preparing the enterprise network for VoIP

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preparing the enterprise network for VoIP

Is Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) really less expensive than maintaining separate voice and data networks? Is VoIP complex to deploy and maintain? Is the technology reliable enough for today’s demanding business environments? What does it take to upgrade an existing network to support VoIP services? Most importantly, do the benefits of VoIP outweigh the risks when considering moving away from a traditional circuit-switched telephone network?

A growing number of enterprise companies are asking these types of questions as they look to integrate voice and data networks into a single multi-service network. Many consider deploying VoIP when legacy communication equipment cannot support next-generation applications such as unified messaging, collaborative data sharing, video streaming and video conferencing, push-to-talk Web pages, network-enabled call centers and more. Because of this, VoIP is a bright spot in the otherwise dim

telecommunication industry. More than 40 percent of U.S. businesses with more than 500 employees have begun to implement IP local area network (LAN) telephony systems. In addition, industry experts believe that the VoIP market will double in 2003.1

VoIP technology digitally transmits analog voice signals by compressing them into IP packets and moving the information over the Internet and private switched Ethernet networks. The challenge with voice packets is that they are real-time, two-way traffic types that are adversely affected by delay, jitter, and packet loss. As a result, quality of service (QoS) and bandwidth issues must be addressed as an enterprise completes its network assessment, develops its VoIP roadmap and migrates to VoIP services.

In addition to providing an opportunity for significant cost savings, VoIP deployed in an enterprise network offers several benefits. Using one network infrastructure to meet an enterprise’s communications needs provides increased flexibility for adding new phone features and extensions; the opportunity to reduce overhead via toll bypass and resource consolidation; the addition of new communication capabilities with advanced applications; and the ability to future-proof the enterprise network. Moreover, by combining voice and data services, enterprises can simplify and streamline network resources while positioning their network for long-term viability.

In the short term, the challenge is to understand both the business and technical requirements for successfully delivering VoIP while maintaining suitable QoS and bandwidth utilization. Enterprises must perform the required due diligence on their existing network infrastructure and components, and assess their communication needs as they relate to current and future business objectives.

This paper is designed to help enterprises prepare for VoIP by looking at networking solution requirements. With a clear migration strategy, along with a well-designed and managed network, enterprises can eliminate many of today’s VoIP challenges. The HP ProCurve Networking business provides the HP ProCurve Networking Adaptive EDGE Architecture™ that supports all leading VoIP solutions with easy-to-use traffic

management technologies and an infrastructure that provides intelligent control to the edge of a network. Plus, HP ProCurve delivers data and voice connectivity over the most affordable and easy-to-manage infrastructure available today.

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choosing the right

VoIP solution

Enterprise telephony solutions should be driven by telephony requirements and business demands, not restricted by LAN infrastructure needs. In other words, enterprise decision makers must evaluate and understand the critical set of telephony services and features required for their business when they prepare for and implement VoIP. Once business requirements are determined, the LAN can be designed and adapted to accommodate the VoIP solution or set of services.

As mentioned, VoIP has emerged as a bright spot in the otherwise dim

telecommunication industry. Research firm IDC projects the overall IP telephony market will increase at a compound annual growth rate of 45 percent to reach a revenue base of $15.1 billion by the year 2007. Moreover, IDC projects the best growth in

enterprise systems such as IP- private branch exchange (PBX)s For this year, the current forecast shows a 66 percent increase in equipment sales to enterprises.2_{This means}

that there are and will continue to be a variety of IP LAN telephony solutions available, ranging from systems with limited feature sets to high-end PBX solutions.

HP ProCurve switches interoperate with any standards-based IP telephony equipment an enterprise business chooses to meet its communication requirements. Thus, enterprises can make IP LAN telephony decisions based on the features that best meet their critical business needs. Accordingly, by providing a standards-based network infrastructure, HP ProCurve enables enterprises to choose the right VoIP solution without being locked into buying features they don’t need or want.

