Allstream Hosted Collaboration Solution

Transcription

1 Hosted Collaboration Solution Technical Overview 1

2 Table of contents Cloud hosted solutions 1 Hosted Collaboration Solution components 2 Cisco technology powers Hosted Collaboration Solution 3-8 IP connectivity services 8 Tier 3+ data centre 9 Security provisions for Hosted Collaboration Solution 9-11 What is included with Hosted Collaboration Solution? 11 Conclusion 13

3 To be successful and meet competitive challenges, businesses must continuously focus on enhancing productivity and efficiency in every aspect of their operations. This includes modernizing existing communications infrastructure to enable workers to better collaborate with customers, partners, suppliers and colleagues. Finding ways to improve the connections between people and streamlining access to the information they need to share is at the centre of improving business productivity. A collaborative work environment provides employees the opportunity to share ideas, participate, interact, influence and leverage each other s contribution to the overall success of the organization. Introducing advanced communications and collaboration technologies in a work environment can be, at times, a serious challenge in terms of the capital investment or expertise required from internal networking experts. For that reason, many organizations are looking for effective and affordable communication and collaboration solutions that can be easily deployed and leveraged using existing IT resources. Cloud hosted solutions Cloud hosted solutions offer businesses the freedom and the power to quickly configure and operate the type of communication and collaboration services they need. In a cloud hosted environment business applications are delivered on a pay as you go ( aas as a Service) basis relieving the customer organization from the complexity and expense of owning and managing the required hardware, software or networking infrastructure. These responsibilities are assumed by a specialized cloud solutions provider who is able to deliver the desired services as part of a flexible and technologically advanced solution package. This approach has multiple advantages. In addition to reducing or eliminating upfront investments, it leverages the provider s specializations and economies of scale to help the organization reduce operating costs, increase overall productivity, improve flexibility, simplify regulatory compliance and facilitate geographic diversity. 1

4 Hosted Collaboration Solution components Hosted Collaboration Solution (HCS) combines rich collaboration features from the fully virtualized Cisco Hosted Collaboration Solution (Cisco HCS) portfolio with the high performance MPLS based Business IP, the flexibility and cost effectiveness of IP Trunking (SIP trunking) and the superior reliability of a Tier 3+ data centre. Delivered as Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS), these elements provide enterprises with a simple, fast and cost-effective solution for deploying the most advanced and productive business collaboration applications available today. Figure 1 illustrates an enterprise that has deployed HCS, while using Business IP for connectivity to the Cisco HCS infrastructure in the cloud and between its two business locations. Employees at both locations can collaborate without limitation: leveraging the complete range of fixed and mobile applications, tools and fully secure corporate data from the cloud hosted HCS infrastructure. Figure 1 Figure 1 HCS Enterprise Deployment Example HCS enterprise deployment example HCS Cloud Cisco HCS Infrastructure - Cisco HCS Applications (Unified Communications, Unity Connection, Jabber, IM & Presence, Mobility) - Cisco HCS Management Tools (Provisioning & Assurance) - VCE block (Compute, Network Storage, Virtualization and Management) Business IP (MPLS) IP Trunking PSTN End user Device / Client (phone, tablet, smartphone or similar) End user Device / Client (phone, tablet, smartphone or similar) Enterprise Location 1 Enterprise Location 2 2

5 Cisco technology powers HCS In addition to productivity enhancing applications and end points, HCS provides highly advanced cloud hosted infrastructure that combines computing, switching, security and management elements. The HCS solution delivers high performance, unmatched ease of administration, management and operation. This results in a more efficient network, less overload of technical personnel and ultimately in a lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) for subscriber organizations. With other solutions, a significant part of TCO consists of the effort and expense required for interoperability testing together with the frequent repairs made necessary by compatibility problems. Cisco HCS collaboration applications are designed for maximum interoperability and effectiveness in delivering a superior collaboration solution. An organization adopting an end to end integrated Cisco solution ensures that there will be total compatibility among all elements of a deployment avoiding the significant performance issues that are often encountered in multi-vendor solutions. The functional block shown in Figure 2 examines in more depth the elements of Cisco HCS. Within the Cisco HCS infrastructure, the Cisco Management System controls all the other elements of the cloud infrastructure plus the customer premises equipment (CPE) that is deployed at the various customer sites. Figure 2 Figure 2 Cisco HCS elements Solution Elements Cisco HCS Infrastructure Cisco Management System Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) Applications Computing Network Storage (SAN) Virtualization - IP Phones - Routers - LAN Switches - CUCM - Unity Connection - Mobility - IM & Presence - Jabber - B Blade Processors - Nexus Switches - MDS SAN Switches - EMC VNX - VMware Vsphere - ESXi 3

