migração voip sem problemas

Interactive Intelligence, Inc.

Paving a Successful Migration Path to VoIP Five Checkpoints to Make Your Migration the right move

Thomas Bailey, Marketing Services Group

July 1, 2009

© Interactive Intelligence, Inc. 2 Paving a Successful Migration Path to VoIP

Table of Contents Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 3 IP Telephony, VoIP and the IP PBX ...................................................................................... 4 Making the Move to IP Telephony and VoIP: Five Checkpoints ......................................... 5 1. Don’t let proprietary vendors fool you ........................................................................ 6 2. Network analyses and infrastructure planning… no shortcuts allowed ..................... 8 3. Know where lower costs and higher ROI are really coming from .......................... 11 4. I’m sure my IT staff can manage an IP PBX system and VoIP .................................... 16 5. How does “converged” voice and data actually reach my end‐users? ..................... 17 Summary ........................................................................................................................... 19

Copyright © 2009 – 2010 Interactive Intelligence, Inc. All rights reserved. Brand and product names referred to in this document are the trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

Interactive Intelligence, Inc. 7601 Interactive Way Indianapolis, Indiana 46278 Telephone/Fax (317) 872‐3000 www.ININ.com

Publish date 7/09, version 1


Introduction

Generating phone calls over the Internet really does work, and enterprise CIOs and IT

chiefs are increasingly finding Internet Protocol (IP) technologies to their liking for

business communications, namely IP telephony and voice over IP (VoIP). At the core of

VoIP and IP telephony, open standards spearheaded by the Session Initiation Protocol

(SIP) and solutions that are predominantly software‐based make IP communications

flexible enough to meet an organization’s own IT standards, yet still provide a solid

backbone for reliability and voice and data security. Also now that IP technologies have

matured and proven themselves — telecom market analysts at The Radicati Group

estimated 74% of all corporate telephony lines to be IP‐based by the end of 2009 —

business decision‐makers are finding much less risk in implementing “innovative” new IP

application suites that are a far cry from their Private Branch Exchange (PBX) hardware

phone system predecessors.

Ironically, these are the same IP solutions and vendors that only a few years ago weren’t

even on the radar of most enterprises. Now, however? VoIP and IP telephony are in

vogue because businesses are realizing they get a nice return on their communications

investment, and get it from several different directions.

A complete all‐in‐one system delivered on standard servers, commonly from

one vendor, to replace literally tons of proprietary equipment and integration

complexity from multiple vendors

A single manageable network for voice, data and video as well as branch offices

and disaster recovery

Scalability, up or down, via applications and licensing to add features and

manage user counts in the enterprise, in contact centers, and for branch office

locations and mobile workers; there’s no need to add expensive hardware or

customize systems to expand functionality

Open integration with third‐party systems and enterprise business rules

Multichannel communications and business process automation throughout the

entire enterprise

Networked system access from virtually anywhere in the world for remote and

mobile workers

Central administration and application deployment, from a single interface

Lower capital costs, energy costs, operations costs and maintenance expenses


Goodbye, PBX

Business 101 tells you the benefits of IP communications make good sense. They

produce the technological advances and all‐important investment returns most

enterprises demand, both instantly and long‐term. Yet one of the most central decision

drivers for deploying an IP communications solution remains the fact that PBX

telephone systems — the systems the business world has used dutifully for nearly 40

years to orchestrate calls — are near extinction. Literally. With VoIP and IP telephony

taking over, the majority of proprietary vendors who’ve made PBXs a staple in their

product lineups are ceasing development and support of their PBX products. That’s why

analysts throughout the communications industry are already declaring the PBX “dead.”

For enterprises that haven’t already implemented an IP solution, then, making the move

to IP telephony and networked voice, data and video communications seems inevitable.

And because no two organizations and their IP initiatives are the same, doing your

homework on open communications standards such as SIP, technologies such as voice

over IP (VoIP), and the trend toward software‐based IP solutions is essential as IP

becomes a preferred business communications technology for enterprises worldwide.

IP Telephony, VoIP and the IP PBX When a call gets made using traditional PBX phone equipment, the system transmits

voice signals via circuit‐committed protocols of the Public Switched Telephone

Network (PSTN), which basically serves as a local and long‐distance phone service

provider for calls and nothing else. VoIP on the other hand leverages the Internet to

transmit voice traffic as well as fax, data and video communications anywhere in the

world, and does so by sending discrete, digitally formatted data packets along a single

shared voice/data/video IP‐based network that’s often supported using open

communications standards such as SIP. Consider each method even in the most

elementary terms, and it’s obvious that VoIP is far more flexible for today’s

multichannel business communications than the PSTN. Cost‐wise, along with allowing

organizations to avoid the PSTN’s typically excessive toll charges for long‐distance

calls, VoIP’s benefits from a network standpoint come from its ability to merge

separate lines for voice, data and video traffic into one IP network, which in turn

reduces the costs of configuring and maintaining a network‐based IP solution.


