Modernize your video conferencing infrastructure for today’s meeting needs

When we talk about infrastructure, we are referring to everything you need to manage, analyze, organize, and connect video conferencing equipment and systems. This eBook explores how video conferencing infrastructure continues to evolve to meet organizations’ requirements for interoperable, secure, and scalable video meeting solutions. Because we know that modern video conferencing infrastructure isn’t static; it grows with organizational needs, making it an important foundation for future-ready meeting experiences. 

Why read this video conferencing infrastructure eBook? 

• Learn how a modern video conferencing infrastructure can simplify the use of all your meeting platforms and video systems 

• Discover how to extend the lifespan of your existing video conferencing equipment 

• Learn how you can reduce opex related to your meeting infrastructure 

• Understand how Pexip’s solutions can offer you greater flexibility and customizability  

Why modernizing your meeting infrastructure matters 

Modernizing video conferencing infrastructure has moved beyond simply adapting to hybrid work; video has become central to how we work and connect each day. New meeting and collaboration platforms such as Microsoft Teams and Zoom have greatly impacted how people meet – alongside traditional video conferencing platforms from the likes of Poly and Cisco – leaving it to IT to solve the user experience and complexity of managing multiple solutions.

IT teams need a robust foundation that ensures scalability, security, and seamless interoperability across platforms to meet employees’ needs. This infrastructure must bridge traditional and modern meeting rooms and meeting technologies to create unified experiences that serve both end-users and IT administrators. 

Meeting participants today expect to step into a meeting room and join meetings effortlessly, whether through purpose-built video systems like Cisco and Poly or with Teams Rooms or Zoom Rooms devices. Simplifying this experience and enabling easy access to any meeting from any room presents a unique IT challenge – one that can only be addressed with a powerful interoperability solution.

The challenges of modern-day meeting rooms

In today’s dynamic workplace, meeting rooms are expected to handle much more than ever before, adapting to a range of collaboration tools, meeting platforms, and rising user expectations for features and functionality. Key challenges include: 

• Platform interoperability: Modern workspaces feature platform-specific rooms, such as Microsoft Teams Rooms and Zoom Rooms, designed for specific platforms but often incompatible with other systems.  

• Complexity of legacy systems: Many executive rooms and long-standing high-quality setups rely on dedicated high-end Cisco or Poly devices – but incompatible with modern meeting platforms. This makes interoperability essential, so that these devices function as part of a unified infrastructure, thus prolonging the life of high-quality systems.  

• User-centricity: Employees today expect meetings to be simple and intuitive, no matter what video conferencing device, system, or in-room technology they are using. Modern video infrastructure should “just work” and remove complexity from the user experience, allowing employees to focus on their meetings, not technical issues. 

• Scalability and flexibility: As companies establish hybrid work as their new normal, their meeting room infrastructure must be able to scale quickly, adapting to varying video conferencing systems, room types and sizes, locations, and user demands. 

• IT management: Managing and troubleshooting a diverse set of room technologies and video systems requires a streamlined, centralized approach, especially as demand for video connectivity grows. 

• Security and compliance: With sensitive information shared in meetings, video conferencing solutions must ensure robust security and compliance, safeguarding data across all platforms and devices. 

Value of a modernized infrastructure 

Enable seamless meetings across platforms 

Today’s meeting rooms require versatile infrastructure. Organizations must be able to integrate platform-specific rooms, like Microsoft Teams Rooms and Zoom Rooms, while extending usability to standards-based systems from Cisco, Poly, and other SIP/H.323 devices. This requires infrastructure that gives IT a single place to manage their devices and provides the widest range of interoperability.

What do organizations today need? 

• Support for Multi-Platform Environments: Organizations need a solution that enables interoperability across meetings such as Teams, Zoom, Google Meet, Webex, and standards-based video systems, ensuring any device can connect to any platform. 
• Seamless Experience: Users must be able to join meetings across platforms without additional downloads, apps, or device changes. 
  
  
• IT Simplification: By consolidating management and reducing platform-specific support issues, the infrastructure solution offers a unified management console that provides analytics, call quality insights, and device monitoring. 
  

Finding the right infrastructure deployment

Pexip enables your meeting rooms to accommodate all types of meetings and offers deployment options for organizations that either embrace a cloud-first strategy or have more specific needs.  

Software as a Service (SaaS)

SaaS is a great option for companies who need an out-of-the-box solution that requires minimal time and resources to manage. By registering Cisco or Poly SIP and H.323 video endpoints to a cloud service, you can keep the same high-quality video experience without the management burden. With the right vendor, you don’t have to worry about dropped calls, choppy audio, frozen faces, or uninvited guests.

Look for a provider with a dedicated global network exclusively for video, so your calls won’t compete with other media traffic. Gone are the days of complex hardware-based infrastructure – now you can now easily consume services as SaaS cloud or even enhance data control. Tasks like provisioning endpoints, pushing software updates, and registering an endpoint to the cloud doing a quick health-check of your entire deployment can be done in seconds, enabling users to get up and running quickly. Plus, it’s easy to scale. As your company grows, look for a cloud-based video solution grows with you and supports all generations of endpoint software. 

Self-hosted in the cloud of your choice

For organizations seeking greater control over their data, a self-hosted cloud deployment model is worth considering. By hosting your entire video infrastructure in a private cloud hosted in Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services, or Google Cloud, you have full autonomy over security and data management.  

This model is especially well-suited to industries with strict compliance requirements, including financial services, healthcare, and government, as it keeps the entire deployment, media, and data within your control. Administrators can also easily adjust capacity as needed, allowing for seamless scaling to meet global needs. 

