Traditional blade servers have redundant power supplies and server blades in them. They also have system controllers, SAN cards, and LAN cards. These cards all connect the individual blades to the outside world, and since the blade server has to be reliable, the cards are usually redundant. That means each chassis has two controllers, two LAN, and two SAN cards.

Cisco did something fundamentally different with the UCS. They took the controller, LAN, and SAN connections and put them into a special box called a Fabric Interconnect. Each UCS chassis only has power supplies and server blades in it, and the dual Fabric Interconnects can connect anywhere from 8 to 16 chassis with good data throughput. That means that a company deploying Cisco UCS does not have to buy two controllers, two SAN cards, and two LAN cards for those 8 chassis, but just have to hook them up to the two Fabric Interconnects.

The Fabric Interconnects are the connection from the Unified Computing System to the rest of the datacenter. It has 10G ethernet ports to connect to the core LAN, and 8GB Fibre Channel ports that connect to the SAN. Everything outside the system is compatible with almost any brand of switch or storage. In many cases the organization also deploy Cisco Nexus switches, but it is not required.

Cisco designed other things into the Unified Computing System that makes it attractive for people that manage many racks of servers. All the fixed hardware information of the blades are programmable, so applications that are tied to MAC addresses or other specific features of a server can be migrated from one  server to another, even if server virtualization is not being used. If the server is running a hypervisor, the network card can be set up to virtually split up the blade’s dual 10G ports into multiple connections, which is necessary to properly operate a virtual environment.

The other major technical accomplishment that permits this revolutionary design is the full adoption of FCoE, or Fibre Channel over Ethernet, within the confines of the Unified Computing System. All the storage and network traffic from the blades to the Fabric Interconnects goes over FCoE, which is a combination of regular Ethernet and Fibre Channel traffic encapsulated within jumbo Ethernet frames. The storage traffic gets where it needs to go because Cisco uses Quality of Service mechanisms to prioritize the Fibre Channel traffic. At the Fabric Interconnects, the Ethernet and Fibre Channel are decoupled, and the storage traffic gets onto the Fibre Channel SAN just like it would from any other server.

There are actually storage manufacturers that are shipping FCoE interfaces on their storage arrays, allowing organizations to move away or not deploy a separate Fibre Channel SAN at all. This is the Unified Fabric that Cisco Nexus switches are optimized for, and permits even better performance and further cost savings.

Cisco has reached 10,000 customers for the UCS because they created a new design with proven technology that significantly lowers the cost deploying multiple blade server chassis. They also made the system easier to manage, and added lots of little details that add up to a product that is notably better than the chassis blade systems that have traditionally been deployed.

Here is a video that I made last explaining the big picture differences of the Cisco Unified Computing System:

Author: Rolf Versluis

Posted at Adcap Network Systems

What I mostly use my tablets for is immediate access to email, contacts, and calendar. I also use them for reading books in the Kindle App, blogs in the RSS reader, and  articles and other posts in the browers. I create blogs in the WordPress app, and sometimes I will create text documents in QuickOffice HD then transfer them to my desktop with Dropbox, and at other times jot down notes in SpringPad which then synchronizes over the web. The only way I have been effective at using the tablet when creating a lot of text is with an external bluetooth keyboard. I have found that the Logitech Tablet Keyboards specifcally designed for the iPad and the Android 3+ are the best.

I have been very frustrated using the browsers on the tablets. It is difficult to enter text in fields. There is no mouse hover capability, so a link has to be selected in order to see what it does. Pages don’t resolve correcty in the browser, and the iPad does not support Flash, which is still used on many websites. Basically, when I try to get work done using the browsers on the tablet, I have to stop because it is very difficult.

Even though QuickOffice HD has also improved significantly in the last six months, it is not the equivalent of the Microsoft Office Suite. For reading and creating basic documents, it works well. Unfortunately much of my work does not involve basic documents. I have to read Word docs that are redlined and commented, and I have to work with with spreadsheets that are large, have multiple tabs, and complex formulas. Neither of those work well in QuickOffice HD.

So to get around the browser and application limitations, when I really have to get something done and all I have is a tablet I use the VMware View client to log in to my main desktop, which is a virtual desktop running on the servers at our datacenter. When I am using that I have access to the full Microsoft Office suite and can get things done. It is a PCoIP client and performance is usually pretty good. It is still much slower than accessing my virtual desktop from a laptop, though, but it is better than not being able to get access at all.

