaging offered multi‐party
communication methods, they were limited to audio or message based communications. Rich
data based live collaboration capabilities such as presentations, discussion boards, multimedia
are offered by web conferencing. It offers a live virtual meeting space for remote employees,
partners and customers to collaborate. Businesses can save costs associated with conducting real
physical meetings. This paper highlights the capabilities of web conferencing solutions based on
Microsoft® Office Communications Server 2007. Capabilities of the Microsoft Office Live Meeting
service are also discussed to highlight the differences. Web conferencing features are provided by
the Microsoft Live Meeting service accessible via the Internet and by the on‐premise solution
hosted on Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007. Businesses can choose either the hosted
web based solution or the on‐premise solution based on requirement.
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4. Microsoft Office Live Meeting service for
Web Conferencing
Microsoft Office Live Meeting service is a hosted web conferencing service offered by Microsoft
Corporation. Businesses can subscribe to this service and use the web conferencing capabilities
offered through the service via the Internet. Employees can set up live meeting sessions over the
Internet with this service and invite attendees via e‐mail. The meeting invitation is presented as a
web URL and participants can log in to the URL at the scheduled meeting time by providing the
meeting security credentials. Office Live Meeting Client software must be installed on Microsoft
Windows‐based client machines to access this service. Optionally, the service can be accessed via
a web browser on non‐Windows‐based client machines using the Office Live Meeting Web
Access (MWA). Web access feature does not require the installation of the Windows based
meeting client. Figure 1 illustrates a sample environment that utilizes Office Live Meeting
Service.
LIVE MEETING
SERVICE
Active Directory and
Perimeter Global Catalog Server(s)
Network
E-mail solution -
Exchange
External
User DATA
VOICE
IM Solution –
TELEPHONY
Communications
CONFERENCING Server
SERVICE
PBX
PSTN Internal Meeting
User
External Telephones/Fax
Telephony Desktop Mobile
Computers Computers
Figure 1: Office Live Meeting Usage in Enterprise
Live Meeting offers collaboration capabilities such as integrated Microsoft Office PowerPoint®
viewer, rich document view support including Microsoft Office documents, web page sharing,
desktop and application sharing, audio broadcast and audio call controls, meeting recordings
and reports, event and training services. It also offers interactive tools such as white board,
shared notes, polling, annotations to discussed content, snapshots, questions manager and
seating charts with mood indicators. Live Meeting also offers add‐in integration to Microsoft
Outlook® for scheduling meetings using the Outlook calendaring functionality. Live Meeting is
integrated with Microsoft Office applications and also provides an API for integrating with
custom business applications. The 2007 version of Microsoft Office Live Meeting service offers
April 2008 Page 4 Dell Product Group – Enterprise

5. significant enhancements over the previous versions, including comprehensive VoIP (Voice over
IP), video and media capabilities. Live Meeting 2007 includes support for rich multimedia
content, multi‐party two‐way VoIP audio, live webcam video and panoramic video using
Microsoft RoundTable™ device, PSTN and VoIP audio integration, high fidelity and personal
recordings, virtual break out rooms, and handouts.
Office Live Meeting 2007 subscription licensing includes Standard and Professional editions.
Standard license enables users to schedule meetings with up to 15 participants. Professional
license enables users to schedule meetings with up to 1250 participants. Licenses are required for
internal users to use the service for scheduling and managing meetings and not required for
external participants.
Audio & Video Support for Conferencing
Office Live Meeting 2007 provides audio support for meeting sessions using telephone
conferencing service or computer audio conferencing. Telephone conferencing service enables
using an external telephony‐based audio conferencing provider. Users can dial into this provider
from their telephone for the audio portion of the meeting. Live Meeting can also be optionally
configured to call or dial‐in the meeting attendees instead of having them dial in to the
conference. Live Meeting requires integration with supported telephone conferencing providers
for this feature and other features such as meeting recording and Internet audio broadcasting.
Computer audio conferencing enables meeting users to communicate using their computer audio
equipment such as microphones and speakers. Live Meeting uses VoIP‐based technologies to
implement this feature. One‐way Internet audio broadcasting can also be enabled, with computer
audio conferencing wherein only the presenter speaks during the conference. Live meeting
sessions can be set up with both options for audio or with no audio at all. Live Meeting 2007 also
supports video conferencing during meeting sessions with live web cam support for users and
also panoramic view support with Microsoft RoundTable device.
Instant Messaging Access
Live Meeting participants can chat with each other when the meeting presenter allows such
activity – for example, during break out sessions. Participants can choose attendees to chat with
and send them messages. Meeting sessions also include support for providing feedback to the
presenter such as questions or request for help. Alternatively, businesses can deploy other instant
messaging solutions if independent and full instant messaging capability is required during a
meeting.
April 2008 Page 5 Dell Product Group – Enterprise

