isc networking & telecommunications migrating from centrex to ip telephony at penn deke...
TRANSCRIPT
ISC Networking & Telecommunications
Migrating from Centrex toIP Telephony at Penn
Deke KassabianUniversity of Pennsylvania
ISC Networking & Telecommunications
About Penn• University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy
League university in Philadelphia• 20,000 students (undergraduate & graduate)• 4,000 faculty & 13,000 staff• 250 buildings• 30 RDPs (telephony points of presence)• 23,000 phone lines & 41,000 IP addresses
ISC Networking & Telecommunications
Some Background
• Networking & Telecom organization merger in 2000, with full integration over the course of the following four years
• Environment: Centrex +Penn-owned cable
• 4 exchanges, 1 area code
• 5 digit dialing on campus
ISC Networking & Telecommunications
Business Drivers
• Aging voice cable infrastructure and voice mail components
• Moves/adds/changes – inflexible and costly
• Wish to increase operational efficiencies
• Prefer vendor independence
• Prefer open standards
• Prefer open source
ISC Networking & Telecommunications
The Organization• Consciously avoided silos through integration of
Data/Voice staff with similar jobs– Operations– Engineering, New Service Development– Finance and Billing– Customer Service
• Some staff reductions took place• New organization is fully integrated, and increasingly
well cross-trained• New organization also includes Video group
ISC Networking & Telecommunications
Considering our Next Steps
• Wanted to make a business move to deliver highly flexible and cost-effective telephony with a longer horizon
• Had a track record of success with open source communications software
• What would it take to seriously pursue this approach?
ISC Networking & Telecommunications
The Breakthrough
• Project launch meeting with managers & team leads
• Identified biggest issues
• Committed significant local staff resources
• Hired project manager
ISC Networking & Telecommunications
Project Teams
Steering Committee
Technical Process BusinessFacilities
Network Architecture
Application Architecture
Telephony Architecture
InstallationsOperations
IntakeSupport
Billing
Provisioning
Communications
ISC Networking & Telecommunications
Internal Pilot Campus Pilot
• Roll out production pilot within our own department
• Structure installations to be cookie cutter• Train Centrex staff to be VoIP specialists• Start punch-list management• Continue to evaluate and adjust
ISC Networking & Telecommunications
Challenges• “Recruiting” pilot customers
– That fit the service profile– That are in a suitable building– That are willing to work with a pilot, providing
useful feedback• Supportable Handsets
– Single line & multi line sets – Multiple Manufactures
ISC Networking & Telecommunications
Open Source Strategy• Avoid over-customization
– Use existing functionality where possible– Maintain active relationship with developers– Try to get any essential changes built back into
mainline code
• Notable Asterisk customization– IMAP access to voice mail message store for true
unified messaging – Penn developed extension to Asterisk, likely to be
included in 1.4 with Summer 2006 release
ISC Networking & Telecommunications
Current State of Service• Production-grade
– Redundant servers, gateways and PRIs
– Single-line features, email/voicemail integration
– 911 support equal to legacy system
• layer 2 QoS, separate VLANs & subnets
• Full service- installation, support & billing
ISC Networking & Telecommunications
VoIP Topology
ISC Networking & Telecommunications
Campus-wide Pilot Rollout
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
Jul-05
Nov Jan Mar May Jul-06
Jul-07
VoIP PilotVoIP Actual
ISC Networking & Telecommunications
Success
• 400+ subscribers, 500 scheduled by June
• Network Architecture Team
• Process re-engineering
• Site/server failover recovery
• Open-source software (SER, Asterisk)
ISC Networking & Telecommunications
Penn iPhone Web Services (Phase 1.0)
Self-serviceVoice mail
Change Email
Password
Do Not Disturb
Call Forward
Reject Anon.
Blocked Caller ID
More . . .
ISC Networking & Telecommunications
ISC Networking & Telecommunications
ISC Networking & Telecommunications
Lessons Learned• Pilot one technology at a time (open-source vs. in
house commercial vs IP centrex)• Deliver service components in phases, to
compatible customers• Create/maintain a voice development environment• Use Centrex staff to manage VoIP installations• Pilot support services & involve customers
ISC Networking & Telecommunications
• Make project a priority across the organization• Deliver a production pilot• Cross-train staff, and allow time for adjustment• Augment staff with consultants in key areas• Technology is evolving: let current state determine
project scope
Recommendations
ISC Networking & Telecommunications
Migrating from Centrex to IP Telephony at Penn
Deke KassabianUniversity of Pennsylvania