NETWORK WORLD NEWSLETTER: STEVE TAYLOR AND JOANIE WEXLER ON WIDE AREA NETWORKING 10/14/04 Today's focus: Managing and troubleshooting VoIP
Dear [EMAIL PROTECTED], In this issue: * VoIP performance mgmt. architecture emerges * Links related to Wide Area Networking * Featured reader resource _______________________________________________________________ This newsletter is sponsored by Adtran New WAN access solution lowers overall connectivity costs! The new NetVanta 1224STR from ADTRAN combines a modular 56k to dual T1 DSU/CSU, 24-port managed Layer 2 Ethernet switch, full-featured IP router, stateful inspection firewall, VPN, and in a compact 1U chassis. Available at a price well below competing multi-box solutions, the NetVanta 1224STR will change the way you connect! Register to win a NetVanta 1224STR now!! http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=84597 _______________________________________________________________ SECURITY CONCERNS STOPPING YOUR WLAN PLANS? Is it possible to deploy a secure wireless LAN with technology available today? That question preys on the minds of IT executives who are tempted to deploy enterprise WLANs, but are hesitant because of security concerns. Find out what we uncovered when we assembled 23 wireless products trying to get to the answer. Click here: http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=84765 _______________________________________________________________ Today's focus: Managing and troubleshooting VoIP By Steve Taylor and Joanie Wexler As you know, managed IP services have been inching farther onto the enterprise premise. Some carriers, such as Equant and Infonet, offer managed VoIP services that not only include converged voice and data transport in the WAN, but managed IP telephony services on the LAN, as well. As wireless LANs begin carrying VoIP traffic, the finger-pointing has the potential to get ugly. If you begin to experience poor-quality VoIP calls, whose issue is it? Does your IP telephony contract allow for a WLAN access point to be attached to the configuration, potentially with 802.11 handsets hanging off of it? If not, who's in charge of figuring out the call-quality issues that the roaming wireless caller is experiencing? After all, degradation could have to do with the wireless access medium or mobile handset - but it could just as easily be a wired LAN or WAN issue. Given that VoIP requires more real-time troubleshooting and resolution than data - let's face it, who wants to wait for people to analyze reports and correlate trends while on the call - there's work afoot to create a performance management architecture for VoIP. It involves special agent software getting embedded in the equipment that sits in the VoIP calling path. The agents report, in real time, on packet loss, discard, latency, and jitter and signaling issues. In the case of wireless, these agents would be in your 802.11 phones, access points, WLAN switches and in your wireless monitoring probes and analyzers. The agents are also in the wired LAN and WAN gear that your service provider provides, including the WAN gateways, IP PBXs and so forth. If you need to troubleshoot VoIP calls - or want to make sure your managed-services provider is able to - you might wish to ask about support for this monitoring capability. A company called Telchemy, which makes such software agents (dubbed VQmon) and collection software (SQmon) is one company selling agents to network equipment makers. Telchemy's technology has yielded some VoIP QoS reporting standards, such as the IETF Real-time Transport Protocol Control Protocol Extended Reporting (RTCP XR) protocol and ITU QoS reporting protocols for the H.323 and Megaco signaling protocols. Another company in this space is Psytechnics, whose software has become ITU-standard for intrusive voice-quality metrics. Meantime, if you have trouble diagnosing a VoIP problem, Telchemy created a Website ( <http://www.voiptroubleshooter.com/> ). The site contains information and online diagnosic tools for network managers to use when investigating and resolving VoIP-related call quality problems. RELATED EDITORIAL LINKS VOIPtroubleshooter.com Web site http://www.voiptroubleshooter.com/ Two vendors measure VoIP quality Network World Network/Systems Management Newsletter, 12/16/02 http://www.nwfusion.com/newsletters/nsm/2002/01668190.html _______________________________________________________________ To contact: Steve Taylor and Joanie Wexler Steve Taylor is President of Distributed Networking Associates and Publisher/Editor-in-Chief of Webtorials.Com. For more detailed information on most of the topics discussed in this newsletter, connect to Webtorials.Com <http://www.webtorials.com/>, the first Web site dedicated exclusively to market studies and technology tutorials in the Broadband Packet areas of Frame Relay, ATM, and IP. He can be reached at <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Joanie Wexler is an independent networking technology writer/editor in California's Silicon Valley who has spent most of her career analyzing trends and news in the computer networking industry. She welcomes your comments on the articles published in this newsletter, as well as your ideas for future article topics. Reach her at <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. _______________________________________________________________ This newsletter is sponsored by Veritas Meta Group Whitepaper Database Infrastructure Performance Challenges: Approaches to Better Manage Application Database and Storage Subsystem Performance Corporate relational databases now manage the majority of business-critical data within the enterprise. IT organizations face continuing challenges in managing increasingly complex, data-driven application environments. Read this white paper to discover several factors which will converge to challenge the IT organization's ability to manage its database software infrastructure. http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=84728 _______________________________________________________________ ARCHIVE LINKS Archive of the WAN newsletter: http://www.nwfusion.com/newsletters/frame/index.html _______________________________________________________________ FEATURED READER RESOURCE CHECK OUT NW FUSION'S WHITE PAPER LIBRARY Visit Today: NW Fusion's White Paper Library with new features and improved capabilities! Sort NW Fusion's library of white papers by Date and Vendor, view white papers by TECHNCIAL CATEGORY, mouse over white paper descriptions and take advantage of our IMPROVED white paper search engine. CLICK HERE: <http://www.nwfusion.com/vendorview/whitepapers.html> _______________________________________________________________ May We Send You a Free Print Subscription? 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