The ECHO - Cisco Connection ECHO, and how it interacts with Cisco's CallManager

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The ECHO™- Cisco Connection

ECHO™, and how it interacts with Cisco's CallManager

Executive Brief

The installation of Teleformix's ECHO™ digital recording solution requires no changes to a Cisco-equipped Private Branch Exchange (PBX). It integrates seamlessly with Cisco's IP telephony solution through the Cisco switch. There are no additional costs, no service

interruptions. ECHO™ shares the Cisco network with CallManager without either affecting the other.

Introduction

ECHO™ interfaces directly to Cisco's IP telephony switch. This ease of integration results from a design based upon existing network architecture. No conversion or extra equipment is necessary because ECHO™ utilizes features native to Cisco's switch. This eliminates failures typical of physical connections and overhead associated with wiring directly into phone

extensions.

The benefits of ECHO™-Cisco integration are:

• Seamless integration – ECHO™ and CallManager share the existing Cisco network as independent services.

• Flexible and scalable – The versatility of ECHO's open modular design adapts to any telephony monitoring need.

• Compliance with Cisco's VoIP Monitor Server Best Practices – ECHO's design embodies the industry best practices embraced by Cisco's guidelines.

How ECHO™ Works with Cisco

ECHO™ uses packet sniffing to monitor the ports or nodes of the Cisco Virtual LAN (VLAN) switches. These switches support Switched Port Analyzer (SPAN), which copies network traffic from several ports into one output port. More advanced switches feature Remote SPAN

(RSPAN), which monitors ports across several VLAN switches. ECHO™ utilizes either SPAN or RSPAN sessions to duplicate the VoIP digital voice streams of specific ports to ECHO’s monitoring ports.

ECHO™ shares the Cisco network with CallManager without either affecting the other.

• Executive Brief

• Introduction

• How ECHO™ Works with Cisco

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The Site Survey

A site survey form is sent to the customer once a final quotation is approved. The customer's recording requirements and the survey results decide the architecture of the ECHO™ installation at the surveyed site. In addition to physical and power considerations, the site survey documents the existing PBX configuration so that Teleformix can provide quick, trouble-free onsite installation.

Included in the survey: • Location • Rack space

• Network cable connections • ECHO port assignment

• Power capacity/run length/back up • Remote access (VPN or dial-up) • IP addresses

• DNS server addresses • CTI details

• Tivoli Storage Manager details • Cisco information (SPAN, RSPAN)

Because ECHO's design is based on packet sniffing, knowing the functional limitations of the customer's switches is essential. Many are incapable of performing RSPANs. Some switches copy the source port's packets for only one direction (ingress or egress). Whether SPAN or RSPAN, all switches support a limited number of sessions. Network administrators need all source and destination ports identified in order to accurately configure the VLAN SPANs for ECHO’s installation. The time to make these discoveries is during the site survey.

The following are required to obtain the best overall performance: • Data and voice traffic occupy separate VLANs.

• No voice VLAN or Logical Call Center (LCC) exceeds 128 nodes.

• If a single ECHO™ recorder monitors a voice VLAN spanning more than one switch, there must be adequate bandwidth between these switches (fiber recommended).

Implementing ECHO™ with Cisco

ECHO's network topography and number of recorders depend upon the customer's existing equipment and recording requirements. Though it is impossible to account for every possible configuration, the following examples are typical of ECHO's versatility.

Note: ‘Administration’ indicates the network connections ECHO™ users and administrators utilize to access ECHO’s functions. ‘Monitoring’ indicates the network connections used by ECHO™ to record telephone conversations.

•

The Site Survey

•

Implementing

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Express (Single Switch)

Express is a single switch implementation that requires two ports on the customer's core PBX switch. One port is for administration (communication with the switch) and the other is for monitoring conversations.

PSTN Cisco CallManager

IP Phone IP Phone IP Phone IP Phone

Voice Gateway

Access Layer

Cisco Switch

ECHO Server

Administration Monitoring

PBX

ECHO™

Supervisor Desktop Agent Desktop

Agent Desktop Agent Desktop

Cisco Unity Voice Mail

Express features: ♦ IBM System x ♦ 128 port VoIP ♦ Single chassis ♦ Raid 5 + hot spare ♦ (6) x 146 GB

For caller-to-agent monitoring where SPAN sessions are not possible, the Cisco switch must be set up to monitor the ports for the CallManager and voice gateway. If the switch cannot monitor ports on different VLANs, then the Cisco CallManager and voice gateway must share the same VLAN.

•

Express (Single Switch)

For agent -to-agent recording, create a SPAN that copies ingress packets for monitoring the voice VLAN. If the switch is not capable of

monitoring a VLAN, create a SPAN to monitor by copying ingress packets for every agent's port.

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Single Logical Call Center (LCC)

The switches in this example of a single LCC implementation support RSPAN (Remote SPAN) sessions. This requires two ports on the core PBX switch. One port is for administration (communication with the switches) and the other for monitoring conversations.

If the data switches DO NOT support monitoring ports on different VLANs, then the IP phones, CallManager and voice gateway must share the same VLAN.