The HP ProCurve product family gives information technology (IT) managers the freedom to move ahead with VoIP with the confidence that they will be able to serve their enterprises well in the future.

evaluating solutions Traditionally, enterprises have used both a public switched telephone network (PSTN), also known as a circuit-switched network, and a separate Ethernet/IP network carrying data files for business communications. As enterprises evaluate converging existing networks and choose VoIP solutions, they need to consider the following questions:

• • • • • •

Does the IP voice solution offer all the capabilities and features the organization will need to successfully run its enterprise?

How will the enterprise telephony solution be deployed to ensure reliability?

Is the IP telephony solution based on standards and interoperable with open industry networking solutions, or is it proprietary?

What is the total cost of ownership over the life of the solution? How well does the equipment work in a multi-vendor environment? Can the system expand as needs change and grow?

In addition to asking these questions, enterprises should consider using only standards-based offerings to reduce network complexities and increase the long-term flexibility and overall manageability. Implementing a multi-service network allows companies to transition from circuit-based to packet-switched phone systems and offers reliable and affordable communications. Unfortunately, some next-generation IP-PBX vendors use the “rip and replace” methodology for installing new voice systems, which can lock customers into proprietary solutions and expensive hardware.

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HP ProCurve suggests that enterprise customers create a long-term network plan focused on standards-based, open solutions that are designed to maximize network investments. This roadmap provides flexibility and an intelligent architecture that can evolve

dynamically with industry advances.

To increase network efficiency, decisions about network access, traffic prioritization, traffic flows and bandwidth optimization can no longer be centralized at the core of the network. As new applications become pervasive, more functionality must move to the edge of the network to effectively support users while making efficient use of the network resources. Many IP-PBX systems have evolved to include features commonly found in traditional PBX systems, but at a much more affordable price. Enterprises also need to evaluate whether a system has the flexibility and reliability required to handle current telephony traffic types. Additionally, the ideal solution must scale to handle network expansions effectively and in a cost-effective manner.

There are many advanced features available in VoIP systems that are designed to solve critical enterprise communication needs including:

• • • • • • • •

H.323 compatibility: H.323 ensures IP telephony solutions can communicate with other vendors’ IP telephony equipment, such as IP telephones, Web phones or Microsoft NetMeeting.

SIP (session initiation protocol) compatibility: SIP is a standard for call set-up and signaling. An enabling technology, SIP is driving vendor development of PC-to-Phone integration and user-defined communications.

Messaging system integration: The ability to combine e-mail, instant messaging, fax and voice mail into a single mailbox.

Paging: This feature is especially useful if the campus paging system does not provide control over which parts of the building receive a given page. Automatic call distribution (ACD) support: ACD is key for help desks or other situations where incoming calls must be quickly and efficiently distributed among a number of call agents to properly handle all customers including priority customers and issues.

Computer-telephony-integration (CTI): Enterprises can combine CTI features with ACD support to boost revenue and customer satisfaction in Web-based e-commerce applications. For example, while online, customers can press a “talk to me” button to speak with a service agent in real-time.

Integration with existing systems such as billing (call reporting) or hotel property management systems (PMS).

Toll reduction: The most touted benefit of VoIP, toll bypass capabilities provide reduced long-distance charges which can be especially important with

international calls.

critical success factors

To provide the flexibility to choose the IP telephony solution that best fits communication needs, the enterprise IP infrastructure must be based on industry standards and

openness. In addition, selecting the best VoIP solution for an enterprise environment requires assessing five critical success factors that combined, are not only important to the IP-PBX, but also to the LAN (see figure 1).

These critical success factors are all aimed at helping the network manager evaluate different vendors’ offerings and long-term strategies.

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1. Feature offerings: Does the IP LAN telephony system fit business requirements?

2. Performance of the network: Does the IP infrastructure support voice? 3. Security: Does the network provide the security features to support access

security, management security and attack resiliency?

4. Reliability: What is the support offering and product quality provided by the IP network vendor and IP LAN telephony vendor?

