VIVALDI PROJECT
DOCUMENT WORKPACKAGE 2
Deliverable D2.1:
End-User Requirement Specification
Final Version 19.05.2006
Project full title:
Advancing interactive Broadband satellite access by optimal convergence
of session based services over DVB-RCS
Proposal/Contract no.: FP6-2004-IST-4 027762
SIXTH FRAMEWORK PROGRAMME
PRIORITY 2
IST-Information Society Technologies
Page 1 of 39 Public
Table of Contents
1 INTRODUCTION ... 5
2 VOIP USER STATISTICS ... 6
3 END-USER SEGMENTS... 7
3.1 Segmentation by User Type ... 7
3.1.1 Business Users ... 7
3.1.2 Residential Users... 7
3.2 Segmentation by Network Connectivity ... 7
3.2.1 Urban Users... 7
3.2.2 Rural Users ... 7
4 SURVEY STRUCTURE... 8
5 USER SEGMENT SPECIFIC APPLICATIONS ... 9
5.1 Business End-Users... 9
5.1.1 IP Applications ... 9
5.1.2 VoIP Features and Requirements ... 14
5.1.3 Video Conferencing Requirements... 19
5.2 Residential End-Users ... 22
5.2.1 IP Applications ... 22
5.2.2 VoIP Features and Requirements ... 22
5.2.3 Video Conferencing Requirements... 23
5.3 Urban vs. Rural End-Users ... 23
6 QUALITY-OF-SERVICE REQUIREMENTS ... 26
6.1 QoS Impact on Applications... 26
6.1.1 Corporate Users... 26
6.1.2 Governmental Users ... 27
6.1.3 Residential Users... 28
6.2 Service Bandwidth, Reliability and Availability Requirements ... 28
7 CONCLUSIONS ... 30
8 REFERENCES ... 31
ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS
ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS
Full Description
ATA Analogue Telephone Adapter
CPE Customer Premises Equipment
CRM Customer Relationship Management
DSL Digital Subscriber Line
DVB Digital Video Broadcasting
DVB-RCS DVB-Return Channel by Satellite
ERP Enterprise Resource Planning
ESA European Space Agency
GSM Global System for Mobile Communications
FTP File Transfer Protocol
IAX InterAsterisk eXchange
IM Instant Messaging
IMS IP Multimedia Subsystem
IP Internet Protocol
ISDN Integrated Services Digital Network
LDAP Lightweight Directory Access Protocol
LE Large Enterprise
MIKEY Multimedia Internet Keying
NAT Network Address Translation
NGNI New Generation Network Initiative
NRT Non-Real Time
PBX Private Branch Exchange
PLR Packet Loss Rate
PSTN Public Switched Telephone Network
QoS Quality of Service
RTP Real Time Protocol
RT Real Time
RTT Round Trip Time
SAP ERP Software Supplier SAP AG
SFA Sales Force Automation
SIP Session Initiation Protocol
SME Small and Medium Enterprises
SOHO Small Office / Home Office
SRM Supplier Relationship Management
TLS Transport Layer Security
VM Voice Mail
VNC Virtual Network Computing
VoIP Voice over Internet Protocol
Page 3 of 39 Public
ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS
Full Description
1 Introduction
Satellite based services are often a competitive alternative to terrestrial networks to provide broadband IP connectivity and in may cases the only choice for users located in remote areas. In order to address this market potential, satellite networks need to support a comparable service performance from the end-user point of view. However, when it comes to real time applications like telephony or video conferencing, satellite based communication suffers from problems like limited bandwidth and high latency.
The VIVALDI project is addressing the problem of performance degradation of session-based IP applications over two-way satellite networks. The aim of the project is to provide the users of DVB-RCS platforms IP services with comparable quality like terrestrial broadband networks. The focus is on VoIP services combined with basic Internet applications.
VoIP is a session-based service that is getting more and more popular due to the fact that it is available at very low costs for users connected to the public Internet. This is also driving the demand for the use of VoIP via satellite with features and performance comparable to terrestrial networks while being affordable for wide user communities.
There is also an increasing use of more bandwidth demanding multimedia applications, such as video conferencing. However, satellite capacity is limited and relatively expensive to provide. In order to optimise the use of satellite resources and to meet the performance expectations of the users, new concepts for end-to-end session control and resources management have to be devised.
The main issue with the DVB-RCS standard in this context is that it does currently not support the provisioning of Quality-of-Service (QoS) on demand. It supports the configuration of static service profiles (guaranteed bandwidth) for individual terminals or applications, but this implies that satellite resources are dedicated to that terminal or application irrespective if used or not. This not only results in high prices for the users, but also in a very inefficient use of the satellite capacity and hence a limited number of users which can be served by the satellite network.
The enhancements to the DVB-RCS standard developed by the VIVALDI project will address these issues, eventually aiming to support the provisioning of VoIP and other IP services with QoS on demand at affordable prices for the target user groups.
The performance requirements and design goals will be based on the stated needs of the users of DVB-RCS systems. These are DVB-RCS gateway operators and service providers, VoIP service providers and the end users. The survey of the requirements of these different user categories has been the objective of VIVALDI Workpackage 2. Task T2.1 was specifically concerned with the “Identification of the end-customers requirements and expectations with regards to VoIP service in combination with other services (e.g. Internet browsing)”. The results are described in this report which is VIVALDI Deliverable D 2.1.
The VoIP and satellite service provider requirements have been surveyed by Task T2.2. The results are described in VIVALDI Deliverable D 2.2.
Most end-users surveyed could express their needs and expectations for satellite based services in qualitative terms only. Quantitative performance requirements and technical specifications have been obtained from the service provider survey only. This document should therefore be read in conjunction with Deliverable D 2.2.
The end-user requirements have been captured by structured surveys of the main user groups. VoIP and video conferencing in combination with Internet access and Intranet connectivity has been the focus of the survey. The interviewed persons and organizations were asked for their applications as well as for their expectations regarding service features and performance to support these applications in the most acceptable way. With the aim to validate and further expand the survey results, other user requirements research and market studies have also been considered and referenced in this document. The requirements identified will provide the necessary baseline for the technical developments in the framework of the VIVALDI project.
Page 5 of 39 Public
2 VoIP User Statistics
This chapter briefly presents the results from recent market research which underline the general interest and expectations of residential and business users in VoIP services.
The market studies indicate that about 1/3 of the residential users would replace their PSTN telephone lines by a VoIP service when charged at about 10-30% lower rates and provided with comparable features and quality; 1/3 is neutral and 1/3 would use VoIP as 2nd line option only. This means that up to 2/3 of the residential users can be expected to replace their circuit switched telephony services by VoIP.
In the corporate market an even higher percentage of users is forecasted to use VoIP as 1st line PSTN replacement because of the possible integration with corporate IP applications and resulting cost advantages. Since VoIP equipment manufacturers have continued to improve their equipment and software, VoIP is now able to provide voice quality appropriate for business communications. [Tadayoni 2004] points out that the main driver for VoIP (including wireless VoIP) is the quality of the infrastructure that connects the end users. The term quality relates to the capacity in the access and core networks as well as the ability of different networks to negotiate QoS requirements for voice services.
