MNET Services>Telecom Video>Video Conferencing>Failover

The MN.IT video service is designed to be as robust as possible. Major elements of this design include:

  • data transmission facilities
  • MCUs
  • gatekeepers
  • scheduling and control

Data Transmission Facilities

The video VPN extends across MN.IT's backbone network. Hubs are interconnected over mutiple paths and the network will automatically route around failed links or equipment.

Customer links into the backbone may or may not be redundant: such decisions are made by the customer.

MCUs

MN.IT owns or has access to a dozen MCUs and they are located throughout the state. Thus, if any of them should not be available, either due to a failure in the unit itself or in network connectivity, others can be used to support conferences.

Gatekeepers

All video calls placed on MN.IT's network require access to a gatekeeper and all systems are assigned to one of MN.IT's three primary gatekeepers. MN.IT also has a complete set of three alternate gatekeepers, one for each primary. If, at any time, a primary (or all three) fail or we lose access to it (them), the alternate(s) will automaically take over system registration and call processing.

It is important to note that, while MN.IT is using the most current versions of the best available equipment, this is an area that is not well-supported by the industry. Thus, we anticipate that problems will arise during any failover situation. In many cases, the problems are due to missing or incorrect support for failover in the systems themselves. If video conferencing is important to your organization, we strongly recommend that you keep your systems updated to current software levels.

Scheduling and Control

MN.IT's current scheduling system, VC Wizard, is unfortunately not a redundant system. MN.IT has, however, purchased and is in the process of installling a replacement scheduling system using the Tandberg TMS software. That replacement is being designed with redundancy in mind and will have both a primary and backup system online when it enters service.