Polycom Conference Firewall Solutions

2 The use of Video Conferencing Is Rapidly Growing More and More people are adopting IP conferencing Audio and Video is improving drastically, making it easy to conference over the internet Increasing need to scale, manage, and deploy all while maintaining a secure environment The goal is to connect Anywhere, Anytime, without boundaries

3 Continued questions in conferencing today … Who can I call? How do I call? Is there a firewall involved? What kind of endpoints do I have?

4 Video over IP Deployment Challenges Existing networking infrastructure is not “media-aware” Firewalls block Media (Video/Audio) calls Network Address Translation (NAT) breaks addressing Video/Audio and data traffic on shared WAN pipes degrades voice and video quality User Concerns Dialing concerns How do I call them? What should I dial? –Do I have to register with them? –Why can’t they call me? Designing around the above problems is difficult and expensive with legacy CPE hardware

5 How do you fix the problem? NAT Avoidance Uses techniques to avoid a firewall / NAT May require additional CPE NAT Traversal Video calls traverse the firewall / NAT Multiple methods available

6 One approach – Avoid the NAT problem Public IP PROXY Public – Private IP TUNNELS Virtual Private Networks (VPN)

7 Firewall Traversal Solutions Firewall Traversal Solutions Application Layer Gateway (ALG) Enables a firewall to become media aware without compromising security H.460 Based Traversal ITU defined NAT/FW traversal method Works with legacy firewalls

8 Resolves Network Address Translations issues Media and protocol aware Preserves all features (Encryption/Content Sharing) Uses Stateful Packet Inspection Dynamically opens and closes ports Provides topology hiding to protect the H.323 Components (endpoints, bridges, gatekeepers) and data devices Application Layer Gateway (ALG)

9 ALG Pros Security (intrinsic Firewall) –Dynamic Port utilization for call duration Scalable - Enables Shortest Path Media Routing Less costly – no extra bandwidth Ideal for “fixed” video installations Video endpoint registration not mandatory Flexible dialing ALG Cons Not practical for mobile work force

10 H.460 – Traversal of H.323 across NATs and Firewalls H.460 ITU Standard Extension to H.323 Developed by Polycom, Radvision, Tandberg Approved August 2005 H.460 enables H.323 signalling and media to traverse NAT/FW installations Utilizes a Traversal Server (TS) at a central location Requires H.460 aware endpoints to register with Traversal Server All VSX systems are H.460 aware with VSX Release 8.5!

11 H.460 – Traversal Server H.460 Pros Allows for IP calling with legacy firewalls –IP and Port issues resolved at Traversal Server Simplistic for registered H.460 endpoints Ideal for mobile users (road warriors / hot spots / home users) H.460 Cons Extra bandwidth may be needed at Traversal Server location Requires endpoints to register with the Traversal Server Scalability - all traffic routed through the host location (signaling and media) Less Secure (Traversal Server may not be a Firewall)

12 Choosing The Right Solution ISDN gateway More expensive ISDN not available everywhere H.323 aware firewall Restricts the feature set – encryption Not ISP friendly VPN Exposure risk for Home Offices Not used for enterprise-to-enterprise communication Put all video systems on public IP addresses Vulnerable to attack Limited availability of public IP addresses Not scalable

13 Introducing the Polycom V2IU Simplifies - Inter-company video conferencing Resolves - NAT/Firewall traversal problems for Video over IP Protects - Video and Voice devices with an application aware firewall Flexible – Can be deployed as an ALG or Traversal Server (H.460) V 2 IU Product Family – “Voice and Video Interface Unit” 6400 Series 85 Meg Base MSRP - $42, Series 10 Meg or 25 Meg Base MSRP - $7, Meg Base MSRP - $1,999

14 V2IU Key Features And Benefits V 2 IU FeaturesBenefits V2IU offers multiple modes (ALG & Traversal Server (H.460) Flexibility to solve customer networking challenges Solution adapts to network requirements Flexible dialing optionsEase of use SecurityV2IU is a media aware firewall Cost efficient Lower Total Cost of Ownership – Equipment and Network charges Shortest path routing Improved Scalability, reduced latency (improved video quality) Flexible deployment optionsFamily of products to meet capacity needs With VSX Release 8.5, all VSX solutions are H.460 compliant!

15 Complete Polycom Solution

Thanks ! Questions?