VoIP vendors to 'converge' on show

There will be no shortage of VoIP PBXs, phones and gateways on display at this week's VoiceCon conference, but such infrastructure components could get overshadowed by a slew of announcements about new management tools for converged networks.

The conference, which takes place in Orlando, will showcase VoIP plans by companies such as Bank of America, Delta Air Lines and Lehman Brothers. Cisco and Nortel executives will face off in a debate, and 103 exhibitors will pitch their wares before a crowd that show organizers estimate will hit 4,500, up 25% from last year.

According to a Computing Technology Industry Association survey of 500 businesses, more than half of those planning phone system upgrades this year are considering converged systems, either hybrid or pure-IP platforms. Either way, experts advise potential VoIP customers to invest in tools they can use to ready their data networks to transport voice and later troubleshoot the converged networks when problems arise.

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There will be no shortage of VoIP PBXs, phones and gateways on display at this week's VoiceCon conference, but such infrastructure components could get overshadowed by a slew of announcements about new management tools for converged networks.

The conference, which takes place in Orlando, will showcase VoIP plans by companies such as Bank of America, Delta Air Lines and Lehman Brothers. Cisco and Nortel executives will face off in a debate, and 103 exhibitors will pitch their wares before a crowd that show organizers estimate will hit 4,500, up 25% from last year.

According to a Computing Technology Industry Association survey of 500 businesses, more than half of those planning phone system upgrades this year are considering converged systems, either hybrid or pure-IP platforms. Either way, experts advise potential VoIP customers to invest in tools they can use to ready their data networks to transport voice and later troubleshoot the converged networks when problems arise.

"It is mandatory to perform an assessment," says Jeffrey Snyder, an analyst at Gartner. "The cost overrun and performance horror stories you hear are due to a lack of network readiness assessments."

Observers say network assessment and ongoing management of converged networks is more challenging than with voice networks based on PBXs featuring built-in management tools, as well as proprietary wiring and switching infrastructures optimized to handle voice. With IP telephony, companies need to make sure their voice traffic isn't infringing upon other IP applications.

Plenty to choose from

Also at the show:

• Empirix 's Hammer VoIP Test Solution will be among the new tools on tap for testing convergence readiness. The product is in use at UpSource, a provider of outsourced customer service call center services in Denver.

"I like to use the product to validate that I am truly ready to add more voice endpoints, and that my network will be able to support them," says Mark Burns, UpSource's CTO. "We wouldn't want to jeopardize current call quality to our customers by trying to add more services without having the capabilities in place."

The Empirix product, which starts at $40,000, has three parts: Hammer FX-IP, which generates test IP calls and evaluates voice quality; Hammer CallMaster, a scripting and reporting tool that helps IT managers create test call flows; and Hammer Call Analyzer, a VoIP signal troubleshooting and debugging application.

• Apparent Networks also will highlight a new voice network assessment tool set, an add-on to the company's AppareNet infrastructure analysis tool. AppareNet Voice includes algorithms to test application traffic for jitter, packet loss and network latency. The product is designed to help companies more quickly determine what needs to be fixed, added or changed to maintain pre-defined voice QoS levels.

"Voice is a fairly robust application, but if there are any gotchas out there, I want to know sooner rather than later," says Martin Webb, manager of data network operations for the Province of British Columbia in Victoria. He plans to use Apparent's new product to help verify the network upgrades he's done in preparation for rolling out 450 VoIP sites this April.

"We've had to replace hardware, switches and routers, and a lot of components in between, and I am looking to get analysis specific to voice telling me if my configuration changes will support the QoS I need to deliver," he says.

• For users of Avaya IP telephony gear who want to outsource management and monitoring tasks, Avaya Global Services is announcing its Remote Managed Services for IP Telephony. Via this monthly service, Avaya technicians will remotely monitor and manage networks based on a company's gear. Using the Avaya Secure Intelligent Gateway (also debuting at VoiceCon), a vendor can tunnel into a customer network through a VPN and tap into a customer's infrastructure to monitor VoIP traffic latency, jitter and bandwidth utilization. The product can monitor application availability, as well as physical monitoring of IP PBXs, application servers and gateways. Avaya says pricing is determined on a per-customer basis.

• AnchorPoint and Qovia are offering new VoIP-prep wares at VoiceCon. AnchorPoint makes software to help telecom departments manage budgets and analyze spending on services and equipment. The vendor's new Advanced Analytics products could help telecom managers monitor and track VoIP network usage, and help plan requirements for VoIP rollouts. Qovia, which makes VoIP traffic monitoring and management appliances, is announcing a partnership program. This will allow IP PBX vendors to include Qovia technology inside their systems; 3Com, Cisco and NEC are among IP PBX vendors whose products work with Qovia appliances.