FEDERATED
COLLABORATION –
THE NEW WORLD ORDER
DIVYA WAKANKAR
enterprises by integrating mobile, desk phone, desktop/laptop, and VoIP across domains. Through a single click, users are able to update their presence, which is then propagated across multiple devices and domains. Below are the advantages UC delivers to enterprises:
> Effective Communication > Increased Productivity > Ease of Accessibility
> Reflection of Presence Status > Streamlined Business Processes > Improved Operational Efficiencies
INTRODUCTION TO UNIFIED
COMMUNICATIONS
Unified Communications aims to integrate different islands of communication like voice, messaging, email, and video across enterprises owning different UC platforms, by a system that has presence and identity, thereby making users available anytime, anywhere in coherence to the enterprise policies. For an enterprise, UC delivers substantial financial and operational advantages through seamless collaboration across employees, customers, and vendors who have multiple modes of communication. For an individual, UC simplifies communication within and across
FEDERATED COLLABORATION –
THE NEW WORLD ORDER
Business agility demands real-time collaboration and communication between employees,
partners, suppliers, and customers–in a global context. It also demands collaboration
between and beyond heterogeneous networks and services. As enterprises deploy unified
communications applications for services such as voice, video, presence, instant messaging,
conferencing, calendaring, directory, identity, and address book, the enablement of real-time
collaboration across enterprises and domains demands solutions that are high performance,
interoperable, policy-regulated, and secure.
Inter-domain Federation is secure, policy-regulated collaboration between multiple enterprises
or public domains that enables the exchange of messaging and presence information
between users. Federation is achieved by mediating between services or across a large
number of proprietary or standards-based protocols. These domains may be in separate
enterprises or represent sub-domains within the same enterprise.
Unified Communications is becoming the communication solution of choice for not only high-flying enterprises with shrinking travel budgets, but for small and medium-sized businesses as well. Adoption of UC in enterprises is accelerating as more and more enterprises embrace the need for software-powered communications beyond their network boundaries to facilitate communication and collaboration anytime, anywhere among colleagues, vendors, and customers around the globe.
Forward-looking enterprises are deploying enterprise UC solutions to improve communications, increase collaboration, and improve worker productivity. A step further would be to collaborate seamlessly internally and across corporate boundaries.
WHAT IS DRIVING SERVICE PROVIDERS
TOWARD FEDERATION?
Current UC solutions only support collaboration across users on the same vendor platform, enabling exchange of presence, instant messaging, data, voice, and video calls. As enterprises expand, the need for integration of their UC solution with vendors and partner solutions will become increasingly more necessary.
Service providers are faced with a wide range of questions when integrating solutions beyond enterprise boundaries.
> How to design, develop, and deploy an intra-enterprise collaboration solution that enables seamless communication > How to enable Unified Communications across multiple
networks ranging from PSTN to PLMN to IP
> How to deliver presence, instant messaging, voice, video, and data sharing across across multi-vendor UC platforms
> How to govern and secure cross-domain communications with partners, vendors, and customers?
To address the above questions, service providers need to develop a carrier-grade solution. In short, an efficient UC Federation solution needs to meet the following requirements:
> Presence integration across PSTN/PLMN/IP networks > Presence and IM across diverse UC solutions beyond
enterprise boundaries > Voice and video calls > Data sharing > Calendar sharing > Global address book
> Secure policy-controlled federation across enterprises > Application enablement
Enterprises are also looking forward to leveraging operational benefits by building a single any-to-any Federation solution toward all federated partner enterprises.
