Solution Proposal. Request for Proposal for an IP Telephony System. Prepared by Allan Sulkin President, TEQConsult Group

Transcription

1 Solution Proposal Presented in Response to: Request for Proposal for an IP Telephony System Prepared by Allan Sulkin President, TEQConsult Group VoiceCon Orlando 2010 Published: March 24, 2010; Updated to reflect new product name: November 4, 2010

2 Preface and Legal Disclaimer The questions and structure of the following RFP document were exclusively designed and developed by TEQConsult for the VoiceCon Orlando 2010 Conference. VoiceCon workshop attendees may use the questions and structure of this RFP as a template for customizing their own RFP, but only with expressed written permission from Allan Sulkin, TEQConsult Group (amsulkin@aol.com). Proper accreditation to TEQConsult Group for using questions and structure of this RFP in whole or part must be included in the resulting document. Please note that questions and structure of this RFP are protected by US copyright laws and improper use by any means may result in legal action. The RFP is intended to solicit product information and pricing data about IP Telephony systems during the Winter time period. The RFP was written for a large multi-facility enterprise configuration with IP voice terminals as the primary station user interface to the system. TEQConsult Group recognizes that every business and institution has unique communications needs and resources, but much of the material included herein will be of benefit to VoiceCon workshop attendees regardless of their unique system size and application requirements. TEQConsult Group would like to thank Fred Knight, GM, VoiceCon, for his review and editing of this document; Unimax Systems Corporation for its contributions to the systems management section of the RFP; and SecureLogix Corporation for its contributions to the security section of the RFP. The response information contained in this document represents the current view of Microsoft Corporation and its selected partners on the issues discussed as of the date of publication. Because Microsoft and its partners must respond to changing market conditions, it should not be interpreted to be a commitment on the part of Microsoft or its partners, and Microsoft and its partners cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information presented after the date of publication. This RFP response is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT AND ITS PARTNERS MAKE NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, AS TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS DOCUMENT. Complying with all applicable copyright laws is the responsibility of the user. Microsoft or its partners may have patents, patent applications, trademarks, copyrights, or other intellectual property rights covering subject matter in this document. Except as expressly provided in any written license agreement from Microsoft or its vendors, the furnishing of this document to VoiceCon attendees does not give you any license to these patents, trademarks, copyrights, or other intellectual property Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Microsoft, the Microsoft logo, Exchange, SharePoint, SQL Server, Office, and Windows and are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. The names of actual companies and other products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners. 2

3 Contents Executive Summary... 5 PART 1: System Performance Requirements System Overview LAN/WAN Requirements Commercial Availability and Customer References Single System Image Enhanced 911 (E911) Services Support Proposed IPTS IPTS Design Platform Common Control Remote Survivable Common Control Housing Common Control Redundancy Call Processor Make/Model Call Processing O/S Memory Power Supply Ethernet Call Control Signaling Links System Clocks Remote Survivability Network Failover Resiliency Design Standards Services Oriented Architecture (SOA) Security Green Initiatives IPTS Network Port Capacity Requirements Port Interface and Traffic Handling Requirements Common Equipment IP Station Discovery IP Station Power over Ethernet (PoE) IP Station QoS Handling Multi-Party Conference Calls Handing VoIP Overflow Traffic Port Interface Circuit Cards Voice Terminal Instruments Regulation Requirements Desktop IP Telephone Instruments Desktop IP Telephone Instrument for Teleworking PC Client Soft Phone for Teleworking Soft Phones Station User Client Attendant Console Client IP Audio Conferencing Unit Mobile Cellular Extensions Other IP Telephone Instruments Call Processing Features

4 4 5.1 Station User Features Attendant Operator Features System Features Systems Management System/Port Capacity Terminal Capacity Support for Open Standards User Interface & Tools Administration Functions Facilities Performance Management & Reports Optional Reports Call Detail Recording Maintenance Alarm Conditions Maintenance Reports Provisioning Integrated Messaging System Support for Open Standards Security Features Voice Mail Features Networking Integrated Messaging Application Section 8: Unified Communications Unified Communications Conferencing & Collaboration Section 9: Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) Contact Call Center Basic ACD Call Center Requirements ACD Contact Call Center Parameters Basic ACD Features Call Flow Call Processing Functions Supervisor Functions Agent Functions System Call Prompts & Announcements MIS Reporting System ACD Management & Administration Appendix A: Additional Information provided by IP Endpoint Vendors Appendix B: Additional Information provided by Survivable branch appliance Vendors Appendix C: Additional Information provided by Enhanced Service Providers System Pricing Requirements Pricing VoiceCon IPTS solution Pricing VoiceCon IPTS solution Detailed Configuration Components and Pricing

5 Executive Summary Microsoft is pleased to respond to the VoiceCon 2010 IP PBX RFP with a Microsoft Unified Communications solution based on Microsoft Lync Server 2010 and Microsoft Exchange Server. The Microsoft UC solution provides the full set of capabilities that position Microsoft in the Leaders quadrant of the 2009 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Unified Communications*, and includes: Enterprise voice Audio, video, and web conferencing, including integration with third party room systems Instant messaging (IM) and presence Unified Messaging Remote access via the Internet without requiring the use of a VPN Federation with other trusted entities running Lync Server 2010 and Connectivity to users of Public Internet and other IM services Interoperability to enable integration with existing infrastructure Developer interfaces to allow integration with nearly any client or server application Microsoft Lync Server 2010 ushers in a new era of communications that is collaborative and intuitive for users, taking advantage of the PC and software to provide a powerful, cost effective, and unified solution. Unlike traditional PBX solutions with softphones that replicate keypad-based telephone interfaces on the PC, Microsoft provides a single client that integrates all voice and unified communications capabilities within the tools workers use to do their jobs, including Microsoft Office Outlook and SharePoint, and takes advantage of PC capabilities to provide an intuitive and powerful interface. Combining the full set of unified communications functions with the power of the PC interface allows us to address legacy communications requirements in new ways, such as replacing automatic callback with presence tagging or eliminating it altogether with instant messaging. In addition, our solution has been designed and developed in house. This enables us to provide not only a seamless user experience, but also unified management that simplifies administration and reduces costs for the organization. We use rich information from Active Directory as the single identity source instead of relying on synchronizing identity information across multiple platforms, and integrate communications monitoring within Systems Center Operations Manager rather than requiring additional infrastructure. The user productivity benefits are significant. For example, RealPage, a software vendor, projected adding $2.5M to their 2009 bottom line due solely to improvements in their sales efforts made possible by replacing PBX phones with Office Communicator and Office Communications Server. This is in addition to $3M in annual travel costs saved through the use of the built-in audio, video, and web conferencing capabilities. Unicomm Consulting estimates savings of 2% to 12% of staff time based on productivity improvements and highlighted one customer that reduced labor costs by 75% and simultaneously growing volume by 70%, while Forrester Consulting studied 15 Microsoft UC customer deployments, and found a composite 563% ROI with nearly 1/3 attributable to individual and workgroup productivity improvements. Likewise, the operational benefits of a single solution for the full set of communications capabilities are substantial: Sprint projects annual savings of $9.3M based on its replacement of hundreds of PBX and voice mail systems with Office Communications Server and Exchange Unified Messaging. Consulting firm A.T. Kearney cites the importance 5

6 of a unified solution as a factor in its decision to deploy Office Communications Server instead of expanding an existing IP PBX deployment, and notes that they were able to provide UC capabilities to all employees for a fraction of the competitive upgrade cost. These and other Microsoft Unified Communications customers benefit from the innovation, choice, and value that only a truly open approach can provide. Openness means more than our conformance to IETF and other standards as documented in this response, and it means more than the full documentation we provide for Microsoft-defined protocols and extensions. Openness also means: Our customers are not locked into buying components from just one vendor Our customers can deploy our capabilities with their existing infrastructure Our customers can integrate our presence-based communications within their applications Lync Server 2010 customers benefit from investment and innovation by multiple partners, and can select the resulting products which offer them the best value. For example, they can choose from a rich selection of endpoints that are Optimized for Lync, including the new IP phone models announced at Voicecon Orlando 2010 by Polycom and Aastra, and the existing IP, USB, and PC products offered by Polycom, ClearOne, Plantronics, GN Netcom, Logitech, Microsoft, HP, Lenovo, and others.. These optimized endpoints offer a high quality user experience and just works installation in a wide variety of form factors and price points. Customers can select from a broad range of telephony infrastructure products and services qualified via the Microsoft Unified Communications Open Interoperability Program. The Open Interoperability Program is intended to help ensure that customers have seamless experiences with the setup, support, and use of these products and services. For example, customers can choose among gateways from multiple vendors that provide connectivity to the PSTN and PBX systems, including the survivable branch appliances announced at Voicecon Orlando 2010 by Audiocodes, Dialogic, Ferrari, HP, and NET, and can determine whether an existing IP PBX is qualified or supported for networking with Lync Server 2010 using Direct SIP. Customers can also choose Enhanced call routing services from Connexon and Intrado, and SIP trunking from many qualified providers. Our products offer an extensive and comprehensive set of developer interfaces, and are supported through Microsoft Visual Studio, a toolset familiar to more than 6 million developers worldwide. These interfaces provide both client and server applications with the ability to gather data regarding a call or caller, and the ability to direct the course and content of communications. Our Partner Showcase highlights innovative solutions built by Independent Software Vendors (ISVs), System Integrators (SIs), and corporate developers using these interfaces. We agree with the Gartner Research assessment that the focus for enterprise telephony is now in UC **, and encourage organizations considering any voice investment to do so in the context of an overall unified communications strategy that encompasses all of the elements described above. Microsoft can meet your requirements for robust, full featured unified communications capabilities, including voice. The Magic Quadrant is copyrighted 2009 by Gartner, Inc. and is reused with permission. The Magic Quadrant is a graphical representation of a marketplace at and for a specific time period. It depicts Gartner's analysis of how certain vendors measure against criteria for that marketplace, as defined by Gartner. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in the Magic Quadrant, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors placed in the "Leaders" quadrant. The Magic Quadrant is intended solely as a research tool, and is not meant to be a specific guide to action. Gartner disclaims all warranties, express or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. *Source: Gartner, Magic Quadrant for Unified Communications, September 2009 **Source: Gartner, Magic Quadrant for Corporate Telephony, August

7 PART 1: System Performance Requirements Submit Part 1 responses in MS Office WORD file format except where otherwise noted System Overview VoiceCon Company (VoiceCon) plans to install a new IP Telephony System (IPTS) at its new HQ facility. The IPTS may also have to support a remote facility (RO) at a future date. IPTS common control must be geo-redundant: call control for the entire system must be redundantly distributed across two distinct equipment rooms at the HQ facility. All proposed common control equipment must independently support all generic software features for the proposed IPTS as required in Section 5 of this RFP. The RO facility will have local trunk services and be provisioned with survivable local common control capabilities, for emergency situations, working behind the centrally located IPTS common control at HQ. It is mandatory that a single system image IPTS solution be proposed that satisfies the requirements identified in the following section of this RFP. The proposed IPTS must support, at maximum capacity, 2,000 station users distributed across the HQ and future RO facilities at time of initial installation. Anticipated VoiceCon expansion plans will require the proposed IPTS be capable of supporting 50% growth of all call processing and port capacity parameters distributed proportionately across all working facilities. The proposed IPTS must support this growth requirement without replacement of any initially installed hardware or generic software (excluding release updates). The initial HQ system configuration is represented in Figure 1; it is followed by two additional figures including the RO facility. Since at the current time it is not known how many station users will be at the RO facility, the system supplier must propose two optional configurations, one based on a small RO facility and a second based on a large RO facility. Figure 2 assume the RO facility will initially support 50 stations; Figure 3 assumes the RO will initially support 200 stations. Both of these configurations will be proposed as options in addition to the primary HQ configuration proposal. 7

8 Figure 1 HQ Configuration HQ Equipment Room Stations Optical Fiber Equipment Room Stations 10 Gbps LAN Backbone Figure 2 HQ/RO Configuration Option 1 HQ Equipment Room Stations Optical Fiber Equipment Room Stations 10 Gbps LAN Backbone WAN RO 50 Stations 8

9 Figure 3 HQ/RO Configuration Option 2 HQ Equipment Room Stations Optical Fiber Equipment Room Stations 10 Gbps LAN Backbone WAN RO 200 Stations VoiceCon plans to install a LAN/WAN cabling and a transport infrastructure that will fully satisfy the stringent requirements of IP Telephony communications for all intra-premises and inter-premises call control and voice communications transmissions. Each location will be equipped with a 10-Gbps Ethernet backbone. The local wiring closets will house 10/100/1000 Mbps Ethernet switches equipped with Power over Ethernet (PoE). Multiservice routers will be installed at all locations to support a MPLS WAN installation. All Ethernet switches and IP WAN routers will be equipped and programmed to satisfy QoS and security standards to support voice communications quality acceptable to VoiceCon. Pertinent bandwidth, latency, packet loss, and echo issues will be addressed by the LAN/WAN design and implementation. Each station user s work area will be supported by four (4) four-pair, Category 5E cable wiring with one (1) RJ-11 wall connector and three (3) RJ-45 wall connectors to the local wiring closet. The RJ-11 and RJ-45 connectors will be either wall mounted or mounted in the modular furniture throughout the office environment. NOTE: The proposed IPTS will be required to support a limited number of non-ip stations, e.g., analog telephones, requiring a RJ-11 connector. The proposed system may use circuit switched port carriers, LAN-connected media gateways, or some combination to support IPTS desktop analog communications and PSTN connectivity requirements. Vendor Response Requirement Based on the RFP requirements prepare three (3) simple network diagrams that illustrate the proposed IPTS design for the HQ, only, configuration; the HQ/RO (50 station) configuration; and the HQ/RO (200 station) configuration. Include, at minimum, in the 9

10 diagrams the brand name/model of the IPTS, all common equipment (servers, circuit switched port carriers, media gateway equipment, systems management common equipment, required peripheral servers, and messaging system equipment. Clearly label all equipment components. Embed the diagrams here and also submit three original MS PowerPoint slides in a separate electronic file. Please do not copy/paste graphics from a different format, e.g. PDF, if at all possible. Proposed IPTS Network Diagrams The proposed Unified Communications solution is based on Microsoft Lync Server 2010 and Exchange Server, and natively provides, not only IP telephony, but also Instant Messaging, Presence, Desktop Sharing, Audio, Video, and Web Conferencing, and Unified Messaging. The solution is comprised of redundant servers for common control, qualified 1 third party PSTN gateways and survivable branch appliances, a single server in the DMZ that provides secure remote access to all communications via the Internet, and third party terminal equipment optimized for Lync 2. The diagram below depicts the entire multi-site architecture. 1 Third party gateways and other enterprise telephony infrastructure are qualified via the Microsoft Unified Communications Open Interoperability Program to ensure that customers have seamless experiences with their setup, support and use with Microsoft Unified Communications software. 2 Phones and devices Optimized for Microsoft Office Communicator are tested to ensure a high quality user experience, with just works installation. 10

11 1: HQ only Configuration The following diagram shows the solution design for the Headquarters location. It includes four servers and a gateway in each equipment room to provide redundant common control and media functions, and one server in the DMZ to provide secure remote access to all communications capabilities via the Internet. Specific elements include: - One consolidated Front End server in each equipment room for all signaling and media functions. - One Back End SQL Server in each equipment room for all communications database functions. - One Lync Server 2010 Monitoring server in each equipment room for capturing Call detail records (CDR) and Quality of Experience (QoE) information. - One Exchange Unified Messaging server in each equipment room for all voice mail functions. - Customer provided hardware load balancers, configured as a redundant pair, to advertise the virtual IP address of the two front-end servers. - It is assumed that the customer uses Microsoft Active Directory for its enterprise directory and Microsoft Exchange for . These elements are not shown. 11

12 2: HQ/RO (50 station) Configuration The following two diagrams show the solution design for the Headquarters plus Remote Office configurations. These add a single survivable branch appliance 3 in the remote office. The only difference between the configurations is the number and type of telephony interfaces in the associated branch appliances. 3 Audiocodes, Dialogic, Ferrari, HP, and NET each announced Office Communications Server survivable branch appliances at Voicecon Orlando These products include PSTN gateway functionality and provide local voice capability even in the event of a WAN or catastrophic headquarters equipment failure. The vendors offer a wide variety of product configurations including both analog and digital interfaces. 12

13 3: HQ/RO (200 station) Configuration LAN/WAN Requirements VoiceCon has not yet decided on the make/manufacturer of its new LAN/WAN communications equipment. Vendor Response Requirement Indicate if the proposed IPTS solution requires any manufacturer-specific LAN/WAN communications equipment to support any or all of the following voice communications operations or functions: call processing, port interface(s), network switching and routing, PoE, media gateway(s), QoS and security. Identify make/model of manufacturer-specific equipment if required. Lync Server 2010 utilizes an open architecture that does not require any manufacturer specific equipment: Call processing functions may be deployed on any server meeting the Hardware Requirements 13

14 for Office Communications server documented at Lync Server 2010 will operate on the switching and routing equipment of the customer s choice, and is designed to provide a high quality of experience under a wide variety of network conditions. 4 Standards-based Power over Ethernet (PoE) LAN switches can be used to power desktop IP endpoints, but is not required. A variety of third party media gateways are qualified for use with Lync Server 2010 via the Microsoft Unified Communications Open Interoperability Program. Lync Server 2010 supports standards-based QoS implementations and techniques Lync Server 2010 implements security at multiple layers, and leverages open-standards based firewalls, Intrusion Detection Systems, Public Key Infrastructures, and encryption algorithms to authenticate and secure all signaling and media traffic Commercial Availability and Customer References The proposed IPTS equipment should be in current production and operating as part of a commercial system at a minimum of five (5) different customer installations. Vendor Response Requirement Confirm the proposed IPTS equipment satisfies this commercial availability requirement. If the IPTS model has not yet been shipped and installed in a commercial installation, state expected availability date. NOTE: All proposed system hardware and software must be formally announced as of VoiceCon Orlando 2010 to be accepted by VoiceCon as a response to this RFP. This is a mandatory requirement. Indicate any unannounced capabilities at time of submission within answer to individual RFP requirement clauses as follow. Office Communications Server 2007 R2 has been commercially available since February, More than one thousand customers have deployed the full set of Office Communications Server capabilities, including voice. The case studies listed in the table below provide a representative sample; additional customer examples may be found at This proposal includes several Microsoft Lync Server 2010 features and third party products announced at VoiceCon but not commercially available at that time, including Enhanced-9-1-1, call admission control, call park, malicious call trace, survivable branch appliances from Audiocodes, Dialogic, Ferrari, 4 See the third party VoIP client benchmarking report for a comparative analysis of Microsoft and Cisco IP telephony performance under a variety of network conditions at 14

15 HP, and NET, and specific IP phone models from Polycom and Aastra. The commercial availability date for Microsoft Lync Server 2010 is December 1, Contact your Microsoft or partner account executive for additional information. Company A.T. Kearney Sprint Royal Dutch Shell Lion Bridge Global Crossing Real Page Tieto Case Study Link _Detail.aspx?CaseStudyID= _Detail.aspx?CaseStudyID= ID=118 ID=100 ID=135 ID=117 ID=124 15

16 1.1.1 Single System Image The proposed IPTS must provide to all system subscribers and administrators a Single System Image across VoiceCon HQ and RO facilities. The Single System Image must include, but not be limited to, the following: 1) 4- or 5-digit dialing between all station users; 2) Virtually transparent operation across all VoiceCon facilities of all station, attendant, and system features as identified in Section 5: Call Processing Features; 3) HQ-housed systems management solution utilizing a single unified database for all station user profiles, equipped system design, and system-level operations; 4) Network-wide attendant operator services across all VoiceCon facilities, including the capability to support a centrally located attendant pool; 5) HQ-housed messaging system resources; 6) Automatic alternate routing utilizing PSTN and/or WAN trunk services across the network for all voice calls (station-to-station and PSTN trunk connections). Vendor Response Requirement: Simply answer each of the following questions: 1. Is the proposed IPTS solution a true single system solution or are multiple systems intelligently networked for any and all requirements? Microsoft Lync Server 2010 is a single system image handling all IPT and real time communications. Microsoft Exchange Server is a single system image handling all and voice mail communications. Both of these platforms leverage Microsoft Active Directory as a single user directory thereby simplifying system deployment, maintenance, and administration. 2. Does the proposed IPTS network solution fully satisfy all six (6) of the above Single System Image requirements? If not, identify and explain which of the requirements are not fully satisfied.. The proposed solution supports all six requirements. 4- and 5- digit dialing, transparent operation, network-wide attendant operator services and automatic alternate routing are provided by Lync Server Active Directory is utilized as the single user database for the entire organization. All Exchange Unified Messaging resources are housed in the HQ facility Enhanced 911 (E911) Services Support It is mandatory that the proposed IPTS support E911 services provided by a public safety answering point (PSAP) as defined by FCC regulations. The optional RO facility utilizes a different PSAP from the HQ. All VoiceCon IPTS station user E911 calls must be directed to their local PSAP for call handling and response regardless of location. Only identify and discuss the E911 solution 16

17 that is included in the pricing proposal. Vendor Response Requirement: Confirm that the proposed communications system solution supports E911 service for all user stations (IP and analog) regardless of physical location. Also, briefly explain how E911 service requirements are supported, specifically addressing each of the following issues/questions in a dedicated paragraph: The Microsoft solution is based on the National Emergency Number Association (NENA) i2 Architecture for Enhanced Services. Physical location information for IP user stations is conveyed in a SIP call setup message to an Enhanced Service Provider 5 at the time of the emergency, and used by the service provider for routing the call to the appropriate PSAP. This architecture allows customers to extend Enhanced services to mobile users and to lower the cost of ownership by eliminating the need for provisioning local emergency trunks at each location and maintaining carrier-based PS-ALI databases for IP stations A brief description of any optional hardware/software equipment, including peripheral servers. [Note: Include the price of all required equipment, including servers, in the pricing proposal] No additional hardware or software is required. Both Connexon and Intrado offer Enhanced services as described above, plus additional capabilities. Additional information provided by these vendors may be found in Appendix C Identify any redundant hardware/software elements included in the solution. The Enhanced functionality is included in the Lync Server 2010 front-end and back-end servers, and takes advantage of the redundant architecture described Are all E911 calls routed to the local PSAP from each VoiceCon facility? All Enhanced calls are routed to the appropriate local PSAP by the Enhanced Service Provider. The calls are routed to the service provider via a Head Quartersbased SIP trunk How are E911 calls placed from a mobile communications device, e.g wireless handset, handled? The Lync Server 2010 solution supports Enhanced services from mobile devices both inside and outside customer facilities. Phone and PC endpoints cache an accurate 5 Both Intrado and Connexon announced Enhanced services for Office Communications Server customers at Voicecon Orlando

18 MSAG-validated physical address and include this in the setup message of any emergency call. The physical address is determined each time that the endpoint registers or re-registers to Lync Server 2010 via the following steps: The endpoint determines its current network location to the level of granularity specified by the system administrator. In the case of an connection, the wireless base station MAC address will be used as the network location. The endpoint uses its network address to query a location database within Lync Server If the network address is found, Lync Server 2010 returns an MSAG-validated physical address which the client then stores locally. If the network address is not found, for example because the user is connecting from outside the organization s boundaries, by policy the user may be prompted to enter his physical address, and that address will be stored. In the case of a call from that endpoint, the locally cached physical address is included in the call setup message to the Enhanced service provider, and used by the service provider for routing the call to the appropriate PSAP. (The format used for communicating the address meets the RFC recommendations for PIDF-LO.) Dynamic ALI is used for passing the physical street address to the PSAP and ultimately the emergency responder How are analog and IP desktop (telephone instrument and PC client soft phone) station user moves/adds/changes reported to the PSAP? As per above, reporting IP station user moves/adds/changes to the PSAP is not necessary since a validated physical address is passed with the emergency call setup message and used in real time to properly route the call. Analog station moves/adds/changes are reported to the service provider using a manual process What degree of specificity for calling station user location is identified to the E911 PSAP? Desktop work area, local switch room, work floor, other? Station user location is identified based on the level of granularity available in the network architecture. It may be done on a subnet basis, whereby an IP subnet identifies a physical area or portion of a work floor, or at switch port level basis that would identify a specific office on a work floor Can E911 calls be simultaneously routed to an internal security desk in addition to the PSAP?. Instant Messages are sent automatically to the internal security desk at the time the call is placed. In addition, the Enhanced service provider can establish an audio conference with the internal security desk. 18

19 Are E911 calls logged and recorded separately from non-e911 calls for reporting purposes?. E911 calls are appropriately flagged in the CDR database to facilitate reporting Are station user moves behind the proposed IPTS solution tracked dynamically in real time for E911 services support? Proposed IPTS. Any endpoint movement will result in the endpoint refreshing its location. The refresh will result in an update of the physical address stored by that endpoint as described in the response to above. Vendor Response Requirement Provide the following information regarding your proposed IPTS as details are requested in following sections: Product and model name(s) for the IPTS and messaging system Microsoft Lync Server 2010 and Exchange Software release for each product/model proposed Lync Server 2010 and Exchange Product/model commercial availability dates Exchange 2010 is generally available. The Lync Server 2010 general availability date is December 1, IPTS Design Platform The proposed system solution may be based on either of the following two architecture system designs: Converged TDM/IP: call telephony server(s) supporting LAN/WAN distributed circuit switched port interface cabinets with integrated media gateway interfaces for non- IP/IP port (station and trunk) connectivity Soft switch client/server: call telephony server(s) supporting LAN/WAN connected media gateway equipment for non-ip/ip port connectivity For either design call telephony server to IP endpoint (station and trunk) call control signaling (including call setup/teardown, feature/function access and implementation) should be supported through a direct transmission connection over the LAN/WAN. 19

20 Vendor Response Requirement: Briefly provide an overview description of the proposed IPTS solution architecture and design by responding to the following: Architecture design: converged or soft switch (as defined above) The proposed Lync Server 2010 design utilizes a pure soft switch (client/server) approach with a direct transmission connection over the LAN/WAN. The solution includes open APIs that can be used by LAN connected clients and server to embed communications functions in applications and business processes Call telephony server(s) and associated required common control equipment The proposed solution runs on Windows Server 2008 and industry standard server hardware of the customer s choice Circuit switched port carrier/interface equipment, if applicable Not applicable. Circuit switched equipment is limited to media gateways as described below LAN-connected media gateways (server-embedded, standalone, switch/router-equipped, desktop), if applicable Qualified third party media gateways 6 may be used for connectivity to circuit switched interfaces if needed (i.e. in the branch offices). Alternately, SIP signaling and IP transport may be used with qualified SIP trunk providers, eliminating the need for PSTN circuits and gateways. Additional information is available at Common Control There are several mandatory common control requirements Common Control Housing VoiceCon requires that all IPTS common control elements be fully embedded in compact housing with internal interfaces to media gateways, non-ip port circuit interfaces, and service circuit boards, as applicable. Call control signaling to/from all IP endpoints must be supported through an integrated Ethernet LAN uplink connector, e.g., RJ-45. The cost 6 Customers can select from a broad range of telephony infrastructure products and services qualified via the Microsoft Unified Communications Open Interoperability Program. The Open Interoperability Program is intended to ensure that customers have seamless experiences with the setup, support, and use of these third party products and services. 20

