There is no doubt about it, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is finally beginning to enter the mainstream. Attracted by exciting economies of scale, enterprises are moving beyond trials into full-scale VoIP deployments, despite the technology's complexity and new problems like jitter, delay, and packet loss.
But in the rush to resolve these "sophisticated" problems, focus has been drawn away from the physical infrastructure—the cables, switches, ports, and patch panels that underlie VoIP and all data services.
These components are like the bones of a body. When a patient can't walk, the doctor takes an x-ray before looking for neurological damage. Similarly, when looking for the source of VoIP troubles, the first step is to verify the integrity of the physical layer. Only after you are sure that the cables, switches, and their connectivity are sound should you begin looking for "deeper" causes.
Disconnect dizziness
But it isn't easy to pinpoint physical layer problems. With VoIP telephones located on each desk, IP networks get big quickly, and finding a single disconnect can be like searching for the proverbial needle in a haystack. Since users have even less tolerance for telephone downtime than for computer disconnects, the stakes are higher than ever. With trouble on the line, understaffed IT departments are under intense pressure to find the source of the problem—wherever it is—among the miles of cables, thousands of ports, and dozens of switches.
Technicians desperately need troubleshooting tools—tools that can help them zoom in to "see" the source of the problem, quickly evaluate the full implications, and work efficiently to restore service. Fortunately, these tools exist. In fact, you may already have them deployed in your network. Since the components of VoIP networks are operating in LAN environments, the same intelligent physical layer management systems that bring visibility, manageability, and security to LAN infrastructure, servers, PCs, and printers are ideal for VoIP management.
The goal of all physical layer management systems is simple—to provide clear visibility into physical layer networks. The work focuses on two areas:
1. Maintaining clear, accurate, end-to-end documentation of the entire physical layer. The first step toward achieving effective physical layer management is to establish an accurate connectivity database—a quest almost impossible to achieve using manual methods. Today's advanced physical layer management systems reach this goal through the use of intelligent components and cutting-edge scanning equipment. Using scanners, the system continuously monitors the entire network, searching for new, moved, or removed user elements, and updating the database in real time.
The most advanced of these systems keep track of VoIP components as an integral part of the process, just as they do for PCs, legacy telephones, faxes, and other network equipment. The PatchView system from RiT Technologies, for example, can identify the IP phone, its location, its unique MAC address, and its extension number—important information that accelerates troubleshooting and service-restoration processes.
2. Improving troubleshooting, planning, and work-order execution. Based on a reliable database, these systems offer a slew of applications that improve planning and troubleshooting, and bring a new efficiency to work-order execution.
Consider this example. Despite all protection, a power surge has caused a switch failure. Before the angry calls begin, the system automatically generates an alert informing the IT manager that a connectivity break has been detected. With a few mouse clicks, the IT personnel can zoom in to identify the problem, and get a list of which corresponding panel ports have been compromised. One more click, and it is clear which PCs, telephones, and other components have been affected. A few more clicks initiate a plan of action.
Work orders are produced, beginning with instructions for restoring service by patching affected users' equipment into functioning ports. As technicians perform the work, they are guided by the system, whose LEDs show where patch cords should be pulled and reinserted, and indicate when the connection is again functioning correctly. In a matter of minutes, vital voice and data services are restored. The lengthier task of replacing major equipment is performed without pressure, avoiding costly errors.
Important for any VoIP deployment, systems like these are critical in enterprises using a phased approach to VoIP migration. Although slow migrations make it easier to manage installation problems, they result inevitably in a higher level of system complexity until the changeover is complete. Nonetheless, the IT staff—even today's reduced-manpower forces—must still be able to pinpoint problems and trace connectivity. New "E911" regulations only exacerbate the problem. Physical layer connectivity systems are the only cost-effective solution to all these problems.
More beneath the surface
Beyond rapid troubleshooting and expedited service recovery, real-time physical layer management systems give you many additional benefits. Although it is not within the scope of this article to give a full explanation, physical layer management systems typically pay for themselves quickly in terms of improved network performance, lower cost of ownership, reduced downtime, easier maintenance and troubleshooting, enhanced security, improved asset utilization, enhanced disaster recovery capability, and more effective long-term planning. In addition, advanced Web-enabled systems make it possible to achieve all these benefits via remote management.
Deploying a cutting-edge physical layer connectivity management system can be a big part of the success of your VoIP transition, bringing you additional and substantial cost-of-network-ownership benefits. The problems of control, jitter, delay, and packet loss still remain, but with physical layer problems taken care of, you are free to focus your attention on them.
Noga Fisher is a freelance writer covering the communications industry. She wrote this article on behalf of RiT Technologies (www.rittech.com), and can be reached via e-mail at: nogaf@mail.com
