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IP Communications

Understanding Voice over IP Converged Trunking Alternatives

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Comparing Traditional PBX Trunking to Voice over IP Trunking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 VoIP Trunking Migration Scenarios . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Typical VoIP Trunking. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Designing for the Centralized Office . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Interoperability Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Disaster Prevention & Recovery. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 By Verizon VoIP Marketing Team and Adtran

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Understanding Voice over IP Converged Trunking Alternatives

Introduction
This paper is written for the IT professional or telecom manager who is interested in learning how to IP-enable their existing premises-based phone system or new IP-PBX. A number of benefits can be realized by migrating to a Voice over IP (VoIP) trunking solution. The benefits, risks and design alternatives are explored in detail on the following pages to help you select the solution and service provider that best meet your needs.

Comparing Traditional PBX Trunking to Voice over IP

Traditional Trunking Businesses that have a PBX or key system are familiar with the various trunk-side access services that are purchased from traditional telephony providers. Typically, T1, PRI or analog phone lines are used to carry voice traffic to and from the business. PRI and T1 services are channelized carrying up to 24 simultaneous calls. With traditional TDM trunking, Internet access is carried on different channels or circuits, completely separated from voice. In recent years, a number of service providers have offered integrated access solutions that combined voice and Internet access over a single circuit. Combining the two communication types provides cost efficiencies by eliminating the need for separate circuits. IP trunking With VoIP, bandwidth limitations can be reduced through the use of voice compression and dynamic bandwidth allocation. Traditional voice calls use 64K per call and require the use of the bandwidth at all times. With voice compression, the bandwidth requirement can be reduced to approximately 38K per call. This advancement in technology enables service providers to dynamically switch up to 41 simultaneous calls over a single T1 circuit. With VoIP, bandwidth is allocated to voice only when users are on the phone, but made available for Internet/data access when voice lines are no in use. Since VoIP is nothing more than another application on the network, bandwidth is allocated more efficiently than that of traditional TDM-based services. For businesses with premises-based phone systems, there are two primary alternatives to consider when migrating to VoIP. These include: Leveraging an existing analog or digital phone system along with IP Trunking service Purchasing a new IP-PBX along with IP Trunking service through a provider Many businesses have premises-based phone systems that are not yet ready for replacement. The most cost-effective solution is to purchase a VoIP trunking solution from a trusted service provider. These solutions typically provide T1 Internet access that terminates on a gateway/router at the business location and convert between IP and traditional TDM service. It is this capability that enables the use of a legacy phone system, while capitalizing on the dynamic bandwidth allocation benefits of VoIP. Another alternative is to purchase an IP-PBX along with an IP trunking service to create a complete IP solution. Having an IP-based phone system allows the business to interface with a service providers IP network without the conversion between TDM and IP.

VoIP Trunking Migration Scenarios

Depending upon the type of phone system you have, there are alternative approaches to network design. With existing TDM-based PBXs, you will need a gateway/router that will interface with your phone system and the service providers IP network. The following diagram illustrates the typical configuration utilizing a legacy TDM-based-PBX or key system.

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Understanding Voice over IP Converged Trunking Alternatives

For businesses with a mix of key, legacy, PBX and IP-PBX systems; a hybrid solution can be designed to tie these systems together on a single IP network. By doing so, it is possible to achieve common dialing plans as well as centralized administration and cost efficiency.

Typical VoIP Trunking Designs

For customers with an IP PBX system, it may be possible to eliminate the gateway and allow for IP voice traffic without conversions between analog and IP.

Designing for the Centralized Office

Larger businesses with multiple locations present some unique requirements that highlight the benefits of Voice over IP compared to traditional TDM Trunking. TDM Trunking in a multisite environment can be challenging for the following reasons: Lines, trunks and phone numbers are tied to rate centers and customers physical locations. Obtaining foreign dial tone requires a physical connection to alternate rate centers which can be expensive to deploy. Managing local services at multiple remote sites (for 911 and local presence) can be costly and inefficient. IP-PBX vendors are promoting centralized Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) designs to gain efficiency and centralized management.

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Understanding Voice over IP Converged Trunking Alternatives

The following diagram illustrates the inefficiencies associated with TDM Trunking for a multisite retail chain.