6 Cisco HCS applications HCS cloud infrastructure includes some of the most popular and productive applications from Cisco s Collaboration portfolio. Cisco Unified Communications Manager Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM) is at the core of any Cisco application included with HCS. CUCM is a unified communications call control platform that delivers a rich set of session management, voice, video, messaging, mobility, and web conferencing features to the end users. With a capacity of up to 80,000 users it can be deployed as a standalone physical server or as a virtual machine in a virtualized data centre environment. Cisco Instant Messaging and Presence In any organization, Cisco Instant Messaging (IM) and Presence features can bring people together quickly and effectively. This application facilitates highly secure exchange of availability and instant messaging information between CUCM and other applications. Features include the ability to engage in one-to-one chat and also in group session, with the ability to transfer files among the participants. The IM and Presence software incorporates the Jabber Extensible Communications Platform and supports SIP/SIMPLE, Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP) for collecting information about user availability status and communications capabilities. Cisco Customer Premises Equipment IP Phones Cisco Unified IP Phones offer the high quality, reliable communications capabilities that businesses need every day. They provide a multitude of powerful features that can significantly increase collaboration among enterprise workers. In addition to support for popular business telephony features (CLID, 3 way conference, hold/pick up etc.), their functionality includes XML programming support, added memory for enhanced applications, multiple line keys, high fidelity audio, power over Ethernet and more. All Cisco IP phones offered with HCS feature user friendly ergonomic designs that include one touch buttons and easy to read displays. The 89xx series LCD display directly supports video calling. For the 69xx and 79xx series, video calling is implemented by having the video signal displayed on the attached personal computer running Cisco Unified Video Advantage software. 4

7 Cisco mobility clients Cisco mobility clients extend the functionality of the CUCM to users who are on the move and use either a laptop connection through the Internet, a tablet or a smart phone to access the collaboration capabilities available at the office. Cisco Jabber for mobile phones Cisco Jabber (formerly Unified Mobile Communicator) runs on standard mobile phones and smartphones. It is essentially a SIP client that provides an easy-to-use, graphical interface that lets users access powerful communications features through simple scrolling and selecting. Available features include video calling, presence, voice mail, search through corporate directories or Microsoft Outlook contact list, Single Business Number and many others. Cisco offers Jabber clients for a variety of smart phone platforms that include Android, iphone and Blackberry. The clients support 3G/LTE, WiFi or dual mode versions of these devices. Cisco Jabber for laptop PCs Cisco Jabber for laptop PCs (Windows and MAC platforms) is a soft phone application that connects as a SIP client to the CUCM. Features include: IP Telephony features on the desktop Audio and Video calling/conferencing Presence Instant messaging Ability to control desk IP phones Document sharing Visual voice mail Figure 3 shows four end users accessing the collaboration features of the CUCM that is part of their organization s cloud hosted HCS service. User 1 connects from an IP phone in the office, user 2 from a laptop at home, user 3 from a WiFi smart phone close to a hotspot and user 4 from a 3G/LTE cellular phone in the street. Regardless of where they are or the way they connect, they can all access the features of the cloud hosted CUCM. 5

