Whitepaper. A competitive comparison of IPClear and MPLS VPN

Whitepaper A competitive comparison of IPClear and MPLS VPN

Part 1: The Commercials of Convergence (04/04/08) BTs IP Clear product is seen as the default choice for many IP Telephony (IPT) roll-outs as it is generally seen as a robust and proven technology. Limitations with this solution arise when small or branch offices need to be considered as part of the solution. Moving from an ADSL IP Clear solution capable of delivering two calls rather than one gives rise to a price increase of 230%. Allthough DSL is the cost-effective option for networking until recently it too had limitations. The fact that it was impossible to deliver prioritisation or Quality of Service (QoS) over all DSL technologies, vital for many voice implementations, resulted in DSL being unsuitable for voice over IP networks. NetServices have developed the ability to run QoS over all DSL solutions providing far greater technical flexibility in IPT roll-outs as well as significant commercial benefits. Connecting the small office with QoS over DSL produces network savings in excess of 59% and 83% against IP Clear, when providing 2-4 calls and 5-16 simultaneous voice calls respectively. NetServices offers the ability to deliver cost-effective voice networks in all scenarios, even to the smallest of sites, and effectively overcomes the limitations of IP Clear to deliver a small number of simultaneous calls cost-effectively. A Brief Look at Current Issues Traditionally the requirement for QoS enabled access technologies, such as leased lines and the BT IP Clear ADSL access variants has proved to be too expensive a component to justify IP Telephony deployment to small offices. This constraint is accentuated with a requirement to service between 1 and 16 handsets. In many cases the capital expenditure required ensures that the return on investment (ROI) model for the solution simply does not work. This issue is compounded when considering the feasibility of an IP Telephony solution for organisations where there are a large proportion of small sized offices. This generally results in one of three scenarios occurring; 1. The ROI model associated with the IP Telephony solution fails, resulting in the solution not being deployed and the organisation maintaining its existing telephony infrastructure. This often happens when the integrator, or reseller, involved has already spent time designing and specifying the solution. 2. IP Telephony is only deployed to the larger offices. This cut-down solution does not enable the organisation to benefit from all of the efficiencies created by an organisation-wide IP Telephony roll-out and limits hardware and managed service value for the reseller. 3. The systems integrator makes a loss in deploying the service to the small offices in order to justify the ROI associated with the IP Telephony solution. None of the above are ideal outcomes for the integrator involved. Introducing NetServices QoS over DSL products as part of the network dramatically improves the prospect of winning a profitable IP telephony solution. QoS over DSL provides the Systems Integrator community with the potential to revisit both current and pending opportunities, as well as potentially enhancing the existing IP Telephony solutions that they are already supporting. Examining the Options BT IP Clear is still the product of choice for most voice networking requirements. The reduced footprints of Local Loop Unbundled networks have ensured that IP Clear has remained the market leader. NetServices QoS over DSL solutions utilise the BT IPStream and DataStream DSL network infrastructures to provide a credible alternative, incorporating the same coverage and improved capability over IP Clear. DSL is fast becoming accepted as the access technology for next generation networks. The increased capacity provided by ADSL Max, and in the near future by ADSL version 2 technologies, will ensure that DSL will supersede legacy technologies, such as leased lines and ISDN, in delivering voice connectivity to locations at a reduced cost. Service levels around DSL are predicted to be improved through the introduction of a business grade enhanced care product. Now NetServices unique ability in prioritising traffic over DSL can extend its use in solutions where previously it was unsuitable. 1

