Can you tell me the differences between OCS LiveMeeting (on-prem) and LiveMeeting Service (cloud service)?

I get this question quite a bit from schools. I found a useful slide that covers the differences:

Is the 250 concurrent attendees per LM session a hard limit with OCS?

No, I have seen schools host OCS LM’s with 300+ attendees before but the product team recommends this as your max size.

Doesn’t OCS LM have Meeting storage?

Yes, you can store meetings to your local desktop or on a designated LM archive server (File share, etc). The chart above reflects storage in the cloud (accessible from the Internet).

Does OCS LM have a web client?

Currently, there is only a LM client for PCs however with R2 you can join desktop sharing sessions (LiveMeeting like) with Communicator Web Access from IE, Safari and Firefox.

Doesn’t OCS have two-way VOIP audio?

Yes, you can use two-way VOIP audio with OCS LM today, using PC audio/mic or UC device, which is a nice way to save on audio conferencing costs since no dial-in bridge needed.  With R2, you will also get integrated audio conferencing where you can join an OCS LM audio session from a PSTN or cell if needed.

Screenshot of the OCS LM calendar request with the R2 audio conferencing automatically integrated.

What if I want to use both OCS LM on-prem and LM cloud services?

This is certainly a viable option and you can schedule both from Outlook.  Coming in the near future, I have heard there may be a potential for licensing changes when both are used in conjunction.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!