VoIP and Predeployment Testing

This column is a little longer, but with the continual roll-out of new technologies like VoIP on to the network, I think the importance of the topic justifies the length.

Denise Dubie today in her column for NetworkWorld covered the issue of what has been termed Unified Communications - unified communications aim to blend voice, video, instant messaging and conferencing with presence, collaboration, messaging and calendaring (so think VoIP, IM, and any types of collaboration or web meeting software) - are expected to be responsible for an increase in network traffic over the next twelve months. The column was prompted by a Network General poll of their client base. The key findings:

“Network General’s survey found that nearly 80% of companies expect the network traffic from communications applications to increase over the next 12 months. In the past three months, three-quarters of the companies polled say, up to 25% of their network traffic consists of unified communications.”

The idea that demand for network bandwidth has been increasing due to these types of applications isn’t that earth-shattering. It’s more that as we roll out new technologies, whether VoIP, wireless, or any collaboration software, the importance of predeployment testing only increases. Doing a site survey and establishing performance benchmarks are an easy way to ensure that new technology roll-out go as smoothly as possible.

Site Surveys and Establishing Network Performance Benchmarks

Typically when implementing a new technology, such as VoIP, many network administrators take one of two approaches with VoIP. Many network managers install new technologies and then address performance problems as they arise. Others anticipate that the addition of VoIP will increase their bandwidth needs, and as a result upgrade their bandwidth capacity.

These steps, however, may not effectively address the potential VoIP problems. Deployment issues can cause users to resist using the new technology. In addition the disruption of VoIP services directly impacts the bottom line by halting business activities. Conducting a site survey before installing VoIP services, understanding your overall bandwidth demand and application performance, and establishing benchmarks for acceptable network performance are critical for determining how the network will handle the new VoIP traffic and identifying any changes that need to be made to effectively support VoIP communications.

An analysis tool that tracks, stores, and analyzes long-term activity will define what is considered normal for a particular VoIP environment. The insights on network and application performance gained from the initial survey site and by continual monitoring of the added VoIP traffic will help you to intelligently configure alarms on the monitoring tool to alert you when VoIP performance deviates from the norm. It is also important to maintain a database of call detail records (CDRs) from which you can generate reports for management or service providers.

Understanding overall network performance through site surveys and benchmarking is critical to being able to quickly identify anomalies, troubleshooting problems, and ensure the success of a VoIP installation. We have a really good white paper (PDF) that discusses VoIP monitoring and all of the factors involved to ensure a successful deployment.

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