Essential Technology: A GCS Blog

With recently acquired Apple certification in hand, JP McInnis is quickly expanding his Apple knowledge. First up, telephony integration! Mac users have suffered for years due to a lack of support for the Mac OS from most major telephone system manufacturers. On his Snow Leopard 10.6.2, JP mixed up some VMware Fusion 3.0.2 and a VM running XP Pro SP3. A short install of Avaya's Phone Manager later and enabling "Unity Mode" in Fusion, and voilà:

All typical functionality was present. We did not test TAPI on this system yet, but it's on the list!

You've taken the plunge (or not) and are ready for SIP. Now, how do you configure SIP trunks on an Avaya IP Office?

1. Buy licenses from an Avaya reseller (I can think of one). Each SIP trunk is licensed.
2. Order SIP service from an Avaya-supported provider. 
3. Your SIP provider will request a public IP address that has port 5060 forwarded to the IP Office.
4. Reference the Application Notes with step-by-step instructions from Avaya for your provider here. Any App Note is a decent guide for any provider.

Not all SIP providers have Applications Notes at this time. However, if your provider is listed your Avaya reseller (*ahem* GCS) will be able to configure SIP service. If you're just getting started with SIP it may helpful to read GCS' SIP Primer.

SIP is a mature technology that will likley displace PRIs as the standard for dial tone in the SMB market. The IP Office offers both SIP trunking and endpoints.

If you're curious about SIP, you're not alone. SIP, Session Initiation Protocol, is a method for terminating dial tone or connecting handsets to a phone switch. It enables vendor competition on proprietary phone systems for the high-margin handsets sales. It also allows dial tone to be passed over internet connections at a higher capacity than a traditional PRI. Most major phone system manufacturers and software based systems support SIP trunking and endpoints. SIP is already in use as a means to transmit voice on many carrier backbones.

Here are several important SIP facts:

• SIP is run on a typical network connection. Like any VoIP you must have QoS end-to-end for consistently high quality service.
• Many providers offer SIP to anywhere by pushing it across the public internet. Be wary. Look for vendors who are bringing in their own managed internet connection.
• On 1 T1 you can have either 23 lines (PRI) or 45+ SIP trunks. If you have ethernet options your phone capacity can scale very easily.
• SIP supports much of the functionailty of the traditional PRI such as Direct Inward Dial and Caller ID.
• SIP handsets may not be a good deal. Most major VoIP manufacturers charge a per-handset license fee equal to about the cost savings. However in response to price competition vendors such as Avaya have released lower priced handsets such as the 1600 series.
• SIP handsets lack functionality available on the proprietary handsets
• SIP is implemented differently by many manufacturers. Ensure your manufacturer is supported by your provider. Not suprisingly Cisco and Avaya users have many options.

SIP is a mature product with significant cost advantages and flexibility. It deserves consideration as a trunking option for all new installs.

Reluctantly, I've become a big fan of Avaya's IP Office product. My early impressions of this product were not favorable. However it's mobility and remote connection features have developed into best-in-class features. The IP Office has always been very reliable. Finally, it is price competitive from ten - several hundred handsets. The IP Office is getting even better with the impending release of the 5.0 software upgrade. What's new in 5.0?

Failover: IP Offices can now failover between switches either geographically or within the same location. This is only supported with IP handsets.

Exchange 2007 Integration: Voicemail integration is now supported.

Web Based Telephony: Many users that previously relied on Phone Manager Lite will be able to access similar functionality over the web.

Conference Bridge: The conference bridge can be upgraded from 64 ports to 128 ports.

Small Community Network: IP Offices can now be installed at up to 32 individual locations and networked for 3 or 4 digit dialing between locations.

SIP Endpoints: Though I'm sure this feature has been heavily requested its impact on the market will be negligible. Additional licenses are required per SIP handset. Avaya's 16xx handsets rival SIP handsets in price, do not require an additional license and provide more features.

Licensing: Avaya has simplified the licensing by bundling user and phone switch licenses by user type. There are now three types of switch licenses. Essential uses the Embedded voicemail, which now includes Dial by Name directory. Preferred adds Voicemail Pro functionality. Advanced bundles call center reporting, recorded call management, conditional call routing and more. In addition to the switch licenses there are six types of user licenses - Mobile Worker, Tele Worker, Power User, Receptionist, Customer Service Agent and Customer Service Supervisor. Mobile Worker is essentially for remote extensions without any telephony or handset use. Tele Worker includes all licenses for remote IP phone or telecommuter access. Power User bundles Mobile and Tele Worker licenses. Receptionist adds the soft console application.

Support: IP Office 5 is only supported on the 500, 412 and 406V2 switches.

It is especially apparent at this late stage in VoIP adoption just how far off some early VoIP predictions were.  The mobile, free, ubiquitous connection that early VoIP proponents espoused is only marginally closer than it was 10 years ago. In fact today the generation-old PSTN provides more of these features than modern VoIP systems.

The remote VoIP handset still suffers many problems. Without point to point connectivity QoS can only be ensured at the endpoints. As many Vonage subscribers can tell you, this leads to dropped calls, distorted voice and static. Many vendors still require VPN connections between sites for these remote handsets to 'function.'

The Avaya IP Office has supported remote VoIP handsets, with an embedded VPN  client, for years. Recently they have improved their mobile solutions with 'old' technology - the PSTN and mobile phone network. New telecommuter features allow a home phone (PSTN, or otherwise) to receive calls directly while providing advanced telephony features through a remote connection to Phone Manager Pro (Avaya's premium telephony app). Great quality, advanced features and very reliable - that's tough to beat. In addition the Twinning functionality supports multiple endpoint connections. Call my DID to ring both my work phone and cell phone. By pushing the call across the 3G network I get a very good quality call that can reach me through my DID. Neither of these advanced voice features require an IP connection (excepting the remote connection to Phone Manager Pro).

Where is VoIP a fit? That might be the next blog post!