The IP PBX, a new breed

Whereas VoIP relates primarily to the process of voice communications traveling over

an IP network, IP telephony more closely aligns with the IP PBX systems that initiate IP

calls and allow organizations and end‐users to manage them. IP PBXs are definitely the

new generation of communications solutions; the majority of them are software‐based,

come as application suites running on standard servers, and offer the kind of open

standards adaptability that proprietary PBX equipment was never designed for. And

though an IP PBX system can be configured to deliver voice traffic via the PSTN, it’s far

more advantageous for an enterprise to leverage an IP‐based data network for the

flexibility benefits. For instance with regard to an IP PBX, IP phones and end‐user

devices are easily connected over the same network, bypassing the need for a dedicated

voice network (like the PSTN) and expensive cabling that traditional PBX telephone

systems require.

Making the Move to IP Telephony and VoIP: Five Checkpoints A communications system is one of the most substantial investments any business

makes, and for decades tried‐and‐true PBX telephone equipment made a business’s

capital outlay a safe bet. As we noted in the Introduction, however, most major PBX

vendors have announced plans to discontinue their proprietary PBX offerings, or in

some cases already have. While that’s not to say the PBX your organization installed a

couple years ago won’t last another 10 years, it is to say the vendor who sold it to you

might not support it that long. It’s also to say PBX phone systems have always been one‐

dimensional and always will be, and simply can’t match the functionality and flexibility

of IP telephony and VoIP.

Bottom line, replacing outmoded PBX equipment or finding the right system for a new

office presents a favorable opportunity to deploy an IP solution. (As does an uneven

economic climate that has enterprises trying to control communications spending while

still maintaining an advantage over their competitors.) In paving a migration path to

VoIP and IP telephony for your enterprise, your contact center, dispersed locations and

an increasingly mobile workforce, due diligence is everything — and migrating to IP

using an IP PBX solution and the SIP communications standard to pave the path has

shown to be a successful approach.

If your business is nearing the point of IP inevitability and doing its homework, here are

five checkpoints of emphasis for your research notes:

1. Don’t let proprietary vendors fool you

2. Network analyses and infrastructure planning… no shortcuts allowed

3. Know where lower costs and higher ROI are really coming from

4. I’m sure my IT staff can manage an IP PBX system and VoIP

5. How does “converged” voice and data actually reach my end‐users?

Let’s take a closer look at each point.


1. Don’t let proprietary vendors fool you If you’re researching IP telephony solutions to implement voice over IP, remember the

terms “SIP” and “open standards.” The Session Initiation Protocol, or SIP, is an

international standard developed by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and

endorsed by the likes of Microsoft, Siemens and AT&T to support VoIP via SIP‐based

networks around the globe. SIP is now widely accepted as the successor to the H.323

standard for IP, and is open, lightweight and software‐based to support new IP phones,

software phone clients (“soft phones”) and mobile devices along with traditional analog

phones and desktop PCs.

In essence, SIP provides the blueprint for real‐time voice communications as well as text

messaging and application sharing, and has for several years now. (Interactive

Intelligence was one of the first vendors to architect its communications software

platform throughout for the SIP standard and VoIP, introducing its IP solutions in

September 2002.) However, while many proprietary vendors advertise “open” solutions

for VoIP, such vendors still haven’t been able to adopt the open SIP standard to their

communications hardware products, and not surprisingly many of them still continue to

make the claim that SIP lacks sufficient interoperability for VoIP as an inherent flaw in

the SIP standard. Nonsense. With literally thousands of SIP‐based IP networks and

communications solutions now implemented worldwide, it’s been proven over and over

that SIP’s relative simplicity has made interoperability much easier than with older

protocols such as the Integrated Digital Services Network (ISDN), which were notorious

for system compatibility problems. The truth also is that SIP is the main reason IP

technologies have become software‐oriented rather than hardware‐based, in that calls

are directed to application servers on an IP‐based (and often SIP‐supported) data

network the same way as emails, web chats, online forms and other data‐centric media.

