Patent ID: 8423470

Claim:
A computer-implemented method, comprising: receiving, by a communications manager of an enterprise, the communications manager comprising one or more servers associated with the enterprise, a request for a public encryption key, wherein the request is from an organizer client; sending, by the communications manager, the public encryption key in response to the request; receiving, at the communications manager, an add-conference request to host a conference from the organizer client, wherein the add-conference request comprises an encrypted conference key and any conference restrictions, the conference key being encrypted with the public encryption key, wherein the conference is configured to enable an anonymous user to join the conference, the anonymous user being associated with a user without enterprise credentials, and wherein the conference key is stored at the communications manager; sending, by the communications manager, an add-conference response to the organizer client indicating that the conference is organized; receiving, at the communications manager, a join-conference request from an enterprise user client; allowing the enterprise user client to join the conference hosted by the organizer client using an established identity of the enterprise user client; receiving, at the communications manager, a join-conference request from an anonymous user client, wherein the anonymous user at the anonymous user client does not have enterprise credentials, and wherein the join-conference request includes a conference key; comparing the conference key received from the anonymous user client to the conference key stored at the communications manager; and allowing the anonymous user client to join the conference hosted by the organizer client when the conference key received from the anonymous user client and the conference key stored at the communications manager match.