Office Communications Server 2007 supports multiparty A/V (audio/video) conferencing. Users can specify A/V when scheduling a conference or can add audio or video to an existing IM conversation or conference call. Managing multiparty audio and video sessions is the job of the A/V Conferencing Server.
The A/V Conferencing Server can be collocated with the pool Front End Server or deployed in the pool on a separate computer for greater scalability. When deployed on a separate computer, the Audio/Video Conferencing Server can support up to 250 participants within a single session.
Office Communications Server 2007 also extends audio and video conferencing to external users. The Audio/Video Edge Server acts as a media relay for the transmission of both audio and video signals across corporate firewalls. This makes it possible to share audio and video with external users. The Audio/Video Edge Server can be collocated with the Access Edge Server or installed on a separate computer in the perimeter network.