21 benefits of this fully integrated design are reduced hardware, power, and system footprint requirements. Vendor Response Requirement: Confirm this requirement is satisfied. Confirmed. Core functionality is provided in standard Windows servers with dual Network Interface Cards, and PSTN connectivity and remote registration is provided through a completely self-contained gateway Common Control Vendor Response Requirement: Briefly describe the hardware housing for all HQ-located common control elements (call processing, signaling, et al), specifically including size (H x L x W), weight (standard common assembly), fan cooling units, and all embedded hardware components. Industry standard 2RU servers 7 are used for the HQ-located Front End servers and the HQ-located Back-End (or database) servers. These servers may be rack mounted on standard 19 inch racks. There will be one rack-mounted Front End server in each equipment room, which will provide the following functions: - Endpoint registration, IM, Presence, and call control - Audio/Video/Web Conferencing - Location information services - Call routing - Mediation services - Location information services There will be one rack-mounted Back-End server in each equipment room, which will provide database services including call detail and Quality of Experience records. One additional Edge server will be positioned in the DMZ at HQ, and will provide - Registration and full feature access for remote users. - External access to audio, video, and web conferences for employees, partners, suppliers, and customers. - Federation of all communications to trusted third-party entities running Lync 7 Customers may deploy servers from the vendor of their choice provided the servers meet minimum requirements as documented at 21

22 Server IM/Presence with Public Internet IM service providers including AOL, MSN, and Yahoo! Note that the Edge server is not required for customers without the need to support remote or mobile workers or rich communications with customers, suppliers, and partners, but when deployed provides rich, secure communications outside organizational boundaries without the need for costly and hard to administer VPNs Remote Survivable Common Control Housing Vendor Response Requirement: Briefly describe the hardware housing for all remotely- common control elements (call processing, signaling, et al) used for local survivability, specifically including size (H x L x W), weight (standard common assembly), fan cooling units, and all embedded hardware components. A single survivable branch appliance is used for local survivability in remote sites. The survivable branch appliances announced at VoiceCon Orlando 2010 by Audiocodes, Dialogic, Ferrari, HP, and NET each include integrated registration, mediation, and PSTN gateway functionality. These 1RU appliances are rack mountable on standard 19 inch racks Common Control Redundancy The IPTS common control must be based on a fully redundant, i.e. fully duplicated, design. Redundant components may be provisioned as active/passive or load sharing with seamless switchover operation between the elements in case of errors or failure. All active calls and programmed feature states must be preserved during the switchover process. Vendor Response Requirement: Confirm that the proposed IPTS common control fully satisfies the requirement for a fully redundant, i.e. duplicated, design and identify if it is based on an active/passive or load sharing design by completing the following table. Confirmed. The proposed solution utilizes redundant servers for common control and redundant gateways in the equipment rooms. Customers may choose industry standard servers and qualified gateways which add additional redundancy at the sub-component level. Element Primary call processor Active/Passive, Load Sharing, or Both (Indicate if Not Applicable) Load sharing (at server level) 22

23 Main system memory Customer database memory RJ-45 Ethernet uplinks Power supply Tone generators Call classifiers Registers DTMF receivers I/O interfaces Load sharing (at server level) Load sharing (at server level) Load sharing (at server level) Customer option based on servers chosen. N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A Distributed Control Common control must be geographically distributed between the two equipment rooms, i.e. one (1) or more call telephony call servers in each equipment room based on system design architecture. Each equipment room must house common control hardware/software capable of supporting the entire system configuration fully independent of the other equipment room. Vendor Response Requirement: Confirm that common control elements are distributed and installed at each of the two Headquarter equipment rooms. Describe how the distributed common control elements are physically and logically linked across the two equipment rooms, e.g. cabling requirements. Confirmed. The solution proposed provides redundancy with servers split across equipment rooms. The equipment in either room is capable of supporting the entire system configuration and requirements in the event of a failure of equipment in the other room. Call Processing Vendor Response Requirement: Confirm that the proposed IPTS can handle a minimum of 50,000 Busy Hour Call Completions (BHCCS) in its proposed and priced system design and equipped 23

24 configuration. Confirmed Call Processor Make/Model Vendor Response Requirement: Identify the make/model of the main processor element for the proposed common control system. Lync Server 2010 requires 64-bit server hardware capable of running Windows Server Dell PowerEdge 610 and 710 servers are quoted in this proposal, but customers may deploy servers from the vendor of their choice provided the servers meet minimum requirements as documented at Call Processing O/S Vendor Response Requirement: Identify the primary operating system used by the main processor element of the proposed common control system. Linux is preferred, but not mandatory. Windows Server Memory Vendor Response Requirement: Briefly describe system memory and storage design for both generic software and customer database requirements. Include in response storage capacities. Generally, each Front-end server should be provisioned with 8 gigabytes (GB) of memory and at least 30 GB of free disk space, and each Back-end database server should be provisioned with 16 GB of RAM with 2x RAID 1 (mirrored) for system and database log files, and 8x RAID 10 (striped and mirrored) for database data files. The following references provide additional detail: System Platform Requirements for Servers and Clients Capacity Planning Determining your infrastructure requirements Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Planning Tool 24

25 Database Integrity Vendor Response Requirement: How does the proposed IPTS solution maintain the integrity of the customer database between back-ups? Lync Server 2010 user configuration settings are stored in the configuration partition of Active Directory. Active Directory multi-master replication may be used to maintain the integrity of the entire enterprise directory including communications. Using a common, hardened, and well-managed enterprise directory such as Active Directory is more efficient and cost-effective than creating and managing separate databases for voice, voic , and other communications functions. 8 User contact information and preferences are stored in Lync Server 2010 Back-end servers, hosted on a Microsoft SQL Server database. SQL Server clustering and mirroring plus SQL Server database consistency tools are used to maintain the integrity of these databases. Because the proposed solution uses Active Directory and SQL Server, customers can take advantage of the same proven and familiar tools and techniques they use throughout their organizations to ensure the integrity of data between backups Database Information Loss Vendor Response Requirement: Identify under what circumstances can customer database information (configuration, messages, logs, etc.) be lost during back-ups Database information loss is extremely unlikely during backups given the Active Directory and SQL Server capabilities employed, provided documented backup procedures are followed. Catastrophic events which simultaneously affect the redundant servers and disks could cause an information loss. For example, the immersion of equipment in both rooms following a flood or water pipe break might result in a failure of both servers and subsequent data loss Database Backup Scheduling 8 For example, one customer, Lionbridge, indicates that they save $30 per user per year by using their existing Active Directory infrastructure rather than maintaining a separate IP PBX user database. 25

26 Vendor Response Requirement: How often should the customer database be backed up? Specify if it is a full or incremental backup and the time the process takes. For both Active Directory and SQL Server databases, weekly full backups and daily incremental backups are recommended. The backup time is dependent on database size and system and network load. Additional SQL Server backup information may be found at the following link Data Purging/Archiving Vendor Response Requirement: Describe the mechanism for data purging and archival, including storage and retrieval of archived data. Familiar SQL Server tools may be used for data purging and archival. Administrators have the option to configure SQL Server agents for automatic operation at pre-defined intervals or to manually initiate operations. Administrators may customize archival, purging, and retrieval to meet the specific needs of their organization through the use of SQL Server scripts and stored procedures Power Supply Vendor Response Requirement: Briefly describe common control power requirements and the integrated power distribution design. Indicate if the power supply is dependent on either an AC or DC current source. Each server and gateway uses an auto-ranging VAC power supply, with typical server power consumption of 800W and typical gateway power consumption of 450W Power Safeguards Vendor Response Requirement: Describe any power failure safeguards that are included in the IPTS design. Briefly describe what happens to system operation during a power failure. The proposed solution does not include uninterrupted power supplies (UPS), but these can be added at customer option and can be used with Windows Server 2008 to initiate a safe shutdown of the affected Front end and Back end servers. In the event of a power failure which affects one HQ equipment room, operations will automatically 26

27 continue to be supported by the servers in the second equipment room. If a power failure affects both HQ equipment rooms, remote office users will automatically be supported by the local survivable branch appliance Power Backup Vendor Response Requirement: Does the proposed IPTS solution come equipped with standard UPS hardware, and if so how long can the system run on it? If not, what UPS requirements are recommended? The proposed solution does not include UPS hardware. Customers may deploy the UPS of their choice provided the UPS supplier offers Windows Server 2008 driver support Ethernet Call Control Signaling Links Vendor Response Requirement: Identify for all call telephony servers (or equivalent hardware) the number of available and configurable RJ-45 Ethernet LAN uplink interfaces for call control signaling to LANconnected cabinets/carriers, media gateways, and IP ports. Include a brief description of how the physical Ethernet connection is provided: dedicated circuit board; daughterboard; fully embedded connector, et al. The two Lync Servers in each equipment room require two Ethernet links each. The Edge server in the DMZ requires two Ethernet links, one facing toward the Internet and one facing the customer intranet. Each gateway requires two Ethernet links. The physical Ethernet connections are provided by standard server hardware NICs System Clocks Vendor Response Requirement: Identify the number and type of internal system clocks that are available and configured. The proposed solution is based on Microsoft Windows Server 2008 and uses the Network Time Protocol (NTP) to maintain system wide clock synchronization. Microsoft Lync Server 2010 and Exchange rely on Active Directory Domain Controllers as the NTP source to manage time synchronization. One domain controller in the root domain is designated to sync with an external time source. All servers and workstations in the domain are synchronized at logon. 1.4 Remote Survivability In standard operating mode station users at remote facilities should be supported by HQ 27

28 common control. It is required that station users at the remote facilities be provided with full, uninterrupted access to IPTS features and services in case of HQ common control failure or LAN/WAN connectivity problems due to switch, router, or private network transmission service errors or failures. Each remote facility must perform a seamless switchover to the local common control while all active calls (intercom and trunk) and programmed feature states, e.g. call forwarding, are preserved. Vendor Response Requirement: Confirm that the proposed IPTS solution satisfies this requirement for remote local survivability and briefly describe the local hardware/software solution at the remote facilities necessary to support the seamless switchover operation specifically addressing preservation of all call types and programmed feature states. Indicate the time it takes (in seconds) to perform the switchover if not instantaneous and if the customer can optionally program the switchover time (in seconds) to accommodate infrequent short disruptions in LAN/WAN transmission signaling. Also indicate if station users are warned via telephone/pc soft phone display of a delay in dial tone and call implementation occurring during the switchover process. Confirmed. Office Communication Server provides remote survivability via survivable branch appliances announced at VoiceCon Orlando 2010 by Audiocodes, Dialogic, Ferrari, HP, and NET. These products include integrated PSTN gateway functionality, are deployed at remote sites to provide local telephony services in the event of a WAN or headquarters equipment failure, and are administered centrally to lower management complexity and cost. Customers have a choice of survivable branch appliances from these vendors, and may choose the offer which best meets their unique needs. Remote office endpoints register with the local survivable appliance as their primary communications provider, and therefore do not require re-registration in the event of a WAN or other HQ equipment failure. Other switch-over actions such as re-routing of new calls to the local PSTN trunks is automatic and nearly instantaneous. Calls connected within the remote office at the time of the failure are not affected, but calls connected over the WAN link will be disconnected in the event of a WAN failure. Station users are given visual indication through the duration of the failure condition that services are affected. In the event of the failure of the local survivable branch appliance, endpoints automatically re-register to the Front end servers at the main site. The customer can optionally program this switchover time. Customers who have local Internet connections in remote offices also have the option to utilize the Internet plus HQ-based Edge server(s) to provide survivable communications in the event of a WAN failure Survivable IPTS Features/Functions 28

29 VoiceCon requires feature/function survivability at the RO facility. For configuration Option 1 (RO with 50 stations) basic call features/functions are acceptable; for configuration Option 2 (RO with 200 stations) all IPTS features/functions are required stations RO Survivable Feature/Functions Vendor Response Requirements Identify the level of survivable call feature functionality available to station users in the proposed small RO facility configuration option (50 remote stations). Also identify any type of station user equipment (telephone instruments, consoles, soft phones, mobile clients, et al) not supported in local survivability mode at any of the three remote facilities. All IP telephony call feature functionality is available to remote station users during local survivability mode except updating call forwarding settings and Response Group routing. All station user equipment is supported in local survivability mode Vendor Response Requirements Confirm that the level of survivable call feature functionality available to station users in the proposed large RO facility configuration option (200 remote stations) is equivalent to full IPTS capabilities. All station user equipment (telephone instruments, consoles, soft phones, mobile clients, et al) must also be supported. If not, identify what features and/or station user equipment are not supported in survivable mode that are listed in Sections 4 and 5 of this RFP. Confirmed. All IP telephony call feature functionality is available to remote station users during local survivability mode except updating call forwarding settings. All station user equipment is supported in local survivability mode Local Survivability Failover/Switchback For the remote facility operating in local survivability failover mode switchback to the HQ common control should not result in interruption or disconnection of any in-process telephony services. Vendor Response Requirements: Describe the switchback process when the Headquarters common control is operational and accessible, specifying if the process is automatic or manual, identifying how long the process takes to implement. Positively confirm that connected calls and/or telephony operations at the remote facility are not affected in any way during the switchback process. Describe how calls and services are affected if the answer is negative. 29

30 Confirmed. Switchback from local survivability mode to normal operation does not require reregistration of the remote office clients, but will result in visual indications of the failure being cleared from client endpoints. Connected calls at the remote facility are not affected in any way during the switchback Survivable Messaging Services It is desirable that remote station users at the three remote facilities have access to messaging services (see Section 7) if there is a WAN link disruption to the HQ messaging system. Vendor Response Requirements Briefly describe how messaging services would be accessed and implemented by remote station users when there is a WAN link disruption. Would access to and implementation of any messaging features/functions be affected in this situation? In the event of a WAN link disruption, voice messaging services would be accessed via the PSTN connections in the survivable branch appliance rather than via the WAN link. This includes both voice mail deposit and retrieval. The ability to retrieve voice mail messages on a PC via a Microsoft Office Outlook client would not be available during the period of WAN link disruption Network Failover Resiliency VoiceCon desires that the proposed IPTS solution support network failover resiliency to a comparable IPTS solution located at a future VoiceCon facility in the unlikely event of a catastrophic Headquarters common control failure, i.e., all common control elements. Network failover resiliency requires that all IP endpoints, cabinets/port carriers, and media gateway at all facilities (HQ, RO) automatically re-register to a designated back-up IPTS if so programmed. Vendor Response Requirements Respond to each of the following: Can the proposed IPTS solution support a network failover resiliency operation to a back-up IPTS in case of a catastrophic common control failure?. There are three options for network failover resiliency operation in case of a catastrophic common control failure: a) Extending the existing Front-End and Back-End pools to the future facility as described in the Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Site Resiliency White 30

31 Paper 9. This requires that the WAN connection between the customer sites meet specific minimum requirements, but provides the fullest set of services in the event of a failure. b) Specifying the future facility as the backup or standby communications site for users in the first location (and vice versa). Endpoints will automatically re-register to the backup site as necessary. c) Relying on manual backup and restoration at the future site to restore services to the failed site If yes, briefly describe the failover process including the time required before full telephony services are available to re-registered station users. a) For case a) above, failover is automatic, typically within seconds. The exact timing depends on load balancer configuration settings, and is a tradeoff between waiting for the network to recuperate (longer timeout setting) or assuming that the server is down and redirecting (shorter timeout setting). b) For case b) above, failover is automatic, typically within seconds, and can be configured to accommodate infrequent network disruptions. The exact timing depends on client reregistration to the secondary pool IP address. c) For case c) above, failover is manual and depends upon administrator action Can there be more than one designated back-up IPTS? If yes, how many? No for cases a) and b) above. for case c), with no practical limit. 1.5 Design Standards Session Initiated Protocol (SIP) VoiceCon requires that the proposed IPTS support SIP-compatible stations and trunk networking as specified by IETF Work Group RFC documents, including 3261, 3263, 3264, 3265, 3604 and Vendor Response Requirements Respond to each of the following: Does the proposed IPTS conform to each of IETF Work Group RFC documents cited above? Also list any other IETF Work Group RFC documents supported by the proposed IPTS solution., the proposed IPTS solution conforms to RFCs 3261, 3263, 3264, and 3265, but RFCs 3604 and 4456 are not applicable as they apply to optical support for general switch management and BGP respectively.. Microsoft also openly documents protocol extensions. Please see the Office Protocol Documents for further reference. 9 Office Communications Server 2007 R2 supports a subset of unified communications capabilities via this approach. Wave 14 supports the full set. 31

32 Is the proposed IPTS solution based on a native-sip design or is optional hardware/software required? The solution is based on a Native SIP design, enabling unprecedented interoperability with complementary partner solutions Can the proposed IPTS support SIP-compliant desktop telephone instruments if required?. Several third parties market SIP-compliant desktop telephone instruments for use with Lync Server 2010, though Microsoft recommends the use of devices Optimized for Lync in order to ensure a high quality of experience with just works installation Can the proposed IPTS support SIP trunk services if required? Indicate if optional SIP proxy gateways are required., with no additional proxy gateways or session border controllers required. Customers may choose from a growing list of qualified SIP trunk providers Can the proposed IPTS support SIP-enabled applications, such as Internet conferencing, telephony services and features, presence, events notification and instant messaging? Indicate if optional server equipment is required for any of the listed applications., the proposed solution fully supports IM, presence, Internet conferencing (audio, video, and web), and telephony in its configured and priced configuration. No additional server equipment or software licenses are required Services Oriented Architecture (SOA) Does the proposed IPTS solution support SOA standards to facilitate design and development of new features/functions and/or interaction with business process solutions? If yes, indicate if SOA supported is fully embedded in the system design or if optional hardware/software is required. Describe optional hardware/software if applicable., Microsoft Unified Communications provides a Services Oriented Architecture which is fully embedded in the system design. Microsoft UC provides open and extensive developer interfaces, which may be used by independent software vendors (ISVs), system integrators (SIs), and corporate developers to integrate Microsoft unified communications within nearly any client or server application or business process. Developers can embed Lync s presence indications and click-to-communicate functionality into nearly any client application or portal, much as Microsoft has done with Office Outlook, SharePoint, and 32

33 Dynamics CRM, and can allow users to communicate with context from within business applications. Likewise, developers can take build server applications that use identity and presence to make decisions about who to reach and how to reach them when action is required. The Unified Communications Managed API supports.net natively, both on a core code level and through the graphically oriented Windows Workflow Foundation, and Web Services via the Windows Communications Foundation (WCF). On the client-side, the platform includes several interfaces that allow developers to include the major functionality of Lync and its interface within their own applications. These interfaces include: A low level.net API Drag and drop user interface controls integrated in Visual Studio and Microsoft Expression UI Controls built in Silverlight for web developers Many ISVs have already taken advantage of these interfaces, as highlighted in our Partner Showcase. Great examples include Schlumberger, who integrated UC functions within Petrel, their reservoir modeling software, PostCTI, who uses federation to provide webbased call recording, and Aspect, who added IM and presence to their contact center solutions. Even competitors such as Avaya and Cisco have used our developer interfaces in attempts to integrate their traditional telephony solutions with our leading unified communications capabilities Security VoiceCon requires a secure IPTS network solution to optimize system performance and reduce the probability of toll fraud, restricted calls, and illegal system and network access Unauthorized System Access VoiceCon requires that the proposed IPTS solution be secure against unauthorized system access. The following system design and configuration guidelines should be followed: All unnecessary ports, such as telnet, SNMP, etc. will be closed by default. The software running for ports will not contain any known vulnerabilities. Administrative interfaces will not ship with known default passwords. Default community strings for SNMP will not be used. SNMP version 3 will be supported. The switch network will support security features such as VLANs, Network Admission Control (NAC), and other features. 10 See Communications-Server-ISV_3F00_.aspx for Microsoft commentary on plug-ins of this type. 33

34 Key components, such as the call processor, media gateway, or associated servers/cards will have built in host-based intrusion prevention systems. Vendor Response Requirements Confirm that the proposed IPTS solution satisfies each of the above listed security attributes. Briefly describe authentication processes embedded in the proposed IPTS solution to prevent unauthorized access to common control elements, data resources; and abuse of telephony services, e.g., toll fraud. Confirmed. The following security precautions and measures are taken: All unnecessary ports are closed by default. The software running for ports will not contain any known vulnerabilities. Windows Update Services is used to mitigate and patch known software vulnerabilities Administrative interfaces are configured with a password during the installation process; no default passwords exist. Any default passwords on third party gateways will be changed during installation. Default community strings for SNMP will not be used. Any default community strings for SNMP on third party gateways will be changed during installation. Switch network components will support VLAN, NAC, and other features. Elements running Windows Server 2008 support antivirus, and firewall capabilities. Media Gateways provide ACL and some firewalling capabilities. Authentication and authorization for both clients and administrators is performed against Microsoft Active Directory using NTLM or Kerberos. All subsequent communication whether it is IM, Web Conferencing or Voice media is encrypted via TLS or SRTP. Toll fraud is prevented via policy settings that apply to each system user and to each common area phone. These policies specify the call routes available to each user or common area phone, and may be used to preclude long distance or international calls by that user or phone Unauthorized Network Access VoiceCon requires that the proposed IPTS solution be secure against unauthorized network access. Vendor Response Requirements Briefly describe call type detection and prevention processes embedded in the proposed IPTS solution to identify and prevent: 34

35 Unmonitored and non-secured Internet sessions by employees calling private Internet Service Providers accounts using modems connected to corporate phone lines. Unlawful data network access by outsiders penetrating through modem-enabled corporate phone lines connected to LAN/WAN accessible workstations and other equipment. The proposed solution does not include modem call detection and prevention processes, but does prevent data network access by outsiders penetrating through modem-enabled corporate phone lines. This is because only authenticated users who have an Active Directory account and password will be authorized to use network resources in any way Disruption of Services VoiceCon requires that the proposed IPTS solution be secure against disruption of services. At minimum, the vendor will: Provide built-in DoS resiliency for all components processing signaling and audio. Provide embedded or compatible third party firewalls, IDS/IPS systems, or anti-dos systems will be available. Support DoS detection and mitigation capabilities in network switches Provide a solution for malformed or fuzzed packets Provide protection for key supporting infrastructure services, such as TFTP, DHCP, DNS, etc. will be provided. Vendor Response Requirements Briefly describe any embedded features/functions in the proposed IPTS solution that will reduce probability of telephony services disruption due to Denial-of-Service (DoS) attacks and address each of the above listed items in your response. The proposed solution will work with multivendor IDS and Host-based IDS systems. The proposed solution implements TLS which helps alleviate possible DoS attacks. The proposed solution includes anti-virus and additional IM, and filtering protection. The proposed solution provides client connection throttling capabilities which limits the number of connection attempts. At the customer s option, a so-called Director server role may be added as the Edge server s next hop. This Director would provide multiple benefits, including mitigating DoS attacks by verifying that the intended recipients of messages from public IM services and federated partners are valid users before those messages are forwarded to the Front end pool. Key supporting infrastructure services such as DNS, DHCP need to be appropriately protected by the customer Theft of Services Vendor Response Requirements 35

36 Briefly describe any embedded features/functions in the proposed IPTS solution that will identify the incidence of toll fraud and other types of Long Distance toll service abuse/misuse (e.g. LD voice calls on fax lines) in real-time, and alert and/or block such activity to reduce financial losses. Lync Server 2010 supports Class of Service policies in conjunction with Active Directory Authentication security groups. These policies can be defined to limit access to certain types of telephony services (Toll/LD). Call Detail Record reporting functionality also provides a means to detect toll fraud and abusive activity. Scripts can be run on the CDR database to alert an administrator if preset thresholds are exceeded Restricted Calls Vendor Response Requirements Briefly describe any embedded features/functions in the proposed IPTS that will identify telephony/fax spam, harassing calls, and other types of restricted calls (e.g. bomb threats, threatening calls, calls to/from restricted numbers) in real-time, and alert and/or block such activity to reduce damages and legal exposure. Malicious call trace is supported. When a user receives an inappropriate call, he or she can flag it in real time as malicious. It will then be identified as such in the CDR database in order to enable administrator follow-up Confidentiality and Privacy (Packet Sniffing) VoiceCon requires that the proposed IPTS solution provide for a high degree of confidentiality and privacy, including: Support for standards such as IPSec, TLS, and SRTP. Encryption for all public (to the LAN) traffic must be supported. This includes traffic exchanged between the call processor and media gateway. Vendor Response Requirements Briefly describe any embedded features/functions in the proposed IPTS that will preserve communications confidentiality and privacy, including the standards listed above. Indicate if control signaling and/or bearer communications signaling is encrypted at the call control, voice client, and media gateway elements to counter packet sniffing attempts: Control signaling and media traffic are encrypted by default to counter packet sniffing attempts. In particular, Microsoft Lync Server 2010 and Exchange support Mutual Transport Layer Security, Transport Layer Security, and SRTP. By default, Lync Server 2010 is configured to use TLS for client-to-server connections and mutual TLS (MTLS) for server-to-server connections. SRTP is used for securely transporting audio, video, and application sharing content to various media devices. The proposed 36

37 solution supports the use of TLS and SRTP to the media gateways. Public Key Security Certificate issuance can be done using an internal private Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) or a public certificate provider Physical Interfaces Vendor Response Requirements Are there separate physical network interfaces to IPTS administration, control, and voice transmission signaling functions? No, this is not required: the system administration, call processing, and voice media traffic all share the same physical network interfaces. Access Control Lists can be set up on routers and firewalls to permit or deny appropriate traffic to the interfaces. Multiple NICs can be configured per server Root Access Vendor Response Requirements Is there direct Root access to the IPTS common control, and does the proposed IPTS solution conform to the following design attributes: Disablement of non-secure management interfaces such as telnet by default. No installation of any default administrative or root passwords. Logging of all activity for administrative or root access. There is no direct Root access to the common control, and the proposed solution does conform to the stated attributes. Unnecessary services, including telnet, are not installed by default, and User Access control (UAC) prevents automatic installation of programs. UAC also logs to the event viewer when a program is installed or uninstalled Miscellaneous Security Requirements Vendor Response Requirements VoiceCon requires that the proposed IPTS solution provide the following general security features: A patch management process and system must be available. A secure alternative to TFTP (whose files can easily be sniffed) must be provided. Support of TCP and authentication should be provided if SIP is supported. Firmware loads for IPTS phones will be signed to insure authenticity. Vendor Response Requirements 37

38 Confirm that the proposed IPTS solution satisfies each of the listed general security features: Patch management TFTP alternative Signed firmware loads Confirmed that the proposed solution provides for server component patching via Windows update, and for client updates via Lync Server 2010 Device Update service. TFTP is not used; client updates are performed via HTTP. Firmware loads are not signed for authenticity but are secured using TLS and received only from the Front-End server which prevents Man in the Middle Attacks. 1.7 Green Initiatives VoiceCon is committed to supporting the environment and is currently following a Green corporate strategy. The selected IPTS solution must confirm to this strategic objectives Power Management Energy Savings Vendor Response Requirements How does the currently proposed IPTS solution save on required energy costs compared to earlier TDM-based PBX models and/or IP-based versions? Specifically address energy savings (reduced power requirements) as regards any or all of the following system elements: Common Control Switching Network Common Equipment, such as cabinets/carriers/gateways, circuit boards (service circuits, port circuits, media gateways, et al) Desktop telephone instruments Voice messaging system The proposed solution offers dramatic energy savings vs. traditional PBX architectures. For example, Sprint expects to save $1.5M a year in electricity costs alone (out of $9.3M saved annually in total) by de-commissioning multiple PBX and voice mail systems in favor of a centralized Microsoft unified communications deployment. Many other customers take advantage of the built-in audio, video, and web conferencing to greatly reduce travel along with the associated costs and environmental impact. Crédit Agricole, Europe s leading backing group in terms of retail banking revenues, expects to reduce overall travel by 10-20%, resulting in a similar decline in greenhouse gas emissions. RealPage, a software vendor, expects to save $3M annually in reduced travel costs. Other customers, like Monsanto, take advantage of the 38

