A gatekeeper is an H.323 service component that supports the deployment of an H.323 service. A gatekeeper provides management functions to terminals. These include address translation, call set-up, service access control, and call logging. These services are accessed by a terminal ‘registering’ with a particular gatekeeper. All terminals registered with a particular gatekeeper are in its ‘zone’. Gatekeepers are usually deployed on the network to reflect organisational or geographical network topology. Gatekeepers at JANET-connected organisations and those managed by the Janet Videoconferencing Management Centre (hereafter referred to as Janet Videoconferencing-MC) operate to provide a full service for all registered studios and terminals. They will also inter-work with other gatekeepers on education and research networks around the world, to provide an international service.

Readers wishing to learn more about the H.323 architecture within which gatekeepers work, and the role of gatekeepers within that architecture, are directed to the Introduction to H323 Videoconferencing.