Appliance Deployment Featured Article

Here’s the scenario: A large service provider is looking for an integrated solution for rolling out new voice services, leveraging Voice over IP (VoIP) technology. What this provider needs is a solution that can integrate with a traditional phone system to increase total call volume, while enabling calls to be routed over IP for cost and performance savings.

 

These requirements led to the provider, with the help of a consulting firm, choosing a high-density, integrated VoIP and TDM solution with components from NEI, Dialogic and Envox (News - Alert) Worldwide.

 

In a recent case study, NEI explained how the solution described above was developed and how it turned out. In this scenario, NEI played the role of system designer and integrator, while Dialogic (News - Alert) designed the hardware platform and Envox brought to the table its IP-based voice technology.

 

In a nutshell, the service provider (unnamed in the case study) was looking to expand its conferencing and chat room services. This meant increasing capacity — more participants on each conference call and in each chat room. The problem was, existing infrastructure couldn’t handle the additional capacity. Each server could only support 240 ports.

 

The provider wanted to grow its capacity by more than 10,000 ports in a single year. It looked like this type of capacity increase would be too expensive an upgrade, however. The solution, as it turned out, was a high-density conferencing solution designed to offer services using both VoIP and traditional phone lines.

 

For this solution, NEI — a company that specializes in software-based appliance deployment — contributed its E-2000 R5 Server and EX-6000 Expansion System. Dialogic, meanwhile, added to the mix its Host Media Processing software and Digital Network Interface boards. The solution was completed with Envox’s CT Application Development Environment software.

 

The diagram below summarizes how the provider’s new infrastructure enables delivery of services over either IP networks or PSTN phone lines.

 

 

The specific expertise of each company involved in building this solution made it a success. NEI, which was created in 2007 when Network Engines (News - Alert) acquired Alliance Networks, develops solutions that make managing and securing IT applications easier. The company’s primary clients are original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), independent software vendors (ISVs) and software integrators.

 

Also on the software side for this solution, Envox develops IP-based voice solutions. Its software and related services reduce the time and cost associated with building voice solutions. The company’s offerings include Envox CT ADE (News - Alert), a set of interactive voice response (IVR) development tools that act as building blocks and are easier to work with than hardware interfaces.

 

Dialogic’s contribution to the solution described here was both hardware- and software-based. The company’s DNI cards provide the resources necessary to interface with TDM networks, giving developers and system integrators a lot of flexibility. The company’s HMP software takes care of media processing tasks like IP steaming, call control, speech recognition and fax termination. It does all this without requiring the use of specialized hardware.

 

To learn more about the components used to create the solution described in this article, please visit the Appliance Deployment channel on TMCnet, brought to you by NEI.