BT IP Clear NetServices Wires-Only MPLS VPN The BT IP Clear solution provides a wires-only IP access service that enables large corporations, mid-size enterprise, carriers and ISPs to create IP based VPN services. It is based upon BTs wholly owned and managed Multi Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) network and is marketed as providing the performance, reliability and security of a leased line network, with the any-to-any scalabilities and flexibilities of an IP network. BT IP Clear enables network connectivity to locations over a wide range of bandwidths and offers differentiated performance levels and prioritisation of delay, and non-delay sensitive traffic, including voice and multi-media applications. There is a defined pricing structure with a one-off connection charge and an annual rental fee required per access into IP Clear connection. A competitive Universal Discount Scheme based on annual spend and commitment is available to wholesale partners, with a maximum 30% saving being available for a 5 year committed annual spend of above 2 million. NetServices are networking specialists with a comprehensive portfolio of converged communications solutions facilitating the delivery of voice and other mission critical data applications. Our expertise, and unique ability in QoS over DSL access technologies for MPLS VPN solutions, is complemented by use of ethernet and leased line capabilities where appropriate. NetServices MPLS VPN service is available as a fully managed network service, or unbundled as a wires-only service. The wires-only option is ideal for systems integrators and value added reseller partners, enabling them to provision client networks through NetServices, whilst supplying and managing the routers and other customer premises equipment (CPE) themselves. There is a simple pricing structure for service where a one-off connection charge and an annual rental fee are required per connection. A partner discount scheme is also available. Table 1. Solution Overviews Delivering Voice Solutions in that Problem Range 1-16 Simultaneous Calls The available technologies used to deliver a small number of simultaneous voice calls to a location have traditionally been restricted to leased lines and the BT IP Clear ADSL access variants. Their limitations when voice capacities versus cost are compared have already been highlighted. The following direct comparisons scrutinise the commercials in more detail. Technical Comparison Using IP Clear Using an IP Clear solution organisations can connect their small offices to a QoS enabled network by a number of methods of access technology. The three IP Clear access technologies most commonly used to service small offices, in terms of a best commercial and technical fit, are as follows: 1. ADSL Plus - contended (5:1) ADSL Service. 2. ADSL Premium - non-contended (1:1) ADSL Service. 3. Leased Line Quality of Service can be applied to all three IP Clear access technologies, with six classes of service being available. Voice must be configured into the prioritised, expedited forwarding (EF) class. BT stipulates a maximum configurable amount of bandwidth that can be used for voice traffic. This figure is dependent upon the type of access technology, and is detailed below for the ADSL IP Clear access products: ADSL Plus - 30kbps voice bandwidth ADSL Premium - 130kbps voice bandwidth To optimally use the available voice bandwidth it is essential to use the G.729 CODEC at a 30msec sampling rate. This ensures that the bandwidth consumed by one voice call is 28.3kbps. Therefore to deliver between 1 and 16 simultaneous voice calls, the following IP Clear access technologies can be used: Maximum Simultaneous Calls Access into IP Clear product required 1 256kbps ADSL Plus Access into IP Clear with 30kbps EF 2 256kbps ADSL Premium Access into IP Clear with 60kbps EF 4 256kbps ADSL Premium Access into IP Clear with 120kbps EF 5 256kbps Leased Line Access into IP Clear with 150kbps EF 8 512kbps Leased Line Access into IP Clear with 240kbps EF 16 1024kbps Leased Line Access into IP Clear with 480kbps EF Table 2. Minimum IP Clear product to service 1 16 simultaneous G.729 voice calls ADSL Plus is capable of delivering one voice call, whereas the ADSL Premium is capable of delivering up to a maximum of 4 simultaneous voice calls. For delivery of greater than 4 simultaneous voice calls a leased line is required. Using NetServices QoS over DSL NetServices has an extensive range of access technologies suitable to connect smaller offices to a QoS enabled network. The most common MPLS VPN access technologies used to service small offices, in terms of a best commercial and technical fit, are as follows: 1. QoS DSL IPStream - contended (office) ADSL Service 2. QoS ADSL DataStream - non-contended (1:1) ADSL Service 3. QoS SDSL DataStream - non-contended (1:1) SDSL Service 2

