CASE STUDY

BT Global Services Case Study
BT Global Services and AudioCodes help business customers to maximize the benefits of Microsoft Unified Communications Solutions

About BT Global Services

BT Global Services, a part of BT Group plc, is a leading provider of communications solutions and services, delivering managed networked IT services for business and government organizations, including specialized services related to unified communications. Based in London, BT Global Services helps multi-sited, multinational organizations master the complexity of business communications, serving corporate and government customers in over 170 countries worldwide. It has more than 24,000 employees in 53 countries across all continents. The combination of network, IT and professional services allows BT Global Services to bring together managed solutions that help customers to be more productive, and their organizations to operate more efficiently.
The complex integration requirements within existing enterprise frameworks required us to design a compatible solution set ahead of time. As a result, we built a Microsoft Unified Communications architecture coupled with AudioCodes gateway portfolio.

Challenges

In todays business climate, organizations must increase their workforce productivity in order to preserve their competitive edge. BT Global Services was one of the first service providers to identify this need, and selected Microsoft Office Communications Server as a way of increasing efficiency, lowering travel costs, and reducing carbon footprint for their business customers. BT Global Services was looking for a partner with vast experience in integrating business solutions based on Microsoft Office Communications Server to successfully tackle the inherent challenges of unified communication implementations. A particular challenge was the integration of customers existing legacy and IP-based telephony systems with the Microsoft solution. To address this, BT Global Services was looking for an integration partner with a proven track record of interoperability with as many of the legacy and IP Telephony vendors as possible. Another significant challenge was overcoming media codec incompatibilities inherent in different business network environments, thus mandating support for flexible media and codec transcoding functions in the customer premises equipment (CPE). In addition, being a leading global service provider, BT Global Services needed to provide their Multi-National Corporation customers with the ability to support PSTN connectivity, including local PSTN requirements within the individual countries concerned. BT Global Services also offers BT Onevoice, a converged communications platform enabling SIP Trunking, PBX integration, and global least-cost voice routing for business customers. BT Global Services wanted to certify their SIP Trunking service for Microsoft Office Communications Server customers. Since BT Onevoice is based on BT Global Services MPLS network, BT needed to support media transcoding and protocol mediation capabilities in order to comply with various business customer codecs requirements.
AudioCodes Mediant platform makes it possible to perform the transcoding at the customers premises, simplifying the integration of OCS, and now Lync, with other enterprise telephony platforms, and with cloud-based SIP services, such as BT Onevoice.
Solution for On-Premise Managed Services
BT Global Services worked together with Microsoft and AudioCodes to develop voice-specific reference architectures for their on-premise, managed services, based on AudioCodes Mediant 1000 and Mediant 2000 media gateways and Microsoft Office Communication Server 2007 and now Microsoft Lync 2010. This simplified the installation process and enabled smooth integration into customers existing telephony system environments. The potential for Unified Communications and Collaboration Solutions with business customers has never been greater, said Mark Summerson, General Manager, Unified Communications at BT Global Services. However, the complex integration requirements within existing enterprise frameworks required us to design a compatible solution set ahead of time. As a result, we built a Microsoft Unified Communications architecture coupled with AudioCodes gateway portfolio. This allowed us to provide flexible and costeffective resolutions for the voice integration challenges of our business customers. The Mediant 1000, with its built-in E-SBC technology, and media processing functionalities enables the direct connection of the enterprises Microsoft Unified Communication platforms with BT Global Services SIP Trunking services.

Both AudioCodes Mediant 1000 and Mediant 2000 support basic-hybrid and basic gateway configurations for Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2, while at the same time providing investment protection with a solid upgrade path to support the new Microsoft Lync 2010 unified communication solution utilizing the existing hardware. The field modular Mediant 1000 scales up to 120 concurrent PSTN calls, and the Mediant 2000 supports a fixed hardware configuration and software-scalability of up to 480 concurrent PSTN calls.
The Mediant 1000, with its built-in E-SBC technology, can protect the business network from possible external attacks, and includes advanced media processing functionality, allowing transcoding between narrowband and wideband voice coders. This unique feature combination enables the direct connection of the enterprises Microsoft Unified Communication platforms with BT Global Services SIP Trunking services. Taking into account the different bandwidth requirements of our enterprise VoIP services, we needed to support VoIP media streams using both uncompressed and compressed codecs, said Ollie Clapinson, Solutions Designer, Unified Communications at BT Global Services. AudioCodes Mediant platform makes it possible to perform the transcoding at the customers premises, simplifying the integration of OCS, and now Lync, with other enterprise telephony platforms, and with cloud-based SIP services, such as BT Onevoice. Because of the modular design of the Mediant 1000, we can also provide a seamless migration path from ISDN to IP-based voice services, on the same chassis, by simply enabling the E-SBC feature.