6. Microsoft Office Communications Server
2007
Office Communications Server (OCS) 2007 provides an on‐premises web conferencing solution.
Enterprises can host web conferencing on internal IT infrastructure instead of subscribing to
Office Live Meeting service. OCS 2007 also offers a variety of other communication features and
technologies besides web conferencing. These features include enhanced presence; group IM,
audio & video communications, enterprise voice based on software powered VoIP, telephony
integration, federation with other enterprises or public IM, and archival system.
Implementing On-Premise Web Conferencing
Web conferencing can be implemented using OCS 2007 Standard Edition or OCS 2007 Enterprise
Edition depending on the scalability requirements. Standard Edition supports up to 5000 users
and Enterprise Edition should be deployed for scenarios that involve above 5000 users. End user
client machines require the Office Communicator 2007 and Office Live Meeting 2007 client
software to access and participate in meeting sessions. OCS 2007 does not include support for
Live Meeting Web Access (MWA), and external users must install the client software on their
machines to participate in meeting sessions. OCS 2007 offers most of the features offered by
Office Live Meeting 2007 service except some advanced capabilities such as event services,
meeting reports, meeting content storage, virtual breakout sessions and integrated PSTN/VoIP
audio. Figures 2 and 3 below illustrate sample web conferencing deployments with Standard and
Enterprise Editions.
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7.
Active Directory and
Perimeter Global Catalog Server(s)
Network
OCS Access & web E-mail solution –
conferencing Edge Servers Exchange 2007
External
User DATA
VOICE
TELEPHONY
OCS 2007 Standard
CONFERENCING
Edition
SERVICE
PBX
PSTN Internal Meeting
User
External Telephones/Fax
Telephony Desktop Mobile
Computers Computers
Figure 2: OCS 2007 Standard Edition Web Conferencing Deployment
Active Directory and
Perimeter Global Catalog Server(s)
Network
E-mail solution –
OCS Access, web Exchange 2007
External conferencing Edge Servers
User DATA OCS 2007 Front-
End Servers
VOICE Web Components
Servers
TELEPHONY
CONFERENCING OCS 2007 Back-End
Server/storage
SERVICE
OCS 2007 Web
PBX Conferencing Servers
PSTN Internal Meeting
User
External Telephones/Fax
Telephony Desktop Mobile
Computers Computers
Figure 3: OCS 2007 Enterprise Edition Web Conferencing Deployment
Internal users of the organization can schedule and participate in meeting sessions using the
Office Communicator 2007 and Live Meeting 2007 client software. Users can meet ad‐hoc with
the “meet now” feature or can schedule meetings in the future. Integration with Microsoft
Outlook client software is provided to schedule conferences using the Outlook calendar and e‐
mail invitations. Users can use an external telephony conferencing service for the audio portion
April 2008 Page 7 Dell Product Group – Enterprise

