Dial Plan Management Features

VOSS-USM provides management support for the following dial plan features:

• Multiple Dial Plan support; for example both Multi-Tenant and Single Enterprise
• Multi-National dial plan support, allowing a single tenant to operate a single platform across locations in different countries.
• Common (overlapping) short dial codes within each tenant customer.
• Highly configurable Dial Plan templates, including:
  
• Variable length extension numbers per location
  
• Variable length site code numbers per customer
  
• Configurable external PSTN prefix per customer
  
• Configurable inter-site prefix per customer
  
• Configuration of emergency services call handling and number presentation
  
• Inter-working between IP-PBX and TDM-PBX
  
• Local number portability support (porting in and out).

IP Telephony and Unified Communications Provisioning Features

The VOSS-USM solution provides provisioning support for the following business IP telephony features:

• Full range of advanced calling features within a multi-tenant, multi-cluster, hybrid Cisco CallManager and Cisco PGW architecture, including end-user self-care for certain calling features
• Multiple sites for a tenant, which can be on single or multiple Cisco CallManager clusters.
• Mix of managed, centrally hosted (multi-tenant) Cisco CallManager clusters and managed, locally or centrally hosted, Cisco CallManager clusters that are each dedicated to a single enterprise.
• End-user extension mobility within a multi-site, multi-cluster environment
• Automated management of the selection and allocation of IP telephony resources, including dial plans, phones, lines, and voice infrastructure such as Cisco CallManager, Cisco PGW, IP Unity, and Netwise attendant consoles
• Management of phone registration and IP address allocations processes via integrated DHCP server provisioning—ensuring tight controls over IP phone usage
• Central and/or Local Gateway architecture variants, with SRST support
• Management of full range of Cisco IP Phones
• Call Admission Control
• Range of service driver protocols; including: XML-SOAP; Telnet, SSH, FTP/SFTP/SQL, Automated Email

IP Data Provisioning Features

The VOSS-USM solution provides provisioning support for the following business IP data features:

• Full range of advanced data features within a multi-tenant, multi-site, hybrid Cisco Router/Switch architecture, including: LAN Bandwidth (e.g. 512Kbps); LAN Bandwidth Type (Dedicated or Shared); IP Address type (Private to Public); Network Filter (ACL)
• Cisco ISR Router management (VLAN settings, Data-bandwidth, Firewall port settings (by VLAN), IP Helper Addresses, VPN service setting)
• Switch-Port to Patch-Port Association Table (To Support Comms Room Patching)
• Teleworker Phone & Data Services support via VPN link from SOHO to ISR router

Web-Based, Devolved Administration Features

VOSS-USM provides the following features to allow channels, customers and end users to participate in the administration of their own services:

• Secure, devolved administration of selected provisioning functions to enterprise customers and their end users, which also allows single or multiple Cisco CallManager clusters to be partitioned and shared among multiple customers.
• Fully configurable multi-level administration rights, enabling each administrator’s rights to be customized, with authenticated access and encrypted sessions.
• Management of multiple wholesale channels (or reseller channels), allowing each channel to only view and manage their own customers
• Web-browser GUI management interfaces, including support for end-user self-subscription to value-added products and services, which enables SPs to convert features into chargeable products.
• Fully 'Brandable' GUI screens
• Multi-language support

MAC administration features

VOSS-USM provides the following features to allow large and complex customers to be administered faster and at lower cost:

• Management of standard Moves, Adds and Changes of Phones and Users
• Management of Class of Service, including Time of Day and Call Forward Class of Service
• Full IPT Resource management, including IP Address Ranges, E164 Number Ranges, Lines, Analogue Gateways and Phones
• Management of Services, such as Mobility, Conferencing, Music on Hold, Video, PC Connection, etc.
• Bulk management of Applications, such as Emergency Services, Hunt Groups, Pick-up Groups, Voicemail, Speed Dials, etc.
• Operational Tools to perform multi-step processes with a single button, such as Reset all Phones in a Location, Change settings for all phones in a Location, Release all numbers in a Location, Replace a phone, etc
• Full roll-back of multi-step transactions.

IPT Deployment Features

VOSS-USM provides the following functionality to allow large and complex deployments to be delivered faster and at lower cost:

• Rapid IP telephony infrastructure deployment through bulk data configuration processes and use of dial plan templates, customizable on a tenant by tenant basis.
• Rapid IP Phone deployment through automated phone discovery and provisioning processes and use of configuration templates against business rules, on a tenant by tenant basis.
• Rapid activation of telephony services for new clients, sites, and users, including automated customer self-registration of IP phones.
• Support for mass configuration and provisioning using bulk-loaded data and data migration tools, including support for bulk re-provisioning of upgraded Cisco CallManager clusters.

Data Schema Support

The provisioning system provides the following functionality to allow system data to be presented in a standardized way:

• Resilient data schema storage for enterprise telephony service configuration information that describes customers, infrastructure, end users, phone devices, and services.
• Independent storage of phone service profiles from end-user service profiles, to allow users to roam from phone to phone across multiple switch-clusters.
• Secure access to data via ODBC interface, which allows for partitioned data reports (controlled by administration access rights)

OSS and BSS Integration

To simplify the integration of OSS and BSS functionality, the VOSS-USM provisioning system provides a published, two-way business-process-oriented API.

• Business-centric API (XML over HTTP)– e.g. Add-Modify-Delete Customers, Features, Locations, Users, Devices etc.
• Support for messaging to third-party BSS, NMS, OSS systems:
  
• Proprietary API adaptors (where required) (Customer-specific development)
  
• BSS messaging for billable services (Customer-specific development)

System Extensibility

The VOSS-USM provisioning system provides extensibility to support service provisioning of additional hosted, partitioned, voice and data services, such as:

• Attendant console
• Unified messaging services
• Auto Attendant services
• XML Phone-based Applications
• IP Contact Center (manual today, automated in early 2007)
• Video conferencing and video streaming
• Collaborative conferencing tools such as Cisco Net Meeting
• Cisco Unified Communications Roadmap, including: Presence, Unified Communicator, Fixed-Mobile convergence, etc.

Operational Scalability Features

The underlying VOSSManager cluster platform, which supports the USM solution, provides the following features to allow the IPT system to scale:

• IPT Platform scalability through provisioning support for additional Cisco CallManager server clusters and additional Cisco PGW switch pairs.
• The option of remotely managing additional dedicated Cisco CallManager clusters that are installed on-site at an enterprise customer location. Using a single BVSM provisioning system, SPs can support both centrally managed, centrally hosted customers and remotely managed, non-hosted customers.
• Incremental VOSS-USM performance scaling (via addition of additional VOSS-Server appliances)

Carrier-Class, High Availability Features

• High availability clustered architecture (with multiple VOSS-Server appliances)
  
• Multiple load-balanced application servers on multiple appliances
  
• RAID1 within each appliance
  
• Replicated data stores within cluster   
  
• Disaster Recovery (main/backup cluster)
  
• Fully redundant server networking, load-balancing and failover
• Multiple application support (including VoIP DHCP services and web-proxy servers)
• Provisioning platform security measures to deter hostile access to the IP telephony environment via the OSS systems.
• Rapid server swap-out procedure with Web-based cluster admin GUIs (in event of performance upgrade or server failure)
• 'Everfresh’ automated software upgrade support with minimal system outages.
• Automated cluster management & reconfiguration tools (minimizing cluster management complexity)
• Integrated network & application monitoring (including SNMP, Syslog and  email)