Intelligent Migration to IP

Transcription

1 Intelligent Migration to IP

2 Unifying Communications Workers are often challenged by a lack of integration between devices and applications, meaning an interruption in communications and in some cases an absence of communication. Such gaps in communications are costly; they are time-consuming and can lead to errors and delays. This is compounded by the fact that many workers are mobile, moving from a stationary desk-based environment to a location independent work style that requires pervasive and consistent access to information. The aim of unifying communications is to provide a consistent user experience whereby workers can access information and communicate without interruption. The value to an organization in unifying communications is to improve workflow and efficiency, ultimately leading to better service delivery and an improved bottom line. Mitel takes unified communications beyond the conventional context by integrating legacy telephony and IP telephony with a multiplicity of communications tools. This is where convergence truly gets interesting. The convergence of voice and data enables new applications to be created: from presence and availability tools designed to define when you are on the phone, in a meeting or away from your desk; to conferencing and collaboration tools, allowing users to engage in informal, on-the-fly conferencing and knowledge sharing; to tools that enhance mobility and business continuity. Organizations can take advantage of these new applications without sacrificing their existing infrastructure. The Mitel telephony platform is the multifunctional special purpose tool of communications, allowing an organization to implement innovative work enhancement applications while retaining their existing equipment that include: Location independent working taking advantage of broadband, users can now connect back to the organization from a remote location or home office and access all the features of the corporate phone system seamlessly Speech-enabled directory to automate calls into the organization IP contact center staff can support the contact center virtually Soft phones that enable people to make calls on the PC Hot desking allows desktop phones to be shared, allowing staff to have access to their own phone preferences Conferencing and collaboration tools for presence and availability, knowledge management and issue resolution, either with Mitel Your Assistant or Microsoft Office Live Communications Server 2005 Design for the power of the new while accounting for the realities of the old. Mitel appreciates that legacy equipment and databases are a reality for most organizations. For true unified communications to exist, technology must be designed to implement the power of the new while accounting for the realities of the old. Mitel is recognized as a leader in helping organizations migrate to the world of IP telephony. The reason is simple. Mitel offers a converged voice communications platform that enables organizations to move to IP telephony when and how it makes sense. Moving voice from a separate telephone network to a data network using Voice over IP (VoIP) is the heart of convergence. VoIP is the data transport mechanism used to deliver telephony over a data network using Internet Protocol instead of using the Public Switched Telephone Network. IP telephony uses VoIP to support voice communications platforms and applications. Mitel Business Application Paper 1