The new collaborative solution should bring together enterprise stakeholders—employees, partners, customers, suppliers, and vendors—for effective communication and collaboration to create a new integrated workforce experience. It should deliver the following advantages to the enterprise:
> Accelerate decision-making and improve productivity based on real-time communication with stakeholders
> Speed up business processes and improve operational effectiveness by integrating communications within business processes
> Improve cost efficiencies by reducing travel and communications-related expenses Messaging Applications Devices Communications Conferencing Presence aA0spacesymaA #Q1w23()_-+@ ERTYUI0P alt7 Z8X9C?V!BN,M.$ *A4 S 5D 6F/ GH:;JK, “L del
FEDERATION: ADDING A NEW DIMENSION TO UNIFIED COMMUNICATIONS
Federation is about establishing interoperability to enable seamless integration of information across two or more diverse UC platforms. This allows end users from different enterprises to work together as if they were served by the same UC platform, using shared presence information, instant messaging, and other features, such as multipart chat and Web-based conferencing.
Federation can enable service providers to address the various challenges raised to them by enterprises. In short, it aims to bring together all the frequently used communication devices, applications, and services across enterprises like mobiles, soft phone, presence, instant messaging (IM), voicemail, video, and multiparty conferencing to effectively communicate and collaborate from anywhere across the globe. A typical UC Federation system is shown in the diagram below, wherein enterprise partners and consumers are connected to each other through the platform.
Enterprise Admin Enterprise 1 Enterprise 3 Enterprise 4 Enterprise 2 Enterprise N Individual Consumers UC Federation Platform Public Networks Public Internet Enterprise 5
Enterprise Admin Enterprise Admin
Enterprise Admin
Enterprise Admin Enterprise Admin
Basic UC Federation setup
3rd-Party Web Apps
Signaling Signaling
Media Media
Public Telecom Network ES RS PBX Application Enablement UC Federation REST Intra/Internet Internet
Federation is a collaborative tool that helps everyone interact with each other at the right time, from anywhere, on any device. It enables enterprises and users to transition from:
> Traditional voice and email to rich unified communications and collaboration
> A simple secure solution within enterprise to a highly centralized secure and policy-regulated collaboration beyond enterprise network boundaries
> Separate tools/application to integrated tools/applications that enable true workflow. The unification, interworking of these tools like email, collaboration, and conferencing will lead to enhanced efficiency and productivity
> Isolated networks to Converged Fixed, Mobile, IP networks to a converged telephony network
> Multiple devices to access different service types per person to a single device for accessing diverse service types, including BYOD.
> Manual device configuration to centralized advanced device configuration and management
INTER-ENTERPRISE PRESENCE AND IM
FEDERATION
Federation can enable users across multiple enterprise platforms to share presence information with other users. In addition to standard presence states like “available,” “busy,” and “do not
Provisioning UC Federation Application Enablement Web Portal Provisioning 3rd-Party Applications Public Telecom Networks Policy Manager Firewall/Proxies DMZ DMZ DMZ Private Network Private Network Enterprise 2 Enterprise 1 XMPP (TLS Optional) XMPP SIP/SIMPLE Over TLS Gtalk Server Gateway Gtalk Clients Access Edge Policies Lync MOCs REST
disturb,” users can also add custom status messages to share with federated colleagues. The federated presence capabilities across multiple platforms collect detailed information on users and report the presence status to others across different enterprises. This enables users to make informed choices about the best way to contact them any time of the day. Advance presence Federation enables efficient detection of users’ presence information and shares it in the best interest of the enterprise.
Federation also enables peer-to-peer and ad hoc chat sessions across enterprise boundaries. Below is an example of how presence and IM, are federated across Microsoft Lync, enterprise IM and Google Talk, a public IM tool.
Dis-integrated environment
PRESENCE ACROSS PLMN, PSTN, AND IP
NETWORKS
A federated UC solution will enable tight integration of presence not only within the diverse UC platform, but onto users’ fixed, mobile, or IP networks as well. Irrespective of the device (tablet, PC, mobile, or IP) or the network (fixed, mobile, or IP) users’ presence will be reflected to other enterprise users.
For example, when Bob wants to talk to Denis, he checks Denis’s unified presence information via the UC client on his IP phone. Based on the Denis’s status, Bob can make an informed decision on when would be the best time to call Denis, thus enhancing Bob’s probability of actually reaching him.