Of the three tablets I have been using, the Cisco CIUS has the best email and calendar apps of the group, and it has an outstanding telephone app and a great 720p 30 fps HD video conferencing app that hooks into our back end systems. I use both the phone and video client on a regular basis. Once I stopped trying to use tablets as devices for content creation, and thought about how I wanted to use them, I decided that the Cisco CIUS was the best one for me.

Now I have a new way of working. When out of the office and I have time to be productive, I use my CIUS as my office phone and HD video conferencing device, while creating and interacting with complex content on my laptop. In meetings, I bring my CIUS so I can quickly reference content, check email and the calendar. And at home I use the full size tablets for reading CiscoPress books in Kindle, casual web browsing, and other forms of entertainment. Tablets definitely have a place because of their convenience and adaptability, but for serious work when on the go a laptop is a necessity.

The email, calendar, and contact applications are excellent. I have mine hooked into our Exchange server, and everything works flawlessly. Emails are easy to read, and the interface layout is top notch. A really nice feature is the spelling word suggestions pop up in a line across the screen, ready for selection. The Samsung still can not get the spelling and word suggestion feature operating in the native email client, as recipients of my mis-spelled emails can attest to.

The CIUS calendar application is way better than the easily confused calendar on my HTC Incredible Android phone. All the meetings show up exactly like they do on my Outlook client, with no extra meetings, no deleted meetings, and no confusing layout. Just the meeting information that I need, layed out in both a week view as well as a scrolling agenda view. One minor issue is there is no direct link to Google maps for addresses.

Contacts are great. All the contacts you need are right there. There is a good fast search function. All my Google contracts are sitting right there alongside my Exchange contacts. After installing the LinkedIn app, it integrates pictures and contact info from LinkedIn into the contacts view as well, so that most of my contacts end up having pictures showing. What is really neat is that the contact are integrated into the phone application, which is where the Cisco CIUS really starts to differentiate itself from other Android devices.

The Cisco CIUS is a full Cisco phone. I have mine hooked into a Plantronics bluetooth headset, and have been using it from home. I just authenticated the built-in Cisco AnyConnect client to our VPN service, and it grabbed the profile from the Cisco Communications Manager server. I set up a custom button layout for the CIUS because I wanted to have one phone line and five Busy Lamp Field buttons so I could speed dial people. The voice quality is really good – Cisco must have set some kind of processing priority on the phone application.

It is of course a full 720p HD video conferencing endpoint as well. This is integrated into the phone application. External callers, EX90 users, and Movi client users can reach me by dialing either my internal extension, or my URI, which is just my phone number at my domain, 6784565740@adcapnet.com. How easy is that? I have also tested the video calls over the 4G Verizon mifi connection that I have. When using that, the video codec switches to the lower bandwidth Standard Definition automatically. Even when the video pixellates slightly, the voice stream on the video call is clear with no distortion. The only trouble I am having is switching the video to the back camera to show people stuff – that feature could be more intuitive. Voice is good both using the Plantronics headset, and using the built in speakers and microphone, with both sides of the call working well.

The Jabber and Webex clients come standard on the Cisco CIUS. They logged into my accounts no problem. The Jabber client is good for Instant Messaging and Presence now, and because everyone at my office uses Webex Connect, it is nice to sometimes have this alternate communications path, especially when I am in a meeting. Both clients are pretty basic for now, and I am looking forward to the upgrades that are coming that will integrate voice and video into them, just like their desktop counterparts. If there is one thing I have learned from owning tablets, it is to have patience with applications, since they are constantly getting usability upgrades.

The VMware View virtual desktop client is surprisingly good. I expected that it would be hard to use on a 7″ tablet. But it is just about as easy to use at the same client on the Samsung Galaxy Tab. I think the touchscreen is more sensitive or accurate on the CIUS, or maybe I am just used to figuring out where my fingerpad is going to land on the screen, but I was able to check a few different applications for information that I needed.

I have not tried any games on this tablet yet. I have no idea if there is a 3D engine or not, nor do I care. This tablet is all about business. The Cisco design team clearly put some time and effort into making the business applications work well. I know there is a bunch of security stuff and app store control stuff as well, but that has no bearing on usability.

The improvements I would like to see are around charging and battery life. The battery life is short, but part of that is because the tablet seems to be running all the time! The screen never turns off, even when it is running on battery. If I don’t manually push the power button it will happily chug away and drain the battery in a few hours. I would also like to see some little LED light up when the tablet is being charged, because one night I thought I plugged it in but didn’t, so I was not able to use it at a meeting the next day. Well, I could have, but I didn’t want to plug the power into the wall to show it off. There is no car charger available as far as I can tell – although I am going to go to Fry’s and see if there is some universal car charger that has a plug that would work for it.

