RadVision viaIP400

[haneyr]

Has anyone used this product? We are looking to add some medium sized MCU's to our networks to handle IP and V.35 calls.

Thanks,

[mnxu]

Hi Haneyr:
ViaIP-400 can support the H.323/SIP and V.35(H.320) calls, If you want used V.35 interface , you can config the MCU board , GW-S40 and ECS(GK)module in your viaIP-400 chassis,If you want rate-matching, you can add MVP board do the CP and rate-matching.
viaIP-400 can support H.239 overpass the H.323 & V.35(H.320).

[Entropy3XD]

Haneyr,



I have worked with the ViaIP400 quite extensively. It does support V.35. If you have any particular questions please let me know. We currently have one in our lab with a MCU, MVP, ECS-50, VCS, iView, and two S40 gateways.

[onlai76]

Did you go with the Radvision equipment? If so, are you having any issues? Please let me know--I would like to share experiences.

Thank you,

Onlai

[Entropy3XD]

In our lab I run a ViaIP400 with MCU-30, MVP, and GW-S40 blades. We also have two GW-S40 units. ECS I run off a laptop (because we ship the units for demos) which is running a 2GHz Processor and 512K of RAM. I use a mixture of IP and ISDN, with two ports of the gateway connected to Adtran 512s and the other two ports connected to video ports (RS-530/449) on an Adtran 890. I use an Adtran 830 to provide BRIs to the 512s and a PRI to the 890. On a stand alone gateway I have one Adtran 512 connected to our outside ISDN lines. I use DID on the GW to dial directly into IP units from the outside world.

This is from Radvision's ECS manual.

PREREQUISITES To use the ECS, you require the following:
Pentium II at 400 MHz with 512 KB memory for 500 calls.
Recommended disk space: 80 MB for installation + 2 GB for
the CDR and log files.
Windows NT Server version 4.0 or later, Windows 2000
Professional or Windows 2000 Server.
Windows NT Server Service Pack 6a for Windows NT.
Microsoft SNMP must be installed as a separate service before
Service Pack 6a.
Ports 80, 1719 and 1720 must be free.
FTP server.
In addition, RADVISION recommends that you do not allow any additional
software programs on the NT or 2000 standalone server.


I have run ECS, DCS, and VCS together on the same server, although it is recommended you add memory, and only use the versions for say 50 users or less. If you have more than 50 sites registering to ECS, then you should start to use separate servers for DCS and VCS. iView should run alone on it's own server. You can also get these packages installed on blades for the ViaIP400, except for iView, which I believe is available as a stand alone 1U rack mount.

I have much experience with Radvision's equipment and have always been satisfied with its ease of use. The stand alone GW-S40 fits a niche in the market no one else has been able to match and they work wonderfully with some Type1 encryption units such as a KIV-7. I can't recall ever running into problems with ECS and have always been happy with it.

As far as quality and issues I have been very satisfied for the most part. Radvision's ECS and gateways have always worked very well for me and many of my clients, and I have found issues with the equipment to be rare. I do however think the MCU could use a little bit of work on the video quality. I find the MCU to work great and with the MVP blade I have many options for my conferences. The MCU is also very easy to use. Put head-to-head against a Tandberg MCU however, I do find the video to be a bit lower in quality. I have not had a chance to bring Polycom’s MGC into the mix.

Version 4 of software is supposed to be coming out for the MCU and Gateways this week or next, so I hope to have my units upgraded right away and will test quality. One of the features of the upgrades is H.264 support.

In mixed environments I found that the Radvision and Tandberg units work fairly well together. One of my favorite setups for small sites which have a need for serial connectivity is the Radvision GW-S40, ECS, and a Tandberg 8X8 or 16X16. I found the benefits of the GW-S40 mixed with the video quality of the Tandberg MCU to be outstanding.

[onlai76]

Thanks for the quick, detail response. I am up prettly late at work, concerned about my VTC install project. We are in the mist of adding a 2nd zone and testing. The VPS is horrible (I have one) and I just bought an MVP so I am crossing fingers that this is going to work just fine. We did troubleshooting for the last 2 days. The MVP was having issues---it needs to be set to Auto for duplex/speed settings in order to function properly.

Thank you,

Onlai

In our lab I run a ViaIP400 with MCU-30, MVP, and GW-S40 blades. We also have two GW-S40 units. ECS I run off a laptop (because we ship the units for demos) which is running a 2GHz Processor and 512K of RAM. I use a mixture of IP and ISDN, with two ports of the gateway connected to Adtran 512s and the other two ports connected to video ports (RS-530/449) on an Adtran 890. I use an Adtran 830 to provide BRIs to the 512s and a PRI to the 890. On a stand alone gateway I have one Adtran 512 connected to our outside ISDN lines. I use DID on the GW to dial directly into IP units from the outside world.

This is from Radvision's ECS manual.

PREREQUISITES To use the ECS, you require the following:
Pentium II at 400 MHz with 512 KB memory for 500 calls.
Recommended disk space: 80 MB for installation + 2 GB for
the CDR and log files.
Windows NT Server version 4.0 or later, Windows 2000
Professional or Windows 2000 Server.
Windows NT Server Service Pack 6a for Windows NT.
Microsoft SNMP must be installed as a separate service before
Service Pack 6a.
Ports 80, 1719 and 1720 must be free.
FTP server.
In addition, RADVISION recommends that you do not allow any additional
software programs on the NT or 2000 standalone server.


