Next Generation Telephony at Penn: VoIP Production Quality

1. Production Quality Open Source VoIP: Next Generation Telephony at Penn Deke Kassabian University of Pennsylvania Internet2 Spring Member Meeting April 2007 ISC Networking & Telecommunications

2. Penn Background • An Ivy League university in Philadelphia, PA founded in 1740 by Ben Franklin • 40,000 faculty, staff and students • 25,000 phone lines/12,000 voicemail users • 50,000 IP addresses in use • 9,000 analog video connections • Over 1.5 Gbps external IP capacity • Operates the MAGPI Internet2 GigaPop connecting 38 institutional subscribers ISC Networking & Telecommunications

3. Organization • Networking, Telecommunications and Video Groups merged in 2000 • 100 full time staff members and contractors today, after substantial churn • Much staff re-education & integration has taken place • 100% direct charge budget • New organization is fully integrated and increasingly well cross-trained ISC Networking & Telecommunications

4. Voice Services at Penn Today • Most users have Centrex service • Local Exchange Carrier -provided business telephone service • Long list of available features • Switch at Telco Central Office • On-campus copper cabling • Some departments have PBXs and small key systems ISC Networking & Telecommunications

5. Telecommunications Infrastructure • Local Exchange Carrier brings copper loop infrastructure to campus Rate Demarcation Points (RDPs) • Penn maintains in-ground and in-building copper cable infrastructure from RDP to building, building to closet, closet to wallplate • This infrastructure is very old, and in some cases is failing resulting in outages and requiring expensive repairs • Replacement of these cables would be $3-5M ISC Networking & Telecommunications

6. Campus Map ISC Networking & Telecommunications

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8. Rate Demarcation Points ISC Networking & Telecommunications

9. Next Generation PennNet ISC Networking & Telecommunications

10. Business Drivers • Aging phone-cabling infrastructure. Cable faults are increasing, and repairs are expensive. • Moves, adds and changes are time consuming and costly (3000/yr @ $125= $375k) • Limited application integration/flexibility • Legacy voice mail and ACD are business critical, but fragile and costly to support • Prefer vendor independence, open standards and open source ISC Networking & Telecommunications

11. Voice Services Goals • Generally: • Cost–effective, reliable voice communications with flexibility to meet evolving demands • Vendor independence • Single integrated network infrastructure • Specifically: Convert 25,000 analog voice customers to VoIP on a converged IP network with added functionality and lower costs in 5 years or less ISC Networking & Telecommunications

12. History of VoIP at Penn • Protocol investigation dates back to late 1990s • Worked first with H.323-based VoIP, and later with Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) • Worked with a range of applications: • Cisco Call Manager, an enterprise solution (2001-2002) • BroadSoft’s Broadworks, a carrier-class VoIP software solution, piloted on campus (2001-2003) • Externally hosted IP Centrex solutions (2003-2004) • Open-source SIP Express Router with Asterisk Comedian Voice Mail (2003-Present) ISC Networking & Telecommunications

13. Whether to use Open Source • Does IP Telephony lend itself to open source server software? • Can it be reliable enough? • Will we have the feature set we need? • Will we be able to maintain it well? • We have an IT staff experienced in the 24x7 operation of key services based on open standards and open source • Positive experience with open source server software encouraged us to take this as a serious option ISC Networking & Telecommunications

14. Open Source Strategy • Select open source tools written in programming languages in which we have expertise • Assure that multiple staff members are familiar with each open source tool • Avoid the over-customization trap • Use existing functionality where possible • Maintain active relationship with developers • Try to get any essential changes of general interest built back into mainline code • Notable Asterisk customization • IMAP access to voice mail message store for true unified messaging from phones and email clients ISC Networking & Telecommunications

15. Project Teams ISC Networking & Telecommunications

16. VoIP Building Blocks • SIP Clients or User Agents • SIP Proxy Servers • Media & Feature Servers • Gateways and ITSP services ISC Networking & Telecommunications

17. SIP User Agents (UAs) • Hardware SIP phone, in the familiar desk set form factor. Penn currently uses Cisco phones, and is looking into other options. • Software that acts as a SIP client or user agent and runs on a desktop, laptop or handheld. Shown here is eyeBeam from Counterpath. ISC Networking & Telecommunications

18. SIP Proxy Servers • Server that accepts “registration” from valid users • Allows client to signal their call information • Handles call set up and gets out of the way • Penn uses SER (iptel.org) and OpenSER (openser.org) ISC Networking & Telecommunications

19. Media & Feature Servers • Server that handles “media” such as voice mail and music on hold • Provides for some additional call features • Co-exists with provisioning services • Penn currently uses Asterisk (www.digium.com) ISC Networking & Telecommunications

