Cisco IP Telephony operates at a system level by interacting with many different IP Telephony components: CallManager, IP phones, gateways, applications, and much more. The system as a whole must be properly configured and maintained to ensure a smooth, successful deployment. This book highlights those best practices that aid in a successful deployment, and this chapter helps you ensure that all aspects of the IP Telephony solution work together seamlessly to meet business objectives and fulfill user expectations.
You'll notice a strong focus on PBX migration in this chapter because this type of installation is becoming the most prevalent. However, successful implementations of any telephony solution depend on careful planning. Most steps covered in this chapter apply equally well to green field deployments (new installations with no prior IP telephony) because most users have experienced phone systems before and have a standard set of expectations. A good plan ensures a smooth, methodical, documented deployment of the complete Cisco CallManager solution. This chapter focuses first on the current environment as it covers these topics:
Assessing and documenting the current network infrastructure to ensure proper quality of service (QoS), availability, and security
Documenting the existing and desired dial plan, classes of service, analog requirements, recording needs, and the call detail record (CDR) method to ensure transparency of operation
Talking with existing users to determine the current applications in use, phone usage patterns, and most-used features
Understanding the various add-on hardware in use by end users, including headsets, conference room microphones, amplifiers, wallboards (used in call centers for displaying real-time queue statistics), and recording equipment
Choosing Cisco equipment
Then the focus of the chapter progresses to the actual implementation of the solution, with topics such as:
Creating various templates for phone creation
Selecting training topics
Establishing a rollout plan
Developing a second-day support plan
Creating a problem reporting and escalation plan
Establishing operations procedures
Read the Solution Reference Network Designs
This book is not meant to be a design guide. Cisco Solution Reference Network Designs (SRND), shown in Figure 1-1, provide guidelines for designing network infrastructures. The SRNDs are based on the experiences of many Cisco customers and engineers and give you information that outlines the best deployments. The SRNDs supply design guidance to implement an overall network architecture. There's no reason to repeat that information here, because all the SRNDs can be found on Cisco.com at either of the following links:
http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/779/largeent/it/ese/srnd.html
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Figure
1-1 SRNDs on Cisco.com