Quality of Service can be applied to all technologies, with up to a maximum of four classes of service being available. Voice must be configured into the prioritised Platinum class. The maximum amounts of bandwidth that can be reserved for voice traffic for the following NetServices QoS over ADSL access products are as follows: 812kbps QoS DSL IPStream - 150kbps voice bandwidth 256kbps QoS ADSL DataStream - 192kbps voice bandwidth 512kbps QoS ADSL DataStream - 384kbps voice bandwidth The above figures are based around the standard NetServices product set. A number of enhanced service options are available on a bespoke basis for both QoS DSL IPStream and DataStream, where the boundaries of ADSL Max technology have been stretched delivering greater voice bandwidth. By optimally using the G.729 CODEC with the variables of sampling rate and real-time header compression, the voice bandwidth consumed by 1 voice call will be 28.3kbps and 21.2kbps across QoS DSL IPStream and QoS DSL DataStream respectively. Therefore to deliver between 1 and 16 simultaneous voice calls, the following QoS over DSL access products can be used: Maximum Simultaneous Calls NetServices Access Product Required 1 800kbps QoS ADSL IPStream, 50kbps Platinum 2 800kbps QoS ADSL IPStream, 100kbps Platinum 4 800kbps QoS ADSL IPStream, 150kbps Platinum 5 800kbps QoS ADSL IPStream, 150kbps Platinum 8 256kbps QoS ADSL DataStream, 180kbps Platinum 16 512kbps QoS ADSL DataStream, 360kbps Platinum Commercial Comparison Viewing the commercials against the technical solutions outlined above immediately highlights the issues integrators have with certain installs - as well as demonstrating a sweet-spot for the NetServices solution. The below table provides a direct cost comparison between the NetServices and IP Clear products required to deliver the stated maximum number of simultaneous calls to a small office. The NetServices enhanced care option has been factored in to ensure that service levels are comparable. All pricing is based around BT and NetServices guide pricing and is exclusive of any discounts scheme. It is worth considering that the maximum saving that could be achieved via the BT VPN universal discount scheme is 30%, though the ADSL Plus service does not qualify under this scheme. Bespoke pricing is available from both parties, BT and NetServices, based on the metrics of contract term and customer network design. The substantial price increase when moving between the ADSL Plus and the ADSL Premium solution is key to understanding the benefits the NetServices solution offers. ADSL Premium becomes essential when the solution has the need to handle 2 calls rather than 1. In commercial terms this requirement equates to an increase of 230%. Using NetServices for the deployment of 2-4 simultaneous calls, QoS DSL IPStream provides savings in the region of 59% over its most comparable BT IP Clear solution, ADSL Premium. The only IP Clear solution able to provide sufficient voice bandwidth for more than 4 calls is a leased line. With NetServices using QoS DSL IPStream for upwards of 5, and QoS DSL DataStream for up to 16 simultaneous calls, annual network savings in excess of 83% are achieved. Table 3. Minimum NetServices QoS over DSL product to service 1 16 simultaneous G.729 voice calls QoS DSL IPStream is capable of delivering upwards of 5, and QoS DSL DataStream is capable of delivering up to 16, simultaneous voice calls to an office. Maximum Simultaneous Calls NetServices set-up charge IP Clear set-up charge NetServices set-up saving NetServices annual rental charge IP Clear annual rental charge NetServices annual rental saving 1 100.00 100.00 0.00% 640.00 650.00 1.54% 2 100.00 500.00 80.00% 875.00 2,150.00 59.30% 4 100.00 500.00 80.00% 955.00 2,300.00 58.48% 5 100.00 1,500.00 93.33% 955.00 5,875.00 83.74% 8 135.00 2,500.00 94.60% 1,525.00 9,100.00 83.24% 16 135.00 3,500.00 96.14% 1,915.00 12,187.50 84.29% Table 4. Commercial Comparison between using NetServices and IP Clear for 1 16 Simultaneous G.729 Voice Calls 3

Example Scenarios The previous section has demonstrated the commercial benefits of the NetServices QoS over DSL products for providing between 1 and 16 simultaneous voice calls to a small office. Mapping these into real-world scenarios, highlighted earlier, further demonstrates the commercial benefits. In the opening section of this paper a strong conclusion was made that the cost of legacy network technologies, such as the BT IP Clear solution, ensures that the ROI models for IP Telephony solutions does not work, especially for multi-office scenarios where there are large numbers of small offices. Scenario 1: Company A Company A is a UK based organisation specialising in the sale and distribution of a garden product. There are 85 medium sized retail outlets and an additional 20 small outlets located within well known department stores. In addition there is a group headquarters, their northern and southern distribution centre, and a main manufacturing plant. Converged Network Requirements Company A has disparate voice systems. Communications at all sites are completely autonomous therefore all company wide internal calls and external calls are routed out via the PSTN. There are PBX systems located at the 4 large offices where they are connected to the PSTN via ISDN30e connections. The retail outlets have a number of analogue