The high acceptance of VoIP is also reflected by a survey conducted in the UK where 3,000 enterprise IT managers were interviewed [Sims 2006]. 54% of the respondents said adopting VoIP has more advantages than disadvantages when substituting the legacy telephony services (PSTN/ISDN). 57% of companies from the financial sector stated that voice/data convergence is the main reason for the adoption of VoIP rather than reducing communication costs. In other sectors, like the retail, transport, distribution and manufacturing industry, reducing communication costs is the main driver to migrate to VoIP.
According to the [Sims 2006] forecast 23% of the UK industry has already deployed VoIP and further 26% is intending to adopt VoIP by the end of 2006.
According to the results of a survey presented in InformationWeek [McNicol 2005] more than 80% of business technology executives in the US indicated that 29% of their companies are using, 18% are testing and 34% are planning to deploy VoIP. Of those using VoIP, 63% said that they are going to invest more into VoIP infrastructure within the next two years. An advantage of VoIP stressed in [McNicol 2005] is that the telephone number can be personalized. Anywhere a subscriber logs onto the network, the number can be associated with the physical location and VoIP calls automatically routed to that location.
[McNicol 2005] also provides statistics for customer satisfaction with VoIP to be equal or better than conventional voice services. 93% of the respondents said that they prefer VoIP due to the advanced telephony features, 85% due to the ease of administration and 83% due to the lower cost of ownership. Overall, 81% were satisfied with the state-of-the-art VoIP technology using terrestrial broadband networks.
Pressetext Deutschland [Sohn 2006] is referring to a global study from Integrated Research (www.ir.com) in which it is stated that 78% of the large enterprises have already adopted VoIP. The main reasons were found to be the reduced costs and the enhanced service features compared to PSTN.
Based on the market research results outlined above it can be concluded that more than 30% of the business users are already using VoIP. The penetration is expected to be even higher with large enterprises. The short term forecast is that up to 70-80% of the business users will adopt VoIP. Because business users are an important market segment for DVB-RCS systems, the need to support VoIP together with other corporate IP applications becomes evident.
Also in the residential user segment VoIP is increasingly adopted. This will become another major market as soon as the prices of the DVB-RCS terminals will come down.
Overall, the current users, both business and residential, appear to be satisfied with the service features, quality and costs using terrestrial Internet services. The user survey conducted in the framework of the VIVALDI project confirmed that the terrestrial Internet performance in general is the benchmark for VoIP services via satellite.
3 End-User Segments
Users have different needs and expectations for satellite services depending on their background and purpose of applications. In this chapter, the end user segments relevant for the provisioning of VoIP services and other session based IP applications via satellite are identified.
The first segmentation is the breakdown into business and residential users. The business users are separated into corporate users and governmental organisations. The business users have been subdivided further by their size into large enterprises, SMEs and SOHOs.
During the survey it became evident that end-users who have no terrestrial network access have different service expectations than users with terrestrial alternative. Hence, a second categorization into urban and rural users has been made.
The questionnaire used to survey the requirements of the different user groups is enclosed in the Annex of this document.
3.1
Segmentation by User Type
3.1.1 Business Users
Corporate users can be categorized according the number of employees as follows [NSR 2006]:
- Large enterprises (250+ employees)
- Small and medium size enterprises (SME) (5 – 249) - SOHOs (1 – 4)
Governmental organisations are found in the following sectors:
- Education (e.g. research institutes, universities, schools) - Healthcare (e.g. hospitals, practices)
- Government authorities (e.g. administration, law enforcement authorities) - Military segment
3.1.2 Residential Users
The residential users are persons who use Internet connectivity and services via the Internet for private purposes. Some residential users have home offices and therefore also fall under the business users SOHO category.
3.2
Segmentation by Network Connectivity
3.2.1 Urban Users
Urban users in general are assumed to have access to terrestrial lines, fixed or wireless. The lines have at least PSTN quality. In most regions within wider Europe, also ISDN and DSL are available providing high quality telephony services and broadband access to the Internet.
Satellite services for users in urban areas are only competitive if the service features and costs are significantly more attractive than the terrestrial alternatives.
3.2.2 Rural Users
In the context of the user survey in the framework of the VIVALDI project end-users who have no access to terrestrial networks or to networks with low bandwidth and/or quality only are considered as rural users. Satellite services are basically an attractive option for these users.
Page 7 of 39 Public
4 Survey Structure
In order to collect the requirements for VoIP services and other session based applications from the end-users, a structured survey was conducted (the survey contained for all interviewees the same questions). The interviewees were selected from the different user segments identified in the previous chapter. In some cases also service providers were asked for the requirements of their user base to get a more general and consolidated view of the requirements. A copy of the questionnaire is included in Appendix A.
The objective was to identify the relevant IP based applications of the different end-user segments and the specific requirements and expectations for the IP services to support these applications.
The survey was structured into four sections. In the first section, the users were asked to identify themselves as corporate, governmental or residential user.
In the second section, the general requirements have been surveyed. First of all, the interviewee had to indicate the applications he/she was mainly using and point out the priority level of the applications. The aim was to identify the respective key applications. Further questions concerned the general service requirements, e.g. the upload and download speed, security aspects and nomadic use.
Nomadicity is also known as nomadic computing. The user is communicating using portable devices (e.g. laptop, PDA) to gain access to the Internet and to corporate Intranets. Such users are sometimes also referred to as technomads. The access is often established via mobile networks, but movement between fixed network access points is also becoming more common. Standards such as the IETF's Mobile IPv6 standards and Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) are supporting nomadic computing [SMC 2006].
Concerning security the end-users had to indicate whether secure connections are mandatory for their applications. If yes, the preferred security mechanisms were asked. These were distinguished in the questionnaire as encryption applied on the application level (i.e. encryption of the media stream related to session-based applications) or on the network level (i.e. VPN). The users could also specify other security solutions which are required to be supported by the network or service.
The third section of the questionnaire asked for the required VoIP service features. The interviewees had to judge the importance of basic and enhanced VoIP features on a scale from 0 (not important) to 5 (highly important).
Further information surveyed was the type of VoIP equipment used and the usage profile. Here it was distinguished between central and distributed server infrastructure. Further questions in this section concerned the requirements on the quality-of-service in terms of the subjective voice quality, call set-up time, set-up success rate and retention rate as well as the expected service availability.
The last section of the questionnaire focused on video applications. The service features and type of performance requirements asked were basically the same as in the VoIP part of the questionnaire.
5 User Segment Specific Applications
This chapter presents how important different IP applications have been rated by the users. The subsections are divided into the user segments business, residential and urban/rural users.
5.1 Business
End-Users
5.1.1 IP Applications
In the subsequent tables the priorities of the applications are defined between 1 and 5, with P1 meaning lowest priority and P5 highest priority from the user point of view.
