Cisco TelePresence MCU 5310 CTI-5310-MCU-K9 – Rack-Mount Multipoint Control Unit

Product Overview

Cisco CTI-5310-MCU-K9 is the Cisco TelePresence MCU 5310, the lower-capacity member of the MCU 5300 Series - a rack-mounted hardware multipoint control unit that joins multiple SIP and H.323 endpoints into a single conference with continuous-presence layouts at up to 1080p30. Cisco has retired the MCU 5300 Series: it appears on Cisco's Conferencing Retired Products page, which states that retired product lines are no longer supported by Cisco and that documentation, downloads and product pages are deliberately removed from cisco.com. This is therefore an installed-base and break/fix purchase for estates still bridging on their own hardware.

Product Description

Being direct about what cannot be stated matters more than usual here. Because Cisco has removed both the MCU 5300 Series data sheet and its end-of-life bulletin, no announcement date, end-of-sale date, end of software maintenance date or last date of support can be read from a live Cisco page, and none are quoted on this listing. Cisco also no longer publishes the native MCU port count per model in each port capacity mode, the maximum number of concurrent conferences, the codec list, encryption specifications, physical dimensions, weight, rack units, power consumption in watts or regulatory approvals. Do not size a bridge deployment from any figure that is not on this page.

What Cisco does publish is the operating envelope and the conferencing behaviour. Both models support SIP and H.323 endpoints in the same conference, video resolutions up to 1080p at 30 frames per second and up to 4 Mbps per site, with the number and type of available media ports controlled by the port capacity mode rather than being fixed. Media port licensing uses the 5300-PL licence type across the series, with separate MCU 5310 and MCU 5320 activation feature keys. One documented limitation to design around: transmission of SIP content from the MCU using BFCP is not supported on encrypted calls.

The unit ships with a rack mounting kit, a blue console cable and a power cable, and has two Ethernet interfaces - Port A to the network, Port B only where a second subnet is needed - with front-panel Status, Alarm, Power, Link, Net A and Net B indicators for commissioning. Electrical planning is 100 to 240 V at 50/60 Hz, nominal 115 V to 230 V, 6 A maximum, with 20 A maximum branch circuit protection. The same hardware can be reloaded with Cisco TelePresence Server software, in which case the 5310 provides six screen licences and 12 HD (720p30). Cisco's forward path for on-premises conferencing is Cisco Meeting Server. See network hardware for rack infrastructure, video conference systems for endpoints, and Cisco for the wider range.

Key Features

• Hardware multipoint bridging — The MCU joins multiple endpoints into one conference in dedicated hardware, so multipoint calls do not depend on an endpoint's own embedded multisite licence or on cloud capacity.
• Mixed SIP and H.323 conferences — A single conference can include newer SIP systems and legacy H.323 systems from different vendors, which is what keeps a mixed estate usable.
• Continuous presence in high definition — Cisco describes the series as blending continuous presence at high definition, so participants stay visible in a layout rather than only the active speaker.
• 1080p30 conferencing at up to 4 Mbps per site — Boardroom-class endpoints can join at full HD without downspeeding to a lowest common denominator.
• Clustering with a 5320 — Cisco states any combination of 5310 and 5320 units is supported in a cluster and that capacity adds across the cluster, so an installed 5310 can stay in service alongside a newly added 5320.
• Dual Ethernet interfaces — Port A connects to the network and Port B is used only where a DMZ or separate management subnet is required, with auto-sensing as the default mode.
• Rack-mount hardware with console access — A rack mounting kit and a blue console cable ship in the box, so the unit installs into a standard comms rack with serial access for commissioning.
• Reloadable with TelePresence Server software — Cisco publishes a procedure for replacing the MCU software with Cisco TelePresence Server software on the same hardware, giving six screen licences and 12 HD (720p30) on the 5310.

Typical Applications

• Commercial meeting space — Estates that bridge internally rather than through a cloud service keep multipoint capacity on their own hardware.
• Government space — Sites that cannot route conference media through a cloud bridge rely on on-premises multipoint hardware.
• Conference room — Rooms without an embedded multisite licence gain multipoint capability from the bridge rather than from each endpoint.
• All-hands room — Continuous-presence layouts keep multiple sites visible during distributed sessions.

Technical Specifications