3 Often VoIP and IP telephony are used interchangeably; however, VoIP denotes the transmission, whereas IP telephony refers to the system and applications. IP telephony from Mitel offers the same richness of features and functionality as a traditional telephone system commonly referred to as a PBX (Private Branch Exchange), meaning organizations will not sacrifice any of the system features they have come to rely on. IP telephony has cost advantages over conventional PBX solutions. Ease of management, the reduction in costs associated with addition and relocation of personnel through moves, adds and changes (MACs), and the reduction in line costs mean that IP telephony has the ability to reduce overhead by 17 percent. 1 For organizations with 500 or more staff, savings can be as high as 32 percent. 2 Migration and Interoperability It is common for organizations to phase in the introduction of IP telephony so that they can continue to use existing PBX equipment while introducing new IP-based phone systems. Most organizations often have a heavy investment in their current telephony system and are considering IP telephony as an adjunct to their existing system. Organizations may be looking at IP telephony to add supporting communications to a new department, or to replace a telephone system that has reached its end of life. However, this transition can lead to issues around inter-working between traditional and IP phone systems, including the loss of valuable telephony features that many organizations have come to rely upon. Features such as call line identity (CLI), cross network paging and the ability for switchboard operators to see whether someone is on the phone at a remote site are all aspects of a phone system that people depend upon. To ensure features work across disparate telephone systems, manufacturers of telephony equipment have worked together to establish signaling protocols. Signaling protocols play a crucial role in providing interoperability between telephone systems by supporting features and functionality between telephone systems. The importance of signaling protocols cannot be underestimated. QSIG and DPNSS (Digital Private Network Signaling System) are signaling protocols designed to provide communication between different PBXs. Signaling protocols are intended to allow disparate PBXs to pass selected feature capabilities between them. The adoption of a signaling protocol ensures that users get a core set of features that all manufacturers support. QSIG provides a lower level of feature transparency than DPNSS. Interoperability through DPNSS continues to provide the greatest level of integration for most PBXs. DPNSS is the signaling protocol used by Siemens Realitis DX / isdx, Nortel Meridian, Ericsson MD110, and Philips SOPHO IPK, popular telephone systems within many organizations. If an organization needs to integrate existing PBXs, DPNSS is difficult to do without. Mitel has one of the highest levels of DPNSS integrations on the market, providing comprehensive interoperability with traditional TDM (circuit-switched) systems like the Siemens Realitis DX / isdx. The 3300 ICP is a state of the art VoIP platform that is designed to work with the PBX systems of other manufacturers, meaning organizations can retain their current PBX and add new IP telephony applications by way of the 3300 ICP. For example, an organization may wish to deploy IP telephony for wireless telephony, but the existing telephone system cannot support it. The 3300 ICP can be deployed as a media gateway to support wireless telephony by providing call control to the wireless phones while the existing PBX retains control of the existing telephones. As a fully operational IP-PBX, the organization can simply add IP phones at any time through the 3300 ICP. Indeed, they can start adding other applications as well. The ingenuity of this approach is that even though the organization has deployed the 3300 ICP as a gateway, it can also be used to add on new handsets and applications. Mitel offers one core platform, which can operate as a gateway or a full-fledged PBX. Therefore, it can support an application and at the same time be used 1 Cable and Wireless Case Study on Convergence: IP Convergence: reducing Capital and Operational Cost. 2 According to Analysys, Companies with 500 or more employees can save up to 32 percent in capital expenditures and operating costs by investing in an IP-based PBX system. 2 Mitel Business Application Paper

4 to migrate users over to IP, either one handset at a time, or by department or application as an organization s budget allows. Mitel has one of the highest levels of DPNSS integrations on the market, providing for a high level of interoperability with traditional TDM switches like the Siemens Realitis DX / isdx, Nortel Meridian, Ericsson MD110, and Philips SOPHO IPK. The 3300 IP Communications Platform Mitel has one core IP platform and the product roadmap evolves based on that one platform Organizations do not have to rip and replace if expansion is required Applications are added on as required Uses Wind River VxWorks, a respected real-time operating system used by worldwide industry leaders such as NASA Scalability, from 4 to 65,000 Modular, easy to implement Network agnostic the 3300 ICP works over any infrastructure The 3300 ICP architecture uses the IP network to connect IP telephony devices and provides an integrated TDM bus to switch calls between traditional telephone devices. The 3300 ICP has the ability to switch all types of traffic IP, ISDN or analog. The 3300 ICP provides native call setup, tear down, and signaling between IP connected Figure 1: Telephone System Integration/Migration Mitel Business Application Paper 3

