Whaleback unveils OrcaSentry 27 April, 2008 By Vanessa Ho

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"Threats that are present in the data world all exist in the voice world [too]," said Dave Zwicker, vice-president of marketing with Whaleback. "[VoIP phones] are computers and they have IP end points, have IP addresses and engage in sessions that can be subject to attack."

He explained that OrcaSentry takes all phone calls originating from Whaleback's Polycom SIP phones and terminates it at the company's PBX. The firewall then neutralizes evolving spam and network intrusion threats by terminating and regenerating all inbound voice traffic, preventing packet forwarding and public SIP call addressing. As well, the firewall prevents peer-to-peer dialing.

"We regenerate the call inside our PBX and translate the address to protect the private internal address. We then connect the regenerated call from our PBX across the public network to the gateway systems that are located in our co-location facility," added Zwicker.

In addition to the OrcaSentry security features, CrystalBlue Voice Service also includes enhancements to voice call quality management such as dynamic path control that automatically re-routes calls around network trouble spot areas of degrading call quality and traversing points of congestion to establish more optimal, clearer call paths.

This dynamic path control operates as part of Whaleback's OrcaVision Voice Quality Management System, which provides total visibility into the customer's call path as their voice traffic crosses multiple IP networks. OrcaVision is a graphical network mapping tool used to visually monitor the health and performance of these networks and provide multiple views that display call quality information by provider, by customer or by user.

Enhancements were also made to the business continuity of CrystalBlue Voice Service with the introduction of a new server with fault tolerance. Zwicker noted that the OrcaServer-HA is a premise-based Intel hardware appliance for Whaleback's SMB 1500 IP PBX appliance.

The server offers high availability, redundant power and RAID storage that automatically reverts to backup configurations in an event of a failure.

CrystalBlue Voice Service is an on-premise, managed business telephony solution built for broadband. Crystal Blue Voice is designed to help SMBs reduce capital and operating costs while boosting productivity via IP PBX calling features.

The new release is available today. Existing customers will be automatically upgraded to the new security software release at no extra charge. Whaleback manages and monitors all deployments, and will upgrade all SMB 1500 IP PBXs without any need for user intervention. The OrcaServer-HA may be optionally added for a one-time activation fee of $4,995 US.