Cost-Effective SIP Telephony for Small and Mid-Market Customers
Avaya Communication Manager 5.0 on the S8300C server now includes an embedded Avaya SIP Enablement Services component. The embedded Avaya SIP Enablement Services supports the same functionality as an S8500-based server and can be configured as a Combo for use in standalone deployments or as a Home server, which allows the S8300 to be connected to a larger SIP network through an S8500-based Edge server. Avaya Communication Manager 5.0 on the S8300C with the embedded Avaya SIP Enablement Services server can support up to 100 SIP stations.
This new configuration makes SIP Telephony more cost-effective for small-to-mid-sized enterprises and standalone small-of-large branch offices by eliminating the need to purchase an external S8500-based Avaya SIP Enablement Services server.
SIP Contact Center Support
Communication Manager 5.0 and SIP Enablement Services 5.0 include key SIP enhancements for the contact center. The combination of these new capabilities provides customers with a pure end-to end SIP Contact Center solution. The features include important new SIP trunking capabilities, User to User Information and Network Call Redirection, to support multi-location contact centers, an agent-optimized SIP telephone (The Avaya Agent 16CC Deskphone), and support for Avaya Contact Center applications such as Voice Portal and Interaction Center.
Enterprises needing to leverage SIP in their contact centers now have a complete SIP solution from a major vendor.
Enhanced SIP Mobility Features
CConcurrent with the release of Communication Manager 5.0 and SIP Enablement Services 5.0 is the support of several new mobility features available to SIP-based endpoints. SIP Visiting User enables employees to receive the exact same telephony user experience as they have at their desk regardless of where they happen to sit down within the Enterprise. When visiting a "hotel" desk, regardless of whether it is down the hall or halfway around the world, users simply log in to the Avaya one-X™ Deskphone SIP R2.0 station using their normal station id and PIN, and the deskphone transforms itself into the same configuration as their normal phone, including line appearances, feature buttons, dial plan, etc. In addition, active calls can be extended from a one-X Deskphone SIP R2.0 station to a mobile phone at the push of a button.
Users can be more productive as they work outside of their main location.
Support of G450 Media Gateway
Concurrent with the availability of Communication Manager 5.0 is the introduction of the G450 Media Gateway. The G450 can be deployed in medium to large sized branch
locations or in wiring closets that service buildings and floors in a campus environment. It works in conjunction with Avaya Communication Manager 5.0 software running on Avaya S8XXX Servers to help deliver intelligent communications to enterprises of all sizes. The G450 provides a more scalable option than other H.248 gateways (G250/G350/G700); providing an especially cost effective option when combined with an S8500 Server running Processor Ethernet for a mid-sized (up to 2400 user) campus environment.
More-cost effective deployment options, especially for mid-sized campus environments.
Scalability
The S8730 Server will be available with the launch of Communication Manager 5.0. This updated version (with RAID and dual power supplies) of the S8720 server and will support the same capacities as an S8720 Server deployed in the XL configuration.(that launched with Communication Manager 4.0). Existing S8720 servers with hardware duplication that want the increased capacities will require the new DAL2 duplication boards. All new orders of the S8720 or S8730 with hardware duplication and CM 4.0 or CM5.0 will ship with the new DAL2.
The increased capacities below are not available on the S8700 and S8710. They are only available on the S8730 or the S8720 when it is configured at installation or upgraded in an XL configuration. Additionally, the S8500 will have the increased capacities only when used as an ESS/LSP behind a main server that is an S8730 or an S8720 in an XL configuration. The increased capacities are not available to an S8500 as a main server.
- Trunks from 8,000 to 12,000
- Tone detectors from 1,200 to 8,000
- System announcement from 3,000 to 9,000
- VAL boards from 10 to 128
- Attendant groups from 28 to 414
- CLAN Board from 64 to 106
- EC500 Enhanced CLID Support from 54,000 to 108,000 off-PBX station-mappings
The increased capacities in Communication Manager 4.0 below do not require XL configuration.
