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Deke Kassabian University of Pennsylvania Internet2 Spring Member Meeting April 2007

Production Quality Open Source VoIP: Next Generation Telephony at Penn. Deke Kassabian University of Pennsylvania Internet2 Spring Member Meeting April 2007. Penn Background. An Ivy League university in Philadelphia, PA founded in 1740 by Ben Franklin 40,000 faculty, staff and students

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Deke Kassabian University of Pennsylvania Internet2 Spring Member Meeting April 2007

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  1. Production Quality Open Source VoIP: Next Generation Telephony at Penn Deke Kassabian University of Pennsylvania Internet2 Spring Member Meeting April 2007 ISC Networking & Telecommunications

  2. Penn Background • An Ivy League university in Philadelphia, PA founded in 1740 by Ben Franklin • 40,000 faculty, staff and students • 25,000 phone lines/12,000 voicemail users • 50,000 IP addresses in use • 9,000 analog video connections • Over 1.5 Gbps external IP capacity • Operates the MAGPI Internet2 GigaPop connecting 38 institutional subscribers ISC Networking & Telecommunications

  3. Organization • Networking, Telecommunications and Video Groups merged in 2000 • 100 full time staff members and contractors today, after substantial churn • Much staff re-education & integration has taken place • 100% direct charge budget • New organization is fully integrated and increasingly well cross-trained ISC Networking & Telecommunications

  4. Voice Services at Penn Today • Most users have Centrex service • Local Exchange Carrier -provided business telephone service • Long list of available features • Switch at Telco Central Office • On-campus copper cabling • Some departments have PBXs and small key systems ISC Networking & Telecommunications

  5. Telecommunications Infrastructure • Local Exchange Carrier brings copper loop infrastructure to campus Rate Demarcation Points (RDPs) • Penn maintains in-ground and in-building copper cable infrastructure from RDP to building, building to closet, closet to wallplate • This infrastructure is very old, and in some cases is failing resulting in outages and requiring expensive repairs • Replacement of these cables would be $3-5M ISC Networking & Telecommunications

  6. Campus Map ISC Networking & Telecommunications

  7. ISC Networking & Telecommunications

  8. Rate Demarcation Points ISC Networking & Telecommunications

  9. Next Generation PennNet ISC Networking & Telecommunications

  10. Business Drivers • Aging phone-cabling infrastructure. Cable faults are increasing, and repairs are expensive. • Moves, adds and changes are time consuming and costly (3000/yr @ $125= $375k) • Limited application integration/flexibility • Legacy voice mail and ACD are business critical, but fragile and costly to support • Prefer vendor independence, open standards and open source ISC Networking & Telecommunications

  11. Voice Services Goals • Generally: • Cost–effective, reliable voice communications with flexibility to meet evolving demands • Vendor independence • Single integrated network infrastructure • Specifically: Convert 25,000 analog voice customers to VoIP on a converged IP network with added functionality and lower costs in 5 years or less ISC Networking & Telecommunications

  12. History of VoIP at Penn • Protocol investigation dates back to late 1990s • Worked first with H.323-based VoIP, and later with Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) • Worked with a range of applications: • Cisco Call Manager, an enterprise solution (2001-2002) • BroadSoft’s Broadworks, a carrier-class VoIP software solution, piloted on campus (2001-2003) • Externally hosted IP Centrex solutions (2003-2004) • Open-source SIP Express Router with Asterisk Comedian Voice Mail (2003-Present) ISC Networking & Telecommunications

  13. Whether to use Open Source • Does IP Telephony lend itself to open source server software? • Can it be reliable enough? • Will we have the feature set we need? • Will we be able to maintain it well? • We have an IT staff experienced in the 24x7 operation of key services based on open standards and open source • Positive experience with open source server software encouraged us to take this as a serious option ISC Networking & Telecommunications

  14. Open Source Strategy • Select open source tools written in programming languages in which we have expertise • Assure that multiple staff members are familiar with each open source tool • Avoid the over-customization trap • Use existing functionality where possible • Maintain active relationship with developers • Try to get any essential changes of general interest built back into mainline code • Notable Asterisk customization • IMAP access to voice mail message store for true unified messaging from phones and email clients ISC Networking & Telecommunications

  15. Project Teams ISC Networking & Telecommunications

  16. VoIP Building Blocks • SIP Clients or User Agents • SIP Proxy Servers • Media & Feature Servers • Gateways and ITSP services ISC Networking & Telecommunications

  17. SIP User Agents (UAs) • Hardware SIP phone, in the familiar desk set form factor. Penn currently uses Cisco phones, and is looking into other options. • Software that acts as a SIP client or user agent and runs on a desktop, laptop or handheld. Shown here is eyeBeam from Counterpath. ISC Networking & Telecommunications

  18. SIP Proxy Servers • Server that accepts “registration” from valid users • Allows client to signal their call information • Handles call set up and gets out of the way • Penn uses SER (iptel.org) and OpenSER (openser.org) ISC Networking & Telecommunications

  19. Media & Feature Servers • Server that handles “media” such as voice mail and music on hold • Provides for some additional call features • Co-exists with provisioning services • Penn currently uses Asterisk (www.digium.com) ISC Networking & Telecommunications

