Tone Software: ReliaTel Converged Network Management
by Ray Horak, Technology Editor
Tone Software Corporation specializes in the development of enterprise-wide business computing software solutions for managing and automating complex, multi-platform business computing environments. The company was formed in 1974 as a mainframe software development house and eased into telecommunications in the 1980s with the development of network monitoring and management software solutions. That software was first productized in the late 1980s and has since evolved to keep pace with advances and shifts in telecom technology. As memory serves me, that was about the time we began to talk seriously about the impending convergence of voice and data, and how difficult it would be to manage a converged environment. Well, convergence is finally happening, we just shifted some protocols (e.g., ATM and IP) around and relabeled it VoIP. That doesn’t make it any easier to manage. Actually, it makes it a lot tougher, which is where Tone Software comes into the picture.
I recently had the opportunity to visit with Paul Wiggins, the Convergence Technology Manager for Tone’s ReliaTel-Streamline monitoring and management solution. ReliaTel was developed in-house; the Streamline part of the equation was recently acquired from Communicado. Together as ReliaTel, Wiggins explained that they form a flagship solution suite that seamlessly provides in-depth management of faults, performance, QoS, traffic, and network capacity for multi-platform, IP-enabled voice and data environments that support mobility, collaboration and unified communications.
According to Wiggins, “ReliaTel is designed to manage and monitor the entire business computing infrastructure, across data systems and devices; LAN, WAN, and voice networks; as well as environmental and security devices. In the context of voice, ReliaTel provides a consolidated management solution across a wide variety of devices, networks, and environments to ensure optimum voice QoS levels across the entire infrastructure. Whether the voice switches are TDM/IP hybrids or a full-on IP, whether the network elements are of common or disparate origin, and whether the network is of a single-site or global multisite configuration, ReliaTel offers a converged management solution through a single pane of glass, so to speak. ReliaTel is completely vendor and platform agnostic and can automate routine tasks that normally require a level 1 technician.”
Wiggins explained that the process begins with a quality assurance module that supports pre-deployment network assessments to certify network capable of VoIP support, provisioning and capacity planning. This is a critical initial step and one that must be performed continuously as one layers new applications on the network that compete for limited resources—and resources are always limited. Through a combination of software and Open Toolbox Appliances, ReliaTel monitors VoIP RTP streams and measures QoS levels, not only in aggregate but also down to individual phone calls.
ReliaTel Release 2.6 incorporates an operational knowledge base that provides an alarm-specific portal that is pre-populated with network- and element-specific documentation and resolution processes down to step-by-step actions. Managed service providers (MSPs) and network administrators have the ability to store user-specific and network device-specific step-by-step resolution histories and resolution recommendations. This makes troubleshooting and remediation a repeatable process and significantly reduces mean time to remediation (MTTR).
Tone Software is a customer-focused company, with a heavy R&D culture. Tone does work directly with enterprise clients in both telecom and IT, but also markets through MSPs, VARs and telecom resellers.
More at tonesoft.com.
