Page 222 - Technology Plan ICT Review

SUPERNET SHARED VPN - VIDEOCONFERENCE PROTOCOL
STANDARD
Category: Network
Effective Date: September 2004
Review Date: January 2007
Summary:
To enable interconnectivity of videoconference equipment between sites, one protocol standard must be used.
Specification:
International Telecommunications Union (ITU) H.323 Version 5 will be the standard protocol used. Rationale:
• This standard is aligned with the Government of Alberta SuperNet standard to ensure interconnectivity among Government, Learning, Health, Library, and Municipality (GLHLM) sec- tors.
• To ensure international alignment, a standard protocol approved by the ITU was chosen.
• H.323 was approved by the ITU in 1996 to promote compatibility in videoconference transmis- sions over IP networks and includes standards for call signaling and control, audio codecs, video codecs, and H.323 annexes.
• The H.323 standard is the most widely used network standard for real-time voice and video transmission over an IP-based network.
• Production solutions are available from major manufacturers that support the full suites of H.320 and H.323 protocols.
• H.323 is considered to be the standard for interoperability in audio, video, and data transmissions, as well as Internet phone and Voice over IP (VoIP) because it addresses call control and manage- ment for point-to-point and multipoint conferences as well as gateway administration of media traf- fic, bandwidth, and user participation.
• H.323 describes how multimedia communications occur between terminals, network equipment, and services, and is part of a larger group of ITU recommendations for multimedia interoperability called H.3x.
Timeline:
This standard becomes effective immediately and must be implemented at the same time that each learning site is connected to the Alberta SuperNet.
SUPERNET SHARED VPN - PUBLIC IP ADDRESSING STANDARD
Category: Network
Effective Date: September 2004
Review Date: January 2007
Summary:
All Alberta Learning sites will use public (registered) IP addresses between the Customer Edge De- vice (CED) and SuperNet Edge Device (SED) when participating on a SuperNet VPN with other organizations.
Specification:
In order to support connectivity across all government agencies using SuperNet, public (registered) IP addresses will be used between the CED and SED when participating on an external or public SuperNet VPN with other organizations (see notes):
• Public IP addresses must be used when connecting to external or public SuperNet VPNs either from any of the organization’s locations or from the organization’s hub, if using a hub and spoke network model.
• If the organization is using a firewall at the hub location, the use of public addresses would be out- side of this firewall.
Rationale:
• The use of private IP addresses will not ensure uniqueness.
• The use of public IP addresses will ensure that there are no conflicts in addresses when connecting to other users within or between sectors.
• Government, Learning, Health, Libraries, and Municipalities (GLHLM) agencies have agreed to use public IP addresses.
• Connections outside of the GLHLM user group will also be free of conflicts through the use of registered IP addresses by the GLHLM users.
Timeline:
This standard becomes effective immediately and must be implemented at the same time that each learning site is connected to the Alberta SuperNet.
Notes:
• The organization can continue to use non-registered IP addresses within the organization’s private network. However, when connecting to SuperNet with the intention of sharing information with any other cross-sector organization, each organization must adopt the use of public IP addresses.
• A proposed central organization to handle the assignment and distribution of new IP addresses is under consideration.
• Network address translation (NAT) to a public address can be used for private IP addressed net- works participating on an external or public SuperNet VPN.
• A VPN can be classified in three ways:
Internal or Intranet VPN - no external nodes (outside the jurisdiction or institution), with exception of shared service
External or Extranet VPN – two or more organizations participating as members, all IP ad- dresses must be public
Public VPN - connects to Internet or other public network, must use Public IP addresses
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