PSTN Cisco CallManager

IP Phone IP Phone

Voice Gateway

Access Layer

Cisco Switch

ECHO Server

Cisco Switch IP Phone

IP Phone IP Phone

LCC 1

LCC 2

PBX

ECHO™

Agent Desktop

Cisco Unity Voice Mail For agent -to-agent

monitoring, create an RSPAN session to monitor the voice VLAN, copying ingress packets.

For caller-to-agent

monitoring, create a single SPAN session to monitor the voice VLAN on the core Cisco switch by copying both ingress and egress packets.

Another method of caller-to-agent recording is accomplished by monitoring the ports for the CallManager and voice gateway, copying both ingress and egress packets.

• Single LCC (Logical Call Center)

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Multiple LCCs (Cluster) – Multiple RSPANs Supported

Monitoring more than 128 nodes requires multiple LCCs – each with their own ECHO™ recorder. In this example the VLAN is capable of multiple RSPAN sessions, accommodating multiple LCCs. ECHO requires five ports on the core PBX switch. Three ports are for

administration (communication with the switches) and two are for monitoring conversations. Create two RSPAN monitoring sessions to monitor the logical call centers by copying ingress packets. This configuration allows agent-to-agent monitoring.

PSTN

Cisco Unity Voice Mail Cisco CallManager

IP Phone IP Phone

Voice Gateway

Access Layer

Cisco Switch ECHO Recorder 2

Administration

Monitoring

IP Phone IP Phone

LCC 1

LCC 2

Private VLAN

ECHO Server ECHO

Recorder 1

Administration

PBX

ECHO™

Agent Desktop

• Multiple LCCs – Multiple RSPANs Supported

Cluster features:

♦

Multi chassis

IBM System x

♦

(6) x 300 GB max.

♦

Fully redundant

♦

24 x 7 x 365

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Multiple LCCs – Multiple RSPANs Not Supported

In this example more than 128 nodes are monitored, using multiple LCCs and ECHO™ recorders, but the core switch is not capable of creating multiple RSPAN sessions. In addition to the ECHO administration connections to the core PBX switch, ECHO requires either three monitoring ports on the core PBX switch (previously illustrated) or one monitoring port on every voice switch the ECHO server monitors (illustrated below).

Create a SPAN session to monitor the voice VLAN on both of the switches attached to the LCCs by copying ingress packets. If the switches do not support VLAN monitoring, configure the switches for each IP phone's port.

PBX

PSTN

Cisco Unity Voice Mail Cisco CallManager

IP Phone IP Phone

Voice Gateway

Access Layer

Cisco Switch ECHO Recorder 2

Administration

Monitoring 2

IP Phone IP Phone

LCC 1

LCC 2

Private VLAN

ECHO Server ECHO

Recorder 1

Administration

Monitoring 1

ECHO™

Agent Desktop

Agent Desktop Supervisor Desktop

• Multiple LCCs – Multiple RSPANs Not Supported

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Summary

ECHO's direct digital integration with Cisco's VoIP network enables the pooling of voice VLAN ports through SPAN or RSPAN. ECHO™ then groups and monitors these ports according to the customer's business strategies.

About ECHO™

One or more IBM System x servers are at the heart of ECHO's system. They execute IBM Informix, WebSphere and Tivoli services within a highly stable Linux environment. ECHO™ is accessed through an intuitive browser-based user interface or through optional Web services modules.

ECHO™ produces searchable synchronized voice and screen recordings with "over the

shoulder" screen clarity (screen recording optional). It allows unlimited questions and criteria to be integrated into the evaluation of a campaign's delivery and results. The recordings and related review material are available for electronic delivery, storage, or generation of detailed reports based on customer-specified metrics. Now QA Managers have the tools they need to accurately assess CSR ability, training and performance.

These capabilities present a new standard within the CRM community as the ideal CRM -QA platform for digital voice recording and quality monitoring. ECHO™ is simply the best IP telephony monitoring solution.

About Teleformix, LLC

Teleformix offers a comprehensive range of competitively priced software solutions designed to manage today’s business transaction challenges by optimizing performance and providing a rapid ROI. Teleformix offers customizable and highly scalable solutions to seamlessly integrate into any existing business architecture.

Teleformix, LLC

2100 Golf Road, Suite 460 Rolling Meadows, IL 60008 800-513-4000

www.teleformix.com

Teleformix™ is an IBM Business Partner who has demonstrated success in delivering solutions to meet the needs of business. ECHO™ runs on IBM on demand infrastructure including Tivoli software, WebSphere, System x and Linux. This proven technology is tailored to address the business and IT needs of companies like yours.

For more information about Cisco’s networking and telephony solutions, visit www.cisco.com. For more information about IBM’s on demand technology, visit www.ibm.com.

Cisco and the Cisco Systems logo are registered trademarks of Cisco Systems, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and certain other countries.

The IBM logo and the IBM Business Partner emblem, Tivoli software, System x and WebSphere are trademarks or registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in the United States and other countries.

ECHO ™, Teleformix™ and their logos are trademarks of Teleformix, LLC. All other products are trademarks of their respective companies.

ECHO™ is simply the best IP telephony monitoring solution.

• Summary

• About ECHO™