  20. Gateway ISDN PRIs IP Campus Network PSTN Gateway • Interconnect between campus network and PSTN • Penn currently uses Cisco 36xx routers • Penn will also use ITSP services, sending calls via IP to a national network of gateways for completion ISC Networking & Telecommunications

  21. General VoIP Design ISC Networking & Telecommunications

  22. VoIP Topology ISC Networking & Telecommunications

  23. 1H 2006 2H 2006 1H 2007 2H 2007 GeneralAvailability Phase 1.0 Phase 1.X Phase 2.0 Phase 3.0 PennNet Phone Roadmap • Phase 3.0 • Octel voice mail migration • New Handset Production • Softphone Pilots • Multi-line Pilots • 2000 phones deployed • Phase 2.0 • Feature Release 2.0 • Centrex-Asterisk Pilot(s) • ITSP/LNP Production • New Handset Testing • 1000+ phones deployed • Phase 1.1-1.2 • IMAP Message Store • Limited Multi-line Pilots • PiPS Maintenance • Security development • 600+ phones deployed • Phase 1.0 • VoIP Campus Pilot Begins • PennNet Phone web portal • Penn Directory lookups from PennNet Phones

  24. Current State of Service • Substantial Deployment (over 1000 phones) • Production-grade • Redundant servers, gateways and PRIs • Single-line features, email/voicemail integration • Some mulit-line features (ring groups, multi line appearance) • 911 support equal to legacy system • Separate VLANs & subnets, layer 2 QoS • Full service: installation, support & billing ISC Networking & Telecommunications

  25. Managing PennNet Phone • Web “provisioning interface” to allow • Installation staff to configure phones for deployment • Support staff to provide local support • End-users to select and maintain configuration options ISC Networking & Telecommunications

  26. PennNet Phone Web Services (Phase 1.0) PennNet Phone Service ISC Networking & Telecommunications

  27. Add PennNet Phone Account ISC Networking & Telecommunications

  28. PennNet Phone Settings ISC Networking & Telecommunications

  29. Unified Messaging • Some users prefer getting voice mail in email. Others really need to access voice mail by phone. • Wanted to access voice mail via email and via the telephone without message replication • Penn-developed extension to Asterisk for IMAP access to voice mail for true unified messaging from phones and email clients. Included in current production releases. ISC Networking & Telecommunications

  30. Emergency Services & Location • Ability to route 511/911 calls, including support for location information • Three phases towards improvement • Phase 1 - Fixed location phones • Phase 2 - VoIP phones movable by IT Staff, with web form location reporting • Phase 3 - Dynamic location updates ISC Networking & Telecommunications

  31. ISC Networking & Telecommunications

  32. Security & Privacy • Key project elements for S&P • Configuration security - protecting phone configuration and user details • Gateway security - securing gateways so only authorized users make calls • Call privacy - minimizing the eavesdrop risks ISC Networking & Telecommunications

  33. Current Development Projects • Multi-line and ring-group support • Using ITSPs (Internet Telephony Service Providers) for off campus calls • Migrating Centrex users to our next generation voice mail • Power Over Ethernet (PoE) network designs • Evaluating additional VoIP handsets ISC Networking & Telecommunications

  34. New Roles for Campus IT Staff? • Local tech support staff troubleshoot basic connectivity, occasionally power cycle phones • Submit trouble tickets when necessary • Act as proxy for the user in the web interface, to change feature settings and forwarding numbers ISC Networking & Telecommunications

  35. Collaboration within Higher-Ed • Several Internet2 universities, most notably Columbia, UNC, and MIT, are using a very similar approach • Sharing plans, code and best practices through monthly collaboration calls • Open to participation by other groups seriously engaged in similar efforts ISC Networking & Telecommunications

  36. A Few Key Challenges • “Recruiting” pilot customers that fit the service profile, are in a suitable location, and can provide detailed feedback • Identifying supportable, high function VoIP handsets • Managing very substantial staff workload • Moving fast enough to avoid costly telephone cable upgrades ISC Networking & Telecommunications

  37. Lessons & Recommendations • Make project a priority across the organization • Cross-train staff, and allow time for adjustment. Augment staff with consultants in key areas • Pilot one technology at a time (open-source vs. in house commercial vs IP centrex) • Create/maintain a voice development environment ISC Networking & Telecommunications

  38. Lessons & Recommendations • Roll out pilot and new features in your own department first, as a pre-pilot • Replace existing phones with VoIP phones on users desk (don’t simply add) • Structure installations to be “cookie cutter” • Pilot not only technology, but full support and communications process. Involve all service delivery and support personnel ISC Networking & Telecommunications

  39. Looking To The Future • With the elimination of legacy services and networks, we anticipate: • Increased reliability • Improved functionality • Higher levels of operational efficiencies • Telecommunications cost reductions of 10-30% • Better customer service ISC Networking & Telecommunications

  40. Production Quality Open Source VoIP: Next Generation Telephony at Penn Deke Kassabian University of Pennsylvania Internet2 Spring Member Meeting April 2007 ISC Networking & Telecommunications

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