Improving the backbone with dual redundant SIP service
Features
An article featured in Converge Digest and written by Ian Colville, Product Manager, Aculab
Gaining consensus among communications technology vendors is not the most natural thing in the world, particularly when the topic is innovation. As can be expected, virtually all technology providers will advocate the protocol or delivery model that best suits their business objectives. And who can blame them when they have so much riding on the commercial appeal of their newest applications, products and services?
So when there is mutual agreement surrounding a particular concept, platform or protocol, you can bet that there’s a really good chance that there’s something deeply profound and compelling about the underlying technology. And that’s where we find hosted communications solutions today. These advanced communications solutions in the cloud have become the ’darling‘ of industry pundits, who continue to rally behind applications like hosted Voice over IP, conferencing and contact center solutions as the next incarnation of communications technology that can substantially change the market.
Momentum Continues for Hosted Solutions
There are many good reasons for this sense of optimism. As a rule of thumb, hosted solutions are less expensive to deliver than hardware-based technology, and in return, are priced accordingly to the user. It’s also far easier and faster to integrate hosted services into a network, rather than trying to fit third-party software into a legacy infrastructure, which adds to its appeal.
In addition, maintaining user and organizational productivity becomes much more streamlined, since upgrades and enhancements come through the cloud. Of course, there are a host of other efficiencies, like lower energy consumption, a smaller data center footprint, and minimal maintenance costs that make the hosted delivery model so attractive.
And the momentum towards hosted services adoption is well underway.
According to the market research firm Ovum, hosted communications services are expected to quadruple by the year 2014, generating an estimated $9 billion in revenue. In its findings, Ovum believes that SIP-based services, like hosted communications, emergency services and business continuity solutions, will grow over 30 per cent during each of the next three years.
We certainly concur; the growth cycle for hosted communications services is already impressive. More and more vendors sprout up each month to attract the multitudes of customers—both business and consumer—that can leverage the multiple efficiencies available through communications services delivered from the cloud.
Challenges in the Network
As exciting as the possibilities are, and as pronounced as the benefits appear, there remains a very harsh reality regarding the supporting infrastructure for SIP-based services. Essentially, the IP infrastructure that serves as the foundation for these solutions and services lags, in terms of reliability and resilience, compared to traditional SS7-based telephony networks. SIP-based services continue to suffer from lack of network resilience and failover within the IP network. Concepts like ’five-nines‘ reliability and ’always on‘ availability are not the norm in an IP setting. Packet loss, along with the challenges of traversing disparate IP networks, remains a challenge.
This dynamic can be particularly problematic for many hosted solutions providers as they look to migrate customers away from legacy technology to SIP-based solutions. The influx of new customers, who by and large have had positive experiences with legacy networks, means they will fully expect that the SIP-based services will perform in a manner similar to solutions in an SS7 environment. Simply put, customers will not tolerate any degradation in quality or reliability from their new solutions, nor should they. If their experiences are less than optimal, there is every chance that the migration to next-generation solutions will be short-lived at best.
Service providers know they are on a slippery slope. While the advantages of hosted services are broadly apparent, the reliability of the underlying technology must be improved in order to properly meet the expectations of customers.
Enter the Dual Redundant SIP Service
While there are varying methods and conversations on how to best improve the performance of IP-based solutions, there is growing interest in the deployment of a Dual Redundant SIP Service (DRSS) within the IP network. This capability, which employs advanced signaling gateways based on powerful digital signaling processor (DSP) platforms, increases the reliability of the SIP-based solution to the level of legacy TDM-based technology. DRSS signaling gateways operate in a paired configuration with an active server and a standby server that mirrors the active server in real time (just as SS7 signaling nodes are configured).
Communications service providers measure their performance based on network resilience and service continuity. Resilience is addressed by ’prevention‘ and ’cure‘ strategies with respect to system failures. Service continuity is a logical product of a highly resilient network. In the event of a failure, the redundant operation of the DRSS signaling nodes ensures the system intelligently fails-over to the standby. Calls that are connected at the time of such a failure remain connected just like in the SS7 world. This virtually creates a self-healing infrastructure, transparent to the user.
DRSS also enables network operators to maintain and upgrade network nodes without causing service interruptions. Forcing a switch-over to the standby signal node allows technicians access to live networks with little risk to service continuity, enabling improvements, enhancements and problem resolution without an impact on customers.
Conclusion
While most industry experts and influencers wholeheartedly support the notion that hosted communications services will continue to gain momentum in the marketplace, the challenge lies squarely on the shoulders of providers who must find a way to improve the reliability of the IP infrastructure in order to satisfy user expectations. A Dual Redundant SIP Service is an effective and reliable means for hosted services vendors to improve network performance and ensure the seamless delivery of cloud-based voice, collaboration, contact center and high-demand business and consumer services.
Learn more about Aculab's Dual Redundant SIP Serivce.
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