Rich Tehrani's Executive Suite is a monthly feature in which leading executives in the VoIP and IP Communications industry discuss their company's latest developments with TMC president Rich Tehrani, as well as providing analysis on industry news and trends.

As an increasing number of businesses look to adopt various forms of unified communications solutions, it is becoming more apparent than ever that one of the greatest challenges is the integration of disparate platforms and network components. Despite the challenge, however, it is critical to ensuring the entire communications network runs at peak efficiency, thus providing maximum value.

 

SIP (Session Initiation Protocol)-based technologies are an ideal solution, having been developed specifically to connect various communications platforms with a common language. Importantly, they also are an effective means of integrating new IP-based systems with older legacy systems, affording businesses the opportunity to migrate to an all-IP environment at their pace and as their needs demand it. Naturally, once that migration is complete, SIP standards continue to provide an effective means of interconnecting various communication platforms.

 

Rich recently had occasion to speak to Juma Technology's CTO Joe Fuccillo, who discussed the potential of SIP technology as it pertains to the burgeoning converged communications industry, as well as how Juma Technology has approached the challenge of helping customers efficiently migrate to IP communications.

 

RT: Juma has quickly become a mainstay in the IP industry. With so much competition, what has differentiated Juma?

 

JF: A clear differentiation is Juma's focus, commitment, and experience in the design, deployment, and support of a converged IP network architecture. Because Juma recognized, ahead of the curve, the great potential of IP technologies, we now maintain a superior technical aptitude when it comes to converging voice, video, and data on a single network.

Based on our experience, we have developed a proprietary Managed Services offering to provide advanced network monitoring in the converged environment, and we have also integrated SIP Trunking services into our IP Convergence platform. This innate understanding of IP Convergence, and all of the components that affect the converged network, is really what sets Juma apart from others in the IT industry.

 

RT: Juma maintains a strong focus on IP Convergence. For companies exploring a converged network architecture, what would you say is the foremost issue?

 

JC: Without question, IP Convergence planning is a fundamental component to the successful design and deployment of a converged network. It is essential for companies to consider key business factors, such as security, quality, availability, and manageability.

 

In our experience, many companies lack a comprehensive IP Convergence Plan to deliver all of these key components while preserving investments in current infrastructures. At Juma, we know from experience that the planning and review stages are critical to setting the proper foundation for converged networking. For this reason, Juma offers detailed IP Convergence Planning to help our customers assess their current architecture along with present and future business needs. By doing so, the Juma team can devise a converged network that truly serves the business needs, while building on existing infrastructure for additional cost savings.

 

RT: What are the biggest challenges your customers encounter when transitioning to an IP environment?

 

JF: We have found that the most common challenge during a transition is the integration with an existing legacy system and, many times, with multiple vendors. To resolve this challenge for our customers, Juma invested in SIP technologies to enable the integration of legacy systems with newer VoIP enabled features and systems. Our SIP platform allows a mixed environment to operate as a unified system, which enables our customers to benefit from the advantages and features of IP technologies while they make the transition from their legacy systems.

 

RT: How can companies effectively managed such a complex converged network?

 

JF: We quickly recognized that conventional monitoring products fall short in the converged network environment. With the need for a superior network management tool apparent, Juma commissioned an internal team of top-level talent to develop an application that effectively manages and monitors the complexity of converged networks.Our proprietary application is now being used by a number of large, multilocation enterprise customers to effectively monitor the interdependencies of converged networking and apply an assessment of overall system health as well as the operation and availability of each component that contributes to business services. For the first time, our customers can now see the real time impact of communications on their business processes.

 

RT: Of the new technologies emerging today, which do you believe will have the largest impact on the industry?

 

JF: SIP is undoubtedly the next "big thing" in technology. In my view, SIP will completely change the dynamics of telecommunications as we know it over the next couple of years. SIP is enabling businesses to maintain a mixed communications environment that allows disparate systems to function as one, integrate IP telephony features to the desktop, and achieve toll bypass for cost savings. Furthermore, the ability to provision dial tones to both VoIP networks and legacy PBX systems via SIP Trunks (IP PRI) in minutes is transforming business processes and facilitating more efficient communications management.

 

RT: You have referenced an enormous potential that can be attributed to SIP. How quickly will the industry truly embrace all that SIP has to offer?

 

JF: We have witnessed a shortened cycle for technology adoption where new concepts move from bleeding edge to massive adoption and onto mainstream standard deployment much more quickly than in the past. We expect SIP to be the dominant PBX protocol, in full deployment, within the next two years. We also anticipate SIP Trunks for carrier PRI replacement to lead new orders within the next three years.

 

RT: How do you think IP technology will affect the future of everyday business operations?

 

JF: IP technology is already affecting business operations and it will continue to do so. The features inherent to IP are revolutionizing business and its processes by providing communication resources that are solving real business needs. Features that enable remote workers, such as 'follow-me' calling, SSLVPN, and video conferencing, are helping companies to meet business challenges in an entirely new way. At Juma, we have helped numerous customers to operate their business more effectively through the implementation of communication resources to enable more efficient business operations.

 

RT: How does Juma manage to stay ahead of the curve with so many new technologies emerging?

 

JF: Technology is our business; more specifically, IP convergence and the host of technologies that encompass converged networking. As 'techies' (like me), we are naturally inquisitive. For Juma, staying ahead of the curve consists of nonstop reading, ongoing lab experiments, and a think-tank environment for the open exchange of ideas and opinions. We have been successful at being an innovative pioneer in the industry because we are a company of engineers. We love technology and its potential, so we are always looking for ways to make the technology do more and help it evolve into features that have true business value for our customers.

 

RT: What do you consider to be Juma's foremost strength as a technology partner?

 

JF: As a technology partner, Juma's preeminent strength is the depth, focus, and dedication of our team. We maintain a superior expertise in the application of technology to improve efficiencies and resolve business challenges. Based on this experience and knowledge, our team develops technology solutions that have the ability to generate real dollars for our customers through substantial cost savings. At Juma, we truly value superior technical aptitude and how that expertise can help fellow businesses. That is why we built our team to include the foremost engineers and technologists to best serve our customers.

 

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