Video Session Manager and Method for Enabling a Video Communication Session across Geographically Disparate Domains

A video session manager comprising:

• a receiver configured to receive requests from at least two communication endpoints to start a video communication session in which multiple communication endpoints are to participate;
• a processor configured to evaluate a plurality of bridging resources during initialization of the session, to select a bridging resource in the plurality for use in the video communication session, based on the geographic locations of the bridging resources with respect to the geographic locations of at least one of the communication endpoints from which the requests have been received thus far during the initialization;
• and
• a transmitter configured to transmit signals for connecting the at least two communication endpoints via a selected bridging resource in the plurality and based on predetermined commencement criteria having been met, wherein the commencement criteria is related to the at least two communication endpoints and is based on requests having been received from at least i) a host endpoint of the video communication session and ii) at least one endpoint other than the host endpoint.

A method comprising:

• receiving, by a video session manager, requests from at least two communication endpoints to start a video communication session in which multiple communication endpoints are to participate;
• evaluating, by the video session manager, a plurality of bridging resources during initialization of the session, to select a bridging resource in the plurality for use in the video communication session, based on the geographic locations of the bridging resources;
• and
• connecting, by the video session manager, the at least two communication endpoints via a selected bridging resource in the plurality, wherein the selected bridging resource used for the connecting is the last bridging resource selected during the initialization, and wherein at least one other bridging resource had been previously selected during the initialization, for use in the video communication session.