39 remote access capabilities to give employees the flexibility to work from home, thereby saving on facilities costs and lessening the environmental impact of commuting. The Lync Server 2010 solution offers energy efficiency advantages from an equipment perspective as well: Because the proposed solution provides not only IP telephony, but also instant messaging, presence, and unified audio, video, and web conferencing, it eliminates the power consumption of those separate systems. The Windows Server 2008 operating system used for common control elements reduces power consumption by 10% out of the box vs. its predecessor 11 ; Windows Server 2008 R2 reduces consumption further via core parking and processor speed adjustment. Since customers may deploy the server hardware from the vendor of their choice, they can more quickly reap the benefits of power consumption and performance improvements made by processor and server vendors. Intel, for example, recently claimed a 50 percent improvement in system idle power in one processor generation while simultaneously delivering double the performance in accordance with the so-called Moore s Law. 12 The use of qualified SIP trunking services eliminates the need for stand-alone gateways or session border controllers and the associated power consumption. The use of USB devices connected to PCs rather than stand-alone IP telephones can dramatically reduce endpoint power consumption, both because the USB device consumes very little incremental power, and because an IP telephone will typically be powered constantly, even when the user is out of the office, whereas a PC or laptop is powered only while in use Reduced Cooling Costs Vendor Response Requirements How does the currently proposed IPTS solution save on required cooling costs by reducing BTU dissipation as compared to earlier TDM-based PBX models and/or IP-based versions? Please be specific as to BTU dissipation by hardware element, if possible. The data center cooling costs from version to version are of course affected by the server operating system and hardware power consumption and performance improvements noted above. Customers can expect BTU dissipation reductions of at minimum 10% simply by taking advantage of the latest Windows Server versions, and potentially much more based on server hardware performance and power consumption improvements. Purchasers of competitive solutions that do not allow customer choice of industry standard servers may not benefit as quickly from hardware performance, power, and cost improvements. 11 See Windows Server 2008 Power Savings at 12 See Internet: Meet Your New Processor at 39

40 That said, a better comparison is between deploying Microsoft Unified Communications vs. a legacy TDM or IP PBX. As noted above, one customer found dramatic savings in power consumption and the associated BTU dissipation: Sprint conducted a study to calculate the environmental savings of replacing PBXs at 489 sites with a centralized Lync Server 2010 deployment. We basically looked at the kilowatt hours and found as a by-product of taking all of that equipment out of our environment, we would save roughly another $1.5 million a year, just in electricity, noted Joe Hamblin, Manager of Unified Communications for Client Services in Sprint s IT organization ISO Standards Vendor Response Requirements Briefly describe how your company is conforming to the ISO family of environmental management standards as it relates to the proposed IPTS solution? Topics for discussion may include manufacturing process, shipping, field installation and service technicians, materials recycling, documentation, et al. Microsoft follows strict policies to ensure that the company remains in full compliance with international environmental regulations and the specific environmental requirements of each country/region where we do business. The environmental principles can be found at The third parties identified in this document that provide qualified and optimized hardware for Lync Server 2010 deployments are ISO certified, are in the process of becoming certified, or use subcontractors that are certified. 40

41 2.0 IPTS Network Port Capacity Requirements The proposed IPTS must be capable of supporting port capacity requirements for the HQ facility and remote branches. It must also be capable of supporting future VoiceCon growth requirements at HQ and RO facilities Port Capacity Requirements The equipped port capacity of the proposed VoiceCon HQ IP Telephony System at time of installation and cutover must support a mix of IP telephones, analog telephones, facsimile terminals, modems, central office trunk circuits (analog and digital) for local and long distance services, and private network IP trunk circuits). In support of general communications requirements, VoiceCon facilities will have a sufficient number of wiring closets distributed throughout each facility to satisfy ANSI/EAI/TIA 569 structured cabling specifications for voice and data communications. Wiring closets will be interconnected based on requirements of the selected system. The entrance facility (trunk connect panel), main telecom equipment room, and Main Distribution Frame (MDF) for each facility are located off the entrance lobby. It will be the responsibility of the contractor to provide all cross connects between labeled 110 terminal blocks in each wiring closet and the demarc or "smart jack" and their equipment. The following sections describe the port capacity requirements for each of the VoiceCon network locations. Satisfying these stated port capacity requirements is a MANDATORY requirement Headquarters Facility The Headquarters location is a single building complex. The building is a four-floor facility, with station equipment uniformly distributed within and across the four floors. There are five (5) wiring closets per floor and one (1) main equipment room on the first floor Remote Office Facility The optional RO facility has two floors with plans for station equipment to be uniformly distributed within and across each floor of the building. There will be five (5) wiring closets per floor and one (1) main equipment room on the first floor. 2.2 Port Requirements VoiceCon requires that the proposed IPTS communications solution be designed to support the following equipped port capacity requirements in the following tables with wired capacity for 50% growth at the Headquarters campus facility. The definition of equipped capacity is all necessary system hardware and software components installed and working at time of initial system installation based on the stated requirements of this RFP. The definition of wired for capacity is the capability for system expansion (call processing, switched connections, and port capacity) with the addition of port interface cards or media gateway boards, only. 41

42 VoiceCon will engineer its WAN trunk circuits to support compressed voice traffic (G.729A algorithm voice codecs) across its facilities. In addition to the following trunk circuit requirements any additional trunk services necessary to support the proposed IPTS solution, e.g. local survivability requirements, must be identified, configured, and included in the pricing proposal. Necessary common equipment must be included in the system configuration and pricing proposals and identified as such Equipped CHQ Station/Trunk Port Requirements Equipment Room 1 Station Equipment Analog devices (VoiceCon provided): 75 o 2500-type telephone instruments: 55 o Modems: 15 o Facsimile terminals: 5 IP Desktop (See Section 4) 725 o Economy desktop instrument 25 o Administrative desktop instrument 50 o Professional desktop instrument 275 o Executive desktop instrument 225 o Attendant soft consoles 2 o Audio conferencing units 23 o HQ Standalone PC soft phone 75 o Teleworker desktop instrument 25 o Teleworker PC softphones 25 Basic Mobile extensions 150 Advanced Mobile extensions with GUI client 250 TDM Trunk Circuits SIP (T1-carrier) 4 PSTN Local Service o GS/LS circuits 24 PSTN Long Distance o T1-carrier (PRI) circuits Equipment Room 2 Station Equipment Analog devices (VoiceCon provided): 75 o 2500-type telephone instruments: 55 o Modems: 15 42

43 o Facsimile terminals: 5 IP Desktop (See Section 4) 725 o Economy desktop instrument 25 o Administrative desktop instrument 50 o Professional desktop instrument 350 o Executive desktop instrument 225 o Attendant soft consoles 2 o Audio conferencing units 23 o HQ standalone PC soft phone 50 Basic Mobile Extensions Advanced Mobile extensions with GUI client 250 TDM Trunk Circuits SIP (T1-carrier) 4 PSTN Local Service o GS/LS circuits 24 PSTN Long Distance o T1-carrier (PRI) circuits Equipped RO Station/Trunk Port Requirements Option 1-50 station RO Station Equipment Analog devices (VoiceCon provided): 5 o 2500-type telephone instruments: 3 o Modems: 1 o Facsimile terminals: 1 IP Desktop (See Section 4) 45 o Economy desktop instrument 5 o Administrative desktop instrument 5 o Professional desktop instrument 22 o Executive desktop instrument 5 o Attendant soft consoles 1 o Audio conferencing units 2 o RO standalone PC soft phones 5 Advanced Mobile extensions with GUI client 10 Trunk Circuits PSTN Local Service o GS/LS circuits Option station RO Station Equipment 43

44 Analog devices (VoiceCon provided): 20 o 2500-type telephone instruments: 15 o Modems: 3 o Facsimile terminals: 2 IP Desktop (See Section 4) 180 o Economy desktop instrument 20 o Administrative desktop instrument 20 o Professional desktop instrument 90 o Executive desktop instrument 30 o Attendant soft consoles 1 o Audio conferencing units 4 o RO standalone PC soft phones 15 Advanced Mobile extensions with GUI client 50 Trunk Circuits Local Service o GS/LS circuits 8 Long Distance o T1-carrier (PRI) circuit 1 44

45 3.0 Port Interface and Traffic Handling Requirements The proposed IPTS must support a variety of peripheral ports and switched connections. In addition to IP endpoints it is required to support traditional circuit switched analog stations and analog & digital trunk circuit interfaces. The common equipment (port interface carriers, media gateways) must be supported in a distributed topology using VoiceCon s LAN/WAN for transmission and switching of communications and control signaling. Common equipment must be located at CHQ, RO, and SO facilities. Any and all port interface cabinets/carriers designed to support traditional analog and digital interface ports should include an integrated TDM bus backplane traffic engineered to support non-blocking switch network access for all peripheral endpoint connections. Transmission and connections between all TDM buses must also be traffic engineered to operate in non-blocking mode. A center stage switch network, if equipped, must also be traffic engineered for non-blocking access. Media gateway equipment should be designed and configured to support a 4:1 ratio between IP peripheral endpoints (line station and trunk circuit) and media gateway channels used to connect to non-ip ports. For common equipment configuration design purposes assume the following voice communications traffic volumes: User line station (analog and IP) Attendant console position ACD/Supervisor call center agents Voice mail port traffic All trunk circuit traffic 12 CCS at busy hour 36 CCS at busy hour 36 CCS at busy hour 36 CCS at busy hour 36 CCS at busy hour The assumed system voice communications traffic mix should be 40% station to station calls, 30% incoming trunk calls, 30% outgoing trunk calls. Vendor Response Requirement: The proposed system IPTS be designed and engineered to support the above traffic assumptions. Confirm you have satisfied this requirement. Confirmed. In addition, media gateway equipment is designed and configured to support a 1:1 ratio rather than 4: Common Equipment The proposed IPTS solution must support a variety of peripheral ports and switched connections. Although it is not required to support traditional digital voice terminal equipment, the IPTS must support analog communications devices and PSTN trunk circuits. Switched connections involving non-ip ports may be handled using a circuit switched network, media gateways/ethernet switches, or a combination of both. 45

46 Vendor Response Requirement: Briefly identify by make/model the proposed common equipment and describe each type of equipment housing used to support port circuit interface card, media gateway boards, and other required equipment. Specifically discuss in the response housing size (H x L x W), weight (standard common assembly), fan cooling units, power supply requirements, number of usable port card slots per carrier/chassis, and all embedded hardware components. Dell PowerEdge 710 servers were specified for the two Front-end servers and the Edge server. This is a 3.40 x x rack-mounted 2U high server, weighing 55 pounds, fully loaded. It has redundant fans and two hot plug high efficient 570w PSU. Dell T710 servers were specified for the two Back-end SQL databases. This is a tower server with dimensions of 18.4"x 28.9 x 8.6 which can be mounted in a 19 rack. This server can accommodate up to 16 disc drives (12 of which are specified and will be in use for OS, SQL logs, and the actual data files). It weighs 78 pounds fully loaded. It has 2 Hot-plug redundant PSUs Watts. Voltage range VAC, 50/60Hz Dell PowerEdge 610 servers were specified for Exchange Unified Messaging servers. This is a 1.68 x18.99x rack-mounted 1U high server, weighing 39 pounds. It has redundant fans and two hot plug high efficient 502w PSU. Gateways from Audiocodes were specified in this response for analog to IP conversion support, and for PSTN gateway connectivity. At HQ, redundant Mediant 1000 VoIP Gateways with 1 T1 Voice Module and 5 Quad FXO LS/GS Analog Voice Modules were specified, along with one MediaPack 118 analog VoIP gateway and three MediaPack 124 Analog VoIP Gateways to provide the analog ports required. Information on Audiocodes, Dialogic, Ferrari, HP, and NET may be found in Appendix B Universal Card Slots VoiceCon prefers that the proposed common equipment be based on a universal card slot design for all TDM port interface circuit cards. Vendor Response Requirement: Confirm that your proposed system satisfies this requirement. Lync Server 2010 does not use a traditional common equipment chassis for TDM interfaces. The universal card slot design requirement is not applicable to the industry standard servers used for common control, though customers benefit from the standard high volume economics of the server industry. The media gateway vendors that provide PSTN connectivity offer modular gateways which enable mixing and matching of interface types within a single chassis as well as expansion. 46

47 3.1.2 Common Equipment Redundancy VoiceCon requires an IPTS that satisfies a very high degree of reliability and services availability. To achieve this goal IPTS common equipment should include a significant number of redundant design elements to minimize the affects of single points of failure. Vendor Response Requirement: Confirm if the proposed common equipment includes any or all of the following redundant common equipment elements, and indicate type of redundancy provided for each element. The proposed solution includes a significant number of redundant design elements to minimize the effects of single points of failure. Architecturally, Lync Server 2010 relies on redundancy of servers, pools, gateways, and routes rather than on individual hardware elements, but customers may choose to deploy servers and gateways which are, in addition, redundant at the sub-component level. Common Equipment Element Service Circuits Cards TDM Port Interface Circuit Cards I/O Interfaces Media Gateway Boards TDM bus backplane Inter-TDM bus connections Center-stage Circuit Switch Power Supplies Duplicated, Load Sharing, or N/A N/A May be duplicated May be duplicated N/A N/A N/A N/A Duplicated in gateways; may also be duplicated in servers IP Station Discovery Vendor Response Requirement: How do IP communications devices learn about their voice VLAN, including IP addresses, default gateways, call controller, TFTP server, QoS settings, VLANs, and other parameters? Does the proposed system solution employ proprietary protocols for IP communications devices to learn their voice VLAN or is an industry standard, such as Dynamic Host Control Protocol (DHCP) used? The Microsoft Lync Phone Edition uses DHCP protocol and a network-connected DHCP server to receive its IP address and to configure its voice VLAN. This is done by first connecting to the native VLAN of the switch and requesting an IP address. The DHCP DISCOVER packet contains the Vendor Class Identifier (VCI) of 60 with a value of "CPE-OCPHONE". The DHCP Server then sends a Vendor Specific Option parameter 43 (the VLAN ID) in the DHCP OFFER packet. The Microsoft Phone Edition will then release its IP Address, attach to the VLAN it received from the DHCP server and request a new IP address. All voice 47

48 packets may be tagged for QoS, but the actual use of QoS is configured on the router and / or switch IP Station Power over Ethernet (PoE) VoiceCon requires that the power option to support IP telephones conform to IEEE 802.3af Power over Ethernet (PoE) standards. Vendor Response Requirement: Confirm that the proposed IPTS solution supports the IEEE 802.3af specifications for inline power of IP telephone equipment. If 802.3af is not supported, identify the PoE implementation being proposed. Confirmed. Polycom, Aastra, and other IP phone endpoints based on Lync Phone Edition support 802.3af PoE as an option, and can be purchased with PoE or with an AC adapter. In effort to reduce the power requirements of traditional IPTS, Microsoft Lync and headsets/usb phones use the power of the PC and need no additional power through Ethernet IP Station QoS Vendor Response Requirement: Describe the proposed IPTS solution s capabilities to provide Layer 2 and Layer 3 QoS to IP stations to ensuring end-to-end quality of service. Include in the response what industry standards are deployed. Lync Server 2010 supports QoS at both Layer 2 and Layer 3. IEEE 802.1p is supported to enable prioritization of packets at the Data Link layer (Layer 2). IETF Differentiated Service Code Point (DSCP) markings are supported to enable prioritization at the Network layer (Layer 3) on DiffServ enabled networks. In addition, Lync Server 2010 uses an intelligent media stack and adaptive wideband codec called RT Audio designed to detect network congestion or quality issues and reduce bandwidth use accordingly. The media stack and codec allow for a high quality of experience even on unmanaged networks like the Internet Handling Multi-Party Conference Calls 13 See for analysis of Office Communications Server performance under a variety of network conditions. 48

49 The proposed system must be able to support six party add-on conference calls among IPTS and off-network stations with a minimum of three (3) off-network stations per call when required. The IPTS solution must also support a minimum of 20 simultaneous multi-party conference calls (up to six parties per call and stations located anywhere across the VoiceCon network and/or off-network per call) Vendor Response Requirement: Briefly explain how multi-party add-on conference calls are handled if: 1) All parties are on-network IP stations; 2) There is a mix of on-network IP and off-network stations. The explanation should identify any and all hardware and software requirements necessary to support multi-party add-on conference call requirements. Specify if peripheral hardware equipment, e.g. conference Confirmed. Lync Server 2010 supports add-on and scheduled conference calls with up to 250 parties, and allows a mix of on network, PSTN, and Internet participants with no restriction on the ratio. The A/V conferencing service in the Lync Server 2010 front-end mixes audio and video feeds from multiple endpoints included both Lync and PSTN callers. Audio and Video content is exchanged through industry-standard Real-Time Transport Protocol (RTP) packets (RFC3550). No additional software, hardware or licenses are required to meet these requirements, but additional servers can be deployed if desired to provide even higher capacity. 3.4 Handing VoIP Overflow Traffic If available WAN circuits connecting VoiceCon facilities are busy, call admission control levels are reached, or QoS levels are not satisfied voice traffic must be able to automatically overflow to PSTN trunk circuits. Vendor Response Requirement: Confirm that your proposed communications system supports overflow of voice traffic across VoiceCon locations if WAN links are not available or conditions are not acceptable. Also indicate if overflow traffic can revert back to the WAN if conditions permit. Confirmed. Lync Server 2010 provides session bandwidth management (sometimes called Call Admission Control, or CAC), to limit the amount of traffic on WAN and other constrained links, and allows administrators to determine whether overflow traffic is re-routed to an alternate link (such as the PSTN) or simply rejected. All calls are fully assessed at session initiation and the preferred route is determined based on available links and policy limits. Lync Server 2010 is able to control both voice and video traffic in this way, and allows administrators to define different routes for these media types. For example, WAN links may be used solely for voice traffic while video traffic is routed via the Internet Port Interface Circuit Cards 49

50 For each of the following port types, provide a brief description of the proposed port interface circuit card(s) and/or media gateway equipment included with the proposed IPTS to support analog, digital, and IP ports. Include in the descriptions below the number of port interface terminations for each port circuit card, and the number of available gateway channels for each media gateway unit IP Station Endpoints (desktop telephone instrument, PC client soft phones including Attendant Console Position & IP Audio conferencing Units Vendor Response Requirement: Provide a brief description how all IP telephone types are logically and physically supported by the common control call telephony server. If direct call control signaling via the Ethernet LAN/WAN is not supported describe how call control signaling is routed (identifying any and all circuit card and transmission bus requirements). IP telephony endpoints include both Lync soft clients and Lync Phone Edition hardware clients. Direct call control signaling using SIP over the Ethernet LAN/WAN is supported for all IP telephony endpoints. IP endpoints register with Lync Server 2010 either as a common area device not associated with a particular user, or with the identity and password of a given user. In the former case, common area device policies and routing rules control the operation of the endpoint; in the latter case, the policies and routing rules associated with the authenticated user are applied Analog Telephone Instrument Vendor Response Requirement: Provide a brief description how analog telephones are logically and physically supported by the common control call telephony server, identifying all hardware elements necessary for control signaling transmission. Specify the number of circuit terminations/bearer channels per proposed circuit board, module, or media gateway. Provide information for each of the following analog devices: All analog devices are physical connected to either a gateway or analog terminal adapter (ATA) via a single pair RJ-11 connection. Direct call control signaling using SIP over the Ethernet LAN/WAN is employed between Lync Server 2010 and the gateway, and traditional analog techniques are used between the gateway and the analog endpoint. Qualified gateways can support between 4 and 24 analog ports each, depending on the model chosen. Active Directory contact objects are used to apply policies and routing rules to analog devices Facsimile terminal 50

51 Vendor Response Requirement: Provide a brief description how facsimile terminals are logically and physically supported by the common control call telephony server, identifying all hardware elements necessary for control signaling transmission. Specify the number of circuit terminations/bearer channels per proposed circuit board, module, or media gateway. Fax machines are physically connected to FXS ports on gateways, and managed via Active Directory contact objects as described above. Exchange 2010 is compatible with third party faxing solutions to allow desktop fax software, and in conjunction with gateways can utilize FXS/FXO ports to deliver FAX transmissions Modem Vendor Response Requirement: Provide a brief description how modems are logically and physically supported by the common control call telephony server, identifying all hardware elements necessary for control signaling transmission. Specify the number of circuit terminations/bearer channels per proposed circuit board, module, or media gateway. Provide information for each of the following analog devices: Modems are physically connected to FXS ports on gateways, and managed via Active Directory contact objects as described above Power Failure Transfer Station (PFTS) Vendor Response Requirement: Provide a brief description how Power Failure Transfer Stations using analog telephone instruments are logically and physically supported by the common control call telephony server, identifying all hardware elements necessary for control signaling transmission. Specify the number of circuit terminations/ bearer channels per proposed circuit board, module, or media gateway. The branch office gateway proposed provides this capability. An analog phone can be directly terminated into the gateway using an FXS port, and with the proper Telco circuitry, pass the 48V from the carrier to the phone, bypassing the gateway GS/LS CO Trunk Vendor Response Requirement: 51

52 Provide a brief description how GS/LS trunk circuits are logically and physically supported by the common control call telephony server, identifying all hardware elements necessary for control signaling transmission. Specify the number of circuit terminations/bearer channels per proposed circuit board, module, or media gateway. Lync Server 2010 connects to GS, LS, and other trunk interfaces through the use of qualified gateways capable of supporting from 4 to 24 analog trunks each depending on configuration. Direct call control signaling using SIP over the Ethernet LAN/WAN is employed between Lync Server 2010 and the gateway, and traditional TDM signaling techniques are used between the gateway and the trunk ISDN PRI/T1-Carrier Interface Trunk Vendor Response Requirement: Provide a brief description how ISDN PRI services carried over T1-carrier trunk interface circuits are logically and physically supported by the common control call telephony server, identifying all hardware elements necessary for control signaling transmission. Specify the number of T1-circuits per proposed circuit board, module, or media gateway. Lync Server 2010 connects to ISDN PRI on T1 and E1-carriers, and other trunk interfaces through the use of qualified gateways capable of supporting from 1 to 8 T1 or E1 trunks each depending on configuration. Direct call control signaling using SIP over the Ethernet LAN/WAN is employed between Lync Server 2010 and the gateway, and traditional TDM signaling techniques are used between the gateway and the trunk SIP Trunk Interfaces Provide a brief description how SIP trunk services carried over T1/T3-carrier interface circuits and are logically and physically supported by the common control call telephony server, identifying all hardware elements necessary for control signaling transmission. SIP Trunks are virtual circuits delivered over an ISP circuit or MPLS line. Lync Server 2010 allows for direct SIP connectivity with the service provider without the need for an intermediate gateway or session border controller. Microsoft does not require the deployment of a session border controller to support SIP Trunks. Certified SIP Trunk providers can be found at 52

53 Voice Terminal Instruments The proposed communications system must be able to support a mix of desktop analog and IP telephone instruments (including audio conferencing units), PC client soft phones, attendant soft consoles, and mobile communications devices. VoiceCon will provide its own analog telephone instruments, fax terminals, and modems. Confirmed. The proposed solution supports a mix of telephone instruments, including IP telephones, PC-based soft phones with USB peripherals, attendant soft consoles, mobile communications devices, and IP and USB audio conferencing units. Many customers choose to deploy our softphone client, Lync, with a USB device instead of an IP phone for workers who use their PCs as a key business tool. This allows these workers to take advantage of the same user interface and full set of communications functions wherever they have Internet access, and can dramatically lower capital costs. The pricing summary in Part 2 of this response includes both budgetary pricing assuming IP phones for nearly all workers as requested, and budgetary pricing assuming half of the administrative, professional, and executive IP phones are replaced with representative USB endpoints. Using USB devices and Lync in place of IP desktop instruments for half of the administrative, professional, and executive works results in an average savings of 19% of the total cost for all three configurations quoted. 4.1 Regulation Requirements All single- and multi-line IP phones will be manufactured in accordance with Federal Communication Commission hearing aid compatibility technical standards contained in Section and the Telecommunication Act of Vendor Response Requirement: Confirm the proposed telephone equipment satisfies these regulation requirements Confirmed. 4.2 Desktop IP Telephone Instruments VoiceCon has a requirement for several types of desktop IP telephone instruments: Economy Administrative Professional Executive Vendor Response Requirement: In a separate PPT file attachment provide a single slide illustration (graphic or photograph) with all four proposed desktop IP telephone instruments identifying each model by name. Include in the illustration any add-on modules, e.g. key button module, or options required to satisfy individual model requirements. 53

54 4.2.1 Economy Desktop IP Telephone Instrument A single line Economy model will be used in common areas. It should have, at minimum, the following design attributes and features/functions: 12-key dial pad Hold button G.711/G.729 voice codecs Auto Self Discovery/DHCP QoS Support (802.1p/Q, DiffServ) Echo Canceller Support IEEE 802.af POE specifications Vendor Response Requirement: Clearly state your proposed economy model and confirm that it fully satisfies each of the stated requirements. Also provide a brief description of the proposed instrument (including supported communications protocols) and identify any worthwhile attributes/capabilities that exceed the stated requirements, e.g. speakerphone, display, programmable line/feature key, et al. The proposed model to meet the Economy requirements is the Polycom CX500. Requirement Supported Notes 12-key dial pad Hold button G.711/G.729 voice codecs Partial G.711 is supported; G.729 is not. 14. RTAudio is employed as the default codec. Auto Self Discovery/DHCP QoS Support (802.1p/Q, DiffServ) Echo Canceller Support IEEE 802.af POE specifications Administrative Desktop IP Telephone Instrument 14 Office Communication Server supports RT Audio as its default codec due to its superior performance under a wide variety of network conditions ( ) and G.711 and other standard codecs for interoperability. RT Audio is licensed under terms which do not require a per channel license fee, unlike G.729 ( 54

55 The Administrative model will be used by station users who have management group call answering and coverage responsibilities. It should have, at minimum, the following design attributes and features/functions: 12-key dial pad Sixteen (16) programmable line/feature keys with soft label/status indicators Can optionally support an add-on key module (12 line/feature keys, minimum) with soft label/status indicators G711, G729 and wideband (G.722 or equivalent) voice codecs Auto Self Discovery/DHCP Echo Canceller QoS Support (802.1p/Q, DiffServ) Hold key Last Number Redial key Release key Message Waiting/Call Ringing indicator(s) Full Duplex Speakerphone Speaker/Mute key Volume Control keys or slide High resolution, backlit, monochrome grayscale graphical display screen with a minimum of four (4) associated context sensitive soft feature keys Cursor/navigator interface for display screen interaction LDAP access Stored Call Data (Last 25 numbers dialed; Last 25 incoming call numbers; Last 25 missed call numbers) Integrated or Add-on Ethernet switch with two (2) RJ-45 connector interface ports for 10/100 Mbps LAN and desktop PC connectivity Bluetooth headset interface (DECT interface also acceptable) Support of IEEE 802.af POE specifications Vendor Response Requirement: Clearly state your proposed Administrative model and confirm that it fully satisfies each of the stated requirements. Also provide a brief description of the proposed instrument (including all supported communications protocols, i.e. H.323, SIP, MGCP, SCCP, et al) and identify any worthwhile attributes/capabilities that exceed the stated requirements. Specifically identify any requirement not fully satisfied, e.g., soft feature key substituted for fixed feature key requirement. Complete the following table for the proposed model: 55

