31 January 2003. Ridgeway’s  IPFreedom™ and SecureFreedom is one of "The Most Innovative Products of the Year 2002" because they are the industry’s first solution designed specifically to enable secure, end-to-end, IP Voice and Video Communications.

The widespread adoption of  IP Voice and Video is held up because the majority of installed firewalls and NAT (Network Address Translation) routers get in the way of end-to-end connections. Ridgeway has beeen working on a solution for years and has helped customers to overcome the challenges presented by firewalls and network address translation during multi-site IP videoconferencing rollouts,

Ridgeway Systems, Inc. announced its patent-pending software products IPFreedom, VoiceFreedom and VideoFreedom in March 2002 and SecureFreedom for Encryption-Secured IP Communications in November 2002.

IPFreedom enables end-to end IP Voice and Video by securely traversing network firewalls and NATs. IPFreedom supports both SIP and H.323 protocols, and extends the reach of secure, real-time, end-to-end IP Voice and Video beyond the confines of the private IP network or backbone.

Most notably, the Ridgeway solution enables seamless connectivity with no compromise to security or the overall integrity of the end-to end connection.

IPFreedom scales to support any size IP communication application and works in tandem with standards-based communications equipment, including multipoint control units (MCUs), gatekeepers, gateways and softswitches.

Ridgeway’s SecureFreedom
SecureFreedom is a simple upgrade to existing deployments of IP Freedom. Using industry standard encryption, SecureFreedom safeguards privacy when using IP voice (VoIP) or IP video communications. Built upon Ridgeway’s patent-pending methodology for securely traversing Firewall and Network Address Translation devices, SecureFreedom is the ideal solution for any and all types of IP communications requiring the highest level of both privacy and security.

IPFreedom is future -proof. All additional and new features, including SecureFreedom, can be incorporated into Ridgeway’s existing products with simple software upgrades.

Ridgeway announced support for Microsoft Windows Messenger in December 2002. Windows Messenger, which  is included in the Microsoft Windows XP operating system, is an integrated center for all desktop communications, with support for real-time voice and video conferencing, instant messaging, and online collaboration. Ridgeway’s boundary traversal technology enables Windows Messenger to cross through a hybrid of network environments and devices to conduct voice and video conferences.

We discussed the Ridgeway solution in an Interview with Eugene Wolf, Ridgeway president and chief executive officer in October. (Go to The Industry/Executive Interviews 2002 on this site to read it).