VideoConferencing over the interrnet

["Chris Hughes" <chughes () rpm com>]

Hi all,

I am currently looking for avideoconferencing solution that is both secure
and functional.  I got a call from the CEO requesting that I open up our
firewall setup (two choke routers and a PIX) to allow him to participate in
a videoconference utilizing ICQ and Netmeeting.  He gave me 30 minutes
notice.

I just inherited support of this network and found some acl's in the outside
choke router.  But am not sure what to look for on the PIX.  The an acl on
the router denies access to port 6666.  Well, I told him that at this point
I would rather be given time to provide a secure means to do this.

I looked on the web and saw ICQ could in fact be setup to work with
Netmeeting.  I saw options to config ICQ to use 3 types of socks proxy, and
a way to indicate the presence of a firewall.  Port setting can be hard
coded or dynamic.

Questions:

1) Is there a better more secure way to do VC'ing over the 'net?

2) Is this strictly a router acl issue, or does the PIX need to be involved?

3) Is this just plain stupid and insecure to attempt ?

Thanks in advance for the help.