Table of Contents
Cisco Collaboration Preferred Architectures
Cisco is a leading innovator of collaboration technologies and solutions. To provide our partners and customers with expert design guidance and best practices for deploying collaboration solutions, we have developed and tested Preferred Architectures (PAs) for the following deployment scenarios:
■ On-premises deployment — All collaboration services are deployed and managed on the customer’s premises.
■ Hybrid deployment — Some collaboration services are deployed on-premises, while others are hosted in the cloud.
■ Cloud deployment – All collaboration services are deployed and managed in the cloud.
Cisco Preferred Architectures (PAs) provide tested and recommended deployment models for specific market segments based on common use cases. They incorporate a subset of products from the Cisco Collaboration portfolio that are best suited for the targeted market segment and defined use cases. These deployment models are prescriptive and built to scale with an organization as its business needs change. This prescriptive approach simplifies the integration of multiple system-level components.
The PAs service the Enterprise, large deployments with 1,000 or more users. The mid-market or small to medium deployment with up to 1,000 users is no longer differentiated from the Enterprise market segment in the Preferred Architectures.
To help partners and customers decide which Preferred Architecture to choose, and to provide guidance on how best to deploy each PA, we have written the following types of documentation, as represented in Figure 1:
■ Design Overview Guides — Describe the main components and their roles within the Preferred Architectures. They are pre-sales documents intended to help customers and sales teams select the Preferred Architecture that best fits their requirements.
■ Cisco Validated Design (CVD) Guides — Are post-sales documents that describe the Preferred Architectures in detail, provide design and deployment recommendations and best practices, and outline the PA deployment procedures and steps at a high level.
■ Alternative Design Guides — Are post-sales documents that describe optional designs that can be deployed as alternatives to the Preferred Architectures described in the PA overview guides and CVDs. The alternative design always starts with the main PA as a foundation and builds upon it; therefore, each alternative design guide should be used in conjunction with its corresponding PA overview guide and CVD. In some cases, the Alternative Design Guides can be used as standalone guides.
Figure 1. Preferred Architecture Documentation
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The following documents describe the current Preferred Architecture.
■ Overview (pre-sales): Preferred Architecture for Cisco Collaboration 15 On-Premises Deployments, Design Overview
■ Webex Video Mesh: Preferred Architecture for Webex Video Mesh, CVD
■ Bandwidth Management: Preferred Architecture for Webex Bandwidth Management
■ Overview (pre-sales): Preferred Architecture for Cisco Webex Hybrid Services, Design Overview
■ CVD (post-sales): Preferred Architecture for Cisco Webex Hybrid Services, CVD
■ Technical Paper (post-sales): Improving Quality of Experience for Webex in Work from Home Environments
Post-sales documents that describe optional designs that can be deployed as alternatives to the Preferred Architectures described in the PA overview guides and CVDs. The alternative design may start with the main PA as a foundation and build upon it; therefore, each alternative design guide may be used in conjunction with its corresponding PA overview guide and CVD. In some cases, the Alternative Design Guides can be used as standalone guides:
■ Cisco Preferred Architecture for Webex Edge Connect (October 2024)
■ Cisco Preferred Architecture for Webex Edge Video Mesh (March 2024)
■ Cisco Preferred Architecture for Webex Edge Audio
■ Media Optimization with ICE Enablement in Cisco Enterprise Collaboration Preferred Architecture 12.5
■ Cisco Preferred Architecture for Webex Calling Multi-Tenant Overview
■ Cisco Collaboration Sizing Guide for Collaboration Release 15
■ Cisco Collaboration System 12.x Solution Reference Network Design (SRND)
The following documents describe earlier versions of the Preferred Architectures.
Cisco Collaboration System Release (CSR) 14.x
■ Preferred Architecture for Cisco Collaboration 14 On-Premises Deployments, Design Overview
■ Preferred Architecture for Cisco Collaboration 14 Enterprise On-Premises Deployments, CVD
■ Addendum: Preferred Architecture for Cisco Collaboration 14 Enterprise On-Premises Deployments
Cisco Collaboration System Release (CSR) 12.x
■ Preferred Architecture for Cisco Collaboration 12.x On-Premises Deployments, Design Overview
■ Preferred Architecture for Cisco Collaboration 12.x Enterprise On-Premises Deployments, CVD
Cisco Collaboration System Release (CSR) 12.0
■ Preferred Architecture for Cisco Webex Hybrid Services, Design Overview
■ Preferred Architecture for Cisco Webex Hybrid Services, CVD
Cisco Collaboration System Release (CSR) 11.6
■ Cisco Preferred Architecture for Enterprise Collaboration 11.6, Design Overview
■ Cisco Preferred Architecture for Enterprise Collaboration 11.6, CVD
Cisco Collaboration System Release (CSR) 11.0
■ Cisco Preferred Architecture for Enterprise Collaboration 11.0, Design Overview
■ Cisco Preferred Architecture for Enterprise Collaboration 11.0, CVD
Cisco Collaboration System Release (CSR) 10.x
■ Cisco Preferred Architecture for Enterprise Collaboration 10.x, Design Overview
■ Cisco Preferred Architecture for Enterprise Collaboration 10.x, CVD
Cisco Collaboration System Release (CSR) 12.0
Cisco Validated Design (CVD) guides:
■ Unified Communications Using Cisco Business Edition 6000, CVD
■ Video Conferencing and Recording Using Cisco Business Edition 6000, CVD
■ Collaboration Edge Using Cisco Business Edition 6000, CVD
■ Help Desk Using Cisco Unified CCX, CVD
■ Help Desk Scripts and Prompts
Cisco Collaboration System Release (CSR) 11.6
Design overview guides (March 2017):
■ Cisco Preferred Architecture for Midmarket Collaboration 11.6, Design Overview
■ Cisco Preferred Architecture for Video 11.6, Design Overview
■ Cisco Preferred Architecture for Midmarket Voice 11.x, Design Overview
Cisco Validated Design (CVD) guides (August 2016):
■ Unified Communications Using Cisco Business Edition 6000, CVD
■ Video Conferencing and Recording Using Cisco Business Edition 6000, CVD
■ Collaboration Edge Using Cisco Business Edition 6000, CVD
Cisco Collaboration System Release (CSR) 11.5
Design overview guides (June 2016):
■ Cisco Preferred Architecture for Midmarket Collaboration 11.5, Design Overview
■ Cisco Preferred Architecture for Video 11.5, Design Overview
■ Cisco Preferred Architecture for Midmarket Voice 11.x, Design Overview
Cisco Validated Design (CVD) guides (August 2016):
■ Unified Communications Using Cisco Business Edition 6000, CVD
■ Video Conferencing and Recording Using Cisco Business Edition 6000, CVD
■ Collaboration Edge Using Cisco Business Edition 6000, CVD
Cisco Collaboration System Release (CSR) 10.x
Design overview guides (March 2015):
■ Cisco Preferred Architecture for Midmarket Collaboration, Design Overview
■ Cisco Preferred Architecture for Video, Design Overview
■ Cisco Preferred Architecture for Midmarket Voice, Design Overview
Cisco Validated Design (CVD) guides (October 2015):
■ Unified Communications Using Cisco Business Edition 6000, CVD
■ Video Conferencing and Recording Using Cisco Business Edition 6000, CVD