Small to Medium Branch

SIP Trunk Provider
Office Communicators Mediant 1000 / 2000 Basic-Hybrid and SBA Gateways IP Phones

Intranet

SIP Trunk (fallback) Firewall

BT OneVoice

Router

SIP Trunk PBX

BT PSTN

PSTN (Fallback) IP TDM

IP-PBX (Optional)

Analog Phone

BT Global Services Typical On-Premise, Managed OCS/Lync Unified Communications Architecture
Solution for Onevoice SIP Trunking Service
In March 2010, BT Global Services became a Microsoft Certified SIP Trunking Service The Mediant 3000 with its Provider for Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Release 2 using their BT E-SBC and strong integrated Onevoice service. This was done using AudioCodes Mediant 3000 with its strong DSP capabilities, meets the integrated DSP capabilities. The gateway provides voice transcoding from G.711 media plane and bandwidth to G.729, and conversion between UDP and TCP transports for SIP traffic, enabling requirements of BTs Onevoice interoperability with BTs core Onevoice IP-voice platform. The Mediant 3000 supports business customers. an extensive list of narrowband and wide-band codecs including Microsoft Real-Time Audio wide band codec (RTA-WB), with the ability to transcode between narrowband and wideband voice coders based on AudioCodes strong DSP capabilities and in-house knowhow.

BT Onevoice Service

MPLS Network
AudioCodes Mediant 3000 E-SBC

Enterprise 1

Enterprise 2

Enterprise 3

BT Global Services - BT Onevoice SIP Trunking Service
Solution for BT Global Services In-House Network
The AudioCodes gateways were also chosen by BT Global Services for their in-house implementation of the Microsoft Unified Communications solution, supporting 22,000 of their employees.

Summary and Conclusions

Through intensive technical collaboration, including network design and planning sessions, on-site technical support and quick response to BT Global Services requests, AudioCodes was able to meet all the demands for the On-Premise Managed, and OneVoice SIP trunking services, commented Nimrod Borovsky, AudioCodes VP Marketing. We are delighted to have BT Global Services entrust us with their leading business customers and network infrastructure. We have qualified AudioCodes as our preferred Gateway vendor as they allow us to offer a solid migration path for our business customers from their existing telephony systems to Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 and Lync Server 2010 We have qualified AudioCodes as our preferred Gateway vendor as they allow us to offer a solid migration path for our business customers from their existing telephony systems to Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 and Lync Server 2010, said Mr. Summerson. Another important aspect in the selection of AudioCodes was their ability to provide the same user interface for their various gateway products, which enabled us to save on staff training and shorten the configuration and provisioning process. We are very happy with our choice and have been connecting customers to our network successfully.

About AudioCodes

AudioCodes Ltd. (NasdaqGS: AUDC) designs, develops and sells advanced Voice over IP (VoIP) and converged VoIP and Data networking products and applications to Service Providers and Enterprises. AudioCodes is a VoIP technology market leader focused on converged VoIP & data communications and its products are deployed globally in Broadband, Mobile, Cable, and Enterprise networks. The company provides a range of innovative , cost-effective products including Media Gateways, Multi-Service Business Gateways, Session Border Controllers (SBC), Residential Gateways, IP Phones, Media Servers and Value Added Applications. AudioCodes underlying technology, VoIPerfectHD, relies on AudioCodes leadership in DSP, voice coding and voice processing technologies. AudioCodes High Definition (HD) VoIP technologies and products provide enhanced intelligibility and a better end user communication experience in Voice communications. Contact us: www.audiocodes.com/info Website: www.audiocodes.com

