Alepo - Commercial Voice Services over IP.pdf

7/29/2019 Alepo - Commercial Voice Services over IP.pdf

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Commercial Voice Services over IP:

Opportunities and Critical Success Factors

a white paper presented by Alepo

(512) 879-1030

[email protected]

http://www.alepo.com
mailto:[email protected]://www.alepo.com/http://www.alepo.com/mailto:[email protected]


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1..................................................................................................................................INTRODUCTION

1........................................................................................................................Reliability and Scalability

1.......................................................................................................RETAIL SERVICE PROVIDERS

4......................................................................................................QUALITY OF NETWORK COMPONENTS

4............................................................ORIGNATION SERVICE PROVIDERS-CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS

5.......................................................................................................................TYPICAL CONFIGURATIONS

5...................................................................................................................................PC to PC to Phone

6.....................................................................................................................................Broadband Phone

7............................................................................................................................IP Centrex/Hosted PBX

7..................................................................................................................................................Call Back

7................................................................................................................................................Call Shops

8.............................................................................................................................................Calling Card

8.................................................................................................................................Credit Card Calling

9......................................................................................................TYPICAL TIMELINE FOR DEPLOYMENT

10......................................................................................................................................WHOLESALE

11.........................................................................WHOLESALE PROVIDERS-CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS

12............................................................................................................................Typical Configuration

12..................................................................................................................ASR and Intelligent Routing

13....................................................................................................................................CONCLUSION


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Commercial Voice over IP Services: Opportunities and Critical Success Factors

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Scope

This document was created to show various business models available in the Voice

over IP market, explain through graphics and text the necessary network elements and

how they interact, these models critical success factors, and Alepos solutions to

these issues.

Target Audience

The anticipated audience for this document is anyone considering entering into a

VoIP business, or those already in a business in any of the addressed models who are

considering expanding. This paper is meant for executive-level audiences as well as

technical personnel with an intermediate knowledge of VoIP technology.


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Introduction

In the modern internet telephony marketplace, there are many business models

available to service providers, including retail (PC to PC to phone, broadband phone,

call back, call shops, and calling cards) and wholesale/traffic exchange, both of which

have common critical success factors of reliability and scalability. Alepo offers bothcomplete turnkey solutions based on reliable Cisco elements coupled with Alepo

software, as well as stand alone billing software that interoperates with leading VoIP

vendors.

Reliability and Scalability

For any VoIP business, reliability and scalability are key factors for success. It is

necessary that service providers run all the time in order to increase customer

satisfaction and decrease churn, and also that their business be able to grow, so that

they can quickly capitalize on new market opportunities. Alepo solutions offer

reliable and scalable architecture through the use of proprietary C++ code, grid

architecture, and partnerships with best -in-class networking vendors like Cisco.

Retail Service Providers

A retail service provider is one who offers any of the following services: PC to PC

to phone (such as Skype), Broadband Phone (such as Vonage), Call back (such as

Jajah), call shops, or calling card. Below, please find a table of necessary network

elements for each of the above business models:

PC to

PC

PC to

phone

Broadband

PhoneCall Back Call Shops Calling Card

Credit card

calling

SIP proxyserver Yes Yes Yes No No No No

BillingServer

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Session

Border

Controller

Yes Yes Yes

Interchangeable

with PSTN

gateway

Interchangeable

with PSTN

gateway

Interchangeable

with PSTN

gateway

Interchangeable

with PSTN

gateway

PSTN

gateway*Optional Optional Optional

Interchangeable

with SESSION

BORDERCONTROLLER

Interchangeable

with SESSION

BORDERCONTROLLER

Interchangeable

with SESSION

BORDERCONTROLLER

Interchangeable

with SESSION

BORDERCONTROLLER

TerminationProvider(s)

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

TFTP/HTTP

ServerNo No Yes No No

Yes, if IVR is

Cisco

Yes, if IVR is

Cisco

IVR Optional Optional Optional Optional Optional Yes Yes

OriginationProvider (s)

Optional Optional Yes Optional Optional Optional Optional

Partnering

with E911

providers

No No Yes No No No No

Table 1- Retail Service Provider Necessary Network Elements


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If purchased as

part of anAlepo solution:

Vendors Alepo

interoperates with

SIP proxy serverIncluded

-Cisco

-Quintum

-Nextone-Veraz Networks

-VocalTec

-Lucent

-Alcatel

-IPTel

-Mailvision-Vovida

-Mera

-GNU Gatekeeper-SER

-Asterisk

Billing

ServerIncluded

Session Border

Controller

Included

(Cisco)

PSTN

gateway*Optional

Termination

Provider(s)

Your

responsibility

TFTP/HTTPServer

Included

IVR Included

Origination

Provider(s)

Your

responsibility

Partnering with E911

providers

Your

responsibility

Table 2- Network elements compatability with Alepo turnkey or stand

alone solutionsSIP proxy server- begins dialogue between callers. Recognizes end

number as authentic, compares shared capabilities of customer and end

user (video, audio, etc.). Initiates media line.