Large Enterprise Priority
Applications ⎢ Internet access (Web-browsing, e-mail, FTP) P5 ⎢ Intranet/Extranet applications including ERP and CRM P5 ⎢ Back-up solution for terrestrial networks P4 ⎢ Retrieving data or sensor information from remote areas P4
⎢ VoIP P3
⎢ Video Conferencing P3
⎢ Alarm- and Surveillance applications P3 Security Intranet connections via public network infrastructure are
established as VPN. Typical VPN configurations are based on IPsec or tunnelling protocols.
Table 1: Key Applications of Large Enterprise Users [Survey 2006]
The IP applications of large enterprises with the highest priority besides of Internet access are the interconnection of corporate networks for both inter-organisational or cross-organisational purposes. A typical cross-organisational application is ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) like SAP for the connectivity between manufacturers and suppliers. Another key application falling under this category is Customer Relationship Management (CRM). Back-up connectivity and remote data acquisition are also rated with high priority.
The relative importance of VoIP and other session based applications like video is rated lower by the large enterprises surveyed. This indicates that IP data applications are becoming more important than telephony for large enterprise users. It should be noted, however, that large enterprises in most cases do not rely on VoIP for telephony alone and as such still consider the primary purpose of IP network infrastructure to run data applications.
Instant messaging and presence applications were not rated important by the users surveyed. However, users participating in a survey conducted by ESA [ESA 2003] stated that instant messaging is an important application. The study forecasted that large corporations are the first to evolve to more sophisticated applications. E-mail and web browsing are expected to represent 41%, network redundancy 20% and other specialized business applications 17% of the total demand.
SME Priority
Applications ⎢ Internet access (Web-browsing, e-mail, FTP) P5
⎢ Remote access to corporate network P4
⎢ Back-up solution for terrestrial networks P4
Page 9 of 39 Public
⎢ VoIP P3
⎢ Video Conferencing P3
⎢ Video Streaming P3
⎢ Chat/ Instant Messaging P2
Security Remote access to corporate network via public network infrastructure is established as VPN. Typical VPN configurations are based on IPsec or tunnelling protocols. For other Internet applications standardised secure protocols such as https are used depending on the application and content.
Table 2: Key Applications of SME Users [Survey 2006]
Like for large enterprises, Internet access has the highest priority for SMEs and access to remote corporate networks and back-up applications are also of relatively high importance. VoIP, video conferencing and video streaming are rated less important. SMEs also mention the use of instant messaging applications, but the priority is considered low.
SOHO Priority
Applications ⎢ E-mail P5
⎢ Internet access (Web-browsing) P4
⎢ VoIP P2
⎢ Video Conferencing P2
⎢ FTP P1
Security Some SOHO users use VPN configurations for remote access to their home network via public network infrastructure. For other Internet applications standardised secure protocols are used where considered necessary.
Table 3: Key Applications of SOHO Users [Survey 2006]
E-mail and Internet access are the most important applications for the SOHO users. VoIP and video conferencing have relatively low priority. This indicates that SOHO users do not consider VoIP as 1st line replacement option and confirms that IP data applications are considered of higher priority as in the case of the large enterprise and SME users.
The SOHO and SME main requirement is to support e-business which means applications like web browsing, e-mail, customer service centres, shared business applications, point of sales etc. This is also confirmed by the [ESA 2003] study which indicates that e-mail and web browsing are the dominant applications (52%) followed by network redundancy services (21%) and other business applications (13 %) in this segment.
Conclusions:
The users surveyed in all business segments (large, medium, small enterprises, small and home offices) rated Internet access and Intranet/Extranet connectivity for applications like email, web browsing, ERP, CRM and file transfer of highest importance. VoIP has received a lower priority which indicates that VoIP traffic should not degrade the performance of other IP applications of business users below acceptable limits in terms of bandwidth and delay.
Video over IP for conferencing applications was rated at the same priority level than VoIP. This is somewhat surprising because only a few users confirmed that they are actually using video applications. It can therefore be concluded that users are aware of the possible benefits and plan to use video along with voice in the future.
All business segments stated that the support of nomadicity by IP access services is important to enable users to move between network access points.
The support of secure connections based on user specific VPN configurations has been stated to be a mandatory requirement for IP services. For VoIP connections which are not established via a VPN, e.g. when calling external parties, other security schemes are sought to ensure privacy. However, many
users even in the business segment seem to be unaware that most of the public VoIP services do currently not provide secure VoIP connections.
Government Segment: Education Institutes Priority
Applications ⎢ Video Conferencing / Distance Learning P5
⎢ VoIP P5
⎢ Internet access (Web-browsing) P4
Security Users indicate VPN support is required
Table 4: Key Applications of Education Institutes [Survey 2006]
The results show that video and voice are the most important applications for education and distance learning. Internet connectivity also has high priority, but lower than voice and video.
The users surveyed indicated they want secure connections, e.g. based on VPN techniques.
Research Institutes Priority
Applications ⎢ E-mail P5
⎢ Internet access (Web-browsing) P5
⎢ FTP P4
⎢ VoIP P4
⎢ Citrix GoToMeeting (slides over Internet) P3
⎢ VNC (Virtual Network Computing) P3
⎢ Video Conferencing P2
Security Intranet connections via public network infrastructure are established as VPN. Typical VPN configurations are based on IPsec or tunnelling protocols. For other Internet applications standardised secure protocols are used where considered necessary.
Table 5: Key Applications of Research Institutes [Survey 2006]
Basic Internet applications like email and web browsing are given higher priority than VoIP. Applications supporting collaborative working like Citrix GoToMeeting are considered of lower priority and video of lowest priority. VoIP is used by institute employees. However, VoIP via the Internet is increasingly being used. Examples are the faculty of informatics at the University of Stuttgart in Germany (http://www.uni-stuttgart.de/aktuelles/presse/2003/32.html) or the University of Notre Dame in the US state Indiana (http://oit.nd.edu/news/VoIP.shtml).
Military Priority
Applications ⎢ E-mail, HTTP P5
⎢ Access to Defence Information Systems Network (DISN) [Brewin 2006]
P5
⎢ VoIP [Survey 2006], [FDC 2006] P5
⎢ Video Conferencing [Survey 2006], [FDC 2006] P4
⎢ Instant Messaging (IM) [FDC 2006] P3
Security
ncrypted using algorithms and systems certified for military use.
Intranet connections via public network infrastructure are established as VPN. In addition, voice and video media streams are e
Page 11 of 39
Public
. [Brewin 2006] describes the use of communication for tactical purposes whereas [FDC
shown in igure 1. The VoIP phones in the JNN enable calls via secure and non-secure router connections. A
number of about 50 VoIP conne width [Brewin].
Table 6: Key Applications of Military Users [Survey 2006], [FDC 2006], [Brewin 2006]
The military has the requirement for reliable and secure remote communications anywhere, anytime. The main applications have been extracted from [Brewin 2006] and [FDC 2006] as well as from an Internet survey
2006] indicates that there is also significant demand for social calling of soldiers from the field camps to their families.
