PhoneProxy: Secure Mobile and Remote IP Telephony
Metreos™ PhoneProxy solves key problems related to mobility, security and access management for companies that have adopted the Cisco IP communications platform. PhoneProxy secures IP phones deployed to employees' homes and other remote locations without requiring a VPN router. It also secures traffic from IP Communicator as it crosses from the data VLAN into the voice VLAN to proxy and protect CallManager from security threats.
PhoneProxy has been proven reliable and highly scalable by some of the world's largest IP telephony customers. It is one of a number of industry-leading applications available from Metreos.
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Remote Phone Deployment without VPN Routers
Example of Phone Proxy Savings
| Current Cost Per Remote Phone Deployed | |
| Handset Cost | $500 |
| VPN Router Cost | $700 |
| Handset Cost | $1200 |
| Cost Per Remote Phone with PhoneProxy | |
| Handset Cost | $500 |
| VPN Router Cost | $0 |
| Metreos PhoneProxy Cost | $200 |
| Handset Cost | $700 |
| Initial Cost Savings Per User | $500 |
| x100 Users | $50,000 |
| x500 Users | $250,000 |
| x1000 Users | $500,000 |
Plus ongoing support cost and complexity which can dwarf hardware cost savings
The need for mobility and the trend toward telecommuting have increased demand for deployment of IP phones to employees' homes and other remote locations. Organizations interested in placing Cisco IP phones in these remote locations have traditionally found it necessary to purchase, configure, deploy and support VPN routers with the IP phones in each remote location in order to meet security requirements.
This has proven to be an expensive proposition, with the cost of a VPN router ranging from $650 to $800 just for the initial hardware purchase price. PhoneProxy can save organizations deploying IP phones to remote locations $500 or more on hardware per IP phone deployed.
As with other information technology products, ongoing management and support costs are far greater than the initial cost of these products. Organizations also benefit from far greater savings by eliminating the cost and complexity associated with the ongoing management and support of these VPN routers each year.
Secure IP Communicator Access to CallManager
In addition to securing IP phones deployed to remote locations, PhoneProxy is also used by organizations to meet security requirements related to the use of IP Communicator. When company employees use IP Communicator from the office, home, or on the road, voice traffic is placed onto the corporate data VLAN and must traverse to the voice VLAN to reach CallManager. This creates a significant security risk to CallManager.
PhoneProxy can be placed in a location of the customer's choice (for example, a DMZ VLAN) to aggregate voice traffic from all IP Communicator sessions and proxy this traffic through to CallManager. This enables security personnel to open just a single hole in the firewall to the voice VLAN and monitor and secure this point of entry closely. It also obscures CallManager information from IP Communicator and from any associated security threats.
Product Features
Application Layer Gateway: Acts as application layer gateway, seamlessly proxying all SCCP, RTP, HTTP and TFTP communications between IP phones and CallManager while carefully obscuring CallManager information from all IP phones.
SCCP Protocol Support: Offers full support for Cisco's Skinny Call Control Protocol (SCCP).
IP Phone Activation: Allows connections to be made to the appliance only by phones that have been activated by an authenticated and approved user. Administrators can set expiration period for activations to make security as tight as desired.
User Authentication: Provides built-in Web application for authentication of users who are activating IP phones for secure use. Also offers LDAP integration and Web services interfaces for organizations that prefer to integrate with existing user authentication services.
Other Mobility & Security Solutions
If your company is looking for more mobility and security solutions to gain further advantage from your IP telephony platform, check into:Metreos ClusterMobility
Enables mobile users to move freely and transparently among CallManager clusters.
Users can log into an IP phone on any cluster in the network, use their normal
office phone features, and be reached at a single office number.
Secure Platform: Uses a security-hardened operating system and firewall to further enhance network security.
Built-In Reporting: Offers built-in reports on usage and exceptions.
Archival and Custom Reporting: Enables easy access to historical reporting data for archival into the organization's preferred database, as well as custom reporting.
Backup and Restore: Provides built-in backup and restore function for all configuration data.
Simple Deployment and Configuration: Enables the administrator to easily get the appliance installed, configured, and up and running in a short time.
Centralized, Automated Administration: Provides for automated administration of remote IP phone access for all users on a single centralized administration console, without the need to configure and support any remote hardware.
Application Architecture
Appliance Platform: Metreos PhoneProxy is delivered on a 1U rack-mounted appliance.
Multi Cluster: A single installation of PhoneProxy can support multiple Cisco CallManager clusters.
High Availability: PhoneProxy supports a distributed, redundant architecture to meet enterprise-class high availability requirements.
Scalability: A single PhoneProxy appliance can support one thousand users. A multiple appliance configuration is available to easily scale to large enterprise deployments.
System Requirements
PhoneProxy requires Cisco CallManager version 4.0 or later.
