Introduction

VoiceMaster offers a full scale H.323/SIP compliant Gatekeeper/Session Border Controller. This is the only gatekeeper in the industry that allows dynamic call control through a proprietary calling time authorization mechanism. Some of the key functionalities of the Gatekeeper/Session Border Controller include:

Authentication

IP Address of the calling station
Username (H323ID) of the calling station
PIN Number/Tech-Prefix of the callings station
Calling ID (ANI) of the calling station
Any combination of the above
The authentication is flexible enough to allow dynamic call authentication in environments where the clients change dynamically their IP addresses (such as IP Phone and Microsoft NetMeeting (TM) clients). The easiest way to implement dynamic client authentication is PIN Number/Tech-Prefix based. Simply use the standard PIN numbers to prepend to the phone number.

Authorization

Optimized Routing includes among other things LCR (least cost routing algorithm)
Preferred Provider Routing to allow managers to explicitly select their termination endpoints and providers
ASR (Average Success Rate) routing to allow dynamic selection of providers with better ASR rates
Route Fail over
Authorization is dynamic and change as you change rates dynamically to provide a single point of entry to your routing system. By inserting new rates you also change the billing and the routing of each call.

Dynamic Call Management

Dynamic call timing for single calls
Support for wholesale multiple call timing
Support for concurrent calls
Dynamic call disconnect
VoiceMaster offers the only gatekeeper in the industry that will disconnect a call after its predefined time has elapsed. This unique dynamic call management functionality quarantines that all wholesale and user accounts are billed dynamically against calls in progress.

Gatekeeper/Session Border Controller Modes of Operation

Direct/static Mode to allow call resolution without RAS message control. This mode will allow number translation and dynamic call control given that the participating gateways support canMapAlias attribute.
Routed Mode to allow direct control of RAS messages with very low level of bandwidth utilization. This mode allows number translation and dynamic call control for gateways that do not support canMapAlias attribute.
Proxy Mode to allow full RAS and RTP data transfer for gateways behind NAT or gateways that want to keep their identity. This bandwidth intensive mode fully controls the RAS and Q.932 data streams and supports number translation and dynamic call control.


Optimized Routing Call Management

Optimized Routing call management is used when the company wants to optimize the call termination costs in real time. The algorithm allows dynamic call handling and call routing to select the most cost efficient termination point or provider. It requires the dialing plan management and gatekeeper functionality to be highly integrated to allow all dialing plan changes to be propagated to the underlying gatekeeper in real-time.

Compatibility with other vendors

Cisco gateways and gatekeepers
Lucent gateways
Quintum gateways and gatekeepers
Clarent gateways
H323/SIP complaint gateways and gatekeepers
IP Phones
Lucent PIN capability to authorize Lucent PIN users

Gatekeeper/Session Border Controller Utilization per VM Platform Level

SysMaster Gatekeeper/Session Border Controller is fully integrated into the VoiceMaster Billing and Routing Plarform to provide a centralized call management for services.
Depending on the VM Platform level chosem, the SysMaster Gatekeeper/Session Border Controller could be utilized in several ways.
The table below displays how SysMaster Gatekeeper/Session Border Controller could be best utilized.