With SIP now firmly implanted in the global IP communications landscape, proprietary

vendors have less recourse than ever for true SIP‐supported IP solutions. Unfortunately,

that’s left many of them to disguise costly add‐on hardware, software and end‐user

devices for VoIP and SIP. Again, though, be careful. Most proprietary IP telephony

systems must still be configured on the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN)

using servers and VoIP hardware components that hinder integration to other business

systems — robbing your organization of the flexibility and investment protection that

make IP communications such a practical technology for business. Also if media

processing is required in a proprietary vendor’s IP telephony configuration, an

organization must add servers or third‐party solutions to the IP network, limiting how it

can utilize media processing while increasing the number of system integration points

and potential system failures.

All told, proprietary solutions for IP telephony come down to the same multi‐point

infrastructures and integration complexities historically required for circuit‐based PBX

environments.


To get a clearer picture, take a look at the two diagrams on the next page.

Compare a proprietary vendor’s multi‐point hardware approach to IP communications

(top diagram) to that of a single open‐standards software platform (bottom graphic). By

simple deduction, an “all‐software” IP PBX reduces infrastructure complexity,

maintenance, energy consumption and costs just by eliminating hardware.


Make sure your network is ready for VoIP

A complete analysis should assess

every aspect of your network tasked

with carrying VoIP Traffic:

Network capacity (bandwidth)

and connection points for voice

devices

Network congestion and

ensuring your network

boundary to protect VoIP traffic

and maintain quality

Quality of Service (QOS) with

regard to switches and routers

that prioritize voice traffic

Network Traffic during normal

and peak hours of usage to

avoid congestion

Network reliability and

security, and how IP-based

standards can improve both

Codec selection, or how

voice-based data packets are

compressed and

decompressed for VoIP by

phones, gateways, etc.

2. Network analyses and infrastructure planning… no shortcuts allowed

In June 2007 CXO Media and CIO Magazine published the results of its survey among

CIOs who were considering a solution for VoIP or whose enterprise had already deployed

one (“Internet Protocol Communications on the Brain”). IDG Research conducted the

survey, and the two chief concerns respondents voiced about VoIP were network

readiness (44%) and reliability (43%). Even now among IT professionals, the same issues

cause concerns about moving to IP communications… and the same sentiment still

applies: You can deploy the most proven IP PBX product in the world for VoIP and IP

telephony, but it won’t matter if your network issues haven’t been addressed first. So

one more important sentiment:

Be diligent in finding and evaluating an IP vendor

to work with you in performing a network

analysis. Without question, preparing your

network for VoIP is the most critical step in

implementing an IP‐based communications

system, and selecting a vendor who shows a track

record of successful IP network implementations

and system deployments is critical, whether a

local or wide area network (LAN/WAN) or a

multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) network

such as those offered by AT&T and other telco

providers. (MPLS comes from the family of

Internet Engineering Task Force standards and

essentially forwards VoIP data packets at faster

rates across an IP network than LAN or WAN

configurations.)

Along with the checkpoints listed in the sidebar

here, and whether your organization is deploying

an IP solution enterprise‐wide or via a phased

approach by selected departments or branch

offices, a full network analysis should study

factors such as unique network considerations for

disaster recovery and E‐911 service, call

recording, quality monitoring, computer

telephony integration (CTI), how branch offices

and remote and mobile users might affect

network bandwidth, and so on. Consider too that

data networks in some parts of the world still

aren’t to the point of reliably carrying good‐quality

IP‐based calls on a consistent basis, even though

Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and telco carriers are continually fine‐tuning their

networks and VoIP processes to improve quality and reliability.


With that in mind, the vendor performing your network analysis should simulate VoIP

traffic on the network to measure capacity and evaluate characteristics for VoIP traffic

and Quality of Service (QoS) as well as congestion, reliability and other potential issues.

By doing so, your organization can make needed changes and reasonably assure network

success before launching its VoIP initiative.

The industry’s take on IP network quality and call quality

Given the lingering concerns for IP network readiness and reliability in many enterprises,

VoIP providers and the industry as a whole have made IP network effectiveness an

ongoing priority. At the top of the list is Quality of Service in packet routers to ensure the

dependable delivery of VoIP‐based data packets for calls, faxes and video. QoS in this

case further ensures that voice packets receive priority delivery over an IP network to

speed calls. However, while QoS minimizes or even eliminates the call latency that

saddled early VoIP implementations, Quality of Service should not be confused with the

actual voice quality of an IP‐driven call, which instead is gauged by Delay, or the amount

of time it takes a voice packet to be created, sent across the network, and converted

back into sound; Echo, which results from the delay in voice packet networks and

becomes more noticeable as delay increases; and Jitter, which occurs when voice packets

arrive at an interval greater than they’re sent. On the good side of voice quality in IP‐

based calls, many IP solutions continue to significantly improve quality.

