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Migrating to UC? Best Practices for Dealing with the Challenges

Gordon Eddy, Director of Product Management Enterprise Business Unit, Empirix

May 24, 2010

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Why UC?

UC Best Practices

What is Unified Communications (UC)?

Agenda

UC Challenges

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• “Communications integrated to optimize business processes” (UCStrategies.com)

• “Cisco Unified Communications combine all forms of business communications into a single, unified solution that enables your organization to move with greater speed and agility”. (Cisco)

• “… a ‘SIP-based’ architecture that automates and unifies all forms of human and device communications including voice, video, instant messaging, conferencing, presence, and voicemail, in context and with a common experience.” (Aspect)

What is Unified Communications?

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• Optimize and improve business practices and processes• Increase employee‟s productivity, access to information

and ability to communicate– e.g. email, shared workspaces, group calendars, web

conferencing, IM and social SW• Better communications (and extend enterprise

communications) for distributed sites and remote or mobile workers

• Improved customer service: „Follow the sun‟ –global/virtualized contact centers

• Reduce costs– Ownership costs associated with communications equipment– Travel costs– Outsourcing costs for conferencing services

Why Unified Communications?

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• Network Centric – Existing network vendor extends its portfolio to new

communication areas and new SW into your HW (Cisco approach)

• Telephony and Voice Centric – Voice communication vendors manage all IP

communications from one application (Avaya approach)• Desktop Centric

– Software vendors supplying apps like email and IM, extend into all communications across your network (Microsoft approach)

Three Approaches for Enterprises Migrating to UC

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• SIP based• Best of breed approach (Not single vendor)

– Complex architecture, it will be a migration• Designed to be layered on top of existing voice and data networks• Integration and interoperability of existing infrastructure with new components

is critical • Integrates multiple silo‟d communication channels

– Don‟t want to swap out solid existing solutions for certain communication channels that work well today (e.g. email)

• UCC – UC with collaboration• UCaaS – Pay-as-you-go model for UC

– Cost effective for SMBs– Will alleviate configuring HW infrastructure

UC – Technology Elements

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Unified Communications Framework

Unified Communications: A Mandate for the EnterpriseBy Sorell Slaymaker | Apr 23, 2010

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Migrating to UC – It‟s Well… Complex

ConsumerInfluence

(Social Media)Mobility

The Challenge:

Quality Assurance!FMCVideo

New Models

Voice

CollaborationMessaging

ConferencingPresenceClients

Applications

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Interoperability – A Major Hurdle for UC

Sept 11, 2009Gartner calls for greater UC interoperabilityInteroperability is the magic word for vendors in Gartner'sunified communications (UC) Magic Quadrant this year,as market giants accept they have to let third-party developers play in their sandboxes."The vendors would like to broaden the footprint they have within their existing customers and expand into newmarkets, whereas users, in many cases, would like to have the vendors interoperate effectively so they can get a high degree of functionality, and preserve and migrate their existing investments," said quadrant co-author Bern Elliot, a vice president and senior analyst at Gartner.Unified communications vendors may push to be a one-stop UC shop -- trying to merge telephony, email, instant messaging (IM), conferencing and presence in a single platform -- but Gartner is advising enterprises to shop around for interoperable communications products across the market.

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Obstacles and Challenges in Deploying and Maintaining UC Environments

Establishing Flawless

Interoperability

• SIP maturity– RFC openness– Vendor specific implementations

• Interoperability with existing voice systems– H.323, Skinny, and TDM/Analog

• Transport protocols

Service Assurance

(more than just VQ)

Baseline Quality

Assurance

• Real time communication requirements • QoS and VQ Metrics

• Existing basic voice services (with SIP)• Enhanced voice services

(e.g. Class 5 features, VMail etc) • Video • DTMF, Fax, messaging and other

value added services

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Obstacles and Challenges in Deploying and Maintaining UC Environments

Efficient Turn-up of Services

• Access for verification• Provisioning• Demarcation issues

Security and Vulnerability

• Component configurations • Scalability and performance• Hackers, DoS Attacks

Troubleshooting• Access issues• Establishing problem ownership• Problem isolation

Maintaining Performance and Superior Quality

• Day 2 Performance Management and Reporting

• Monitoring across multiple sites and networks

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UC Architecture Looks A Lot Like…