The Cisco CIUS tablet is a really nice device. Even though the specs are basic (see Cisco CIUS review), those don’t tell the real story about this tablet. This has the best core business applications I have seen on any device, including the iPad2 and Droid phones. The AnyConnect, Jabber, and Webex collaboration applications are outstanding. But what really sets this device head and shoulders above any other tablet in the marketplace is the rock solid implementation of the Cisco phone and the Cisco TelePresence video. All those applications combined together have made this my first choice for the device that I reach for in my bag when I need to get things done.

Rolf Versluis

Cisco’s new enterprise Android tablet, the Cisco CIUS, is different from all the other Android tablets available. It is not intended for the consumer market, but for the very different Enterprise business market. You won’t see this in stores, and unless an organization has a number of things working on the back end, it has nothing different than any other Android tablet.

This is a difficult product to classify, because the tablet aspect is only one part of its capabilities. It is also a phone, desktop video conferencing device, and virtual desktop endpoint. Furthermore, it is designed from the ground up to be secure. With all these capabilities, it can be a very useful device for organizations that are ready to take advantage of all it can offer.

There are multiple versions of the Cisco CIUS, pronounced “see-us”. The one that shipped first is the 7″ version, and is the one that I have been using and demonstrating to people. The 7″ tablet is running a Cisco Android version based on version 2.2 Froyo. There is rumor of a 10″ version available at some point, but no confirmation.

The most engaging part of the demonstrations that we have been doing for customers is the High Definition video conferencing client using either the front or back cameras. The HD video operates at 720p with 30 fps, and is a high quality video conference. It is a very different video calling experience than one gets from Google Talk or Skype, which are lower resolution with a lower frame rate.

CIUS Specifications (see datasheet):

• Size: 5.5 x 8.9 x 0.6 inches
• Weight: 1.2 lb
• Screen resolution: 1024 x 600 pixels
• Processor: Intel Atom Z615 at 1.6GHz
• Memory: 1 GB RAM and 32 GB Flash
• Connections: micro USB, micro SD, micro HDMI
• Wireless connectivity: 802.11 a/b/g/n with 3G and 4G in future, bluetooth 2.1
• Operating System: Android Froyo 2.2.2
• Camera: front and rear facing 1280 x 720, 5 megapixel

Docking station:

• 3 USB ports
• Gigabit ethernet wired
• DisplayPort with cables for VGA, DVI, HDMI
• Can be powered by 802.3at, PoE class 4

Pros

• Enterprise tablet that is manageable with a controlled App store.
• Cisco IP Telephony endpoint with video and voice calls.
• Standards based HD video endpoint with 720p resolution at 30 fps and dual cameras.
• Secure operation with Cisco AnyConnect VPN.
• Replaceable battery.

Cons

• Heavier than similar sized Android tablets.
• Requires other Cisco applications to take full advantage of capabilities.
• 7″ form factor too small for full virtual desktop client unless using XenApp.
• 7″ version has low external monitor resolution at 1024×600.
• Cisco Unified Communications Manager version 8.5.1 or later required.

There are a few different back end applications that are necessary to put into place to give the Cisco CIUS basic functionality. The CIUS can operate as a full Android tablet with access to the Google Apps Market only, but I expect that most organizations are not going to want to limit it to being just a tablet.

The first application to set up for Enterprise deployment of the Cisco CIUS is the Cisco Unified Communications Manager version 8.5.1 or later. This application provisions and updates the Cisco CIUS. It allows the organization to create an internal App store, with applications that can be pulled from the Cisco App store and the Android market. This addresses multiple concerns, although it is required to set up an account at Cisco AppHq which has an additional fee. The first is that only Apps that are approved can be loaded on the organization’s CIUS’s. The second is site or block user licensing for purchased applications. Additionally, it centrally controls tablet security.

The CIUS docking station enhances the capability of the tablet significantly. I have found that keeping the dock plugged into an external monitor, keyboard, and mouse enhances the usability of many applications, and is almost a necessity given the small size of the 7″ form factor. Even the video output ports on both the dock and tablet support both VGA and HDMI, one drawback is the low external resolution size, which is limited to 1024×640 pixels.

