The Art of Convergence

Belgacoms vision of convergence for enterprises in the 21st century

Whitepaper

convergence

Whitepaper 2006

Executive summary

Content

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Paradigm shifts in the corporate markets; triggering evolutions in ICT How to achieve improved customer service, effective communication, cost containment, corporate productivity and integrated ICT solutions Belgacoms vision of professional ICT in the 21st century
3.1. The network component: a reliable, secure & converged network foundation 3.2. The service component: enabling real-time & context-aware ICT services 3.3. The user component: offering users an intuitive and efcient ICT tool kit 3.4. The process component: seamlessly integrated into the business processes

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The new economy is based on the digital revolution and information management. It has been supported by the World Wide Web and the Internet Protocol (IP), which have expanded and globalized the economy. The ICT sector is therefore consolidating and going through several waves of convergence, namely of IT and Communications, voice and data, xed wired solutions and mobile solutions, LAN and WAN.

LAN - WAN convergence IT-network convergence

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fixed-mobile convergence voice-data convergence

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Belgacoms strategy for moving forward

4.1. The step-by-step evolution of the network foundation 4.2. The step-by-step evolution of the services 4.3. The step-by-step evolution of the access solutions

gure 1: convergence has many facets

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Belgacoms professional convergence services portfolio in a nutshell The convergence value proposition Conclusions

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Voice-data convergence is no longer the hype of the moment, having effectively entered into our daily lives. Next Generation Networks essentially deliver convergence between the traditional world of telephone networks and the new world of data networks. Next Generation Networks, as well as Next Generation Services, are the foundations for the future, and will change our communicating habits. Unied communications and Real-Time Collaboration will be the name of the game. The ultimate converged communications platform will improve communication, offer the possibility of generating new revenue through improved customer relations, and will raise productivity and employee satisfaction levels. Belgacom is investing in convergence solutions ranging from network solutions to integrated services and applications. In this whitepaper, Belgacom will describe its vision, strategy and services portfolio, in order to gain trust as a unique, full-service convergence player in the professional ICT market.

convergence

Whitepaper 2006

1. Paradigm shifts in the corporate markets; triggering evolutions in ICT

The new economy is based on the digital revolution and information management. Information can be innitely differentiated, customized, and personalized. It can be dispatched to a vast number of people on a network and can reach them with great speed. Where information is accessible, people will be better informed, will be able to communicate more efciently and make better choices. The World Wide Web and the Internet Protocol (IP) have promoted this, and have expanded and globalized the new economy. Competitive pressure is continually on the increase in an open market where boundaries are becoming blurred and cooperation models are changing, and where power is shifting from producers to distributors and consumers. The goal of every company is to focus on its customers, to respond to their needs while keeping an eye on the companys competitive advantages. Effective communication with customers, cost containment and productivity enhancements are crucial for achieving this goal. Effective communication is therefore fundamental to every company. Enterprises need integrated multimedia solutions that provide a key strategic advantage in todays open and highly competitive market. To support such integrated solutions, companies need a suitable underlying communications network infrastructure. So far, many organizations have tried to meet their requirements by gradually building a complicated and varied network infrastructure, where each component responds to a specic need. The demand for a unied solution is evident. The solution is the convergence of different types of network data, voice and video, WAN and LAN, xed and voice to a simplied, powerful, cost effective network infrastructure, the IP infrastructure, which can handle voice, data and video trafc. Although IP has gained ground, it has also led to the blurring of ICT boundaries between:

2. How to achieve improved customer service, effective communication, cost containment, corporate productivity and integrated ICT solutions
Improved customer service and effective communication can be achieved by:
Customer Relation Management (CRM), Virtual Contact Center (VCC) solutions and transparent sales channel processes; Web-enabled sales tools & business processes including e-commerce or secured Internet trading. Well-known branding and a broader mix of media; Internet brand support; Enhanced market access and channels;

Productivity can be improved in various ways. Emphasis can be placed on:

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and streamlined ICT processes, agility and business process exibility Staff mobility ubiquitous availability of products and resources The development of new niche markets Wireless and ubiquitous access solutions Web hosting and remote worker solutions

Key challenges, however, are simplicity and efcient solutions for users.
The main obstacles to adopting the above-mentioned ICT innovations are: the difculty of integrating them into the existing business environment the security aspects the availability of Internet-based processes, the mobility and accessibility of company-critical ICT resources the unpredictability of ICT costs. Belgacom believes that the key to overcoming some of these obstacles lies in the introduction of a secured next generation network, that links the existing networks in a collaborative IP-enabled networking framework supporting blended, converged, triple play services.