I have run ECS, DCS, and VCS together on the same server, although it is recommended you add memory, and only use the versions for say 50 users or less. If you have more than 50 sites registering to ECS, then you should start to use separate servers for DCS and VCS. iView should run alone on it's own server. You can also get these packages installed on blades for the ViaIP400, except for iView, which I believe is available as a stand alone 1U rack mount.

I have much experience with Radvision's equipment and have always been satisfied with its ease of use. The stand alone GW-S40 fits a niche in the market no one else has been able to match and they work wonderfully with some Type1 encryption units such as a KIV-7. I can't recall ever running into problems with ECS and have always been happy with it.

As far as quality and issues I have been very satisfied for the most part. Radvision's ECS and gateways have always worked very well for me and many of my clients, and I have found issues with the equipment to be rare. I do however think the MCU could use a little bit of work on the video quality. I find the MCU to work great and with the MVP blade I have many options for my conferences. The MCU is also very easy to use. Put head-to-head against a Tandberg MCU however, I do find the video to be a bit lower in quality. I have not had a chance to bring Polycom’s MGC into the mix.

Version 4 of software is supposed to be coming out for the MCU and Gateways this week or next, so I hope to have my units upgraded right away and will test quality. One of the features of the upgrades is H.264 support.

In mixed environments I found that the Radvision and Tandberg units work fairly well together. One of my favorite setups for small sites which have a need for serial connectivity is the Radvision GW-S40, ECS, and a Tandberg 8X8 or 16X16. I found the benefits of the GW-S40 mixed with the video quality of the Tandberg MCU to be outstanding.

[onlai76]

Also, I have a question---are you on an ISDN network? Mine is IP.

Thank you,

onlai

[Entropy3XD]

I use a mixture of IP and ISDN. I have in your shoes as far as what you are going through and I agree with you on that VPS blade.

[onlai76]

Entropy3XD,

Hello. It has been over a month and I just wanted to let you know that my MVP is still not working! Both the CP calls and the voice-activated are not of good quality. More specifically, when comparing the MCU VA calls and the MVP VA calls, the MVP VA calls are much worse. We have different issues from different end users so it is not looking to great right now. Our endpoints are mostly Polycom EXs, a number of SPs, FXs and V.35s. There are folks blaming it on the network, but there is nothing to support this viewpoint.

I completely agree with the server power comment--the recommended server specs are not sufficient. We were running the ECS on the ASNT and it just did not have the horses--it got hung up twice and so we installed in standalone. And even with standalone, the apps need to be separated.

Talk to you later.

Thank you,

Annie

[onlai76]

I use a mixture of IP and ISDN. I have in your shoes as far as what you are going through and I agree with you on that VPS blade.
Entropy3XD,

Hello. It has been over a month and I just wanted to let you know that my MVP is still not working! Both the CP calls and the voice-activated are not of good quality. More specifically, when comparing the MCU VA calls and the MVP VA calls, the MVP VA calls are much worse. We have different issues from different end users so it is not looking to great right now. Our endpoints are mostly Polycom EXs, a number of SPs, FXs and V.35s. There are folks blaming it on the network, but there is nothing to support this viewpoint.

I completely agree with the server power comment--the recommended server specs are not sufficient. We were running the ECS on the ASNT and it just did not have the horses--it got hung up twice and so we installed in standalone. And even with standalone, the apps need to be separated.

Talk to you later.

Thank you,

Annie

[Entropy3XD]

What are the software versions you are running on each piece of Radvision equipment? If it is not a software version problem you might have to get Radvision involved. Do you still have coverage on the units with Radvision? You will need to take diagnostic traces and send them off to Radvision for them to look at. From there they should be able to see where the problem may be.

If there are people who are pointing at the network, is there a way you can setup your VTC units on a separate VLAN? Do your network people have a way of monitoring and tracing the network for traffic? One way to make a quick test of you own is to get a small manageable switch, and use it with the Radvision and several of the endpoints you may be having problems with, assuming the endpoints are local. This takes everything off the main network completely.

Please keep us informed to everything that is going on.

[onlai76]

I definitely appreciate your response--sorry, I have not checked out this forum in a while. I am still having issues...

What are the software versions you are running on each piece of Radvision equipment?

I will have to look at this--the latest on everything I believe.

If it is not a software version problem you might have to get Radvision involved. Do you still have coverage on the units with Radvision? You will need to take diagnostic traces and send them off to Radvision for them to look at. From there they should be able to see where the problem may be.

We already did this and they pointed to the network, which does not suprise me.

If there are people who are pointing at the network, is there a way you can setup your VTC units on a separate VLAN?

Yes

Do your network people have a way of monitoring and tracing the network for traffic? One way to make a quick test of you own is to get a small manageable switch, and use it with the Radvision and several of the endpoints you may be having problems with, assuming the endpoints are local. This takes everything off the main network completely.

I will try this next with some of the equipment I have that is not in production yet.

Please keep us informed to everything that is going on. I will check this more frequently. I believe the forum was down for a while and glad that it is back up.

Thank you!!