The CIUS docking station turns the Cisco CIUS into a full Cisco IP phone. The best way to use a Cisco IP phone is to connect it into a Cisco Communications Manager server. The Cisco Communications manager can be the company’s entire phone system, and it is currently the #1 shipping business phone system in the world, so there are many organizations that could take advantage of this capability. If an organization has a different phone system, it is still possible to stand up a small Cisco Communications manager installation for just the Cisco CIUS’s, and then integrate the Cisco phone system into the company’s existing IP or traditional phone system.

The HD video conferencing endpoint capabilities of the CIUS can be enabled by connecting it into the Cisco Communications Manager, but for full HD video conferencing capabilities it is best to have the Cisco Video Infrastructure in place. This provides for standards based video calls to other organizations over the internet, HD video conferences using a centralized conferencing codec, and bandwidth management for the calls.

The Cisco CIUS can be used as a full Virtual Desktop endpoint using either VMware View or Citrix HDX Receiver for Citrix XenApp and XenDesktop. The two virtual desktop applications have their pros and cons, and it is good that the Cisco CIUS supports both. At the 7″ form factor when not using the external monitor, the most useful is Citrix XenApp, which provides full screen application capability.

It is important to operate the Cisco CIUS over a good network. Both the Local Area Network and the Wide Area Network has to have a good Quality of Service policy implemented, and there has to be sufficient bandwidth for the voice, video, and virtual desktop streams. The CIUS preferentially uses 802.11n wireless LAN for call control even when docked, so it is best to have a good wireless infrastructure in place that has sufficient coverage, bandwidth, and Quality of Service. The advantage of always using wireless for call control is to allow the user to undock the CIUS in the middle of a video or voice call and to permit it to continue the call without interruption.

The Cisco CIUS is a new category of tablet device that is focused at a distinctly different market than the consumer tablets from Apple and other Android tablet manufacturers. When it is deployed in an enterprise environment that has the right types of back end applications, it can be a very useful device. The two issues of small screen size and low external monitor screen resolution on the 7″ CIUS are a limitation for its use as a general purpose tablet. This is overall a good product that works well and can be the main device for a mobile device strategy. It is an especially good choice for organizations that have concerns about security and have existing voice, video, and virtualization deployments.

Cisco’s Unified Communications (UC) software licensing has always been regarded as particularly difficult to figure out.  In order to properly license a Cisco voice solution, an expert has typically had to assemble a bill of materials that includes server licenses, device licenses, upgrade certificates, media licenses, etc.  Depending on the deployment scenarios and the number of servers and hardware devices being used, licensing could vary tremendously one way or the other.

What is User Connect Licencing?

I am happy to report that with User Connect Licensing (UCL), Cisco has greatly simplified the licensing process for its UC applications.  In very basic terms, with UCL one only needs to know how many phones and similar devices are needed on the system.  Multiply those numbers by the corresponding part SKU and, voila, you’re done!  For other applications such as voice mail, an equally simple calculation is made and the licensing falls into place.

Think about it – with Cisco UCL, licensing experts no longer need to quote server software, device license units (DLUs), ports, options, and more. Only the number of user phones and “public space” phone devices need to be counted and licensed. All Right to Use (RTU) fees, DLU fees, port licenses, and similar expenses are automatically converted to a single User Connect License.

For greater flexibility, Cisco UCL can be mixed within the same cluster with Cisco Unified Workspace Licensing (CUWL), and customers no longer need a separate cluster when mixing licensing types.   Starting with Cisco Unified Communications Manager version 7.1.5, UCL is the only way to go.  All subsequent releases like Cisco Unified Communications System Release 8.x products will only offer Cisco UCL.  Cisco Unified Communications Manager version 7.1.4 is the last “old-style licensing version.

With Cisco User Connect Licensing, knowing what kinds of licenses are needed for new deployments is indeed easy.  Knowing what you currently have and what applications your organization is entitled to is just as simple.

Upgrading to User Connect Licencing

Last week I gave a presentation for a customer about one of my favorite topics, Cisco Unified Contact Center.  It was exciting for me because of the topic, and the fact the presentation was done over TelePresence with an international audience.  Suffice it to say we covered lots of cool things about Contact Center, but in the end the main topic of discussion was dictated by one question, “what do we need to do to upgrade our Cisco voice licenses?”

Yes, once again, yet another customer asked for an analysis of their current Cisco Unified Communications (UC) licensing situation and where do they go from here.  This is the inevitable question that comes up at the key take-away from every customer meeting about Cisco voice.  Thankfully, with Cisco User Connect Licensing now in place we will not have this problem in the future.

