Internet Telephony

Is Nat Traversal Holding Back VoIP and Ip Communications Adoption?

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) communications is becoming an integral part of consumer and business markets. Multimedia communications, high quality with rich presence, universal mobility and availability, and lower cost are some of the benefits VoIP brings to end users. For operators, it promises new revenues from new and converged services, service bundling, customer loyalty has increased and lower capital and operating costs by building and managing a single IP network of all communications services. The increased penetration of broadband Internet, the main driving force behind the adoption of VoIP is also one of the biggest challenges – VoIP calls do not function well in many situations broadband for NAT and firewall fire-break VoIP. To answer my concerns about NAT Traversal and the future of VoIP I had the CTO Eyeball Networks, a provider of software for VoIP, video telephony and instant messaging to answer a few questions. What is NAT and why should I be concerned about NAT traversal? More than 90 percent of personal computers and end devices to access broadband Internet using private IP addresses. These private IP addresses get mapped into real Internet addresses using a mechanism called Network Address Translation (NAT), which is implemented in all devices to access broadband (also called broadband routers, like Linksys, NetGear and SMC) and sometimes also in the service provider network. NAT traversal refers to the problem and solving it, where two computers behind NAT can not always communicate with each other for functions such as instant messaging, VoIP, file sharing and online games. If you are building devices, applications or services involving Internet communications, then NAT traversal should be a concern. What are some applications NAT traversal technology is used for? A list of applications that require NAT traversal technologies follow: • Voice over IP and video telephony • The sharing of files such as picture and video sharing • Games Online • Collaboration tools such as presentation and white-boarding • While using other client applications to transfer customer data How the availability of effective NAT traversal solutions changed the way IP VoIP and other services are provided and used? NAT traversal has historically been one of the critical barriers to widespread adoption of VoIP. Development of IETF standards such as STUN, TURN and ice provide a rich set of mechanisms for agent interoperability standards and scalable solution based on this problem. The availability of a solution for NAT traversal as effective Eyeball AnyFirewall engine has removed this barrier providing guaranteed route VoIP calls through NATs, firewalls and Web proxies. This is actually put on IP and VoIP services to other Plug and Play standard between devices, applications and service providers. What are some of the challenges traditionally faced by developers of client-to-grid applications of customers, particularly in the peer-to-peer and VoIP settings? Traditionally, developers do not have the technology and tools to solve the problem of NAT traversal for the client to client network applications. For example, for VoIP applications developers / operators faced the following questions. Some products used in only a partial solution to NAT traversal. For example, many only support STUN VoIP phones, and therefore can not be used for client-client data transfer by most Internet users to broadband. In most cases, operators installed to use a relay server (such as Session Border Controller) for all calls. Since all calls are forwarded, the relay server becomes a bottleneck (and expensive) for service scalability, and deteriorates the quality of calls by injecting additional delay, jitter and packet loss. Also since SBC proprietary protocols to implement a supplier does not work with those from another supplier. In some cases, developers have developed proprietary solutions NAT Traversal (like Skype) that are not interoperable with others. What types of features and capabilities is the VoIP industry in search of a NAT traversal solution? Here is a list, if the characteristics and capabilities of the VoIP industry is looking for: • 100 percent of the crossing of VoIP calls through NATs, firewalls and Web proxies. • Standard-based solution to ensure interoperability Part 3 (draft IETF STUN, TURN and ICE). • Works without changing NATs, firewalls and other infrastructure. • Most calls should be peer-to-peer for a better media quality and scalability. • Complete solution with handset / client and server components. • Small footprint for the end-point solution with support for multiple PC and embedded platforms. • Mature and proven technology. • The bottom-line is that when a user buys a phone or VoIP service, it should work in all cases without any bottlenecks services scalability. What AnyFirewall technology and how it is used by companies in the VoIP industry? The award winning AnyFirewall ™ Engine is leading NAT traversal Industry Software Development Kit (SDK) for guaranteed VoIP termination and video calls through NATs, firewalls and Web proxy. AFE incorporates the most – the full implementation of IETF standards STUN, TURN and ICE. Eyeball’s patented AnyFirewall ™ Technology offers – for the first time in the industry, a fully software based solution that is standards-based (ie STUN, TURN, ICE) and primarily peer-to-peer resulting in 100% VoIP and completion of the video call. Our customers are integrating this technology into softphones, video phones, set-top boxes, PDAs and mobile phones. Why use STUN, TURN and ICE for NAT traversal technologies? STUN, TURN and ICE are the results of international standardization organization IETF is responsible for the development of all Internet-related protocols. Together, they provide an excellent method for NAT traversal, which is being standardized to ensure interoperability between products and services from different providers. The first work on NAT traversal solutions such as application level gateways (ALG) and session controllers (SBCs) either not working well enough or had interoperability, performance and problems scalability. STUN, TURN and ICE have received widespread support from industry suppliers such as Cisco, Microsoft and Nokia, and has been adopted for CableLabs IMS specification for the architecture of next generation communications. Eyeball AnyFirewall engine provides the most comprehensive implementation of STUN, TURN and ICE as well as features such as UPnP and HTTP-tunneling. In a nutshell I found that NAT devices and firewalls are major obstacles to widespread adoption of VoIP, work and IETF STUN, TURN, ICE and provide an excellent method to address this issue . However, application of these methods requires an overview and considerable experience. Eyeball Networks has invested for many years to develop its technology AnyFirewall, the most comprehensive implementation of STUN and TURN ICE, to enable service providers and manufacturers of devices to ensure 100% Firewall and NAT traversal for IP communications . If VoIP providers and device makers benefit from this technology NAT Traversal AnyFirewall not be a problem, and IP communications will one day surpass the use of traditional phone lines. For more information about the Eyeball Networks NatTraversal visit. com All names and trademarks are copyright of their respective owners.