IT and networks, with f.i. network web hosting trends; LAN and WAN, with f.i. switched Ethernet VPNs that emulate Ethernet VLANs across the WAN, thereby turning wide area networks into global LANs; or with f.i. security threats that do not respect LAN-WAN boundaries.

Thus, boundaries are becoming blurred in both the corporate and ICT markets. Traditional collaboration & communication models are being threatened, as new opportunities are arising. Improved customer services, effective communication, cost containment and productivity enhancement will drive ICT evolutions.

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Whitepaper 2006

3. Belgacoms vision of professional ICT in the 21st century

Protable growth comes from virtual and real-time collaboration models, web-enabled applications, and trade models all IP-enabled. Belgacom has a vision of user-efcient IP-enabled services across converged networks and collaborative solutions, integrated into the specics of the business. The Belgacom vision has a network component, a services component, a user component and a process component.

3.2. The service component: enabling real-time & context-aware ICT services
Todays global economy requires high-speed communication immediate access to current information and the ability to respond in minutes, not hours to avoid project delays or missed delivery dates. Companies can deliver results faster by reducing the number of steps employees have to take to locate team members, meet and share information, and the amount of time wasted in the process. To increase user efciency, blended services need to become real-time and context-aware. They have to make use of presence and contextual information to guide the communication stream from a source to a destination. Context-aware services take into account availability, reachability, network, user devices and user preferences when deciding how to deliver a communication stream from source to destination. For example, if an account manager wants to get an internal supply conrmation from the purchasing manager, and the purchasing manager is in a meeting at that moment, the network will decide to route the account managers call to the purchasing managers mobile, instead of computer. Collaboration technologies, related to unied and real-time communications, are crucial. They are becoming more user-friendly and can be deployed more exibly. Presence solutions in particular, which allow the system to detect changes in status (e.g. available, busy, away from desk, out of ofce) are rapidly evolving. The changes in status are transmitted to the SIP server to redirect calls to a new location or media type. The availability is indicated either on a static basis or dynamically, based on the users action (e.g. on the phone, typing on the computer, computer inactive, etc.).

3.1. The network component: a reliable, secure & converged network foundation
Belgacom supports the Cisco Powered Networks claim that networks are becoming Intelligent Information Networks: IP routing enables communication to and from anywhere, while Ethernet & MPLS switching enable cost efcient transport and reliable delivery of information; Quality of Services (QoS) ensures distinct network behavior for distinct service parameters and offers the ability to prioritize applications. network hosting of intelligence provides reliable, scalable, ubiquitous information access; next generation gateways, routing trafc to the outside network and gatekeepers, and trafc management software provide end-to-end communication streams independent of access technologies; session border controllers secure those communication streams. Hence, Intelligent information Networks, with a focus on reliability and security, are evolving from disintegrated networks and disparate services into converged networks and blended services, as illustrated in gure 2 :

3.3. The user component: offering users an intuitive and efcient ICT tool kit
In order to provide real-time and context-aware ICT services, next generation broadband services need to be user-centric, capable of offering users intuitive and efcient tools for communication, organization and even entertainment. A user-centric broadband world is based on what the user wants to do, and when and how the user wants to do it. People have ubiquitous access to content and information based on who they are, without having to think about the channel that delivers it. Users can activate features on their laptop and establish and update rules on how they want to be reached. The desktop screen indicates the identity of or a message from a caller, and provides call screening capabilities and call redirection to other locations or a messaging server. It includes personal functionalities such as nd me/follow me.

PSTN/ISDN BiLAN IP VPN

3.4. The process component: seamlessly integrated into the business processes
One advantage of IP-based voice communication systems is the ease with which voice can be enhanced with additional information about the parties involved in the call. IP also facilitates the linking of voice to different enterprise applications, such as e-mail, fax and CRM.

gure 2: the NGN framework

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4. Belgacoms strategy for moving forward