5 telephones. For traditional telephony, such as analog extension and PSTN trunk connectivity, call handling is also handled natively by the 3300 ICP via a conventional TDM circuit-switched subsystem. This ability to use two different switching techniques simultaneously means that: All traffic is switched with minimum conversion between packet and traditional telephony to provide optimum voice quality in all call scenarios Embedded gateway functionality is only required between the IP and non-ip networks, thereby optimizing the use of system resources Migration from traditional PBX to IP telephony is seamless and efficient Network Interoperability Unified communications cannot be achieved without first taking into consideration network interoperability. The 3300 ICP can be configured and integrated into any corporate LAN / WAN infrastructure regardless of the manufacturer. The Mitel 3300 ICP works over Cisco, HP, Enterasys, Extreme, Foundry, Nortel or 3Com, indeed any infrastructure, thereby eliminating any issue with vendor lock-in and ensuring organizations can select best-of-breed technology to satisfy their communications requirements. Functionality Mitel recognizes the importance of retaining the same features and functionality of a traditional voice system. The 3300 provides fully featured call control services, functionality and applications like a traditional PBX: Multiple levels of call forwarding Message waiting Advisory messages Conference calling Account codes Call blocking Least-cost routing Night service plus 100s more Embedded Applications Voice Mail Auto Attendant Automatic Call Distribution b Wireless Gateway CTI Tools for Application Integration Flexibility of Deployment Mitel does not dictate how the 3300 ICP should be deployed, but instead offers flexibility in design. The choice of implementation is driven by an organization s requirements. Such flexibility means that Mitel is able to offer the choice of a distributed, centralized or hosted approach to deployment as well as offering choices regarding the deployment of servers around the network. Consistency of Approach and Experience In many organizations there are numerous examples of Communications Orphans, where there lacks a common communications infrastructure for all users. Capability often varies considerably by location, which means that users moving from site-to-site have no consistency of experience. Managing this type of communications infrastructure is time-consuming, expensive and involves staffing on-site resources or necessitates travel, which may introduce delays to issue resolution. Mitel can offer an effective means to centralize communications and provide users with a consistent voice communications experience, regardless of location on the network. The 3300 ICP can be configured and integrated into any corporate LAN / WAN infrastructure to provide IP telephony to thousands of users in a single building or an organization s campus setting. The 3300 ICP can also be networked with other 3300 ICPs, with the ability to serve locations across the country and around the world. In addition, the 3300 ICP supports a hosted solution using a choice of gateways (analog, digital, BRI) providing a cost-effective solution for small branch offices. 4 Mitel Business Application Paper

6 The 3300 ICP is truly multi-purpose, as it not only functions as an IP-PBX and a media gateway, but also as a survivable gateway. In the event of a problem with the network, the site will not only be able to breakout to the PSTN, but it will also deliver IP telephony functionality. Figure 2: Intelligent Migration to IP Mitel Business Application Paper 5

7 Location Independent Working with Broadband Communications Organizations are often challenged with providing communications infrastructures to smaller remote sites, as the cost of leased lines can be prohibitive. This problem can be overcome by the use of broadband and remote IP technology from Mitel. This broadband telephone system enables organizations to provide remote workers and micro-sites with extension number access to the central voice system and allow users to access all of the same features as the main host site, like voice mail, centralized directory and conferencing. It is easily implemented using a router and a standard Mitel IP phone at the end user s location. This is plug and play technology, which means that it is easy to implement and maintain and therefore results in minimal management overhead. The Mitel Teleworker Solution is by far the most cost-effective and easy to deploy system on the market. The Teleworker Solution does not require a VPN and uses adaptive jitter buffering to improve voice quality over the Internet (G.729 compression to reduce bandwidth requirements). Moreover, the remote IP phone can stream voice conversations directly from one remote IP phone to another without the voice path going back to the Teleworker Solution gateway. This is ideal for remote offices working over a small Internet link. For added security, the Teleworker Solution uses Secure Real Time Transport Protocol (SRTP) for encryption with 128-bit AES encryption of voice connections and uses SSL to encrypt the call control. To ensure the remote IP set is always available, the Mitel Line Interface Module is available to provide remote users with the ability to make and receive calls on an analog line in either of the following modes: Line Interface Module Mode: Users can access the analog line at any time by pressing the programmed key. Fail-over Mode: Users can use the analog line when the IP connection has failed. With the LIM fitted, emergency (999,112, etc.) calls are automatically delivered over the analog line to the local emergency response unit. It is important to note that the LIM module is not restricted to the Teleworker Solution handset, but is equally applicable to regular Mitel desktop handsets that require PSTN access in case of network failure. Centralized Management with Enterprise Manager Converging voice onto the network provides for enhanced flexibility and mobility within the organization. As voice becomes an application, it can be centrally managed anywhere on the network using Mitel Enterprise Manager, a browser-based technology from Mitel. Network managers benefit from a single system view of all users, sites, equipment features and services. Moreover, from an administrative point of view, adding and deleting employees in the directory and setting up new access rights for users becomes a far simpler proposition under this system. In an organization, often characterized by large numbers of personnel and numerous buildings, the ability to dynamically manage employee information is critical. This is a key management issue which imposes unnecessary costs and delays and is easily addressed by deploying Enterprise Manager from Mitel. Network managers can sit anywhere on the Wide Area Network (WAN) or dial in from a remote location to assess network performance and make changes where necessary. Centralized management of the voice system removes the complexity of management that exists in a traditional PBX environment. Web-based tools provide for flexibility in application and network management. This leads to a reduction in the need for dedicated resources for operations, administration and maintenance personnel. Seamless Single Point Provisioning Users, Applications, Platforms Plug-and-Play Phone Installation Single Entry User and Applications Provisioning Configuration Wizards Software Installer 6 Mitel Business Application Paper