For field communications, the military is using vehicle based systems with satellite equipment and VoIP infrastructure, sometimes referred to as Joint Network Node (JNN). An example system is
F
ctions can be established via 3 Mbps IP band
Figure 1: Joint Network Node containing VoIP infrastructure for tactical use [Brewin 2006]
The applications with highest priority for military use are Intranet connections and VoIP. Video is considered to be of increasing importance. Video conferencing is also used for social calling. An example solution offering communications for U.S. soldiers is the freedom calls foundation
ttp://www.freedomcalls.org). It supports VoIP, instant messaging and video conferencing via Wi-Fi and satellite links.
(h
Government Authorities Priority
Applications ⎢ E-Government Applications P4
⎢ E-mail, HTTP, etc. P4 ⎢ SAP [WEBRED 2004] P4 ⎢ Network Redundancy P4 ⎢ Emergency Management P4 P2 ⎢ VoIP Security
rotocols. For other Internet applications Intranet connections via public network infrastructure are established as VPN. Typical VPN configurations are based on IPsec or tunnelling p
standardised secure protocols are used where considered necessary.
Table 7: Key Applications of Government Authorities [Survey 2006], [WEBRED 2004]
Governmental authorities need to serve the citizens and store citizen related information. In order to improve the processes of different authorities the exchange of information and collaboration is a key requirement. Applications related to the delivery of government services to citizens (G2C), improved interactions with business and industry (G2B), citizen empowerment through access to information or more efficient government management are defined under the term e-Government. Inter-organisational relationships between different government facilities are referred to as G2G.
t of email and HTTP based
ability of IP services with high
s or will be an important government pplication in the short term, except for emergency communications.
Nomadicity was al uirement, but for travelling government represen r emerg
The survey revealed that government authorities assign high priority to all data applications, but at present relatively low priority to VoIP. Important applications excep
applications are resource planning using e.g. SAP software.
In emergency situations there is the need for guaranteed avail performance not only for data applications, but also for voice and video. The survey did not give any evidence that video conferencing i a
so not stated as a req
ency applications, nomadic use will have to be supported.
tatives and fo
Healthcare Organisations Priority
Applications ⎢ E-mail, HTTP, FTP P5
⎢ VoIP P4
⎢ Video conferencing P4
⎢ Transmission of visual data, e.g. images and x-rays P4 ⎢ ERP and healthcare specific applications such as
Management of Blood Transfusion Systems
P4
P3 ⎢ mySAP-CRM [Siemens 2005]
Security nnections via public network infrastructure are established as VPN. Typical VPN configurations are based on
standardised secure protocols are used where considered necessary.
Intranet co
IPsec or tunnelling protocols. For other Internet applications
Table 8: Key Applications for End-User: Healthcare [E-Health 2006], [Siemens 2006]
In the healthcare segment the move is towards the development of networks that connect different healthcare organisations together in order to have access to accurate and prompt patient information and clinical records whenever required. Organisations having access to the network are hospitals, other healthcare and social workers, pharmacies, the General Practitioners (GP) and ambulances. In countries where network based health services are provided, VoIP is already widely used for telephony between the different organisations. For example, in Great Britain BT will support VoIP over the N3 network (New National Network), which is a broadband network for the National Health Services [E-Health 2006]. They will start with the rollout in Essex where IP telephony using Cisco products will be installed at 580 organisations. The system will consist of Cisco 7200 and 10000 series routers, Cisco 2800 and 3800 integrated services routers and a software firewall will be in place using Cisco IOS software [E-Health 2006]. Besides of VoIP it is planned to use also video applications over the network. Other healthcare organisations are insurance companies. One example having adopted VoIP is the health insurance company AOK in Saxony, Germany. For the integration of the IP-technology into the existing infrastructure Siemens HiPath4000 systems are used for internal and external VoIP
and as switch to the traditional TDM based telephony network. The infrastructure s. Each site also provides call centre functionality for the customers. The call communications
interconnects three site
centre and VoIP functionalities are integrated with the mySAP-CRM system user interface [Siemens 2005].
Conclusions:
The survey of the key applications of governmental users revealed that VoIP and video are currently not considered to be of high importance. Applications with highest priority are Intranet connectivity, Internet access and email. Important Intranet applications are ERP like SAP which have to be
relevant mainly for educational and emergency applications. In emergency cases, however, the service availability and quality must be very high.
The military P and video over IP following the new
supported with high reliability.
VoIP and video over IP are considered
segment is expected to increasingly use VoI concepts of network centric warfare.
Page 13 of 39
Public
5.1.2 VoIP Features and Requirements
This ents of end users for the features to be offered by VoIP services. In
the nce rating, P1 lowest importance rating.
section presents the requirem
tables below P5 means highest importa
VoIP for Large Enterprises
Service Features Basic Services Se t:
VoIP calls to Internet subscribers and outbound of the Internet P5 Reception of VoIP calls from public telephone network subscribers P5
Fax transmission P4
Number of simultaneous voice connections (at least 2) P4
Multiple own subscriber numbers P1
Enhanced Services Set:
Call hold P2
Call transfer P4
Call waiting P3
CMF1: Caller ID delivery P3
CMF: 3way calling P4
VM2: Voice message notification by e-mail P1
Unified messaging P2
Consultation P1
LDAP directory P1
Call traffic limitation P2
P1
Call interception
P1
Music broadcast
Security VoIP within Intranet via public network infrastructu corporate VPN configuration mandatory.
re: Support of
curity features VoIP between Intranet and external users: Use of se
supported by public VoIP providers.
Nomadicity Support of nomadic use is a mandatory requirement. Equipment Analogue/digital legacy PABX systems with adapters.
hin the Intranet.
IP PBX systems (dominant protocol is SIP).
Distributed and central call server implementations for VoIP wit
VoIP phones (standards based products, mainly SIP and H.323).
Table 9: VoIP Preferences of Large Enterprise Users [Survey 2006]
The table indicates that large enterprises require the support of basic and enhanced telephony service
As stated in the previous section, large enterprises use VPN protocols to establish Intranet connections via public network infrastructure. Consequently, VoIP connections between corporate Intranet users are
features as known from the terrestrial network. However, the enhanced features beyond making and receiving calls to and from Internet and public telephone network subscribers are rated with relatively low priority. The only exception is the capability to make simultaneous calls in conference mode and to transfer calls.
1
CMF: Call Manager Functionality
2
hed via commercial VoIP service e enterprises
category are still equipped with non-IP PABX systems. Adapters are required
heir Intranets. The
ol for VoIP connections within their Intranets. owever, as CISCO will support the SIP protocol in their future products, the Skinny protocol is not
con by the users surveyed.
established via the same VPNs. The majority of large enterprises prefer to use own VPN configurations (e.g. based on Ipsec or tunnelling).
VoIP connections with users outside of the Intranet are establis
providers. The providers do currently not support secure VoIP connections although larg would prefer VoIP services with secure protocols to ensure privacy.
The support of nomadic use of VoIP services is an important feature for large enterprises. Many companies in this
to interconnect these PABX systems to an IP network (satellite terminal). However, migration to IP PBX systems is in progress.
