Queensland Government Chief Technology OfficeDepartment of Science, Information Technology, Innovation and the Arts

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Document detailsSecurity classification PUBLIC

Date of review of security classification

June 2012

Authority Queensland Government Chief Information Officer

Author Queensland Government Chief Technology Office (QGCTO)

Documentation status Working draft Consultation release Final version

Contact for enquiries and proposed changesAll enquiries regarding this document should be directed in the first instance to:

Director, Technology Architecture and StrategyQueensland Government Chief Technology Officeqgcto@qld.gov.au

AcknowledgementsThis version of the Queensland Government Enterprise Architecture (QGEA) QGEA standard for unified communications (including IP telephony) was developed and updated by QGCTO.

Feedback was also received from a number of agencies which was greatly appreciated.

CopyrightQGEA standard for unified communications (including IP telephony)

Copyright © The State of Queensland (Department of Science, Information Technology, Innovation and the Arts) 2012

Licence

QGEA standard for unified communications (including IP telephony) by Queensland Government Chief Technology Office is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia licence.

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To view the terms of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/au. For permissions beyond the scope of this licence, contact qgcio@qld.gov.au.

To attribute this material, cite the Queensland Department of Science, Information Technology, Innovation and the Arts.

Information securityThis document has been security classified using the Queensland Government Information Security Classification Framework (QGISCF) as PUBLIC and will be managed according to the requirements of the QGISCF.

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Contents1 Introduction....................................................................................................................4

1.1 Purpose..................................................................................................................41.2 Audience.................................................................................................................41.3 Scope.....................................................................................................................41.4 QGEA domains.......................................................................................................5

2 Background....................................................................................................................5

3 Report considerations...................................................................................................6

4 Standards.......................................................................................................................74.1 Voice and telephony...............................................................................................74.2 Conferencing........................................................................................................104.3 Messaging............................................................................................................114.4 Unified clients and instant messaging/presence..................................................124.5 Underpinning/impacted ICT infrastructure............................................................12

5 QGCTO consultation.....................................................................................................14

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1 Introduction1.1 Purpose

This document is a Queensland Government Enterprise Architecture (QGEA) standard and Queensland Government departments are required to follow it as mandated under the Unified communications (including IP telephony) QGEA policy. This standard specifies the requirements regarding the selection and deployment of unified communications (including internet protocol (IP) telephony) solutions.

1.2 AudienceThis document is primarily intended for: chief information officers (CIOs) and other senior executives ICT procurement managers ICT operations and telecommunications managers ICT architects.

1.3 ScopeThis standard applies to all Queensland Government departments.

The definition of unified communications provided below (by industry analyst Gartner) describes the scope that needs to be considered within the Queensland Government context:

‘Gartner defines UC as equipment, software and services that enhance individual, workgroup and organisational productivity by facilitating the control, management and integration of multiple communication methods. UC products achieve this through the convergence and integration of communication channels, networks and business applications. UC may be a stand-alone product suite or a portfolio of integrated applications and platforms.

UC products are used by employees to facilitate personal communication, and by enterprises to support workgroup collaboration. Such products also may extend UC beyond the company’s boundaries to enhance communication for the ‘extended enterprise’, which includes suppliers, partners and user groups.

It's useful to divide UC into six broad communication product areas:• Voice and telephony: This area includes fixed, mobile and soft telephony, as

well as the evolution of PBXs and IP-PBXs. This also includes live communications, such as video telephony.

• Conferencing: This area includes separate voice, video and Web conferencing capabilities, as well as converged unified conferencing capabilities.

• Messaging: This area includes e-mail, which has become an indispensable business tool, voice mail and UM in various forms.

• Presence and IM: These play an increasingly central role in the next

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generation of communications. Presence services, in particular, are expanding to enable aggregation and publication of presence and location information from and to multiple sources. This enhanced functionality sometimes is called ‘rich presence.’

• Clients: Unified clients enable access to multiple communication functions from a consistent interface. These may have different forms, including thick desktop clients, thin browser clients and mobile PDA clients, as well as specialized clients embedded within business applications.

• Communication Applications: This broad group of applications has directly integrated communication functions. Key application areas include consolidated administration tools, collaboration applications, contact centre applications and notification applications. Eventually, other applications will be communication-enabled. When business applications are integrated with communication applications, Gartner calls these CEBP’ or Communication-Enabled Business Processes.

