[This is pre-release documentation and subject to change in future releases. This topic's current status is: Milestone-Ready]

Topic Last Modified: 2010-03-27

Outside callers who use unified communications clients for individual or conference calls rely on Edge Servers for voice communication with coworkers.

On an Edge Server, the Access Edge service provides SIP signaling for calls from Office Communicator users who are outside your organization’s firewall. The A/V Edge service enables media traversal of NAT and firewalls. A caller who uses a UC client from outside the corporate firewall relies on the A/V Edge service for both individual and conference calls.

The A/V Authentication Service is collocated with, and provides authentication services for, the A/V Edge service. Outside users who attempt to connect to the A/V Edge service require an authentication token that is provided by the A/V Authentication Service before their calls can go through.