For organizations that require complete data control, such as those operating under data sovereignty requirements or stringent regulations, a self-hosted on-premises solution may be the right for you. This approach ensures that all data remains withing your secure environment, which is key for sectors with strict oversight.  

Dedicated private cloud 

Organizations with strict privacy requirements that still want the flexibility of cloud technology should consider a private cloud solution, like Pexip Private Cloud. This model provides all the control and security of a self-hosted platform while offering the ease and scalability of a public cloud service. In a Pexip Private Cloud setup conference management is handled by the organization, while the compute power needed for call capacity is deployed securely by the vendor in a private instance for only that organization.  

This approach accelerates deployment and simplifies management while maintaining the control and privacy of a self-hosted solution. Private clouds operate as virtual private clouds accessible only to authorized admin users, using strong authentication processes like OpenID Connect, and isolated from any third-party interference. Data remains fully protected, with no contact with intermediate network operators (ASNs), ensuring robust data security.  

This model is ideal for organizations with strict security and compliance requirements but limited resources for managing a self-hosted deployment. It allows them to have complete data control without any exposure to third parties, with deployment in the region of choice to comply with data protection laws and ensure optimal media processing. In addition, it enables simple management and scalability, meaning you can request capacity adjustments within one region or even across the globe. On top of all that, a private cloud offers faster deployment times, requiring less manpower to deploy, manage, and scale. Pexip’s own private cloud solution is 10 times faster to deploy than traditional self-hosted solutions.   

Government cloud 

Government organizations typically require a robust, secure cloud solution designed specifically for their needs, such as for U.S. federal, state, and local government agencies. Pexip Government Cloud is the only FedRAMP(R) and StateRAMP(R) Authorized Cloud Video Interop (CVI) solution for Microsoft Teams, providing government agencies with a reliable, certified platform that maintains high security and compliance requirements.  

Pexip Government Cloud supports a range of deployment options and includes integration with Zero Trust and Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) frameworks. This approach is ideal for government organizations that require secure connections and wish to leverage existing video equipment while enhancing its functionality.  

Pexip infrastructure for seamless, user-friendly meeting rooms

Pexip infrastructure is designed to make meeting rooms intuitive and compatible across platforms, so users can simply begin their meeting without need for additional training – everything “just works”. This infrastructure supports all types of meetings, ensuring rooms can flexibly adapt to any needs, such as:  

• Connecting Zoom Rooms to Microsoft Teams meetings 

• Connecting Microsoft Teams Rooms to Zoom, Webex, Google Meet, and any other SIP-enabled meetings 

• Connecting existing Cisco/Poly or any other standards-based SIP/H.323 video system to any meeting, including Microsoft Teams and Google Meet meetings. 

With Pexip, you can manage your network infrastructure, meeting platform, and video conferencing endpoints all in one place. It includes everything you need to connect your meeting rooms and make hosting and joining video meetings a pain-free experience for your users. Top features include: 

• Cloud Video Interop (CVI) for Microsoft Teams 

• One-touch join for Teams, Google, Zoom, Webex, and many other types of meetings 

• Teams-like experience on SIP/H.323 devices 

• Real-time monitoring and diagnostics 

• SIP/H.323 provisioning and management 

• Custom calling domain and branding 

• Flexible deployment options (SaaS, Self-hosted, or private cloud) 

For more details, visit Pexip’s plans page Pexip pricing and plans.

Real world examples and role-based benefits

By using solutions like Pexip, companies from across industries are transforming their meeting rooms for enhanced interoperability, scalability, and security. Pexip’s infrastructure also offers different benefits to a range of roles, from IT to facilities management, ensuring that everyone can maximize efficiency, reduce costs, and simplify operations. 

Pexip infrastructure customers 

Financial organization  
Enabling 4,000 Zoom Rooms to connect to Microsoft Teams meetings without replacing existing Zoom-specific setups. 

Consumer goods company  
Supporting a mix of Microsoft Teams Rooms and traditional video systems across 300 rooms with seamless interoperability, allowing continued use of legacy infrastructure. 

Technology firm  
Transitioning to Microsoft Teams Rooms while retaining Zoom capabilities, using Pexip to offer a consistent user experience across both meeting room types, with security and scalability at its core. 

Pexip infrastructure supports multiple roles

Admins  
Simplified management across a single interface, including video endpoint management, interoperability, and diagnostics and analytics. 

IT departments 
Secure, scalable solutions with support for hybrid and fully cloud-based models, ensuring data protection across deployment models. 

Procurement  
Cost-effective solutions that maximize ROI by extending the life of existing devices, reducing upgrading needs, as well as simplified procurement through leading cloud marketplaces. 

Facilities management  
Flexibility for room setup, streamlined integration of platform-specific devices, and simplified room management. 

It’s time to modernize

Whether your video infrastructure faces end-of-life, or you simply need a way to ensure that your new Teams Rooms or Zoom Rooms can connect to other meeting types, it’s important to plan your modernization strategy now to avoid pitfalls down the road.

While on-premises video infrastructure does offer a high degree of control and the comfort of your own security environment, cloud-based solutions can deliver the high-quality and secure video meetings you need. 

Pexip has helped organizations around the world modernize their video conferencing infrastructure to save money and to provide a simple, intuitive meeting experience for users. We’ve learned a few things along the way, and even created a checklist for you as you evaluate potential solutions. 

Checklist: Choosing an infrastructure partner 

When selecting a solution, IT managers should consider the following ... Download full eBook to access the checklist.