As customers begin to embrace 2.5G and 3G networks, they also are calling for connectivity across fixed and wireless networks. To guarantee market success, the industry must therefore link 3G multimedia services with existing PC-capable video-telephony systems and clients. Dilithium Networks (www.dilithiumnetworks.com) and Ridgeway Systems (www.ridgewaysystems.com) have now proven this capability.

These companies successfully demonstrated videotelephony calls between 3G-324M terminals and personal-computer-based H.323 videoconferencing terminals. In doing so, they overcame the problems that are traditionally associated with network translation and access through corporate firewalls. To reach this accomplishment, the demonstration relied upon Dilithium Networks' DCT 2000 carrier-class multimedia gateway and Ridgeway Systems' IPFreedom Boundary Traversal solution.

The DCT 2000 is a multimedia gateway that incorporates Dilithium's "Unicoding" intelligent-transcoding technology (see figure). The result of this technology merger is a 700% increase in channel density, which minimizes the long-term cost of ownership. Aside from achieving this level of efficiency in voice and video transcoding, the Unicoding solutions promise to maintain the same level of quality as traditional tandem transcoding-based solutions.

For Ridgeway Systems' part in the demonstration, the spotlight was on the company's IPFreedom technology. By securely traversing network firewalls and NATs, IPFreedom enables end-to-end IP voice and video. It supports both the SIP and H.323 protocols. In addition, IPFreedom vows to extend the reach of secure, real-time, end-to-end IP voice and video beyond the confines of the private IP network or backbone. At the same time, it enables seamless connectivity without compromising security or the overall integrity of the end-to-end connection.

When comparing 2.5G to 3G networks, videotelephony certainly stands out as the major differentiator. It will most likely be the application that inspires consumers to upgrade their handsets. Thanks to this successful demonstration of videoconferencing between third-generation and corporate networks, that consumer drive may be guaranteed.