Infrastructure planning, make an outline

A qualified and experienced IP vendor will tell you it’s wisest to perform a network

analysis after your organization has outlined its IT infrastructure design for VoIP.

Typically, an IP vendor performs needed planning tasks in conjunction with your IT

team, including compiling an inventory of network devices (servers, gateways, routers,

phones, business applications, databases, etc.), reviewing your current cable plant,

determining voice traffic based on peak call volumes, assessing data center power and

equipment cooling sources, and load‐testing existing equipment. Again, by taking these

measures before deploying a VoIP solution, you’ll have a better idea of how it will

perform throughout your organization afterwards.

Phased approach or total rip and replace?

Realistically there aren’t many businesses that can toss out their entire

communications system and migrate to a new IP solution in one move. All the better if

they can, but they’re usually the exception. More commonly, enterprises are finding it

easier to take incremental steps to the total move, and phase their migration by

replacing only one system component at a time, or perhaps a few at a time. By design,

today’s all‐in‐one IP PBX application suites allow an enterprise to activate only those

applications it needs, when needed, such as ACD, IVR, voice mail, etc. So in simple

terms, enterprises can haul out their old automatic call distributor equipment in Phase

1 and activate the ACD application in their new IP PBX system, do the same thing for

IVR and voice mail in Phase 2, and so on. In some cases an enterprise can integrate

their new IP PBX suite to an existing PBX to anchor the first few migration phases, and

then eventually replace the PBX system itself as IP telephony and VoIP come fully into

play for initiating and managing calls.


Here’s a bit more specific scenario for planning incremental moves to an IP‐based

solution platform, predicated of course on a completed network analysis and detailed

infrastructure plan.

1. Pinpoint an event that triggers the need for a new system, say an IVR reaching

end‐of‐life status.

2. Identify an all‐in‐one platform that allows you to replace your IVR with like or

better functionality. Make sure the platform (and vendor) will support

subsequent growth with standards‐based integration to handle all the

applications your enterprise requires.

3. As other triggers occur — needs for advanced ACD features, outbound dialing, a

new voice mail system, etc. — look to the all‐in‐one platform you invested in for

your IVR. (A key benefit of software‐based all‐in‐one platforms is that features

are available and easily activated via a simple licensing process.)

4. In time, move the rest of your proprietary system functions and applications to

the all‐in‐one platform in a “natural” progression.

Not at all to oversimplify a phased migration approach, but with well‐thought planning

and buy‐in from senior management as well as IT teams and end‐users, migrating to an

IP communications platform in stages minimizes complexity helps protect the

investments an enterprise already has in existing systems.


Intel’s projected 5-year ROI for enterprise VoIP Source: “Business Case for Enterprise VoIP” Pilot Program Report, February 2006, Intel Corp. Information Technology Group Based on a 650-user enterprise: Telephony hardware, software and licensing 55% savings with an IP PBX over a traditional

TDM-based PBX

Move/add/change costs 52% savings annually over a standard, circuit-

based PBX system Savings increase in a larger enterprise due to

campus logistics and the number of IT technicians involved in the MAC process

Data center footprint reduction 67% reduction, total area $20,000 per year savings:

o Less than one rack of Intel architecture servers to support VoIP IP PBX system, replacing multiple racks of hardware for traditional PBX

o Reduced maintenance costs and power and air conditioning consumption

No need to build new data center or expand existing facility

Audio conferencing “Significant hard cost savings” by eliminating conference bridge lines and provider costs Cabling and wiring “Tremendous savings” since VoIP uses the same network cable as a personal computer No need to run a separate phone cable to each

desk No new cable runs in new buildings Cost savings by eliminating contractors and

materials (wire, phone jacks, outlets, spare parts)

3. Know where lower costs and higher ROI are really coming from Reducing the cost of anything in business — especially communications — is a benefit,

and it doesn’t take long for enterprises to start seeing the hard‐dollar ROI of IP

telephony and voice over IP once they discover what IP technologies are all about. A bit

of history first: Though the Internet Protocol itself dates back to 1981, it took roughly 20

years for VoIP and the new breed of IP PBX solutions to hit the business

communications scene in earnest. (As we mentioned earlier, Interactive Intelligence

introduced its IP solutions lineup in September 2002.) As early as 2004 in a year‐end

industry poll by Network

Magazine, IT managers from

around the U.S. were

reporting up to a 78%

reduction in annual system

maintenance costs with

networked VoIP replacing

their traditional PBX

equipment. Intel

Corporation’s Information

Technology Group presented

some equally formidable

numbers a couple years later

in its February 2006 Enterprise

VoIP Pilot Program Report,

which calculated the 5‐year

aggregate cost savings and

ROI for an enterprise site

consisting of 650 users (see

highlights in the sidebar). The

Intel projections used hard‐

dollar as well as soft cost data.


