Advice Needed for Newbie

[dbarkley]

I have been asked to research a video conferencing solution for the company I work for. In the past I worked for a company where we had setup a stand alone polycom unit on a TV and video conferenced within the company. That was years ago. Here they want the ability to do that, as well as go out on the internet to outside vendors and video conference with them. I believe I still want to go the route of a stand alone unit plugged into the network. Any advice on which stand alone unit is a good one. I want to do voice, video and sharing of files if at all possible.
Thanks for any information you can give me.
Dave

[Glen Sykes]

Most endpoints will do what you want these days, but don't overlook the need for a decent means of connecting your endpoint with Internet based systems. For a single endpoint, Tandberg Expressway might be a bit overkill (it will likely cost you more than the Endpoint itself), but the Codian IP gateway or Polycom V2IU may well suit your purpose, providing your network admin is happy with a device that sits alongside your Internet firewall.

There are many threads on here discussing firewall traversal if you need to furnish yourself with further information. My strong recommendation though is don't bother trying to do H.323 with your current firewall, it inevitably leads to headache!