Concepts
These pages explain the Live Hub architecture and introduce the core concepts used throughout the documentation. Read this information before you configure Live Hub. Doing so will help you understand and follow the procedures in the remaining sections.
Configuration entities
In most Live Hub deployments, you configure the following three entities:
| Entity | What it is | Where you configure it |
|---|---|---|
| Bot connection | Connects Live Hub to your bot, AI agent, or middleware. | Bot connections |
| Voice channel | Defines how calls reach Live Hub, such as through a phone number, SIP connection, WhatsApp number, or Microsoft Teams tenant. | Voice channels |
| Routing rule | Determines where incoming calls are routed and which destination handles each call. | Routing |
When a call arrives through a voice channel, Live Hub evaluates the routing rules, selects the matching rule, and routes the call to the associated bot connection.
Every other part of a Live Hub configuration connects to one or more of these three entities:
- Speech providers give a bot connection speech-to-text and text-to-speech capabilities.
- Call features are configured on a bot connection. These features include: transcript, recording, transfer, failover, and background music.
- Outbound calling reverses the call flow. Live Hub places the call instead of receiving it.
Bot connection sources
A bot connection requires a bot. You can create a bot in one of the following ways:
- Build a bot in Live Hub. Use AI Agents, the native agent platform, to create an LLM-powered agent with its own conversation flows, tools, documents, and models. You can enable speech and telephony on the agent. Live Hub then creates the bot connection automatically. Because the agent already defines the speech settings, you only need to configure the voice channel and routing rule.
- Connect an existing bot. Connect a bot that you already manage by using a platform such as Microsoft Copilot Studio, Google Dialogflow, or RASA. Create a bot connection in Live Hub, provide the bot credentials, and select the speech provider.
After you create the bot connection, Live Hub treats both options identically. Each bot appears as a bot connection, and you route traffic to it by using a routing rule.
Route calls without a bot
A routing rule does not require a bot connection. Both the call origin and the call destination can be a SIP connection, a phone number, a Microsoft Teams connection, a WhatsApp number, a routing group, or a bot connection. This capability makes Live Hub a voice connectivity platform as well as a bot platform. For example, you can connect an enterprise SIP trunk to a contact center or a Microsoft Teams Direct Routing deployment. In this configuration, Live Hub routes calls between two voice channels by using a routing rule, without a bot connection or speech provider.
Live Hub can also operate as a voice connectivity platform. For example, you can connect an enterprise SIP trunk to a contact center or a Microsoft Teams Direct Routing deployment by using a routing rule between the two voice channels. This configuration does not require a bot connection or a speech provider. You only need the two endpoints and a routing rule.
Call direction
Every call is either inbound or outbound. This distinction appears throughout Live Hub and this documentation:
- Inbound —Someone calls a phone number or SIP trunk that you own. A routing rule matches the call and routes it to the configured destination.
- Outbound — Your application asks Live Hub to place a call. When the called party answers, Live Hub connects the call to a bot. To place individual calls, use the dialout API. To place calls at scale, use outbound automation.
Choose an API
The API you use depends on which side initiates the request:
- REST API — Your application calls Live Hub to configure and monitor the platform. Your application authenticates to Live Hub by using an API client.
- Bot and speech provider APIs — Live Hub calls your application. Your application implements the server endpoint, and Live Hub authenticates to it.
Additional concepts
- Recording and transcripts — Explains how Live Hub records calls, where it stores recordings and transcripts, and how long it retains them.
- Global region support — Lists the available regions and the services supported in each one.
- Data privacy — Covers certifications, data residency, encryption, and the controls that protect customer data.
Account types Account types is another conceptual topic, but it appears with the account configuration content because you typically choose an account type when creating an account. It explains the differences between standalone, parent, and subaccount accounts and helps you determine which type to create.