Contents - Connect-World
Contents - Connect-World
Contents - Connect-World
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VoIP<br />
dated TDM networks. IP<br />
networks are essentially<br />
decoupled, requiring critical<br />
voice networking knowledge.<br />
Here are some important<br />
considerations:<br />
ˆ Ensure that the production<br />
systems are redundant<br />
and fully tested;<br />
ˆ Testing should include all<br />
ancillary systems, such as<br />
media servers, POP3<br />
servers, DNS set-up and<br />
network connectivity (note<br />
that many times lab / testing<br />
environments do not<br />
include important ancillary<br />
systems);<br />
ˆ Security policies should<br />
be in-place;<br />
ˆ Provisioning processes<br />
should be in-place and testedincluding<br />
fall-back<br />
plans for each step along the<br />
way;<br />
ˆ Network documentation should be<br />
in-place, accurate and sufficiently<br />
detailed;<br />
ˆ Procedures for carefully taking endusers<br />
through planned changes should<br />
be thorough and tested;<br />
ˆ User Acceptance Testing (UAT)<br />
should ensure that all features and<br />
functionality are working as planned<br />
this should include troubleshooting<br />
checklists to systematically identify<br />
any minor problems.<br />
Voice expertise<br />
Delivering VoIP services does require<br />
experience in the voice telecom<br />
worldthis is not a data service, but it<br />
is not a traditional voice service either.<br />
Engineering issues can be successfully<br />
managed using either in-house expertise<br />
or available through vendors / partners<br />
in such areas as:<br />
ˆ Local Number Portability (LNP);<br />
ˆ 911 and e911;<br />
ˆ Directory Assistance and Directory<br />
Listings;<br />
ˆ Operator Services;<br />
ˆ Inter / Intra LATA dialing plans and<br />
billing;<br />
ˆ 800 Services;<br />
ˆ Equal access;<br />
ˆ Call flows (and feature use);<br />
Figure 2: 69 per cent of service providers agree on a target range for cost-savings of<br />
10 to 30 per cent.<br />
ˆ TDM-based trouble-shooting;<br />
ˆ Corporate CLEC (competitive local<br />
exchange carrier) status;<br />
ˆ Dealing effectively with LEC and<br />
other CLEC procedures, processes and<br />
people.<br />
In addition, a formalised training programme<br />
will be extremely valuable for<br />
internal staff, for business and for residential<br />
end-users. Since VoIP is new<br />
to most users, providing them with<br />
sufficient information is critical to<br />
ensure all involved are comfortable<br />
with the service.<br />
Ongoing technical and<br />
service support<br />
Quality of Service (QoS) must be<br />
addressed. The major contributing<br />
factors to QoS are:<br />
ˆ Latencythe time needed for a<br />
packet to traverse the network;<br />
ˆ Packet Lossthe percentage of<br />
packets lost while transiting the network;<br />
ˆ Jittera measure of the variation in<br />
arrival delay for a series of packets.<br />
Tier one and two customer support<br />
procedures and hierarchy must be<br />
established, with clear delineation<br />
between your companys responsibilities<br />
and those of your vendors.<br />
Responsibilities to carefully consider<br />
include problem troubleshooting,<br />
maintenance of system integrity, as<br />
well as hardware and applications support.<br />
If you are providing VoIP services<br />
to the business market,<br />
technical knowledge for<br />
customers LAN / WAN<br />
assessments and interworking<br />
will be needed.<br />
Success in VoIP will be<br />
defined by short product<br />
development cycles —<br />
quickly getting new features<br />
and capabilities<br />
from testing into production.<br />
So, product development<br />
and engineering<br />
functions need to be<br />
highly skilled and tightly<br />
integrated.<br />
Scalability of backoffice<br />
and delivery<br />
functions<br />
As sales volume grows,<br />
automation will be needed<br />
in such operational<br />
areas as: order input,<br />
account set up, feature<br />
assignment, billing, customer premises<br />
equipment (CPE) fulfillment,<br />
onsite network assessment and<br />
installation (business market) and<br />
customer relationship management<br />
(CRM).<br />
This requires considerable attention to<br />
automation and integration of<br />
Operational Support Systems (OSS)<br />
and Business Support Systems (BSS)<br />
in the early stages of service delivery.<br />
In addition to dealing with growing<br />
volumes, OSS / BSS systems must provide<br />
increased accuracy and audit<br />
capabilities through the entire service<br />
or product life cycle in order to ensure<br />
seamless delivery to customers.<br />
Replicating service and<br />
expanding service footprint<br />
Initial selection of geographic markets<br />
is a complex decision, considering the<br />
companys preferred sales approach,<br />
existing network, level of anticipated<br />
competition and so on. Appropriate<br />
phasing of growth is important to<br />
maintain smooth operations and<br />
sound financial results.<br />
An orderly expansion will be facilitated<br />
by what has been learned from initial<br />
market experiences, but will nonetheless<br />
require detailed cost analysis that<br />
takes significant variations into<br />
account, including conditions such as<br />
LEC (Local Exchange Carrier) interconnection<br />
for PSTN (Public Switched<br />
Telephone Network) access, collocation<br />
costs and local support, as well as<br />
intrastate and interstate toll arrangements.<br />
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