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As covered in a past Lync Conference presentation the AVMCU can request that the active speaker in a conference should send two encoded video streams: one using Scalable Video Coding (SVC) and the other in Real Time Video (RTV). It is important to understand that the ASMCU does not create a multiple codec stream scenario like the AVMCU can do with X-H264UC encoded video. If any older client versions were to join the meeting then the ASMCU will immediately step-down to using RDP, just as peer sessions were already reverting to RDP in the event that the receiving party would attempt to take remote control of the session. This means that any conference hosted by a Skype for Business Online user and attended by only Skype for Business 2106 Windows clients can leverage VBSS for sharing their desktops. Early in 2016 Microsoft quietly added VBSS support to the ASMCU components in their Skype for Business Online platform. Since posting that original article though this has changed. This ASMCU, whether it was in an on-premises Lync or Skype for Business Server deployment or instead running in the Office 365 cloud as part of Skype for Business Online would still be using the legacy Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) technology. In the event that these same clients were participating in a multi-party conference then the Skype for Business Front End Server’s Application Sharing Multipoint Control Unit (ASMCU) would be driving the media control for sharing content between all parties. As covered in the previous article when this new capability was released in 2015 it was only available for peer-to-peer Desktop Sharing sessions between to 16.x version Windows clients. Conferencing Supportįirst and foremost Microsoft has delivered, in two separate stages, the ability for Skype for Business 2016 Windows clients to leverage VBSS in conferences now. It is recommended to read through the original article to gain a basic understanding of what VBSS is to better appreciate the changes and improvements covered in this new article. This new article will serve as an update to the concepts outlined in the original as well as outline any future behavior or functionality. Since the introduction of VBSS in the article Video Based Screen Sharing (VBSS) for Skype for Business last year Microsoft has released several changes to the platform to further leverage this technology.
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