8 Figure 3 Collaboration Figure 3 from anywhere Collaboration From Anywhere HCS Cloud Cisco CUCM - Cisco IM & Presence - Cisco Jabber s/w User 4 on the street SIP Trunking SIP Business IP (MPLS) Carrier grade switch PRI link PSTN User 1 in the office Cisco IP Phone SIP Internet SIP Cable modem User 2 at home User 3 in a hotspot Cisco Unity Connection Cisco Unity Connection is a voic and unified messaging platform that lets users access and manage voice messages in a variety of ways, using inbox, web browser, Cisco Jabber, Cisco Unified IP Phone, smartphone, tablet, and others. Cisco Unity Connection also provides robust speech-recognition features that are useful in managing voice messages hands and eyes free. In a HCS environment, Cisco Unity can be deployed as a virtual machine and offers a set of management and serviceability tools designed to provide a consistent experience and to streamline the ongoing management and operation of an HCS deployment. 6

9 Vblocks To facilitate the deployment of virtualized cloud IT solutions, Cisco, EMC and VMware have established a formal alliance called Virtual Computing Environment (VCE). This coalition brings together products from each company and supports them as a single product called a Vblock. In an IT as a Service (ITaaS) environment a Vblock is considered a unit of the infrastructure offered as a service. VCE Vblock Infrastructure platforms fully integrates industry leading compute, network, storage, virtualization and management technologies from Cisco, EMC and VMware. The Vblock 300GX platform is specifically tailored to HCS requirements; and is pre-integrated and pre-configured from end-to-end which ensures unmatched reliability and performance. The architecture is based on best-of-breed technologies; Cisco UCS B-Series blade servers and converged network fabric, EMC VNX Series unified storage and virtualization from VMware. The Vblock 300GX platform delivers: Enhanced mobility and productivity by enabling simple, secure, always available access to desired applications and information anywhere, anytime, from any device. Mission-critical applications; runs the applications 3x to 10x faster than other IT infrastructures. High-bandwidth applications; the self-optimized, unified storage environment of the EMC VNX Series is built on Intel multi-core CPUs with a 6-gigabyte per second SAS back end. Figure 4 illustrates the Vblock concept. Figure 4 The Vblock Concept Figure 4 The Vblock concept Virtualization Storage Compute Networking Being pre-architected and predictable in performance, the Vblocks allow the elements of a cloud infrastructure to scale harmoniously together without unexpected bottlenecks or incompatibilities. 7

10 Cisco HCS management system Management capabilities are essential to the delivery of cloud services that are scalable, reliable, secure and cost effective. As shown in Figure 2, Cisco HCS management system controls the operations of both customer premises equipment (CPE) and the elements of cloud infrastructure. The details of the HCS management system inner structure and the functionality of the many modules included with it are beyond the scope of this document. However, it is useful to list some of its more important functions: Automates the design, delivery and monitoring of UC applications Manages the allocation of network resources Provides comprehensive application and client level provisioning for the entire UC infrastructure Offers standardized configuration processes across all elements of Cisco HCS Provides fault isolation and resolution procedures Delivers detailed performance reports for all solution elements Provides end user visibility and enables self-care controls IP connectivity services a solid network foundation for HCS No matter how sophisticated and productive the applications offered from the cloud, to maximize their benefits organizations need to be able to access the applications through network services that deliver high performance, resilience and superior quality. HCS network services deliver uncompromising performance and a highly available connection to the cloud. Business IP VPN MPLS based Business IP VPN service provides high quality WAN connectivity that enables growth and expansion while reducing cost and increasing productivity. Offering six levels of QoS prioritization levels, Business IP VPN leverages the flexibility and intelligence of IP routing to reliably transport application traffic between the cloud and all enterprise locations. This allows the implementation of highly effective and secure collaboration environments. IP Trunking IP Trunking is a SIP trunking service that allows an enterprise to converge 100% of their outbound and inbound voice traffic onto the same WAN or Internet connection that transfers data between their offices or connects to customer and supplier sites. When deployed in support of HCS services, IP Trunking terminates SIP trunking sessions originating from CUCM and transfer calls to and from the PSTN. A carrier grade switch is used to interface between the IP network and PSTN. 8