Belgacoms strategy for becoming the best in its class by offering its customers peace of mind is founded on two pillars: operational efciency and market leadership. When this strategy is applied to convergence: 1. Operational efciency is based on a reliable, secure and converged network 2. Market leadership comes with simplied user-centric applications, and guaranteed end-to-end Service Level Agreements (SLAs) What steps will Belgacom take to realize this vision? Responsibility is established in the security SLAs that dene response times and escalation procedures, according to the asset value and organizational risks of the different network domains. Belgacom has responded to the gradual convergence of voice and data in the third networking layer, which is all about the collaboration between the various voice and data networks. The NGN framework is a partnership with Alcatel, Broadsoft, Cisco and Italtel. Essentially, this NGN is IP-centric and is in line with the Cisco Powered Networks claim that media gateways ensure protocol translation between voice and data IP networks, that gatekeepers or call servers deal with signaling across the various networks while session border controllers ensure secured communications on a per-communication session basis. Application servers host the applications that make use of the NGN network. Responsiveness is operationally supported from the Convergence Operations Center (COC), while responsibility is established in convergence SLAs with strict and ambitious convergence guarantees. This collaborative networking layer depends on the former security layer, in that IP telepony servers can be at risk from the above-mentioned DoS attacks. Common threats in converged voice-data solutions are : Network-based denial of service (DoS). These attacks are especially problematic in a VoIP environment, because the network congestion that they introduce can make conversations impossible. In LANs and WANs, the threat can be mitigated by creating a separate virtual LAN for voice trafc and protecting it (via bandwidth reservation, for example) from malicious trafc that could overrun it. VoIP over the Internet remains a riskier proposition, due to the lack of QoS in Internet backbone networks. Eavesdropping. This attack is organised by malicious people listening in on conversations. Signaling protocols. These are used to establish communication sessions between two or more endpoints. Among the standards-based protocols, Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) is becoming the most widely deployed solution. But it is a relatively new protocol, and is just beginning to receive the detailed security analysis and scrutiny that will enhance its resistance to attack. In summary, the collaborative NGN framework offers a single IP-enabled foundation and an integrated communications platform for its services.

4.1. The step-by-step evolution of the network foundation

Belgacoms network evolution from business continuity and security to convergence, adheres to an R_ framework, combining response with responsiveness and responsibility, as shown in gure 3

gure 3: the step-by-step network evolution The response to Business Continuity, the rst network layer, is end-to-end continuity. Reliability and availability remain the baseline of every next generation solution. Responsiveness is operationally supported by the Network Operations Center (NOC), a body of network specialists which combines resources to enable maximum availability. Responsibility is established in SLAs with strict and ambitious availability guarantees. Business Continuity is also supported by the Belgacom Business Continuity Program (BCP), which has invested over 100 million in network redundancies and spare equipment, and is regularly deployed in disaster recovery simulations. Spare infrastructure is maintained in purpose-built pick up-containers, which can be driven to a disaster location in case of a severe accident, with minimum downtime. In the next networking layer, Security, Belgacom responded by guaranteeing an end-to-end security. Belgacoms management platform monitors compliance with an organizations security policies and business objectives, monitoring end-to-end network behavior and activities outside the policy, whether by users or hackers, with worm or virus characteristics. It provides event and log analysis, taking information from different, multivendor environments, correlating it and providing a central management console to assess and respond to potential threats. This approach protects organizations from increasingly common internal threats as well as from external attacks. It simplies security management signicantly by consolidating the mass of security information and applying automated, policy-based controls. Responsiveness is operationally supported by the Security Operations Center (SOC), a body of security specialists that combines resources to enable maximum security.

4.2. The step-by-step evolution of the services

The rst step was the network foundation; the second step is the services evolution, as shown in gure 4.

gure 4: the step-by-step services evolution

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The rst step to convergence is the support of basic intra-company voice services often referred to as on-net voice services by the data network, enabled by QoS. The second step is the replacement of the legacy PBX with basic communication services via an IP PBX. This IP PBX can be either on site or a hosted solution. The third step combines voice and data services into unied communication services, Unied Communication services dynamically integrate the following building blocks: Unied Messaging, Presence, Instant Messaging. Unied Messaging brings together different message types (e-mail, voicemail and fax) from different sources into one unied inbox, in such a way that the user can easily access and manage the messages at any time, from any place and from whatever type of terminal (e.g. regular or IP phone, internet connected PCs/laptops/PDAs and mobile phones). Presence management is a crucial building block in the future total communication experience. It should make the ideal accessibility of users possible, regardless of that persons location. This can be accomplished when the presence application integrates all existing information regarding the availability and current activity of the users, and makes it available for other users and communication applications. The usage of the presence information for intelligently routing calls, messages, is handled in the Unied Communications section below. Instant Messaging (IM) makes sending and receiving of (text) messages in real time a fast, efcient way to communicate. It complements the real-time voice/video communication and the non real-time e-mail messaging, as the messages appear immediately on the recipients screen, without the need for his interference. A more advanced IM services also allows the exchange of voice and video messages, any type of les, etc. Unied Communications (UC) could be described as the consolidation of all forms of communication and messaging independent of location, time or device. Users of a UC system can be contacted at any time, based on their preferences (using a dynamic, personalized user control of accessibility and availability), and allows them to communicate via any form, whether via real-time connections or asynchronous (near real-time or non real-time) messaging using any device that they prefer. In this framework, we can consider UC as the integration of most of the above described services and building blocks (person-to-person voice/video, Presence, IM, UM, e-mail, fax, calendar & address book functionalities,), together with the capability to intelligently combine these services via rules, preferences, dynamic call/message redirection, forwarding, The base idea behind UC is to allow enterprises to manage multiple communication channels and to integrate these channels with business applications, processes and functions. UC generally allows a recipient to have one number that addresses all devices and also indicates to the caller which device he or she is currently available on. The fourth step adds the dimension of real-time collaborative working, which will eliminate the need to scan through multiple mailboxes in order to reach a particular person. The multimedia conference service is a category of applications that allow groups of users to participate in audio, video and web conferences. Web Conferencing is a service that enables you to instantly set up and manage multi-media conferences and that allows business professionals to communicate more effectively and economically through these interactive online meetings.