2010 AudioCodes Ltd. All rights reserved. AudioCodes, AC, AudioCoded, Ardito, CTI2, CTI, CTI Squared, HD VoIP, HD VoIP Sounds Better, InTouch, IPmedia, Mediant, MediaPack, NetCoder, Netrake, Nuera, Open Solutions Network, OSN, Stretto, TrunkPack, VMAS, VoicePacketizer, VoIPerfect, VoIPerfectHD, Whats Inside Matters, Your Gateway To VoIP and 3GX are trademarks or registered trademarks of AudioCodes Limited. All other products or trademarks are property of their respective owners. Product specifications are subject to change without notice.
Ref. # LTRM-06028 V.1 10/10

CASE STUDY

SIP Trunking with Interactive Intelligence at Triton Technologies

Background

Triton Technologies is a team of direct response professionals specializing in soft-offer conversion, campaign analysis, and revenue optimization. Tritons goal is to provide their customers with higher close rates, larger average tickets, and a superior return on investment. The staff at Triton is rigorously trained and is widely regarded as some of the best in the business. Headquartered in South Easton, MA, Triton has sales agents in their main office and Phoenix, AZ. If you have ever called a toll-free number to order a product from either a TV, print or on-line advertisement, you very well may have ended up talking to a Triton Technologies agent to complete your order. Managing this inbound call volume is the state-of-the-art SIP-based contact center based on Interactive Intelligence Customer Interaction Center (CIC). The contact center plays an important role in routing each caller to a trained agent who is knowledgeable about that product or service. Determining which product the caller is interested in is often based on the number the caller dials Triton handles calls from thousands of toll-free numbers, each representing different products or campaigns.

Challenge

Until earlier this year, Triton Technology directed all their call traffic to a number of TDM T1 PRI trunks from a major national carrier using AudioCodes Mediant 1000 media gateways. The media gateways terminate the TDM T1 PRI circuits and convert the call traffic to SIP for handling by the Interactive Intelligence CIC servers. This configuration was and continues to be highly reliable, but also rather costly. The toll and circuit charges for the T1 PRI circuits were an easy target for cost reduction. Triton Technologies saw an opportunity to reduce operating costs with SIP Trunking for both the toll-free inbound and outbound long distance calling. After careful consideration, they chose two different SIP Trunking carriers a national competitive SIP Trunking carrier for the inbound traffic and an aggressive, but smaller SIP Trunking carrier for outbound traffic. This choice and strategy were important due to the large number of toll-free numbers used and the need for national coverage for inbound calls. It was also felt that maintaining choice in selecting competitive carriers would be valuable in the future allowing Triton to make changes in carriers as the market or needs shifted.
A significant roadblock to implementing SIP Trunking at Triton would be the cost of Enterprise Session Border Controller (E-SBC) equipment and the return-on-investment. After receiving a quote from a major SBC vendor that approached six figures, the executives at Triton were worried that the ROI would be too long and that the entire project would be doomed. Another challenge for the effort was interoperability with Tritons Interactive Intelligence CIC system and the two SIP Trunking carriers selected for the project. Meanwhile, the team at Triton knew and trusted the AudioCodes gateways that were currently servicing their PRI circuits. With some investigation, it was discovered that a new family of E-SBC products were now available from AudioCodes, based on the same hardware and software platforms currently in operation at Triton.

Solution

To provide an interface to the two SIP Trunking carriers, a configuration was developed (as shown in the diagram below) that utilizes two AudioCodes Mediant 1000 E-SBCs for 150 sessions per device (300 sessions in total). The dual configuration supports both SIP trunking carriers, using DNS in a round-robin load balancing technique. In this redundant configuration, if either one of the E-SBCs failed, the other would continue to handle call traffic, but at half of the total call handling capacity.
SIP Trunking Carrier A (inbound)