Source:- Gartner RAS Core research: Magic Quadrant for Unified Communications, 2010, Key Issues for Unified Communications, 2011

1.4 QGEA domainsThis standard relates to the following domains:

Classification framework Domain

Technology T-1.2.1 eMail and calendaringT-1.2.2 Real time and team

collaborationT-3.4.2 IP telephony devices and

softwareT-3.4.3 Desktop telephones T-3.4.4 Mobile telephones

T-3.4.8 Audio and video devicesT-4.4.9 Voice network devices and

softwareT-4.4.10 Network name and address

devices and softwareT-5.2.2 Directory

2 BackgroundThe ICT Portfolio Telecommunications Sub-committee authorised the Queensland Government Chief Technology Office (QGCTO) to develop a strategy for unified communications in the Queensland Government. The QGCTO developed the Unified Communication (including IP Telephony) report (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Report’) to address this requirement.

The report identified a number of challenges in the current and emerging environment that make it difficult to select any particular unified communications path for the Queensland Government with any degree of certainty in the near-medium term. Given this uncertain and evolving environment, the report identified an approach that is considered to be measured, responsible and relatively low risk while still enabling the government to steer in a direction which will progressively enable improved communication and collaboration outcomes.

Key elements of the approach outlined in the report are: provide ongoing QGEA direction to departments in each of the unified communications

component areas regarding expected/recommended architectures, standards, principles and procurement approaches

establish and maintain collaborative forums/engagements with departments, industry and related Queensland Government programs/strategies to ensure that:

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– the Queensland Government unified communications approach (and QGEA directions) continue to evolve to meet the departments and whole-of-government requirements

– industry service offerings are developed in line with Queensland Government requirements.

research the business case for whole-of-government service options to be developed in a range of candidate areas identified though the department’s and industry consultation

Based on the above report, two key documents were developed: QGEA policy for Unified communications (including IP telephony) QGEA standard for Unified communications (including IP telephony) – this document.

3 Report considerationsThis QGEA standard provides initial advice to departments that must be considered when making procurement and deployment decisions in the various unified communications component areas in the near term.

Ongoing and more prescriptive advice and directions will continue to be developed in consultation with departments as actions identified in the report are progressed. Additionally it is important to note that the report also identifies a range of actions focussed on improving/evolving existing unified communication (including internet protocol (IP) telephony) industry service offerings as well as examining new service options. Departments should be aware of the focus areas in the report, in addition to the advice provided in this document, when making deployment and procurement decisions (for example, departments considering deployment of their own unified client solution should first consider the status of the Queensland Government’s investigation into whole-of-government service options in this area to see whether it should/could have any bearing on their approach).

It is important that:1. the experience of individual departments continues to inform the evolution of the

Government’s overall approach to unified communications2. departments remain up-to-date with progress on the identified actions and the impact

these have on recommended approaches.

This will require departments and the Queensland Government Chief Technology Office (QGCTO) to continue to work closely together. For this reason, in many of the individual unified communications component areas departments are directed to consult with QGCTO regarding deployments to ensure proposed solution architectures and platforms align with/inform the Queensland Government position.

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4 Standards4.1 Voice and telephony 4.1.1 Fixed telephony

Queensland Government departments are at various stages of transition from traditional TDM PBX and Centrex-based telephony services to IP telephony services. The report identified that it is unrealistic for government to pursue a ‘one size fits all’ telephony solution in the near future; a mix of different telephony models is the most realistic approach for Queensland Government in the near-medium term.

An assessment of telephony approaches and vendor platforms being used in Queensland Government departments identified that there was no basis for an immediate near-term change in direction from that being undertaken by departments. It is important to point out however, that the unified communications market is at an early stage of maturity and it may be the case that over the next couple of years (as standards and vendor partnerships evolve) it becomes apparent that certain platforms may be better suited to integration as part of a whole-of-government unified communications solution than others. All that can be noted at this point is that there are no significant ‘red flags’ as far as the department’s platform choices are concerned. The QGCTO will continue to liaise with industry and departments and provide ongoing advice regarding recommended standards, architectures and transition approaches for IP telephony over time.

