Hi Joe, I've worked with the SX20 for 2 months now as I got it as a 'demo' from Cisco Systems and sent it out to a couple of customers so they can see it. While I plan to write about this experience on my website, firewall.cx, here is how the story goes: According to Cisco, if you want to use the SX20 directly for internal conferencing (lan to lan, or via leased line) it will work without a problem, You can have two sx20's and they can perfectly communicate via sip or h323. The first question here that usually arises in mind is 'what if I want to use a client that's on a laptop or PC?' Ask Cisco and they'll tell you that you must purchase CUCM (CallManager) + Presence sever, so that users can install Cisco Jabber and log into CUCM. The sx20 can then also register to CUCM and users can make conference calls..... If you try to search for video conference clients, you'll quickly discover that all of these clients need to register to a Gatekeeper or some type of server in order to make calls - a scenario that doesn't work well for intra-site video conference calls. After much searching and multiple conversations with the Cisco TAC teams, I finally found possibly the only type of software that will allow you to make a video conference call directly to the SX20 (or any other VC system) using an IP address only and does not require registration with any VC server. The answer is polycom's Polycom RealPresence Desktop software. This is perhaps one of the best VC clients out of the 17 I've tried and the only one that supported direct video conference calls without registration. You run the software and provide the IP address to which you want to make the call and it works. The software costs around 70 euros for Windows/MAC clients and its also available free of charge for smartphones. I tried it on my Samsung Galaxy SII (Android) and it worked nicely. Supports application sharing, 3-way/4-way video conferencing and more. Next questions is usually "What about if I want to make a VC to another endpoint?". This is where it gets tricky, even for other VC endpoints. Cisco tells you that you must have the Express Way servers installed on your network. Express Way server C is placed in your internal network and Express Way Server E in your DMZ. They take care of dynamically opening ports/sessions with your remote clients. The other alternative is to place the SX20 directly on the Internet with a Static Public IP address. In this setup, the SX20 is capable of calling other VC endpoints (video conference machines or software clients), however the problem arises when the client is a Windows/MAC pc, because he is behind a firewall in their own network (home / office etc). The solution I've found and seems to work is this: The endpoint client can install Cisco's Jabber Video , www.ciscojabbervideo.com, a free service that installs the Cisco Jabber Video on the client. The SX20 will have no problem calling a Free Jabber video client - while Cisco says its not official supported, it works and I've tried it. You just tell the SX20 to call the client e.g user@xxxxxxxxxx and it makes the call. You'll need to ensure some settings on the SX20 are properly configured (let me know when the time comes so you can save yourself a lot of time and trouble), however the Jabber video client will not be able to call the SX20 unless it is registered to some Gatekeeper (Cisco Express Way/CUCM) or the GnuGk gateway (which is what I'd like to try). Another thing I tried, and worked, is the following: Placed the SX20 in a DMZ zone ( with a private IP address) and using my PC, I connected to the office's VPN and placed a direct call to the SX20's private IP using the Polycom RealPresence Desktop client. This also works without a problem. Since it has been confirmed that the SX20 can and will work with GnuGK, all that's left is for someone to provide us with a sample/working configuration so we can set it up and test it. If this works, I'll be writing a full article on Firewall.cx and Cisco's Support Forums (to which we also contribute) to help make the public aware of these inexpensive alternatives. If someone can also take the time to help me get a working GnuGK, it would be highly appreciated. Hope I've helped clear things up with the above and please excuse me if I 'talk' to much - I just feel that knowledge and experience must be shared with the rest of the world and let others benefit from it. Chris. _______________________ Chris Partsenidis Founder & Editor-in-Chief http://www.Firewall.cx Follow Us: Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Flow-based real-time traffic analytics software. Cisco certified tool. Monitor traffic, SLAs, QoS, Medianet, WAAS etc. with NetFlow Analyzer Customize your own dashboards, set traffic alerts and generate reports. Network behavioral analysis & security monitoring. All-in-one tool. http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=126839071&iu=/4140/ostg.clktrk _______________________________________________________ Posting: mailto:Openh323gk-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Archive: http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/forum.php?forum_name=openh323gk-users Unsubscribe: http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/openh323gk-users Homepage: http://www.gnugk.org/
