Why Voice Still Matters

W h i t e P a p e r
Why Voice Still Matters
Communication is the cornerstone of commerce. Companies today enjoy a wide range of communication options. Face-to-face meetings are still the most powerful, but are too expensive in terms of time and money for all but the most important Service providers can interaction. Electronic communication, such as email and instant messaging, remains the most convenient and cost-e? ective, but become critical partners lacks intimacy. for companies looking Yet, despite all of our technological advances, the best balance of to ensure availability of e? ciency and intimacy is still the telephone. This is why companies place so much importance on the voice network. their voice network However, several factors make managing voice network reliability more di? cult than ever.
Most importantly, the network is more complex. In addition to the legacy POTS, companies now have VoIP and wireless voice networks. Simple voicemail has evolved into complex integrated messaging platforms. The generic black handset has been replaced by a plethora of devices including IP phones, cell phones, smart phones and even personal computers.
Further, the availability demands for the voice network are higher than in the past. Users expect the network to work without interruptions. The cost of losing phone service is so expensive that companies require ? ve nines reliability around the clock. Thus, service level agreements (SLAs) are as demanding as ever before.
And, ? nally, despite increased network complexity and higher SLAs, sta? ng of network support personnel has remained ? at or even declined.CCCCWWWWaaaa hhhhssss eeeeiiii tttt SSSSeeee tttt PPPPuuuuaaaaddddppppyyyyeeee rrrr
Why Voice Still Matters
As a result, one of the most pressing issues companies face today is how to e? ectively manage their voice network. Within this challenge lies a golden opportunity for service providers. Equipped with the proper tools they can become critical partners for companies looking to ensure availability of their voice network.
The biggest challenge The Challenge of IPWhether in-house or out-sourced, managing of remotely managing open telecom equipment at remote locations can be costly. Even the simplest problem - for example, cycling IP-based networks is security the power on a remote PBX - could involve hours of time by a technician dispatched to the site. In order to keep site management costs under control, service providers must have reliable and cost-e? ective remote management tools to remotely manage telecom equipment.
Not surprisingly, remote management tools for supporting voice networks are nothing new. For decades service providers have managed voice networks using a variety of special-purpose remote monitoring devices. Typically these systems provided a way for technicians to remotely monitor equipment and provide access to the vendor's management software on the remote equipment when necessary.
What is new is the voice network itself. Traditional voice networks were primarily analog phone lines, and remote access was accomplished using serial modems. Today's networks, however, are often built on open, network-based architectures. This is good news since networks provide much faster, more robust access to equipment. However, it also opens the door to some signi? cant challenges.
Some of these challenges are straightforward - communicating using IP instead of serial modems, for example. The biggest challenge of remotely managing open IP-based networks is security. It can be di? cult
for enterprises to open their network enough that 3rd-party technicians can access the remote equipment they need, yet not so much that they have access to other sensitive network resources. Providing connectivity across LANs and ? rewalls and routers without compromising security and/or getting bogged down with overly restrictive network security policies is the ? rst challenge.
Next, most remote voice network management devices were designed speci? cally for the legacy voice network. They provide basic support for speci? c voice equipment such as PBX and other similar equipment. However, thes... [download for more]