Providing multimedia conferencing services over a wide area network interconnecting nonguaranteed quality of service LANs

A method for providing real-time multimedia conferencing services to a dispersed plurality of locations, where at least some of the locations employ local area networks, said plurality of locations being interconnected by a guaranteed service wide area network, where multimedia signals originating at the locations need resources within the wide area network and within a multimedia bridge connected to the wide area network,

• comprising the steps of:
• receiving multimedia signals from the local area networks at the wide area network by way of respective network routers;
• bridging the multimedia signals in the multimedia bridge, wherein the multimedia bridge is connected to the wide area network through a local area network and a network router;
• transmitting the bridged multimedia signals over the wide area network employing statistical multiplexing of said multimedia signals;
• and
• transmitting said multimedia signals from said wide area network to one or more of the plurality of locations by way of respective network routers,
• whereby the bandwidth required to transmit the multimedia signals between the plurality of locations is reduced.