56 The proposed model to meet the Administrative requirements is the Polycom CX600. It is recommended that it be paired with a PC running Lync. Requirement Supported Notes 12-key dial pad 16 programmable line/feature keys with soft label/status indicators Add-on key module (12 line/feature, soft label/status indicators, minimum) option No* No* G711, G729 and wideband voice codecs Partial Auto Self Discovery/DHCP Echo Canceller QoS Support (802.1p/Q, DiffServ) Hold key Last Number Redial key Release key Message Waiting/Call Ringing indicator(s) Full Duplex Speakerphone Speaker/Mute key Volume Control keys/slide High resolution, backlit, color pixel display with touch screen interface Four (4) associated context sensitive soft feature keys Cursor/navigator interface for display control Partial Partial Rather than providing a limited number of programmable hard keys, this product provides contextual soft keys, and may be paired with a PC running Lync to enable control of all communications functions using the PC. As per above, this product provides contextual soft keys plus the option of PC pairing to enable control of all communications functions. Unlike add-on key modules, PC pairing is included for no additional charge. G.711 is supported; G.729 is not. 13 RTAudio is employed as the default codec. High resolution, backlit, color pixel display without touch screen interface. Paired PC is recommended for optimal user interface. Two (2) associated context sensitive soft feature keys. As per above, PC pairing is recommended. LDAP access Stored Call Data (Last 25 numbers dialed/last 25 incoming call numbers/last 25 missed calls) Integrated or Add-on 10/100/1000 Mbps Ethernet switch (2 RJ-45 connector ports) Bluetooth or DECT interface IEEE 802.af POE support Via RJ-9 jack on IP phone and also via USB connected based station on PC. 56

57 4.2.3 Professional Desktop IP Telephone Instrument The Professional model will be used by VoiceCon managers. It should have, at minimum the following design attributes and features/functions: 12 key dial pad Six (6) programmable line/feature keys with soft label/status indicators G711, G729 and wideband (G.722 or equivalent) voice codecs Auto Self Discovery/DHCP Echo Canceller QoS Support (802.1p/Q, DiffServ) Embedded Web services support, e.g., XML Hold key Last Number Redial key Release key Message Waiting/Call Ringing indicator(s) Full Duplex Speakerphone Speaker/Mute key Volume Control keys/slide High resolution, backlit, monochrome grayscale graphical display screen with four (4) associated context sensitive soft feature labels ((key, cursor, or navigator control) LDAP access Stored Call Data (Last 25 numbers dialed/last 25 incoming call numbers/last 25 missed calls) Integrated or Add-on Gigabit Ethernet switch with two (2) RJ-45 connector interface ports for 10/100/1000 Mbps LAN and desktop PC connectivity. Bluetooth headset interface (DECT interface also acceptable) Support of IEEE 802.af POE specifications Vendor Response Requirement: Clearly state your proposed Professional model and confirm that it fully satisfies each of the stated requirements. Also provide a brief description of the proposed instrument (including all supported communications protocols, i.e. H.323, SIP, MGCP, SCCP, et al) and identify any worthwhile attributes/capabilities that exceed the stated requirements. Specifically identify any requirement not fully satisfied, e.g., soft feature key substituted for fixed feature key requirement. Complete following table: 57

58 The proposed model to meet the Professional requirements is the Polycom CX600. It is recommended that it be paired with a PC running Lync. Please note that the proposed device is suitable for use by all mainstream office workers and professionals, including managers. Requirement Supported Notes 12-key dial pad 10 programmable line/feature keys with soft label/status indicators No* G711, G729 and wideband voice codecs Partial Auto Self Discovery/DHCP Echo Canceller Rather than providing a limited number of programmable hard keys, this product provides contextual soft keys, and may be paired with a PC running Lync to enable control of all communications functions using the PC. G.711 is supported; G.729 is not. 13 RTAudio is employed as the default. QoS Support (802.1p/Q, DiffServ) Embedded Web services support (indicate specifications) Hold key Last Number Redial key Release key Message Waiting/Call Ringing indicator(s) Full Duplex Speakerphone Speaker/Mute key Volume Control keys/slide High resolution, backlit, color pixel display with touch screen interface Four (4) associated context sensitive soft feature keys Cursor/navigator interface for display control No Partial Partial The use of PC or Netbook is recommended for Web services support to allow the richest user experience and interface. High resolution, backlit, color pixel display without touch screen interface. Two (2) associated context sensitive soft feature keys. As per above, PC pairing is recommended. LDAP access 58

59 Stored Call Data (Last 25 numbers dialed/last 25 incoming call numbers/last 25 missed calls) Integrated or Add-on 10/100/1000 Mbps Ethernet switch (2 RJ-45 connector ports) Bluetooth or DECT interface IEEE 802.af POE support Via RJ-9 jack on IP phone. Also available via USB connected base station on PC Executive Desktop IP Telephone Instrument The Executive model will be used by VoiceCon s executive management team and select managers. It should have, at minimum the following design attributes and features/functions: 12 key dial pad Ten (10) programmable line/feature keys with soft label/ status indicators G711, G729 and wideband (G.722 or equivalent) voice codecs Auto Self Discovery/DHCP Echo Canceller QoS Support (802.1p/Q, DiffServ) Embedded Web services support, e.g., XML Hold key Last Number Redial key Release key Message Waiting/Call Ringing indicator(s) Full Duplex Speakerphone Speaker/Mute key Volume Control keys/slide High resolution, backlit, color pixel-based, graphical display screen with four (4) associated context sensitive soft feature labels (key, cursor, or navigator control) with a touch screen interface LDAP access Stored Call Data (Last 25 numbers dialed/last 25 incoming call numbers/last 25 missed calls) Integrated or Add-on Gigabit Ethernet switch with two (2) RJ-45 connector interface ports for 10/100/1000 Mbps LAN and desktop PC connectivity. Bluetooth headset interface (DECT interface also acceptable) Support of IEEE 802.af POE specifications Vendor Response Requirement: Clearly state your proposed Executive model and confirm that it fully satisfies each of the stated requirements. Also provide a brief description of the proposed instrument (including supported communications protocols) and identify any worthwhile 59

60 attributes/capabilities that exceed the stated requirements. Specifically identify any requirement not fully satisfied, e.g., soft feature key substituted for fixed feature key requirement. Complete following table: The proposed model to meet the Executive requirements is the Polycom CX700. It is recommended that it be paired with a PC running Lync. Requirement Supported Notes 12-key dial pad No* 10 programmable line/feature keys with soft label/status indicators G711, G729 and wideband voice codecs Auto Self Discovery/DHCP Echo Canceller QoS Support (802.1p/Q, DiffServ) Embedded Web services support (indicate specifications) Hold key Last Number Redial key Release key Message Waiting/Call Ringing indicator(s) Full Duplex Speakerphone Speaker/Mute key Volume Control keys/slide High resolution, backlit, color pixel display with touch screen interface Four (4) associated context sensitive soft feature keys Cursor/navigator interface for display control Partial No Partial Rather than providing a limited number of programmable hard keys, this product provides contextual soft keys, and may be paired with a PC running Lync to enable control of all communications functions using the PC. G.711 is supported; G.729 is not. 13 RTAudio is employed as the default codec Use of PC or Netbook is recommended for Web services support to allow richest user experience and interface. Touch screen with context sensitive keys is used instead of soft feature keys. As per above, PC pairing is recommended. LDAP access Stored Call Data (Last 25 numbers dialed/last 25 incoming call numbers/last 25 missed calls) Integrated or Add-on 10/100/1000 Mbps Ethernet switch (2 RJ-45 connector ports) Partial Integrated 10/100 Mbps Ethernet with 2 RJ45 ports 60

61 Bluetooth or DECT interface IEEE 802.af POE support Via RJ-9 jack on IP phone. Also available via USB connected base station on PC Desktop IP Telephone Instrument Web Services Functionality Vendor Response Requirement: Provide a brief description of embedded Web-browser functionality for the proposed Professional and Executive IP desktop telephone instrument models by addressing each of the following: Browser protocols (XML, HTML, WAP, et al.) supported None supported in the telephone instrument. User PCs and Smartphones provide a richer experience and interface, and are available to the user both at the desktop and when out of the office Type of station user interaction with display screen The Polycom CX500, CX600, and CX3000 Models use navigation keys. The CX700 model uses a touch screen. All models provide backlit color screens Screen saver availability Lync Phone Edition offers no screen saver, but the phone automatically lowers display intensity upon inactivity Standard embedded applications, such as visual mailbox, personal directory/calendar, web page display, visual and/or audio alerts Visual and audio alerts, Personal directory, and Company Directory are provided. The Polycom CX500 and CX600 models also allow users to join scheduled Lync conference calls with a single click from the telephone interface Additional Optional Attributes/Capabilities USB connectivity to PC for desktop call control. Available wired and wireless headsets Hardware Vendor Response Requirement: 61

62 Provide a brief description of all hardware-based options not included as part of this RFP s requirements that are currently available with any of the four proposed models. Options may include additional key modules, display modules, cordless handset, wireless LAN module, USB interfaces, et al. Indicate the specific models that support the listed hardware options. The IP phone models described include an RJ-9 connector to allow connection of headsets and other compatible peripherals. In addition, as noted at the introduction of this section, Lync Server 2010 is designed to support rich communications using PC endpoints with attached USB devices. Customers have the option to take advantage of a wide range of USB endpoints instead of, or in addition to, IP phone endpoints, to increase flexibility and lower costs. Microsoft recommends the use of phones, headsets, webcams, and other devices that display the Optimized for Microsoft Lync word mark. This wood mark indicates that a communications device will provide a high quality user experience, with just works installation, rich audio and video, and a lower total cost of ownership. Optimized devices are provided by multiple vendors, and include: Headsets: With Lync, USB headsets allow workers, who spend much of their time at the computer, to talk while having both hands free to type. With a headset, there is no need to hold up a phone to your ear, and unlike a speakerphone, your conversation is private. Because these headsets are highly portable, you can easily pack them away for voice and video calls while traveling. Cordless headsets: Workers who spend much of their time on the phone can move freely, even away from their desk, while communicating through a cordless headset and Lync. Some certified Bluetooth headsets enable you to use the same highly-portable headset for calls on both your mobile phone and Lync. Speakerphones: Together with Lync, portable USB speakerphones allows workers who travel extensively to make hands-free phone calls from any hotel room, airport lounge, or other location where they are connected to the Internet. Webcams: Real-time video adds a new dimension to standard voice communications and enables users to pick up on nonverbal cues that might otherwise go unnoticed. Certified webcams offer high video quality in video calls and conferences, both with other Lync users as well as with third-party video conferencing systems that interoperate with Lync Server Software Vendor Response Requirement: Provide a brief description of any software-based options not included as part of this RFP s 62

63 requirements that are currently available with any of the four proposed models. Indicate the specific models that support the cited software options. Microsoft Lync is the bedrock of the information worker user experience and is mentioned throughout the response. Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Attendant is an intuitive call management application that helps receptionists and front-line business professionals handle and manage large numbers of simultaneous calls. The Attendant runs in a full screen window to provide a streamlined desktop experience for users while they handle a high volume of calls for themselves and their colleagues. Lync Mobile extends your work identity, as well as IM presence information, to mobile devices, giving out-of-office information workers the real-time communications capabilities they need. Microsoft Lync Web Access is a browser-based client designed to extend the reach of Lync Server 2010 by offering users flexibility and choice in the devices, platforms, and location from which they can connect. Lync Web Access delivers rich presence, instant messaging (IM), call management, and desktop sharing functionality and requires nothing more than Internet connectivity and a Web browser Encryption VoiceCon requires that its desktop IP telephone instruments support voice media and control signaling encryption using Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) or a comparable security standard Vendor Response Requirement Confirm that this requirement is satisfied for each of the four proposed models for both bearer and control transmission signals. Specify the type of encryption method deployed. Confirmed. Signaling uses TLS (Transport Layer Security) and all media uses SRTP (Secure Real-Time Transport Protocol) 4.3 Teleworker Options VoiceCon may require a desktop teleworker capability at some future date, be it a desktop IP telephone instrument or PC client soft phone or a combination of both. The proposed solution supports teleworking and remote working for all users in the configuration as described and priced. Any of the desktop instruments above may be used or teleworkers may use the Lync soft client with an Optimized USB headset, desktop set, or speaker phone. Home office setup is trivial: plug-in the desktop instrument or USB device. No VPN or other specialized hardware is required in the home office, and no action is required by the administrator beyond provisioning of the Edge Server in the customer DMZ. Encryption of signaling and media is performed in the client to provide security Desktop IP Telephone Instrument for Teleworking 63

64 A teleworker desktop IP telephone instrument should be comparable in function, capabilities, and attributes to the Professional model as described in Section 4.2.3, excluding Gigabit Ethernet switch connectors. The telephone instrument should be able to connect to the host communications system via VPN, SRTP or other secure connection mechanism. Vendor Response Requirement Confirm that your proposed teleworker desktop IP telephone instruments is comparable to the Professional model in design and functions as described above. Identify the model(s) and provide a brief description of the proposed model. Include an attached illustration/photograph (PPT format, only) slide of the proposed instrument, if different than the Professional model. Teleworker desktop IP telephone instruments are the same as listed above in section 4.2 which include the Polycom CX600 and CX700. Specifically address each of the following pertaining to the proposed teleworker instrument: If a standard Internet connection is acceptable for connecting to the host IPTS Confirmed. No hardware VPN is required If the connection requires an external gateway of any type; None is required in the home office. The headquarters infrastructure must include the Edge Server already included in this proposal Basic operational procedures required to log-in and log-out to the host communications system; Confirmed. Login process on Polycom CX600 will be PIN based unless they are tethered to the PC via USB, in which case it can be automatically logged in based on user password on the PC. Polycom CX700 will be password based via touch screen unless it is tethered to the PC via USB, in which case it can be automatically logged in based on user password on the PC How secure communications to the host IPTS is supported; Users must first log in to the telephone instrument to authenticate themselves. Once authentication has been established the solution uses certificate-based TLS for encrypting signaling traffic and SRTP for encrypting media traffic Local power requirements; 64

65 All proposed phone devices support AC and PoE power options If E911 calls to the teleworker s local PSAP are supported. Supported based on policy setting. The teleworker is required to manually enter their physical location PC Client Soft Phone for Teleworking A teleworker PC client soft phone should have comparable telephony service capabilities, i.e. programmable line/feature keys, to the Professional model in Section 4.2.3, including the capability to function and operate as a SIP client with Microsoft Outlook compatibility. Mandatory requirements include: multiple contact directories; LDAP/Active Directory access, detailed call logs (minimum 100 last incoming, outgoing, and missed calls); click to call; virtual fixed feature keys, speed dial keys, and line keys. Vendor Response Requirement Confirm that your proposed communications system supports a teleworker PC client soft phone as described above. Identify and provide a brief product description. Confirmed. Lync is a desktop application that supports a teleworker PC client soft phone as describe above, plus IM and presence, voice and video calling, unified conferencing, and desktop sharing. Lync helps end users be more productive by enabling them to communicate and collaborate easily with others in different locations or time zones using the capabilities noted. Integration with applications such as Microsoft Office and SharePoint enables users to communicate with context. Rather than re-create a telephone interface, include fixed feature keys, speed dial keys, and line keys, Lync takes advantage of the greater flexibility of the PC to provide an easier to use user interface. Include an attached illustration/photograph (PPT format, only) slide that accurately depicts an active call screen display. 4.4 Soft Phones VoiceCon requires two types of soft phones: station user client and attendant console client. Confirmed. Both are provided Station User Client The Station User soft phone must support comparable telephony service capabilities to the 65

66 Professional model in Section 4.2.3, including the capability to function and operate as a SIP client with Microsoft Outlook compatibility. The soft phone must support at minimum ten (10) programmable line/feature access; include an integrated directory application with at least two (2) distinct databases, e.g. system, personal; display presence icons for system subscribers; enable click to dial feature; and support IM functionality; detailed call logs (minimum 100 last incoming, outgoing, and missed calls); virtual fixed feature keys for Hold, Transfer, and Conference. Identify and describe the proposed Station User soft phone and confirm that is fully satisfies all of the above listed feature/functions. Also identify any other noteworthy attributes. Microsoft Lync integrates tightly with Microsoft Outlook and other desktop applications as well as SharePoint, allowing users to click-to-communicate from the applications they re working in. Microsoft Lync is a fully featured UC application that facilitates IM/Presence, voice, video, and web conferences, desktop sharing, and file sharing. Users can use Lync to escalate a conversation from instant messaging to voice and/or video with a single click. During conversations such as a voice call the console will display a context specific set of tools. For a voice call users will be given specific call control buttons such as End Call ; Hold and Transfer To. Transferred calls can be sent to another device, another number, or another active conversation. Lync can also be used to drag and drop other participants into a given call and escalate to a conference. Include an attached illustration/photograph (PPT format, only) slide that accurately depicts an active call screen display Attendant Console Client Attendant operator console requirements are to be satisfied using a PC client soft phone application. The attendant console application should include several distinct display fields, such as: incoming call queue and active caller information; release loop keys; feature/function keys; direct station selection (contact directory)/ busy lamp field; trunk groups; minor/major alarms; and messaging. GUI capabilities must support drag & click operations. At minimum the following information and data must be available in the softphone screen display: Number of calls in queue; Call appearance status; Calling/called party number/name; Trunk ID; COS/COR; Number of calls waiting; Call coverage status; Time/date; 66

67 Call duration; Text messages; System alarm notification Vendor Response Requirement Confirm the proposed attendant position softphone solution satisfies the stated requirements, and provide a brief description of the proposed softphone solution when programmed for attendant console operation. Include in the description technical PC requirements necessary to operate the soft client package. Also provide as an attachment a representative illustration or photograph (PPT format, only) that conveys the look and feel of an active call console display screen. Complete the following table for attendant soft console display requirements: Requirement Supported Notes Depicted graphically but user Number of calls in queue; will need to count. Call appearance status; Calling/called party number/name; Trunk ID; COS/COR; Number of calls waiting; Call coverage status; Time/date; Call duration; Text messages; System alarm notification No No No No* No Instant Messaging is not supported on phones, but is supported on independent or attached PCs and mobile phones. 4.5 IP Audio Conferencing Unit VoiceCon requires a limited number of desktop audio conferencing units with multidirectional, full duplex speakerphone operation. The unit must be native IP. Vendor Response Requirement Confirm the proposed solution supports an IP audio conferencing unit and provide a brief 67

68 description. Confirmed. The Polycom CX3000 is a high quality, full duplex, IP conference phone optimized for use in medium to large rooms. Like the other phones in this response, it is designed specifically for use with Lync Server 2010 and provides an optimized user experience. In addition, multiple vendors provide USB conferencing endpoints. This includes the Polycom CX5000, formerly Microsoft RoundTable, which brings video, voice, and content together into one seamless interactive session. It may be used in any location and delivers a unique, engaging 360-degree group video experience. Include as an attachment an illustration or photograph (PPT format, only) of the unit that accurately depicts an active call screen display 4.6 Mobile Cellular Extensions VoiceCon requires that the proposed IPTS support mobile cellular extensions for a number of its station users. Two types of mobile cellular extensions are required: basic and advanced. Key characteristics of all mobile cellular extensions should include One Number Reach, User Programmable Ringing Sequence, Call Records, and Single Voic Box Lync Server 2010 can be configured by the user to simultaneously ring another number. If a call goes unanswered, it is redirected to the user s Exchange UM mailbox where a personal attendant can be used for further options or to leave a message. This configuration can be modified from Lync, IP phones running Lync Phone Edition, Lync Mobile, or via a browser using Lync Web Access Basic Mobile Cellular Extension Option VoiceCon requires that the proposed communications system solution support a basic mobile cellular extension option. Vendor Response Requirement Confirm that your proposed communications system solution supports, at minimum, each of the specific mobile cellular extension capabilities listed below: Work with numerous cellular carrier networks and mobile handsets. Identify several mobile handsets by model that are supported, including support of RIM Blackberry and/or Apple iphone, if available; Confirmed. Simultaneous Ring and forwarding are carrier and cell phone manufacturer model agnostic The mobile handset must be able to receive incoming calls directed to the station user s primary system directory number, and calling party information 68

69 should be displayed at the mobile handset; Confirmed Calls placed from the mobile handset to internal communications system subscribers must appear to look like calls from the station user s primary desktop voice terminal, including calling party name/id display; Confirmed. The mobile device number should be in the Global Address List to ensure proper operation The mobile handset must be able to place calls through the IPTS to external stations users; Confirmed, with Lync Mobile on Windows Mobile phone IPTS system subscribers must be able to program incoming calls to ring simultaneously or sequentially at the desktop instrument and mobile handset as required; Confirmed Basic IPTS telephony features that should be supported in mobile extension mode, including Hold, Transfer, Conference, and Forward to IPTS voice mail system on busy/no-answer; Confirmed for conferencing (via single click join and PSTN dial-in), forwarding to voice mail system, and Hold (via mobile phone feature). Transfer is not supported Call detail records must be collected and stored for all mobile extension calls. Confirmed. Include a brief description of any hardware/software requirements, including peripheral application servers, necessary to support the option and provide a list of standard feature/function capabilities. The proposed solution as configured and priced provides the capabilities described Advanced Mobile Client To optimize the advantages of deploying the mobile cellular extension option VoiceCon also requires that the proposed communications system solution support an advanced mobile client option. The mobile client should include a user friendly GUI to facilitate and enhance mobile handset telephony service features and functions. At minimum the mobile client GUI should be capable of displaying: multi-line appearances; fixed and programmable feature keys; contact directories; call logs; incoming call identification 69

70 information; internal call diversion information; active call information. All features/functions supported by the basic mobile extension option (see above) must also be supported by the advanced mobile client option. Vendor Response Requirement Confirm that your proposed communications system solution supports an advanced mobile client option and that it satisfies the capabilities listed above (specify capabilities not satisfied). Provide a brief description of the mobile client s general capabilities and features/functions; List the cellular handset models and operating systems capable of supporting your mobile client option; Provide as an attachment one or two graphical illustration (PPT format, only) slides that are representative of the GUI screen display. Microsoft Lync Mobile is a robust and secure means of extending the functionality from the desktop to the mobile device. Feature Instant Messaging Single Number Reach Join Conference with a single click Enhanced presence information Global address list (GAL) support and contact lists with distribution groups Set call forwarding settings Multi-party IM conversations Notes Ability to send and receive instant messages to corporate, federated, and public internet users Ability to receive work calls on the mobile device and to initiate calls on the mobile device using work resources and phone number Ability to join an Lync Server 2010 audio conference from the calendar entry, without the need to enter conference numbers and PINs. Ability to set personal presence and to display presence of other contacts. Ability to search corporate directory. Ability to set call forwarding settings for corporate number even when out of the office Ability to conduct an instant messaging conference, with multiple participants. All capabilities are supported on Windows Mobile 6.X smartphones. In addition, IM and presence functionality is supported on: 70

71 Motorola Razr V3xx Nokia S40 series: Nokia 3120 Classic, Nokia 3600 slide, Nokia 5220/5310/5610 XpressMusic, Nokia 6212 classic, Nokia 6300i, Nokia 6301, Nokia 6500 classic, Nokia 6500 slide, Nokia 6600 fold, Nokia 6600 slide, Nokia 7210/7310/7510/7610 Super Nova, Nokia 7900 Prism, Nokia 8800 Arte. Nokia S60 series: Nokia E 51/63/66/71, Nokia N Other IP Telephone Instruments Include as an attachment a graphical illustration (PPT format, only) of IP telephone instrument models and add-on options not included as part of the proposed required system configuration. Aastra also provides IP telephone instruments Optimized for Lync. Additional information provided by Polycom and Aastra may be found in Appendix A. 71

72 5.0 Call Processing Features The proposed communications system should have a robust list of call processing features supporting station user, attendant, and system operations. 5.1 Station User Features It is required that the proposed communications system support the following list of station user features. Definitions for most listed features may be found in PBX Systems for IP Telephony (2002), written by Allan Sulkin and published by McGraw-Hill Professional. Table 9 Station User Features ADD-ON CONFERENCE (6 party or more) AUTOMATIC CALLBACK AUTOMATIC INTERCOM BRIDGED CALL APPEARANCE CALLBACK LAST INTERNAL CALLER CALL COVERAGE (PROGRAMMED) INTERNAL & EXTERNAL CALL PROGRAMMING TIME OF DAY/DAY OF WEEK CALL PROGRAMMING ANI/DNIS/CLID CALL PROGRAMMING INTERNAL CALLER ID PROGRAMMING CALL FORWARDING - ALL CALLS CALL FORWARDING - BUSY/DON'T ANSWER CALL FORWARDING - FOLLOW-ME CALL FORWARDING - OFF-PREMISES CALL FORWARDING: RINGING CALL HOLD CALL PARK CALL PICKUP - INDIVIDUAL CALL PICKUP - GROUP CALL TRANSFER 72

73 CALL WAITING CONSECUTIVE SPEED DIALING CONSULTATION HOLD CUSTOMER STATION REARRANGEMENT DIAL BY NAME DISCRETE CALL OBSERVING DISTINCTIVE RINGING DO NOT DISTURB ELAPSED CALL TIMER EMERGENCY ACCESS TO ATTENDANT EXECUTIVE ACCESS OVERRIDE EXECUTIVE BUSY OVERRIDE FACILITY BUSY INDICATION GROUP LISTENING HANDS-FREE DIALING HANDS-FREE ANSWER INTERCOM HELP INFORMATION ACCESS HOT LINE INCOMING CALL DISPLAY INDIVIDUAL ATTENDANT ACCESS INTERCOM DIAL LAST NUMBER REDIALED LINE LOCKOUT LOUDSPEAKER PAGING ACCESS MALICIOUS CALL TRACE MANUAL INTERCOM MANUAL ORIGINATING LINE SERVICE USER CONTROLLED MEET ME CONFERENCING (6-Party or more) MESSAGE WAITING ACTIVATION MULTI-PARTY ASSISTED CONFERENCE w/selective CALL DROP MUSIC ON HOLD OFF-HOOK ALARM PADLOCK 73

74 PAGING/CODE CALL ACCESS PERSONAL CO LINE (PRIVATE LINE) PERSONAL SPEED DIALING PERSONALIZED RINGING PRIORITY CALLING PRIVACY - ATTENDANT LOCKOUT PRIVACY - MANUAL EXCLUSION RECALL SIGNALING RINGER CUT-OFF RINGING TONE CONTROL SAVE AND REDIAL SECONDARY EXTENSION FEATURE ACTIVATION SEND ALL CALLS SILENT MONITORING STORE/REDIAL SUPERVISOR/ASSISTANT CALLING SUPERVISOR/ASSISTANT SPEED DIAL TEXT MESSAGES TIMED QUEUE TRUNK FLASH TRUNK-TO-TRUNK CONNECTIONS WHISPER PAGE Vendor Response Requirement Confirm that the proposed IPTS supports each of the above listed station user features. Identify any and all features that are not included as part of the standard call processing software generic package. Also identify any optional hardware requirements, e.g. CTI application server, to satisfy a specific listed feature, if it is or is not included as part of the standard generic software package. Feature Supported Notes ADD-ON CONFERENCE (6 party or more) AUTOMATIC CALLBACK No* Equivalent functionality is achieved via presence state tagging. The calling party is alerted when the called party s presence 74

