Deploying the ShoreTel IP Telephony Solution with a Meru Networks Wireless LAN Copyright 2005, Meru Networks, Inc. This document is an unpublished work protected by the United States copyright laws and is proprietary to Meru Networks, Inc. Disclosure, copying, reproduction, or use of this document by anyone other than authorized employees, authorized users, or licensees of Meru Networks, Inc., without the prior written consent of Meru Networks, Inc., is prohibited. AP8-1005 1 Copyright 2005 Meru Networks
Overview Wireless LANs (WLANs) are becoming a fixture in the enterprise and quickly proving their worth. At the same time, many enterprises are adopting voice over IP (VoIP) systems to enjoy lower costs. The two technologies together have given rise to an exciting application: wireless VoIP. Wireless VoIP significantly enhances the value of both technologies by delivering optimum mobility, productivity and ROI. Companies deploying VoIP are universally considering how WLANs can be integrated into the system. ShoreTel IP Telephony solutions are a proven method of communication used by enterprises everywhere. ShoreTel has long recognized that mobility solutions are essential so everyone can reach you, not the voicemail box on your desk. Combined with Meru Networks wireless LAN system, the two companies offer a comprehensive enterprise-class solution for a wireless VoIP solution. ShoreTel is the innovation leader in delivering IP telephony solutions to the enterprise. The spark for this innovation emerged out of frustration. While purchasing a phone system at a previous venture, ShoreTel's co-founders were confounded by products short on features and long on complexity. So they created a better solution. The manifestation of their vision is a distributed architecture that delivers a highly reliable, easy to use intelligent phone system that can be integrated into any business s global IP communications infrastructure. ShoreTel IP Telephony Solution The ShoreTel phone system is widely recognized for its ease of use, best-in-class management, and distributed reliability. The system scales seamlessly from 10 to 10,000 users at hundreds of locations, making it a perfect match for small and medium businesses as well as large enterprises. A completely integrated system with phones, PBX, voice mail, and automated attendant functionality, ShoreTel liberates you from the tyranny, cost, and complexity of other vendors. The system is ideal for multi-site companies because the distributed architecture unifies multiple locations, making the phone system behave as one, unified system. ShoreTel bases its mobility offerings on a simple yet revolutionary idea: It makes more sense to call a person rather than a physical location. When workers travel, their office telephone numbers and voice features should go with them. When no telephone is available, your computer can give you all the capabilities of your desktop extension even over wireless networks using the ShoreTel SoftPhone. An optional part of ShoreWare Personal Call Manager 1, it comes with you wherever you go, making your desktop phone redundant and reducing the number of devices and tools you have to carry around. At home or in a temporary office site or a hotel room with a broadband connection, you have your entire office environment with you data and voice and you can set it up at a moment s notice. All the features of the corporate phone system, and any customizations you have 1 ShoreWare Personal Call Manager gives enterprise users the equivalent of a desktop PBX a powerful, all-purpose tool for managing voice communications. With ShoreTel Personal Call Manager, workers can quickly browse contacts and make calls from local directories or from Microsoft Outlook. AP8-1005 2 Copyright 2005 Meru Networks AP8-1005 <2> Copyright 2005 Meru Networks
made with your personal telephony profile, are available to you when you attach to the enterprise VPN. And when the local broadband connection can t deliver the quality of service needed for high quality voice conversations, ShoreTel s Office Anywhere feature allows you to leverage the PSTN for the voice traffic. This makes sure you always have a high quality connection to your customers. The Meru Wireless LAN System The Meru Wireless LAN System is a purpose-built converged voice and data network solution. Addressing head on voice application sensitivity to delay, jitter and latency, Meru reduces or eliminates the wireless LAN impact on these factors. The Meru Wireless LAN System consists of the Meru Controller and Meru Access Points. Meru Wireless LANs employ Air Traffic Control TM technology that deterministically schedules client transmissions. This significantly mitigates client collisions, allowing high densities of clients to receive switch-like performance on the wireless network. By building on the system s ability to control channel activity with its Air Traffic Control technology Meru dynamically recognizes when a VoIP call is initiated and reserves bandwidth over the air for the call resulting in unparalleled call quality and connection reliability. Benefits of the Combined Meru Networks/ShoreTel IP Telephony Solution Using the Meru Wireless LAN system as the WLAN infrastructure, the ShoreTel IP Telephony system achieves the following benefits: Superior voice quality for the SoftPhones even on a converged network i.e. one with both data clients as well as heterogeneous voice devices (e.g. SpectraLink phones, soft phones, etc.) High density of SoftPhones phones per AP up to 30 Industry s highest data throughput for 802.11g clients in the presence of 802.11b clients (including SoftPhones) Maintain voice quality without degradation while roaming, even across subnets AP8-1005 3 Copyright 2005 Meru Networks AP8-1005 <3> Copyright 2005 Meru Networks