What CIOs want most from IP communications

Source: “Internet Protocol Communications on the Brain”, CXO

Media/CIO Magazine/IDG Research, June 2007

Since those relatively early years, the cost benefits of IP communications have

continued to prove themselves as data has become more dependable and available. Just

check the web and you’ll find thousands of reports and survey statistics offering

evidence of VoIP’s cost reductions and increased ROI results. Of course, some reports

are nothing more than marketing fluff, but many come from industry analysts,

technology leaders like Intel, and even university studies that are quite objective and

very telling for VoIP’s benefits, as well as its shortcomings. For benefits, however, which

clearly outweigh those of proprietary PBX phone systems and their associated

equipment, businesses are still largely unable to gauge all of VoIP’s advantages and their

impact because it’s not always clear‐cut on how to measure them accurately, reliably,

and collectively. (Employee productivity and customer service are two areas, for

instance, that get a bigger boost from IP telephony and VoIP than enterprises might

actually realize).

When a business looks at VoIP, it needs to see the big picture and remember that lower

costs and higher ROI come from many corners of an enterprise, in hard‐dollar and soft‐

dollar measurements alike. We already listed some of these key benefits in the

Introduction, but here they are again in more detail, along with a few others.

A unified IT infrastructure and central administration

Go back to the architecture diagrams on page 7 for a minute. Note that it’s common for

enterprises migrating to an IP PBX application suite and VoIP to replace 10 or 12 pieces

of proprietary communications

equipment — a PBX, an automatic

call distributor (ACD), an IVR system,

etc. — whether in a phased approach

or a full rip and replace to migrate all

at once. Either way, what an enterprise

ultimately arrives at with IP

communications is a more unified IT

infrastructure as multiple hardware

systems transform into a single software

platform and one IP‐based network. In a

VoIP configuration, recall that voice is

simply a network application, with an IP

PBX application server running on the

same network as business application

servers, database servers, email servers,

web servers, business systems, third‐

party applications, etc. In other words, integrating your voice system to data systems is

essentially seamless — and void of the complex integrations and customization required

in system configurations involving dissimilar proprietary voice and data solutions. With

an integrated IP PBX application suite, enterprises are further equipped to deploy new

applications that add system features as needed for less cost, adding to the value they

already get from a converged voice and data network and maintaining fewer systems.


Moreover for IT teams, a single interface for system configuration and administration

replaces all the individual interfaces from those 10 or 12 pieces of proprietary

equipment that get replaced. And with an IP PBX solution and VoIP centralizing system

and network administration enterprise‐wide, IT people spend less time on system

maintenance by provisioning users, overseeing system performance and deploying new

applications from a single point, including for branch offices and remote users.

Simplified moves, adds and changes (MACs)

Moving, adding and changing telephone devices anchored by a traditional PBX phone

system is one of the most costly and time‐consuming support issues any enterprise faces

— especially when adding employees and expanding into new offices. IP telephony takes

MACs to a plug & play level, basically allowing end‐users themselves to perform MAC

tasks with little or no help from IT personnel and minimal system reprogramming, if any.

Unlike a traditional PBX system database that requires at least some level of

reconfiguration to move, add or change a single phone device, IP phones are designed to

register with a data network's Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) database.

From there, a unique MAC address in IP phones allows a DHCP server to recognize the

new IP address whenever a phone is moved, added or changed, and re‐associates the

existing configuration profile with each MAC, which is where the plug & play aspect

comes in: end‐users can physically move their own phones to another office or area of

their building and easily plug them in without IT having to change phone settings and

extension numbers.

System reliability

System up‐time is a primary concern for any IT chief. Consider that the new breed of IP

PBX systems essentially are integrated all‐in‐one application suites designed to channel

enterprise communications down to a single software platform, one SIP‐supported IP‐

based data network, and a single server — or at least “less than one rack of servers” as

Intel’s IT Group documented in its VoIP Pilot Program. So given the physical makeup of

an IP PBX solution, consider this too: when you transform tons of pieced‐together

phone and messaging equipment into integrated applications running on one fully

interconnected software platform, dependable fault tolerance for business continuity is

automatic, whether your IP system architecture is centralized or decentralized.

