Solstice Conference Setup

The following guide assumes that you have already done your Solstice Setup, have connected your Pods to your enterprise network via Ethernet, and have performed the Baseline Deployment Steps.

Pre-Deployment Considerations

  • As a new category of room system, Solstice Conference is far more versatile and cost effective but does have some specific prerequisites to ensure a high-quality conferencing experience. Our Solstice Conference Checklist outlines those specifications and requirements of the various system components – meeting host laptop, local area network, and audio/video peripherals – most of which are consistent with current best practice IT methodologies.

  • Ensure your network has a minimum bandwidth of 50 mbps per active Solstice Conference session/room, has an end-to-end latency < 50 ms, and allows peer-to-peer TCP connections. As a note, bandwidth utilization is largely dictated by a combination of conferencing application and conference camera used.
  • Ensure the required network ports are open. For Solstice Conference, you will need to open the default base ports +17 (e.g. If 53100-53102 are the configured base ports, open TCP/UDP ports 53100-53119). However, other network ports are required for other Solstice functionality. For more information on all of Solstice's open network port requirements, see Open Network Ports.
  • Deploy and configure Solstice Discovery Service (SDS) (strongly recommended; required for a one-step start for scheduled web conferences).
  • Solstice Conference drivers are bundled in Solstice app installer and require elevated permissions to install. If end-users do not have elevated permissions, you have the option to centrally deploy the Solstice app using MSI or SCCM versions.

  • If you utilize a tool that limits program access, such as an anti-virus program or device management services, you will need to whitelist the Solstice App.

Enabling Solstice Conference

In order to use Solstice Conference, the Solstice Pod must have current Solstice Subscription and the capability must be enabled by a Solstice admin. Before enabling Solstice Conference, you will need to update your Gen3 Pod to the latest version of Solstice. For more information on how to update your Pod, see Updating Solstice.

There are two ways to enable Solstice Conference: using Solstice Cloud, our cloud-based management portal, or using Solstice Dashboard, our on-premises management tool. As a note, Solstice Pods must have internet access for these settings to be applied.

  1. From the Solstice Cloud Home page, in the left sidebar navigation panel, click Manage > Templates > Room Intelligence.
  2. Create a new template, or edit an existing template.
  3. Select the Enable Solstice Conference checkbox.
  4. Click Save.
  5. In the left sidebar menu of the Solstice Cloud portal, click Manage > Pods. The Pod Template Assignments table displays.
  6. Select the checkboxes of the Pods you want to enable Solstice Conference for. You can select each Pod's checkbox individually, or select the checkbox in the header row of the table to select all of the Pods in the table.
  7. Go to the Room Intelligence column, click a drop-down in that column for one of the selected Pods, then select the name of the template you just created or edited.
  8. A pop-up asks you to confirm the changes. Click Confirm. A green notification that the template was applied displays.

If a Pod is offline, any changes made will be applied when the Pod is back online.

  1. Open your Solstice Dashboard.
  2. Select the displays you wish to enable Solstice Conference for from the list of Your Solstice Instances.
  3. Go to the Appearance and Usage tab > Usage and Management section.
  4. Under Solstice Conference, select the Enable radio button.
  5. Click Apply.

Integrating a Room Calendar

Integrating a room or personal calendar with Solstice lets Solstice detect the web conferencing information in the calendar invite when users book a web conference and invite the room. This allows Solstice to start the scheduled web conferencing when the meeting host connects to the Solstice display. Solstice administrators can integrate Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft O365, and Google Workspace room calendars with Solstice displays. There are two ways to integrate a room calendar: using Solstice Cloud, or using the Solstice Dashboard. As a note, Solstice Pods must have internet access for these settings to be applied.

As a note, Solstice end-users can integrate their Microsoft Exchange or O365 calendars with their Solstice apps. For more information, see Solstice User App.

  1. From the Solstice Cloud Home page, in the left sidebar navigation panel, click Manage > Templates > Calendar.
  2. Create a new template, or edit an existing template.
  3. Select the Enable Calendar Feature checkbox.

  4. From the Calendar Type drop-down, select the type of calendar you are integrating [for the room]: Microsoft Exchange or Office 365.

  5. If you are using Microsoft Exchange server, enter the Microsoft Exchange Server URL.

  6. In the Authentication type drop-down, select the type of authentication your server is using: Basic or NTLM.

  7. If you are a using either an Impersonation or a Delegation Mailbox, select the corresponding radio button.

    • If you selected No, skip to step 7.

    • If you selected either Impersonation or Delegation, you will need to enter in the user name and password for the impersonation or delegation account (required).

      The login credentials for email accounts will need to be entered individually for each Pod on the Manage > All Pods page.

  8. If you wish to hide meeting titles or meeting organizers from being visible on the room display, deselect Show meeting titles and/or Show meeting organizers.

  9. From the Update Interval drop-down, select the frequency at which the Pod will update the calendar meeting information visible on the display.

  10. Click Save.

  11. In the left sidebar menu of the Solstice Cloud portal, click Manage > Pods. The Pod Template Assignments table displays.
  12. Select the checkboxes of the Pods you want to integrate a room calendar for. You can select each Pod's checkbox individually, or select the checkbox in the header row of the table to select all of the Pods in the table.
  13. Go to the Features column, click a drop-down in that column for one of the selected Pods, then select the name of the template you just created or edited.
  14. A pop-up asks you to confirm the changes. Click Confirm. A green notification that the template was applied displays.

