Monitor assures VoIP quality

NetTest reckons its MasterQuest VoIP solution is the most complete service assurance system for voice-over-IP networks.

NetTest reckons its MasterQuest VoIP solution is the most complete service assurance system for voice-over-IP networks, enabling real-time decisions that increase network availability and heighten customer satisfaction.

The sharp escalation of VoIP call volume has created a sense of urgency among carriers and service providers to better manage network complexity, perceived voice quality, and steadily increasing operational expenses resulting from the introduction of new IP-based services.

NetTest's MasterQuest VoIP Solution, scalable to global VoIP backbone networks, combines troubleshooting with key performance indicators that support management of suppliers' service level agreements.

Business advantages of the MasterQuest VoIP Solution include the industry's most competitive total cost of ownership, more efficient network use, greater operational flexibility and compelling new services that enhance end-user productivity.

According to analyst firm Frost and Sullivan, the compound annual growth rate for the global VoIP test equipment market segment for installation, maintenance and monitoring applications is estimated to be 29% over the next several years.

"VoIP networks are complex in nature and so is the process of managing voice quality in the network", said Ganapathi Subramanian, Research Analyst at Frost and Sullivan.

"To address this issue, service providers need effective real-time monitoring systems that provide complete visibility into the network performance and end-user's quality of service experience".

"NetTest is meeting this demand with its new MasterQuest VoIP offering".

NetTest has enabled simultaneous monitoring and correlation of signalling across IP and SS7 domains; KPIs for VoIP quality of service (QoS) and for the call performance of the network.

With this new solution, an operator can monitor the perceived voice quality for every ongoing call and create detailed statistics to be used in areas such as SLA management.

"As enterprise demand for VoIP increases without significant additions to network operations staffing, a clear need has emerged for a turnkey approach to gaining intelligence for better service management decisions", says Jorgen Weber, Vice President and Head of the Systems Business Unit at NetTest.

"The MasterQuest VoIP solution gives network operations managers the confidence they need now to make critical decisions impacting the quality of network performance".

QoS indicators such as loss, jitter and latency - as well as network call performance covering answer-to-seizure ratio, call duration and many more parameters - are also included, as are: VoIP quality assurance via session performance measures; network call performance via powerful data warehouse solutions; unparalleled flexibility through service provider-oriented scaling to more than 200 million data records per day; web integration; and the ability to build on open platforms such as Corba, Oracle and Linux.

Just a few of the MasterQuest VoIP solution's potential troubleshooting capabilities for network optimisation include tracing of SIP/ISUP calls and RTP/SIP sessions across the SS7 and VoIP domains; detailed protocol analysis including the H.248 (MEGACO) protocol; and network surveillance.

MasterQuest also performs powerful tracing of calls or, more generically, sessions for further fine-tuning and managing the converged network.

Along with troubleshooting, MasterQuest VoIP Solution offers a comprehensive set of statistics related to session quality as well as to overall call performance.

Detailed as well as high-level reports are provided in this data warehouse-based solution that helps users better understand the perceived voice quality of the network and its efficiency to handle calls.

Corresponding reports are applicable to all levels and enable valuable analysis that facilitates actions throughout an organisation.

As an example, excellent QoS and/or intercarrier call performance can be used for marketing purposes while other statistics can be used to pinpoint areas that require more detailed troubleshooting.

All reports and applications are accessible via the web-based MasterQuest portal where each user can customise the composition of desired MasterQuest applications.

All users gain a single consolidated view of the network through dashboard scorecards displaying real-time information collected and processed from the wide range of MasterQuest probes and applications.

This world-class solution for VoIP networks integrates seamlessly with existing MasterQuest systems for PSTN, GSM, GPRS and UMTS networks and supports troubleshooting across all domains.

Hence, well-established MasterQuest applications such as call trace, protocol analysis and alarm management are also supported for VoIP.

All core MasterQuest solution components for VoIP re-use the same architecture as the MasterQuest systems already deployed worldwide, allowing MasterQuest users to easily upgrade their existing systems to also support VoIP and thereby monitor the complete network in an integrated fashion.

Integration with NetTest OSS solutions for monitoring and troubleshooting, service management and revenue optimisation is also assured, providing VoIP network operators with end-to-end monitoring, management, reporting, inter-carrier and subscriber billing verification, fraud detection, and interconnect performance.

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