phones that are individually connected to the PSTN. An MPLS data network is used to connect all sites together. The Groups IT applications are centralised at the headquarters. The network delivers applications including EPOS, email, stock control and limited web browsing via a central proxy server at the headquarters. There are no plans to introduce any further applications in the next three years. The diagram below represents the current voice and data communications set-up of Company A with its separate voice and data networks. Distribution Centres PSTN ISDN30e 15 Channels ISDN30e 8 Channels Analogue Lines PBX PBX Analogue Phones 1Mb/s SDSL Manufacturing Plant 1Mb/s SDSL Larger Retail Outlets 512kbps ADSL Office MPLS WAN 2Mb/s Leased Line Headquarters PBX 2x ISDN30e 60 Channels PSTN Small Retail Outlets 512kbps ADSL Office Analogue Phones Figure 1. Company A Existing Voice and Data Network It is the view of both the systems integrator and the company s IT Director that the communications infrastructure currently in place is over specified for their requirements. The outcome to be further explored is; would the introduction of a group wide converged communications infrastructure provide significant communications cost savings and generate significant operational efficiencies? The Systems Integrator previously proposed a converged multi-site IP Telephony solution using the BT IP Clear solution in conjunction with Cisco Call Manager. Significant savings were expected through the removal of some PSTN lines at the retail outlets, as well as reduced call rates with all external calls being centrally routed via the Headquarters, and free on-net calls between offices. However the ROI model did not work due to the capital and operational expenditure attributed to the IP Clear network component, so the opportunity has not moved forward. The individual voice and data requirements for all offices have been assessed by Company A and their Systems Integrator partner to determine the requirements for a fully converged voice and data network solution, and are outlined in the table below. Office Type Maximum simultaneous calls Voice bandwidth requirement (kbps) Data bandwidth requirement (kbps) Total bandwidth requirement (kbps) Group Headquarters 35 990.5 545.5 1536 Distribution Centre 12 339.6 250 589.6 Manufacturing Plant 4 113.2 75 188.2 Large Outlet 2 56.6 5 61.6 Small Outlet 1 28.3 5 33.3 Table 5. Company A s converged network bandwidth requirements To assess this opportunity the existing voice and data requirements for all of Company A s office types have been determined and the most suitable IP Clear and NetServices network solutions specified by means of comparison. 4

IP Clear Solution for Company A The most appropriate IP Clear solution for Company A s converged networking requirements can be seen in the table below. For the purposes of pricing this network it has been assumed that non voice traffic is treated as best efforts and that no Universal Discount Scheme pricing has been applied. Leased lines are required to satisfy the voice requirement of the headquarters and distribution centres due to the configurable voice bandwidth being well in excess of the 130kbps limit of ADSL Premium access into IP Clear. For the manufacturing plant and large outlets, the IP ADSL Premium product can be used as it can easily cope with the voice and data bandwidth requirements. The small outlets only have the requirement for 1 voice call and so the ADSL Plus product is suitable. The manufacturing plant and the retail outlets will use variants of the QoS DSL IPStream product depending upon the voice requirements. In this example QoS over DSL can be used to service the converged network requirements for all but one of Company A sites. Using the NetServices solution means the integrator can deploy a solution that both delivers the expected service levels and provides network savings in excess of 73% at set-up and 57% on an ongoing annual basis. Conclusions NetServices QoS over DSL technologies enables organisations to cost effectively deploy IP Telephony solutions to a greater proportion of locations - in particular small offices. Because the ROI model is improved for organisation wide deployment (as it reduces the WAN component charges) the business case for IP Office Type No. of Offices IP Clear Solution Set-Up Charge Annual Rental Charge Total Set-Up Charge Total Annual Rental Charge Group Headquarters 1 2Mbps Leased Line with 995kbps EF 3,500.00 14,487.50 3,500.00 14,487.50 Distribution Centre 2 1Mbps Leased Line with 340kbps EF 3,500.00 11,850.00 7,000.00 23,700.00 Manufacturing Plant 1 512kbps ADSL Premium with 115kbps EF 500.00 3,387.50 500.00 3,387.50 Large Outlet 85 256kbps ADSL Premium with 60kbps EF 500.00 2,150.00 42,500.00 182,750.00 Small Outlet 20 256kbps ADSL Plus with 30kbps EF 100.00 650.00 2,000.00 13,000.00 