8. of the meeting. User can dial into the audio conferencing number from their telephone or can
configure OCS 2007 to automatically call or dial them into the meeting. OCS 2007 supports up to
250 users in a meeting session.
Internal Access
Standard Edition deployment requires appropriate server hardware with OCS 2007 Standard
Edition software installed (Figure 2). Enterprise Edition Deployment requires the OCS 2007 front‐
end, back‐end database, web conferencing and web components roles installed on multiple
servers. The front‐end (telephony and IM conferencing roles), web conferencing and web
components roles can be co‐located on same server hardware with multiple instances of the co‐
location. Alternatively, these roles can be deployed on their own server hardware. The back‐end
database cannot be co‐located with any of these roles and needs to be installed on separate server
hardware. Additionally the back‐end database may require external storage hardware.
The deployments illustrated in Figures 2 and 3 not only support web conferencing but also other
OCS 2007 features. Instant Messaging, Group IM (IM conferencing), point‐to‐point VoIP audio,
point‐to‐point video and enhanced presence are also available with the same deployment. The
Standard Edition deployment illustrated in Figure 2 can support audio and video conferencing as
well and can also be included in the web conferencing session. Additionally, Enterprise Voice can
be implemented by integrating with the PBX telephony infrastructure. IM archiving and Call
Detail Records (CDRs) can also be implemented with additional servers and storage for archiving
servers and database. Federation with other enterprises or public IM can also be implemented.
External Access
External users outside the active directory domain can participate in the on‐premise hosted
meeting session as well. OCS 2007 access edge and Web conferencing edge roles need to be
installed in the perimeter network for this function. These roles can be co‐located on the same
server hardware or deployed on separate server hardware based on performance and scalability
needs (Figures 2 and 3). Internal users can invite federated and external users to participate in
internal conferences. Internal and federated users are authenticated using their active directory
credentials. Administrators can enable anonymous external users to access meetings hosted
internally. External anonymous users, such as partners or customers, are authenticated using per
meeting conference key provided. External users require the Live Meeting 2007 client installed to
participate in the internal sessions.
The access edge server role enables other functions besides external web conferencing. It enables
external, federated or remote users to collaborate with OCS internal users. It enables functions
such as federation, public IM connectivity and remote user access (remote or roaming internal
users residing outside the firewall).
April 2008 Page 8 Dell Product Group – Enterprise

9. Implementing On-Premise Audio and Video Conferencing
OCS 2007 includes support for audio and video conferencing besides web conferencing. Users
can use their computer audio and video equipment to communicate via the Office Communicator
2007 client. Audio devices, such as speakers, microphones, and headsets, and video devices such
as web cams can be used to participate in point‐to‐point audio/video sessions or multi‐party
audio/video conferences. OCS 2007 also supports video conferencing using the Microsoft
RoundTable communications device. Instead of using a telephony conferencing service for
meeting sessions, users can use the computer based audio (VoIP) conferencing OCS 2007 service
for audio portions of their meetings. OCS 2007 does not support integrating PSTN and 2‐way
VoIP computer audio in the same conference. Additionally, video can be included in the same
conference using OCS 2007 video conferencing. Figures 4 and 5 below illustrate audio and video
conferencing additions to the previous web conferencing deployments. In Figure 4, the OCS 2007
audio/video conferencing role is part of the Standard Edition software and does not require
separate software and hardware.
Active Directory and
Perimeter Global Catalog Server(s)
Network
E-mail solution –
OCS Access, web conferencing Exchange 2007
External and A/V Edge Servers
User DATA
VOICE
TELEPHONY
OCS 2007 Standard
CONFERENCING
Edition
SERVICE
PBX
PSTN Internal Meeting
User
External Telephones/Fax
Telephony Desktop Mobile
Computers Computers
Figure 4: OCS 2007 Standard Edition Web, Audio and Video Conferencing Deployment
April 2008 Page 9 Dell Product Group – Enterprise

