WHO'S YOUR MANAGER?
One might think that with the interest in convergence and the concern for voice quality, management framework vendors such as IBM Tivoli, HP, and Computer Associates would be all over event correlation-based statistics like those gathered by RTCP XR. Unfortunately, that's not what's happening so far. In fact, on the enterprise side of the VoIP world, management framework vendors are almost ignoring the network-specific requirements of VoIP, concentrating instead on higher-level functions such as tracking the performance and health of call centers and gateways. There are, however, a number of network-focused management vendors, typically with roots in carrier network management, that are creating tools for managing enterprise networks
.
Part of the problem is that RTCP XR has yet to win broad acceptance. Apart from those vendors that have licensed Telchemy-embedded software and more recently Psytechnics software, RTCP XR support is very limited. Cisco Systems, for example, doesn't currently implement RTCP XR in its endpoints.
Since RTCP XR isn't yet pervasive, network management vendors can't rely on it for event notification. To address this, Telchemy is working to create a combination of endpoint implementations and probes that will correlate events based on data gathered with RTCP XR throughout a VoIP implementation. Psytechnics is also creating reference designs for gathering and correlating network and voice quality events. This makes the job for network management vendors extremely easy: All their systems need to do is report the root cause event as diagnosed by either a Telchemy- or Psytechnics-style embedded probe.
The next six to 12 months should mark a turning point for instrumenting VoIP networks. Both Telchemy and Psytechnics have made headway with equipment manufacturers, so finding RTCP XR-compliant equipment should become easier. As endpoints increasingly adopt monitoring standards, network management vendors can get more serious about developing fault isolation and root cause analysis algorithms. At this point, however, building a VoIP network with pervasive voice quality monitoring is highly dependent on the vendors involved. Currently, RTCP XR is the only standardized game in town. But whether it's RTCP XR or something else, pervasive standardized voice quality measurements are needed as VoIP moves toward widespread adoption.
Discover the benefits of scalable backbone and network services for application and cloud providers.
Network automation is gaining momentum. Here's how you can drive this powerful technology to its full potential.
Subsea cable alternatives can provide a level of comfort for those concerned about disruptions. Realistically, they will continue to play a small, but critical role in the short term.