Total 55,500.00 237,325.00 Table 6. Minimum IP Clear solution for Company A s converged networking requirements NetServices MPLS solution for Company A The NetServices solution for Company A utilises three access technology types as outlined below. The table also outlines the cost savings achieved in comparison to the IP Clear solution. For the purposes of pricing this network it was assumed that non voice traffic is treated as best efforts, the enhanced care option has been selected, and no discount scheme pricing is applied. A leased line has been recommended for the headquarters in preference to SDSL, due to the importance of the office and the enhanced Service Level Guarantee that is available with this technology. For the distribution centres the QoS DSL DataStream product proved best-fit to deliver the required number of voice calls. Telephony is much more compelling for end-user organisations. A more compelling business case to adopt IP Telephony ensures additional benefits seen can also be realised. These include greater flexibility, enhanced user feature intuitiveness, improved reach and presence, the introduction of unified communications and more e-business applications. QoS DSL is an enabler for organisations to achieve the above objectives which will ultimately lead to the Systems Integrator increasing value-added managed services to organisations. Office Type No. of Offices NetServices Access Solution Set-Up Charge Annual Rental Charge Total Set-Up Charge Total Annual Rental Charge Group Headquarters 1 2Mbps Leased Line with 995kbps Platinum 3,971.29 6,906.71 3,971.29 6,906.71 Distribution Centre 2 1Mbps QoS ADSL DataStream, 360kbps Platinum 135.03 2,800.22 270.00 5,600.44 Manufacturing Plant 1 800kbps QoS ADSL IPStream, 150kbps Platinum 100.00 955.00 100.00 955.00 Large Outlet 85 800kbps QoS ADSL IPStream, 100kbps Platinum 100.00 875.00 8,500.00 74,375.00 Small Outlet 20 800kbps QoS ADSL IPStream, 50kbps Platinum 100.00 640.00 2,000.00 12,800.00 Total 14,841.29 100,637.15 Saving over IP Clear 40,658.71 136,687.85 Saving as a Percentage 73.26% 57.60% Table 7. Minimum NetServices solution for Company A s converged networking requirements and savings over IP Clear 5

Part II: How it Works, The Technical Details From humble beginnings as a cheap form of internet access for the home user, DSL technologies have matured to become a valuable business communications tool. Until now its limitations have been that most DSL in the UK has been delivered across the BT IPStream network, this is a contended network unable to differentiate between traffic types and prioritise accordingly. In effect, this has limited the value of incorporating DSL in converged solutions where it was otherwise most suited i.e. at the smallest sites. NetServices have now breached this boundary, thus elevating DSL from bit part player to its leading role in enabling convergence for the SME, branch office and teleworker. NetServices only use private DSL networks as the basis of all our services so no public internet is involved, thus minimising the security risks many are concerned about with DSL based services. This has been achieved by incorporating a number of products and technical features to achieve MPLS across the NetServices core network. QoS over DSL Access Technologies NetServices delivers QoS over DSL access technologies via both it s DataStream and IPStream networks. Technical Benefits By developing an innovative range of DSL solutions to provide QoS enabled connectivity to offices, distinct technical advantages over the BT IP Clear solution are realised with the NetServices QoS over DSL products. The scope of the technical advantages includes the following; The use of ADSL Max technology for all ADSL access circuits allows delivery of increased upstream, therefore synchronous bandwidth over ADSL, enabling a greater volume of simultaneous calls to be provided to offices. For IP Clear ADSL access circuits, upstream bandwidth is limited to 256kbps. The bandwidth that can be reserved for voice traffic when applying QoS on NetServices ADSL access circuits is greater than that available with the respective IP Clear products. This enables more voice calls to be made and ensures that the voice quality can be optimised. NetServices recommend the maximum configurable bandwidth being provisioned into the Platinum class should not exceed 75% of the network access bandwidth for voice-only deployment scenarios, and 50% for converged scenarios. telephony devices such as faxes, as they only use the G.711 CODEC after conversion via an ATA device. Therefore, when using IP Clear it is likely that PSTN lines will need to be maintained if legacy fax devices are to remain. The NetServices QoS DSL DataStream product supports the use of the Real Time Header Compression (crtp) feature which is not available with IP Clear. This approximately