Standard General IP telephony adviceDepartments must choose the most suitable IP telephony architecture and convergence approach that matches their particular business requirements while also complying with QGEA standards and architectures (as they evolve). The QGCTO will continue to work with departments and industry to develop prescriptive advice. However, general high-level advice that departments must consider include the following1: adopt IP telephony approaches that enable existing investments to be

used/maintained and support gradual rather than forced migration favour telephony solutions that have a lightweight telephony system footprint at

remote sites (as opposed to full PBX solutions at all sites) use whole-of-government telecommunication panel arrangements in preference

to the department’s specific approaches where possible platform rationalisation: departments with multi-vendor legacy environments

must examine opportunities for platform/vendor rationalisation as part of the migration planning to IP telephony

use platforms/services that have strong commitment to industry standards (SIP, XMPP etc.) and are well supported/certified in terms of integration with leading unified client platforms

steer away from investing in telephony system (PBX) skills in-house and look to migrate to managed service arrangements (available through the whole-of-government panel arrangements) over time.

Advice regarding Telstra CustomNet Spectrum service usage

1 Further background/rationale can be found in the QGEA Report into Unified Communications (including IP Telephony) in the Queensland Government

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Existing sites: Telstra had announced no plans (at the time of writing this standard) to end

sale/support for CustomNet Spectrum. Based on discussions with Telstra, it is expected that once end-of-sale is eventually announced, ongoing support for the platform will still be provided for several years to allow customers to transition to an alternative.

Given the rapidly changing IP telephony/unified communications landscape in the information and communication technology (ICT) industry there is a possibility that the IP telephony/unified communications service options that a department may choose in a couple of years may well be different to that which it would choose now. In the absence of any compelling end-of-support drivers, departments should not feel any urgency to migrate existing Spectrum sites/users to an IP telephony alternative at this stage. However, departments who believe they have a genuine business requirement (e.g. through improved savings/functionality or other organisational imperative) to migrate existing Spectrum sites/users to an IP telephony service alternative in the near-term may do so.

Departments who decide to migrate from Spectrum at an existing site must look to use a managed IP telephony service available from the whole-of-government panel arrangement.

New sites : While there is no near-term pressure to migrate existing Spectrum sites to an IP

telephony/unified communication alternative, Telstra have advised it will become increasingly difficult for customers to get Spectrum services at new sites. There are several reasons for this but the primary reason is the reluctance/inability to deploy large amounts of copper-based telephony services (due to NBN pressures, building lead-in capacity issues etc.).

Departments must look to use a managed IP telephony service (from the whole-of-government telecommunications panel arrangements) at new sites.

Departments must consult with QGCTO regarding any planned wide-scale deployments to ensure proposed solution architectures and platforms align with/inform the Queensland Government position.

4.1.2 Soft phonesThere is no significant installed base of soft phones in the Queensland Government and consequently the decisions made in this area must be focussed on product choices that support unified communications outcomes.

Standard Soft phone functionality is provided by unified client solutions so departments without a specific requirement for standalone soft phones must consider this functionality as part of their unified client product selection in future. Departments that require point solutions for soft phones must ensure that the chosen products support standards-based integration and have (or intend to have) vendor interoperability certification with leading unified client solutions.

Departments must consult with QGCTO regarding any planned wide-scale deployments to ensure proposed solution architectures and platforms align with/inform the Queensland Government position.

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4.1.3 Personal video telephony unitsThere is no significant installed base of personal video telephony units in the Queensland Government and consequently the decisions made in this area must be focussed on product choices that support unified communications outcomes.

Personal video telephony units may not necessarily be the best fit for providing personal video calling functionality to the department’s users in the long term. Many industry analysts believe that this type of technology will be progressively replaced by mobile devices or personal computers with integrated unified communications capability. However, if these solutions meet department business need and have flexible contract options (that allow simple integration or transition to unified communications solutions) then there may be a case for their use.

Standards Video calling capability is provided by unified client solutions so departments without a specific requirement for standalone personal video telephony units must consider this functionality as part of their unified client product selection in future. Departments that have a requirement to deploy personal video telephony units must ensure that the chosen products support standards-based integration, and have (or intend to have) vendor interoperability certification, with leading unified client solutions.

Departments must consult with QGCTO regarding any planned wide-scale deployments to ensure proposed solution architectures and platforms align with/inform Queensland Government position.

4.1.4 Mobile phones/devicesThere is a wide range of mobile device types, manufacturers and operating systems represented across Queensland Government departments. All manner of smart phones, PDAs, niche devices (e.g. for health and field applications) and (increasingly) tablet devices can be found across government.

Telephony, unified communications and mobility solutions need to be tightly integrated to enable staff to communicate, collaborate and access corporate information securely from anywhere, at anytime, via any access mechanism.