75 state changes from On a Call to any other state, and may then call or contact the called party via IM other means. AUTOMATIC INTERCOM No* Instant Messaging may be used to send non-obtrusive, immediate messages to all users logged into Lync, both at and away from their desk phones. In addition, third party analog overhead paging system may be used. BRIDGED CALL APPEARANCE Via Team Call and Delegation CALLBACK LAST INTERNAL CALLER CALL COVERAGE (PROGRAMMED) INTERNAL & EXTERNAL CALL PROGRAMMING Via Exchange 2010 personal auto attendant. TIME OF DAY/DAY OF WEEK CALL Via Exchange 2010 personal auto attendant. PROGRAMMING ANI/DNIS/CLID CALL PROGRAMMING Via Exchange 2010 personal auto attendant. INTERNAL CALLER ID PROGRAMMING Via Exchange 2010 personal auto attendant. CALL FORWARDING - ALL CALLS CALL FORWARDING - BUSY/DON'T ANSWER CALL FORWARDING - FOLLOW-ME Simul-ring may be set from Lync, browser (using Lync Web Access), or from a Windows Mobile phone. CALL FORWARDING - OFF-PREMISES CALL FORWARDING: RINGING Users may re-direct the incoming call during the ring period to voice mail, IM, or one of their define phone numbers CALL HOLD CALL PARK CALL PICKUP - INDIVIDUAL Via Team Call CALL PICKUP - GROUP Via Team Call. CALL TRANSFER CALL WAITING CONSECUTIVE SPEED DIALING This is possible using normalization rules, but not recommended. Identity-based dialing using contact lists and corporate GAL search simplifies reaching any contact. CONSULTATION HOLD CUSTOMER STATION REARRANGEMENT No administrative action is required. Users may either physically move their endpoint or login to a different endpoint. DIAL BY NAME DISCRETE CALL OBSERVING No* Not provide by Office Communication Server, but can be added with third party 75

76 DISTINCTIVE RINGING DO NOT DISTURB ELAPSED CALL TIMER contact center solution. EMERGENCY ACCESS TO ATTENDANT No* A specific emergency access key is not provided, but users may call any Attendant or other user and specify high priority. Audio and visual call indications are given. EXECUTIVE ACCESS OVERRIDE EXECUTIVE BUSY OVERRIDE FACILITY BUSY INDICATION GROUP LISTENING No* Users may take advantage of built-in recording to enable post-call group listening, or may create an ad hoc conference to enable real time listening. HANDS-FREE DIALING HANDS-FREE ANSWER INTERCOM HELP INFORMATION ACCESS HOT LINE INCOMING CALL DISPLAY INDIVIDUAL ATTENDANT ACCESS INTERCOM DIAL No* IM may be used in place of intercom functions to reach users both at and away from their desktop phones. LAST NUMBER REDIALED LINE LOCKOUT LOUDSPEAKER PAGING ACCESS This can be done via integration of third party (e.g., Valcom) paging system as an analog device. MALICIOUS CALL TRACE MANUAL INTERCOM No* IM may be used in place of intercom functions to reach users both at and away from their desktop phones. MANUAL ORIGINATING LINE SERVICE USER CONTROLLED MEET ME CONFERENCING (6- Party or more) MESSAGE WAITING ACTIVATION MULTI-PARTY ASSISTED CONFERENCE w/selective CALL DROP MUSIC ON HOLD OFF-HOOK ALARM PADLOCK 76

77 PAGING/CODE CALL ACCESS This can be done through third party paging hardware. PERSONAL CO LINE (PRIVATE LINE) PERSONAL SPEED DIALING Via Contact lists. PERSONALIZED RINGING Users can specify ringing patterns for their own Lync endpoint. PRIORITY CALLING PRIVACY - ATTENDANT LOCKOUT N/A Multi-party connections are not held on the Attendant console, and therefore lockout is not necessary. PRIVACY - MANUAL EXCLUSION N/A Multi-line appearance functionality is provided for incoming calls via the Team Call and Delegation capabilities, but does not allow users to seize in process calls. RECALL SIGNALING RINGER CUT-OFF RINGING TONE CONTROL SAVE AND REDIAL SECONDARY EXTENSION FEATURE ACTIVATION Planned to be available via Resource Kit. SEND ALL CALLS SILENT MONITORING No* Built-in conferencing capability plus mute mode may be used to enable supervisor monitoring. Integrated third party contact center solutions can provide full capability. STEP CALL No* Presence indicators allow attendants and other station users to determine that a particular station user is busy before dialing, and to instead choose an available station user. STORE/REDIAL SUPERVISOR/ASSISTANT CALLING SUPERVISOR/ASSISTANT SPEED DIAL TEXT MESSAGES Via PC or mobile phone interface. TIMED QUEUE TRUNK FLASH TRUNK-TO-TRUNK CONNECTIONS No No WHISPER PAGE No* Instant messaging may be used instead. In addition, integrated third party contact center solutions can provide full capability. 77

78 5.1.1 Additional Station User Features Vendor Response Requirement As an option provide a separate WORD file an Attachment A listing of all standard generic software station user features included with your IPTS solution. Highlight UC capabilities here, both as summary in text and as separate appendix All Microsoft Lync Server 2010 users will have a full set of unified communications functions available. For more information please reference Section Attendant Operator Features It is required that the proposed communications system support the following list of attendant operator features. Definitions for most listed features may be found in PBX Systems for IP Telephony (2002), written by Allan Sulkin and published by McGraw-Hill Professional. Table 10 Attendant Operator Features AUTO-MANUAL SPLITTING AUTO-START/DON'T SPLIT BACK-UP ALERTING BUSY VERIFICATION OF TERMINALS/TRUNKS CALL WAITING CAMP-ON CONFERENCE CONTROL OF TRUNK GROUP ACCESS DELAY ANNOUNCEMENT DIRECT STATION SELECTION w/blf DIRECT TRUNK GROUP SELECTION DISPLAY INTERCEPT TREATMENT INTERPOSITION CALL & TRANSFER INTRUSION (BARGE-IN) OVERFLOW 78

79 OVERRIDE OF DIVERSION FEATURES PAGING/CODE CALL ACCESS PRIORITY QUEUE RECALL RELEASE LOOP OPERATION SERIAL OPERATION STRAIGHT FORWARD OUTWARD COMPLETION THROUGH DIALING TRUNK-TO-TRUNK TRANSFER TRUNK GROUP BUSY/WARNING INDICATOR TRUNK ID Vendor Response Requirement Confirm that the proposed IPTS supports each of the above listed attendant features. Identify any and all features that are not included as part of the standard call processing software generic package. Also identify any optional hardware requirements, e.g. CTI application server, to satisfy a specific listed feature, if it is or is not included as part of the standard generic software package. Feature Supported? Notes AUTO-MANUAL SPLITTING AUTO-START/DON'T SPLIT N/A Attendants do not use a console dial pad to activate calls, but instead use a GUI interface on the PC. BACK-UP ALERTING BUSY VERIFICATION OF TERMINALS/TRUNKS CALL WAITING No* User terminal status may be determined via Presence. Trunk status is reported via System Center Operations Manager or other monitoring tool. CAMP-ON N/A CAMP-ON is not required for Attendants as calls may be presented for disposition even to called parties currently on a call (there is no concept of lines to limit how many active and on hold calls a given user may have). If the Attendant requires greater control of the call, presence state tagging may be used to alert the Attendant when the presence state of the called party changes (from In a Call to any other value). CONFERENCE 79

80 CONTROL OF TRUNK GROUP ACCESS No* Trunk group access may be restricted based on administrator controlled dialing rules, but not via the Attendant. DELAY ANNOUNCEMENT Call forwarding settings or Response Group timeout may be used to direct delayed callers to the SIP URI of a Response Group queue with a delay announcement. DIRECT STATION SELECTION w/blf DIRECT TRUNK GROUP SELECTION No* Trunk group selection is controlled by administrator defined routes, not the Attendant. DISPLAY INTERCEPT TREATMENT Intercept announcement service may be configured to route calls to an Attendant or Attendant Response Group (hunt group) if desired INTERPOSITION CALL & TRANSFER Calls are not held on the Attendant, but can be transferred back to the Attendant for additional routing. INTRUSION (BARGE-IN) No IM may be used instead of audio intrusion. OVERFLOW OVERRIDE OF DIVERSION FEATURES No* Attendants cannot override diversion features set by users. PAGING/CODE CALL ACCESS 3 rd party add on hardware PRIORITY QUEUE Response Group functionality may be used to implement priority queues. RECALL Calls are not held on the console, but Attendants may be recalled at any time. RELEASE LOOP OPERATION SERIAL OPERATION No* The called party can transfer the call back to the attendant console for rerouting STRAIGHT FORWARD OUTWARD COMPLETION THROUGH DIALING Attendant can place external call, add internal resource to the call, then drop off of the call TRUNK-TO-TRUNK TRANSFER TRUNK GROUP BUSY/WARNING INDICATOR No* Monitoring and warning indicators are provided by System Center Operations Manager and other tools and handled by administrators rather than Attendants. TRUNK ID No* Gateway or SIP trunk ID may be captured in call records, but is not visible to Attendants. 80

81 5.2.1 Additional Attendant Operator Features Vendor Response Requirement As an option provide as a separate WORD file an Attachment B listing of all standard generic software attendant operation features included with your IPTS solution. 5.3 System Features It is required that the proposed communications system support the following list of system features. Definitions for most listed features may be found in PBX Systems for IP Telephony (2002), written by Allan Sulkin and published by McGraw-Hill Professional. Table 11 System Features ACCOUNT CODES ADMINISTERED CONNECTIONS ANSWER DETECTION AUTHORIZATION CODES AUTOMATED ATTTENDANT AUTOMATIC CALL DISTRIBUTION AUTOMATIC ALTERNATE ROUTING AUTOMATIC CAMP-ON AUTOMATIC CIRCUIT ASSURANCE AUTOMATIC NUMBER ID AUTOMATIC RECALL AUTOMATIC ROUTE SELECTION - BASIC AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION MEASUREMENT SYSTEM CALL-BY-CALL SERVICE SELECTION CALL DETAIL RECORDING CALL LOG CENTRALIZED ATTENDANT SERVICE CLASSES OF RESTRICTION (SPECIFY #) CLASSES OF SERVICE (SPECIFY #) CODE CALLING ACCESS CONTROLLED PRIVATE CALLS 81

82 DELAYED RINGING DIAL PLAN DIALED NUMBER ID SERVICE DIRECT DEPARTMENT CALLING DIRECT INWARD DIALING DID CALL WAITING DIRECT INWARD SYSTEM ACCESS DIRECT INWARD TERMINATION DIRECT OUTWARD DIALING E-911 SERVICE SUPPORT EXTENDED TRUNK ACCESS FACILITY RESTRICTION LEVELS FACILITY TEST CALLS FIND ME- FOLLOW ME FORCED ENTRY ACCOUNT CODES HOTELING (/PERSONAL ROAMING) HOUSE PHONE HUNTING INTEGRATED SYSTEM DIRECTORY LEAST COST ROUTING (Tariff-based, TOD/DOW) MULTIPLE LISTED DIRECTORY NUMBERS MUSIC ON HOLD NIGHT SERVICE FIXED NIGHT SERVICE - PROGRAMMABLE OFF-HOOK ALARM OFF-PREMISES STATION (OPX) OPEN SYSTEM SPEED DIAL PASSWORD AGING POWER FAILURE TRANSFER STATION RECENT CHANGE HISTORY RESTRICTION FEATURES: CONTROLLED FULLY RESTRICTED 82

83 INWARD/OUTWARD MISCELLANEOUS TERMINAL MISCELLANEOUS TRUNK TOLL/CODE TRUNK VOICE TERMINAL (IN/OUT) ROUTE ADVANCE SECURITY VIOLATION NOTIFICATION SHARED TENANT SERVICE SNMP SUPPORT SYSTEM SPEED DIAL SYSTEM STATUS REPORT TIME OF DAY ROUTING TIMED REMINDER TRUNK ANSWER ANY STATION TRUNK CALLBACK QUEUING UNIFORM CALL DISTRIBUTION UNIFORM DIAL PLAN VIRTUAL EXTENSION VOICE MESSAGE SYSTEM INTERFACE Vendor Response Requirement Confirm that the proposed IPTS supports each of the above listed system features. Identify any and all features that are not included as part of the standard call processing software generic package. Also identify any optional hardware requirements, e.g. CTI application server, to satisfy a specific listed feature, if it is or is not included as part of the standard generic software package. Feature Supported Notes ACCOUNT CODES No Can be done via third Party Application ADMINISTERED CONNECTIONS N/A Administered connections are typically used for connectivity of data endpoints over ISDN DS1 or other circuits. Lync Server 2010 does not control data networking. 83

84 ANSWER DETECTION Network answer supervision is generally used to ensure the accuracy of call duration information. The use of DSP-based answer detection to accurately reflect duration for calls that do not receive network answer supervision is gateway dependent. AUTHORIZATION CODES N/A Lync Server 2010 relies on identity based authorization, and allows users to login to any IP terminal based on their identity. This eliminates the need for DTMF based authorization codes for most customers. If required, third party solutions available from Enabling Technologies and others enable DTMF-based authorization codes. AUTOMATED ATTTENDANT Via Exchange Auto-Attendant AUTOMATIC CALL DISTRIBUTION Via Response Groups AUTOMATIC ALTERNATE ROUTING AUTOMATIC CAMP-ON N/A An incoming DID call is presented to the user for disposition regardless of whether the user is currently on a call. (There is no concept of a line to limit the number of active and on hold calls for a given user.) Users may disposition the incoming call in the most appropriate matter: by answering (existing call is automatically placed on hold) or by redirecting to voice mail. AUTOMATIC CIRCUIT ASSURANCE Via SCOM alerts and reports based on Monitoring server thresholds at a gateway level. AUTOMATIC NUMBER ID Reverse number lookup and Calling Party Name Display are supported. AUTOMATIC RECALL Via safe transfer capability. AUTOMATIC ROUTE SELECTION - BASIC AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION MEASUREMENT SYSTEM CALL-BY-CALL SERVICE SELECTION CALL DETAIL RECORDING No Via SCOM alerts and reports based on Monitoring server thresholds at a gateway level. CALL LOG Via Recent Contacts in Lync and Conversation History in Office Outlook. CENTRALIZED ATTENDANT SERVICE CLASSES OF RESTRICTION (SPECIFY #) Via policy and user routing profiles with no practical limit. CLASSES OF SERVICE (SPECIFY #) Via policy and user routing profiles with no practical limit. CODE CALLING ACCESS No CONTROLLED PRIVATE CALLS No* Controlled Private Call functionality is not 84

85 natively provided, but could be added via combination of routing rules and third party IVR solution. DELAYED RINGING Via dialed user call forwarding settings. DIAL PLAN DIALED NUMBER ID SERVICE DIRECT DEPARTMENT CALLING Via Response Group with parallel routing or via Team Call. DIRECT INWARD DIALING DID CALL WAITING DIRECT INWARD SYSTEM ACCESS All features may be access remotely using the Internet DIRECT INWARD TERMINATION DIRECT OUTWARD DIALING E-911 SERVICE SUPPORT EXTENDED TRUNK ACCESS FACILITY RESTRICTION LEVELS Restrictions are applied at the user level, not the device level FACILITY TEST CALLS Scheduled synthetic transactions may be used to test operations at an Lync Server 2010 pool level, and administrators may also perform manual facility test calls. FIND ME- FOLLOW ME FORCED ENTRY ACCOUNT CODES No* May be done using third party add-on. HOTELING (/PERSONAL ROAMING) HOUSE PHONE HUNTING Via Response Groups. INTEGRATED SYSTEM DIRECTORY LEAST COST ROUTING (Tariff-based, TOD/DOW) MULTIPLE LISTED DIRECTORY NUMBERS MUSIC ON HOLD Tariff-based routing is under control of administrator. TOD and DOW are not supported. NIGHT SERVICE -FIXED Via use of Response Group front-end to Attendants with after-hours routing to Night Service Response Group. NIGHT SERVICE - PROGRAMMABLE Via use of after-hours forwarding on Attendant Console. OFF-HOOK ALARM Tone generated at device level, not system level OFF-PREMISES STATION (OPX) * Via Edge Server and Internet connection. OPEN SYSTEM SPEED DIAL * May be done via call normalization rules, but identity based dialing, contact lists, and corporate directory search are recommended instead. 85

86 PASSWORD AGING POWER FAILURE TRANSFER STATION Media gateway can provide this feature RECENT CHANGE HISTORY RESTRICTION FEATURES: CONTROLLED FULLY RESTRICTED INWARD/OUTWARD MISCELLANEOUS TERMINAL MISCELLANEOUS TRUNK TOLL/CODE TRUNK VOICE TERMINAL (IN/OUT) Via user policy and routes. ROUTE ADVANCE * Automatic selection of alternate facilities occurs for all calls. SECURITY VIOLATION NOTIFICATION Via PC-based security policy enforcement. SHARED TENANT SERVICE No SNMP SUPPORT * System Center Operations Manager can generate alerts based on SNMP traps from third party equipment. SYSTEM SPEED DIAL Administrators may use dial plan normalization rules to define speed dial codes, and users may also dial by name. The latter is the recommended approach. SYSTEM STATUS REPORT TIME OF DAY ROUTING TIMED REMINDER The developer interfaces enable the system to be programmed to automatically contact users at specified times, and to take a variety of actions including but not limited to playing a recorded announcement or music. TRUNK ANSWER ANY STATION, via Night Service Response Group configured to ring all stations. TRUNK CALLBACK QUEUING No UNIFORM CALL DISTRIBUTION Via Response Groups. UNIFORM DIAL PLAN VIRTUAL EXTENSION * Lync Server 2010 does not require virtual extensions for secondary extensions on voice terminals since there is no limit to the number of active and on hold calls for a given user or terminal. However, Response Groups effectively present virtual extensions in the form of SIP URIs and (optional) DID numbers. 86

87 VOICE MESSAGE SYSTEM INTERFACE Additional System Features Vendor Response Requirement As an option provide as a separate WORD file an Attachment C listing of all standard generic software system features included with your IPTS solution. Please refer to section 8. All features listed there are included in the OCS solution at no extra charge. 87

88 6.0.0 Systems Management The proposed communications system must be administered, monitored, and maintained through operations organized into five functional areas: Fault, Configuration, Accounting, Performance and Security. All of the systems and devices in your proposed solution should attempt to provide comprehensive operations in each area. Operations for each area must be accessible through one interface regardless of the underlying system or device being managed. If a proxy server is used for intermediate operations, there must be at most one central database for each functional area. Systems or devices may be accessed individually if no proxy server is used. EXCEPTION: Optional call center solutions may provide its own set of FCAPS management operations separate from the general enterprise communications solution. Any supplied management applications must support decentralized access from any distributed PC client across the HQ LAN/WAN infrastructure and remote dial-up PC clients. It is also desirable for the applications to support a browser based user interface for intensive remote operations. Any supplied management applications may integrate information from the five functional areas at the presentation level. Vendor Response Requirement Confirm and verify that each functional area required to manage the proposed IPTS network is supported by a single, centrally located proxy server or, alternatively, each system or device supports a single API for a given functional area. Provide a brief description of the proposed management system, including its major hardware and software components. Specify if the proposed systems management server and software is available as a bundled offering, only, or if VoiceCon is responsible for providing its own server hardware to operate the software. If third party technology is used, please indicate which components are managing your solution in a vendor agnostic fashion. Confirmed. Management in all five areas takes advantage of commonly used Microsoft tools: Faults, performance, and security are monitored using Microsoft System Center Operations Manager (SCOM). System Center Operations Manager allows customers to monitor their entire infrastructure, including communications and other workloads, with a single system, and acts as a proxy between users and the systems being managed to control the scope of permitted activities on target systems. o SCOM provides end-to-end service management for a wide variety of Microsoft products, including Microsoft Exchange Server, Lync Server 2010, Windows Server, SQL Server, SharePoint Server, and Forefront (security). o SCOM supports for WS-Management, Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), and partner solutions to allow for non-microsoft systems and hardware to be included in 88

89 service monitoring within Operations Manager. For example, several gateway vendors currently offer or have announced SNMP support for their gateway products; SNMP traps from these and other products can be used to raise alerts in SCOM 15. Configuration for Exchange Server and Lync Server 2010 are done using PowerShell, an interactive command shell and scripting language for Windows system administrator. Administrators may also use the Exchange Management Console, or the Exchange and Lync Server 2010 control panels. Microsoft SQL Server reporting tools are used for accounting. In addition, Lync Server 2010 provides built-in reports which may be accessed via a web browser. This proposal does not include hardware to run System Center Operations Manager System/Port Capacity Vendor Response Requirement Identify the maximum number of independent IPTS communications systems that can be supported by the proposed systems management server, and the maximum number of user ports that can be passively and actively supported. There is no programmatic limit to the number of independent Unified Communications systems (consisting of Exchange and Lync Server 2010) that can be managed using the tools described above. Further, the management tools impose no limit on the number of users that can be configured and managed Terminal Capacity Vendor Response Requirement Identify the maximum number of configurable and active PC client terminals that can be configured as part of the proposed management server system. There is no limit to the number of configurable and active PC client terminals that may be configured to access the proposed management server system. Access of course should be limited to appropriate individuals. Systems Center Operations Manager leverages Active Directory to manage user and groupbased access, and uses role-based access mechanisms to restrict access to views and tasks through the console Support for Open Standards The proposed management system should provide support for open protocols, such as LDAP and SNMP. The proposed management system should use open encoding schemes, such as XML and HTML. Vendor Response Requirement 15 See 89

90 Briefly discuss the open standards included in your proposed management system that supports administration, operations and maintenance services. Indicate if any protocols or encoding schemes are de facto standards or are being implemented publicly by other vendors. Active Directory is LDAP compliant. 16 Systems Center Operations Manager can be used to monitor for SNMP traps. 17 Both are widely used within enterprises. XML is a foundational technology used broadly across Microsoft products, including Active Directory and System Center Operations Manager, for information exchange and interoperability User Interface & Tools The management system should be operated using by GUI tools, formatted screens, pull down menus, valid entry choices, templates, batch processing & transactions scheduling, and database import/export. In general you should support a user interface set for each functional area: fault, Configuration, Performance and Security. The constituent users of each of these areas are distinct and your interface for each should optimize the experience for that constituent group. Management applications my integrate information from several management areas to enhance one functional area being managed. Vendor Response Requirement Confirmed. Systems Center Operations Manager provides a GUI console used for fault, performance, and security monitoring. Both command-line (PowerShell) and GUI (control panel) interface options are provided for Exchange and Lync Server 2010 configuration. Role based administrative controls (RBAC) are provided for both command-line and GUI interfaces, and may be used for granular customization of the capabilities available to different constituent groups and individual administrators Administration Functions The proposed systems management solution must support: station user moves, adds, and changes; trunk group definitions and individual trunk circuit programming; voice terminal parameters; call restriction assignments; class of service definitions and assignments; password resets; customer profile database; ARS routing tables; group definitions and assignments; first digit tables; dial plan; feature access codes; paging/code call zone assignments. 16 See Active Directory s LDAP Compliance at 17 See 18 See XML at for more detailed information. 90

91 Vendor Response Requirement Confirm the proposed systems management solution supports each of the listed administrative functions. Identify any functions not supported. Confirmed for each listed function, with an alternative approach for feature access codes. User and group policies are employed to authorize and control feature access on the basis of identity Users may login to any PC or IP phone device using their corporate identity and credentials in order to gain feature access. Paging/code call zone assignments may be stored as part of user group membership information in Active Directory. Group Assignments The administration subsystem must support each of the following group definitions and assignments Abbreviated Dialing (System, Group, Enhanced) Hunt Groups Call Coverage Answer Groups Pickup Groups Intercom Groups Terminating Extension Groups Trunk Groups Vendor Response Requirement Confirm administration support for each of the listed group definitions. List any and all groups not supported by the administration subsystem. Confirmed. 6.2 Facilities Performance Management & Reports The management system must be able to collect, analyze, and provide reports for a variety of system operations. Confirmed. The monitoring capability natively captures call detail records (CDR) for communication sessions, including internal and external calls, conference calls, and instant messages, and Quality of Experience (QoE) records for voice and video interactions. The CDR and QoE information is stored in a Microsoft SQL Server database and is accessible via both built-in reports and traditional SQL query 91

92 methods and tools. Detailed information on the database schema for Office Communications Server 2007 R2 is available at Built-in reports include user registration reports, peer-to-peer activity reports, conferencing activity reports, dial-in conferencing reports, Response Group Service reports, and IP phone inventory reports. Media Quality reports include a summary report, server performance report, location and device reports, and a variety of diagnostic reports that may be used to pinpoint network and other problems Basic Trunk Usage and Traffic Trunk traffic records should be kept for all inbound and outbound calls, identifying the trunk group and trunk channel, time and duration of call. Vendor Response Requirement Confirmed. Lync Server 2010 CDRs capture the requested information to the gateway level. Audicodes, Dialogic, Ferrari, NET, and other qualified gateway vendors provide the ability to capture trunk and channel detail Individual Trunk Line Counters Vendor Response Requirement Confirm that individual trunk line counters measure and report: Number of call attempts; Number of blocked trunk lines; Traffic intensity (Erlangs). Confirmed for both SIP and TDM trunks. Lync Server 2010 CDRs capture the requested information to the SIP trunk or gateway level. Audicodes, Dialogic, Ferrari, NET, and other gateway vendors provide the ability to capture trunk and channel detail. Traffic intensity may be calculated to the gateway level using Lync Server 2010 CDR information, and at trunk level using gateway vendor captured information Outgoing Trunk Route Counters Vendor Response Requirement Confirm that outgoing trunk route counters measure and report: Number of outgoing attempts; Number of successful calls overflowing to another route; Number of lost calls due to blocking; Number of blocked trunks in measurement; Traffic intensity (Erlangs). Confirmed for both SIP and TDM trunks with the exception of successful calls that overflowed to another route. Lync Server 2010 CDRs capture the requested information to the gateway level, including standard SIP response codes associated with errors/failures that indicate call rejection at a gateway level due to blocking.. Audicodes, Dialogic, Ferrari, NET, and other gateway vendors provide the ability to capture trunk and channel detail. Traffic intensity may be calculated using information captured. 92