Next to the classical audio and video communications, web conferencing also includes the sharing of les, whiteboards and other applications: a range of services that is described below as collaboration services. Real-Time Collaboration services enable companies and individuals to communicate and to collaborate in real time and this according to their specic needs. Its about creating an environment in which (especially physically dispersed) team members can collaborate by participating in voice/video conferences, sharing documents, exchanging messages, In the broad sense, collaboration includes the Unied Communications services and all forms of information exchange, voice- and video-conferencing, (virtual) team workspaces and machine/person-to-person/machine communication. The information exchange includes whiteboarding, application and desktop sharing, le exchange, virtual drives, etc These various presence applications will all give shape to the concept of the virtual ofce. The four steps can be further enhanced within the NGN framework, which expands the above communication capabilities from intra-company to extra-company capabilities, often referred to as off-net capabilities.

4.3. The step-by-step evolution of the access solutions

In order to fully reap the benets of the converged services framework outlined above, for any type of access, an evolution of xed and mobile IP-enabled handsets is necessary. This step-by-step evolution is shown in gure 5 :

hosted

gure 5 : the step-by-step evolution of access devices The evolution from the legacy PBX to IP-PBX comes with the introduction of IP-enabled handsets or more complex user devices, either in desktop models for resident users or in wireless models for non-resident users. SIP will be the protocol of preference to signal these user devices across the network, anywhere, anytime. Mobility however is limited to the companys WLAN coverage. Mobility will expand as soon as mobile protocols become IP-enabled, which is the case with UMTS, which enables network roaming and supports presence applications across mobile networks. Ultimately, there will be single IP-enabled handsets that roam from WLAN at the customers premises to full mobility outside the reach of a WLAN. This will result in end-user control, anywhere, anytime, anyhow.

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5. Belgacoms professional convergence services portfolio in a nutshell

The Belgacom portfolio combines traditional voice solutions and data solutions with converged voice-data solutions. Moreover, Belgacom offers all kinds of converged voice-data solutions, from CPE-based to network-based solutions. Belgacom is therefore ideally placed to advise corporate customers on their solutions requirements, unlike most market players, which have an explicit advantage from one or another. From a telephony perspective, gure 6 gives the overview of the various options, ranging from legacy telephony solutions to IP-based telephony solutions. Using a secure web interface, the Trafc Routing Management module allows users to selfdene a dynamic & interactive routing of all incoming calls within their organization. The incoming calls are sent to the available resources within the organization, directly to the right person/service, based on the specic requirements of the calling party, which can be screened within the network using an Interactive Voice Responder. The Agent Contact Management module consists of the Contact Center features hosted in the legacy network which can be used in a exible way by the user, depending of his/her needs. The aim of these new network features is to respond to an increasing need to make the relationship with the customer more exible in order to increase productivity, while keeping costs under control. Today, the Voice Managed Services are integrated into the legacy network. In future, they will be integrated into the NGN, ensuring a transparent migration of our customers from the legacy to Next Generation Network. IP-enabled telephony solutions can consist either of a local IP-enabled PBX (branded Forum or Call Manager (Express) at Belgacom) at the companys premises, or a hosted IP-enabled PBX at the Belgacom data centers. The latter can be either a dedicated hosted IP Telephony Solution (ITS) for a specic customer, or a virtually dedicated IP Telephony Solution, which has shared hardware but dedicated software for a specic customer. NGN solutions are limited to Belgacom managed solutions, being either customer-sited or network-centric.

