Video Service Level Agreement (SLA) 2005-2006

Service period: September 1, 2005 through August 30, 2006

Customers connecting to Austin Community College for H.323 videoconferencing services must be in acceptance of the following SLA guidelines. This Video Service SLA will cover videoconferencing within ACC networks, as well as connecting via ISDN or H.323 to entities outside the ACC network. These services are collectively referred to as ACC videoconferencing services.

ACC provides both Internet and video services over the same Internet circuit. Part of this circuit’s bandwidth can be dedicated and prioritized for H.323 videoconferencing.

Eligibility and Support

The ACC Supported Technologies page lists tested equipment and software versions that provide acceptable performance levels.

Please consult Video SLA: ACC and Customer Responsibilities for videoconferencing responsibilities and service expectations.

Firewalls

ACC requires that customers place their codec’s outside their firewalls and protect them with “strong” passwords of at least eight (8) characters. ACC Security routinely tests all video codec operating systems with a stringent vulnerability scan.

Although settings exist within the codec that allow videoconferencing through a firewall, each local configuration can be quite complex. Problem response times for troubleshooting settings increase significantly when the codec is placed behind a firewall. Eliminate the variables a firewall adds to the video validation and troubleshooting process by placing your video devices outside the firewall.

If this is not possible then arrangements can be made to test the functionality of codec’s located behind the firewall but certain conditions must be made prior to the date of testing.  The customers firewall must be configured to allow ACC’s Bridge, Gatekeeper and endpoint addresses to connect through the firewall/access-lists via ports 1719-1720 and allow a connection to ports TCP 3230-3235 and UDP 3230-3253.   Customer sites must allow ICMP from ACC to the scheduled endpoint.

Single Point of Contact (SPOC)

All customers who commit to an SLA option must provide a Single Point of Contact (SPOC). The SPOC is a single phone number for a help desk/dispatching phone system, cell phone or pager number.  This SPOC must have a working knowledge of the connecting endpoints, network and firewall.

Definitions

Hours of Operation (excluding holidays).
Monday through Thursday: 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Friday: 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Single Point of Contact (SPOC). The specific (single) contact phone number that ACC will use to contact the customer: pager, helpdesk phone, cell phone, etc.

Customer Contact. Technical staff whom ACC will contact in the event of videoconference-related problems.

Customer Contact Hours. Hours during which ACC will be able to contact the customer contact through the SPOC.

Facilitator. Individual, trained by the customer, who has the responsibility for monitoring and troubleshooting conferences at the customer site and who is authorized in the Video Service Level Agreement to call ACC.

Gatekeeper. Unit that controls access to ACC MCU.