Page 8 - SkypeBuzz Fall 2015

8 SkypeBuzz by Telecom Reseller Autumn 2015
PBX Migration
JOHNSON CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Another Skype for Business requirement is the rewalling protection – the security – for SIP- connection between the SIP trunking service with Skype for
use of Fully Quali ed Domain Names (FQDN) based voice networks. Today’s E-SBCs provide and the Microso environment. ese optional
in many of the SIP Addressing elds. O en, SIP that crucial, business-class security, and also features have been used by SIP trunking service Business – A
trunk service providers deploy SIP trunks using resolve interoperability issues between other providers to o er Microso -quali ed SIP trunks,
only IP (Internet Protocol) addresses in the SIP on-premises equipment and the Microso with or without additional security such as TLS Case Study at
addressing elds.
server, resulting in a fast, simpli ed and robust and SRTP.
Enterprise Session Border Controllers (E-SBCs) installation.
e same Ingate product can also
LINN Energy
solve these problems. E-SBCs can provide a Security: Not All E-SBCs Created Equally integrate PBXs and other Uni ed
seamless format conversion of TCP to UDP,
E-SBCs ensure a seamless and reliable use of
Communications solutions into the Microso
and change IPs to FQDNs, enabling seamless Microso applications. However, not all E-SBCs environment. As Skype for Business gains market
interoperability between the SIP trunking service o er the same level of iron-clad security. Some share, enterprises (and service providers) can
Alan D. Percy
provider and Skype for Business.
E-SBCs sit at the edge of the network to provide only comply with the basic requirements.
Ingate Systems’ E-SBCs support TLS, be con dent that with an Ingate SIParator as the E-SBC, deployments will be quick and result
control over the SIP tra c. Traditionally E-SBCs SRTP, DNS load balancing, full failover and in a robust and secure SIP trunking and UC
were seen as just providing NAT traversal and
full consultative transfer, ensuring the secure
environment.
O
ne of the questions that o en arises with
businesses evaluating Lync and now
Skype for Business is “what happens with
my existing PBX?” A good question that if le Sennheiser announces that its
un-answered leaves CIOs and IT Managers stuck
in their tracks, o en without a clear migration
strategy.
range of premium headsets and
is is exactly the topic of a discussion I had
during an interview with Mary Beth Kirk, UC and
Network Administrator for LINN Energy during
the most recent Microso Ignite event in Chicago.
speakerphones solutions that are
As a fast-growing energy exploration company,
LINN Energy had grown to occupy a number of
oors in their corporate o ce in Houston TX, qualified on Lync 2013 are also
along with a number of remote locations, ranging
from eld service o ces to drilling operations. eir fast growth was out-pacing their aging and
end-of-life Mitel PBX and it was time for a change. Certified for Skype for Business
As Mary Beth Kirk noted as to the impetus for the
move: “Our Mitel PBXs were costly to maintain
and we didn’t have a person on-sta to maintain
them.requiring expensive time-and-materials
contracts”
To facilitate the move to Lync, Mary Beth
and her team chose to start with their corporate Sennheiser’ s headsets and speakerphones that are
o ce in Houston, guring it would be easier to qualified on Lync 2013 are now also Certified for Skype
manage the process at their o ce before going
to the eld. e Mitel PBXs that would be kept for Business.
during the transition, with plans to retire them at
the end of their Lync migration. “Rather than try
and transition 800 employees in one weekend, we This certification means that Sennheiser products enable
chose to make a staged transition, migrating one Skype for Business users to communicate in the most
oor at a time”
With the advice and help from their partner effective way, wherever they are, with plug-and play
Time2Market, LINN chose AudioCodes “drop and insert” architecture, inserting two Mediant simplicity, proven compatibility and high-quality audio.
1000 media gateway into the trunk-side of each of
their PBXs. With this architecture, LINN could
migrate each oor of employees from the PBX to
Lync with a few changes to their Active Directory
entries, maintaining four-digit dialing while
allowing employees to keep their DID numbers
and migrate to Lync in teams or work-groups.
“When we were ready to decommission the
PBXs a few months later, it made it very easy to
decommission them and move on.”
Upon completing their migration, all 73
facilities and 2,300 employees were on Lync,
leveraging the enterprise voice features to replace
their since decommissioned PBXs. But the story
doesn’t stop there, as Mary Beth explained the next
step was moving their PSTN circuits at both their
Houston and Oklahoma o ces over to SIP trunks,
using AudioCodes Mediant 3000 Enterprise
Session Border Controllers (SBCs) to terminate the SIP trunks. “With SIP Trunks, we were able
to really address our survivability and disaster
recovery issues...it is imperative for us to maintain
a high level of service to our end-users”
We wrapped up our conversation discussing
the new Skype for Business client and plans to
implement server-side functions as they come. en-us.sennheiser.com/headsets-business-office-speakerphones
Enthusiastically, Mary Beth said “We’ve been
testing and evaluating the new Skype for Business
client and I love it!”
eir migration continues and Mary Beth
encourages those interested in the process to
follow her progress on Twitter @Ditch ePBX.
You can view the whole interview on the
AudioCodes Channel on YouTube at: https://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z07TL0Kzx08

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