Hardware requirements

The best way to enable a 4 workstation SoftXpand cluster to perform 4 simultaneous Windows Live Messenger or Skype voice calls is by setting up the Host PC audio devices as stated below ( and as seen in figure 1):

• 1 Onboard audio device.
• 1 PCI audio device.
• 2 USB audio devices.
  • 1 USB hub and to it connect one of the USB audio devices.
  • 1 USB 5 meter extender cable and to it connect the other USB audio device.

Assign each audio device to a different workstation (find out how).

Now all you have to do is open Skype or Window Live Messenger from each workstation and you can make a voice call from each workstation or simultaneously from all 4. This is the only way when it comes to Skype, for Windows Live Messenger see explanation below.

Windows Live messenger - Setting up Windows Firewall

Setup Windows Firewall as seen in the screen shot below.

Mark the "On" and "don't allow exceptions" checkbox and click OK. After configuring these settings it is possible to use 3 USB audio devices, and the onboard audio device giving a total of 4 audio devices to make 4 simultaneous calls.

Once all connections have been made and audio devices assigned to workstations, it is possible to make 4 simultaneous Skype calls on your SoftXpand four workstation cluster.