- Announcement files per VAL board from 256 to 1,024 on the S87XX, S8500 and S8400 platforms.
- Attendant groups from 28 to 128 on the S87XX and S8500 platforms.
- Attendant groups from 28 to 68 on the S8300B/C
Provides the required capacity increase to support the large and dispersed enterprise or Call Center customers that are consolidating their multiple Call Processing servers into a single Call Processing server.
Stateful Server Duplication
Using the Avaya patented Memory Shadowing, this feature is available where only one S87XX-Series Server is running the entire system. The non-active redundant server is synchronized real-time (either via a dedicated fiber or across an IP network) to the active server, providing imperceptible fail-over in the event of major component failure in the active server.
Not only are the calls maintained during failover but call control (ability to transfer a call for example) is preserved as well as maintaining any calls that may be queued in a call center or even calls that are being set up including the continuation of processing digits being entered.
Dial Plan expansion
This feature enables enterprise customers to flatten, consolidate, and extend their networks seamlessly without requiring changes to user extensions and also minimizing the risks of dial plan collision during consolidation.
- Supports up to 13 digit extensions from the current 7 digits.
- Supports up to 18 digit inter-switch uniform dial plan
Provides users with a flexible dial plan in a single server by allowing different length uniform dial plan for within a location and across locations.
Dial Plan Transparency
This feature preserves a users dialing pattern when the system goes into ESS or LSP mode. From a user’s perspective, the originator of the call should not have to do anything special or different to dial the extension in most instances when ESS or LSP fragments exist.
Note: The Dial Plan Transparency feature does not support certain ATM configurations in which customer uses Fiber-PNC connectivity to support several Port Networks connected together via Center Stage or ATM.
Preserve the user’s dialing experience whether the system operates in normal mode or survivable mode.
ESS Auto Return to Main
This featurepermits the automatic return of control to the primary server after a failover from an ESS. There will be a timer associated with this auto fallback to prevent recovery to the main before the network is stable. The return to the primary server is predicated by two options in Communication Manager 3.0: scheduled and manual
Provide another option to allow ESS to automatically return to primary.
CDR Survivability
Preserve the CDR records associated with calls that occur while a gateway is under the control of LSP survivable processor. With survivable CDR, the server saves the CDR information in files that are stored in a special directory on the local hard drive until such time as they are copied by the CDR adjunct and then removed from the LSP. For security purposes the special login used by the CDR adjunct only has access to the directory where the CDR records are stored.
Provides a way to capture the CDR records of those calls made from the LSP survivable servers to minimize the loss of CDR records until such time as the main server and/or the affected communications links could be returned to operation.
Centralized Authentication of Administrators
With Communication Manager 4.0, enterprises will be able to authenticate Communication Manager and Linux-based server administrative logins with a centralized server on the customer’s network. The RADIUS, Microsoft Active Directory, or LDAP protocol is used to communication with the authentication server. Typically, this server already exists in a customer’s network and the Avaya Linux-based media servers and Communication Manager can now take advantage of the logins ands passwords defined for their network, rather than local authentication on the Avaya servers.
In addition, this new Communication Manager capability will allow, through an authentication server:
- Enterprise centralized control of logins and passwords.
- Enforcement of password aging, minimum length, and reuse requirements.
- Avaya media server adherence to the customer’s corporate security standards regarding logins and passwords.
Reduced total cost of ownership of the communication network infrastructure.
- Provides a centralized authentication of administrators to conform to customer's security standards.
- Provides security functionality beyond that of the Enterprise Linux operating system to detect and expose unintended changes to system files.
Enhanced CM Loggings
With Communication Manager 4.0, enterprises will be able to authenticate Communication Manager and Linux-based server administrative logins with a centralized server on the customer’s network. The RADIUS, Microsoft Active Directory, or LDAP protocol is used to communication with the authentication server. Typically, this server already exists in a customer’s network and the Avaya Linux-based media servers and Communication Manager can now take advantage of the logins ands passwords defined for their network, rather than local authentication on the Avaya servers.
