GK3100 H.323 Gatekeeper
A cost effective solution for small and medium sized businesses, with the scalability to handle large enterprise and service provider deployments
The GK3100 H.323 Gatekeeper manages traffic between H.323 devices such as IP phones, video-conferencing systems and gateways to traditional PSTN or PBX telephone systems.
It allows you to control call activity from a central point, including access control, network routing and accounting. It serves as a central registration point for all devices, allowing users to easily and transparently place calls without knowing the details of how the network knits together.
The gatekeeper can also act as a proxy for calls over the Internet, relaying all call setup and data securely across firewall network address translation (NAT).
Functions
User/Device Registration
Registers current location of users and information about gateways required to contact them
Number/Address Translation
Translates telephone numbers (internal or external) and call aliases to the format required by the destination system. The user can dial any destination using the address or number specified in their address book. Number rewriting and aliasing allows simplified dialing, automatically adding dialing prefixes
Call Routing
Routes calls between phones/video terminals to other devices and gateways to other systems
Admission Control
Controls user access to the network and where or when calls can be placed
Bandwidth/Quality of Service Management
Ensures that network bandwidth is used most effectively, giving priority to video streams while limiting total bandwidth usage
Accounting
Records call traffic, allowing users to be billed for services
GK3100 H.323 Gatekeeper
Features
High Capacity
Supports thousands of registrations and concurrent calls
Scalable and Reliable
Supports clustering and alternate gatekeepers for high availability and load balancing using H.323 v4 H.450 messages. LRQ forwarding allows the OSGK to serve as a "directory gatekeeper," reducing effort to administer remote gatekeepers. The OSGK can also work as a client endpoint, registering with a parent gatekeeper, allowing gatekeeper hierarchies to be built easily
Proxy Support
In proxy mode, the gatekeeper handles all traffic between endpoints, allowing traffic to pass through firewall network address translation.
OSGK supports routing of H.225.0/Q.931 and H.245 call-signaling messages between H.323 endpoints. In proxy mode, the gatekeeper also routes all logical channels, including RTP/RTCP media channels and T.120 data channels -- no traffic flows directly between endpoints. The proxy supports logical channels opened by H.245 tunneling and fast-connect. A single gatekeeper can simultaneously handle calls inside and outside the firewall, or multiple gatekeepers can be used for enhanced security.
Multiple Authentication Methods
Supports various authentication methods for RAS call requests, including H.235 password (MD5 and SHA-1), IP pattern and prefix matching. Supports multiple authentication databases, including Radius, LDAP, MySQL, and custom authentication methods. Multiple gatekeepers can share a single configuration database, allowing easy central administration
Call Authorization
Accepts or rejects calls according to the H.225 specs, including access-based restrictions, time-based restrictions, to and from particular terminals or gateways
Call Management
Maintains information about all active H.323 calls, allowing bandwidth management or rerouting calls to different endpoints for load balancing
Remote Monitoring and Control
The gateway can be monitored and controlled over the network using GUI administration tools, including user registration, billing records and call statistics. Third-party call control allows calls to be terminated from the central administrative interface. Call control scripting supports sophisticated rules, e.g. limiting duration of external calls to five minutes or blocking long distance calls
Call Data Records (CDRs)
Outputs call data records for use by a backend billing system. The CDR contains call identifier, calling and called endpoints, start and end time and call duration
Runtime Reconfiguration
Runtime configuration avoids unnecessary system restarts
Firewall Network Address Translation (NAT)
Transparently traverses NAT boxes, supporting multiple endpoints and calls concurrently. Can sit behind a NAT box, registering endpoints with public IPs, supporting thousands of concurrent calls in routed mode
Quality of Service (QoS)
Supports quality of service by adding TOS flag to RTP/RTCP packets
Microsoft NetMeeting Support
Supports MS NetMeeting, including ILS address book services. Can publish registered endpoints to ILS directory, Active Directory, LDAP or other presence server
Product Interoperability
Accord, Alcatel, Allied Telesyn, Amerilat, Antek, Anyuser, Ascend, Ascom, Asterisk, Audiocodes, Auvtech, BCM, BTL, Centnet, Cisco, Citron, Clipcomm, D-Link, Davo Link, Dialogic, Digicom, Digitalsis, Eicon, Elesign, Genesis, IP Centrex Phone, Inalp, Innovaphone, Intel, IP Planet, I-P-Tel, iEnsemble!, Komodo, KOMProxyd, Leadtek, LG, Mediatrix, Micronet, Microsoft, Motorola, Multitech, Netergy, NexTone, NMS, NMTEL, Oki, OpenH323, PalMicro, PictureTel, PoleStart, Polycom, Quintum, Radvision, Ridgeway, Samsung, Siemens, Smith Micro, Snom, SoftRadio, Sorenson, SunForum, Tandberg, TEK DigiTel, Telefonik, Telimax, Tiger, VCON, Vegastream, ViaVideo, VIG, Vive, ViVoPhone, Vizufon, Vocord, Web i-Phone, Welltech