Voice Communications: Moving from Appliance to Software

1
Voice Communications Moving from Appliance to
Software
Serge Forest CEO Paraxip, a Sangoma Company
2
Agenda

• Changes in Voice Communication Systems
• Business Considerations
• Technical Implications
• Conclusion
• QA

3
A Bit of History -CPE Voice Systems

• Tel Appliance
• Custom built hw
• Vertically Integrated
• Proprietary
• Few Large Vendors
• High costs

• CT Solution
• Off-the-shelf hw
• Vertically Integrated
• Proprietary APIs
• Many Vendors
• Lower costs

• Software
• Off-the-shelf hw
• Horizontal model
• Standard i/f
• Many Vendors
• Very low costs

90
95
00
05
10
4
Software-Based Appliances

• Key Drivers for software model
• Maturity of standards SIP, VoiceXML, etc.
• Availability of Open Source
• Host Processing Technology
• Why appliances? Have we gone full circle?
• Support and deployment model
• Interop complexity
• Management

5
Agenda

• Changes in Voice Communication Systems
• Business Implications
• Technical Impacts
• Conclusion

6
Who owns the integration issues?

• Interop is all good, but whos in charge?
• Exponential complexity problem
• Benefit from vendor availability, but limit
  problems by vendor selection
• Is your channel prepared for plug and play?
• Keys to success
• Streamlined support
• Integrated Management

7
Build vs Buy Where is the Value?

• What components should your organization build?
• Focus on your value
• Services/Support?
• Hardware delivery?
• Application?
• Management?
• Let standards-based components do the rest

8

• SIP Based
• Applications
• IVRs
• Conferencing
• IPBX
• Etc.

External Gateways
LAN Router/Switch
Public Telephone Network
VoIP
Analog lines (FXO) Digital (T1/E1, ISDN)
VoIP
Ethernet Port
Ethernet Cables
PSTN Port
LAN Port
External VoIP Gateway
App. Server
9
Internal Gateways

• SIP Based
• Applications
• IVRs
• Conferencing
• IPBX
• Etc.

Public Telephone Network
Analog lines (FXO) Digital (T1/E1, ISDN)
PSTN Port
10
CPE Gateway Selection
11
External vs Internal Gateway

• External Gateways are ideal for
• Product development/lab work
• Large port counts (gt500) at a single site
• Horizontal model
• Internal Gateways are ideal for
• Low-COGS premise systems
• Tight control on product, deployment, support
• Scaling production
• Software-based appliances

12
What about costs?

• Have you considered everything?
• Material
• License / royalties
• Production
• On-site - bringing in service
• Support and troubleshooting
• RD (including interop testing, Maintenance)

13
Agenda

• Changes in Voice Communication Systems
• Business Implications
• Technical Impacts
• Conclusion

14
Host-Based Signal Processing

• Software approach leads to faster innovation
  cycle
• Host processor power growing rapidly
• Many vendors offering host processing libraries
• New algorithms available in many categories
• CPA
• ASR
• TTS

15
Selecting Components

• Important considerations
• Modular building blocks
• Multiple integration models
• Standards-compliant
• Ability to integrate management
• Optimized for software
• Vendors support through cycle
• Is it too late to change?
• Beauty of standards is you can change with
  minimal disruption

16
Management

• Key is integration
• Unified reporting
• Pre-configuration
• Common User Interface
• Methods
• Web Server
• Proactive notification on alarms
• Programmable interface Web Services

17
APIs and Protocols

• Telephony connectivity SIP RFC 3261
• IVR VoiceXML, CCXML
• Speech MRCP
• Management Web Services

18
Conclusion

• Premise-based voice communications have moved to
  software solutions, packaged within an appliance
• Shift has both business and technical
  implications
• Focus on customers TCO
• Integrated delivery, management and support is
  key
• Select standards-based components to complement
  your core
• Leverage innovations from software running on host

19
Questions?

• See us at booth 703