The unified communications market is at an early stage of maturity and it may be the case that over the next couple of years (as standards and vendor partnerships evolve) it becomes apparent that certain mobile platforms/services/architectures may be better suited to integration as part of a whole-of-government unified communications solution than others. All that can be noted at this point in time is that there are no significant ‘red flags’ as far as department mobile device choices are concerned. The QGCTO will continue to liaise with industry and departments and provide ongoing advice regarding recommended standards, architectures and transition approaches for mobile phones/devices over time.

Standard Departments should choose the most suitable mobile device products/services that match their particular business requirements while also complying with QGEA standards and architectures (as they evolve). The QGCTO will continue to work with departments and industry to develop prescriptive advice. However, general high-level advice that departments must consider include the following2:

2 Further background/rationale can be found in the QGEA Report into Unified Communications (including IP Telephony) in the Queensland Government

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standardise preferred mobile platforms/devices where possible as this has significant cost and support advantages

use centralised whole-of-government panel arrangements for mobile service plans

use mobile devices that have strong commitment to industry standards (SIP, XMPP etc.) and are well supported/certified in terms of integration with leading unified client platforms.

Departments must consult with QGCTO regarding any planned wide-scale deployments to ensure proposed solution architectures and platforms align with/inform Queensland Government position.

4.2 Conferencing4.2.1 Audio conferencing

Departments are typically using audio-conferencing capabilities provided by local PBXs or as-managed services by a carrier. There are potentially significant cost savings that can be achieved through use of unified communications systems for this function.

Standard Departments should maintain existing audio conferencing approaches while they continue to satisfy their business requirements. Opportunities to displace legacy systems/services with unified communications solutions should be explored in the longer term (once a business case for deployment of unified communications exists within the department).

4.2.2 Web conferencingStandard Web conferencing capabilities for the majority of users are likely to be provided by

unified client solutions in the longer term (once a business case for deployment of unified communications exists within the department). In some cases niche requirements may still need to be serviced by point solutions. In the meantime, departments that require web conferencing should favour solutions with the following attributes: limited capital expenditure required flexible ‘grow as you need’ contracts with short-term commitments limited modification to existing department ICT environments required.

(As an example – cloud-based web conferencing services available through whole-of-government telecoms panel arrangements have the attributes noted above.)

4.2.3 Video conferencingVideo communications is an expanding area and a key consideration for unified communications deployments.

Current platform vendors used by the Queensland Government for room-based systems are all well supported (in terms of standards-based integration) by leading unified communications vendors and consequently there is no basis for an immediate near-term change in direction from that currently being undertaken by departments.

There are some small scale deployments of desktop and mobile video-conferencing currently in Queensland Government. Desktop and mobile videoconferencing procurement and deployment decisions could have a significant impact on future unified client solution

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architecture and consequently it is important that decisions made in this area must be focussed on product choices that support unified communications outcomes.

Standard Desktop/mobile video conferencing functionality can be provided by unified client solutions so departments without a specific requirement for standalone solutions must consider this functionality as part of their unified client product selection in future. Departments that require point solutions for desktop/mobile video conferencing must ensure that the chosen products support standards based interfaces/integration and have (or intend to have) vendor interoperability certification with leading unified client solutions.

Departments must continue to consult with QGCTO regarding any planned wide-scale deployments to ensure proposed solution architectures and platforms align with/inform the Queensland Government position.

4.3 Messaging4.3.1 Email/calendaring

In accordance with Queensland Government policy, department email systems (for staff) will be progressively migrated to the whole-of-government email service.

Standard The whole-of-government email service must be considered by departments to be a baseline ‘anchor’ point that any IP telephony and unified communications solution implemented across the Queensland Government (for staff) should be able to integrated with and leverage.

4.3.2 Voicemail/unified messagingExamining the business case for extending the whole-of-government email solution to include unified messaging capability has been identified as an action in the report.

Standard Departments must maintain existing voicemail systems as part of their current telephony platforms while this approach continues to satisfy their business requirements. It is anticipated that the whole-of-government email service will be extended to include unified messaging capability/integration (subject to a business case). Departments that believe they have a business requirement to implement a unified messaging solution prior to establishment of a whole-of-government solution must consult with QGCTO beforehand.

4.4 Unified clients and instant messaging/presenceUnified clients enable access to multiple communication functions from a consistent interface. These may have different forms, including thick desktop clients, thin browser clients, mobile clients, fixed phone clients, as well as specialised clients embedded within business applications.

The initial deployment of unified clients in organisations is often focussed on the instant messaging (IM)/presence capability. IM/presence services play an increasingly central role in the next generation of communications. Presence services, in particular, are expanding to enable aggregation and publication of presence and location information from and to multiple sources.