93 CDR records do not distinguish between outgoing, incoming, and both way trunks. This may be done manually by administrators based on knowledge of trunk configuration Incoming Trunk Route Counters Vendor Response Requirement Confirm that incoming trunk route counters measure and report: Number of incoming call attempts; Number of trunks in the measurement; Number of blocked trunks in the measurement; Traffic intensity (Erlangs). Confirmed for both SIP and TDM trunks. Lync Server 2010 CDRs capture the requested information to the gateway level, including incoming calls at a gateway level. This can be combined with knowledge of gateway density to determine blocked trunks. Traffic intensity may be calculated using information captured Both Way Trunk Route Counters Vendor Response Requirement Confirm that both way trunk route counters measure and report: Number of incoming call attempts; Number of trunks in the measurement; Number of blocked trunks in the measurement; Traffic intensity (Erlangs). Confirmed as per and above. CDR records do not distinguish between outgoing, incoming, and both way trunks. This may be done manually by administrators based on knowledge of trunk configuration Attendant Consoles Attendant counters should measure all attendants in the system, or individual attendant positions. Record measurements include: number of answered calls; number of calls initiated by attendant; accumulated handling time for all calls; accumulated handling time for recalls; accumulated handling time for calls initiated by attendant; accumulated total delay time for recalls; number of answered recalls; number of abandoned attendant recalls; accumulated waiting time for abandoned calls to an attendant; accumulated waiting time for abandoned recalls, and accumulated response time for all types of calls. Vendor Response Requirement Confirm that attendant counters measure and provide reports for each of the listed parameters. Identify any of the listed attendant parameters which are not measured. Confirmed for all parameters except for recall associated parameters and accumulated waiting and response times. CDR records identify which calls are handled by an Attendant; as such, any information in the CDR may be queried with an Attendant specific filter Stations 93

94 Station counters should measure individual stations or station group traffic statistics, including: number calls; number of stations in measurement; number of blocked stations in measurement; traffic rating (Erlangs). Vendor Response Requirement Confirm that station counters measure and provide reports for each of the listed parameters. Identify any of the listed station parameters which are not measured. Confirmed. Erlangs are not directly report but may be calculated Traffic distribution When applicable, traffic distribution across the internal switching network should be measured for each local TDM bus, traffic over each highway bus, and traffic across the center stage switch by each switch network interface link. Vendor Response Requirement Confirm that traffic distribution is measured and reported for each switch network element listed, if applicable to your IPTS solution. Identify what is not measured and reported. Not applicable, as the solution does not include the listed network elements Busy hour traffic analysis Busy hour traffic analysis measurements for trunks, stations, and the internal switch network should be performed and reported for any one hour interval for any time of the day. Vendor Response Requirement Confirm busy hour traffic measurements for trunks, stations, and the internal switch network for any one hour interval for any time of the day. Identify what is not measured and reported. Confirmed. CDR information may be used to summarize traffic for trunks (at the gateway level) and stations for any period desired. In addition, traffic level thresholds may be defined in order to raise alerts via System Center Operations Manager. Internal switch network measurements are not applicable Erlang Ratings Erlang rating should be calculated and reported for individual trunk lines, each trunk group, and all trunk groups. CCS ratings should be calculated for individual stations or groups of stations. 94

95 Vendor Response Requirement Confirm Erlang and CCS rating calculations and reporting for each of the listed items. Confirmed. CDR information may be used to calculate Erlang and CCS ratings at the station and gateway level, with any grouping possible via SQL query. Trunk line level calculation is possible using data provided at the gateway level Processor Occupancy System call processing performance is measured in terms of Busy Hour Calls (Attempts and Completions). The percent of maximum call processing capacity should be reported for programmed time intervals. Threshold reports should also be generated to monitor system load factors. Vendor Response Requirement Confirm measurement and reporting of processor occupancy and threshold levels Confirmed. CDR information may be used to summarize traffic for trunks (at the gateway level) and stations for any period desired. In addition, traffic level thresholds may be defined in order to raise alerts via System Center Operations Manager. System Center Operations Manager may also be used to monitor processor occupancy as measured by CPU loading Threshold Alarms For a variety of system hardware devices it should be possible to define a congestion threshold value, and measure generated alarms. Alarms are recorded in an Alarm Record Log. The types of devices that can be tracked include: tone receivers; DTMF senders and receivers; conference bridges; trunk routes; modem groups. Vendor Response Requirement Confirm recording and reporting of alarms for each of the listed devices. Identify what is not tracked, measured and reported. Confirmed where applicable. Lync Server 2010 CDR and QoE information may be used to generate alerts based on failure conditions for calls and conferences, or for failures in common equipment that would affect conferencing services. These alerts and SNMP traps from third party devices may be presented and logged in Systems Center Operations Manager as described above. Tone receiver, DTMF senders and receiver, and modem groups are not applicable to the proposed solution Feature Usage Feature usage counters for selected station features, e.g., call forward, call transfer, add- 95

96 on conference, and attendant system features, e.g., recall, break-in, should be measured and reported for programmed intervals. Vendor Response Requirement Confirm recording and reporting of feature usage counters for both station and attendant operations. Provide a listing of tracked features. Confirmed. CDR information captures the duration of each session or conference, and the media types (IM, voice, video, application sharing, file transfer) used. Conference records also capture participants with join and leave times VoIP Monitoring The management system should collect and store data to track usage and performance data of IP gateway devices, IP phones, and VoIP intercom/trunk calls. VoIP information reports may include: tracking of IP gateway devices and calls that pass through each gateway; gateway congestion; assignment of services or routes to gateways; tracking of phone numbers dialed or originating off-site numbers; and IP gateway addresses. Confirmed. The proposed solution captures Quality of Experience (QoE) records that measure audio and video quality for each real time session, and which can be used for diagnosing network and other problems. In addition, the proposed solution provides the following alerting capabilities: Pool layer: synthetic transactions may be scheduled to run at regular intervals in order to confirm the ability to successfully end to end communications sessions, including VoIP, within a given Lync Server 2010 pool. A Pool layer alert could indicate, among other things, configuration issues within the pool or the concurrent failure of all components of a particular type. End to End Service layer: thresholds on statistics from the CDR and QoE databases may be set to alert administrators when user capabilities or experience are degraded. For example, thresholds could be set to raise an alert if MOS scores from the QoE database for a given population fall below a specified level, or if the number of failed call attempts during an interval exceeds a defined amount. A Service layer alert could indicate, among other things, an infrastructure issue such as insufficient network capacity to a given set of users, or insufficient trunk resources given current usage patterns VoIP Call Recording The proposed management system should track and record the following VoIP call parameters: CODEC Frame size 96

97 Packets per frame Call type State of echo canceller State of silence suppression Total packets sent Total packets received Total packets late Total packets early Current jitter buffer level Maximum jitter buffer level Minimum jitter buffer level Packets discarded Silence frames inserted Effective packet loss Service state of each port Vendor Response Requirement Confirm that the proposed management system tracks and records each of the above listed VoIP call parameters. Identify any parameters not tracked and recorded. Confirmed. The QoE records capture this information and present the data in an easy to use Mean Opinion Score (MOS) metric. Additionally, the QoE records capture information about user location, network speed, devices used, and other attributes important to troubleshooting VoIP Media Gateway Monitoring and Recording The proposed management system should track and record the following VoIP media gateway parameters: Codec Frame size Number of active calls Total Calls Total Successful calls Total Connected calls Total RNA calls Total user Busy calls. Top ten termination reasons Average call hold time Maximum call hold time Average BHCA Maximum BHCA Top 10 busy minutes Number of Call signaling messages of type (x) received Number of Call signaling messages of type (x) sent Average response time for call signaling message type (x) 97

98 Current active calls, including ANI, DNIS, call start time, call type, current connect time, etc. Vendor Response Requirement Confirm that the proposed management system tracks and records each of the above listed VoIP media gateway parameters. Identify any parameters not tracked and recorded. Confirmed. CDR records identify the specific gateway used for each call, where applicable, and may be used to determine the above parameters VoIP Transmission Reports The proposed management system should track and record the following VoIP transmission parameters: Timestamp Information - start and stop time for the metric measurement interval Stream Identification Information - differentiating between multiple streams in which a given endpoint may be involved at a point in time Source - IP address, RTP port, and SSRC for monitored transmission stream Destination - destination IP address, RTP port, and SSRC for monitored transmission stream Codec Information Line info for vocoder used for session Sample Rate - rate, in kilohertz (khz), at which the source audio is sampled Frame Size - RTP packet size (bytes of the RTP frame) Packet Loss Concealment - indicator of whether packet loss concealment is used Vendor Response Requirement Confirm that the proposed management system tracks and records each of the above listed VoIP transmission parameters. Identify any parameters not tracked and recorded. Confirmed VoIP Jitter Buffer Reports The proposed management system should track and record the following VoIP jitter buffer parameters: Jitter Buffer Information Line info re jitter buffer within the media endpoint. Jitter Buffer Type indication if jitter buffer is adaptive or static. Jitter Buffer Adaptation Rate - specific adjustment rate of a jitter buffer in adaptive mode. Jitter Buffer Nomimal Delay - current nominal jitter buffer delay in milliseconds, which corresponds to the nominal jitter buffer delay for packets that arrive exactly on time. 98

99 Jitter Buffer Maximum Delay - current maximum jitter buffer delay in milliseconds corresponding to the earliest arriving packet that would not be discarded Jitter Buffer Absolute Maximum Delay - absolute maximum delay in milliseconds that the adaptive jitter buffer can reach under worst case conditions Vendor Response Requirement Confirm that the proposed management system tracks and records each of the above listed VoIP jitter buffer parameters. Identify any parameters not tracked and recorded. Confirmed. Average network jitter from Real Time Control Protocol (RTCP) statistics and maximum network jitter during the voice (and video) session are measured. Jitter and packet loss averages for all audio streams can be calculated. The QoE server can then calculate the Network MOS degradation caused by Jitter, and use the jitter information to calculate the overall MOS Degradation due to network impairments for the whole call VoIP Packet Reports The proposed management system should track and record the following VoIP packet parameters: Packet Loss Information Line - general packet loss metrics Packet Loss Ratio - percentage of packets lost within the network during the time period captured by the report Packet Discard Rate - percentage of packets discarded due to jitter within the network during the time period captured by the report Burst Loss Information Line - parameters in this provide burst loss metrics Burst Density - percentage of packets lost and discarded within a burst (high loss rate) period. Burst Length (ms) - mean length of a burst. Gap Loss Information Line - parameters in this provide random loss metrics Vendor Response Requirement Confirm that the proposed management system tracks and records each of the above listed VoIP packet parameters. Identify any parameters not tracked and recorded. Confirmed, for all voice and video calls, both at per call and aggregate levels. The QoE server can then calculate the Network MOS degradation caused by packet loss, and use the packet loss information to calculate the overall MOS Degradation due to network impairments for the whole call. 6.3 Optional Reports Directory records may include each subscriber s name along with a variety of phone 99

100 numbers such as primary, published, listed, emergency, and alternate, as well as authorization code information, job title, employee number, current employment status and SSN. Inventory records and management is used to administer any kind of inventory product part, including: PBX common equipment (cabinets, carriers, circuit cards); voice terminals and module options; jacks, and button maps. The reports allow administrators to accurately re-charge items. Inventory can be tracked by data such as user, system (PBX or other networks), jack, serial number, asset tags, trouble calls, recurring and nonrecurring costs, and general ledger codes. The inventory management system may also include records containing the following data: purchase date, purchase order number, depreciation, lease dates, manufacturer and warranty information. Cabling records keep track of all cable, wire pairs, distribution frames, wiring closets and all connections (including circuits) down to both the position and the pair level. Cable records include starting and ending locations, description, type and function. Individual cable lengths are maintained and automatically added, as is the decibel loss, for the entire path. Information can also be provided on the status of all cable runs, as well as the number of pairs it contains, the status of the pairs, and the type of service it provides. Vendor Response Requirement Confirmed. Use of standard Microsoft SQL Server tools allows administrators to build custom queries as desired and to include information from CDR, QoE, and other sources as desired Call Detail Recording Call Detail Record (CDR) data should be compiled for all successful incoming and outgoing trunk calls. Call record fields typically include the following: Date Time Call Duration Condition Code (categorizes information represented in the call record) Trunk Access Codes Dialed Number Calling Number Account Code Authorization Code Facility Restriction Level for Private Network Calls Transit Network Selection Code (ISDN access code to route calls to a specific interexchange carrier) ISDN Bearer Capability Class Call Bandwidth Operator System Access (ISDN access code to route calls to a specific network operator) Time in Queue Incoming Trunk ID 100

101 Incoming Ring Interval Duration Outgoing Trunk ID Vendor Response Requirement VoiceCon will purchase its own third party call accounting and billing system. Confirm the proposed management system compiles data for each of the above CDR parameters. Identify any listed CDR parameters not tracked and recorded. Confirmed. The Lync Server 2010 CDR database captures Date, Time, Call Duration, Condition codes (i.e. conference call, peer-to-peer, and PSTN call), Dialed Number, and Calling Number information. The CDR database does not capture time in queue for Response Group calls, but integrated third party contact center solutions provide separate reporting. These records may be accessed via third party applications using standard Microsoft SQL Server and Visual Studio techniques. Gateway provides can supply Trunk Access Codes, incoming/outgoing trunk ID information, and ISDN Bearer Capability Class. Account codes and authorization codes, if needed, can be captured by a third party application. 19 Transit Network Selection Code, Facility Restriction Level, Operator System Access, and Incoming Ring Interval Duration are not natively supported Maintenance System maintenance operations should, at minimum, support the following: Monitoring of processor status Monitoring and testing of all port and service circuit packs; Monitoring and control of power units, fans, and environmental sensors; Monitoring of peripherals (voice terminals and trunk circuits); Initiate emergency transfer and control to backup systems; Originate alarm information and activate alarms. Vendor Response Requirement Confirm support for the required maintenance monitoring activities by completing following table: Confirmed, where applicable, using System Center Operations Manager and appropriate management packs. Activity Monitoring of processor status Monitoring and testing of all port and service circuit packs Monitoring and control of power units, fans, and environmental sensors Monitoring of peripherals (voice terminals and trunk circuits) Initiate emergency transfer and control to backup systems /No N/A 19 For example, OCS Time Tracker from Enabling Technologies Corporation. 101

102 Originate alarm information and activate alarms Alarm Conditions There are usually several types of communications system alarm conditions: Major, Minor, and Warning. Vendor Response Requirement Briefly describe how your management system defines a Major, Minor, and Warning alarm. System Center Operations Manager provides Critical, Warning, and Information alert levels. Critical alarms generally indicate that action is required immediately to restore a service, application, or other component. Warning alarms may require follow-up but do not require immediate action. The system allows administrators to define conditions for alerts at the Critical, Warning, and Information levels, and provides alerts at multiple layers of the solution: Component layer: management packs for individual server and software components provide information on the health of the associated components which may be used to address component level problems before they result in a service disruption. Pool layer: synthetic transactions may be scheduled to run at regular intervals in order to confirm the ability to successfully end to end communications sessions within a given Lync Server 2010 pool. A Pool layer alert could indicate, among other things, configuration issues within the pool or the concurrent failure of all components of a particular type. End to End Service layer: thresholds on statistics from the CDR and QoE databases may be set to alert administrators when user capabilities or experience are degraded. For example, thresholds could be set to raise an alert if MOS scores from the QoE database for a given population fall below a specified level, or if the number of failed call attempts during an interval exceeds a defined amount. A Service layer alert could indicate, among other things, an infrastructure issue such as insufficient network capacity to a given set of users, or insufficient trunk resources given current usage patterns Maintenance Reports Vendor Response Requirement Provide a list all standard maintenance alarm reports provided by your management system. Systems Center Operations Manager can send and provide: 102

103 Alerts indicating service impacting events, like component or service failure or maintenance events Alerts indicating configuration, and other non-service impacting issues Alerts based on SNMP traps raised by gateways or other third party equipment State monitoring of Lync Server 2010 and other servers and services Cause and resolution of identified problems Alerts when thresholds that can affect media quality are exceeded, so that administrators can troubleshoot proactively. Pool level monitoring based on synthetic transactions. Synthetic transactions are automated agents that do real-time scenario testing, like whether voice or IM or conferencing sessions can be successfully initiated Remote Maintenance Vendor Response Requirement Briefly describe the available options used to support remote maintenance operations for both customer access and for an outside maintenance service provider. Specify how the system alerts a remote service center when an alarm condition occurs, the trunk circuit requirements for alert transmissions, and security measures to prevent unauthorized access. Systems Center Operations Manager can be accessed from any remote service center connected via WAN or Internet. SCOM leverages Active Directory to manage user and group-based access, and uses role-based access mechanisms to restrict access to views and tasks through the console. Third party personnel may be provided access via Active Directory accounts Provisioning All services should be provisioned in one step. Services should include station configuration, voice mailbox configuration, E-911 location, billing attributes, directory attributes, and mobile attributes (Blackberry) and the configuration of other end user applications. For example, if your solution includes a zone paging application, the ability to assign a station to a zone and change the zone membership as a whole must be accessible through the configuration (provisioning) interface. Templates must be supported to organize different settings across different systems according to organizational need. At a minimum, the voice station configuration and the associated voice mailbox must be provisioned in one step through one interface. Your proposed provisioning application or interface must create a complete audit trail and must allow groups of changes to be scheduled for a future time. Further, the solution must support mass create, delete and modify functions to support bulk operations. 103

104 Vendor Response Requirement Describe the provisioning workflow you recommend showing how each of your proposed solution components is utilized. List any functions above which are not available. List any systems or devices which are not now part of your provisioning interface and provide a roadmap statement of how you will treat this situation going forward. The recommended provision steps include: Provision site level attributes for the Communications System using the Exchange and Lync Server 2010 control panels or PowerShell: 1. Build Location profile and normalization rules 2. Build phone usages and policies to handle call routing and restrictions 3. Create telephony call routes Then, provision user level attributes: 1. Enable account for Lync Server 2010 and Enterprise Voice, and assign phone number in Active Directory 2. Enable the user s mailbox for Exchange Unified Messaging 3. Deploy Microsoft Lync client software via group policy or software delivery system of choice 4. Deliver USB or IP endpoints Provisioning steps may be automated using scripts. 104

105 7.0.0 Integrated Messaging System VoiceCon requires a HQ-based voice messaging system that must be fully integrated with the proposed IPTS network solution. VoiceCon also requires integration of the proposed voice messaging system with a Microsoft Exchange messaging system to provide unified messaging applications. The proposed voice messaging system solution must be centrally located at the VoiceCon CHQ location, and be capable of supporting station users at the optional RO facility as the need arises. The voice mail system will also serve as an automated attendant position for select incoming trunk calls, and also as a secondary point of coverage as an automated attendant system for designated stations. All software and hardware necessary to interface with the existing telephone system will be provided under this bid. The sizing requirements are: Installed/Equipped Capacity Maximum Capacity Number of Subscribers ,000 Number of Ports Hours of Storage included in the requirements. A Grade of Service level of P.01 is required. Automated attendant ports are Vendor Response Requirement Briefly describe the proposed integrated messaging solution, and provide details about the voice mail system architecture and it s interconnection to the voice communications system and Microsoft Exchange or IBM Lotus Domino system. Include processing system platform information in the discussion. Verify that the system being bid can comply with each of the proceeding requirements. Microsoft provides the industry s most integrated and most cost-effective solution Unified Messaging in the market. Microsoft Unified Messaging Server can be integrated into the client s existing Exchange Server 2007 or 2010 environment. The implementation, support and management of the system leverages existing management processes and procedures that are in place today to support messaging. UM is configured and managed by the same well-known interface as , providing a quick learning curve for users and administrators alike. It inherently supports speech access to , voic , calendar, personal contacts, and the company directory. Finally it provides customers with one central repository for all messaging: , Voic , and calendaring. The intent and purpose of this common repository is to make managing these formerly separate applications simple and costeffective to manage, and to reduce the effort of compliance with legal discovery laws. Exchange 2007 and Exchange 2010 provide native Unified Messaging/voice mail services. The architecture is elegant; a separate server role is added to the Exchange organization, configured and 105

106 managed in the exact same manner as the other Exchange server roles. The UM server is linked to the OCS server via a native SIP trunk. The UM server role runs on standard 64-bit Windows server platforms and each server can support 100 concurrent calls (leave/retrieve/auto-attendant traffic) Support for Open Standards Vendor Response Requirement Describe voice messaging system s support for open standards. o o o o Exchange UM is built on IETF standard Session Initiation Protocol. This allows it to easily link to IPTS and OCS. The media protocol used between the UM and IPTS system is Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP). Unified Messaging servers can accept G.711 µ-law, G.711 A-law, or G from an IP gateway or IPTS: Voice messages are encoded and attached to messages using codecs including G.711, WMA, and GSM, allowing efficient storage and native playback on mobile devices based on Blackberry or Windows Mobile. If it were necessary, UM could connect to a traditional TDM PBX via a third-party gateway supporting T1 CAS/QSIG trunks, analog DTMF/SMDI, or Digital Set Emulation. List the clients that can be used with your proposed solution. o Microsoft Outlook 2010 and 2007 provide an integrated player, play-on-phone capability, and a note-taking area natively within the GUI. The same features are available via Outlook Web Access (OWA). Windows Mobile clients can easily access voic via integrated Windows Media Player. Outlook 2003, other clients, and mobile smartphones can access the voic as an attachment. For proprietary clients, detail minimum hardware and software requirements o Not applicable, as this capability is native in Outlook Supported Web Browsers: o For Exchange 2010 UM, Firefox, Safari and Internet Explorer Security Features Vendor Response Requirement Describe all security features available with the voice messaging system to prevent abuse and unauthorized access. Access to Unified Messaging via telephone is controlled through PIN policies. The administrator can 106

107 specify the minimum number of digits in a PIN, a PIN expiration time, number of invalid login attempts, whether or not common patterns are allowed, and the number of previous PIN numbers to disallow. You can also access your messages through your client or Outlook Web Access, which are secured using the same password polices used by your Active Directory domain. Voice traffic between the Exchange UM server and the VoIP gateway may be protected using Secure Real-time Transport Protocol (SRTP). To reduce the risk of a denial of service attack, the Unified Messaging server communicates only with UM IP gateways and Office Communication Server entities that are included in the list of trusted VoIP devices or servers. This list of trusted VoIP devices or servers is identified when a UM IP gateway is created in the Active Directory service. Mutual TLS is also supported Voice Mail Features Forwarding The system must provide access for forwarded calls from: Customer telephone system Direct central office (Business or Centrex lines) 800 Service lines Vendor Response Requirement Confirm support for each forwarding requirement. Confirmed Disconnect Detection The system should detect that a caller has hung up and immediately disconnect and restore the line to service. Vendor Response Requirement Confirmed Station Dialing In addition to the menu/route, callers may access an individual station either through the input of the extension number or the input of the called party's last name. A total of 2,000 names plus 100 extension numbers will be possible. Vendor Response Requirement Confirmed. Exchange Unified Messaging fully supports dial by name and by extension and has no limit on the total size of the names and extension directory. It also natively supports speech-enabled dial-by 107

108 name Answer Announcement Individual, personalized announcements of seconds for each mailbox user will be possible. A user's dictated answer message will only occupy the number of seconds dictated, with the remainder to be pooled so as to be available to: All other mailbox owners, and For message taking. A system announcement of up to 30 seconds will be possible and also will be available in the event of switching system failure. It will be possible for the mailbox owner to input separate greetings for calls received internally or externally on the system. It will be possible for several individuals to share the same mailbox extension number. A caller reaching such a mailbox will be able to select between individual mailboxes. Vendor Response Requirement Confirm support for these operations. Confirmed. Exchange 2010 Unified Messaging supports deeply customized personal Auto-Attendants DTMF Signaling The system will be capable of receiving and generating standard DTMF tone signaling. Vendor Response Requirement Confirmed. Exchange Unified Messaging fully supports DTMF tone signaling and is capable of receiving and generating standard DTMF signaling Greeting Voice mail calls will be answered on the first ring and be time-and-date stamped. Vendor Response Requirement Confirmed. Exchange Unified Messaging picks up the call on the first ring assuming the call has been covered or sent to the Unified Messaging server. Caller may experience varying numbers of rings based on IPTS / Lync / Lync Server 2010 settings. For instance, if the subscriber s presence is offline, OCS automatically transfers the call to UM, where it is answered immediately Escape A caller reaching the voice mail system will have the ability to re-route to an extension by 108

109 dialing up to five digits or the operator by dialing "0" before or after leaving a message. It will not be possible for a caller reconnected to the telephone system to be connected to the public network. Vendor Response Requirement Confirmed. Exchange 2010 Unified Messaging supports deeply customizable personal Auto-Attendants. Using call answering rules, a caller can: Leave a voice message for the UM-enabled user. Transfer to an alternate contact of the UM-enabled user. Transfer to the alternate contact's voice mail. Transfer to other phone numbers that the UM-enabled user has configured. Use the Find-Me feature or locate the UM-enabled user via a supervised transfer Trunk Access It will be impossible for a caller passing through the attendant to reach an outside line. Vendor Response Requirement Confirmed Distribution Lists The system will contain a minimum of 80 distribution lists of at least 25 names each plus "all broadcast." Vendor Response Requirement Confirm support for this feature. Confirmed. Exchange UM uses the distribution lists setup in Exchange and the Global Address List (GAL) Message Forwarding Messages may be forwarded to single or multiple destinations with or without introductory comments. Vendor Response Requirement Confirmed Audit Trail 109

110 It will be possible for a user to designate a necessary written record of message destination, input time and receipt. This audit trail will be printed on the administrative console together with daily reports. Vendor Response Requirement Confirm support for this feature. Message tracking in Exchange 2010 is an administrator feature Message Indication The receipt of a message in a mailbox will cause a message-waiting lamp or "stutter" dial tone upon lifting of the station handset to indicate a message-waiting condition. Vendor Response Requirement Confirmed Identification Code Users accessing the system will input a discrete six-digit identification code which will be positively validated prior to access to their mailbox. Identification codes may be changed by mailbox owner. Vendor Response Requirement Confirmed, users accessing their voic through will be required to enter an identification code of length specified by the administrator. Users retrieving their messages from Outlook or Outlook Web Access on a computer will be required to authenticate using the Active Directory domain credentials (no extension/pin) Message Recovery The mailbox owner accessing the mailbox will be automatically told how many new messages have been received since last access and how many saved messages exist. Upon accessing the messages, the subscriber will have the choice of deleting, skipping or saving a message. Saved messages may only be deleted by the subscriber or by the system administrator. Vendor Response Requirement Confirmed. Users are automatically told how many new messages are present. Rather than announce how many saved messages are present, Exchange Unified Messaging instead refers to read messages. Messages can be deleted and skipped during the playback of the message Message Reply 110

111 A mailbox owner may respond to a message input by another system mailbox owner by simply depressing a single key. Vendor Response Requirement Confirmed. Exchange Unified Messaging users have the ability to respond to a message either by a single key response or by saying reply with their voice Message Review It will be possible for a users to review and edit either an announcement or input a message. Vendor Response Requirement Confirmed User Controls A user accessing their mailbox must be capable of the following control functions: 1. Playback messages 2. Skip to next message 3. Cancel review 4. Replay last message 5. Replay faster or slower 6. Pause 7. Append information 8. Forward message (to mailbox or list) 9. Create new answer announcement 10. Increase play-back volume Vendor Response Requirement Confirmed. Play-back volume may be increased for users listening on their PCs. Exchange Unified Messaging supports the following features: Next Message Next Unread Previous End Read the Header Find By Name Reply 111

112 Call Delete Accept Decline Tentatively Accept Forward Reply All Flag for Follow-Up Mark Unread Delete Conversation Hide Conversation Select Language Envelope Information First Last Rewind Fast Forward Slow Down Faster Pause It allows the creation of new answer greetings, and allows users to add to the end of an existing message recording. It allows changing the playback volume from the Outlook GUI, but cannot control the system s play-back volume from the TUI System Management Console The system will be equipped with a CRT and printer to provide system management functions. The administrative programs and traffic information secured will be possible during system operation. Traffic reports will be available on customer demand or automatically on a pre-programmed basis in quarter, half or one hour time frames or daily and weekly. At a minimum, they will indicate the following: Storage space used for announcements or information mailboxes Storage space used for messages Maximum storage space used during the interval Vendor Response Requirement Confirm support for this feature. Indicate if any requirement is not supported. Confirmed. Exchange UM does not require a dedicated CRT and/or printer to access administration functions. System management can be administered from any workstation or server which has the Windows Support tools and the administration tools installed. Administrators have the choice to use any 112