Enterprise LAN

Dual AudioCodes Mediant 1000 E-SBCs
SIP Trunking Carrier B (outbound) Interactive Intelligence CIC Servers
The WAN side of each E-SBC was configured with two IP groups, each group supporting one SIP Trunking carrier. The LAN side of the E-SBCs was configured using the parameter set appropriate for Interactive Intelligence CIC. As both SIP trunking carriers and the Interactive Intelligence CIC servers supported the G.711 codec, no transcoding of the media was required, maximizing the capacity of each Mediant 1000 E-SBC to 150 sessions and minimized latency. To maximize security, an Access Control List was configured in the E-SBC feature set, limiting incoming calls to only the prescribed SIP Trunking service providers. Because the Mediant 1000 E-SBC uses common SIP software as the Mediant 1000 media gateway, the E-SBCs were seamlessly integrated into the Interactive Intelligence CIC servers. The CIC software sees a gateway and is unaware that the other side of the E-SBC is actually two SIP trunking providers.

Results

Triton Technologies continues to utilize this configuration today, actively taking customer calls on SIP trunks and using Interactive Intelligence to route and manage their calls. The completed system with the dual load-sharing AudioCodes Mediant 1000 E-SBCs has been shown to be highly reliable and protects the CIC servers from the daily port probes and other attacks that would otherwise occur via the SIP trunks. As Triton Technologies continues to grow, further expansion of both the contact center agent pool is expected, requiring additional Mediant 1000 E-SBCs in a rack and stack expansion. To accommodate a large expansion, an upgrade to an AudioCodes Mediant 3000 E-SBC with its 1000 session capacity would also be considered.
The Mediant 1000 E-SBC provides Perimeter Defense as a way of protecting companies from malicious VoIP attacks; mediation for allowing the connection of any PBX and/or IP-PBX to any Service Provider; and Service Assurance for service quality and manageability. Designed as a cost effective appliance, the Mediant 1000 E-SBC is based on AudioCodes Mediant 1000 Multi-Service Business Gateway (MSBG), which combines AudioCodes field-proven VoIP and network services with a native host processor, allowing the creation of purpose-built, multi-service appliances with integrated quality of service, SLA monitoring, security and manageability. The native implementation of SBC functions on the Mediant 1000 Multi-Service Business Gateway provides a host of additional capabilities that are not possible with standalone SBC appliances, such as VoIP mediation, PSTN Access, data routing, WAN access, data security, survivability, and third party value-added services applications. This enables enterprises to utilize the advantages of converged networks and eliminate the need for standalone appliances.
For more information on the line of Enterprise Session Border Controller products from AudioCodes, visit: www.audiocodes.com/e-sbc

Mediant 800 E-SBC

Mediant 1000 E-SBC

Mediant 3000 E-SBC

About AudioCodes
AudioCodes Ltd. (NasdaqGS: AUDC) designs, develops and sells advanced Voice over IP (VoIP) and converged VoIP and Data networking products and applications to Service Providers and Enterprises. AudioCodes is a VoIP technology market leader focused on converged VoIP & data communications and its products are deployed globally in Broadband, Mobile, Cable, and Enterprise networks. The company provides a range of innovative, cost-effective products including Media Gateways, Multi-Service Business Gateways, Session Border Controllers (SBC), Residential Gateways, IP Phones, Media Servers and Value Added Applications. AudioCodes underlying technology, VoIPerfectHD, relies on AudioCodes leadership in DSP, voice coding and voice processing technologies. AudioCodes High Definition (HD) VoIP technologies and products provide enhanced intelligibility and a better end user communication experience in Voice communications.

Contact us: www.audiocodes.com/info Website: www.audiocodes.com
2010 AudioCodes Ltd. All rights reserved. AudioCodes, AC, AudioCoded, Ardito, CTI2, CTI, CTI Squared, HD VoIP, HD VoIP Sounds Better, InTouch, IPmedia, Mediant, MediaPack, NetCoder, Netrake, Nuera, Open Solutions Network, OSN, Stretto, TrunkPack, VMAS, VoicePacketizer, VoIPerfect, VoIPerfectHD, Whats Inside Matters, Your Gateway To VoIP and 3GX are trademarks or registered trademarks of AudioCodes Limited. All other products or trademarks are property of their respective owners. Product specifications are subject to change without notice.
Ref. # LTRM-06026 V.1 09/10