5. Vendor viability and support: Will the IP network vendor and IP LAN telephony vendor be in business and accessible for support if a problem occurs?

HP ProCurve VoIP

readiness

The HP ProCurve networking solutions offer an unparalleled range of traffic

prioritization features to provide traffic type coexistence and QoS functions that virtually eliminate the need for custom network design architectures and ensure support of current and future voice, video and content delivery applications. The architecture has flexibility built-in to handle different traffic types.

In simplest terms, enterprises can manage their network to change behavior and responses based on all existing and potential requirements and opportunities. In addition, HP ProCurve VoIP solutions are developed to deliver connectivity at the edge of the network over an easy-to-manage, standards-based infrastructure. Only control to the edge securely provides the robust functionality necessary to support all current and future traffic and application types.

rich feature offering vendor viability security VoIP solution solid _vendor reliability network health

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HP ProCurve’s approach to VoIP aligns directly with customer needs and includes the following capabilities and rich functionalities:

1. QoS /voice quality:

HP ProCurve’s strategy for LAN QoS provides provisioning, traffic control and prioritization which work together to maintain the health of the network. HP ProCurve solutions also easily integrate QoS features that scale to meet future needs and offer standards-based features including:

o Provisioning: HP ProCurve switches provision the network so that congestion is eliminated in all but the most extreme instances.

o Prioritization: HP ProCurve switches prioritize critical traffic in order to provide predictable throughput even under extreme conditions using Layer 2 IEEE 802.1p and Layer 3 IP type of service (IP TOS), IP precedence and differentiated services (DiffServ). Most competing Layer 2 switches have limited traffic prioritization capabilities and if included, they cannot preserve the prioritization throughout the network end-to-end.

o Control: HP ProCurve switches provide networking technologies such as virtual LANs (VLAN)s to eliminate unwanted traffic.

o Class of service: HP ProCurve 5300xl switches offer a queuing mechanism to limit delay and improve QoS via weighted fair queuing (WFQ) which is a packet scheduling technique that allows guaranteed bandwidth services. The purpose of WFQ is to allow several traffic types to share the same link and to provide fair treatment for all types of traffic. o Prioritize ports: Priority can be set for untagged packets received on

any given port. This functionality allows administrators to assign higher priority to specific ports helping to enable faster access and higher bandwidth for VoIP, video-on-demand, IP-TV and others.

o Flexible traffic classification: To give customers maximum network adaptability, HP ProCurve products support new and existing protocols including; UDP/TCP Port, Source Port, VLAN, Ethernet Protocol, IP address, and/or IP ToS (to update the 802.1p priority or TOS Byte). HP ProCurve also uses flexible DiffServ Code Point (DSCP) polices for IP prioritization. 2. Standards:

HP is leading the charge for interoperable, open industry standards. Recent Tolly Group testing shows HP ProCurve multi-service networks deliver voice quality with Mitel on par or better than Cisco and 3Com VoIP solutions. A truly networked world must communicate cross-platform and cross-product. HP ProCurve solutions are interoperable and with industry-standard

components, ProCurve products are ready for all types of traffic. HP ProCurve multi-vendor testing and interoperability mean universal VoIP support.

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3. Investment protection:

The HP ProCurve Networking Business provides investment protection by offering software updates at no additional cost and a lifetime warranty. 4. Security:

HP ProCurve’s security to the edge solutions include a framework of access security, management security and attack resiliency.

o Access security controls who and how users are connecting in a wired and wireless world.

o Management security includes the protection of the network infrastructure itself and prevents unauthorized users from overriding other security provisions.

o Attack resiliency creates a more reliable and available network infrastructure designed to survive a network attack without interrupting service or going down.

In addition, HP ProCurve Networking provides Simple Network Management Protocol version 3 (SNMPv3), 802.1X security and robust functionality to support current and future traffic and application needs at the edge where traffic enters and exits the network. ProCurve security solutions are

comprehensive, easy to manage and are built on industry standards to ensure the highest security in the industry.