As I wrote in Part 1 of this blog, Cisco User Connect Licensing (UCL) makes knowing what kinds of licenses are needed for deployments easy.  Knowing what you currently have and what applications your organization is entitled to will be just as simple.  A word of caution – we are still in the “migratory” phases of UCL.  When ordering, one generally no longer needs to worry about DLUs, server software SKUs, ports, options, etc.  However, actual UC products are generally still DLU, port, option, etc aware in the background and understanding what you have is still important.  I hear that with UC revs 8.6 some products will be fully “UCL aware” and ultimately I believe this will happen with rev 9.x products.

So how does one move into UCL and take advantage of this simplified licensing?  Let’s take a look at some simple configuration scenarios.  For simplicity, I will focus on Call Control – UCM and Voicemail – Unity Connection.

There really are two main distinctions to look at: is this a new installation or will this be a migration or upgrade from existing Cisco UC?

New Installations:

For new installations one should determine the following and apply the correct number of licenses for each.  For Unified Communications Manager (UCM) Call Control:

• Numbers and types of IP Phone Users (Basic, Enhanced, Adjunct IP User License)
• Numbers of Add-on Licenses like Analog and Public Space phones
• Video Licenses such as Desktop, Single Screen, Multi-Screen TelePresence devices.
• Sever Class Licenses such as UCS, MCS, etc.

For Cisco Unity Connection Voicemail:

• Server Type
• Number of Users (Mailboxes)
• HA Server Type (if applicable)
• Guest Users for Speech Connect (if applicable)

Migrations/Upgrades:

All of the information and quantities described above for New Installations should be identified.  When migrating to a new version of UCM and Unity Connection, one should plan on which UC product versions to migrate from/to, and which server(s) be migrated in the process.  There are several ways to accomplish the licensing upgrades to UCL and the desired versions of UC applications:

• Upgrade via Unified Communications Software Subscription (UCSS)
  • If you have current UCSS contracts, you can request software upgrades from Cisco and the new versions will be licensed as UCL (make sure you specify the correct number of devices for conversion!!!!)

• Upgrade using migration SKUs with or without UCSS.
• If you do not have current UCSS contracts, you may convert to UCL via “UCL Software Migration SKU with UCSS.”  This is what is often referred to as the 3X3 upgrade promotion where one can upgrade IP Phone users and mailboxes to the latest version of UCM and Unity Connection for $3 each, provided a 3 year UCSS contract is purchased for each.
• If you do not have UCSS and are averse to getting any UCSS moving forward, you can convert to UCL by purchasing UCL Software Upgrade SKUs.  For example, use SKU LIC-CUCM-USR-UPG to convert to a UCL Enhanced User license.  Again, make sure you specify the correct number of devices for conversion!  A mistake with the quantity or license types (Enhanced, Basic, Essential) will result in a huge mess with Cisco Licensing!

This post discusses the other way of Cisco Unified Communications Licensing – Cisco CUWL Licensing.

Author: Alex Obeso

Posted at Adcap Tech Tips

Cisco Unified Workspace Licensing, commonly known as CUWL, lets you easily buy and organize Cisco UC applications and services.  Instead of purchasing and maintaining licensing for individual products, CUWL simplifies delivering the full suite of applications to your users.  You can provide call control, voicemail and other applications in one consolidated package.

As part of any CUWL order you must also purchase a Cisco Unified Communications Software Subscriptions (UCSS) along with matching Cisco Essential Operate Service (ESW) software support.  Valid UCSS and ESW subscriptions/contracts are required for activating and receiving the various licenses purchased under CUWL.  So, in summary, one needs to purchase and activate three separate Cisco products in order to make CUWL work:

1.    The CUWL licenses – selected Cisco UC products conveniently licensed together for one seat/user.

2.    UCSS subscriptions for the UC products licensed under CUWL – an upgrade subscription where licensees may upgrade any of the licensed products to the latest and greatest versions available from Cisco.

3.    ESW contracts – Technical support contract direct from Cisco for the UC products licensed under CUWL.  Support may be received online via Cisco.com, or via telephone and email directly from Cisco’s TAC.

Here is where things can get a bit tricky!  When purchasing CUWL licensing, the associated UCSS and ESW subscriptions terms may vary in length.  UCSS is typically available only in three (3) or five (5) year terms* (*Note: 1 year UCSS terms are available only for Public Sector organizations).  CUWL itself is valid for the term of its associated UCSS subscription.  For example, if a 3 year UCSS contract is purchased with CUWL, the CUWL licenses themselves are valid for three years.  Simple enough.

