VoIP call quality and reporting software improves QoS

Voice over IP call quality and reporting gained another helping hand with the recent partnership between Texas Instruments and Network Physics.

Developed to deliver optimised end-user experiences for VoIP and IPTV services, the partnership, by utilising Texas Instruments' PIQUA quality management system, will improve enterprise IT managers' and service providers' real-time visibility into VoIP call performance problems. It will also provide automated corrective actions that will help alleviate some of the challenges faced in delivering IP-based services.

"Self-correcting abilities, such as those found in PIQUA and in Network Physics' NetSensory solution, play very important roles in the strategy to improve call quality," said Scott Safe, vice president of marketing and product management at Network Physics.

Utilising real-time calculations to assess quality parameters related to the user's experiences, Texas Instruments' PIQUA system is based on its digital signal processor (DSP) technology and embedded software solutions. This system allows both equipment manufacturers and service providers to automatically respond to changing conditions on the network and make the necessary adjustments.

By integrating Network Physics' NetSensory Solution Insight for VoIP 2.0 with Texas Instruments' PIQUA system, the partnership can improve call quality before the end user detects a performance problem.

This integration between softwares is achieved by using standard protocols such as RTCP-XR to communicate call quality metrics and RTCP-XR extensions to report echo quality metrics these softwares integrate to improve the overall end-user experience.

"Working with Network Physics, our PIQUA system automates the process of gathering IP endpoint performance metrics and converts this data into real-time actionable information, improving the delivery of IP services," said Debbie Greenstreet, director of service provider strategic marketing for Texas Instruments. "The results of our alliance will include improved user experience and a reduction in overall network operating costs."

Combining the information it gathers from the endpoint and correlating it with the other network data, Network Physics' NetSensory tool provides network operators and enterprise IT managers with a set of metrics that allows for a faster resolution of performance issues during a VoIP call. This also reduces the need for additional equipment testing -- freeing the IT staff from having to hunt down the cause of the performance problems.

Network Physics said the NetSensory solution is designed to alleviate problems that are associated with voice-monitoring solutions by integrating standard voice-quality metrics with more than 60 performance and utilisation metrics -- allowing for the delivery of real-time management of both voice and data applications.

Moreover, drilling down from voice-quality metrics to the underlying network conditions responsible for call degradation, measuring the impact of other enterprise applications, and judging how other applications are affected by the network changes are the factors that will improve voice quality, according to Network Physics.

"The whole point of deploying VoIP is to run voice across the network just like any other application," Network Physics president and CEO Kenny Frerichs said. "The marrying of TI's PIQUA technology and the NetSensory Solution Insight for VoIP seizes the full advantage of the PIQUA system by creating a solution that optimises services based on true end-user experiences and provides exceptional insight into application performance."