20. Gateway ISDN PRIs IP Campus Network PSTN Gateway • Interconnect between campus network and PSTN • Penn currently uses Cisco 36xx routers • Penn will also use ITSP services, sending calls via IP to a national network of gateways for completion ISC Networking & Telecommunications

21. General VoIP Design ISC Networking & Telecommunications

22. VoIP Topology ISC Networking & Telecommunications

23. 1H 2006 2H 2006 1H 2007 2H 2007 GeneralAvailability Phase 1.0 Phase 1.X Phase 2.0 Phase 3.0 PennNet Phone Roadmap • Phase 3.0 • Octel voice mail migration • New Handset Production • Softphone Pilots • Multi-line Pilots • 2000 phones deployed • Phase 2.0 • Feature Release 2.0 • Centrex-Asterisk Pilot(s) • ITSP/LNP Production • New Handset Testing • 1000+ phones deployed • Phase 1.1-1.2 • IMAP Message Store • Limited Multi-line Pilots • PiPS Maintenance • Security development • 600+ phones deployed • Phase 1.0 • VoIP Campus Pilot Begins • PennNet Phone web portal • Penn Directory lookups from PennNet Phones

24. Current State of Service • Substantial Deployment (over 1000 phones) • Production-grade • Redundant servers, gateways and PRIs • Single-line features, email/voicemail integration • Some mulit-line features (ring groups, multi line appearance) • 911 support equal to legacy system • Separate VLANs & subnets, layer 2 QoS • Full service: installation, support & billing ISC Networking & Telecommunications

25. Managing PennNet Phone • Web “provisioning interface” to allow • Installation staff to configure phones for deployment • Support staff to provide local support • End-users to select and maintain configuration options ISC Networking & Telecommunications

26. PennNet Phone Web Services (Phase 1.0) PennNet Phone Service ISC Networking & Telecommunications

27. Add PennNet Phone Account ISC Networking & Telecommunications

28. PennNet Phone Settings ISC Networking & Telecommunications

29. Unified Messaging • Some users prefer getting voice mail in email. Others really need to access voice mail by phone. • Wanted to access voice mail via email and via the telephone without message replication • Penn-developed extension to Asterisk for IMAP access to voice mail for true unified messaging from phones and email clients. Included in current production releases. ISC Networking & Telecommunications

30. Emergency Services & Location • Ability to route 511/911 calls, including support for location information • Three phases towards improvement • Phase 1 - Fixed location phones • Phase 2 - VoIP phones movable by IT Staff, with web form location reporting • Phase 3 - Dynamic location updates ISC Networking & Telecommunications

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32. Security & Privacy • Key project elements for S&P • Configuration security - protecting phone configuration and user details • Gateway security - securing gateways so only authorized users make calls • Call privacy - minimizing the eavesdrop risks ISC Networking & Telecommunications

33. Current Development Projects • Multi-line and ring-group support • Using ITSPs (Internet Telephony Service Providers) for off campus calls • Migrating Centrex users to our next generation voice mail • Power Over Ethernet (PoE) network designs • Evaluating additional VoIP handsets ISC Networking & Telecommunications

34. New Roles for Campus IT Staff? • Local tech support staff troubleshoot basic connectivity, occasionally power cycle phones • Submit trouble tickets when necessary • Act as proxy for the user in the web interface, to change feature settings and forwarding numbers ISC Networking & Telecommunications

35. Collaboration within Higher-Ed • Several Internet2 universities, most notably Columbia, UNC, and MIT, are using a very similar approach • Sharing plans, code and best practices through monthly collaboration calls • Open to participation by other groups seriously engaged in similar efforts ISC Networking & Telecommunications

36. A Few Key Challenges • “Recruiting” pilot customers that fit the service profile, are in a suitable location, and can provide detailed feedback • Identifying supportable, high function VoIP handsets • Managing very substantial staff workload • Moving fast enough to avoid costly telephone cable upgrades ISC Networking & Telecommunications

37. Lessons & Recommendations • Make project a priority across the organization • Cross-train staff, and allow time for adjustment. Augment staff with consultants in key areas • Pilot one technology at a time (open-source vs. in house commercial vs IP centrex) • Create/maintain a voice development environment ISC Networking & Telecommunications

38. Lessons & Recommendations • Roll out pilot and new features in your own department first, as a pre-pilot • Replace existing phones with VoIP phones on users desk (don’t simply add) • Structure installations to be “cookie cutter” • Pilot not only technology, but full support and communications process. Involve all service delivery and support personnel ISC Networking & Telecommunications

39. Looking To The Future • With the elimination of legacy services and networks, we anticipate: • Increased reliability • Improved functionality • Higher levels of operational efficiencies • Telecommunications cost reductions of 10-30% • Better customer service ISC Networking & Telecommunications

40. Production Quality Open Source VoIP: Next Generation Telephony at Penn Deke Kassabian University of Pennsylvania Internet2 Spring Member Meeting April 2007 ISC Networking & Telecommunications