Company 2 Company 1 Company 6 Company 4 Company 3 Company 5 UC Federation Company 2 Company 1 Company 6 UC UC UC UC UC UC Company 4 Hub-and-Spoke Model Company 3 Company 5
HUB-AND-SPOKE MODEL
Centralized Federation is represented by a Hub-and-Spoke model wherein UC Federation is the hub and the supported UC platforms are the spokes. This solution leverages on reduced enterprise IT infrastructure requirements in order to federate with a partners. It is simpler to integrate enterprise, public UC platforms with a Federation solution that requires minimal maintenance and thus reduces financial and operational costs for the enterprises.
SINGLE SIGN-ON AND IDENTITY MANAGEMENT
For activities such as cross-enterprise directory browsing, the Federation solution should provide the means to authenticate users across enterprises, delivering a single sign-on across across multiple applications. Once a user logs in, he/she should gain access to all systems without being prompted to log in again. The solution should typically be integrated with existing Web application single sign-on (SSO) platforms in the enterprise.It is desirable to centralize all inter-company policies within the federated platform to enable the solution to be queried by Web application SSO platforms. The solution should save users’ identify and allow or disallow access to cross-enterprise Web Apps based on policies. The Federation solution must also be able to connect to enterprise directories to enable automatic user data alignment.
APPLICATION ENABLEMENT
In order to leverage the revenues of the Federation platform, telecom operators might want to integrate 3rd-party applications with the Federation solution. These applications can use platforms’
capabilities to obtain federated users’ presence or calendar, send messages, and connect calls. All of these accesses must be protected by appropriate authentication and enterprise policies. Enterprises can use single sign-on across 3rd-party applications to enable seamless communication and access to the system.
CENTRALIZED POLICY MANAGEMENT
End User Company Admin UC Federation Portal Company X Admin
End User Company
Admin End User CompanyAdmin
Users' Policies UCFed Users UCFed Policies UC Federation Company Y 3rd Party App APIs Single Sign-on Platform
Company Z Jabber XCP Single Sign on Architecture
Policy Management – Use Case 1
A user belongs to an enterprise, which is segmented into contact groups. Contact groups are defined hierarchically (i.e., sub-contact group belongs to parent contact group). In the following example, the enterprise is defined as Contact Group 1, containing all employees. The two Sub-Contact Groups 2 and 3 are defined as Marketing and Support departments.
> User A inherits from the default enterprise policies (Contact Group)
> User B inherits from the Marketing dept. policies (Contact Group 2), which overrides the default enterprise (Contact Group 1) policies
> User C inherits both the Marketing dept. and Support dept. policies (the union of Contact Groups 2 and 3), which override the policies of the default enterprise (Contact Group 1)
A
B
C
Contact Group 1 = Enterprise
Contact Group 2 = Marketing Dept.
Contact Group 3 = Support Dept.
Enterprise Policy Modeling
Enterprise contact defined at group level (*company.com)
Contact Group 2, Group 3 defined at group level (*sales company.com) (*hr.company.com)
Additional contacts defined at individual level ([email protected]) Enterprise Contact Group 1 Contact C Contact D Contact B Contact Group 2
Policy Management – Use Case 2
Another use case of how a centralized Federation will enable enterprises to control policy is shown below. This use case has Enterprise A with a User A and Enterprise B with a User B as the key users for whom policy is to be regulated. The centralized UC Federation solution consists of a policy manager for each enterprise that controls the access levels for the users. The current policy settings are such that, across enterprise boundaries, users’ presence status is reflected but they are not able to chat. The user will continue to be able to chat and check presence status of his/her colleagues with the respective enterprise. Messages can also be displayed to the user when the policy is violated to ensure appropriate action is taken.