Better workforce performance… a better customer experience

There’s an interesting finding on customer satisfaction in the Contact Center Satisfaction

Index 2009 published by CFI Group North America, which for more than 20 years has

measured customer behavior in businesses of every kind using the American Customer

Satisfaction Index™ (ACSI) published by the University of Michigan. According to their

Index for 2009, CFI Group determined that credit unions rated highest in satisfaction,

due primarily to the key measurement termed First Call Resolution, or FCR. Though

mainly pegged as a contact center metric, FCR really applies to any organization that

serves customers. FCR also has an extremely strong correlation to the intelligent call

routing and unified desktop interaction management technologies of new IP PBX

systems and VoIP. What does that all have to do with credit unions?


Credit unions were some of the earliest adopters of VoIP and IP communications, and

have leveraged the technology to the fullest for their operations, employees,

members… and First Contact Resolution. More proof for IP‐based performance? In their

2006 Pilot Program Report for VoIP and its resulting ROI, Intel Corporation’s Information

Technology Group determined that, for the 650‐user enterprise they modeled their

study on, performance and productivity increased between an astounding 134% ‐500%

using a VoIP/IP PBX/unified messaging solution. The IT Group cited significant time

savings over a legacy phone system for much the same customer service‐related

processes that have served credit unions so well: faster and more accurate call routing

(to the right person the first time); “substantial” productivity benefits from desktop IP

phones and soft phone clients; rapid networked access to enterprise data points and

customer information; enterprise‐wide collaboration among employees, departments

and workgroups; and, consequently, quicker responses and First Call Resolutions to

customer issues. Productive employees. Satisfied loyal customers. Measurable revenue

streams. Enough said.

Scalability while lowering your data center footprint

Interactive Intelligence customers include business organizations from a few hundred

employees to several thousand, and a constant concern for many of them is being able

to support growth. Without question, one of the most significant benefits of VoIP and IP

communications is the ability to scale users as well as system functionality, up or down,

with applications and licensing — and do so in the enterprise, in contact centers and

even for branch offices and remote users without adding more boxes of equipment to a

server room. Intel’s IT Group and their Pilot Program Report for VoIP is a great example:

for a 650‐user site, they reduced their data center space by 67% and laid the

groundwork to save $20,000 annually by replacing multiple racks of hardware for a

traditional PBX phone system with less than one rack of architecture servers supporting

a new IP PBX system for VoIP. Further savings came from cost reductions for data center

maintenance, power consumption and air conditioning. Even more in Intel’s newfound

nest egg was all the new data center space, which eliminated a potentially costly and

time‐consuming building expansion had they stayed on a hardware path and decided to

increase user counts and communications functionality. (By the way, the IP solutions for

VoIP from Interactive Intelligence reliably scale to 5,000 users per server, and up to

250,000 mailboxes for messaging.)


Read more about security in the Interactive Intelligence white paper “Securing your Business with IP Communications” Visit the Interactive Resource Center | www.inin.com

Tighter security from IP standards

Earlier we referenced a June 2007 survey of CIOs conducted by CXO Media and CIO

Magazine in conjunction with IDG Research. The topic was implementing IP

communications, and along with reliability being a concern among 43% of survey

respondents, 63% said security was also a critical issue. Fortunately, one of the more

touted advantages of IP technologies is the use of the international Session Initiation

Protocol for VoIP, and one of SIP’s most substantial advantages is its rigorous message

encryption and user authentication in a VoIP environment. SIP in fact has become the

most dependable tool for IP communications security because it’s strictly regulated

worldwide, compliments of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). In particular, two

security standards to note for SIP’s encryption capability are Transport Layer Security

(TLS) and the Secure Real‐time Transport Protocol (SRTP). TLS, as specified by the IETF, is

based on the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) standard and extends two distinct layers of

security for an IP‐based network: the TLS Record Protocol, which ensures a private

network connection via symmetric encryption, and the TLS Handshake Protocol, which

provides authentication between an IP application server and a desktop

communications client using digital certificates. Additionally for data security, SRTP is a

profile of the Real‐time Transport Protocol (RTP) and provides a framework for

confidentiality, message authentication and replay protection to RTP traffic on a data

network. SRTP’s greatest benefit is that it defines a set of default cryptographic

transforms and allows new transforms to be introduced as needed, making it a strong

safeguard for IP communications environments built on a combination of wired as well

as wireless networks.

More efficient bandwidth

Bandwidth is another benefit of VoIP and IP telephony, resulting when voice is

converted into IP‐based data packets. Bandwidth efficiency occurs somewhat naturally

in that IP voice packets are transmitted only when they contain tangible speech

samples, referred to as silence suppression. Packet compression itself also leads to

greater bandwidth efficiency and, in many cases, enables companies to reduce the

number of T1/E1 links in their network — or at least significantly decrease the

bandwidth required to transmit voice. Remember, too, that IP telephony can reduce or

in some cases eliminate expensive PSTN‐based toll charges for site‐to‐site calls by

routing voice traffic over a local or wide area network (LAN or WAN).