8 Simplified Network Configuration The Possibilities Hot Desking We used to spend nearly $20,000 each quarter on service calls for small changes to the phone system. With the new Mitel solution, we now remotely manage the phone system ourselves, and have even been able to scale back our IT support due to the remote management features. Mark Haggerty, Regional Manager, IT Operations Carlson Wagonlit Travel Hot desking is optimal for staff working at multiple locations or staff sharing an office, as it allows multiple users to share the same IP phone. When users log into the IP phone, their attributes (previously defined in the system) are applied to that phone. Their own phone settings, including directory number, are associated with the device. Once they are ready to move on, they simply log off the phone. If the user fails to logout, the system has a safety guard in place to log the user out after a pre-determined period of idle time. Phones can be restricted when no one is logged in, or limited to internal dialing only. Attributes like phone number, call restrictions, call forwarding, message waiting indication and features on key appearances are all part of a user s profile. Mobile Extension Nearly half (48 percent) of all UK employees admit to using a mobile phone while sitting at their desk, a habit which represents a significant cost to their employers. Despite the fact that calls made from a mobile typically cost double those made on a landline, employers are slow to clamp down on staff using mobile phones from within the office. If they could persuade employees to avoid just one five minute mobile call a day it could save UK industry around 2.5 billion per year. 3 Mitel Mobile Extension allows users to take or initiate a call on a mobile phone or a wireless phone while in transit and switch to a desktop phone upon arriving at their office. A user can switch back to a non-fixed device if attendance is required at a meeting or at another location. Combined with hot desking, it allows users to log onto an IP phone anywhere on the network and the phone adopts their profile including keys and functions. Works with ANY mobile phone One number rings all devices simultaneously Twinning desktop phones and wireless phones, mobile or DECT or SpectraLink Can be configured to share one voice mailbox among all devices Seamlessly transfers call to desktop Eliminates the need for call forwarding or find me, follow me Speech-enabled Directory A significant problem faced by many institutions is managing the flow of incoming calls. A large part of the problem is attributable to the number of internal calls being made to the switchboard. Large organizations have large employee bases with a significant level of turnover, making it impossible to keep a directory up to date. Even with modern directory applications in place, large sites can suffer from massive operator overload and hence significant waste of resources from internal traffic. To overcome this issue, organizations are turning to speech-enabled directories to remove the burden of internal call transfers from the switchboard. 3 Source; London, UK, 30 August 2006 research from Mitel. Mitel Business Application Paper 7