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...IMS

External IP Networks

Internal IP Networks PSTN

Other Networks

3GPP Service Layer

3GPP Control Layer

ETSI TISPAN Extension

Service Plane

Control Plane

Access/Transport Plane

OSA-SCSIM-SSF

CCCFApp

Server

HSS

SLF CDF

OCF

S-CSCF

P-CSCF I-CSCF

BGCF

MGCFMRFC

RACSPDFNASS

IBCF

A-BGF MRFP T-MGF SGF I-BGF IWF

SCIM

Application

Connection

Access

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• Signaling: (Primarily) SIP-based architecture, looks a lot like IMS• Multimedia: Voice, Video and Data• Transport: Utilizes UDP and TCP• Multi-service: voice, video, web, chat, email, file-sharing/transfer• Presence• Devices: Session Control and Management Servers, App Servers,

Media Servers, PBXs, SBCs, Gateways, and SIP-based Endpoints • Flexibility, ubiquity, and mobility• Scalability • Security and Vulnerability (TLS more common in Enterprise and used

in Avaya Aura)• Leverage and build upon IP telephony infrastructure• Multi-vendor interoperability, collaboration

IP/UC: Technology Requirements and Considerations for Quality Assurance

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Best Practices for UC Quality Assurance

Session Manager

Session Manager

Application

Connection

Access

IVR Application

CTI ApplicationCRM Application

Voice Portal

Media Server

More Applications

PSTN

Gateway

SIP SP’s

Session Border

Controller

IP Endpoints

Softphonesand Video Endpoints

Branch Office

Multi-ModalClients

Multi-NetworkClients

TDM Phones

GatewayThird

Party PBX and

Endpoints

SIP Trunks

TDM Trunks

On-Going Service Quality and Assurance

UC Client Emulation

Multi-Media Quality

Assurance

IP/TDM Access and

Interoperability

System Manager or Business

Control Panel

Performance and Scalability

Verification

Agent Emulation

UC and CC Infrastructure Verification

Security and Vulnerability Assessment

Presence

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Quality of Experience Tolerance Levels

Email, File Transfer,

SMS

Chat Video Voice

Bad experience

Don‟t know, don‟t care

Mildly Annoyed

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• QoS settings are used to prioritize trafficQuality of Service (QoS)

Switch

Voice Packets

Data Packets

Video Packets

DroppedPackets

High quality voice

High quality video

Lost some data packets. They will be

retransmitted

voice

video

other

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Mean Opinion Score (MOS) Passive VQ Testing

Methods for Measuring Voice Quality

• Specified by ITU-T P.830 in 1996

• Range of results: 1 to 5• Average score of panel of

human listeners• For automated testing and

monitoring, scores are derived and correlated

from PESQ (or R-factor)

• Utilizes E-model algorithm to produce R-factor score

• Single-ended measurement based on packet statistics• Non-reference based

• Does not decode packets • Most valuable in IP-IP

test scenarios

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Measuring Voice QualityActive Testing

PESQ algorithm (ITU P.862)

FFT FFT

Perceptually weightedObjective score

Test (speech) fileSent thru‟ network

500 MIPS processor

VoiceQualityTester

VoIP Service

• Industry-standard metrics and algorithm, widely deployed and accepted• Measure voice quality using real human speech• Calculate VQ score for entire prompt and/or call

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Application• IP IVR embedded CTI• Speech voice activity detection (VAD) impact on speech enabled applications

• DTMF acceptance parameters (In-band vs. Out-of-band signaling)

Troubleshooting Multi-Layer Approach

Infrastructure• Switch/Media Gateway handoffs

• Media Gateway echo insertion/loss

• Agent “Presence” or registrations

• Voice Quality over WAN/Toll-bypass links

• Conference bridge link voice quality

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Performance ReportingEnsuring Quality Post Deployment

• Voice quality getting worse?• Recurring problems?• Multi-service impact?

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• Signaling: (Primarily) SIP-based architecture (other protocols for certain deployments)

• Multimedia: voice, video and data• Transport: Utilizes UDP and TCP• Multi-channel: voice, video, web, chat, email, file-sharing/transfer• Presence• Devices: Session Control and Management Servers, App Servers, Media

Servers, PBXs, SBCs, Gateways, and SIP-based IP Endpoints • Flexibility, ubiquity, and mobility• Scalability • Security and Vulnerability • Leverage and build upon IP telephony infrastructure• Multi-vendor interoperability, collaboration

IP/UC: Technology RequirementsEmpirix Has it Covered

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More InformationWebsite: www.empirix.com

Gordon Eddy, Director of Product Management Enterprise Business Unit, Empirixgeddy@empirix.com