Unfortunately the ESW contracts, part three of the above list, is sold in contracts of varying lengths – anywhere from one (1) to five (5) years.  Although it is typically possible to buy CUWL and UCSS in two terms – 3 or 5 years, you can purchase the required ESW contract for a term of only 1 year.  Not only is 1 year ESW possible, it is the likely default term on may configuration tools being used.  Herein lays one of the most insidious pitfalls Cisco customers face with CUWL: if a one year term of ESW is purchased with multi-year CUWL and UCSS, it is imperative the ESW contract be renewed each year for the duration of the UCSS term.  If ESW is not renewed within 90 days of expiration, it may void the UCSS subscription associated with that expired ESW contract.  And, as I mention above, CUWL itself is valid for the term of its associated UCSS subscription.  If Cisco voids the UCSS subscription because ESW has lapsed, the entire CUWL house of cards falls apart and what was supposed to be a 3 or 5 year CUWL license goes away permanently.  This is not good.

At some point I would hope Cisco somehow ties the three CUWL components, CUWL, UCSS, and ESW with mandatory matching terms so this problem never manifests itself again.  In the meantime, review all of your ESW contracts associated with CUWL and make sure you renew for the duration of your CUWL/UCSS term.

This post discusses the other way of licensing Cisco Unified Communications – Cisco User Connect Licensing.

Author: Alex Obeso

Posted at Adcap Tech Tips and Geeknick

By knowing the options and making an informed choice, using HD video calls in place of some face to face meetings can give many people much more time in a day.In order to be able to conduct video calls with the most people, the device has to be able to use multiple standards. This allows for calls between different vendor’s equipment. The standards are not that complicated, but it is important the the devices support SIP and H.323. The image size is important also, because although right now most devices support 720p, just like HD television, as time goes on more video calls will be at 1080p. One thing to look out for is the actual screen size and quantity of frames per second that are supported by the device. The four most common are:

There is a big difference between video calls and video conferences. Video calls involve two endpoints and are straightforward point to point calls. Video conferences involve mixing video and audio streams using a codec, which gets more complicated. The location that has the codec ends up having two way video streams from each of the other endpoints. There has to be enough capability to mix the streams and enough network bandwidth for a good quality video conference. Some video devices have a built in codec. For example, the Cisco EX-90 can be licensed to conduct four party video conferences at High Definition with its built in codec. The Cisco EX-60 does not have this capability. External codecs can be used either from a hosted service like Cisco Callway or a video infrastructure system like the Cisco Video Infrastructure. In addition to dedicated desktop devices, a PC or Mac can be used as a High Definition video device. The video quality of a call using the Cisco Movi client at 720p30 is completely different than the jerky, low resolution calls made with Skype of Google Talk. The Cisco Movi client is a great client, and it does not operate independently, so it has to part of a larger system that the user logs into. Most of the workstation clients are like this, so the systems should either be deployed as part of a hosted system like Cisco Callway or as part of a video infrastructure deployment.

Another advantage of SIP trunking is reliability. The calls are sent over the data network to a voice gateway that can terminate the SIP call. It is an IP connection. If the first location the call is sent to is not available, then a second and even third location can receive the call. That means if a remote office is not reachable due to power outage or natural disaster, the calls can still be sent to someone on the phone system who is reachable. This allows the organization to continue to provide customer service to the caller and not merely deliver a busy signal, which is what the caller would get if the call were directed to a voice T1 terminated by a PBX that was turned off.

SIP trunking can also be used to consolidate unused circuits from the phone company. With traditional voice T1 circuits, If a location requires that more than 23 concurrent calls be completed, a second T1 has to be added, bringing the total to 46 concurrent calls. The increased capacity is only available for that location. It is very different with SIP trunking. In most cases the SIP trunk is priced for aggregate concurrent calls for the entire organization, which means utilization is higher and monthly costs lower.

Just like any other new technology, there are many details that have to be addressed in a SIP trunk deployment. When it is combined with a phone system changeover, there are more details and potential issues. For most organizations, the cost savings and improved reachability and productivity from a new phone system make it a worthwhile changeover. SIP trunking combined with a VoIP phone system is something that should be on every organization’s roadmap.

Here is a brief video explaining the benefits of SIP trunking, and this is a link to an article about VoIP phone system upgrade.