In addition, this new Communication Manager capability will allow, through an authentication server:
- Enterprise centralized control of logins and passwords.
- Enforcement of password aging, minimum length, and reuse requirements.
- Avaya media server adherence to the customer’s corporate security standards regarding logins and passwords.
- Reduced total cost of ownership of the communication network infrastructure.
Increase the granularity of logging of user activity and provide a single place of customer choosing (external server or Linux syslog) to store the security logs.
SRTP (Secure Real Time Protocol) support
Customers requiring interoperable encryption and authentication for secure voice-over-IP communication can now take advantage of the industry-standard SRTP protocol in Communication Manager 4.0. This can be used as a standards-based alternative to the Media Encryption option which has been available since Communication Manager Release 1.3. Note that SRTP includes both RTP and RTCP authentication capability; however in Communication Manager 4.0, only the RTP portion will be encrypted using AES.
SRTP support will be available on the Avaya One-X Desk phone Edition R1.2 on the H.323 endpoints (9610, 9620, 9630, 9640 and 9650) and on the Avaya One-X Desk phone Edition R1.0 on the SIP endpoints (9620 and 9630).
Provide customers industry standard secure protocol for authentication and media encryption for Avaya VoIP solution. This authentication provides secure VoIP communication in addition to the existing H.323 Signaling and media encryption
Global feature additions
The following new telephony features in Communication Manager 4.0 are designed to meet the requirements of the global enterprise customers.
- Ability for a team of individuals to monitor and communicate with each other via a Team (aka partner) button
- Mask/block the CLI (calling line identification) for internal calls
- Enhance call forward to different destinations based on busy/idle status and internal/external call
- Lock/unlock stations based on time of day/day of week
- Treat locked off station (e.g. IP terminal, PSA station) as an idle station
- Maintain external call ring indication after an internal call transfer
- Provide Advice of Charge information over a QSIG network
- Ability for Communication Manager's integrated directory to search on extended Latin and Cyrillic characters
Provides multinational customers additional business telephony features to meet their enterprise needs.
Increase H.323 Trunk members in a Single Signaling group to 255
The number of trunks in a Signaling Group was originally designed to accommodate the actual number of trunks supported over an ISDN PRI E1 facility. However, with the use of the IP network for trunking, 31 trunks in a IP Signaling Group is too limiting and results in a more expensive solution in terms of IP addresses, CLAN circuit packs, and administration
- Simplified administration - one IP Signaling Group to administer versus up to nine IP Signaling Groups.
- Better utilization of CLAN circuit packs - With this enhancement, each CLAN will be able to support up to 255 trunks instead of the current 31 trunks. This results in up to a savings of 8 CLAN circuit packs per system.
- Saves IP address utilization - in direct relationship with the number of CLANs required, the number of IP addresses needed is lessened as well.
- Lessens need to increase number of signaling groups - Communication Manager currently supports up to 650 signaling groups (IP and TDM). With only 31 trunks per signaling group, some customers are reaching the 650 limit for signaling groups. By increasing the number of trunks per signaling groups, fewer signaling groups are needed between two systems when IP trunks are used.
Enterprise Mobility User
Enterprise Mobility User provides users the ability to associate the features of their primary telephones to telephones of the same type anywhere within the customer enterprise. QSIG must be the private networking protocol in the network of Communication Manager systems. All servers must be on a Linux platform running on Communication Manager 3.1 or later. The visited telephone must be the same model type as the primary telephone to enable an optimal transfer of the image of the primary telephone. If the visited telephone is not the same model type, only the call appearance buttons and the message waiting light are transferred.
New enhancements in Communication Manager 4.0 permit cross registration between the principal & visited phones, automatic deactivation of the Enterprise Mobility Users feature if there is no activity on the visited station for an administered time interval and enables users to activate the "Extension to Cellular" when at the primary station. Note that this feature is also referred as wired mobility and can be used for DCP as well as H.323 phones.
