Meet-Me Conference

Description

Meet-Me Conference (MCC) is an alternative to the standard conference call whereby users must first call another party to add (or “pull”) them into the conference. With MMC, users can dial in to join the conference on their own accord.

NOTES: Meet-Me Conference is audio only.

Besides how the conference is formed, MMC behaves much like a standard conference, with similar Conditions and Feature Interactions.

A noteworthy distinction between the two types of conferences is the number of parties it takes to create them: a standard conference requires at least three parties. An MMC is created once the first party joins. Similarly, a MMC is not terminated until the last member leaves. A standard conference ends when there are fewer than three parties remaining.

Creating or joining a MMC requires credentials consisting of up to three pieces of information: a Meet-Me Conference Access Number, a Bridge Number, and a PIN. MMC is not considered an impromptu (or unplanned) conferencing facility. It is expected that the organizer of the conference will provide conference participants with the MMC credentials prior to the conference, either by e-mail or some other means.

MMC Access Number - For internal users, this is like dialing a feature access code to activate a particular feature. For external users, the access number can be mapped to a DID number to provide easy access to the conference.

MMC Bridge Number - Bridge numbers are NOT configured on the system. They are usually the conference organizer's own DN but any number can be used if it resolves to a dialable DN within the network. Valid bridge numbers are1-7 digits in length and can contain digits 0-9 plus * and #. Care must be taken when using # in the bridge number; see End of Dial.

MMC PIN - The PIN is optional. You can use it to add an extra level of security and differentiation from other Meet-Me Conferences. PINs are NOT configured on the system nor validated. They can be 0 to 10 digits in length; * and # are not allowed.

The following are examples of MMC dial strings, one with a PIN and one without (both use the End of Dial character, #):

73899#0900# (with PIN)

73899## (no PIN)

NOTES

• The combination of the Bridge Number and PIN is used to uniquely identify an MMC. The system creates an MMC if the Bridge Number/PIN combination dialed by a user is not currently in use. If the combination equates to an active MMC, the user will be added to that MMC.

• The concept of a conference leader or host does not apply to MCC. No single participant “controls” the MMC, including the conference organizer or the party who first dials the Bridge/PIN combination to create the MCC.

Users dialing the MMC Access Number from a MiNET display phone (excluding consoles) will be guided through the MMC setup by visual prompts and audible tones. Users of non-MiNET display phone will be guided by tones only.

Users of MiNET display phones involved in an MMC will have their displays updated with the number of members active in the MMC.

Callers can dial in to a conference directly or ask the console operator to transfer them. The operator would then dial the bridge number and PIN (if required) to join the conference and then release the call to complete the transfer. A user may also transfer a party into a conference that they have entered on behalf of a held party.

Conditions and Feature Interactions

NOTE: Conditions and interactions for standard Conferencing also apply to Meet-Me Conference as does the number of concurrent Meet-Me Conferences and parties per conference supported.

• MMC is supported on al MiVoice Business platforms.

• A single system can support up to 200 simultaneous MMCs. This is the maximum number which can be further constrained by the conferencing capacities of the system. For more information, see Conferencing.

• MMC does not support Silent Monitoring.

• A Meet-Me Conference cannot be split (no Split softkey is presented).

• AN MMC Access Number cannot be a call rerouting or call forwarding destination.

• Speedcalls can be used to direct calls to an MMC bridge. The speedcall must contain the MMC access number and bridge number. The PIN is optional; if omitted from the speedcall but included in the conference invitation, the caller will have to dial it. The table below shows valid speedcalls for the following MMC dial string:

MMC access number: 6803

Bridge number: 2000

PIN: 1234

Note that all digits in a speedcall after a pound (#) are ignored.

• Meet-Me Conference is not resilient. If the MiVoice Business system hosting the conference fails, the conference terminates. If a conference party is on another system and it fails, the party is  disconnected from the conference and must dial in again after the set has failed over to its secondary.

• A Mitel MiVoice Border Gateway (MBG) is required to allow SIP calls over IP trunks to participate in Meet-Me Conferences. The MBG collects the MMC bridge and PIN digits from the user and relays them to the MMC host switch. To do this, the MiVoice Business gateway must have the following SIP Peer Profile (Key Press Event tab) options set to Yes:

• Allow Out Subscriptions for Remote Digit Monitoring

• Request Outbound Proxy to Handle Out Subscriptions

Operation

To join a Meet-Me Conference:

1. Dial the MMC Access Number supplied by the conference organizer.

For users of MiNET sets (in idle state only) pressing the Trans/Conf key or MeetMe softkey is equivalent to dialing the MMC Access Number.

NOTE: The Trans/Conf or MeetMe softkey does nothing if the phone is idle and there is no Me-Meet Conference access number provisioned. Likewise, if the only available line already has a call on hard Hold—pressing Trans/Conf or MeetMe results in no response. To initiate a Meet-Me Conference in this case, the phone must have an additional line appearance.

2. Enter the bridge number followed by the “#” key. The bridge number is typically, the conference organizer's extension number.

3. Enter the PIN (if required) followed by the “#” key.

• Conference