A few benefit “don’ts”

Some ending thoughts on gauging the benefits of VoIP and IP communications. While

there’s certainly an upside, here are a few precautions to also weigh.

Don’t overlook secondary costs such as training for users and internal support

personnel. IP system tools for end users are fairly intuitive and easy to learn, but

might still require some degree of training upfront. IT personnel can also be

expected to require training and certification, and an experienced IP vendor

partner can help in both areas.

Be aware that vendors’ generic ROI models don't always apply, quite simply

because the path an enterprise takes to VoIP is unique to its own objectives (or

should be). ROI expectations certainly vary as well, so work with a vendor or

consultant who can customize an ROI study based on your organization’s

specific project scope and ROI expectations.

Don’t allow vendors to take ROI calculation shortcuts, which, trust us, some do.

Unfortunately most shortcuts come from vendors who aren’t experienced or

fully qualified in VoIP implementations. So there again, work with a certified

vendor who can demonstrate a clear understanding of ROI calculations.

4. I’m sure my IT staff can manage an IP PBX system and VoIP No offense to your IT professionals, but don’t presume they can maintain an IP PBX

system and administer VoIP if they’re not experienced or properly trained in IP

technologies. Don’t assume your IT voice and data teams are on the same page, either,

since voice and data were totally separate entities in the IT arena prior to IP PBX

systems and voice over IP. Just because VoIP converges the two media types (and

video), it doesn’t automatically qualify telecom technicians to work with networked

business applications and data systems, or desktop technicians to maintain phone lines

and solve voice problems. With respect to administering VoIP’s unique voice and data

features for end‐users, the IT picture can get blurry if your overall IT team isn’t skilled in

working with an IP‐based network and the application makeup of today’s IP PBXs. Same

thing in working with a vendor to help your enterprise move to IP telephony and VoIP —

make sure the vendor you choose has a demonstrated grasp of both telephony and

data, network requirements, SIP, etc., and that they offer education and certification

curriculums should your IT groups require training for IP communications.

Is administration really “centralized”?

Whatever IP PBX solution you look at, one thing your IT staff should study closely is

whether the system honestly centralizes voice/data management, user provisioning and

overall administration, preferably in a central interface. Most new IP PBX systems do as

advertised and streamline admin functions into a single intuitive environment. However,

some vendors might claim they do that, and then sneak three or four different

interfaces into an implementation and try to explain afterwards that they’re necessary

to manage your new system and IP network.


A few key items to look for to make sure administration truly is centralized in one place:

SIP network connections for VoIP

o Telephony resources, phone lines and line

groups, stations, IP phones, etc.

System/user administration, including across

branch offices via the IP network

o Users, workgroups, password (security),

desktop client configurations, messaging,

reporting, etc.

Moves, adds and changes from the base IP PBX

server and admin interface environment, including

global MACs for branch offices

Information sources

o Telephony, from line interfaces to fax lines,

dialing privileges, end‐user handsets and

headsets, etc.

o Users, security rights, extensions, e‐mail

addresses, etc.

o Groups, including membership, security rights,

skills, etc.

o Web information such as pre‐defined URLs and

chat text

o Data, such as speed‐dial lists, company directories, etc.

Add‐on applications for recording, CRM, etc.

5. How does “converged” voice and data actually reach my endusers?

CXO Media/CIO Magazine reported in its June 2007 survey among CIOs that better

productivity was second on their IP communications wish list. (Meta Group’s survey

results, shown here, were similar.) For user output, there’s no question IP technologies

make employees intuitively more productive by putting voice and data at their fingertips

on the desktop in the office and on laptops and handheld devices outside

of it. No longer are users forced to make calls using one system, access a different

system to manage voice mails, contact an outside vendor to schedule and host a

conference call, access yet another system to manage emails, navigate back and forth to

a CRM or accounting application on their PC, and so on and so on…

But how, exactly, does an IP communications solution “converge” all those manual

processes? It really depends on which available options your enterprise and users take

advantage of, and there are new ones seemingly every day.


5%

25%

38%

39%

39%

42%

46%

49%

50%

52%

52%

58%

61%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%

Other

Presence / IM integration

Productivity tools

Call center applications

Collaboration tools

Unified messaging

Video / distance learning

Remote access to telephony

Networked voice mail

Remote access to applications

User mobility

IP phone-based productivity apps

Conferencing

User/business needs driving IP communicationsSource: Meta Group, August 2007

A word of caution first. While

most IP communications

solutions from proprietary

vendors unify voice and data

on your network, they still

struggle to fully unify it on an

end user’s PC or workstation.