Billing server(s)- contains all billing and customer care information.

Authenticates, bills, and stores customer information. Includes vendor

database, automated email reminders to customers, reporting capabilities,

route management, ratings plans, customer self-care through a brandable

web interface or IVRs (included in gateway), tiered administration rights

for CSRs, administrators, and customers.

Session border controller (SBC)- Performs multiple functions necessaryfor retail service providers:

NAT traversal - for customers behind broadband routers.NAT-traversal allows computers on a shared network to

recognize incoming calls individually. Without NAT

traversal, endpoints behind broadband routers will not be

able to receive calls from other endpoints behind broadband

routers. Since broadband routers are used by virtually all

retail users today, NAT traversal is a must-have.


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Topology hiding- allows you to hide the identity oftermination providers from customers, making it difficult for

competitors to learn how you operate.

Protocol conversion- gives you the flexibility to switchbetween SIP and H.323. Since many termination providersuse only H.323, it increases available termination providers.

Transcoding- allows you to accept calls in codecs notsupported by your termination provider (for example, you

may accept calls in G729 and terminate them in G711, or

vice versa).

B2BUA functions- performs CDR normalization for billingand call teardown for prepaid (works with billing server to

disconnect the call when credit limit is reached).

PSTN Gateway- for clients who want to terminate any calls to the PSTN(public switched telephone network). Translates the IP-based signal to

one transferable over the PSTN. Useful for providers who want to be able

to terminate some calls locally. For calls outside of the local area,

providers will need to partner with at least one termination provider. A

PSTN Gateway also allows you to accept incoming calls (for example, for

a calling card business, this allows you to have an access number) and

provide your customers with DIDs (direct inward dialing- allows

customers to have their own phone number for accepting calls).

Alternatively, you may partner with an origination provider to eliminate

the need for a PSTN gateway, often resulting in a lower initial investment

and higher recurring costs.

* some hardware can take the role of both PSTN and a Session Border

Controller, with additional modules.

Partnering with termination providers- If service providers do not have

a PSTN gateway, they must partner with at least one termination provider

if they wish to enable their customers to call phones on the PSTN.

Termination providers will provide rates for termination (often in excel

spreadsheet form), which may be uploaded into Alepos system. If you

have more than one termination provider for a single destination, Alepos

Intelligent Routing Server will choose the most cost-effective route

automatically based on relative quality and cost.

TFTP/HTTP server- (for broadband phone providers) a protocol from

which phones load their software and configuration. The TFTP server is

necessary to remotely provision new customers phones with their user

name and password upon initial use and load any changes that may be

made to this information.

IVR- included in most VoIP gateways. Automated telephone response

system that allows customers to check or top-up balances, and

communicates with users regarding allotted call time in a calling card

scenario.


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Partnering with Origination/DID Providers- (like Level 3). They

provide a range of numbers (DID) that you assign to your broadband

phone customers so that they may be reached by other phone users.

Partnering with E911 providers- for broadband phone providers, it is

required by law that they provide E911 service to their subscribers. This

can be done by partnering with providers such as Intrado. Can sometimes

be provided by origination service providers.

Quality of Network Components

Alepo has partnered with the highest caliber companies to ensure that not only your

software is reliable and scalable, but your entire system is of the highest quality in the

market, all with a rapid return on investment in mind. Please contact your Alepo sales

representative for attractive pricing models for the following solution (including

hardware, software, installation and professional services).

Network Element Sample product included in Alepoturnkey solutions

SIP Proxy Server IPTel with Alepo enhancements

Billing Server Alepo RBS VoIP Billing

Session Border Controller + IVR Cisco Unified Border Element

TFTP Server Alepo Provisioned TFTP server

Voicemail Server (optional) Asterisk

Table 3- Example Products included in Alepo turnkey solutions

SIP Proxy Server- based on IPTel with enhancement done by Alepo. It

is the most popular and scalable proxy server for retail origination service

providers.

