by Ray Horak, Technology Editor
Clarus Systems, Inc. is a leading provider of VoIP management solutions for Cisco Unified Communications (UC) deployments. That wasn’t exactly the initial plan. The VoIP market is dynamic, to say the least, and companies that fail to adapt soon fail to exist. Clarus Systems was founded in 2001 to support an early adoption of IP Telephony, including deployment certification products for system integrators. In 2005, Clarus shifted its focus in answer to the demands of the enterprise segment of the market. The company enhanced its managed service provider relationships in 2007 and added several dominant financial services leaders as key clients. Clarus now is well known for providing scalable IP communications solutions that combine automated end user testing, configuration management and performance management, and business intelligence applications. In concert, these solutions validate all aspects of a Cisco VoIP communications environment are operating as expected, thereby ensuring system availability and performance.
Brendan Reidy, President and CEO, explains that Clarus Systems typically becomes involved during system implementation, as the first components are installed. As the Cisco hardphones or Cisco wireless DECT handsets are installed behind CallManager, Clarus software collects asset, configuration and system information such as inventory number, firmware, telephone number and builds a database of device attributes. The system then tests every phone for call permissions, perhaps ensuring that each phone can dial a local branch office and 911; that the lobby phone is restricted to dialing internal extensions, local calls and 911; that the CEOs phone is completely unrestricted, the data port is activated, unanswered calls roll over to voice mail and the voice mail port is activated. This process takes just a few seconds per phone and Clarus can test thousands of phones simultaneously.
Clarus software can actually seize control of a phone and use it to test system capabilities, perhaps causing hundreds of phones to simultaneously dial into a conference bridge and test for two-way audio. Clarus software monitors packet latency, jitter and loss and can set MOS alerts to notify the system administrator if an individual call or the average of calls drops below a definable level, e.g., 3.5. It can also alert on blocked or dropped calls, or unexpected changes to the CallManager configuration, sending alert information into existing network management systems. The Clarus solution also can assist a snifter or probe in deep dive diagnostics, getting as granular as an individual PRI or handset.
The Remote Hands feature allows a help desk technician to seize control of a phone and operate it remotely in support of an end user. Should a user call the help desk to report a problem accessing an outside line or perhaps invoking a feature such as call forwarding, the remote technician can take control of the phone and execute the dial pattern while the user follows the process on the phone’s visual display. Such a technique not only saves the costs associated with dispatching a technician, but also increases end user satisfaction considerably.
Clarus software resides on industry standard server and can be shipped as a pre-staged hardware/software package, upon request. As Partner in the Cisco Developer Network, Clarus Systems works with pre-release software to ensure that its solutions are always fully compatible with general release software. Clarus solutions currently manage 750,000 Cisco phones, with the largest deployment involving approximately 200,000 phones at more than 6,000 sites. Clarus sells direct to large enterprises, as well as to system integrators and service providers, who can either resell Clarus solutions or offer them, perhaps rebranded, as a feature of a managed service. In any event, Clarus provides all support from its Service Operations Center (SOC) in Redwood City, California. Software development has been largely in the US. (I had to ask.)
More at clarussystems.com.
