Bridging VoIP to the PSTN Network by Using a Media Gateway

For voice calls from Office Communications Server to reach the PSTN, a third-party media gateway is required to bridge the IP network and the PSTN network by translating the signaling and media to the protocols used by each network, as shown in Table 4-3.

Table 4-3. Protocol Translation That Media Gateway Performs

TECHNOLOGY

PSTN NETWORK

IP NETWORK

Signaling protocol

SS7 and others

SIP

Media codecs

G.711

RTAudio (Real-Time Audio)

Transport protocol

T-Carrier/E-Carrier

RTP (Real-Time Transport Protocol/SRTP (Secure RTP)

Network type

Circuit switched

Packet-based

Microsoft partners provide such a media gateway. (See the section titled "Additional Resources" at the end of this chapter for the link.) The three types of media gateways that Office Communications Server 2007 R2 supports are:

  • Basic media gateways. At the time of this writing, Microsoft has tested and supports media gateways from AudioCodes, Cisco, Dialogic, Ferrari Electronic AG, NEC, Net, Nuera Communications, Tango Networks, Quintum, and VegaStream.

  • Hybrid media gateways. At the time of this writing, Microsoft has tested and supports media gateways from Aculab, AudioCodes, Dialogic, Nortel, and Quintum.

  • Advanced media gateways. At the time of this writing, there are no Microsoft partners that currently offer advanced media gateways.

The third-party basic media gateways cannot translate media from RTAudio codecs to G.711 codecs or the other way around. Therefore, a Mediation Server role provided by Office Communications Server 2007 R2 is required to translate RTAudio to G.711, and it must be understood by the basic media gateway. If the media gateway does not support MTLS, the Mediation Server translates SIP from MTLS to TCP. There must be a one-to-one mapping of Mediation Server to media gateway. You cannot configure a Mediation Server to service multiple media gateways.

The third-party advanced media gateways do not require the assistance of a Mediation Server and are capable of directly translating RTAudio to and from G.711. Essentially, the advanced media gateway incorporates the functionality of the Mediation Server in the media gateway.

Alternatively, if the media gateway runs on Windows Server 2003 or Server 2008, it might be possible to co-locate the Mediation Server and the basic media gateway on the same server if supported by the media gateway vendor. Although not an advanced media gateway, this configuration improves overall return on investment (ROI) because it reduces the number of servers required to bridge to the PSTN network.

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