9 Speech recognition systems have come a long way over the past few years. The introduction of a new generation of speech-enabled applications allow users to access people, departments or services simply by stating to which name or department they wish to be connected. In addition, the uptake of voice-enabled technology over the last few years in private commerce has removed most user fear from such applications. The speech-enabled directory from Mitel will save callers the trouble of remembering and dialing numbers and extensions, asking only that they say the name of the person or department they wish to speak to. A speech-enabled directory not only improves employee productivity through improved caller management, but also can significantly reduce overhead, as fewer operators are required to manage the transfer of calls between staff. University of Surrey uses Speech Server to connect up of 9,000 students and 2,500 staff. Contact Center Management Most organizations have traditionally relied on conventional call handling to manage incoming calls. However, call traffic can often erupt with sudden bursts of activity which cannot be forecast. Without tools to understand how calls are being handled and how many calls are being abandoned, the organization is in jeopardy of leaving a poor impression as it struggles to answer calls from the public. The telephone is the main vehicle of communications after engaging with someone in person. Handled properly it can create a positive impression of service improperly, a negative one. For this reason, a contact center is pivotal to successfully managing contact with the public. Informed management is essential in the provision of an effective contact center. As the concept of using call center technology to support effective call management becomes more widely accepted organizations are now adopting call management technology to establish a contact center. Mitel offers contact center management tools designed to allow contact center managers to easily understand call traffic activity and react to changing call volumes in real time. The technology is intended to be easy to use, ensuring that managers can get on with the task of supervising staff as well as call activity, without having to be technical experts of the software. It offers standard call center management tools like historical and real-time reporting as well as tools to dynamically change agent s queues. Importantly, reports on call center performance can be created on the fly. With over 400 pre-built templates, creating a report is easy. Automated scheduling means reports can be ed to senior management automatically. Moreover, Mitel offers innovative tools to improve call flow and management. Tools like recorded announcements, voice callback, web callback and the use of Your Assistant provide interaction with staff in other departments ensuring operational efficiencies that improve call flow and completion. The contact center suite supports remote agents who can be managed using a web-based browser. Historical and Real-Time Reporting Web Callback Voice Callback Interaction with Automated Banking Service SMS Intelligent Routing Contact Center Agent Scheduling Agent Adherence Dynamic Management of Queues Remote Agent Support On the Fly Reporting Tools Soft Phones: Using a Telephone on a PC Most people can t actually transfer a call or set up a conference call on a traditional phone. Providing people with features on their desktop to set up a conference call or transfer a call makes it much easier to use the features of the telephone system. People have become quite accustomed to the feature of clicking to dial a number on their mobile phone. This is now available with the Mitel Your Assistant Softphone. 8 Mitel Business Application Paper

10 Extending beyond a soft phone, conferencing and collaboration tools for presence and availability, knowledge management and issue resolution are available either through Your Assistant or Microsoft Office Live Communications Server Thanks to its leading edge technology developed through Your Assistant, Mitel has led the way in integration with Live Communications Server With Mitel, organizations can take advantage of tools for presence and availability that are designed to define when you are on the phone, in a meeting or away from your desk; to conferencing and collaboration tools, allowing users to engage in informal, on-the-fly conferencing and knowledge sharing. devices within an organization s offices. The ability for the SpectraLink handset to receive notification that a door to an area is ajar can significantly reduce the risk of theft. Moreover, if it is a motorised door, with a mechanism meant to open and close automatically, it can be remotely controlled by the SpectraLink handset by someone anywhere in the company who receives the notification. SpectraLink handsets can also provide added support for security. The handsets can be used to initiate broadcasts in an emergency, as well as supporting lone workers. Unleashing the Desktop: Pervasive Access to Communications Traditionally, access to information and communications has been limited to wired devices, creating unnecessary gaps in information, often inhibiting staff from doing their job effectively. The 3300 ICP supports an embedded b wireless gateway to provide for wireless communications devices across your network. Mitel has sought out best-of-breed technologies in wireless telephony and works in partnership with SpectraLink to provide seamless wireless voice communications. As long as users are within range of a wireless access point, they can make and receive calls. With a combination of a wireless infrastructure and an IP-based phone system, wireless IP telephony becomes an integral part of the communications infrastructure. Both fixed LANs and wireless LANs are capable of carrying IP telephony traffic effectively. Wireless IP telephony systems work with standard a/b/g Wi-Fi LANs, reducing additional wiring costs. SpectraLink handsets have all the features of a desktop phone, and usage can be restricted according to job category. For example, administrators can make outside calls but security staff cannot. The handset not only serves as a telephone but as a two-way messaging device. Moreover, applications have been devised to support monitoring and control of Mitel Business Application Paper 9

