A method and apparatus for improving the scalability of H.323 systems is described.
An H.323 gateway can be modified to store call state information associated with
a call on at least one of the ports of the modified H.323 gateway. The modified
H.323 gateway can send registration, admission, and status requests to a modified
H.323 gatekeeper. This relieves the modified H.323 gatekeeper of the need to maintain
call status information for that call. If the modified H.323 gatekeeper fails,
there is no disruption of the call or the billing information associated with the
call. The modified H.323 gateway and the modified H.323 gatekeeper can be embodied
in interface cards suitable for IP telephony gateways. Additionally, the modified
H.323 gateway can support a standard network address translation protocol and an
H.323 proxy service. These features help prevent users of the modified H.323 gateway
from bypassing the billing and user authentication systems while also conserving
the IP address space.
