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Multipoint videoconferencing involves situations where videoconferencing equipment and systems are set up to serve more than two locations. By contrast, traditional point-to-point videoconferencing is a simple videoconference between two specific locations.
Techopedia Explains Multipoint Videoconference
In general, multipoint videoconferencing requires more resources and more specialized setups than a point-to-point videoconferencing system. Multipoint videoconferencing relies on something called a multipoint control unit or MCU that acts as a kind of bridge for the various pieces involved. This requires specific setups of local area networks and other methods to provide calibrated real-time data streaming to and from each individual location.
In setting up these more sophisticated multipoint videoconferencing systems, there’s also the question of how to deploy resources. Two main deployment strategies are a centralized deployment strategy, where individual components all link up to one central WAN cloud, and distributed models where various locational components may communicate with each other in other ways, involving specialized trunking that changes how data flows between the various endpoints.
Engineers have a lot of choices in how to setup multipoint videoconferencing, choices that will affect signal integrity and other aspects of video teleconferencing.