Large enterprises use distributed as well as central call server infrastructure within t
VoIP phones are mainly SIP or H.323 compliant telephone sets. Popular brands are e.g. Linksys, Sipura and Grandstream. Softphones are less used by large enterprises until today.
Some enterprises still use the CISCO Skinny protoc H
sidered relevant any more
VoIP for SME
Service Features Basic Service Set:
VoIP calls to Internet subscribers and outbound of the Internet P5 Reception of VoIP calls from public telephone network subscribers P5 Number of simultaneous voice connections (at least 3) P3
Multiple own subscriber numbers P3
Other voice grade services P2
Enhanced Service Set:
Call forwarding P5 Call hold P3 Call return P5 Call trace P5 Call transfer P5 Call waiting P3 CMF: Caller ID delivery P5 CMF: 3way calling P5
CMF: Priority alert/ ringing P5
VM: Voice message notification by e-mail P3 VM: Routing from other voice mailboxes (e.g. GSM) to VoIP mailbox P3
LDAP directory P2
Selective call acceptance (according to preset criteria) P5
Selective call rejection P5
Call traffic limitation P3
Call interception P2
P2
Music broadcast
Security
curity features VoIP within Intranet via public network infrastructure: Support of VPN configuration mandatory.
VoIP between Intranet and external users: Use of se supported by public VoIP providers.
Nomadicity Support of nomadic use is a mandatory requirement.
Page 15 of 39
Public
VoIP for SME
Equipment with adapters.
ocol is SIP).
VoIP phones and softphones.
Analogue/digital legacy PABX systems IP PBX systems (dominant prot
Hosted PBX services.
Table 10: VoIP Preferences of SME Users [Survey 2006]
Like large enterprises, SME users require both basic and enhanced features to be supported by VoIP services. The rating of the importance of the enhanced services features is higher than that of large
blic network infrastructure. VoIP
rcial VoIP service
BX services. In this case the PBX is operated by the VoIP service provider.
he VoIP phones are mainly SIP or H.323 compliant telephone sets, but softphones are also used by SM
companies. This can partly be explained due to the limited number of users surveyed and partly because SME users more rely on enhanced call handling features than large enterprises which have dedicated switchboard staff.
Most SMEs use VPN protocols to establish Intranet connections via pu
connections between corporate Intranet users are established via the same VPNs. SME users can accept the use of standard VPN configurations supported by the IP access service providers, although some SME users require the support of their own VPN configurations.
VoIP connections with users outside of the Intranet are established via comme
providers. Secure VoIP connections are preferred, but not mandatory for the majority of SME users. The support of nomadic use of VoIP services is an important feature also for SMEs.
Many companies in this category are also still equipped with non-IP PABX systems. Adapters are required to interconnect these PABX systems to an IP network. An increasing number of SMEs is using hosted P
T Es.
VoIP for SOHO
Service Features Basic Service Set:
VoIP calls to Internet subscribers and outbound of the Internet P5 Reception of VoIP calls from public telephone network subscribers P5 Number of simultaneous voice connections (at least 2) P1
Multiple own subscriber numbers P4
P2 Fax transmission and reception
ervice Set:
Enhanced S
features P5 The SOHO users surveyed rated all enhanced service
important.
Security Use of security features supported by public VoIP providers. Nomadicity Support of nomadic use is an important feature.
Equipment stems with adapters.
VoIP phones and softphones. Small analogue legacy PABX sy IP PBX systems.
Table 11: VoIP Preferences of SOHO Users [Survey 2006]
Like other business users, SOHOs assign high importance to the basic VoIP service features. The importance of the enhanced features is rated highest of all business user segments.
Secure VoIP connections are considered important to ensure privacy. However, most SOHO users are not concerned that public VoIP services are currently not provided with secure protocols.
Some SOHO users are equipped with small PABX systems. These require adapters to interconnect to an IP network. Some users in this segment are expected to install PC based IP PBX systems. The
c VoIP service providers. These majority of the SOHO users will use softphones, but VoIP desktop phones will also be found in this segment.
SOHO users use standards based VoIP systems supported by the publi are based on the SIP and H.323 protocols.
Conclusions concerning the VoIP requirements of corporate users:
All corporate users require VoIP services to support calling to and receiving calls from other VoIP users
re important the smaller the size of the company is. This
is therefore concluded that VoIP services should provide the basic features to setup and receive calls as well as the upported by state-of-the-art telephony systems. in the Internet and PSTN/ISDN subscribers. In addition, fax over IP transmission is still considered important, especially, by large enterprises.
Enhanced VoIP service features are rated mo
is particularly relevant because research e.g. by Analysys [ESA 2003] estimates that most revenues for VoIP will be generated by small businesses.
It
advanced features for call handling s
VoIP for Education and Research Institutes
Service Features Basic Service Set:
VoIP calls to Internet subscribers and outbound of the Internet Reception of VoIP calls from public telephone network subscribers Enhanced Service Set:
The users surveyed in this segment do not consider enha service features important.
nced P5 P5
Security Use of security features supported by public VoIP providers. Nomadicity Support of nomadic use is not considered important.
Equipment with adapters.
Hosted PBX systems.
Analogue/digital legacy PABX systems IP PBX systems.
VoIP phones and softphones.
Table 12: VoIP Preferences of Education and Research Institutes [Survey 2006]
VoIP is increasingly being adopted in the education sector, e.g. by schools, and research institutes. The main aim is to reduce costs. The users surveyed indicated that there is currently only the need for basic he call
acceptable.
ost institutes in this segment are equipped with legacy PABX systems which will only slowly be replac stems. Hosted PBX services are also considered relevant.
VoIP services without enhanced features. The research institutes surveyed pointed out that t duration has increased since VoIP is used.
The use of non-secure protocols with the current public VoIP services is considered M
ed by IP PBX sy
VoIP for Military
Service Features Basic Service Set:
VoIP calls within Intranet and outbound of the Intranet P5 Reception of VoIP calls from public telephone network subscribers P4 Number of simultaneous voice connections at least 3 P4
Multiple own subscriber numbers P3
Other voice grade services P1
Enhanced Service Set:
Enhanced service features rated important.
Page 17 of 39
Public
VoIP for Military
Security l
re telephony. VoIP within Intranet via public network infrastructure: Support of mi classified VPN configuration mandatory.
Encryption of voice according to mil standards for secu Nomadicity Support of nomadic use is a mandatory requirement. Equipment
Distributed call server implementations for VoIP within the Intranet. 3). Analogue/digital legacy PABX systems with adapters.
IP PBX systems.
VoIP phones (standards based products, mainly SIP and H.32
Table 13: VoIP Preferences of Military Users [Survey 2006]
The military is using VoIP for tactical and non-tactical purposes. The main difference to other user
andards for secure telephony.
ost military units are still equipped with non-IP PABX systems. However, migration to IP PBX systems
is in pro ctical use.
groups is that VoIP calls are mainly made within Intranets using non-public IP network infrastructure. Basic as well as enhanced service features are considered important.