The ability of users to move across the enterprise while maintaining consistent phone service.
Processor Ethernet (PE)
Prior to Communication Manager 3.1, an S8500 Media Server required a CLAN board in a port network to provide IP connectivity to, H.323 endpoints, H.248 gateways, adjuncts, and IP trunks. With PE in Communication Manager 3.1:
- All IP connected devices that required a CLAN can now connect to the main server using the PE interface.
- A simplex Enterprise Survivable Server (ESS) or Local Survivable Server (LSP) can support alternate adjunct link connectivity to CMS, CDR and AESVCS.
- The S8500 Media Server can be used as a main server in a pure IP configuration and/or as an LSP.
- The larger configurations where traffic exceeds the capacity of the PE interface or in a configuration where a CLAN is already present, the PE interface can be used in conjunction with one or more CLANs.
Processor Ethernet is available on simplex servers like the S8500, S8400 and S8300. PE is also available on a S8500 LSP, S8500 ESS and S8300 LSP. However, PE is not available for the duplicated S87XX series servers.
Processor Ethernet eliminates the need for a G650 gateway, IPSI and CLAN when connecting H.248 Gateways (G700, G350 and G250) to a S8500 or S8400 Media Server. Results in reduced footprint and lower cost solution.
S8500 as an Local Survivable Processor (LSP)
As part of the Processor Ethernet feature, it is now possible to configure an S8500 as a Local Survivable Processor (LSP). The S8500 as an LSP positions the S8500 Media Server as a higher capacity LSP for larger remote sites of a distributed enterprise and also provides Enterprise Survivability, similar to ESS, as it may serve as a "regional" survivable server for multiple H.248 gateways
The S8500 Media Server can act as a higher capacity LSP for larger remote sites of a distributed enterprise and also provides Enterprise Survivability, similar to ESS, as a "regional" survivable server for multiple H.248 gateways.
IP Media Resource Duplication - TN2602AP
Avaya introduced the TN2602AP IP Media Resource board with the launch of Communication Manager 3.0. The TN2602AP is functionally equivalent to the existing TN2302 but has five times the number of VOIP channels. The TN2602AP allows for the bearer traffic to be moved from the traditional Center Stage Switch (CSS) or ATM network to the IP network.
With Communication Manager 3.0, it was possible to administer two TN2602AP circuit packs within a port network without enabling duplication. In this scenario, bearer traffic will be load balanced between two circuit packs.
With Communication Manager 3.1, two TN2602AP circuit packs can be installed in a single port network for bearer duplication. In this configuration, one TN2602AP is an active IP Media Processor and one is a standby IP Media Processor. If the active media processor, or connections to it fail, the active connection will failover to the standby media processor and remain active. This duplication prevents active calls in progress from being dropped in the case of a failure.
The TN2602AP can be duplicated to operate in an Active-Standby mode for critical-bearer reliability
Tripwire Replacement
The open source version of Tripwire that is/was available with Red Hat Linux 8.x is being captured and modified by Avaya so that it will run on Red Hat Enterprise Linux going forward. Avaya will supply the Tripwire RPM and own the modifications necessary to make it Enterprise Linux compatible and also own the creation of security updates for it as needed. Tripwire is software that detects and exposes unintended changes to system files.
Contributes to the overall Communication Manager value proposition by providing security functionality beyond that of the Enterprise Linux OS. Key security-conscious customers expect this functionality as part of their overall Enterprise security solution.
Software Duplication on the Avaya Media Server S8720
With CM 3.1, the new S8720 Media Server was introduced. The S8720 is the next generation of the S87XX Series Server. The S8720 is sold in two configuration options, with hardware duplication (requiring the DAL1 duplication boards) or with Software Duplication (no DAL1 boards needed). The software duplication feature eliminates the need for the DAL1 memory duplication boards in duplicated S8720 servers. This feature is only supported by the S8720.
