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Chapter 4 - Advanced Configuration for your Network Environment
© Polycom, Inc. 2003 97
A Gatekeeper is a “network administrator” that supervises the
network traffic going through it. It manages functions such as
address resolution, bandwidth control, admission control, etc. If
your system is not registered with a Gatekeeper, it may not be
authorized to place IP calls. In particular, the Gatekeeper provides
address translation between aliases and IP addresses, allowing
users to maintain the same telephone numbers or alias addresses
regardless of changes to their network addresses.
A Gateway is a node on two networks that connects two otherwise
incompatible networks. It usually performs code and protocol
conversion processes. In short, it translates between IP and ISDN
protocols.
About Polycom OneDial
Polycom OneDial greatly simplifies videoconferencing dialing by
taking care of a number of dialing and network processes in the
background. All the user has to do is select a name in the Address
Book directory or enter the simplified phone number to initiate a
call. This name hides complex configuration information and
processes: for example, complicated numbers, prefixes, codes,
network choices (IP or ISDN) and gateway and gatekeeper
operations. OneDial also takes care of bandwidth renegotiation
(downspeeding), alternate routing (if IP routing does not work,
OneDial will attempt to do ISDN), and Conference on Demand™.
OneDial lets users from any video endpoint create instant
multipoint conferences without network administrator or IT
assistance by clicking a name in the Address Book. This service is
provided by a combination of Polycom’s products PathNavigator™
(a call processing server) and the MGC-110 or MGC-50 (multipoint
control unit).
OneDial is part of PathNavigator, a call processing server that
performs Gateway, Gatekeeper, and name resolution operations in
the background.
For more in-depth descriptions and configuration information
about OneDial and PathNavigator, refer to the Integrators’ Reference
Manual for ViewStation EX, ViewStation FX, and VS4000.