For tactical applications, VoIP connections are established via military classified VPNs only. In addition, the voice media streams are encrypted according to the mil st
M
gress, especially, by the mobile units for ta
VoIP for Governmental Authoritie s
Service Features Basic Service Set:
VoIP calls within Intranet and outbound of the Intranet P5 Reception of VoIP calls from public telephone network subscribers P5 Number of simultaneous voice connections (at least 2) P4
Multiple own subscriber numbers P1
Other voice grade services P1
Enhanced Service Set:
Enhanced service features rated not important. Security
VoIP protocols VoIP within Intranet via public network infrastructure: Support of VPN configuration mandatory.
VoIP between Intranet and external users: Secure mandatory before public VoIP services will be used. Nomadicity Support of nomadic use is not required.
Equipment
IP PBX systems (dominant protocol is SIP).
Analogue/digital legacy PABX systems with adapters.
VoIP phones (standards based products, mainly SIP and H.323).
Table 14: VoIP Preferences of Governmental Authorities [Survey 2006]
Governmental authorities concerned with administration tasks want to use VoIP within Intranet
ystems at end-of-life because of the limited investment budgets
oIP connections with users outside of the Intranet are under consideration by some government authorities. However, public VoIP service providers are required to support secure VoIP protocols. environments like military users. However, connectivity to the Internet and to the public telephony networks has also high priority. Enhanced service features are not considered important.
Most authorities are still equipped with analogue or digital (but non-IP) PABX systems. These systems will only be replaced by IP PBX s
available. Adapters are therefore required to interconnect the existing PABX installations to IP networks and to support basic VoIP services.
VoIP for Healthcare
Service Features Basic Service Set:
VoIP calls within Intranet and outbound of the Intranet
Reception of VoIP calls from public telephone network subscribers ns (at least 2)
e Set [Siemens 2005]: Number of simultaneous voice connectio Enhanced Servic g P4 Call forwardin Call transfer Conference calls Call control by mySAP
P5 P5
Security blic network infrastructure: Support of VPN
users: Use of security features VoIP within Intranet via pu
configuration mandatory.
VoIP between Intranet and external supported by public VoIP providers.
Nomadicity Support of nomadic use is considered important. Equipment Analogue/digital legacy PABX systems with adapters.
IP PBX systems. Hosted PBX systems.
VoIP phones and softphones.
Table 15: VoIP Preferences of Healthcare Organisations [Survey 2006]
erts are required to communicate together at the
ns [Siemens
on-secure protocols for external calls with the current public VoIP services is considered
to be replaced by IP PBX systems in the mid term. Hosted PBX services are also expected to
s and softphones. ll equipment is standards based, with SIP and H.323 being the dominant protocols.
VoIP is a major application in the healthcare segment. The possibility to use enhanced functionality is important since different persons and medical exp
same time being at different locations.
VoIP systems tailored for healthcare applications are supplied by vendors like Sieme 2005]. The solutions are often integrated with other IP network applications such as SAP. The use of n
acceptable.
Most organizations in this segment are equipped with legacy PABX systems which are, however, expected
be used.
The VoIP equipment deployed by healthcare organizations includes both VoIP phone A
Conclusions concerning the VoIP requirements of governmental authorities
Governmental authorities like corporate users require VoIP services with basic as well as enhanced service features. The VoIP infrastructure must enable calls within an Intranet, to Internet users as well
required to
mission of safety critical information, it shall also be possible to give higher priority to data applications.
5.1.3 Video Conferencing Requirements
as to PSTN and ISDN subscribers.
Government authorities will migrate rather slowly to an all IP based infrastructure. The existing PABX systems will be replaced by IP PBX systems at end-of-life. This means adapters will be
interconnect the PABX systems to the IP network before IP PBX systems will be deployed.
Many authorities concerned with public administration and healthcare will use VoIP services together with other IP applications via the same network connection. Voice is rated of higher priority than data for most administrative applications. However, for selected applications like the trans
Page 19 of 39
Public
Video Conferencing (VC) for Large Enterprise
Service Features Video conferencing within corporate networks
Connecting to VC systems via Internet and to ISDN subscribers Receiving VC connections from the Internet and ISDN subscribers Multipoint conferencing via multipoint VC gateways.
P5 P4 P4 P5 Equipment Standalone video codec with analogue cameras and monitors
Table 16: VC Preferences of Large Enterprise Users [Survey 2006]
Large enterprises consider video conferencing as an application of high importance. Most applications are for internal conferencing using Intranet connections, but external conferences are also required to be supported via the Internet and ISDN. During the survey no detailed features have been specified by the users except of multipoint conferencing support.
Video Conferencing (VC) for SME
Service Features Connecting to VC systems via Internet and to ISDN subscribers P5 Receiving VC connections from the Internet and ISDN subscribers P5 Multipoint conferencing via multipoint VC gateways. P5 Equipment PC/ notebook video conferencing software
Desktop/ roll-about VC systems with built-in IP port
Standalone video codecs with analogue cameras and monitors
Table 17: VC Preferences of SME Users [Survey 2006]
Video conferencing is also considered important by SME users. Conferencing connections are established to other parties either via the Internet or to ISDN subscribers. Multipoint conferencing is a requirement rated with relatively high importance like in case of large enterprises.
Video Conferencing (VC) for SOHO
Service Features Connecting to VC systems via Internet only P5 Receiving connections via Internet only P5
Multipoint Conferencing P4
Equipment PC / notebook + video conferencing software
Table 18: VC Preferences SOHO Users [Survey 2006]
The connectivity requirements of SOHO users for video conferencing are limited in most cases to the Internet. Another difference to larger enterprise users is that mainly low cost PC based systems are used instead of dedicated hardware which supports higher transmission bandwidth and, hence, picture quality.
Conclusions:
The survey of the requirements of business users for video conferencing indicates that for all user segments video conferencing has a high importance. Large enterprise applications are mainly within corporate Intranets, whereas SME users connect to other parties via the Internet and ISDN. SOHO users mainly use Internet connections which provide the required bandwidth and quality at low costs. All user segments require the support of multipoint video conferencing via Internet or ISDN gateways. Requirements for other enhanced service features have not been mentioned during the survey.
Video Conferencing (VC) for Education and Research Institutes
Video Conferencing (VC) for Education and Research Institutes
Connecting to VC systems via Internet and ISDN
Multipoint conference connection (Distance learning for multiple classrooms in remote areas)
P1 P5
Equipment PC/ notebook video conferencing software
Desktop/ roll-about VC systems with built-in IP port
Table 19: VC Preferences of Education and Research Institutes [Survey 2006]
Video conferencing is considered an important application for distance learning. This requires multipoint conferencing support.
Connectivity via the Internet is rated mandatory, whereas connectivity to ISDN lines is not considered important by education and research institutes.
Video Conferencing (VC) for Military
Service Features Connecting to VC systems via Intranet
Connecting to VC systems via Intranet and ISDN Multipoint conference connection
P5 P4 P4 Equipment Desktop/ roll-about VC systems with built-in IP port
Standalone video codecs with analogue cameras and monitors
Table 20: VC Preferences of Military Users [FDC 2006], [Brewin 2006]
Like VoIP connections, video conferencing by military users is mainly sought within their own Intranet. Connectivity to other systems via ISDN is however also required. Multipoint conferences should be supported in both cases. Military users are using standard VC systems with high performance codec hardware and built-in encryption of the media streams.