The first thing that you have to know is what the reasons are for the deployment. It is important to keep the reasons for the upgrade in mind when planning and selecting the new system, so as not to get sidetracked into less important reasons during the process. Here are the most common good reasons ones that we run into:

• The old PBX is failing or breaking down all the time.
• People are complaining about how old the phone system.
• There are potential monthly cost savings by converting to SIP trunking.
• You are hearing about improved productivity from other companies using voice over IP systems.
• There are a lot of new features available that you need.

There are, however, other benefits to upgrading the existing phone system that you may not have thought of and will come out during the process:

• Your old data network gets an upgrade as part of the cost of the new phone system.
• There will be an ability to improve business processes.
• There are many ways customer service and vendor interactions can be improved.
• Faster handset moves, adds, and changes.

This guide assumes that you are looking at getting an on premise voice over IP-based phone system. The other options of getting in on premise traditional PBX system or a hosted voice over IP system are not discussed because they are a minor part of the overall market at this point.

Planning the VoIP Upgrade

So, where do you start? Well, the first step is assessing your current phone system and data network. You have to find out what the current capabilities are that you have, what people like about the system and what they don’t like about the system, and especially how the people that are big users of the PBX on the customer and help desk interaction side make use of the current system and want to improve it.

From a calculation standpoint, what it means you have to figure out a bunch of things for every site:

• How many analog and digital phones you have. Which analog handsets can be replaced by low end IP phones (usually all of them will be).
• How many outside lines you have in the form of voice T-1′s and analog ports
• Number and type of data T1′s at every site. (A T1 can be used for voice, Internet, WAN, or a combination).
• Current wide area network per site bandwidth and utilization.
• Current local area network switches quantity and location; quantity of used ports per closet.
• Any special requirements for ACD, IVR, call recording, handset paging, and application integration.

If you want to get funding support for this you have to get a handle on what your current monthly costs are. Current monthly costs include charges at every site:

• Internet and wide area network circuit costs.
• PBX lease costs.
• PBX monthly service costs. Average cost of additional PBX service on a monthly basis.
• Cellphone costs, since some of these can be offset using single number reach.
• Monthly conferencing costs.
• Monthly maintenance and support on all network hardware and software that may be replaced.

Once you have calculated what your current monthly costs are you’re ready to figure out what the budget for your new project is. The best outcome to the new project would be that your new monthly costs are lower than your current monthly costs, after accounting for new equipment installation services and everything else to put the new phone system in place, when financed over a 3 to 5 year period with a one dollar buyout at the end so you own the new system. You may find out during the course of this planning that it will be necessary to get  new phone and wide area network connections in order to realize the desired return on investment, so make sure you keep your monthly circuit costs and your financing of equipment, maintenance, and installation separate.

Choosing VoIP vendors and resellers

There are two choices to make next. One of the choices is to determine the manufacturer of the new phone system that you want to purchase, the other choice is to pick a local vendor who’s going to do the design installation and support of the new system. To get the best price and the best service on the new system you should go about this in a very specific way. Customers have found in many cases that it’s best to get a phone system from a manufacturer who has good local resellers that will do a good installation of the system, a smooth cutover, enabling all the features that they want, and then support them well in an ongoing fashion afterwards. The size of the reseller that you probably want to work with depends on the size and needs of your organization. I recommend that you work with the reseller who is big enough to handle your business but won’t be overwhelmed by it and is small enough that your business is important to them and they’ll bend over backwards to take care of you.

So how do you find a reseller that’s the right size for you? This is where you go back to the phone system manufacturers to get some options. The major phone system vendors are the best source to find out the local resellers. The major vendors of voice over IP systems at this point in time are Cisco Systems, Avaya, Mitel, Shoretel, and Digium Switchvox. If you contact these vendors either online or through their local salespeople you can ask them for a recommendation of their top three resellers who would do a good job for you. After you get those reseller names from the vendors try to get their recommendation of whom that you should really work with, then call that reseller, as well as the other two. At this point you should have three equipment vendors, three resellers for these vendors, and will have nine good options of a local business that will do a great job for your voice over IP upgrade.

Be aware though as soon as you start this process of contacting vendors you are going to start getting phone calls because people know that you’re interested. Now, that may be a way that you can find out who’s the most eager to get your business, but it also might just give you just indication of who has the most aggressive salespeople. So be very clear to everyone what your expected timeframe is going to be, that you plan to take your time and select the best vendor, and if they bug you excessively that will put them on the bottom of your list. By the way, you should start this process at least six months before you want to have a new phone system up and running. It is going to you 2 to 3 months to select a vendor, another month to figure out pricing and financing, and from when you say go it will take about two months to get the equipment then another month to fully set up and cut over to the new phone system.

