Prepare your Network for Voice … over IP

1. Prepare your Network for Voice … over IP The “what and why” of a VoIP Assessment!! Chris Nabinger CTO, Masergy Communications email: t-rex@masergy.com

2. MASERGY at a Glance … MASERGY delivers the strongest enterprise WAN experience in the telecommunications industry • Leading global network service provider • Focused on the enterprise segment • Received numerous business and industry honors • Pioneered several industry “firsts” • Global native IP MPLS network (2001) • Fully customer-controlled networking (2001) • Global VPLS (2003) • Global Ethernet (2004) • Embedded Service Control and Network Management (2006)

3. Who Needs a VoIP Assessment? EVERYONE … …deploying VoIP

4. But, “Why?”, You ask … • Why VoIP? • Lower costs through convergence of voice and data • Easier management of services, such as moves, adds, changes • Rapid provisioning of new services • 40% YOY growth, $15B market today CIO But, It can be VERY RISKY for the Implementation Leader

5. Get Started … TODAY! • What is a VoIP Assessment: • Process to prepare your data network to carry voice traffic • Accomplished through discovery, planning and testing • You may need months to prepare for VoIP; a few weeks of assessment and a few weeks to repair and retest. • By the Numbers … • “85% of today’s data networks are not ready to support VoIP …” Gartner Group • “Less than 25% of enterprise VoIP deployments budget for pre-deployment assessments” Nemertes Research

6. But, “Why?”, You ask … • VoIP is just another network application … or is it? • Network architecture and design can make or BREAK VoIP • Let’s uncover some of the ugliness… • Latency • Jitter • Packet Errors and Loss • What else do I need to think about? • Signal Quality: initial call signaling and setup performance • Delivery Quality: measure transport performance, such as latency, packet loss, signal strength • Call Quality: MOS (Mean opinion Score) to measure overall user experience

7. The LAN(D) mine … • Is your Local Area Network ready? • Can your LAN reliably handle the added bandwidth consumption? • Look closely at your routers that connect to your WAN provider • Are your LAN switches VoIP ready? • Ensure your routers translates layer 2 QoS using layer 3 … at WIRE SPEED! • Turn on Layer 2 (802.1p) and Layer 3 (DiffServ) QoS throughout your network • Review and test feature sets and code version compatibility across all network switches • Verify configuration data: codec, dialing plans, QoS assignments, etc • Power to the People! Either you need POE switches to provide power or you need phones/power adapters • Plugging your desktop into your VoIP phone? Ensure PC activity does not overload your data connection

8. Is your WAN carrier ready? • Don’t implement over unmanaged Internet, not even for teleworkers. – • use a VPN solution that allows QoS control. Imaging home based sales people with a “jittery” phone – OOPS! • Check your WAN supplier closely • Do they meet VoIP requirements for latency, jitter and packet delivery … around the globe! • Do they offer QoS across their entire network … globally? • So they use packet queuing methods that absolutely guarantee Voice Traffic throughput • Do they connect to China, India or south Africa with NNI? If so, will you lose your QoS and DiffServ priority markings as you traverse different networks? • Test their VoIP troubleshooting capabilities. You’ll need fast, strong technical service in the event of problems. • Can they participate in your testing, including lab or real simulations? • Check ALL route segments to confirm your carrier is ready • backbone, local loops, intermediate hops, devices, etc.

9. Is your WAN carrier ready? • Check references from other VoIP customers • Is your new VoIP application riding on a converged WAN network? • Can you purchase a special voice plane to guarantee QoS? Does your WAN provider offer such? Can you purchase it “on-demand”? • What type of QoS does your WAN provider’s network support? • Layer 2 and Layer 3? • Strict Priority Queuing? • Bottom Line: Your QoS configurations guarantee VoIP traffic first priority • The only exceptions are routing updates and other control packets OOPS, almost forgot to check my backup WAN provider – whew!

10. The Simulation … • Use software to simulate actual voice traffic, as well as all other traffic simultaneously • Across your entire network to find incompatibilities and choke point • Not just at this moment. At peak times: look at 10 second intervals • Measure quality • MOS, jitter, call set-up time, packet loss, incomplete and failed calls, etc. • Include a vulnerability assessment

11. Final Thoughts … • Ensure all switches are managed – ensure QoS is managed, too • Ensure your PBX is VoIP ready or has a clean upgrade path. • Verify configuration data: codec, dialing plans, QoS assignment • Find a partner that is a VoIP implementation EXPERT • Don’t forget to manage user (especially executive) expectations at time of initial roll-out. Have a back-out plan handy… • Remember … acquisitions, divestitures, department changes and people moves cause traffic pattern changes

12. THANK YOU t-rex@masergy.com