11 Tier 3+ data centre The HCS cloud infrastructure is hosted in Tier 3+ data centres. Every core piece at the data centre is redundant while the network itself consists of diverse and protected data centres. For added protection an instance of a customer data and applications can be placed on multiple servers across multiple chassis structures. Security provisions for HCS As a cloud based service, HCS is designed to support multiple enterprise customers using the same physical network and data centre infrastructure. In such an environment, security becomes an important consideration. Specifically, customers require isolation for their communication sessions and data transfers. All security provisions must therefore start from the assumption that traffic that is external to one s own VPN is not secure. Cisco HCS applications are delivered within a highly secure, cloud-ready, virtualized platform under a centralized management system that makes sure that effective isolation is enforced at all functional layers of the service. In addition to standard security measures that include, firewalls, IDS/IPS systems, etc., an HCS deployment enforces a specific set of security provisions. Moreover, each customer has their own instance of HCS deployed within the HCS infrastructure, with full encapsulation of the configuration, data and other operational parameters this provides unmatched security for each customer. Figure 5 depicts the functional blocks of HCS together with the security measures that are in place for each element of the solution. Figure 5 HCS Security Provisions Figure 5 HCS security provisions Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) SIP Trunking MPLS Compute Switching Storage (SAN) Virtualization Software - TLS - VLAN - Context Firewall - Secure Connect - VRF - Context Firewall - VLAN - VRF-lite - Zoning - VSAN - SME - Inherent separation CPE and SIP trunks security TLS (Transport Layer Security) is a cryptographic protocol that provides signalling authentication and protects the confidentiality of IP communications. It can be applied both on the line side (communication between the IP phones and the CUCM) and the trunk side (communication between CUCM and PSTN via IP Trunking service). Since all IP phones are connected to the LAN, implementation of Virtual LANs (VLANs) using Ethernet 802.1q standard enhances logical separation and security for the Cisco IP Phones that are deployed with HCS. 9

12 Context firewall HCS customers benefit from the firewall capabilities provided by Cisco ASA 5585 adaptive security appliances. ASA 55XX s are logically split into a number of virtual firewalls (known as contexts), one per customer. The virtual firewalls control the interactions between the following network functional areas: Customer end points (e.g. desk phones or soft phones) to customer UC applications Customer user devices (e.g. PCs) to the HCS management systems HCS management systems to customer UC applications Security in the MPLS network Customers connecting to the HCS cloud through the MPLS based IP VPN service can choose to subscribe to DDoS protection: a complete suite of network security functions that are embedded in the core of the Network and are able to intercept and neutralize security threats long before they can pose any risk to the customer s network. In addition, as part of the layer 3 MPLS VPN service, edge routers can implement VPN Routing and Forwarding (VRF) features to allow routes through the network to be established based not only on the destination but also on the source address. Using VRF ensures that packets originating from a particular VPN node are routed within that VPN and are effectively separate from traffic belonging to other VPNs using the same infrastructure. Separation in the network switching layer In the Cisco infrastructure switching layer at the data centre, the separation of the switching fabric between multiple customers data is performed by Cisco Nexus switches using VRF-lite, which extend virtual separation of customer traffic to VLAN tagging. VRF-lite is very similar to VRF except that it is applied in a non-mpls environment. Separation in the SAN layer The massive storage devices that are part of the Cisco HCS cloud infrastructure may hold data that relates to multiple subscribers to HCS. Two methods are employed to securely introduce separation between customer information: Zoning and VSANs (Virtual Storage Area Network). Zoning is a measure implemented in the fabric switches connected to SAN devices. Zoning essentially restricts visibility and connectivity between storage devices connected to the same Fibre Channel switch. VSAN is a concept very similar with a VLAN. A VSAN is a collection of ports from a set of Fibre Channel switches that form a virtual fabric. Ports of the same switch can belong to different VSANs and, conversely, multiple switches can be joined to form a VSAN. This approach enhances zoning and delivers increased flexibility and effective separation. Another security measure that is commonly applied in SAN storage is Storage Media Encryption (SME). SME provides a high level of security by using strong, IEEE-compliant AES 256 encryption algorithms to protect data at rest in SAN infrastructure. In a HCS environment SME is performed transparently by the Cisco switches. 10