Examples of vendor products in this area include Microsoft Office Communication Server/ Lync, IBM Sametime, Cisco Unified Personal Communicator (CUPC).

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There are currently limited deployments of unified clients and IM/presence across Queensland Government. This represents an opportunity for whole-of-government service provision and/or integration (with department instances) particularly since unified clients and IM/presence are such critical components of an eventual unified communications solution and could provide the basis for achieving a collaborative experience across Queensland Government. Examining the business case for service options has been identified as an action in the report. It is recognised however that many departments may be seeking to explore options in this area (via proofs of concept, pilots or production deployments) prior to whole-of-government investigations running their course.

The QGCTO needs to remain informed of any planned department activities with regard to unified client and IM deployments to ensure that they can be taken into account when examining the business case for whole-of-government services. Equally it will be important for departments to take into account whole-of-government activities in this area when considering their options.

Standard Departments must consult with QGCTO regarding any planned acquisitions or deployments of unified clients or IM (proofs of concept, pilots or production) to ensure proposed solution architectures and platforms align with/inform the Queensland Government position.

4.5 Underpinning/impacted ICT infrastructure Migration to IP telephony and unified communications involves careful consideration of a range of key areas including: underpinning network infrastructure directory services numbering/addressing plans organisational capability/readiness.

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QGEA artefacts will be developed to provide specific advice regarding each of the areas above. The advice to be developed is summarised in the table below:

Underpinning/impacted ICT infrastructure component

QGEA advice to be developed

Underpinning network infrastructure

Guidance on best practice approaches, architectures and techniques to preparing infrastructure for support of voice/data/video convergence and unified communications.

Directory services Guidance to ensure telephony (numbers) and other relevant unified communications addressing and information is standardised across Queensland Government, uses Active Directory in departments and will integrate with IDES.

Numbering/addressing SIP addressing/naming and the various mappings required to the outside world will be coordinated through QGEA policy. Standards will be applied as they become viable (widely adopted enough).

Organisational capability/ readiness

Guidance on best practice approaches and techniques to help prepare departments (people and structure) in the areas of both: operational support business awareness and engagement.

Pending the provision of further QGEA advice, departments must follow the standard below:

Standard Departments that are considering (or undertaking) significant changes or investment to existing ICT infrastructure in the following areas must consult with the QGCTO regarding these activities: upgrades of underpinning network or computer room infrastructure (whether it

be IP telephony and unified communications driven or due to other drivers – e.g. end-of-life technology refresh)

modification of directory services to incorporate telephony/unified communications details.

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5 QGCTO consultationDepartments must consult with the QGCTO in either of the following circumstances:1. where the standard suggests that such consultation is the preferred course of action for

the particular situation they are faced with2. where the department believes they have a business requirement to proceed in a

manner which is contrary to the preferred course of action suggested.

Consultation with the QGCTO should be directed in the first instance to:

Director, Technology Architecture and StrategyQueensland Government Chief Technology Officeqgcto@qld.gov.au

Information that the QGCTO would be seeking from departments as input to consultation will include: current situation overview (e.g. existing environment, issues) proposed solution (e.g. products, service provider, contract term) timeframes scope (e.g. number of locations, end points) rationale/business driver/s for proceeding prior to development of a whole-of-

government approach.

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Version history

Version Date Author Description

0.0.1 August 2010 David Blundell

0.0.2 August 2010 IPCO Formatting edits.

0.0.3 September 2010 IPCO Formatting edits.

0.1.0 October 2010 IPCO Final – Pre Release.

0.1.1 July 2011 David Blundell Post Release updates.

0.1.2 August 2011 Policy Governance, ICT Policy and Coordination Office

Update for QGEA collaboration portal comments.

0.1.3 November 2011 External Relations Unit, Department of Public Works

Formatting edits made.

0.1.4. December 2011 Policy Governance, ICT Policy and Coordination Office

Forwarded to QGCIO for approval.

0.1.5 January 2012 Queensland Government Chief Information Office

Reworked into a standard to align with Unified communications (including IP telephony) policy.

0.1.6 February 2012 Queensland Government Chief Information Office

Further modifications made prior to whole-of-government formal consultation.

0.2.0 February 2012 Queensland Government Chief Information Office

Whole-of-government formal consultation.

0.2.1 April 2012 Queensland Government Chief Information Office

Minor formatting updates prior to approval.

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