5. Reliability/resiliency:

HP ProCurve Networking delivers reliability and legendary HP quality. This ensures fault-tolerant designs, the highest levels of product integration and hot-swappable components. In addition to a lifetime warranty, HP's worldwide service and support teams are available 24 x 7. HP ProCurve Networking phone support (during business hours) and Web support (all the time) are included in the purchase price of the product.

6. Investment protection:

To protect IT investments, an enterprise network infrastructure must allow for the implementation of new technologies today and in the future without complete product replacements. The HP ProCurve 5300lx Switch Series protects

customers’ long-term capital interests by including advanced QoS features with an affordable Layer 3 price, free software updates, network management and lifetime warranties. In Fall 2003, the HP ProCurve 5300xl chassis will be upgradeable to 802.af Power over Ethernet. HP ProCurve Networking

price/performance leadership means HP consistently delivers the performance and functionality that enterprise companies require to meet today and

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HP ProCurve:

Ethernet switches

HP ProCurve has a complete line of Ethernet switches that offer end-to-end VoIP readiness.

Layer 2 Layer 2 &

3 Layer 2, 3, & 4 Layer 3 & 4+ HP 2524 HP 2650 HP 4000m HP 4108gl HP 5300xl HP 9300m IEEE 802.1Q VLAN support √ √ √ √ √ √ recognize IEEE 802.1p priority √ √ √ √ √ √ recognize IP TOS bits (DiffServ) √ √ √ insert 802.1p/q tag √ √ √ translate IP TOS to 802.1p √ √ √ preserve voice packet priority on routed packets √ √ hardware queues per port 2 4 2 3 4 4 # of queue scheduling algorithms 1 1 1 1 1 2

HP and Mitel

strategic

partnership

HP ProCurve, the number-three enterprise switch provider, and Mitel, the number-two IP-PBX provider, formed a strategic partnership to deliver world-class VoIP communications solutions. This team joined forces to provide customers with next-generation solutions that deliver the power of voice, data, and video to users wherever and whenever they need it. Working together, these companies were among the first to deliver converged voice and data products that leverage LAN connectivity in voice communication systems.

Through this partnership, HP ProCurve and Mitel lead the way with easy-to-use reliable enterprise-class solutions at an affordable price.

value proposition

HP ProCurve Networking Business meets customer needs by consistently delivering on its value proposition which includes the following key elements: high availability; affordability; security; ease-of-use and interoperability. The company has a proven track record of invention and experience that allows them to deliver an adaptive and

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affordable infrastructure for today’s and tomorrow’s VoIP needs.

summary

As VoIP gains momentum, enterprises are evaluating and planning for multi-service networks. This is driven not only by potential cost savings, but also by the opportunity to quickly and easily deploy next-generation applications to improve business

communication and collaboration.

To ensure a successful VoIP deployment, enterprises should assess their communication needs as they relate to current and future business objectives. Decisions should be based on communication requirements, not restricted by the LAN environment. What is more, the requirements for VoIP do not have to be complex. Deployments should capitalize on open systems to ensure interoperability, create productivity gains and protect investments.

HP ProCurve suggests that enterprises move intelligence to the edge of the network. This strategy reduces VoIP implementation complexity by adding more control and

functionality at the edge of the network where the user connects. In addition, by using the HP ProCurve EDGE Architecture, enterprises can easily make decisions based on the user and user communities, and at the same time provide control of QoS and bandwidth optimization. The requirements of the next-generation network can only be met with more control and functionality at the edge of the network. HP ProCurve further reduces the complexity of VoIP implementations by offering free upgrades and lifetime warranties on its products. With the HP ProCurve Adaptive EDGE Architecture, an enterprise’s network infrastructure is optimized to handle convergence, mobility and security in a unified and cost-effective way that will scale to meet future needs.

for more

information

To learn more about HP ProCurve Networking solutions, contact your local HP sales representative or visit the company’s Web site at: www.hp.com/go/hpprocurve. The information in this document is subject to change without notice.

preparing the enterprise network for VoIP