Two considerations need to be made by IT and telecom managers
before evaluating a solution: the scale of production environment
and the need to extend support resources with a systems integrator
or service provider.
500 or fewer IP phones
For environments of fewer than 500 phones, network managers should
opt for management provided by their equipment vendor, Cisco.
Network assessments and pre-deployment testing should still be done
but most equipment vendors and/or systems integrators offer this as
a service. Cisco has historically been provided very little of its
own management support; however Cisco is getting better in this
area and customers should expect a much more full solution in
2007.
500-2500 IP phones
For these midsize environments, network managers should expand
their review of management tools beyond those of their equipment
vendors and evaluate specialty vendors. Management tasks that
become more important during this stage include pre-deployment
testing and proactive quality measurement to provide service
assurance. In this arena, the choice of management vendors depends
on the vendor selected for VoIP. In a widely distributed
organization, that is using Cisco's Call Manager Express and Unity
Express, Cisco and Prognosis have specific monitoring and
management offerings. For companies using a centralized Cisco call
manager solution, Cisco has a superior solution, but Prognosis does
provide a viable option.
2,500-10,000 IP phones
For these environments, the real-time nature of voice demands that
netwok managers get real-time visibility into performance issues.
The vendors who excel in this space include Cisco, Prognosis and
Infovista. To determine which is best for you, evaluate the
intuitiveness of the GUI and put a priority on the management tasks
are performed most often, but also be open to new features that can
make life easier in a production environment.
10,000 or more IP phones
In this environment, IT managers need a comprehensive, scalable
management framework. The real-time nature of the traffic requires
a real-time view into the environment and integration with existing
management tools. The vendors for deployments this large are
Prognosis and Infovista. These vendors offer comprehensive suites
and can scale to very large environments. Prognosis has the most
history in the high end of the market, but Infovista has been able
to leverage its existing base of customers that use its IP
performance management tools.
Support requirements
VoIP presents organizations with ability to increase user
productivity and lower cost, but presents a significant challenge
for network. VoIP also allows network managers the control of the
voice platform and deployment flexibility. However, management
requirements are much more demanding. There are channels that can
be leveraged to provide the required resources. Network managers
should identify which phases of the lifecycle they can manage and
then look to a third party resource to help complete the
lifecycle.
When evaluating management solutions, the support that the VoIP
vendors provide its channel partners should be considered. The goal
should be a flexible VoIP management solution that can support the
environment, regardless of which tasks are in-house managed and
which ones are managed by a partner. For example, if the enterprise
and its system integrator use the same management tools, then the
SI becomes an extension of the support organization.
Enterprises typically leverage partners for the first two phases
of the VoIP deployment. Many SIs specialize in network audits,
planning and pre-deployment testing. IT managers should eventually
take over the production environment but bring in a partner to
optimize and scale the environment.
Return to
Cisco VoIP management guide.