doubles the amount of concurrent calls that can be achieved in comparison to ADSL Premium Access into IP Clear. Multi Link Point to Point Protocol (MLPPP) bonding is available with the QoS DSL DataStream product, providing increased synchronous bandwidth to offices. This is ideal for offices where the achievable DSL line rate is low, or the cost and/or availability of other higher bandwidth access technologies, such as leased lines/ethernet, is restricted. This is usually dictated by geography. Service Advantages In addition to the technical advantages of the NetServices QoS over ADSL products, there are some significant service differences that should also be considered when comparing products, these are detailed below. NetServices provide a full Service Level Guarantee for the QoS over DSL services. There is no SLG for service availability or restoration with the IP Clear ADSL access connections. Enhanced Care is provided with the IP Clear ADSL access product, this provides a 24 hour 365 day cover, with a 4 hour response and 24 hour repair target. Enhanced Care is available from NetServices as an option, and so can be omitted, reducing annual rental pricing. The standard lead time for delivery of services for the NetServices QoS over DSL products is 15 working days. The IP Clear ADSL access products have a standard lead time of 25 working days. Unlike the NetServices products, there are no penalties if the contractual delivery date is not achieved with the IP Clear ADSL access products. For both IP Clear ADSL access products and the NetServices QoS DSL DataStream access product there is a minimum contractual term of 12 months. There is a level of flexibility with the QoS DSL IPStream access products and thus shorter contract terms can be provided, on an opportunity specific basis only. The use of IP Clear in conjunction with the G.711 CODEC is bandwidth inefficient as only 1 call can be made with the ADSL Premium service and no calls can be made with the ADSL Plus service. This will impact upon the capability to use legacy 6

QoS DSL - DataStream ADSL and SDSL services are delivered via the BT DataStream ATM based network. Here the connectivity provisioned to a location uses a dedicated Virtual Path within the DataStream ATM network, from the location to NetServices, ensuring that the service is non-contended. Non-contended circuits offer greater throughput rates, with a higher level of consistency than contended DSL services. The achievable bandwidth is comparable to leased lines, though cost is reduced at the expense of the SLA. The use of ADSL Max technology provides an increased upstream capability, therefore greater voice bandwidth can be provisioned than with standard ADSL, where the upstream is restricted to 256kbps. The 1Mbps service provides a hybrid solution with the achievable line speeds in between those available with SDSL and conventional ADSL services. Bonded DSL circuits are available where a number of end-user access circuits are mapped into a dedicated Virtual Path within the BT DataStream network. Multi-Link Point-to-Point Protocol (MLPPP) is then used to aggregate the sum of the bandwidth supplied by the individual access circuits. QoS DSL - IPStream QoS DSL - IPStream technology provides downstream QoS over contended ADSL Max Office circuits. The Cisco feature per session shaping and queuing over L2TP is used to prioritise bandwidth delivered into the BT network. BT state that the expected end user experience for ADSL Max will provide a downstream throughput of 800kbps, therefore a best efforts QoS capability is achieved. The technology provides significant technical advantages over standard contended DSL circuits, where some QoS features can be implemented in the upstream direction of the outbound CPE interface, but not in the downstream direction. Using contended DSL with limited QoS features results in the user experience being inconsistent, especially when running a real-time data application across the service. For example when making a voice call, speech quality may be acceptable for a long period until a large data file starts downloading simultaneously with the traffic from a voice call. With no downstream QoS available, voice and data traffic are competing for bandwidth. This can result in jitter, delay and packet loss ultimately causing speech quality to be detrimentally affected. QoS DSL - IPStream is available with a fixed bandwidth and a finite number of service policy options, in both converged and data-only formats. The table below provides a direct comparison between the NetServices and BT ADSL access products. BT ADSL Premium Access to IP Clear BT ADSL Plus Access to IP Clear NetService QoS ADSL - DataStream NetService QoS ADSL - IPStream Downstream Bandwidth 2048, 1024, 512, 256kbps 2048, 1024, 512, 256kbps Increments up to 8Mb/s, 2048, 1024, 512, 256kbps 