If you read between the lines

of the “unified

communications” offerings

now available from such

vendors, all they really do is

package separate voice and

data systems from other

vendors on the back end,

and then try to present the

grouped features in a

“unified desktop

environment.” Right.

Vendors who haven’t

developed bona fide IP PBX application suites can put a voice client and software phone

on the desktop and mix and match it with an email system, voice mail, presence

management, a conference bridge and a few other basic functions. But can they put

that same collective functionality in an actual CRM interface or the Microsoft Office

Outlook® application for a truly unified voice and data environment? Shameless plug

here, but Interactive Intelligence does exactly that with its enterprise IP PBX and contact

center suites, and has since 2002. We even extend everything to remote users, mobile

workers and work‐at‐home employees with a full list of .NET‐based software client

options for the desktop and mobile devices.

The Interaction Client®.NET Edition desktop communications manager (top screen) puts

users in control of many IP PBX features from their PC or workstation: conferencing, call

recording, web chat, real‐time presence management and company and workgroup

directories. Of note, the Interaction Client’s soft phone provides Quality of Service (QoS)

that turns any PC or laptop into a communications end point, which users can utilize

from anywhere in the world. Greater security also stems from the Client’s complete

encryption of voice as well as data sessions. Available Client options shown here include

the Interaction Client® Outlook Edition, Client integration for Microsoft’s Office

Communications Server (OCS) 2007 and the OCS Office Communicator Client, the

Interaction Client® Mobile Edition for Windows Mobile™ smart phones, and the

Interaction Web Client for today’s most popular web browsers. Client integrations are

additionally available for Microsoft® Dynamics® GP and Dynamics CRM, SAP, Siebel

CRM, Remedy, RightNow Technologies, and Salesforce.com.

See for yourself on the next page.


Summary Internet Protocol (IP) technologies for IP telephony and voice over IP (VoIP) have arrived

as a viable communications solution for business, and telecom industry insiders

including The Radicati Group back up the claim. Radicati Group analysts estimated that

74% of all corporate telephony lines would be IP‐based by the end of 2009 as

enterprises migrated to integrated IP PBX software application suites, open

communications standards headed by the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), and SIP‐

supported IP‐based data networks that allow them unify voice and data on single LAN,

WAN or MPLS network. Adding to the growing number of VoIP migrations is the fact

that most proprietary telecom vendors are now ceasing development and support of

their PBX phone system equipment, which businesses have used for nearly four decades

to initiate and manage voice communications.


The benefits of IP communications are wide‐ranging. On the back end, ROI stems from

new‐gen IP PBX solutions and VoIP allowing enterprises to reduce the amount of costly

hardware and physical space in their data center; integrate to business systems and

business applications without expensive customizations; connect distributed offices and

remote and mobile users; scale to more users and features via applications and

licensing; centralize administration to a single‐point interface; and simplify moves, adds

and changes (MACs) to a plug & play level that end‐users themselves can generally

perform. System reliability and voice and data security have also improved as IP

technologies have matured. Performance wise for users, VoIP and IP PBX‐based desktop

clients and software phones put voice, data and presence management controls in a

single intuitive environment, allowing an enterprise’s workforce to collaboratively

provide faster and more complete customer service.

Migrating to VoIP and IP communications requires effective planning, however, and

keeping these five checkpoints in mind while paving your path can help make your move

a successful one.

1. Don’t let proprietary vendors fool you, since many of their “solutions” for VoIP

and IP telephony still incorporate multiple hardware systems and don’t fully

support SIP and open communications standards.

2. Network analyses and infrastructure planning are essential to a solid IP

communications foundation, both for initial implementation and for future

business communications needs. No shortcuts allowed!

3. Know where lower costs and higher ROI are really coming from in making a

business case for IP communications. Consider things like having to replace an

outdated PBX phone system, software flexibility over hardware, simplified

administration, reduced maintenance and energy costs, customer loyalty

because service is better, etc.

4. I’m sure my IT staff can manage an IP PBX system and VoIP, or are you? Phone

and data networks were separate entities prior to VoIP, and most IT

professionals either installed phones or PCs and applications, but rarely both.

Ensure that your IT teams are properly trained and certified in IP technologies,

and that IT staff are all going in the same direction.

5. How does converged voice and data reach my end‐users? It does with

the new breed of pre‐integrated IP PBX application suites and desktop

tools that truly bring voice and data together at a user’s fingertips.

migração voip sem problemas

Documents