Specifications

MultiVOIP Gatekeeper Software Guide 1 Introduction

• Bandwidth management

With the MultiVOIP Gatekeeper, the network administrator can specify bandwidth

limitations within a gatekeeper’s zone and can specify a bandwidth limit for

gateway endpoints. For example, a gatekeeper may determine there is no

bandwidth available for a call or no additional bandwidth available for an ongoing

call requesting an increase. This provides an easy and effective means of controlling

traffic volume.

• Address translation

The MultiVOIP Gatekeeper supports aliases (e.g., phone numbers) for each

endpoint registered within the zone. Users call each other within a zone by simply

dialing a number or string of characters instead of dialing a complex IP address.

This function is particularly important in scenarios where a phone on the circuit-

switched network is attempting to call a phone connected to a gateway on an IP

network.

• Zone management

The network administrator has complete flexibility in defining zones of H.323

endpoints that are under the administrative control of the gatekeeper. For example,

zones can be defined according to geographic locations (such as different branch

locations) or in accordance with the overlap of a physical network connection (such

as a subnet on the floor of a building or a range of IP addresses), or by a functional

(organizational) paradigm. Only those end points in the defined zone can register

with the gatekeeper and take advantage of its call control services.

• Locate and route calls to other gatekeepers

A list of gatekeepers from other zones, called “neighbor gatekeepers,” can be

created. This list is used to locate and route calls that are made to endpoints not in

the gatekeeper’s zone to one of its neighbors’ zones, which is efficient for

optimizing and controlling inter-zone communications.

• Network topology islands.

The MultiVOIP Gatekeeper’s neighbor gatekeeper database also contains

information about network topology. Network managers can divide the network

into components, and use this topology island information for efficient routing

within each subnet. This is valuable for establishing least-cost routing plans and for

optimally directing traffic by load balancing across gateways.