11 Executive Summary Issue Integration with Existing Telephone System Solution Mitel appreciates that legacy equipment is a reality for most organizations and for true unified communications to exist, technology must be designed for the power of the new while accounting for the realities of the old. Mitel takes unified communications beyond the conventional context by integrating legacy telephony and IP telephony with a multiplicity of communications tools. Organizations can take advantage of these new applications without sacrificing their existing infrastructure. The 3300 ICP is the absolute multifunctional special purpose tool of communications, allowing an organization to implement innovative work-enhancing solutions while retaining their existing equipment. Integration with Existing Network Infrastructure Network agnostic the 3300 ICP works over any infrastructure. Unified communications cannot be achieved without first taking into consideration network interoperability. The 3300 ICP can be configured and integrated into any LAN / WAN infrastructure regardless of the manufacturer. The 3300 ICP works over Cisco, HP, Enterasys, Extreme Networks, Foundry Networks, Nortel or 3Com, indeed any infrastructure, thereby eliminating any issue with vendor lock-in and ensuring organizations can select best-of-breed technology to satisfy their communications requirements. 10 Mitel Business Application Paper

12 Issue Migration and Interoperability Solution It is common for organizations to phase in IP telephony so that they can continue to use existing PBX equipment. However, this transition can lead to issues around interworking between traditional and IP phone systems, including the loss of valuable telephony features that many organizations have come to rely upon. To ensure features work across disparate telephone systems, manufacturers of telephony equipment have worked together to establish signaling protocols. Signaling protocols play a crucial role in providing interoperability between telephone systems by supporting features and functionality between telephone systems. QSIG and DPNSS (Digital Private Network Signaling System) are signaling protocols designed to provide communication between different PBXs. The 3300 ICP is a state of the art VoIP platform that is designed to work with other manufacturer s PBX systems, meaning organizations can retain their current PBX and add new applications by way of the 3300 ICP using QSIG or DPNSS. The ingenuity of this approach is that even though the organization has deployed the 3300 ICP as a gateway, it can also be used to add on new handsets and applications. Mitel offers one core platform, which can operate as a gateway or a full-fledged PBX. Therefore, it can support an application and at the same time be used to migrate users over to IP, either one handset at a time, or by department or application as an organization s budget allows. Mitel Business Application Paper 11

13 Issue DPNSS Integration Solution QSIG provides a lower level of feature transparency than DPNSS, while interoperability through DPNSS continues to provide the greatest level of integration for most PBXs. DPNSS is the signaling protocol used by the Siemens Realitis DX / isdx, a PBX popular within organizations. If an organization needs to integrate existing PBXs, DPNSS is difficult to do without. Mitel has one of the highest levels of DPNSS integration on the market, providing comprehensive interoperability with traditional TDM (circuit switched) systems like the Siemens Realitis DX / isdx, Ericsson MD110 and Nortel Meridian. Cost of Migration Mitel provides organizations with communications tools that take advantage of the latest advances in technology without compromising existing investments. Migration can occur one handset at a time, or one department at a time, when budget allows. Mitel provides organizations with flexible options for deployment by providing a platform designed to act as both a TDM and an IP-based telephone system or as a gateway that facilitates interoperability with an organization s existing voice infrastructure. Mitel offers an open, extensible platform designed to work over any network infrastructure, thereby allowing an organization to select best-of-breed technologies. Mitel provides a pragmatic and intelligent migration path for organizations for who rip-and-replace is not a viable option. 12 Mitel Business Application Paper

14 Issue Seamless Connectivity Solution The 3300 ICP architecture uses the IP network to connect IP telephony devices and provides an integrated TDM bus to switch calls between traditional telephone devices. The 3300 ICP has the ability to switch all types of traffic IP, ISDN or analog. The 3300 ICP provides native call setup, tear down, and signaling between IP connected phones. For traditional telephony, such as analog extension and PSTN trunk connectivity, call handling is also handled natively by the 3300 ICP via a conventional TDM circuit-switched subsystem. Mitel Business Application Paper 13

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