ISDN to IP

[Halliday]

Hi

I'm Eduardo from Brazil and I use a Sony PCS 6000 by ISDN, but I was looking in this grate site so many things about IP videoconference and understood that it is better than ISDN.

Is it realy better ? if it is How can I do videoconference by IP with my Sony PCS 6000. Is it possible


Sorry my terrible english, I'm just trying to live in this World.

[Entropy3XD]

Hello Halliday,

Going IP instead of ISDN really depends on your environment. IP tends to be a more cost effective solution over the long term for users who own high bandwidth IP trunks. The savings are in the cost of the ISDN lines. In the U.S., there is usually a per month charge for the lines, as well as a per minute charge for the calls.

In most situations, my customers have implemented IP within their organization with ISDN support for outside VTC calls. They already own high bandwidth IP trunks between their facilities, so they push video traffic across the same links and save money on calls between their own sites.

For ISDN support, a gateway is typically used. The gateway routes traffic between IP (H.323) and ISDN (H.320) networks, so that the "in house" IP sites can talk to ISDN sites in the outside world.

Call quality comparisons between IP and ISDN are highly debatable. Both can offer very excellent results, however the technologies do differ. ISDN is dedicated, while IP tends to be shared with other traffic. For this reason it is very important to assess your networks before making a large commitment to cutting over to IP.

As far as capability of your current VTC system for IP, I am not familiar with the Sony PCS 6000. Look for an Ethernet port on the system and check the systems specifications for H.323 support.

Welcome to the group. If you have additional questions about IP or your network, please ask.

[mazzarak]

in addition to this, systems tend to be able to take far more bandwidth. I think the most a 6000 will take via ISDN PRI is 1.5MBps, whereas you can go to 2MBps on IP.

As my learned colleague Entropy says, it depends on what you have that you can use. You cannot trust public WWW internet to give you 2MBps.

[jlu]

Besides cost, H.323 is good choice over H.320 because of the portability. BRI or PRI lines are not ubiquitous as IP connectivity.

[GTC]

Halliday,

You can upgrade your Sony PCS-6000P to enable the H323 software option (if its not already enabled). To do this you would need to purchase the upgrade option: PCS-UC601
The PCS-6000P has effectively reached its end of sales life so getting hold of this upgrade may be a problem for you?

It is also worth noting that you will not be able to mix ISDN and IP sites within the same call, unlike all the newer systems available for most manufacturers (Polycom, Sony, Tandberg, Aethra etc) today.

Regards
GTC

[Halliday]

Thanks everybody, now I know how start to use IP.

[scottmerrick]

Eduardo, also look for http://www.usn.org/scott/curriculum/vtc/firewall_router_IP.htm for some hints and links to resources for that potentially daunting task of configuring your Internet firewall, etc. for IP videoconferencing.

[scottmerrick]

If that link doesn't work for you, do a Google search for "Vanderbilt Center for Science Outreach," Click "Links" in the top tool bar, find "Videoconferencing, Resources, IP Guide" and you're there.