GNU Gatekeeper Success Stories

Who is using GnuGk and what projects are they doing ?

Here are just a few organizations that have successfully deployed the GNU Gatekeeper.

There are also a number of commercial applications that include the GNU Gatekeeper.

Max Planck Society, Institute for Plasmaphysics, Germany

The GNU Gatekeeper is used to provide H.323 gatekeeper services for video conferencing to scientists involved in fusion research all over the world (Japan, Europe, America, ...). GnuGk runs in proxy mode and services about 400 registered endpoints. It connects to the Global Dialing Scheme (GDS).

Max Planck Society Computing Facility

Hungarian National Research and Education Network

The Hungarian National Research and Education Network (NIIF/HUNGARNET) uses GnuGk to provide gatekeeper services in its H.323 based videoconferencing service, connecting 50 fixed professional videoconferencing endpoints and a high capacity MCU for multipoint conferences.

HUNGARNET runs three different GnuGk gatekeepers to implement the national research and higher education video network dialing scheme and to connect to international H.323 networks. A fully free gatekeeper service is also based on GnuGk, which allows any user from any part of the world to use Hungarnet's video services with any type of H.323 software/hardware endpoints.

NIIF videoconferencing project
Infrastructure diagram

Telefonica Germany

Telefonica does international VoIP interconnections with currently 3 GnuGk installations. They are using GnuGk since a number of years and have been heavily involved in the early development.

Telefonica Germany (German)

Easymeeting.net, Norway

Easymeeting.net is a video conferencing management platform, that aims at making conferencing as easy as possible for the user. Easymeeting.net uses a number of GNU Gatekeepers for its infrastructure and connects to video conferencing equipment from most major vendors, including Polycom, Tandberg, LifeSize and Sony.

Easymeeting.net

SetFocus, USA

SetFocus is a Microsoft Certified Gold Partner for Learning Solutions. They provide in-depth training classes, known as The Master's Program, in .NET, SharePoint, SQL Server and MS Business Intelligence technologies where students travel to their training facilities.

The GRID® (Global Remote Instructional Delivery) is SetFocus' solution to on-line training to let students take part in those same classes without traveling using video conference equipment they get shipped. SetFocus uses GnuGk as its primary gatekeeper to serve 2 Polycom MGC+50 with over 150 registered endpoints. On regular class days there are over 100 H.323 video calls active at the same time.

SetFocus

VQ Communications Ltd, United Kingdom

VQ Communications provides a range of video conferencing services and solutions to corporate users in the UK, US, Far East and Australia using a mix of SIP and H.323. They have been using GnuGk for several years and found GnuGk 2.2.8 to be reliable to connect to a wide range of H.323 systems (Codian MCUs and ISDN gateways, LifeSize HD systems, Tandberg systems, Paradial firewall traversal, RADVision MCUs and the VQ desktop client that incorporates France Telecom's econf client).

"We see GnuGk as a key component in our H.323 infrastructure; we like its robustness, interoperability and the value added functionality we can exploit to create intelligent video conferencing systems and solutions. Our customers are driving us for more control of the video conferencing experience; we are able to integrate GnuGk with the VQ Conferencing Manager Software platform and deliver solutions that meet these requirements." says Mike Horsley, CTO.

VQ Communications

Pannon Telecom, USA

Pannon Telecom Inc. provides long distance calling services to its thousands of customers in the USA. Pannon Telecom uses GnuGk since 2004 to handle over 400 concurrent voice calls at peak times on a single server.

"We are really pleased with GnuGk. We used GnuGk support to overcome some configuration challenges we faced, but under the many versions we have used over the years, we only experienced minor issues (like some incompatibility with very strictly configured Telco gatekeepers). Luckily all problems were fixed promptly using the support provided by Jan Willamowius. He even added new configuration options to make it work." says Gabor, Network Engineer at Pannon Telecom.

Pannon Telecom

Telesuite, Greece

Telesuite is a provider of communication solutions and services in Greece. They are addressing consumer, business and wholesale markets. Their principal activities include networked IT services, local, national and international telecommunications services.

Telesuite uses GnuGk as a H.323 Session Boarder Controller offering Pre and Post-Paid VoIP services. They currently maintain 3 GnuGk installations, 2 in Greece and 1 in USA (California).

"Thanks to these OpenSource installations we are able to offer great services and solve problems and issues that were originally experienced with commercial vendors." says DS, CTO of Telesuite.

Telesuite (Greek)

TT Mobile, Tajikistan

TT Mobile in Tajikistan uses GnuGk exclusively to originate and terminate VOIP calls. Currently TT Mobile handles a million minutes per month and expects to double the volume soon. Kirill Belyaev, chief technology officer for the Mobile VoIP division, says "It saved us hundreds thousands of dollars for a proprietary softswitch solutions."

TT Mobile (Russian)

Indonesian VOIP Merdeka / Maverick project

In a bottom-up project a group in Indonesia has deployed over 150 GnuGk installations nationwide to provide VOIP services.

Cern Courier article

Washington K-20 Video Network, USA

Washington's K-20 network is a high-speed network that links K-12 schools, colleges, and universities across 476 locations in Washington. The GNU Gatekeeper is used to manage video conferencing.

Washington K-20 Video Network

Last updated: 17. Feb 2010
Page maintained by Jan Willamowius