Additionally, the S8720 Media Server will be lead free and RoHS (Removal of Hazardous Substance) compliant. RoHS compliance will be a requirement for communication equipment to be sold in Western Europe beginning in July 2006.
The S8720 Media Server provides improved performance (BHCC) over the S8710. The S8720 can be ordered with software duplication, allowing the customer to separate the duplicated servers (within a campus environment initially).
Enterprise Survivable Servers (ESS)
Enterprise Survivable Servers allow backup servers to be placed at various places in a network so that communications can continue in the event that a main server(s) fails, or when connectivity to the main server(s) is lost. Enterprise Survivable Servers can be connected to ATM, IP and Center Stage Switch (CSS) connected port networks. The IPSI card in the port networks automatically obtains service from an ESS server(s) if the control signal to the main server is lost.
Deploying Enterprise Survivable Servers at appropriate points in a network provides flexibility in how to plan against system failover. Assurance of communications continuity can be mapped to protect against network failures or catastrophic main server failures or both. Administration for the ESS can be conducted in a central point with automatic synchronization to all ESS servers. ESS now provides a survivability option for S8500 Media Servers.
Inter Gateway Alternate Routing and Call Admission Control
Provides a means of alternately using the PSTN when the IP-WAN is incapable of carrying the bearer connection for inter gateway calls.
- Allows calls to complete when there is insufficient bandwidth to complete the calls between gateways or port networks.
- Ensure high quality and availability of voice traffic on converged networks.
Local Survivable Processor (LSP)
Preserves the bearer channel for branch offices when control is transferred from the primary server to LSP and vice versa.
- Assurance of communications continuity
- Storage location for CDR records until main server is returned to service
Auto Fallback to Primary for H.248 Gateways
This feature returns a fragmented network, where a number of H.248 Media Gateways are being serviced by one or more Local Spare Processors to the primary media server in an automatic fashion.
Allows the transfer of control of H.248 gateways from Local Spare Processors to Primary server without human intervention that is needed today.
Connection Preserving Failover/Failback for H.248 Media Gateways
This feature preserves existing stable bearer connections in the event of the migration of a media gateway from one Communication Manager server to another.
Provides customers at the branch office uninterrupted communication service when switching from an active/main component to a standby/backup component and vice versa.
Connection Preserving for Duplex Servers
This feature preserves many types of stable bearer connections during an upgrade of duplex servers from Communication Manager 3.0 to later release.
Provides customers uninterrupted communication service during an upgrade of duplex servers from Communication Manager 3.0 to later releases.
Safety & Security Enhancements
For safety, Communication Manager allows making emergency calls from un-named IP endpoints. For security, Communication Manager provides encryption support for the signaling channel between the media server and IP phones.
- Allows emergency calls to be placed from un-named IP endpoints.
- Provides increased security to IP Phones and also prevents hackers from eavesdropping a voice calls.
QSIG Support for Unicode
This feature extends the support of Unicode across Communication Manager servers.
Allows trunk calls to correctly display in local languages for IP Phones.
Redundancy for Announcements and Music on Hold (MoH)
Enables customers to use any or all of their gateways as local recorded announcement sources and thus improve the quality of the audio rendering. This permits more than one source to play the announcement and MOH when the primary source is unable to play the audio source. A selection algorithm selects the recorded audio source closest to the ingress point of the caller.
Locally sourced audio can help:
- Improve the quality of audio
- Increase the number of possible sources for announcements, MOH and tenant partition
- Provide MOH without an analog media module.
- Preserve valuable WAN resources by streaming the audio source to the closest location where the call came into the network.
Expanded Meet me Conference
The Expanded Meet-me Conference feature enables users on Communication Manager to create multi-party meet me conferencing to support up to 300 parties.
Provides customers an inexpensive & basic "meet me" type conferencing for up to 300 parties. |
