Premises to hybrid media overview

Converting your BYOC Premises organization to a hybrid media organization is made possible by two key features and is a four-phase operation. The two key features are Hybrid Media Edge Groups and Site Links. The four phases consist of: 1) Making your organization hybrid media capable. 2) Moving your Edges into a new Edge Group called the Genesys Cloud Hybrid Media Group. 3) Configuring Edge interfaces to use Site Interconnects. 4) Enabling and configuring Site Links.

Warning: If your enablement of hybrid will involve more than 400 concurrent calls cutting over to cloud media within 10 minutes, you should consider opening a care case to pre-scale resources as needed. A cutover of 400+ concurrent calls within the first 10 minutes may lead to dropped calls until autoscaling catches up.

Enabling hybrid media

The first phase consists of adding BYOC Cloud or Genesys Cloud Voice to your BYOC Premises organization. To do so, you go to the AppFoundry and add the appropriate telephony connection option by locating and clicking its tile. When you do so, Genesys Cloud migrates your current organization to a hybrid media organization and activate either BYOC Cloud or Genesys Cloud Voice.

At this point, several new components, including the key features, are added to your organization. These new components will not come into play until you perform the steps in the second, third, and fourth phases. Until you do so, your organization is hybrid media capable, but will continue to function as a standard BYOC Premises organization.

For more information, see Make your organization hybrid media capable.

Hybrid Media Group

The second phase involves the Hybrid Media Group feature and you moving your premises Edges into the new Hybrid Media Group. Moving your premises Edges into the Hybrid Media Group allows your premises Edges to function alongside of your new cloud media instances. (Cloud media instances perform the same function that your premises Edges perform, but in the cloud via a set of AWS-powered microservices.)

Site Interconnects

The third phase involves specifying the network port interfaces on your premises Edges using the Site Interconnects feature. Under hybrid media, Site Interconnects allow Edges in various sites to communicate with each other. For each type of Site Interconnect that you want to enable, you select the interface that you want to use. There are three types of Site Interconnects: Direct interface, Indirect interface, and Cloud Proxy interface. 

In the fourth phase, you will enable and configure Site Links. Site Links connect core sites using the network port interfaces you specify on the Edge using the  Site Interconnects feature. A core site is a site with either premises Edges attached to it or a site running cloud media services. For cloud media, there is a single core site called PureCloud Voice – AWS. 

Enabling Site Links establishes a connection between your premises core site and the cloud media core site. Once you enable Site Links, your premises core site will have access to all the resources in the cloud core site. Likewise, the cloud core site will have access to all the resources in the premises core site.

Note: In addition to core sites, you may also have branch sites. Branch Sites do not have Site Links between them and can be either premises sites with no Edges or cloud sites other than the PureCloud Voice – AWS site.

Telephony changes

To help you to acclimate, let’s look at some of the changes that you’ll notice in your organization after you enable the hybrid media, but before you begin converting your organization. You’ll find changes in the following sections of the Telephony interface. 

Edge Groups

After you enable hybrid media, you’ll discover a new item in Edge Groups called Genesys Cloud Hybrid Media Group.

Under BYOC Premises, you could have multiple Edge Groups; however, under the new hybrid media organization, you only need one and it is created and configured for you. This new Genesys Cloud Hybrid Media Group is where your new cloud media instances now exist. (Cloud media instances perform the same function that your premises Edges perform, but in the cloud via a set of AWS-powered microservices.)

Edges

After you enable hybrid media, you’ll discover a new item in Edges. This new item is a cloud media instance and it basically performs the same function that your premises Edges perform. You’ll also notice that the cloud media instance is associated with the Genesys Cloud Hybrid Media Group.

Note: Depending on the scale of your organization, there may be more than one cloud media instance.

Your premises Edges still appear and are still associated with your original Edge Groups. As you work through the conversion process, you will move your premises Edges into the Genesys Cloud Hybrid Media Group.

Trunks

After you enable hybrid media, you’ll discover that you now have the option to create BYOC Cloud external trunk types. You’ll also discover that you have two new phone trunks: Genesys Cloud – CDM SIP Phone Trunk and Genesys Cloud – CDM WebRTC Phone Trunk.

Phone compatibility

When making to move to a hybrid telephony connection option, you must be aware that AudioCodes phones, Genesys branded phones, and the PureCloud Softphone are not compatible with BYOC Cloud and so can’t be used on the cloud side of a hybrid organization. However, if you have AudioCodes phones, Genesys branded phones, or the PureCloud Softphone on the premises side, they will continue to function normally.

Sites

After you enable hybrid media, you’ll discover that you now have a new cloud core site called PureCloud Voice – AWS. This cloud core site allows access to the resources provided by the cloud media services. PureCloud Voice – AWS is a managed site, which means that you will not be able to view or modify it.

This PureCloud Voice – AWS site will not be functional until you begin the conversion process. However, your existing premises sites are still fully functional. 

When you access any one of your existing sites, you’ll discover a new tab titled Site Links. Until you perform the first step in the conversion, where you move your premises Edges into the Genesys Cloud Hybrid Media Group, the Site Links tab shows an error message that indicates that the site is not assigned to an Edge Group that supports the site links feature.

The Site Links feature allows you to connect your existing premises Sites with new cloud Sites, thus forming a hybrid organization.

Note: Next to each site name you’ll see an icon that indicates the media model: The icon indicates a cloud site (cloud media) and the icon indicates a premises site (premises media).

Location

After you enable hybrid media, you’ll discover a new item in Locations called Default PCV Location. This is essentially a dummy location created in concert with the PureCloud Voice – AWS site. While the Default PCV Location is required, its only function is to serve as a placeholder and it should not be edited or deleted. 

You’ll need to create a new location for the cloud and then connect it to a new branch site.