812kbps Upstream Bandwidth 256kbps 256kbps up to 812kbps, 512kbps, 256kbps up to 812kbps Contention 1:1 5:1 1:1 Office Contention, with voice bandwidth guaranteed QoS Architecture DiffServe - DSCP DiffServe - DSCP IP Precendence IP Precendence Classes of Service 6 (EF, AF1-4, DE) 6 (EF, AF1-4, DE) 4 (Platinum, Gold, Silver & Bronze) 3 (Platinum, Gold & Bronze) Configurable Voice Traffic 1 130kbps EF 30kbps EF 256kbps - 190kbps Platinum 512kbps - 375kbps Platinum 50,100, & 150kbps 1 RTP header Compression (crtp) available no no yes no Link Fragmentation and Interleaving available 2 yes yes yes no 2 MLPPP bonding available no no yes no Maximum concurrent G729 Voice Calls at a 4 1 16 3 5 3 30msec sampling rate on a single circuit 3 Service Level Guarantees Core Performance No SLG On-Time Delivery, Service Availability and Restoration with enhanced Care option is taken, Core Performance On-Time Delivery, Service Availability and Restoration with enhanced Care option is taken, Core Performance Enhanced Care - 4 hour response, 24 hour repair target on ADSL Mandatory Mandatory Optional Optional 1 These are the standard product offerings, other bespoke options are available. 2 The absence of LFI is minimal in most circumstances as the upstream bandwidth available is up to 812kb/s. Therefore the maximum serialisation delay that can be created by the largest possible IP packet is 15msec. 3 NetServices recommendation. Table 8. Technical and Commercial Comparison 7

Summary The BT provided IP Clear network, although a robust and proven network component for an IP Telephony solution, is cost prohibitive for small offices. NetServices QoS over DSL product offerings provide systems Integrators and VARs with the ability to deliver more simultaneous voice calls over an ADSL connection. This ensures that significant savings are achieved in delivering IP Telephony to a small office. The IP Clear ADSL Plus and Premium services limit the number of simultaneous calls that can be made, to 1 and 4 respectively, and require expensive leased lines to service any higher number of calls. NetServices use ADSL MAX technology to increase upstream bandwidth. Along with crtp and MLPPP features, the number of simultaneous voice calls that an ADSL circuit can deliver is increased. The QoS DSL IPStream product can deliver up to 5 simultaneous voice calls, and the QoS DSL DataStream product up to 16 simultaneous voice calls. Using the NetServices DSL based solution ensures that annual recurring savings in excess of 59% are achieved for delivering 2-4 calls, and savings in excess of 83% can be achieved where 4-16 simultaneous voice calls are required. By considering a real world scenario it has been possible to show the full commercial benefit of using NetServices QoS over DSL rather than an IP Clear solution as the network component of an IP Telephony opportunity. In Company A s scenario an organisation with a high proportion of small offices, set-up savings of 73% and recurring rental savings of 57% were demonstrated using the NetServices solution rather than the IP Clear solution. The use of the NetServices QoS over DSL access products provide a superior technical, service and commercial solution for the network component required for the delivery of IP Telephony to the small sized offices. When using NetServices network solutions the return on investment models for IP Telephony solutions are greatly improved, making it far more likely and increasing the likelihood of the service being deployed. NetServices brings you the alltogether business NetServices provides integrated networking, voice and hosting solutions that enable businesses to become alltogether more efficient and alltogether more profitable. Whilst other network integrators talk about the promise of a converged business, we concentrate on the actual delivery of tangible business improvement through reliable and proven solutions allied with technological innovation. Our business proposition is based upon bringing simplicity and increased business performance to our customers and reseller partners. This is achieved through best in class skillsets, a comprehensive product portfolio and an enviable heritage in networking and convergence technologies. In effect, we bring it alltogether. Our customers and reseller partners benefit from: Specialist knowledge in complex network specification Expertise in voice and converged solutions Carrier and vendor independence Our own network and data centre infrastructure A flexible approach for adaptable and scalable solutions Overseas reach through Telefonica PRINCE2 certified Project Managers Dedicated ITIL best practice trained Service Managers Continuous service improvement plan Ongoing customer support and assistance 24x7 service desk contactable by telephone, email or online portal Strict SLAs with regular customer and service reviews 8