Multipoint Controller Units
A Multipoint Controller Unit (MCU) consists of a Multipoint Controller (MC)
and zero or more Multipoint Processors (MPs).The MC is the conference controller,
and handles all negotiations between terminals, along with conference
resources.The MP directly controls the media streams, and performs switching,
mixing, and other audio/video processing.
Cisco offers the Cisco IP/VC 3510 MCU as its MCU solution for voice and
videoconferencing.This enables conferences between three or more endpoints,
and can support up to 15 simultaneous users. Users can spontaneously set up conferences
by dialing the MCU, which automatically sets up the conference. Other
users can either be added by the initial user, or dial into the conference themselves.
For smaller networks, the IP/VC 3510 can also act as a simple gatekeeper,
and supports the cascading of MCUs to facilitate larger conferences.Table 4.4
shows the maximum number of conference participants supported by a single
IP/VC 3510MCU.