Video Conferencing (VC) for Governmental Authorities
Service Features Connecting to VC systems via Intranet and Internet Connecting to VC systems via Intranet/Internet and ISDN Multipoint conference connection
P3 P3 P3 Equipment Desktop/ roll-about VC systems with built-in IP port
Standalone video codecs with analogue cameras and monitors
Table 21: VC Preferences of Governmental Authorities
Government authorities concerned with administration tasks do not consider video conferencing of high importance.
Video Conferencing (VC) for Healthcare
Service Features Connecting to VC systems via Intranet/Internet
Connecting to VC systems via Intranet/Internet and ISDN Multipoint conference connection
P5 P5 P4 Equipment Desktop/ roll-about VC systems with built-in IP port
Standalone video codecs with analogue cameras and monitors
Table 22: VC Preferences of Healthcare Organisations [E-Health 2006]
Page 21 of 39
Public
Healtcare organisations use video conferencing mainly for telemedicine applications. The connections are established via Intranets which provide sufficient bandwidth. For public telemedicine services connectivity to the Internet as well as to ISDN is also required. The importance of video conferencing is rated relatively high in the healthcare sector compared to other governmental users.
Conclusions:
The importance of video conferencing applications is currently rated relatively low compared to VoIP by most governmental users. Only for the military and health care segments video conferencing has a higher importance.
Because of bandwidth and, hence, quality issues, video conferencing is mainly used via Intranet connections, but connectivity via the Internet and to ISDN is also a requirement.
A mandatory feature for all governmental users is multipoint conferencing using standard multipoint gateways. No other features have been specifically mentioned during the survey.
5.2 Residential
End-Users
5.2.1 IP Applications
IP Applications for Residential End-Users
Applications ⎢ E-mail P5
⎢ Internet access (Web-browsing, Downloads, FTP) P5
⎢ Online Banking P5 ⎢ VoIP P4 ⎢ Shopping P3 ⎢ Video Conferencing P2 ⎢ Video Streaming P2 ⎢ Network Gaming P1
Security Mandatory for e-commerce applications.
Use of standardised secure protocols like https.
Table 23: IP Applications of Residential End-Users [Survey 2006]
Email, Internet web browsing and online banking are the applications with the highest priority for the residential end-user. These are followed by VoIP. This ranking is confirmed by the [ESA 2003] survey, stating that for residential users e-mail and web browsing will generate 87% of the traffic.
Unlike business applications, the IP data applications of residential users with higher priority as VoIP are not delay and bandwidth sensitive. VoIP traffic for residential users should therefore always be given higher priority than other IP traffic.
5.2.2 VoIP Features and Requirements
VoIP for Residential Users
VoIP for Residential Users
Features
VoIP calls within the Internet and outbound of the Internet P5 Reception of calls from VoIP users within the Internet P5 Reception of VoIP calls from public telephone network subscribers P5
Multiple own subscriber numbers P2
Number of simultaneous voice connections at least 2 P3
Fax transmission and reception P4
Enhanced Service Set:
Call forwarding P3
Conference calls P2
VM: Voice message notification by e-mail P1
LDAP directory P1
Security Use of security features supported by public VoIP providers. Nomadicity Support of nomadic use is not a requirement.
Equipment Analogue phones with adapter (ATA). Softphones.
Table 24: VoIP Preferences of Residential Users [Survey 2006]
to 2. The
users are not concerned that public VoIP services are currently not provided with secure
lly all based on the SIP standard. The only proprietary standard with high market penetration is Skype.
For residential users the capability to establish VoIP calls within the Internet and via the Internet to PSTN/ISDN subscribers is equally important. Relatively high importance is also given to fax over IP transmission. The requirement for the number of simultaneous voice connections is limited
only enhanced service feature considered with higher priority is call forwarding.
Secure VoIP connections are considered important to ensure privacy. However, like SOHO users most residential
protocols.
Most of the residential users are using softphones or Analogue Telephone Adapters (ATA) to connect to the IP network access. Some also use VoIP telephones. The phone hardware or software is often bundled with the service subscription. The products offered by the commercial VoIP service providers are basica
5.2.3 Video Conferencing Requirements
Video Conferencing (VC) for Residential End-Users
Service Features Connecting to VC systems via the Internet P2 Equipment PC/notebook based VC systems
Table 25: Video Conferencing Preferences of Residential End-Users [Survey 2006]
at the demand for video conferencing is growing for all user categories including residential users.
and rural end-users and nce of the different applications an features.
The results of the survey indicate that video conferencing is not a key application of residential users. It is given low priority for use via the Internet and is not considered at all for connections to other networks. However, forecasts state th
5.3
Urban vs. Rural End-Users
The following sections present the comparison of the service requirements of urban
their rating of the importa d service
IP Applications Rating Urban Rural
Page 23 of 39
Public
IP Applications Rating Urban Rural
App ications l
⎢ Internet access (Web-browsing, e-mail, FTP) P5 P5
⎢ Corporate Intranet/ Extranet connectivity P5 P5
⎢ Back-up solution P3 N/A
⎢ VoIP P4 P5
⎢ Video Conferencing P3 P3
⎢ Audio/ Video Streaming P2 P3
⎢ Alarm Applications/ Surveillance P2 P4
⎢ Online Banking P2 P4
⎢ Infotainment P2 P4
⎢ Shopping P2 P4
Table 26: Importance of IP Applications for Urban and Rural Users [Survey 2006]
Internet access and Intranet connectivity has the highest importance both for urban and rural users. For urban users also terrestrial network backup is a relevant application for satellite based IP services. VoIP is also rated with high importance by urban users, but less important than basic Internet applications. Rural users assign the highest importance also to VoIP. Video and other multimedia applications are rated with lower importance by both user segments, but higher by the rural than the urban users. This can be explained by the limited availability of urban entertainment and shopping cilities which leads to a demand for shopping and infotainment applications. Also security and urveillance applications are considered more important in the rural environment.
fa s
VoIP Features Rating Urban Rural
S F
ervice eatures
Basic Service Set:
VoIP calls within and outbound of the Internet P5 P5 Reception of calls from VoIP users in the Internet P5 P5 Reception of calls from public tel
subscribers
ephone network P5 P5
Multiple own subscriber numbers P2 P2
Number of simultaneous voice connections: 2 P3 P3
Fax transmission and reception P4 P5
P1
Enhanced Service Set: P3
Table 27: VoIP Preferences - Urban vs. Rural End-Users [Survey 2006]
For both segments the basic VoIP service features are most important. Enhanced features comparable ISDN have higher priority for the urban user, but are not mandatory. The rural users does not assign igh importance to enhanced service features.
to h
Video Conferencing (VC) Features Rating Urban Rural
S F
ervice eatures
Video conferencing within corporate networks P3 P5
Connecting to VC systems via Internet only P4 P5
Connecting to VC systems via ISDN P3 P5
Video Conferencing (VC) Features Rating Urban Rural
Receiving VC calls from ISDN subscribers P3 P5
Multipoint Conference Connection P3 P4
P4
Pre-booking of conferences P3
Table 28: Video Preferences – Urban vs. Rural End-Users [Survey 2006]
The rural users are more dependent on telecommunication services and in general give higher importance to video conferencing than urban users.