Vendor expectations

What you should expect from these vendors is that they are going to want to meet with you to determine what your needs are, do a walk-through of your existing systems, and find out any special requirements that you have. They will then try to sell you on some specific feature that their system has that nobody else has and try to get you to see a demo of their system. I recommend that you see the demo of their system, don’t buy into any of their must have exclusive special features, then ask them for a list of reference customers about your size and requirements that you can call and talk to to see how things went.

Definitely call these reference customers and see how the reseller did during the design phase, how competitive their pricing was, how they did during the installation, and what their support was like after the sale. During this part of the engagement is when you have the most leverage and you can get the most things for free. By all means take the time to get some good lunches and get to know the people that are going to potentially doing work for you for. Furthermore find out who is actually going to be doing the installation for you, if they’re going to be coming from out of state, or if they are local and are going to be available for support after the installation. Don’t be afraid to ask this question as it is perfectly valid and definitely will have a bearing on the outcome of the project and should be a decision factor for you.

At this point you should have proposals from every one of your vendors and you can start comparing them. Some phone system vendors will try to give you just a monthly cost with a summary description of the parts, then say hey that’s the way it’s done. Since most of the voice over IP vendors are coming from the data side of business they expect that you’re going to be wanting a line item pricing and a bottom-line cost. You can then use this to decide what you want finance or not. If you’re not getting this ask for line item pricing and the specific part and model numbers of equipment and a complete breakout of what the annual maintenance costs are going to be.

Annual maintenance is broken down into three areas. Annual product maintenance which provides for support and replacement of hardware and software, upgrade maintenance costs which allows you to upgrade the applications, and a local vendor support contract. All three areas of maintenance are valid. The first two are very important and should be bought in just about all cases, and a local support contract should be purchased if you are not going to have someone qualified to operate the equipment after it’s installed.

Since this is a voice over IP system you should expect that you’re going to be able to run the system over a new data network and not on a separate network that you put in parallel to the existing one. This means that the company that is putting in your voice over IP phone system should have excellent networking capability and be able to demonstrate that they understand Quality of Service, which is tuning the network equipment to differentiate between different types of data, then prioritize the voice traffic. This is easy to do on a local area network, somewhat challenging to do on a wide-area network, and difficult to do over a firewall connection to the Internet. If you are looking at doing SIP trunking make sure the vendor shows where they are going to apply quality of service on all the SIP voice paths.

Making a VoIP phone system decision

So at this point you should have your line item proposals with all the pricing, with all the installation and maintenance included, have seen the demos, and have gotten a chance to meet with the local vendors and contact their reference customers and asked some basic questions. Step back and asked real basic questions at this point. Ask the vendor if there’s anything that you’re missing. Ask the vendor if any parts are over engineered. Ask the vendor if this is the best price, then go one step further and ask the reseller if there’s any way to get better pricing out of the vendor. Sometimes there is an end of fiscal quarter or year coming up and it’s possible to get a few extra points discount or some other concessions thrown in.

During the process you’ve probably eliminated some vendors from consideration, because you’ve been trying to narrow your list of nine vendors down to about three. For those six vendors that you eliminate call and give them a good reason so that they definitely know why they’re out of the running and what they can do about it in the future with other customers. For the other three, let them know that they made the shortlist and give them the timeframe for when you’re going to perform the evaluation and the decision.

Go through whatever decision-making process your organization uses and settle on one vendor. As you go through the final contract negotiation with this vendor, the other two on the shortlist who haven’t made it are going to be calling you nonstop unless you let them know that you have placed the order with somebody else and that they’re out of the running. This is a small industry and there are not a lot of companies that do a good job in this space; I recommend next you let them know that they did not make the cut in a nice professional way and that you appreciate all the hard work that they did on your behalf. At some point in the future you may be calling them for assistance, and you want to make sure that you parted on good terms.

Finally, as you start the installation with your vendor of choice, make sure you work closely with their project management team and get them all the information that you’re looking for as quickly as possible. This is going to make your installation go much smoother, faster, and successful.

Hopefully this guide has been helpful to you in describing the process of how to go through and choose a voice over IP solution vendor, as well as give you some idea of what to expect. Please let me know if you have any questions or comments on any parts of this. If you have specific questions about your situation, please contact one of the fine account managers at Adcap Network Systems.

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Author: Rolf Versluis
Adcap Network Systems – Atlanta and Miami
Great Local Engineers Creating Systems that Work!
Posted at Adcap Tech Tips