For more information about the additional Google Workspace configurations needed to integrate with Solstice, as well as how to obtain the necessary information for the fields below, see Updating Your Organization's Google Workspace Resource Calendars .

  1. From the Solstice Cloud Home page, in the left sidebar navigation panel, click Manage > Pods.

  2. Click the name of the Pod you want to integrate this room calendar for.

  3. On the Pod's Configuration Settings page, expand the Calendar settings section.
  4. Select the Enable Calendar Feature checkbox.
  5. From the Calendar Type drop-down, select Google Calendar.
  6. Click Upload service account credentials.
  7. Navigate to the location of the service account file you created for the Pod and select it.
  8. In the Room Email field, enter the resource email address.

  9. By default, the meeting titles and meeting organizers will be visible on the display. If you wish to hide these for all meetings, disable Show meeting titles and Show meeting organizers.

  10. From the Update Interval drop-down, select the frequency at which the Pod will update the calendar meeting information visible on the display.
  11. Click either Save as Unassigned or Save as New Template. A green notification will display if the template was successfully applied.
  1. Open your Solstice Dashboard.
  2. Select the displays you wish to integrate a room calendar for from the list of Your Solstice Instances.

  3. Go to the Calendar tab.

  4. Select the Enabled option.

  5. From the Calendar Type drop-down, select the type of calendar you are integrating: Microsoft Exchange or Office 365.

  6. In the Server URL field, enter the Microsoft Exchange server URL if that is the type of calendar you are integrating.

  7. In the Authentication type drop-down, select the type of authentication your Microsoft Exchange server is using: Basic or NTLM.

  8. Enter in the Username and Password for the room calendar account.

  9. If you are a using an Impersonation or Delegation Mailbox, enter them into the corresponding fields.

  10. By default, the meeting titles and meeting organizers will be visible on the display unless the meeting is marked in the organizer’s calendar application as “private”. If you wish to hide these for all meetings, disable the corresponding options under Privacy Settings.

  11. From the Update Interval drop-down, select the frequency at which the Pod will update the calendar meeting information visible on the display.

  12. Click Apply.

For more information about the additional Google Workspace configurations needed to integrate with Solstice, as well as how to obtain the necessary information for the fields below, see Updating Your Organization's Google Workspace Resource Calendars .

  1. In the Solstice Dashboard, click the Calendar tab.
  2. If not already selected, select the Enabled check box.
  3. From the Calendar Type drop-down, select Google Calendar.
  4. In Room Email enter the resource email address.
  5. Under Load service-account credentials, click Clear and then Yes if necessary.
  6. Click Upload.
  7. Navigate to the location of the service account you created for the Pod and select it.
  8. Click Test Connection. If the your configuration and credentials are correct a success screen appears.

     

  9. On the Success screen click OK.
  10. Under Privacy settings, select whether you want to show meeting titles and names of meeting organizers.
  11. If want the calender information to update at a slower interval, select the new interval from the Update Interval drop-down.
  12. In the bottom corner of the Dashboard screen, click Apply. The resource's calendar will display on the Pod after the designed amount of time set for the Update Interval.

Enabling Screen Key (Optional)

Enabling screen key allows users to quickly connect to a Solstice display by simply entering the display's 4-digit screen key into the Solstice app. As a note, SDS is required for this quick connect to work. Without screen key enabled, users need to enter the Solstice display's IP address in order to use the quick connect or one-step start functionality. There are two ways to enable Solstice Conference: using Solstice Cloud, or using the Solstice Dashboard.

  1. From the Solstice Cloud Home page, in the left sidebar navigation panel, click Manage > Templates > Features.
  2. Create a new template, or edit an existing template.
  3. Under Solstice Feature Options, select the Enable screen key checkbox.
  4. Click Save.
  5. In the left sidebar menu of the Solstice Cloud portal, click Manage > Pods. The Pod Template Assignments table displays.
  6. Select the checkboxes of the Pods you want to enable screen key for. You can select each Pod's checkbox individually, or select the checkbox in the header row of the table to select all of the Pods in the table.
  7. Go to the features column, click a drop-down in that column for one of the selected Pods, then select the name of the template you just created or edited.
  8. A pop-up asks you to confirm the changes. Click Confirm. A green notification that the template was applied displays.
  1. Open your Solstice Dashboard.
  2. Select the displays you wish to enable screen key for from the list of Your Solstice Instances.

  3. Go to the Security tab.

  4. Select the Screen key enabled option. A pop-up warning may appear.

  5. If you agree with the requirements of the warning, click Yes, enable Screen Key.

  6. Click Apply.

Centrally Deploy the Solstice App

In order to use the full functionality of Solstice Conference, users will first need to install the Solstice Conference drivers bundled in the Solstice app installer. These drivers are needed to provide the core benefits of Solstice Conference: wireless bridging of room audio and video to the host laptop, and the ability to share the Solstice display to remote participants through an existing video conferencing application.

These drivers can be installed when running the Solstice app installer , or installed at a later time from the Solstice app's Conference tab. As a note, the install requires a user to have user-level administrative privileges for their own account. Installing the additional component is optional, and users that don’t need to host a Solstice Conference session can use Solstice as before without needing the additional components.

For most enterprise users of Solstice Conference, Mersive recommends pre-installing or centrally deploying the latest version of the Solstice app and bundled Solstice Conference drivers through the use of centralized management (MSI or SCCM).  An installer flag will allow an administrator to pre-install everything that is needed for Solstice Conference onto the user device without needing to change a user's account-level privileges. For more information, see Deploy the Solstice App with MSI or SCCM.

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Physical Setup