VoIP Trunking provides options to address the challenges of multisite and virtual presence as follows: A single (IP) PBX gains the ability to support unified dialing from remote locations for both inbound and outbound traffic. Telephone numbers can be mapped to the customers physical location. Obtaining foreign dial tone no longer requires a physical connection to alternate rate centers for local services and 911. Multisite customers can manage local services from a central location. Centralized CPE designs from IP-PBX vendors can be easily supported. These enhancements are particularly attractive to businesses that are national in scope, such as financial and retail chains, that require local and long-distance services from a single vendor and wish to centralize their network resources. The following diagram illustrates the design for a national retail chain.

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Interoperability Considerations
Before purchasing any VoIP solution, it is important to involve your PBX vendor and potential service provider to discuss interoperability between your existing phone system, IP gateways, router and firewalls. The most reputable providers have conducted extensive testing with a variety of equipment types to help reduce potential interoperability and configuration issues. The purpose of this testing is to verify that your specific system will work correctly with the proposed IP trunking solution. Be sure to speak to potential providers about their testing process and service level agreements. This information may help you determine the likelihood of potential problems and how quickly they will be diagnosed and corrected.

Disaster Prevention and Recovery

Given recent natural disasters , most businesses are looking for IP solutions with disaster preparedness and recovery solutions or alternatives in mind. Disaster preparedness can be viewed at several levels including: Service Provider Network: VoIP service providers typically have redundancy built into their IP networks to automatically re-route traffic to back-up facilities and servers if primary gateway routers, application servers or network connections fail. Applications LayerPSTN Redirect: Another approach would be to manually invoke group-level Call Intercept with recording and calling party option to transfer to an alternate location. Another variation of this would be to re-route traffic to an alternate PSTN number without a recorded message. End users may also invoke Call Forwarding to send incoming calls to an alternate location during a disaster. Applications LayerLogical IP Failover: This solution leverages application-Layer hunting for automatic failover to another domain name. It provides same-site or geographic redundancy as well as load balancing. Two different IP addresses are used for each IP trunk. The primary benefit of this configuration is the ability to automatically re-route all inbound traffic to an alternate VoIP site and/or server in the event of failure. This re-routing would not only take place upon access failure, but CPE failure as well. Physical Transport Layer Solutions: This low-cost solution provides same-site redundancy for both inbound and outbound calling. The router and firewall would both contain standby configurations and take advantage of Hot Standby Routing Protocol (HSRP). Both the router and firewall would share the same IP address. The primary benefit of this solution is service availability in the event of a firewall or router hardware failure.

Conclusions
The communications industry is buzzing with vendors and service providers touting the benefits of IP voice services, but most businesses have existing investments in TDM-based phone systems that are not yet ready for replacement. The question then arises as to how to capture some of the benefits of VoIP without a fork-lift upgrade of a legacy system. For these businesses, the simplest approach is to subscribe to a converged IP trunking solution from a trusted VoIP service provider. This configuration would include an Internet access circuit that is engineered to carry both data and packetized IP voice traffic. A converged solution improved bandwidth utilization, cost-control and centralized administration for multi-site businesses, while leveraging an existing phone system. Additional Reading Be sure to consult related white papers recently published by Verizon Business and ADTRAN including: Transitioning a Legacy Phone System to Voice over IP. and Transitioning Traditional Centrex to Hosted IP Centrex.

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About ADTRAN ADTRAN, Inc. is a leading global provider of networking and communications equipment, with a portfolio of more than 1,600 solutions for use in the last mile of todays telecommunications networks. Widely deployed by carriers and enterprises alike, ADTRAN solutions enable voice, data, video, and Internet communications across copper, fiber, and wireless network infrastructures. ADTRAN solutions are currently in use by every major U.S. service provider and many global ones, as well as by thousands of public, private and governmental organizations worldwide.rol and centralized administration for multi-site businesses, while leveraging an existing phone system. About Verizon Business Verizon Business, a unit of Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ), is a leading provider of advanced communications and information technology (IT) solutions to large-business and government customers worldwide. Combining unsurpassed global network reach with advanced communications, security and other professional service capabilities, Verizon Business delivers innovative and seamless business solutions to customers around the world. For more information, visit www.verizon.com.

About Verizon
Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ), headquartered in New York, is a leader in delivering broadband and other wireline and wireless communication innovations . to mass market, business, government . and wholesale customers. Verizon Wireless operates Americas most reliable wireless network, serving 63.7 million customers nationwide. Verizons Wireline operations include Verizon Business, which delivers innovative and seamless business solutions to customers around the world, and Verizon Telecom, which brings customers the benefits of converged communications, information and entertainment services over the nations most advanced fiber-optic network. A Dow 30 company, Verizon has a diverse workforce of nearly 238,000 and last . year generated consolidated operating revenues of more than $88 billion.

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