13 Separation at the virtualization layer VMware Vsphere is a virtualization operating system that creates and manages virtual machines. The Virtual machines inherently provide a high degree of separation between the data and the processes associated with different HCS customers. What is included with HCS? HCS offers a rich selection of the features available as part of the Cisco HCS. To satisfy different customer needs or accommodate different levels of service within the same organization, HCS is offered as bundled packages at three levels of functionality: Basic, Foundation and Standard. These bundles range from basic communications on one device per person to full collaboration on up to ten devices per person. There are no minimum requirements per license type; licenses can be mixed so they can best meet the company s needs. In addition, the company can add or subtract licenses as required to meet their seasonal communications requirements. Figure 6 illustrates the architecture of HCS. Customer A operates one business location while Customer B operates two sites connected with an MPLS network from an alternate provider. includes the cost of the connectivity from the HCS hosting location to the SIP Trunking network as part of the per user price (highlighted in orange). MPLS connectivity from the customer site to the HCS hosting location is engineered and priced separately. Figure 6 HCS architechure HCS Customer A Location HCS Cloud - Cisco HCS Infrastructure - Tier 3+ Data Centre CE HCS Phone CE Business IP (MPLS) HCS Gateway HCS Customer B Location 1 HCS Phone HCS Gateway SIP Trunking Alternate Vendor MPLS Network (optional) HCS Phone HCS Gateway HCS Customer B Location 2 Local survivability line PSTN 11

14 All HCS bundles provide: Access to cloud hosted, highly virtualized, communications and collaboration infrastructure. Hosting facilities are Tier 3+ data centres offering enterprise grade redundancy that covers all HCS systems, electrical power grids, backup power and the connections to the network. More than just voice; access to Cisco s rich, enterprise collaboration portfolio (Unified Communications Manager, Unity Connection, IM and Presence). Cisco telephony endpoints. Cisco ISR voice gateway for PSTN connection failover. MPLS and SIP trunking connectivity to hosted infrastructure in the cloud (MPLS connectivity between sites is not part of the offering). Management and monitoring. Figure 7 details the features and the devices included at each bundle level. Figure 7 HCS bundles HCS Bundles Features Included Basic Foundation Standard* Contact Centre Full Voice/Call Control Unified Messaging IM & Presence Desktop Softphone 4 4 Smartphone Client 4 4 Devices (phones, end-points) x1 x1 x10 Unified Contact Centre Express**** Premium seat Voice Gateway** SIP Trunks & Data Transport Self-Care Portal*** Fully Monitored & Managed

15 *Standard HCS Bundle As part of the Standard HCS bundle additional Cisco HCS features can be offered upon request. **Voice Gateway Cisco ISR G2 gateways equipped with Survivable Remote Site Telephony (SRST) ensure operational continuity by providing local PBX functionality in the event of a WAN failure. The gateways also provide a back-up connection to the PSTN in the unlikely event that an HCS supported site loses SIP trunking connectivity or experiences other type of stoppage. ***Self-Care Portal HCS customers are provided with a fully functional and secure portal into their Alstream HCS applications. They can administer passwords to various capabilities with no need for software upgrades or maintenance. End users have the ability to administer features within their personal environment. ****Unified Contact Centre Express Cisco Unified Contact Centre Express is a call centre application that deploys in call centre environments of up to 400 agents. Contact Centre Express is closely integrated with the Cisco Unified Communications Manager and can be delivered from the cloud as part of the Cisco HCS. Conclusion HCS is an innovative offering that allows businesses to deploy advanced collaboration technology without up-front investments, expenditures related to acquiring the necessary expertise or efforts dedicated to complex deployments. Even as the UCaaS model is in the early adoption stages, the potential business benefits offered by cloud delivered applications are clearly compelling. As enterprises learn to take full advantage of such services, we fully expect HCS to be adopted by a large number of Canadian organizations. 13

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