gure 6: overview of the Belgacom voice solutions

Legacy telephony solutions often consist of PBXs (branded Forum at Belgacom) with local numbering plans for corporate efciency, and can be enhanced with Intelligent Network solutions, hosted in the classical PSTN telephony network. Belgacom launched a new services platform Voice Managed Services providing customers with intelligent routing features on geographical numbers on the legacy network: Trafc Routing Management Agent Contact Management

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6. The convergence value proposition

Convergence can be seen as a step-by-step migration from distinct voice and data solutions to converged voice-data solutions. The decision to take each step depends on the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) benets of either that step or of the entire value proposition. The triggers for going ahead with convergence are illustrated in gure 7, and are determined by: The application requirements: the need for unied or real-time communications; virtual applications such as virtual ofce or virtual contact-center applications (where virtual is often taken to mean location-agnostic); CRM; Key moments in networking: the obsolescence of a PBX or a switch, the need to upgrade a router or moves of entire departments or locations; The users need for more efcient tools.

7. Conclusions
Belgacoms professional services vision aims to achieve: A unied and simplied user experience; Benetting from virtual and real-time collaboration models; Supported by a reliable, secure and collaborative NGN framework; Seamlessly integrated with the specic business processes of each company. In order to prepare for the next generation services, Belgacom has decided to introduce convergence across the board : At the operations level, NOC and SOC have been converged and make use of a single operations tool kit, end-to-end; At the engineering level, the IT and networks departments have been converged into a single engineering department, which is gradually changing the NGN framework into IP services with more features; At the product level, Belgacom offers the full range of voice and data products, and is expanding that strategy in its converged voice-data offering. Belgacom masters voice as well as data solutions and aims to become a neutral advisor on technologies. Belgacom aims to become a trusted, full-service ICT partner for companies, offering service ubiquity across IP-enabled next generation networks. Belgacom distinguishes itself by offering best-in-class products and services, guaranteed by strict SLAs. Belgacom has developed a tool to help the company switch to convergence, and invites other companies to examine that tool.

gure 7: triggers for going ahead with voice-data convergence The value proposition will be based on direct and indirect cost savings. Given that a companys data network can be used for voice trafc, direct cost savings will result from trafc reduction, the network convergence in the long term, and savings in ofce space with the introduction of a virtual ofce environment. Indirect cost savings are related to user management and user efciency, greater exibility (being able to move people around) and increased employee satisfaction as a result of working with a simpler and more user-friendly ICT tool kit. Efciency improvements, such as an improved customer service, outweigh lower telephony costs as the chief benet of migrating to a converged communication and IT platform. Since VoIP is inevitable over time, it has become vital for enterprises to build a realistic business case for its deployment. Too many companies are seduced by the promise of free calls over the data network and are hardly aware of the capabilities offered by the technology itself. The reality is total cost of ownership (TCO), especially when services are partially or fully managed by third parties, as in the case of many European companies. A typical business case is presented in frame 1. A key lesson is that the business case can be positive for certain departments in a company, but negative for other departments. IP telephony is neither a piecemeal nor a department-specic solution, but rather a foundation that should be seen in terms of the benets it can offer to a variety of organizational units, business initiatives and technology needs.

Acronyms & abbreviations

BCP COC CRM DoS ERP ICT IT IM IN IP ITS LAN MPLS NGN NOC PC
References:

Business Continuity Program Convergence Operation Center Customer Relation Management Denial of Service Enterprise Resource Planning Information and Communications Technology Information Technology Instant Messaging Intelligent Networks Internet Protocol IP Telephony Service Local Area Network Multiprotocol Label Switching Next Generation Network Network Operations Center Personal Computer

PDA PBX PSTN QoS SIP SLA SOC TCO TDM UM UMTS VCC VLAN VMS WAN WLAN

Personal Digital Assistant Private Branch Exchange Public Services Telephony Network Quality of Service Session Initiation Protocol Service Level Agreement Security Operations Center Total Cost of Ownership Time Division Multiplexing Unied Communication Universal Mobile Telecommunications System Virtual Contact Center Virtual LAN Voice Managed Services Wide Area Network Wireless LAN

[Gartner] Hype Cycle for Collaboration and Communication, 2005. [Gartner] Market Focus: Enterprises Must Make Realistic Case for Changing to Voice Over IP, Europe, 2005.