Polycom PathNavigator, ReadiManager LX 100, WebCommander, MGC Manager, Personal Scheduler Supplementary Manual
Polycom®Management Solutions
Selecting the right combination of applications
for your organization
Connect. Any Way You Want.
October 2004
Video and Voice communications are becoming a critical part of more and more organizations each year. As organizations increase their dependence
on this technology, it becomes increasingly important to maintain the technology’s proper operation and measure and track its usage. Polycom has
a wide range of different management applications enabling an organization to purchase and use only the software they need. When selecting the
Polycom management applications best suited to an organization’s needs, it is important to understand that some situations will be best served by
a combination of these applications.
This paper focuses on identifying the key differentiating features between each application and does not cover the complete feature set of each
application. The features listed are unique to all other Polycom applications available today. This paper is intended to augment the information
available on these applications through datasheets, presentations, and other whitepapers. These materials are available on the Polycom Website,
www.polycom.com. Select the “Product and Services” tab and then select the Network Systems and Network Management options.
The applications reviewed in this paper are grouped in the following order:
Scheduling, Reservations, and Conference Management
Polycom ReadiManager™ LX100, Network Aware Scheduler™ – Polycom Conference Suite module
WebCommander™, MGC™ Personal Scheduler, and MGC Manager
Monitoring, Management, and Directory Services
Polycom ReadiManager LX100, Video Network Management – Polycom Conference Suite Module
Global Management System™
H.323 Gatekeeper
Polycom PathNavigator™
These management applications are focused on one of the following areas: 1) the video network, 2) the MGC, or 3) the endpoints. Polycom
ReadiManager LX100 is both a multivendor scheduling tool and Polycom centric endpoint management tool. Polycom ConferenceSuite and Polycom
PathNavigator are video network-centric tools enabling them to be used in multivendor environments. WebCommander, MGC Personal Scheduler,
and MGC Manager are MGC-centric tools providing indepth management and monitoring capabilities on the MGC. Global Management System is a
Polycom endpoint-centric tool focused on endpoint maintenance and a global address book. Polycom offers in-depth tools to address specifics needs
of the organization.
2
ReadiManager LX 100, Network Aware Scheduler – Polycom Conference Suite Scheduling Module
Polycom ReadiManager LX100
The Polycom ReadiManager LX100 is an appliance with a unified multi-vendor scheduling application and a Polycom-centric management application.
Polycom ReadiManager LX100 is required for organizations that:
• Require a single appliance to connect to the network to schedule and manage the video conferencing equipment – For enterprises that
have no more than 100 video codecs deployed, they can all be managed and scheduled. It combines all the device management functionality of Global
Management System and the majority of the scheduling functionality of Network Aware Scheduler.
• Do not require high-end scheduling capabilities only available in the Network Aware Scheduler –- While the product is very feature rich and
an advanced scheduling, if any of the following features are required for scheduling conferences, then the Network Aware Scheduler is better aligned
to meet the enterprise requirements - Bandwidth reservation and GK authorization, cascaded MCUs, trouble ticketing, distributed scheduling, catering,
and redundancy.
• Need a simple, automated wizard-like interface to schedule conferences – For users that don't often schedule conferences, but they are
required to schedule their own conferences, the automated wizard-like web interface walks them through the scheduling experience ensuring a positive
and successful experience.
The Network Aware Scheduler is a very robust scheduling application. This scheduling module in Polycom Conference Suite is available separately and
operates independently of the other Polycom Conference Suite modules.
Network Aware Scheduler is required for organizations that:
• Use Microsoft
®
Outlook®or IBM®Lotus Notes® and want to schedule network bandwidth, rooms, people, and video equipment to
ensure successful conferences – There are two key elements in this capability. The first is being able to create and manage vide conferences from
inside of Outlook or Lotus Notes. The second is that it enables the ability to schedule and reserve the network bandwidth, rooms, equipment, and people. All this gets loaded directly onto users’ calendars.
• Want to utilize both stand-alone bridges and embedded multipoint endpoints to create multipoint conferences – The Network Aware
Scheduler enables currently deployed resources in the organization to be better utilized (endpoints with embedded multipoint). It also enables videoconferences between two endpoints without any bridge involved.
• Have a mix of manufacturers’ equipment and want one application to schedule all video network equipment – Scheduling applications from
endpoint manufacturers are only focused on their own endpoints. However in the case of Polycom’s Network Aware Scheduler the endpoints from major
manufacturers can be scheduled to dial each other or be called from a bridge.
• Want problems with equipment tied to trouble tickets to ensure fast resolutions – If a problem occurs on a device, a report can be made against
that device in the trouble ticket system. That way any current or future conference creators can be made aware of these issues and appropriate action
can be taken.
• Need full CDR for point-to-point and multipoint calls for easy billing – Although a number of Polycom products include CDR data, only the
Network Aware Scheduler CDR can contain all IP and ISDN calls made from/to endpoints and through bridges.
• Need catered meals automatically tied into their conferences for convenient food delivery – Many organizations require food services to be
brought in for particular scheduled conferences. Network Aware Scheduler provides a very flexible catering application completely integrated into the
conference scheduler.
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