The Federation capabilities are allowed or denied based on the policies defined by federating enterprises in the UC Federation solution. Examples:
User A User B
A and B can each monitor, and be monitored by each other
A and B can’t monitor or be monitored
A can monitor B, but not be monitored B can monitor and be monitored
A and B can each monitor, but not be monitored Capability Presence In Out V X Capability Presence In Out V X Capability Presence In Out V X Capability Presence In Out V V Capability Presence In Out X X Capability Presence In Out X X Capability Presence In V V Out Capability Presence In V V Out Enterprise B Enterprise A unable to chat check policy UC Fedration Policy Manager A > Presence > Allow IMs/Chat Policy Manager B > Presence > Allow IMs/Chat Available User B User A
X
X
X
Policy Management Inter Enterprise Presenceunable to chat check policy
VOICE AND VIDEO FEDERATION
Federation allows and manages policies for voice/video chat and conferencing. Enterprise users can easily connect to peers in another enterprise via their UC platform and perform video and voice calls. Policy management is provided through the data model, which monitors and enables calls based on enterprise policies and rules.
FILE TRANSFER
Federation solution enables users to transfer documents, images, video clips, etc. during instant-message conversations across enterprise boundaries
The transfer is bound by enterprise policies defined in the UC Federation Policy Manager to secure legitimate file transfer; regulate content monitoring and filtering; and allow file transfers based on size and type where the rules classify the permissible file size, valid/invalid file types, and sensitive/non-sensitive file content across enterprise boundaries.
Policies are defined at various levels:
> Allow/restrict sending/receiving file transfer capabilities to enterprise users. Policies defined in Policy Manager to enable sending/receiving of files by the enterprise users
> Allow/restrict file transfer of defined file type: Policies defined in Policy Manager to inspect the file type. For example, Image files with extensions IMG, BMP; Music files with extension MP3, MP4; Code files with extension CXX, C, PL could not be shared by enterprise users across boundaries
> Allow/restrict file transfer with defined size limits. Polices defined in Policy Manager to inspect the file size limits. For example, file size of more than 1 GB is not allowed to be transferred across enterprise boundaries
> Allow/restrict file transfer after content monitoring. Rules defined in Policy Manager to inspect the file content in order to determine if it contains sensitive information of any kind (e.g., intellectual property, consumer data, etc.). Once it is determined that the file contains sensitive information, proper security action is enforced (block file transfer or warn the user that the action is illegitimate)
A trace log is created for the enterprise administrator whenever a policy breach has been determined in order to track the policy infringement at enterprise. Unified Communications Federation will enable users to transfer files by simply dragging and dropping them into a chat session. File transfer could be attained by embedding the files as MIME objects inside the stream of instant messages with MSRP protocol. Also, secure MIME (S/MIME) could be used for ensuring the integrity and confidentiality of the transferred content. Legitimate file transfer allows receiving users to decide whether or not to download files based on information shared about them.
CONCLUSION
The Federation of presence along with instant messaging, data, voice, and video will enable seamless collaboration between enterprise users across disparate platforms. As the UC market matures, Federation will become critical to maintaining seamless communication across enterprises. A federated environment delivers a simplified architecture that can enable users to overcome many of the inherent drawbacks and challenges within day-to-day communication.
Federation helps enterprises meet their requirements for creating a collaborative environment to improve productivity through faster decision making. While the centralized Federation solution also helps enterprises reduce their financial and operational costs by leveraging their centralized policy, it helps control and monitor the traffic toward the Federation hub rather than to the Any-to-Any Federation that requires high operational and maintenance costs.
Federation will eventually deliver a framework that gives rise to a “world without boundaries” where enterprises and users can interact with multiple vendors across networks and platforms.
DIVYA WAKANKAR
The Aricent Group is a global innovation and technology services company that helps clients imagine, commercialize, and evolve products and services for the connected world. Bringing together the communications technology expertise of Aricent with the creative vision and user experience prowess of frog, the Aricent Group provides a unique portfolio of innovation capabilities that seamlessly combines consumer insights, strategy, design, software engineering, and systems integration. The client base includes communications service providers, equipment manufacturers, independent software vendors, device makers, and many other Fortune 500 brands. The company’s investors are Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., Sequoia Capital, The Family Office, Delta Partners, and The Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board.
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