113 printer available to the workstation. All reports are available via the Exchange Management Console. Specific traffic reporting can be achieved with PowerShell commands. Storage space indications are provided via Exchange mailbox reports. Because voic messages typically account for less than 5% of the space consumed in an average user s unified inbox, the use of Exchange Unified Messaging allows customers to eliminate separate voice mailbox systems and administration Traffic Reports Traffic reports will be available on customer demand or automatically on a preprogrammed basis in quarter, half or one hour time frames or daily and weekly. At a minimum, they will indicate the following: Storage space used for announcements Total calls answered Total calls routed to station Total calls routed to default Total calls abandoned CCS use and call count by input Vendor Response Requirement Confirm support for this feature. Indicate if any requirement is not supported Confirmed. Exchange UM s voic reports are located at: System Changeability It will be possible for the system administrator to add and/or delete mailboxes, change general recordings and perform other administrative duties while the system is in operation. Vendor Response Requirement Confirmed. All add/or delete mailbox, change general recording and perform other administrative duties are possible and fully supported during business hours Networking VoiceCon plans on networking it new HQ messaging system to other VoiceCon locations equipped with messaging systems AMIS 113

114 The proposed messaging system must support AMIS networking standards. Vendor Response Requirement Exchange uses SMTP, and can exchange messages with nearly any system. This allows users to exchange both voice and messages internally and externally (if allowed by policy). AMIS is not supported Digital IP Networking The proposed messaging system should support VPIM networking standards. Vendor Response Requirement Exchange uses SMTP, and can exchange messages with nearly any system. This allows users to exchange both voice and messages internally and externally (if allowed by policy). VPIM is not supported. 7.4 Integrated Messaging Application VoiceCon requires that its voice messaging system can interoperate with with a Microsoft Exchange or IBM Lotus Domino messaging solution to provide unified messaging access from any system termnial/client. Vendor Response Requirement Confirm that the proposed voice messaging system supports this requirement. Briefly describe how the proposed voice messaging system can be integrated with VoiceCon s text messaging system, based on either an Exchange and Notes server running the latest software version to provide unified messaging system functionality. The solution must, at minimum, satisfy the following processes: Station users must be able to view and access all message headers (voice, text, fax) from their PC display monitor. Voice messages accessed from the PC should be in WAVE format. text messages must be accessable from a telephone using text-tospeech conversion. Confirmed, Exchange UM is a fundamental part of Exchange 2007 and 2010, with native integration to Microsoft Outlook. All noted processes are satisfied. 114

115 Section 8: Unified Communications (Information, only, do not include in Pricing Proposal) IDENTIFY ALL THIRD PARTY SOLUTIONS IN RESPONSES TO THIS SECTION 8.0 Unified Communications VoiceCon may decide to a departmental trial of a Unified Communications (UC) solution prior to implementing it across the entire organization. VoiceCon defines a UC solution as one that supports the following features and capabilities: Station user programmed call screening, coverage, and routing Presence management & control Instant Messaging (IM) Conferencing tools for audio, data, and video communications Collaboration tools for desktop screen sharing, management and editing Vendor Response Requirement: Confirm your proposed IPTS communications solution can support an integrated UC option that satisfies the general requirements and capabilities outlined in the following RFP sections and provide a brief overview of your UC offer. Confirmed. The proposed solution natively includes the complete unified communications functionality for every user that helped Microsoft earn a position in the leader s quadrant in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Unified Communications, 2009 for the fourth year in a row: Audio, video, and web conferencing, including integration with third party room systems Instant messaging (IM) and presence Unified Messaging Remote access via the Internet without requiring the use of a VPN Federation with other trusted entities running Lync Server 2010 and connectivity to users of Public Internet and other IM services Developer interfaces to allow integration with nearly any client or server application UC System Integration Vendor Response Requirement: How can the proposed IPTS and voice messaging systems physically and logically integrate with the available UC solution? The proposed IPTS solution natively includes complete unified communications functionality for every 115

116 user Presence Management Vendor Response Requirement: Confirm that presence management is fully integrated into the available UC solution. Include a brief description of presence features and functions included with the offering. Indicate if presence management requires a dedicated server or gateway with middleware. Confirmed. Presence is a native feature of the OCS Front-end server. No additional servers or Gateways are required Instant Messaging Vendor Response Requirement: Confirm that Instant Messaging (IM) is fully integrated into the available UC solution. Include a brief description of IM features and capabilities, and also indicate if the integrated IM offer is interoperable with public IM services? Is IM recording supported? Confirmed. Lync Server 2010 provides IM as a basic function of the Front-End server with no additional third party products required. Some IM features include Search for an IM contact in the Global Address List, invite multiple participants to an IM conference, IM a distribution list, escalate IM to voice/video call, and add desktop sharing on the fly. Interoperability with public IM services is available through the Edge server, as is interoperability with IBM Sametime (see 8.0.7) and GoogleTalk. 20 IM archiving is supported at the server level for compliance purposes, and via Office Outlook Conversation History for personal productivity purposes UC Clients Vendor Response Requirement: What types of UC-based desktop clients are supported by the available UC solution? Is a SIP-based client supported? Identify the PC s technical specifications required to support the UC client. Provide as an attachment a graphical illustration (PPT format, only) of a typical UC screen shot that is representative of your UC offering. Microsoft Lync is the desktop client and is SIP-based. It uses TLS to communicate to the Front-End server where SIP based communication control is centralized. 20 See Unified Communications: Uniting Communication Across Different Networks for additional information. 116

117 8.0.5 Client Control Vendor Response Requirement: Can the PC client be used to access and implement IPTS telephony features for control of the desktop telephone instrument? Call Routing Control Call coverage and routing control should include, at minimum, the following programming parameters: Caller priority level; Current station status Available route-to devices (desktop telephone instrument, mobile teleworking client, wireless handset, cellular handset, et al) Time-of-day/day-of-week Vendor Response Requirement: Describe how the client GUI is used to screen, manage and route calls on a customized basis. Confirm that the above programming parameters are supported as part of the call routing control mechanism. Confirmed. Caller priority level based on the contact s assigned level of access (personal, team, company, public, blocked)is used with presence information in all routing decisions. Presence information in Lync Server 2010 includes not only station status, but also much more, including whether the user is available, busy, in a meeting, or has put himself or herself in a do not disturb state. Users have the ability to route calls to multiple endpoints including external and mobile phones. Call forwarding settings can be configured based on working hours in Lync, and with additional granularity via the Exchange 2010 personal auto attendant.. 117

118 Voice (Speech) Portal Station uses should be able to use any type of telephone-type device to perform the following functions via voice commands: Set presence status and preferred phone Access unified messaging system for voice and messages Access Microsoft Outlook or IBM Lotus Sametime for contact lists, calendar, tasks, and other personal folders Initiate or join scheduled and ad-hoc voice or web conference calls with predefined workgroups Vendor Response Requirement: Describe voice portal features and functions available with the available UC solution, specifically addressing each of the listed voice command capabilities. Also identify other voice command operations supported by UC solution. Confirmed except setting presence status and preferred phone. This may be done via Lync, web browser, or Lync mobile. 118

119 Exchange Unified Messaging provides users with mailbox access their mailbox using any telephone. Through both DTMF and speech-recognition, callers can review and revise their calendars, listen and respond to messages (translated from text to speech) and voice mail, and call their personal contacts and company colleagues listed in the corporate directory Text-to-Speech The proposed UC solution should support a text-to-speech feature that converts text messages to speech format for access from various voice terminal devices such as desktop telephones and mobile handsets. Vendor Response Requirement: Confirm the proposed UC solution supports text-to-speech and briefly describe the communications operations it supports. Confirmed. Exchange Unified Messaging supports Text to speech and Speech to Text for all voic messages and calendar items. Users can access their Exchange mailbox using a standard telephone, available anywhere. Through touchtone or speech-enabled menus, they can hear and act on their calendar, listen to messages (translated from text to speech), listen to voice mail messages, call their personal contacts, or call any user listed in the company directory. Text to speech is also supported for Response Group menu prompts as described in the succeeding chapter Mobile Clients Vendor Response Requirement: What mobile clients are supported (Windows Mobile, Blackberry, et al) by the UC solution? What functions and operations can be supported on these Communicator Mobile can be deployed on: All Windows 6.X devices both Smartphone (no touch screen ) and Pocket PC (Touch screen) editions Motorola Razr V3xx Nokia S40 series: Nokia 3120 Classic, Nokia 3600 slide, Nokia 5220/5310/5610 XpressMusic, Nokia 6212 classic, Nokia 6300i, Nokia 6301, Nokia 6500 classic, Nokia 6500 slide, Nokia 6600 fold, Nokia 6600 slide, Nokia 7210/7310/7510/7610 Super Nova, Nokia 7900 Prism, Nokia 8800 Arte. 119

120 Nokia S60 series: Nokia E 51/63/66/71, Nokia N95 Simultaneous ring, IM, presence, and Global Address List search are supported on all Lync Mobile clients. Windows Mobile clients additionally support outbound calling using enterprise credentials, and single click conference join. Blackberry and iphone devices are supported with third party add-ons and support IM and presence Mobile Security Vendor Response Requirement: What security features are supported for mobile clients? Lync Server 2010 provides built-in security to keep your information safe and secure. With communication channel encryption, transport layer security (TLS) support, and perimeter/internal network protection, your communications experience is safe no matter where you are or what network you use. The 2007 R2 version of Office Communicator Mobile is also Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) compliant. All Windows Mobile Phones can be remotely wiped and authentication can be set to prevent unauthorized access Web Client Vendor Response Requirement: Is a Web-based client supported? If so, briefly describe its features and capabilities and how it differs from the standard UC client. Lync Web Access is a browser-based application that provides access to the instant messaging, audio, and desktop sharing capabilities of Lync Server Using only an Internet connection and a Web browser, Lync Web Access enables you to take advantage of Lync Server 2010 features even when you are away from your personal computer. Lync Web Access is similar to Lync, making it easy to switch between the two applications. Both applications provide you access to the same contact list and similar instant messaging, call management, and desktop sharing capabilities Microsoft Integration Vendor Response Requirement: 120

121 What is the level of integration with Microsoft Outlook, Office and Active Directory? Is the proposed UC solution compatible with the scheduled Microsoft Lync Server 2010 (OCS) solution? Describe any hardware/software requirements and options required to integrate with the Microsoft solutions. The proposed solution IS Microsoft Lync Server 2010 and natively integrates with Active Directory, Microsoft Office, Outlook, and SharePoint. No additional hardware or software is required. IBM Integration Vendor Response Requirement: What is the level of integration with IBM Lotus Sametime, Lotus Quickr, and Lotus Web conferencing? Describe any hardware/software requirements and options required to integrate with the IBM solutions. Lync Server 2010 can interoperate with IBM Sametime using IBM s Sametime Gateway to allow users to exchange presence information and instant messages, and with many other instant messaging systems Conferencing & Collaboration Ad Hoc Conference Vendor Response Requirement: Is ad hoc and meet me audio/video conferencing supported by the available UC solution? Briefly describe how such a conference is established and managed.. Ad hoc conferences are established via drag-and-drop or menu operations. Meet Me conferences are established using an Office Outlook plug-in which automatically includes conference information in meeting invites, or by manual transmission of conference dial-in information. No additional hardware or software is required Scheduled Conference Vendor Response Requirement: Can an individual station user schedule an audio/video conferencing session and reserve conferencing services as needed? Briefly describe how such a conference is established and managed.. Users have the ability to schedule and reserve audio/video conferencing sessions through Microsoft 21 See Unified Communications: Uniting Communication Across Different Networks at 121

122 Outlook calendaring. The process is as simple as creating an outlook appointment in the calendar and clicking Schedule a LiveMeeting or Schedule a Conference call, which includes the dial-in and/or web link info within the meeting invite Host Control Features An audio conference host should access and implement, at minimum, the following features/functions: View conference participants; Play roll call of participants. Mute all lines; Mute select lines; Disconnect select participants; Dial out to bring new participants into the call; Record conference; Lock conference; Initiate a sub-conference. Vendor Response Requirement: Briefly describe available audio conference host control capabilities, and confirm support of each of the above listed features/function (indicating implementation by TUI or Webbased control) Confirmed, with implementation via PC-based control. Sub-conferences may be initiated as separate conferences Web Collaboration Vendor Response Requirement: What form of Web services collaboration is provided for conference calls? Briefly describe how collaboration services are established and managed, including a listing of host control features and functions as they differ from audio-only conference capabilities. Indicate if recording and playback of an integrated audio/web conference is supported. Web conferencing and data sharing are available on any call at any time, and can be utilized by participants both on and off the customer premises. Users may share any information on their desktops and may allow other users to control operation of their computers. The web collaboration capabilities may be extended to any contact via the Internet at no additional cost Application Sharing Vendor Response Requirement: Is application sharing services supported by the available UC solution? If yes list the specific applications. 122

123 . Any desktop application may be shared. 8.2 UC Architecture Vendor Response Requirement: Briefly describe the hardware/software architecture of the available UC solution, including all necessary server and client software requirements. Address in your response the following: Embedded open industry standards and specifications, such as SIP, SOA Web services, et al. Level of design redundancy for both hardware and software elements, network interfaces, and memory storage Subscriber system capacity and scalability parameters Capability to support multiple PBXs (IPTS) and remote sites The proposed IPTS solution natively includes complete unified communications functionality for every user. Prior responses in this document regarding SIP, SOA, redundancy, capacity, scalability, and remote support apply. 8.3 Systems Management UC systems management functions should include, at minimum, the following: Station user telephone instrument management Status displays for all UC system components Audit trails (configuration log) System resource monitoring (CPU, memory, disk space) Serviceability, error logging, and tracing features Storage & Reporting features Interface for backup and recovery Vendor Response Requirement: Briefly describe UC systems management tools, including hardware/software requirements, and confirm support for each of the above operations. Identify operations not supported The management responses in Chapter 6 apply equally to all unified communications capabilities. 8.4 Security What security features and functions are embedded or are available with the available UC solution? In your response specifically address each of the following security issues: Password Access Authorization Authentication 123

124 Encryption Certification strategy The security responses in preceding sections apply equally to all unified communications capabilities. Authorization and Password Access is controlled by Active Directory security groups using NTLM and Kerberos Authentication. All Office Communication Server Clients and Server communicate securely using TLS encryption. Encryption and authentication are enabled by an internal Public Key Infrastructure, usually enabled by a Windows Certificate Authority on a Windows Active Directory Domain Controller. An external Public Certificate is necessary for securing the edge server, which interfaces the Internet. Once the certificate infrastructure is set up, all client to client, client to server, and server to server traffic is encrypted using TLS, and all media traffic is encrypted using SRTP. 124

125 Section 9: Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) Contact Call Center (Information, only, do not include in Pricing Proposal) IDENTIFY ALL THIRD PARTY SOLUTIONS IN RESPONSES TO THIS SECTION Lync Server 2010 natively provides many of VoiceCon s ACD requirements via the Response Group capability natively included in the proposed solution. There is no additional licensing charge for utilizing Response Groups or the included multi-language automatic speech recognition and synthesis. More formal contact center needs may be met by third party solutions that leverage our Unified Communications Managed API. Solutions built using this API may route IM, voice, and video conversations, and can take advantage of powerful built-in self-service capabilities such as speech recognition and synthesis in 26 languages. Multiple ISVs build integrated solutions, including Aspect, Interactive Intelligence, and Computer Talk, as do system integrators around the world. The responses below describe both native Response Group functionality and functionality that can be added via the purchase of an Aspect solution. 9.0 Basic ACD Call Center Requirements VoiceCon requires that the proposed IPTS communications solution must support an ACDbased contact call center solution that includes call screening, call prompts, automatic distribution routing, call queuing, announcements, call handling, agent mobility, management and reporting, feature configuration and programming, administration. Vendor Response Requirement: Confirm your proposed communications system can support the listed functional requirements and briefly describe the necessary hardware and software requirements. Indicate if any ACD capabilities are embedded in the IPTS generic software package. Confirmed, with native capabilities of Lync Server No additional hardware, software, or licensing is required. OCS uses knowledge of user presence in its fundamental decisions about how to best route a call. Confirmed, with Aspect Unified IP. Separate purchase is required for Aspect Unified IP Third Party System Integration VoiceCon requires that the proposed ACD solution be able to support third party equipment. Vendor Response Requirement: Confirm that the proposed ACD solution can support each of the following third party equipment options: 125

126 Message Board Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system Workforce Management system Quality Monitoring system Confirmed. Lync Server 2010 natively includes Response Groups for intelligent call handling with built in IVR including automatic speech recognition and synthesis. Lync Server 2010 also integrates natively with Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Aspect Unified IP offers integrated IVR, CRM, workforce management, and quality monitoring capabilities ACD Station Equipment VOICECON requires that the proposed ACD solution be capable of supporting a mix of terminal equipment for agents and supervisors. Vendor Response Requirement: Confirm that the proposed ACD solution can support a mix of ACD agent/supervisor station equipment that includes analog and IP desktop telephone instruments and PC client soft phones for agent/supervisor voice communications requirements. Confirmed. The native Response Group service does not distinguish between agents and supervisors, nor does it provide specific supervisor functions. Aspect Unified IP can support a mix of ACD agent/supervisor equipment ACD Telephone Instrument Vendor Response Requirement: Briefly identify and describe all desktop telephone instruments and equipment in your portfolio that are designed specifically for ACD agents and supervisors. The voice terminal instruments listed in Section 4 and described on Optimized for Lync web page are all applicable for Response Group agents Supervisor Workstation Vendor Response Requirement: Briefly describe the proposed supervisor workstation solution in your ACD solution proposal, including telephony and ACD-specific feature and functions, toolbars, and report screens. 126

127 Lync Server 2010 Response Groups do not include a supervisor workstation. Aspect Unified IP s Director Software provides a single point of overall administration for the entire contact center. Supervisors can administer and monitor multiple campaigns for all media types from one console. From a single touch point, the Aspect Unified IP administrator can: Create security plans Set up services and dispositions Define agent skills and routing rules Create dialing tables and plan Set up schedules and attention retainers Create Interactive Voice Response (IVR) and call flows Design reports Monitor contact center activity and performance Configure Aspect Unified IP system servers Manage the telecom infrastructure Services are configured in the Aspect Unified IP Director component. Director provides a Graphical User Interface that includes a series of tabs to guide the user through service construction. Creation of all service types is accomplished through this consistent interface, making the process simple. Contact center managers will need to: Define and configure skills Define and configure agents Define and configure general service settings Define and configure agent population and selection methodology Define and configure agent settings Define and configure dial profiles Define and configure schedules and time zones Define and configure attention retainers Define and configure call tables (outbound) Any of the above activities can be changed in real time by the supervisor. The main menu of the Director application is the key that opens all the options that the program has to offer. The main menu is displayed right after the login of the user has been successfully executed. The main menu is structured by icons, each of them representing a group related operational functions. 127

128 9.0.3 Remote ACD Station Equipment VoiceCon requires that the proposed ACD solution can support remote agents. Vendor Response Requirement: Confirm that the proposed ACD solution can support remote off-premises IP desktop telephone instruments and/or PC client soft phones for agent communications requirements. Also indicate if your system solution can guarantee Quality of Service levels for PSTN level connections to remote agents. Confirmed, Microsoft Lync Server Response Groups support off-premises IP desktop telephones and/or PC client soft phones. All endpoints support QoS as described previously, though QoS and call admission control do not apply where Internet transport is employed. Microsoft s adaptive media stack provides for a high Quality of Experience (QoE) even for Internet connected users and agents. Aspect Unified IP also supports multi-site, distributed site, remote users and home agents. In these configurations, Aspect Unified IP operates as a unified system. The post-answer routing, management and reporting of interactions are handled through a single point, providing a complete view of the environment as one location. Technologies such as VoIP and distributed Gateways facilitate the deployment of remote users and agents at home. All Director, Supervisor and Agent clients are thin clients back to the system servers Virtual Contact Center VoiceCon may require a virtual contact call center solution in the future as it integrates CHQ facilities with other corporate facilities. Vendor Response Requirement: Confirm that your proposed ACD solution can support a virtual call center environment, and include in your response answers to the following questions: Confirmed. Both the native Response Group functionality and an optional Aspect Unified IP solution support virtual call center environments. In fact, neither requires co-location of agents. How many remote sites can be supported? All agents may be remote. As such, the number of remote locations is limited only by the number of agents. How remote sites are physically and logically supported? Neither solution differentiates between remote sites unless configured to do so. Agents login via computer and may work anywhere with a network connection. Can call loads be balanced across multiple sites to avoid agents sitting idle at one site while other sites are overloaded? 128

129 . Are all call center operations transparent across sites for ACD call routing, supervisory and reporting functions, telephony features, and any applications such as call recording?. Can your system guarantee Quality of Service (QoS) at the PSTN level for the voice channel for remote agents, and if so how is this done?, for remote Response Group agents connected via managed networks such as a corporate WAN. This is done by properly sizing the WAN links and using the QoS capabilities described is Section to provide priority to call packets. Voice quality for remote agents connected over the Internet is subject to variability based on Internet connections, but this is mitigated through the use of an intelligent media stack and adaptive codecs as described earlier. Voice quality for remote agents connecting on dedicated/wan circuits may be assured through the use of proper network design, and may be monitored using the Monitoring Server, System Center Operations Manager, and other techniques previously described. Are remote agents measured, service observed, recorded the same as local agents? Can they be members of the same ACD group, queue, split/skill as local agents? all agents, local and remote, can be measured, recorded and observed the same. They can also be members of the same ACD groups, queues, and skills as local agents Redundancy VoiceCon requires a high level of service availability for its contact center solution. Vendor Response Requirement: What levels of redundancy are embedded into your ACD solution design? Be specific as to ACD call control and routing functions, switched connections, announcements, and MIS reporting capabilities. Identify if redundancy is based on fully duplicated or load sharing hardware or software elements. The core Office Communications solution is redundant across the server rooms, as discussed in Section 2, and could also be distributed across Wide Area Network sites to enable failover to a second site should the main VoiceCon location become unavailable. The Aspect Unified IP system is designed to deliver high reliability and availability. This is dependent on the customer s server and network configuration, as well as the Aspect Unified IP redundancy configuration selected by the customer. 129

130 The system has a high fault tolerance level that allows it to respond gracefully to an unexpected hardware or software failure. Fault tolerance ranges from its ability to continue operation in the event of a power failure to complete duplication of major components in a system. The system incorporates the following fault tolerance capabilities: Failover is a backup operation that automatically switches to a standby database, server or network if the primary system fails or is temporarily shut down for servicing. Failover is an important fault tolerance function of mission-critical systems that rely on constant accessibility. Failover automatically redirects requests from the down system to the backup system that mimics the operations of the primary system. Hot Standby is a type of failover where if the active component becomes unavailable, the backup automatically takes over for the unavailable component. In Cold Standby, switching between the backup and the active component requires administrative intervention as dictated by alert notifications. Load-Sharing refers to multiple machines taking the responsibility to handle a specific task, enhancing system scalability. Redundancy refers to the scenario where a duplicate component acts as a backup for an identical active component. Replication is the process of creating and managing duplicate versions of a database. Replication not only copies a database but also synchronizes a set of replicas so that changes made to one replica are reflected in all the others. The Aspect Unified IP architecture provides for full redundancy such that a single component failure will not trigger a failure of the entire system as the backup of that component will take its place. Aspect Unified IP components can be deployed in redundant configurations (e.g., OSMS, DBI, Database, M 3, DCP-Telephony Adapter, etc.). In addition, the architecture performs load balancing for transactions and offers backup for the CenterCord routing engine. The result is a highly reliable and available solution. A customer can deploy Aspect Unified IP systems in redundant configurations (as described above) with hot swappable RAID drives and redundant power supplies to retain system operation in potential disaster situations. DCP-Telephony Adapter can also be deployed in certain configurations for fast disaster recovery. For the ultimate in disaster recovery protection, multiple systems can be networked together. Disaster Recovery Multiple systems can be networked together to offer disaster recovery. In the extreme disaster case where one system was to fail, the agents can reconnect to the Disaster Recovery system and continue processing contacts. Disaster recovery addresses the issue of automating the storing of critical configuration data at different sites. For example, if an agent is created at one site, the same agent information is available at all other interconnected sites. Aspect Unified IP incorporates data synchronization between redundant Aspect Unified IP systems to support disaster recovery. The only data replicated is agent-related data through 130

131 Enterprise Data Sync (EDS) service. This functionality replicates data across multiple Aspect Unified IP sites within an enterprise. 9.1 ACD Contact Call Center Parameters VoiceCon requires an ACD contact call center capability to support the following basic parameters: 115 active and 200 configurable agents with workstations Confirmed for Lync Server 2010 Response Groups. Up to 6000 agents are supported per Lync Server 2010 pool. With Aspect Unified You can configure up to 2048 agents with workstations. However, the number of configurable agents and workstations of the proposed solution is configuration dependent and is based on benchmarked profiles comprised of detailed analysis and testing of the system and can be deployed in both physical and virtual server environments. 5 active and 10 configurable supervisors with workstations Not applicable for Response Groups since no unique supervisor capability is supported. Confirmed for Aspect Unified IP. This requirement is fully supported with the defined profiles listed above. You can configure up to 1024 supervisors with workstations. 15 agent groups/splits There is no defined limit to the number of agent groups/splits on the proposed system. 50 integrated announcements with scripts There is no defined limit to the number of announcements. Announcements are stored in a relational database and therefore, the only limit is the actual storage capacity of that database. Confirm the proposed communications solution can satisfy these parameter requirements, and complete the following table. Proposed ACD System Parameters Aspect Unified IP responses Maximum # Configurable Agents with No pre-defined limit workstations Maximum # Active Agents Profile and configuration dependent with workstations up to 2048 Maximum # Configurable No pre-defined limit 131

132 Supervisors w/workstations Maximum # Active Supervisors w/workstations Maximum # Splits/Groups Maximum # Trunk Groups Profile and configuration dependent up to 1024 No pre-defined limit No pre-defined limit limitation is based on the physical trunk cards and telephony apparatuses in place No pre-defined limit Maximum # ANI/DNIS numbers Maximum # Call Delay 200 Announcements Maximum # Queue Slots 2048 maximum simultaneous sessions Standard MIS Reports # Real Time No pre-defined limit the Unified Command and Control Real-time reporting tools allows you to create as many canvases (displays) as you desire # Historical 50+ pre-defined templates and reports templates are customizable to create additional reports # Exception Exception reports are a subset of the pre-defined templates and are also customizable to create additional reports 9.2 Basic ACD Features The proposed ACD solution should include, at minimum, the following basic features: Agent mobility (e.g. login at any terminal); Multiple Agent Groups Call Flow Applications/Skills-based Routing Priority Queuing Call Overflow and Interflow Redirect on No Answer Predictive Overflow Recorded Announcements Music between Recordings Dial out of Queue Work codes Work timers 132