Alepo Billing Server- Considered to be the most robust billing platform

in the marketplace and the most reliable billing solution for voice over IP

because it is written in compiled code (C++) and has been used for over

ten years, making it a mature and tested product.

Cisco Unified Border Element- The most reliable gateway on the market

today. It supports all business models and has an excellent after market

value, protecting your investment. Additionally, due to Alepos

partnership with Cisco, an attractive price per port can be reached for all

business sizes.

Alepo Provisioned TFTP Server- Trival File Transfer Protocol on a

server provided by Alepo. The standard protocol for provisioning of

broadband phones.

Voicemail Server (optional)- While some vendors use Asterisk also as a

proxy server and session border controller for up to 50 concurrent calls,

we find it most effective solely in the role of voicemail server, where it

performs and scales best.

Retail Service Providers- Critical Success Factors

For any retail service provider, there are a few common critical success factors:


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offering a reliable and continuous service, buying minutes cheaper than your

competitors, marketing better than your competitors, and cutting down on costs.

Offering a reliable and continuous service allows you to constantly collectrevenue, without losing revenue due to system failures. It also ensures high

customer satisfaction, as they will always have available service. Alepo has

responded to this need by creating a software solution developed from the

ground-up with performance and reliability in mind, enabling five nines

availability.

Buying minutes cheaper than your competitors gives you a higher profitmargin and the ability to offer lower, more desirable rates to your customers.

Alepos Intelligent Routing capabilities allow you to simply upload buy/rate

tables from wholesale providers into the system and set minimum quality and

maximum cost for each of your termination points. This means that your

software is automatically ensuring you profit and quality, granting you more

time to shop for new termination providers with little risk.

Marketing better than your competitors allows you to target key marketsegments and seize on opportunities. Alepos solutions include advanced

reporting capabilities that allow you to monitor the system in real time,

produce reports, statistics, and earning comparisons which may be exported

into Quickbooks or Excel for review. Additionally, you can automatically

grant free minutes based on customer usage. Intelligent routing capabilities

also allow you to offer unique plans based on quality of service, so that you

can market more effectively toward business and other quality-minded

customers.

Cutting down on costs is always an important concern with any business.Alepos solutions are designed to work in an automated manner to reduceOpex (operational expenses). Additionally, Alepo software is high performing

and performs well even on entry-level hardware, reducing Capex (capital

expenses), all of which allows you to focus your resources on marketing and

growth.

Typical Configurations

In the following pages, each retail business model will be reviewed and typical

network topology will be graphically represented.

PC to PC to Phone

For PC to PC to phone service providers (like Skype), PC to PC calling is typically

a free service and money is made when customers dial out to the PSTN.


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Figure 1- PC to PC network topology Diagram

In the diagram above, the network topology of the PC to PC portion of this businessmodel is shown, while below one can see the topology of the PC to phone portion.

Figure 2- PC to Phone network topology diagram

Broadband Phone

Broadband phone providers typically make revenue by charging a monthly

subscription fee, occasionally with unlimited domestic long distance (made profitable

by ensuring a profit margin for average usage). Service providers may also use pre or

post-paid plans with flat, tiered or usage-based billing based on duration and call

number.

Figure 3- Broadband Phone network topology diagram


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IP Centrex/Hosted PBX

IP Centrex is a service offered by broadband phone providers to businesses that

typically includes voicemail services, DID, call transfer, call divert on no reply or

busy, call waiting, conferencing, and auto attendant. Inclusion of such services in a

broadband phone company allows service providers to attract small business

customers that would otherwise need to purchase expensive PBX systems. IP Centrex

utilizes the broadband phone infrastructure, with most features supported by the SIP

Proxy server, except conferencing and auto attendant, which require programmable

media gateway conferencing features.

Callback

A callback company is one in which the customer contacts the service provider,

who then calls the destination and connects both parties. There are four ways in

which the customer may contact the service provider:

1.

Web callback- the customer enters his/her phone number and his/herdestination number via a web interface. The system then dials both numbers

and connects the call.

2. SMS callback- the customer contacts the system via SMS (text message). Thesystem calls back the mobile phone from which the text message was sent and

the IVR prompts the customer to enter the destination number.

3. Access number based- the customer is given a unique access number which ismapped to the customers phone number. The user then hangs up the phone

and the system calls the customer and prompts him/her to enter the destination

number.

