Managed services for real-time communications.

In order to leverage new market opportunities and establish competitive advantage through greater efficiency and enhanced customer service, companies are increasingly looking to emerging technologies to differentiate themselves from the competition. The move to voice over IP (VoIP) and realtime communications is on the rise, as companies realize the financial and productivity benefits of consolidating voice and data applications onto the same network. The use of VoIP networking technology comes with its own set of technical hurdles and managing it requires a certain level of expertise and the right monitoring tools to ensure consistent high quality. Because these are emerging technologies, few enterprises have the experience or competencies necessary to do this effectively. That is where managed services can add real business value.

Unfortunately, traditional enterprise network management systems and tools are not designed to monitor specific factors that affect voice quality, which makes them insufficient for monitoring and managing today's VoIP network. For a growing number of companies, the most logical choice for monitoring and managing VoIP is to employ a managed service provider.

Traditional SNMP-based monitoring systems often only look at whether a communications device is up or down at a given time. To ensure high-quality VoIP service, a monitoring tool must collect specific types of performance data over a period of time. A company's entire network could be up and running, but there might still be diminished voice quality that wouldn't be detected by an SNMP-based system.

Managing a VoIP network requires looking at those indicators that tell us specifically what's happening with the quality of voice communications. These include factors such as latency and jitter, which are reliable measures of voice quality. How low is the jitter and how low is the latency? Network and communications managers need a way to look at the network to get accurate performance measures and statistics.

There are a number of methods that managed service providers use to measure, monitor and manage a VoIP network. While none of these is perfect from a technology perspective, network service providers have been able to greatly improve their ability to, for example, send an alarm when the voice quality dips below a certain level. And service providers have learned to be more proactive rather than reactive in the management of voice-quality levels.

At the most basic level, a key function of managed service providers is to look at the voice devices to determine whether they are operating correctly. Managed service providers must also collect call data records to analyze the true performance of the device on the VoIP network. Service providers want to gather any performance statistics from the equipment itself.

Another function of the managed service provider is to obtain a per-session or per-call measure of latency and jitter, and trigger an alarm if these indicators go above certain thresholds. To accomplish this, providers place probes (or IP mediation tools) on the customer's network or on the provider's own network, in outsourcing cases that sit and listen to session initiation and call-signaling, traffic. Those packets contain measurements of the quality of the call. Network providers collect statistics and send alarms when there is a drop in service. This gives providers the ability to know on a call-by-call basis how well the voice network is performing.

A third function is to monitor how network gateways are performing. To do this, providers use a device that collects IP packets and turns them back into a stream to send voice out over the public telephone systems.

With these three elements (measuring the devices, the VoIP network and the network gateways) enterprises enjoy a complete end-to-end monitoring package to measure voice quality and availability. The managed service provider receives an alarm when service quality drops or any piece of the system fails.

A fourth element is the integration of VoIP monitoring with the monitoring of traditional time-division multiplexing (TDM) communications. A lot of companies now have mixed communications systems that include a TDM switch as well as IP support. Even though TDM voice communications has been rock-solid over the years, it's important to be able to provide a full package of support.

The benefits of the managed services model for monitoring VoIP networks are clear. It truly provides end-to-end maintenance of these critical networks. In contrast with using any one particular network management system to measure certain aspects of performance, managed services measures all aspects of a VoIP network.

There are many products in the marketplace that monitor bits and pieces of the networks, but none provides companies with a complete picture. Some packages generate synthetic voice traffic and measure performance over a network. These are useful, but they are limited by the number of nodes supported. They are not measuring performance from every IP phone to every other point on the network.

Other tools are vendor-specific systems that only support SNMP or traditional monitoring products that are built into the equipment. These can lead to issues with polling intervals, where a particular IP phone has to collect a lot of data. That puts a load on phones, which are not powerful devices. There is also the potential for gathering duplicate data.

Then there are cost issues. These tools can be costly to purchase, install, maintain and, if necessary, replace. With managed services, on the other hand, the cost of network monitoring is spread among multiple customers.

The economies vary depending on the size of the network and types of service, but for many companies the chances are good that hiring outside expertise to monitor a VoIP network is more efficient than using internal precious resources from a cost standpoint.

Managed service providers should be able to offer their clients a mechanism for calculating both the total costs and the return on investment for these services.

Undoubtedly, managed services will be quite expensive for some companies, and senior managers want to know what the organization is getting for its money in these times of tight spending. These tools help companies quantify the value, whether it be in the form of ultimate cost savings, improved efficiencies, or increased business related to improved voice service.

Naturally, there might be questions about network security. Any time a company lets an external organization access its internal network, there is a security risk. But this is minimized because managed service providers have the bulk of their monitoring gear inside a client's firewall. Also, there are strict security regulations and standards, and prospective customers should make sure an outsourcing partner is meeting these.

When selecting a managed services provider for VoIP, companies should consider the provider's experience in managing real-time voice communications networks and infrastructure to support it. The IP world is still relatively new to many companies and involves more complexity than traditional communication networks. Many have never dealt with some of the problems that might arise. Keeping on top of the issues of a sophisticated network, such as security, compatibility, connectivity and downtime, can consume many of your precious resources--resources that would be better spent devoted to your core business. Ultimately, managed services are an IT enabler to support your business in executing its core strategy at the least possible cost.

Companies would be wise to focus on their core competencies and allow service providers with VoIP expertise to handle network problems. If you produce bread, you want to focus on producing the best bread you can, and not be bothered with keeping a VoIP network running. In a business environment in which customers will not stand for less than perfect uptime and performance, it's critical to keep a well-maintained and -operated VoIP network.

Within most organizations, the one engine that is increasingly driving positive change to deliver improved competitiveness is the communications network.

However, for many organizations, exploding demands placed on the network, coupled with a shortage in the necessary expertise and human resources, has hindered the ability to leverage technology quickly or efficiently enough to gain a competitive advantage. Even as new technology adoption progresses further into the fabric of an organization's operations, the number of business stakeholders wanting or demanding strategic involvement in network-related projects also increases, creating further strain on existing resources. The ability to demonstrate investment returns and cost savings is an essential requirement for all IT/communications departments as they juggle resources, budgets and end users to deliver enhanced competitiveness and service that the organization demands. Managed services can make the difference in successfully meeting the challenges of sourcing and providing the technology solutions that are so critical to your bottom line.

IT is an enabler of change. Companies are seeking service providers who can deliver new business models or services revolving around real time communications with innovation and competitive thrust. Managed Services can allow them to channel internal resources on their business and retain experts to provide day-to-day operational management. Migration to new technologies, including convergent solutions, is made easier and more effective as risks and resources are managed and minimized by a partner whose strengths and competencies are communications.

www.icn.siemens.com

Ron Nicholson is vice president of Lifecycle and Managed Services at the Enterprise Networks division of Siemens ICN (Munich, Germany)