Page 25 of 39
Public
6 Quality-of-Service Requirements
Different applications require different Quality of Service (QoS) properties. The QoS is described by the transmission performance as well as by the service reliability and availability. The main QoS parameters for IP applications including VoIP are:
- Bandwidth is the IP data transmission rate in bit per second (Bit/s). Bandwidth related QoS
parameters are the average, minimum and maximum bandwidth of IP sessions. The different voice codecs available for VoIP generate different bit rates. In general, higher bit rate codecs provide a higher voice quality. In order to achieve the highest quality with a selected codec type, the minimum IP bandwidth provided by the network should always be higher than the nominal output bit rate of the codec plus the IP overhead. In this survey the user requirements for VoIP bandwidth were surveyed indirectly. The users were asked to indicate the expected voice quality in comparison to other services, namely GSM (low quality level), fixed analogue phone (medium quality level) and ISDN (high quality level). The bandwidth and corresponding quality of video conferencing was known to the users surveyed from the bandwidth settings required by the video conferencing systems (usually in steps of n x 64 kBit/s corresponding to multiple ISDN basic rate channels). - Latency of data transmission is the time a data packet needs to reach its destination (usually
described by the round trip time (RTT)). For real time (RT) applications such as telephony and video conferencing it is mandatory to keep the latency low. Via satellite links the minimum latency is limited by the propagation delay which is about 270 ms per satellite hop.
- Packet Loss Rate (PLR) is the number of packets not reaching the receiver divided by the total
number of packets sent. Severe voice quality problems result from packet loss. Packet loss is caused by network congestion or by transmission errors. The dominant cause is network congestion. Packet loss results in gaps and distortion in the conversation. Some voice codecs use packet loss concealment (PLC) techniques to reduce the quality degradation, but even with PLC the PLR should be less than 5% to provide acceptable voice quality.
- Jitter is described as the delay variance of data packets between the end points. The quality of
voice and video is severely degraded when the delay variance is high. Jitter is caused by network congestion. Subjective voice quality tests showed that the maximum jitter should not exceed 10% of the average latency (delay). The jitter of VoIP connections is often compensated by jitter buffers. However, these are increasing the latency and a trade-off between jitter and latency must be made. - Call set-up time is the duration from session initiation until the call has been established (phone
rings at other end).
- Call set-up success rate is the ratio of the number of sessions established successfully to the total
number of session set-up requests.
- Call retention rate is the ratio of the number of sessions dropped before the intended session
release to the total number of sessions established.
- Service availability indicates the time per year the user requires the service to be available.
6.1
QoS Impact on Applications
This section indicates the qualitative impact of the QoS parameters bandwidth, delay, jitter and packet loss on the main applications identified by the different user segments. Quantitative performance requirements have been obtained from the survey of the VoIP service providers. These are described in VIVALDI Deliverable D 2.2.
6.1.1 Corporate Users
The following table shows how the performance parameters affect the applications of large enterprise (LE), SME and SOHO users. The priority assigned by the users to these applications as described in the previous chapter are indicated in the left columns (P5 very high, P4 high, P3 medium, P2 low).
Application Affected by Application LE SME SOHO BW BW
Varia-tion
Delay Jitter Packet Loss Internet access (Web browsing, email, FTP) P5 P5 P5 - P4 Medium-high (NRT) No Yes No Yes Corporate Intranet/ Extranet P4 P4 - medium- high (NRT) No Yes No Yes Access to remote corporate network (ERP) P4 - - Medium (NRT) No Yes No Yes Backup solution P4 P2 - medium – high (NRT) No Yes No Yes VoIP P3 P3 P2 medium
(RT) Yes Yes Yes Yes
Video Conferencing P3 P3 P2 high (RT) Yes Yes Yes Yes
Video Streaming - P3 - high (NRT) No No No Yes Alarm Applications/ Surveillance P3 - - low – medium (RT)
Yes Yes Yes Yes
Chat/ IM - P2 - low No No No Yes
Table 29: Qualitative Impact of QoS Parameters on Corporate Applications [Survey 2006]
6.1.2 Governmental Users
The following table shows how the performance parameters affect the applications of education and research institutes (ED, RI), the military (MIL), governmental authorities (GA) and healthcare organisations (HC).
Application Affected by Application ED RI MIL GA HC BW BW
Varia-tion
Delay Jitter Packet Loss Internet access (Web browsing, email, FTP) P4 P5–P4 P5 P4 P4 Medium-high (NRT) No Yes No Yes Intranet - - P5 P4 P4 Medium-high (NRT) No Yes No Yes
ERP (SAP) - - - P4 P4 medium No Yes No Yes
Image Transfer - - - P4 high No Yes No Yes
e-Government - - - P4 -
Medium-high (NRT)
No No No Yes Citrix GoToMeeting
(slides over Internet) - P3 - - - medium Yes Yes No Yes
VNC (control of remote applications)
- P3 - - - high No Yes No Yes
VoIP P5 P4 P5 P1 Yes medium Yes Yes Yes Yes
Page 27 of 39
Public
Application Affected by Application ED RI MIL GA HC BW BW
Varia-tion
Delay Jitter Packet Loss
Video Conferencing P5 P2 P4 P1 Yes high (RT) Yes Yes Yes Yes
Instant Messaging - - P3 - - low -
me-dium (RT)
No No No Yes
Table 30: Qualitative Impact of QoS Parameters on Government Applications [Survey 2006]
6.1.3 Residential Users
The following table shows how the performance parameters affect the applications of residential users. The priorities assigned by the users to these applications as described in the previous chapter are indicated in the left columns.
Application Affected by Application Priority BW BW
Variation Delay Jitter
Packet Loss Internet access (Web browsing, email, FTP) P4-P5 Medium- high (NRT) No Yes No Yes
Online Banking P4 low No No No Yes
VoIP P4 medium Yes Yes Yes Yes
e-shopping P3 medium No No No No
Video Conferencing P2 high (RT) Yes Yes Yes Yes
Video Streaming P2 high No No No Yes
Gaming P1 high (RT) Yes Yes Yes Yes
Table 31: Qualitative Impact of QoS Parameters on Residential User Applications [Survey 2006]
6.2
Service Bandwidth, Reliability and Availability Requirements
The following table shows the requirements expressed by end users for the bandwidth to be provided for VoIP and video services, the expected call setup times, call setup success rates, call retention rates and the service availability within a period of one year.
Quality Level Call Set-up Time [sec]
Call Success Rate [%]
Call Retention Rate [%]
Service Availability [% p.a.] VoIP Video
[kbps] VoIP VC VoIP VC VoIP VC VoIP VC
Corporate ISDN 128-
384
2 10 95 95 99.9 99.9 99.99 99