4. ANI callback- operates much like access-number based, but without a uniqueaccess number for each user. Not reliable for international calls since not all

networks are capable of processing the ANI/Caller ID.

Figure 4- Callback process diagram

Since each call requires two channels at the VoIP gateway (the system must

connect both user and destination), the concurrent call capacity is halved for the

callback service.

Call Shops

Call shops are small businesses with several telephone booths available for tourists


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or customers without telephone lines to make phone calls (both local and

international). Call shops make money by charging customers per-minute rates for

calls. This service can be either prepaid (billed before entering the booth) or postpaid

(billed after exiting the booth).

Figure 5- Call Shop network topology diagram

Calling Card

Calling card businesses produce cards that give customers access to the system

either through an access number or over the internet. In addition to the profit made of

the spread between buy rates and sell rates, profit is made when cards with unused

minutes expire. In order to capitalize on this profit, your billing system must support

voucher management and lifecycle or you must have a separate voucher management

system.

Figure 6- Calling Card network topology diagram

Calling cards could be physically printed and sold in retail stores, or they may be

purchased over the web using a credit card. Some advanced billing systems also

allow the purchased of calling cards using a credit card over the IVR, as described in

the next example.

Credit Card Calling

Credit card calling takes two forms:


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1. Simply using a credit card number as if it is a calling cardthe credit card isauthorized before the call and debited after.

2. Using a credit card to refill a prepaid account. Advanced billing systemssupport this function over the web and over an IVR.

Figure 7- Credit card calling network topology diagram

The advantage of using credit cards as calling cards is that it cuts down on

production costs by removing the need for production and distribution for this service.

Typical Timeline for Deployment

Alepos solutions are built to be quickly deployable, enabling you to be up and

running in as little time as possible. Below, please find a graph of a typical timeline

with necessary steps and projected timespan:

Figure 8- Typical timeline for deployment

The table below outlines the list of tasks necessary for the customer and Alepo

before the system can be launched.


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Alepo can also recommend colocation and termination/wholesale providers as part

of our consulting services.

Wholesale

A wholesale provider (such as iBasis) is a service provider who routes traffic from

retail providers or other wholesale providers to termination points. The entry barrier

for such a business is relatively low, and while the profit margin is lower than for a

retail provider, the amount of traffic is substantially higher. Below, please find a table

of necessary and optional network elements for a wholesale provider:

Wholesale

Providers

If purchased

as part of an

Aleposolution:

Vendors Alepo interoperates

with

Billing Server Yes Included -Cisco

-Quintum

-Nextone

-Veraz Networks

-VocalTec

-Lucent

-Alcatel

-IPTel

-Mailvision

-Vovida-Mera

-GNU Gatekeeper-SER

Routing Server Yes Included

Session Border ControllerYes

Included

(Cisco)

PSTN gateway* Optional Optional

Alepo Responsibilities

Ship hardware and software

On-site or remote deployment and

configuration

Education and Training

Ongoing Support (24x7)

Customer Responsibilities

Secure colocation space

Contract with wholesale/termination

providers and origination providers (for

broadband phone)

If charging via credit card, open a

merchant account and payment gateway

account

Devise ratings plans

Table 4- Customer and Alepo responsibilities prior to launch


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Termination Provider(s) YesYour

responsiblity

-Asterisk

Table 5- Wholesale service provider network elements

Billing server(s)- Invoices customers, manages buy/sell rates.

Communicates with Routing server for credit limit enforcement.Automates rating and invoicing of customers.

Routing server- Automatically chooses routes based on preset minimum

quality and maximum cost. Communicates with billing server for credit

limit enforcement. Overcomes softswitch limitation of the number of

routes that can be supported.

Session Border Controller- Performs Topology hiding, protocol

conversion, transcoding and B2BUA functions.

Topology hiding- allows you to hide the identity oftermination providers from customers, making it difficult forcompetitors (and your customers) to learn how you operate.

Protocol conversion- gives you the flexibility to switchbetween SIP and H.323. Since most retail service providers

operate in SIP, while the majority of termination providers

operate in H.323, this is an essential requirement for any

wholesale service provider.

Transcoding- allows you to accept calls in codecs notsupported by your termination provider (for example, you

may accept calls in G729 and terminate them in G711, or

vice versa).

B2BUA functions- including CDR normalization.Softswitch/PSTN gateway- Necessary for any wholesale provider who

terminates directly to the PSTN over TDM.