10. Active Directory and
Perimeter Global Catalog Server(s)
Network
E-mail solution –
OCS Access, web conferencing Exchange 2007
External and A/V Edge Servers
User DATA OCS 2007 Front-
End Servers
VOICE Web Components
Servers
TELEPHONY
CONFERENCING OCS 2007 Back-End
Server/storage
SERVICE A/V Conferencing
Servers OCS 2007 Web
PBX Conferencing Servers
PSTN Internal Meeting
User
External Telephones/Fax
Telephony Desktop Mobile
Computers Computers
Figure 5: OCS 2007 Enterprise Edition Web, Audio and Video Conferencing Deployment
Internal Access
The audio and video conferencing feature is included within the Standard Edition server
software and does not require separate hardware. In the Enterprise Edition deployment the audio
/video conferencing role needs to be installed in addition to the roles required for web
conferencing. The audio/video conferencing role can be co‐located with other roles or can be
installed separately on its own server hardware. It is recommended to deploy the audio/video
server role on its own hardware for heavy audio/video workload requirements. Appropriate
numbers of audio/video and other server roles should be provisioned based on scalability
requirements. Users need Office Communicator 2007 client in addition to Live Meeting 2007
client installed to participate in the internal web, audio and video conferencing sessions. As
described in the earlier section, the deployments illustrated in figure 4 and 5 also include other
OCS 2007 features besides web, audio and video conferencing.
External Access
External users outside the active directory domain can participate in the on‐premise hosted audio
and video conferencing session as well. OCS 2007 audio/video edge role needs to be installed in
the perimeter network for this function in addition to other edge roles required. These roles can
be co‐located on the same server hardware or deployed on separate server hardware based on
performance and scalability needs (Figures 4 and 5). Deploying the audio/video edge server role
on its own hardware is recommended for heavy audio/video workload requirements. External
users need the Office Communicator 2007 Client in addition to Live Meeting 2007 client installed
to participate in the internal web, audio and video conferencing sessions. The audio/video edge
April 2008 Page 10 Dell Product Group – Enterprise

11. role enables external, federated and remote users to participate in both point‐to‐point
audio/video calls to internal users and audio/video multi‐party conferences that include internal
users.
April 2008 Page 11 Dell Product Group – Enterprise

12. Choosing a Web Conferencing Solution
Office Live Meeting 2007 service and Office Communications Server 2007 offer suitable web
conferencing solution options. The choice of a solution depends on the requirements of IT
departments and on the capabilities offered by each solution. The following table summarizes the
differences between each solution.
Office Communications Office Live Meeting 2007
Server 2007 (conferencing service
solution)
IT Personnel Resources and competencies Limited resources required for
required for deploying and managing the solution
maintaining the solution on‐
premise
End‐user support Need to be provisioned for Telephone and e‐mail support
both internal and external provided for both internal and
users external users
Costs On‐premise hardware, No on‐premise hardware and
software and maintenance maintenance costs. Licensing
costs incurred. Licensing costs costs are higher for the service.
are usually lower.
Compliance requirements Satisfies the requirement of Communications need to pass
internal meeting content outside the corporate firewall
staying inside the corporation. to access the service for
Secure extranet required for internal meetings.
facilitating external meetings.
Advanced IM, enhanced Supported Not Supported
presence and enterprise voice
features
Meeting scalability Support for up to 250 users Support for up to 1250 users
per meeting session per meeting session
External Access Supports only the Live Supports both Live Meeting
Meeting 2007 client 2007 client and Live Meeting
Web Access (MWA)
Integrated PSTN and 2‐way Not Supported Supported
VoIP computer audio in same
conference
Advanced training and event Not Supported Supported
features
Organizations can choose either of the solutions based on needs. Optionally a combination of
both of these solutions can be deployed where necessitated by the features required.
April 2008 Page 12 Dell Product Group – Enterprise

13. Conclusion
Office Communications Server 2007 and Office Live Meeting 2007 service provide suitable
solutions for web conferencing. Businesses need to assess their requirements carefully in
choosing a deployment. Office Communications Server (OCS) 2007 offers other advanced
features besides web conferencing such as enhanced presence, IM, enterprise voice based on
software powered VoIP and communications archiving. Businesses requiring these features can
assess deploying a solution based on OCS 2007. Dell™ PowerEdge™ servers and Dell
PowerVault™ and Dell | EMC storage offer a suitable platform for hosting the OCS 2007
infrastructure. Dell offers Microsoft SQL Server® solutions for hosting the OCS 2007 backend
databases and also offers complementary Microsoft Exchange Server solutions for hosting e‐mail.
These solutions provide a comprehensive platform for implementing an OCS 2007 infrastructure.
THIS WHITE PAPER IS FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY, AND
MAY CONTAIN TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS AND TECHNICAL
INACCURACIES. THE CONTENT IS PROVIDED AS IS, WITHOUT EXPRESS
OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND.
April 2008 Page 13 Dell Product Group – Enterprise