VoIP offers many benefits including cost reductions, simplified service provisioning and the ability to deploy converged applications. However, VoIP deployment can be very scary. No business can afford to have its voice services compromised. Revenue, relationships and reputation all depend on people being able to speak to each other on the phone with five-9s reliability, so it's critical to take out the risk.
But how can a company really be sure that its network is VoIP-ready? How can it accurately predict what voice quality will be like during periods of peak network utilization? How can it validate vendor claims and compare competing solutions?
One answer is to implement a virtual network test bed. Essentially, this enables technicians to observe and analyze the behavior of applications in a lab environment that accurately emulates conditions on the current and/or planned production network. This emulation should encompass all relevant attributes of the network including impairments on all network links (physical distance and associated latency, bandwidth, jitter, packet loss, CIR, QoS/MPLS classification schemes, etc.); the number and distribution of end users at each remote location; and the other application traffic loads on the network.
During VoIP implementation, this test bed can be used in a variety of ways to ensure project success.
Evaluating the enterprise network
By plugging VoIP equipment into a virtual network, technicians can accurately predict the quality of voice calls between any two locations under real-world conditions. The testing environment also enables technicians to pinpoint potential problems and experiment with possible fixes such as additional bandwidth or changes in QoS settings to see if they have the desired impact on call quality. This predictive capability helps eliminate the risk of wasting money on unnecessary bandwidth or equipment.
Evaluating vendor solutions
The test bed is extremely useful for evaluating new technology investments. Such evaluations are vital, since vendors use different codecs and compression schemes. It is also indispensable for determining specific service-level requirements for WAN service providers and assessing suitability of new management tools.
Pre-deployment demos and acceptance testing
Regardless of MOS scores, acceptance of VoIP call quality is ultimately subjective. One of the biggest fears of IT organizations is that end users will complain about call quality after a major investment has been made in a production roll-out. This risk can be avoided by using the virtual network to perform hands-on (or ears-on) acceptance testing prior to roll-out.
It's important to note that while a virtual network test bed can pay for itself by ensuring VoIP success, this technology has many other uses that deliver substantial ROI. These include the development of more network-friendly applications, better planning of server moves and improved support for M&A activity. These significant additional benefits make emulation technology a lucrative investment for IT organizations seeking to both ensure success of a VoIP project in the near-term and optimize overall operational excellence in the long-term.
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