133 Make Agent Position Busy Agent Help Request to Supervisor Silent Monitoring Split Monitoring: Supervisor & Agent Silent Monitoring Split Monitoring: Supervisor, Agent and Caller Threshold Alerting Queue status Vendor Response Requirement: Confirm that the proposed ACD solution supports each of the listed features/functions, identifying any feature/function not supported: All confirmed in the Lync Server 2010 feature set, except for priority queuing, predictive overflow, dial out of queue, work codes, silent monitoring, threshold alerting, and queue status. Application/Skillsbased routing can be provided by IVR front end built into OCS Response Groups, which allows calls to be diverted to specific queues based on caller identification of the topic of interest. In addition, OCS Response Group Service includes the following features: Supported Call Routing Algorithms Response Group Service supports standard response group call-routing algorithms, including serial, longest-idle, parallel, and round robin. Routing algorithms are configured for each defined group of agents. Interactive Voice Response (IVR) Call navigation employs IVR, which detects and recognizes both speech and dual-tone multi-frequency (DTMF) keypad input. Response Group Service IVR also supports text-to-speech and the WAV file format. The administrator can update IVR prompts. Presence-based routing Call routing takes agent presence status into account. The routing component would skip, for example, agents who are signed out or busy. Response Group Templates Predefined response group templates make it easy for an administrator to create a new response group. The administrator uses the response group template to define the usage experience of the call, including questions asked to the caller, options given to the caller, music-on-hold options, and configuration of business hours and holidays. Agent Types Response Group Service supports both formal and informal agents. Formal agents are required to sign in or sign out of response groups. They might include someone who fills in when colleagues are on vacation or lunch breaks or perhaps include separate groups of people who take calls at different times of the day. Informal agents are not required to sign in or out of response groups. Confirmed for Aspect Unified IP. 9.3 Call Flow At minimum the proposed ACD contact call center solution must be able to provide call control, screening, and routing based on: 133

134 Incoming Trunk Group ANI, DNIS, or CLID Call Volume System Performance Criteria Priority Queuing Call Prompts Vendor Response Requirement: Confirm that the proposed ACD solution supports each of the listed call control criteria and briefly describe how supervisors/administrators create and develop scripts for incoming call flow operations. Confirmed as part of Lync Server 2010 Response Groups, except routing based on call volume, system performance criteria, and priority queuing. The Response Group service provides treatment options for both overflow and outside working hours conditions Aspect Unified IP is a unified platform architected from the ground up to incorporate all of the functionality required by multimedia contact centers while also allowing you to connect with and add value by leveraging existing contact center technologies. Aspect Unified IP enables customer interactions across multiple channels such as voice, chat and while using a single point of administration for all contact channels. This solution enables business rules to be implemented once and applied across multiple channels by leveraging the same universal queuing rules and applying those rules to all interaction types. This allows agents to move dynamically between inbound calls, outbound calls, s, chats, etc. without the need for manual supervisor intervention. Aspect Unified IP includes a powerful Automatic Call Distributor (ACD) to manage inbound contacts. ACD is the Inbound Service used within Aspect Unified IP to route calls to appropriate agents for optimal call handling and resolution. Inbound calls are automatically queued, prioritized and routed to agents within a contact center based on the Inbound Trunk Group, dialed number (DNIS), calling party (ANI), agent skills, customer profile, service levels or user-defined business rules. It also has features such as overflow routing, call rerouting based on queue statistics, abandoned call recuperation and multi-site routing. The ACD is designed to support inbound call processing requirements such as enhanced call routing based on customer profile information, management of telephony captured information for automated intelligent screen pops at the agent desktop and voice/data transfers. ACD services can also utilize a service prioritization capability. Aspect Unified IP uses priorities as a tool to determine which queued call should be answered first based on the number of agents available. Priority templates can be crafted for different services with different priority weights assigned to the priority categories (e.g., number of calls in queue, sales per hour, service level, etc.). Aspect s Voice Portal delivers rich voice, self-service applications to your customers via standard speech enabled VoiceXML or dual tone multi frequency (DTMF) applications. If the customer needs to speak to a representative, the information gathered during the self-service session is made available to the agent, enhancing the overall customer experience. Aspect s Voice Portal can be architected to be load sharing 134

135 and redundant. Other functionality includes: Speech Recognition Text-to-speech (TTS) Speaker Verification Standard speech interfaces to Microsoft, Nuance and other applications that support Media Resource Control Protocol (MRCP) MULTI-MEDIA MANAGER (Voice Portal) Multi-Media Manager (M3) is a multi-media scripting application that is used to design and implement scripts for voice, chat, and Automated Workflow Distribution (AWD). Using multiple communication channels, self-service, outbound Voice Portal and text-to-speech increases contact efficiencies and provides customer personalization resulting in lower costs and higher rates of customer satisfaction. Contact center managers use Multi-Media Manager to implement customer business rules and self-service strategies for contact centers. M3 script developers can access service statistics and near real-time contact data to make intelligent routing and queuing decisions. Managers who understand their application requirements can use Multi-Media Manager to generate simple scripts without programming experience. More experienced users can use M3 powerful tools to develop more complex scripts Routing & Queuing Vendor Response Requirement: Confirm the proposed ACD solutions can support, at a minimum, each of the following call flow routing & queuing decision criteria, identifying any not supported. First In/First Out (FIFO) Time of day (TOD) / Day of week (DOW) / Day of year (DOY) ANI/DNIS/CLID Originating call by voice terminal type, i.e., cell phone or payphone Call prompt response Number of calls in queue Abandoned Calls Longest held call in queue Estimated wait time Available agents (number, skill) Agent idle time Agent handle times Caller directed routing Lync Server 2010 Response Groups support routing based on FIFO, call prompt response, number of calls in queue (overflow), agent idle time, available agents, wait time, and TOD/DOW/DOY. Aspect Unified IP supports all of the routing & queuing decision criteria listed. 135

136 9.3.2 Agent Skills Vendor Response Requirement: Confirm that the proposed ACD solution supports skill-based routing, and identify: Total number of programmable skills; Number of programmable and active skills per agent; Number of programmable and active multiple group assignments; If an agent can add/delete their skill assignments; OCS Response Groups allow the grouping of appropriately skilled agents into different queues but do not provide separate agent skills classifications. Up to 999 skills can be defined in the Aspect Unified IP system. Within each skill group there can be up to 256 skill levels with each skill level having up to 10 skill weights and the skills can be prioritized. Each Service or Queue can have up to 16 skills required and an Agent can belong to 128 active Services. Only a supervisor or administrator with allowed permissions can add/delete skill assignments Customer Preference Vendor Response Requirement: Confirm the proposed ACD solution supports customer preference call routing and queuing capabilities, and briefly describe the process how incoming callers can control their call flow. Lync Server 2010 Response Groups includes optional IVR prompts that callers may use to control flow. Confirmed, by Aspect Unified IP s Voice Portal, which allows contact centers to automate some or all of their customer interactions by utilizing integrated text-to-speech and voice recognition to gather customer information and match it with data from back-office systems to automatically fulfill customer inquiries or requests. Voice Portal and ACD functionality can be used in tandem to pre-determine customer information and route a call to the appropriately skilled agent. Outbound Voice Portal delivers a message to the called party as they answer the phone, automatically responds to a number of follow up questions and routes that customer to a live agent, if necessary. 9.4 Call Processing Functions Provide brief answers to each of the following questions regarding the proposed ACD solution call processing features and operations Describe how call control and agent handling methods can be administered locally and changed on demand if necessary in response to system activity. 136

137 All aspects of OCS Response Groups can be administered locally or remotely by the administrator. In addition, the business owner can have additional agents make themselves active in overflow conditions. Additionally, Aspect Unified IP allows Call Control and agent handling to be administered locally and changed on demand if necessary in response to system activity utilizing the web based administrative interface for Aspect Unified IP called Director. Contact center administrators and supervisors can configure and provision Inbound and Outbound Voice, IM, , Chat and Fax Services or campaigns from a single workstation. With dynamic provisioning capabilities, changes can be made to system settings without having to stop and restart the system or service. Agents can be moved without any delay in service as changes take effect in the next contact How many priority levels can be assigned incoming calls? Can priority level be changed while it is in queue based on system factors, i.e., time in queue, available agents, etc.? No priority levels are assigned for incoming calls in a Response Group. They are handled strictly in FIFO order. Priorities are used by the Aspect Unified IP system to determine which service an agent will receive on first contact based on the number of agents available. Prioritization enables the Aspect Unified IP system to decide the order in which each service contact will be handled as well as which agent will handle the call. There are three types of priorities that are set within each service. Static and Dynamic Priorities are set up on the General tab of the service and determine the order in which service contacts are answered. A Queue Type is set on the Queue tab of the service and determines which agent receives the next contact. Static Priority Every service has an associated static priority which allows the most critical service to be handled first. This is the primary way in which all services are prioritized. A dynamic priority is used when there are multiple services with the same static priority competing for agent resources. A static priority is based on a numeric value between 0 and 10, with 0 as the highest priority and 10 being the lowest. A service with a static priority set closer to zero is considered a higher priority than one with a number closer to 10. There are 11 static priority levels. Dynamic Priority (Priority Template) Priority templates are necessary when services have the same static priority. If the static priority is the same for two or more services that are competing for agent resources, a priority template determines which service is next and acts as a tie-breaker. A priority template uses a weighted combination of different factors to determine how to route contacts. These factors are based on the service goals that are configured when setting up the service. The same priority template is assigned to each competing service. 137

138 Agent Prioritization (Queue Type) This priority sets the method for routing contacts to agents within a service. When a contact is next in line to be routed to an agent (as determined by Static and Dynamic priorities), Queue type is then used to determine the best available agent to receive that contact. This priority is set on the Queue tab for each service. Conditional Routing can also be set up based on calls in queue or wait time. Contact center managers can provision the maximum number of calls that they want in queue at any point in time. If the maximum threshold is reached, calls are rerouted to another service or script that has an increased priority. Managers can also set the maximum time that they will allow a call to wait in queue. Priority levels can be changed while a call is in queue based upon a number of factors, including wait times, number of calls in queue, service level, affinity, group utilization, and call-to-agent ratio How many callers can concurrently listen to a particular ACD recorded announcement? Is the number based on origin of the announcement, i.e., internal or external to ACD system? Each server in a front-end pool can handle 60 concurrent calls, with each Response Group caller able to listen to the same or different announcements. Additional servers may be deployed to provide additional concurrent capability. The number of callers that can simultaneously listen to the same announcement in Aspect s Unified IP system is only limited by the number of trunks Can announcements played for a caller be defined as uninterruptible even when agents are available to handle the incoming call? Within Response Groups some announcements are uninterruptible (welcome message, outside business hours message). As soon as the caller is in queue and listening to music on hold, an agent becoming available will automatically interrupt the music. So, there is no way to configure if an announcement is interruptible or not, it simply depends on the type of announcement. In Aspect s Unified IP, announcements (Attention Retainers) that are played for a caller can be defined as uninterruptable even when agents are available to handle the incoming call. This is accomplished by signifying whether the playback of the Attention Retainer is Optional or Mandatory within the incoming ACD Service Describe all available and standard automated prompt features that a caller would have to listen and react to for call screening and routing procedures. 138

139 With Response Groups, this is controllable by the administrator. Pre-recorded prompts are not provided, but VoiceCon will have complete control to build a single or multi-level IVR tree. OCS has the ability to synthesize prompts in 26 languages or to use.wav files recorded by the customer. With Aspect Unified IP, the use of prompting is entirely up to the customer. Calls can be answered without prompting if desired. The Aspect Unified IP solution allows contact centers to answer calls as they enter the contact center and intelligently route them to available agents based on the dialed number (DNIS), calling party identification (ANI), available agents, customer profile, service levels or user defined business rules. Dynamic call routing is a feature that determines how calls are handled or routed. Dynamic routing increases the flexibility to manage incoming calls, which assures that calls are answered quickly by the most qualified agent. With the dynamic routing in Aspect Unified IP, call flow scripts that include database access, IVR prompts, branch logic decisions and multi-site routing capabilities can redirect a call to another queue, IVR, voice mail, etc Can callers maintain their position in queue while interacting with an IVR? for Response Groups, since the IVR front-ends the queuing. With Aspect Unified IP, Inbound callers to the contact center are automatically queued until an agent is available to handle the call. While in the queue, the caller can hear recorded informational or promotional messages or (with Aspect Unified IP) be told of wait time Describe any other unique call routing features available on your ACD system that you believe VoiceCon would be interested in knowing about. For Lync Server 2010 Response Groups: Presence-based routing takes agent presence status into account. The routing component would skip, for example, agents who are signed out or busy. Built-in speech recognition and synthesis is available for no additional cost Microsoft OCS allows VoiceCon the ability to deploy a virtually unlimited number of Response Groups with no additional licensing costs. For Aspect Unified IP: Ask an Expert Ask an Expert functionality, powered by Microsoft Lync Server 2010, allows agents to receive assistance from experts in the enterprise to solve the customer problem on the first call. Aspect Unified IP provides customers with the ability to reach into their enterprises and find experts to help with contact center activities. Unified Communications for the Contact Center allows companies to capture those instances where a customer interaction may need to leave the contact center. 139

140 Abandoned Call Recuperation If a caller hangs up while in queue, the system can capture his or her ANI and store it in an ANI callback table. The table can then be called back as a means to recover the abandoned calls in queue. This enables high-touch service by resolving abandoned calls and allows for problem resolution without the expense of the caller having to dial back into the contact center and possibly having to wait in queue. Queue Optimization for Callback This feature provides the capability for an inbound caller to be called back. This allows callbacks to be scheduled when a customer is in queue for an inbound service. When an inbound caller is in queue for an inbound service, a customer can specify to be called back at their approximate agent connect time instead of waiting in queue for an agent, they would like to be called back. Alternatively, they can specify a specific time when they would like to be called back as well as the number they would like to be called back on. Note that only voice is supported for callbacks. 9.5 Supervisor Functions The proposed ACD solution must be able to support supervisor positions to monitor and assist call agent positions, monitor and review system performance, and administer ACD functions and operations. Provide answers to each of the following supervisor function requirements. Lync Server 2010 Response Groups do not provide unique supervisor functions. As such, the following responses in section 9.5 are all based upon Aspect s Unified IP Describe how a supervisor can remotely monitor an agent. Indicate if the agent is notified by the system if they are being monitored by a supervisor, and specify the type of notification signal. Any individual who is provided access rights can monitor the interactions between agents and customers remotely. The Aspect Unified IP administrator can assign the user a dial-in number and password and restrict the types of services and agents that the individual can monitor. Remote monitoring allows supervisors and administrators to perform quality assessments while away from the contact center. In a service bureau, remote monitoring is often used as a tool to offer clients the ability to monitor the effectiveness of the service bureau in handling their customers. The client can surreptitiously listen to, record, and rate (score) the monitored session. A report of all the monitored sessions and associated scores can then be generated and provided to the client on a periodic basis. 140

141 Tones/beeps are only played when agent or customer or both are being recorded. Tone/beeps are not played if the agent or customer is only being monitored and not recorded. A user is able to specify tones/beeps to be played to a user while they are being monitored. Specifically, within the Unified Director, a manager can specify the following recording monitoring options on a service-by-service level basis: The beep can be played at a specified interval (in seconds) The beep can be played at the start of the call, or periodically The beep can be heard by both the agent and customer, or just either one Can a supervisor assist an agent during an active call, and if so can the agent received prior notification this is about to occur?, Unified IP allows floor supervisors to monitor agent calls. As the floor supervisor, you must launch the Telephony Bar during logging in to monitor the calls. The agent can receive prior notice, or not, depending on the supervisor s preference. Agent activity monitoring can be performed in a number of ways, including: Silent Monitoring Coaching Barge-In (Conferencing) Remote Monitoring Identify and briefly describe reports that are available to a supervisor via their PC monitor. Attach samples of available display screenshots. Aspect Unified IP provides multimedia unified historical reporting through its industry-leading, completely customizable, on-line analytical processing (OLAP) reporting engine. This allows contact center supervisors to create reports on all interactions. Reports are defined in DataViews, which are grouped into templates: Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) Services, Agent, Automatic Outbound Dialing (AOD) Services, Interactive Voice Response (IVR) Services, Services, Recordings, and Remote Monitoring. Some default DataViews have been created for each template. The supervisor can modify DataViews using the Wizard option within the module, and can display them as reports or as Data Cubes. The Wizard displays all the data fields available to the user when creating user-defined DataViews. 141

142 After creating a report, it can be printed using the DataViews Print Report button or it can be printed at a later date and time using the Scheduled Reporting feature. For Scheduled Reporting, an administrator can add, activate, deactivate, delete and view the report schedule. The Scheduled Reporting feature creates a log file each time the scheduled report runs, which displays errors and successful runs. With Enterprise permissions, reports can be scheduled to bring in data from multiple systems. A user without Enterprise permissions can create scheduled reports using Public reports that an Enterprise user created from multiple systems. An administrator is able to select the distribution path and format of the scheduled report and can schedule the report to multiple destinations on the system network, and in various output formats ( , webpage, ASCII file or a network printer) How often is data updated on supervisor monitor display? Screens are recorded synchronized with the voice recordings and captured with any activity on the screen during the recording process Describe the various display screens a supervisor would have access to for real time management operations. Include an explanation for each screen field. Specify if any of the following agent performance metrics are displayed: service level; quantity and time of calls in queue; average speed to answer; number of agents staffed to handle calls; and identity any other available performance monitoring capabilities. Aspect Unified IP with Unified Command and Control real-time reporting enables contact centers to immediately view the performance of your entire contact center whether it s locally based or across multiple global sites. Utilizing standard real-time canvases or by creating a real-time view uniquely your own, Unified Command and Control Reporting provide you with a current picture of your operation, enabling 142

143 you to make fast and accurate decisions as they are needed. In addition, Unified Command and Control real time reporting provides you both visual, as well as auditory alert notifications when your contact center performance moves beyond your desired thresholds. And, because Unified Command and Control real time reporting is a browser- based application, it is very easy to provide real-time performance updates to people throughout your organization. Unified Command and Control - Real-Time Reporting Producer is the tool you use for all design work related to RealTime canvases. You can create canvases that display real-time data With Unified Command and Control - Real-Time Reporting: Producer, you can format and display Real-Time data based on your individual needs and desires. This functionality is accomplished with the use of objects, such as a table, field, rollbar, or graph. These objects are placed on a canvas in a way similar to that used in a drawing program, such as Paint. You specify the real-time data that each object will display, as well as the colors, format, and size of the object. You can also place decorative objects (lines, text, ellipses, and rectangles) on the screen to help accentuate the data. Also available for real time viewing, Enterprise Monitor is a tool that you can use with Aspect Unified IP s Unified Director to examine real-time statistics on multiple systems. The tool lets you monitor the activity levels and utilization of services, agents, call tables, and overall enterprise resources. Monitoring categories give you access to other monitoring categories and additional information, as needed. For example, while monitoring activity within a service, you can view how agents are utilized for that service through an on-screen Agent Utilization button. Or, while 143

144 viewing agent activity, you can click the Monitor Selected Agent Calls button to monitor an agent s calls. Enterprise Monitor windows also provide buttons that access the Aspect Unified IP Unified Director software. This access allows those with permission to change the properties of a service, agent, or workgroup. For every instance of an Enterprise Monitor application, you can select one site to monitor. Use the Enterprise Monitor tools for the following: Service Monitoring Tool View activity based on the type of service (inbound, outbound, Chat, , workflow, M3) View the queue activity associated with a switch Control incoming and outgoing messages Modify properties for a service Agent Monitoring tool View agent status and real-time activity Monitor agent calls Target agent monitoring by workgroup or service View agent utilization by workgroup or service View disposition by agent, service, or date Review queued assigned to a service 144

145 Monitor Tables tool View real-time call table activity for selected services Control calls fed into queue View distribution list activity Enterprise Monitoring See information about calls and resource disposition for the enterprise Assess resource utilization for the enterprise Can a supervisor perform drag and click system management programming from their monitor, and if so briefly describe available management features and 145

146 operations. Specify if a supervisor can perform real time reconfiguration of call flows and agent skills assignments. The rules that influence how contacts are managed in Aspect Unified IP are provisioned either within the Unified Director or M3 applications. Through the Unified Director application, service routing rules, security plans, re-route options and schedules are defined. The M3 application is used to build scripts for setting customized business rules for voice (IVR), chat, and workflow interactions. The scripts are executed within the M3 server. General Security Plans refer to the access levels that are given to a Director to specific functional areas of the system. Permission to create, modify, delete or view data is determined in the General Security Plan windows. A series of tabs relating to Lists, Users, Tables, Exclusion Manager, DataViews, Recording Manager, Services Creation, Alerts and Enterprise Monitor allow a contact center manager to make variable settings in each category. A plan is created and then assigned to individual Directors based on their role within the contact center. The plan serves as a pattern or reference for all Directors (supervisors) in a particular role. It eliminates the need to set up individual access levels each time a new Director enters or changes roles within the contact center. Service Security Plans refers to the levels of authorization given to a Director for specific contact center services. Permission to access specific services is set in the Service Security Plan window. The ability to monitor other agents, open screens or run reports depends on the access levels assigned to each user in this window. Using this plan, a contact center manager can limit or allow full access to a service. Examples of some of the allowances and limitations that can be imposed are: Directors that need the ability to monitor and coach agents working on a service, but do not need the capability of record and playback for a particular service Directors that need access to DataViews only Directors that need the ability to monitor a service but do not need the ability to start or stop tables for that service Multiple Service Security Plans can be assigned to one Director. This enables a Director to have unique levels of access within different services Can supervisors log-out an agent remotely? Aspect Unified Solution allows supervisors just like agents to log in remotely. If the agent does not log out, it will time out and ask the agent to log back in with there is no activity. Screen shot: 146

147 9.5.8 Can supervisors force a group into night handling? Schedules determine the hours of activity for a Service. A Service is only considered active during scheduled hours and groups of agents can be assigned to the service schedules for night handling. For example, if a Service is scheduled to begin accepting or dialing calls at 9:00 P.M., no calls will be made or accepted before that time. An administrator can create, modify or delete schedules, including scheduled run times and the Holidays that relate to the schedules Can supervisors monitor and observe agents by agent ID? Can they listen and talk to an agent during a conversation: Can the entire customer experience be monitored, including announcements, music, etc.? Aspect Unified Solution includes Monitoring Applications that enable supervisors to monitor the voice, Web chat and Web collaboration interactions between agents and customers in real-time. Using the Enterprise Monitor application, a supervisor can select specific services and agents that they want to monitor. The system s security plan allows administrators to control the types or services and groups of agents that an individual is allowed to monitor. Agent activity monitoring can be performed in a number of ways, including: Silent Monitoring Coaching Barge-In (Conferencing) Remote Monitoring There are also other monitoring applications that are performed at a system or enterprise level. These include: Alert Monitoring Enterprise Monitoring Multi-Tenancy Monitoring 147

148 9.6 Agent Functions The proposed ACD solution must support a variety of agent functions. Provide answers to each of the following agent function requirements Describe the process for an agent to request supervisor assistance during an active call, and specify if the caller must be on hold or if the agent/supervisor can talk without the caller hearing the conversation. After the supervisor consultation can the caller be transferred or conferenced? Lync Server 2010 Response Group Agents can utilize Instant Messaging to engage supervisors for assistance via an IM session, and can conduct an IM conversation without the caller hearing. Agents can also conference in the supervisor. Aspect Unified IP agents can also utilize Instant Messaging, and, additionally, the supervisor can barge-in on the call to assist both agent and customer. The customer does not have to be put on hold for this activity. The caller can be transferred or conference with another party or with the supervisor if required after the initial supervisor assistance What happens if a supervisor is not available when assistance is required? Microsoft Lync Server 2010 presence information and search may be used to find an alternate Identify and provide a brief description of ACD system information (calls in queue, average time in queue, personal call handling statistics, et al) that can be retrieved and displayed on the agent desktop telephone instrument. Lync Server 2010 Response Groups do not make ACD system information available on the agent desktop telephone instrument, but agents may use Conversation History in Microsoft Office Outlook to determine how many calls they have handled. For Aspect Unified IP, the following statistics can be displayed within the agent phone control instrument (softphone): Services (Queues) the agent is working and assigned to How many calls by service How long agent has been logged in, active, idle, wrap-up and not ready Occupancy % How many total: Inbound calls, Outbound calls, s, chats, DID calls (direct), Workflows and CTI type calls In addition, an agent can have a separate desktop browser open that gives access to any real-time call center information that the administrator provides from any URL address. 148

149 9.6.4 Identify and provide a brief description of ACD system information and reports (calls in queue, average time in queue, personal call handling statistics, et al) that can be retrieved and displayed on the agent PC monitor. Attach samples of available display screenshots. Lync Server 2010 Response Groups do not provide ACD system information and reports beyond that captured via call detail records. Administrators may use the CDR information to build custom reports. For Aspect Unified IP, the entire call center personnel can have access to real time and historical reporting information. The Unified Command and Control Real Time views allow supervisors to create canvases with any available real-time information in the system for display. Because the data is available through browser based interfaces, agents can be pointed to specific URLs for information and can save them in their favorites folder. 149

150 9.6.5 Describe how an agent is able to distinguish incoming calls as a new call, transferred call, or a call from a voice response system. Lync Server 2010 Response Group agents can visually distinguish between calls delivered by the Response Group service and those transferred from other agents, and are visually shown the customer responses to optional IVR prompts. Aspect Unified IP agents can be connected in two ways through either fixed audio path, where the agent receives a tone upon call arrival, or on demand, where the agent phone set will ring. In both cases, a whisper announcement can be played to the agent prior to call delivery (and can be any recorded announcement in the system that could identify the call type). The tone, announcement and agent phone display will all indicate to the agent that a new call has arrived and what the call is actually about. An example of a whisper might be Spanish Customer Service or Laptop technical support or anything the customer would like to send to the agent for the notification. In addition, Aspect offers scripting that can be initiated based on the call type which will further give the agent more information about the call type and activity. Below is a screen shot of a script from a simulated banking application where the customer is reporting a lost debit card: 150

151 9.6.6 Describe each of the available states an agent can be in, e.g., logged in; available to take calls; after call work time; etc. Lync Server 2010 Response Group agents may be logged in or out, and can take advantage of the full set of Lync Server 2010 presence states, including, but not limited to, available, busy, and do not disturb. Aspect Unified IP supports multiple work states. LOGGING IN the agent is waiting for the passcode to be entered to complete the log in process IDLE the agent is waiting for a call to be received or placed ACTIVE the agent is on an active call NOT READY the agent has not logged out for the day, but will stop taking calls for some time, possibly during a break. Not ready states are customizable. PARK the agent has ACD resources available, but is not placed in queue CALL PENDING an inbound call is waiting DIALING the agent dials an outbound call; the status remains until the call is answered CONSULTING the agent is placing a call to a third party during an active call INTERNAL the agent is receiving an internal call from another agent or a supervisor PREVIEW the dial mode was set to Preview prior to dialing a call ON-HOLD an agent has an active call on hold 3-WAY a conference call with three active parties is occurring WAITING the agent is waiting for an event to occur before it begins distributing calls WRAP After Call Work. Once a call has ended, this state remains until the agent dispositions the call. You can update a customer s records with comments, or update the client application before proceeding to another call Describe how an agent enters work codes that describe the nature of the call. Specify the maximum number of work codes and work code digits that can be entered into the system. 151