A sample architecture for the Meru Wireless LAN System and the ShoreTel IP Telephony system is shown below in Figure 1. Figure 1: Together ShoreTel IP Telephony solutions and the Meru Wireless LAN System extend the benefits of VoIP to Wi-Fi mobility solutions within the enterprise. Deploying ShoreTel IP Telephony with the Meru Wireless LAN System The Meru Wireless LAN System delivers all the advanced features needed to easily integrate wireless into today s enterprise environments. With Meru s advanced features for converged voice and data deployment, adding wireless VoIP to the solution using ShoreTel is simple. AP8-1005 4 Copyright 2005 Meru Networks AP8-1005 <4> Copyright 2005 Meru Networks
Over the Air Quality of Service for ShoreTel SoftPhones and Wireless SIP Phones The Meru Wireless LAN System automatically provisions QoS to reserve over-the-air bandwidth for wireless ShoreTel SoftPhone and wireless SIP phone flows without requiring any specific AP settings 2. This ensures that a ShoreTel SoftPhone or wireless SIP phone will automatically receive bandwidth priority allowing consistent delivery of packets in both the upstream and downstream directions. Other wireless LAN solutions will not work well with SoftPhones on a laptop due to the fact that they require a separate ESSID to differentiate higher quality of service for the voice call. With the Meru Wireless LAN System, QoS is automatically adjusted based on the specific type of flow (i.e. voice, video or data), not on the ESSID. The ShoreTel SoftPhone will also not suffer from contention from either other wireless VoIP phones or data devices that are in the same Access Point cell or neighboring cells. Air Traffic Control technology ensures that all client traffic is deterministically scheduled preventing degradation in voice quality. Simple, Flexible Deployment Across Any Network Topology ShoreTel SoftPhones and wireless SIP phones can be used in a Meru Networks WLAN System where the Access Points are deployed either within a single subnet or across multiple layer 2 subnets. If across multiple layer 2 subnets, the Meru WLAN System automatically tunnels traffic if the client roams across a subnet boundary. This ensures no interruption to in progress voice calls from the phones allowing them to roam seamlessly throughout the campus. Deployment of the wireless VoIP network is greatly simplified with Meru s E(z)RF installation. By controlling contention and co-channel interference with patented Air Traffic Control technology, Meru creates the only network that doesn t require RF planning. Automatic, over-the-air QoS eliminates the need to create special ESSIDs and VLANs for voice. Planning a wireless VoIP network with ShoreTel and Meru is as simple as knowing where you want coverage and placing APs. Robust Security Mechanisms for All Clients A key concern for any enterprise when deploying a wireless LAN is security. Each Meru AP can support up to 64 ESSIDs each with the ability to support individual security configurations. Each SSID can be mapped to a specific VLAN port, providing enhanced security by restricting network resources based on user type and application. VLANs only need to be configured on the Ethernet port the controller connects to, eliminating time consuming configuration of the switches that the access points are connected to. When deploying the Meru WLAN System you should determine which types of devices will require access and the mechanism of authentication/encryption that they support. This will drive the configuration of the system to support different user groups and security methods. 2 ShoreTel supports SIP trunks to Meru Wireless LAN Access Points, allowing support for any wireless SIP phone. AP8-1005 5 Copyright 2005 Meru Networks AP8-1005 <5> Copyright 2005 Meru Networks
If using ShoreTel SoftPhone on laptops, the same strong WPA or WPA2 security used for wireless data connections can be used for voice calls. Unlike other wireless LAN solutions where the long authentication times of WPA or WPA2 would result in loss of call connectivity, with Meru the voice call remains connected even while roaming due to unique single channel operation that ensures zero handoff. If guest access is to be provided, a second ESSID should be configured which is Open and utilizes Captive Portal for web-based authentication. The Meru Wireless LAN System supports Captive Portal that redirects any guest that opens their browser to a secure SLL-based login page before being allowed access to the Internet. The interface of the login page can be customized by the enterprise. This allows the enterprise to audit use and provides an authentication method that universally works without requiring configuration of the wireless security settings to match the corporate network. This traffic should be placed on a VLAN, which terminates outside the enterprise infrastructure firewall. Conclusion ShoreTel and Meru Networks have a proven solution for wireless IP telephony, using Meru s advanced wireless LAN system. Now enterprises that have experienced the benefits of IP telephony and mobility for data applications can combine the two confidently. Interoperability amongst the products has been tested and validated ensuring customers that the combined solution will provide superior voice quality even when used in a high density converged network with data clients. Together, the two solutions deliver toll quality voice services that can scale to meet the needs of virtually any enterprise, while simultaneously allowing the wireless LAN to be fully utilized for data applications. Only Meru Networks delivers a converged solution providing enterprises with the robust, scalable networks they need for today s and tomorrow s Wi-Fi applications. For more information about ShoreTel, visit http://www.shoretel.com or call 1-877-80SHORE. For more information about Meru, visit http://www.merunetworks.com or call (408) 215-5300. AP8-1005 6 Copyright 2005 Meru Networks AP8-1005 <6> Copyright 2005 Meru Networks