Partnering with termination providers- Termination providers are your

suppliers, from whom you will buy minutes at wholesale. Termination

providers will provide rates for termination (often in excel spreadsheet

form), which may be uploaded into Alepos system. Wholesale providers

may upload as many buy-rate tables as they wish, and Alepos system will

automatically filter out providers whose quality or cost do not matchpreset standards set by you.

Wholesale Providers- Critical Success Factors

For wholesale providers, there are common critical success factors that

determine their performance in the marketplace. Those include: offering a continuous

and reliable service, actively shopping for new suppliers with quality routes at lower

costs, marketing to other service providers, and cutting down on costs.

Offering a continuous and reliable service allows you to constantly collectrevenue, without losing revenue due to system failures. It also ensures highcustomer satisfaction, as they will always have available service. Alepo has


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responded to this need by creating a software solution developed from the

ground-up with performance and reliability in mind, enabling five nines

availability.

Actively shopping for new suppliers with quality routes at lower costs ensuresthat you are constantly improving the quality and profit margin. With AleposIntelligent Routing capabilities, selection of routes to termination points where

you are partnered with more than one partner is automated based on pre-set

relative quality and cost. This frees time away from management to the

discovery of new, lower cost, higher quality routes, allowing you to

continually increase customer satisfaction, profit, and quality of your business.

Marketing to other service providers increases revenue by attracting newcustomers. Alepos solutions support this in three ways:

1. Allowing you the flexibility to offer different types of plans todifferent types of customers. With Intelligent Routing capabilities, you

can ensure your customers high quality routes for their businesscustomers and mid-quality, low cost routes for residential customers.

2. Allowing for centralized reporting capabilities.3. Running in an automated manner, from billing to route selection and

credit limit enforcement, freeing resources away from day to day

management to marketing.

Cutting down on costs allows you to keep prices down, increasing yourcustomer base and keeping profits up. Automation and simplicity of route and

supplier management is critical in achieving this goal by drastically reducing

the cost of day to day management. Alepos Intelligent Routing server isdesigned to automate this process.

Typical Configuration

Figure 9- Wholesale network topology diagram

ASR and Intelligent Routing

ASR - Average seizure ratio - stands for the percentage of calls that actually get

terminated. While ASR has many factors affecting it (such as the quality of the

country circuit switched network), it is usually similar for the same destination.

When a termination provider has lower then average ASR, it is typically because he

oversubscribes his PSTN ports, uses low brand PSTN gateways, or does not monitor

his system 24x7. Calls that do not get terminated do not get billed, making ASR an

important consideration for keeping profits up.


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Figure 10- ASR and Intelligent Routing

Alepos intelligent routing capabilities automatically select the termination

providers in your system who fit minimum ASR and maximum cost. This frees you

time to shop for new termination providers. Because intelligent routing capabilities

also allow you to automatically drop providers from the system who consistently do

not meet your criteria and termination providers will not be used who do not fit

certain base quality ratios, you risk very little in shopping for new, low cost

termination providers.

Conclusion

The modern VoIP marketplace is a dynamic environment in which a number of

business models are available to aspiring service providers. It is important for any

new or established business to understand their critical success factors and choose

products best suited to achieve in these areas. With Alepo complete turnkey solutions

or stand-alone software, providers are assured of a product that is designed to achieve

these goals while remaining scalable, reliable, and high-performing.


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About Alepo:

Alepo provides software products and consulting services

for customer care, billing, and OSS/BSS solutions for

WiMAX deployments, Voice over IP operators, Public

Wireless LAN providers, Internet service providers, IPTV, and Triple Play Providers.

Founded in 1994, Alepo has emerged as a leading Operations and Business Support

System for service over internet delivery providers proudly serving over 600

customers in 70 countries worldwide.

Maturity, stability, and innovation position Alepo as a vital solution for both

greenfield and established companies focused on scalable and reliable solutions that

protect their investment, while anticipating their needs in an evolving marketplace.

Some of Alepos flagship clients include: Digicel, France Telecom, Charter

Communication, Fry's Electronics, TelBru, US Internet, Logan Airport, Telecom

Malaysia, Indonesia Telecom, Suburban Telecom, Maxcom, Turkcell, and

Superonline.

For more information about Alepo:www.alepo.com*[email protected]* +1 (512) 879-1030

2007 Alepo Technologies LLC. All rights reserved.
http://www.alepo.com/http://www.alepo.com/http://www.alepo.com/mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.alepo.com/

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Alepo - Commercial Voice Services over IP.pdf