Zoom Meetings Hybrid

Overview

Zoom Meetings Hybrid is an on-premises, hybrid solution that redistributes a meeting’s or webinar’s audio, video, and screen sharing streams within a corporate network, saving on bandwidth. Zoom Meetings Hybrid can do this in two distinct modes: hybrid mode and private mode, with both modes offering local survivability.

Hybrid Mode

Hybrid Mode reduces bandwidth consumption by consolidating and redistributing media streams within a network

Hybrid Mode is a bandwidth-optimized use of the Meetings Hybrid service, where in-network users connect to an intermediary, on-premises appliance (i.e. the Zoom Node) that can independently receive, multiplex, and redistribute inbound and outbound media streams between users and the Zoom Cloud.

For example, in a standard cloud-based Zoom Meeting (i.e., a meeting without Meetings Hybrid or Zoom Node), each user must independently connect to the Zoom Cloud. This means that if 100 in-network users are attending the same meeting, each user must establish an independent audio, video, and/or screen sharing connection with the Zoom Cloud, requiring sizable bandwidth, and approximately 300 separate outbound connections.

With Zoom Meetings Hybrid in Hybrid Mode, the module acts as an intermediary connection point between in-network users and the Zoom Cloud. For each active meeting, the Meetings Hybrid module sends and receives a single media stream to and from the Zoom Cloud for each channel—audio, video, and screen sharing. With this design, outbound data is multiplexed and consolidated from all connected users within the network, while inbound data is redistributed locally within the network to all connected users. This means that if 100 in-network users are attending the same meeting, each user will connect to the in-network Meetings Hybrid module, which redistributes inbound media to connected users, hypothetically reducing the number of external media connections from 300 to 3.

The following image provides an overview of this function, where users in the HQ and Branch locations connect to the Zoom Meetings Hybrid module, which interfaces with the cloud-based multimedia router (MMR) hosting the meeting on behalf of all participants. This setup minimizes external cloud-media connections, resulting in reduced external bandwidth consumption and enhanced security for the organization.

Private Mode

Private Mode offers customers off-cloud, on-premises privacy

Private Mode is a privacy and compliance-focused use of the Meetings Hybrid service. Unlike Hybrid Mode, which allows users to connect to meetings in the Zoom Cloud, Private Mode allows users to host meetings locally and on-premises, without sending any media to the Zoom Cloud.

When Private Mode is selected for a meeting during the scheduling process, users will not connect to the Zoom Cloud for the meeting. Instead, internal users will connect to a Meetings Hybrid module through the local network, connecting to its private and internal IP, while external users connect to the module through its public IP.

This can allow customers to host private, confidential meetings on-premises with the Meetings Hybrid service, providing enhanced security for sensitive discussions and meeting compliance or privacy requirements.

The following image provides an overview of this function, where all users, internal, branch, and external connect directly to the Meetings Hybrid module, bypassing media traversal to the Zoom Cloud.

Local Survivability

Local Survivability keeps meetings running Zoom Data centers are unreachable

Zoom Meeting Survivability (ZMS) is an integrated feature included with the Meetings Hybrid Service that provides businesses with limited, on-premises Zoom Meetings functionality in the event of an internet or service disruption and Zoom’s data centers are unreachable. With ZMS, users can continue to join Zoom Meetings using familiar workflows, with support for offline survivability up to 30 days at a time.

During a survivability event, the ZMS component can sustain meetings within the local network in multiple capacities.

1. If the Zoom Cloud is inaccessible from your network, in-network users can host local (i.e., non-cloud) meetings using the Meetings Hybrid infrastructure. If users in different locations have access to the Zoom Node machine across a wide or campus area network, they can also join the locally hosted meeting, enabling continual communication. The following image provides an example of this scenario.

   

2. If a users within a common network are temporarily disconnected from a cloud-based meeting, the ZMS module will create a local version of the meeting, and all in-network users will automatically failover to the local version of the meeting. If connectivity is restored while the cloud-based meeting is ongoing, the users will automatically rejoin the users in the cloud. The following image provides an example of this scenario.

   

3. Accounts can maintain and designate specific meeting IDs for survivability events. For example, a dedicated meeting ID company leaders can join during an emergency.

4. Users can create ad-hoc offline meetings, allowing collaboration even if the cloud is not available.

5. Meetings can be designated for survivability, helping ensure they will be available regardless of network conditions, so long as users are within a common network and can communicate with necessary devices.

For more information on survivability meeting scenarios, speak with your Zoom account team.

Additional Features

Additional features of Zoom Meetings Hybrid include:

• Cloud Features Stay In Play: Hybrid meetings continue to have access to Zoom Cloud features, like Whiteboard, cloud recording, AI tools.

• Support for up to 400 users at once: Zoom Meetings Hybrid modules can support up to 400 users on a single Node device at a time.

• Cascading Hybrid Meetings: Multiple Zoom Meetings Hybrid modules can interconnect across a network to support additional users for larger meetings. With multiple modules, 400 users is no longer the limit.

• Guest Join: If hosting a private meeting, hosts can specify external guests (i.e., members of a different Zoom account) that can join the meeting.

• Bulletin Board for Survivability Mode: If survivability mode is engaged, account admins can send messages to users within the Zoom Workplace app, providing updates and instructions until the situation is resolved.