The MegaPath Connectivity Blog

If you haven’t had a chance to read Michael Francois’ last post; now is a good time because his insights are closely related to today’s Managed Services workshop at Channel Partners Conference in Las Vegas. MegaPath’s Bernie McGroder, who heads our sales engineering team, will be participating on the panel “Becoming an MSP: Is Managed Services Right for You?”  He’ll be in good company with industry leaders from Nemertes Research and CompTIA, among others. If you’re at the show today in Vegas, definitely plan to join Bernie at 2:30 pm.

On a daily basis Bernie and his team of sales engineers work closely with customers to help them identify the most pressing issues in IT operations and service delivery for the companies they support; and of course, to counsel those teams on the value that a dedicated outside team of voice, data, and security network experts can provide as a managed services partner. Bernie will be tackling the subject of earned and learned experience when he covers what becoming an MSP entails — from building and staffing a 24/7 NOC, to developing a service portfolio, to building processes and transitioning customers to the new delivery platform. In a recent conversation with an engineer from Bernie’s team, he noted “there really isn’t a customer network problem or situation we haven’t seen before. Our customers seem to appreciate all the experience we draw from, and our ability to meet their issue where it’s at, with the right advice.”

It’s this collective knowledge base and the experience gained from running 24/7/365 NOCs  that Michael Francois talked about in his insights on MegaPath’s successful certification process to achieve Cisco Master Managed Services Provider status. There may be a long list of MSPs in North America, but we’re honored to be part of this elite group of Cisco MSP partners.  Few MSPs can claim their expertise across voice, data, and secure network operations. In addition to NOCs, MegaPath runs a Secure Operations Center.  Back in a June 2009 post we noted the success our SOC team has had in supporting security customers by surpassing a 300,000 user milestone on our SSL platform, and more than 3.5 billion sessions. We’re seeing much demand for SSL VPN services, and just last month we passed another record.

Now that brings me to voice, which is a significant and growing part of MegaPath’s business. Our Connecticut-based voice operations team has been successfully providing managed Duet(SM) integrated voice and data services to customers and addressing 3 varieties – analog, PRI, and SIP trunking — for several years. Starting today MegaPath is introducing Duet Hosted Voice, a new hosted service solution addition to the Duet product family. We’re unquestionably excited about it, because even though MegaPath has been providing cloud-powered calling before the cloud was cool; many customers have been asking for a hosted VoIP service. For a sneak peek of what’s really special about Duet Hosted, stop by Booth 1301 at the Channel Partners show. You can also get a deeper dive into Duet Hosted by attending MegaPath University (also at Channel Partners in Room Islander B). The sessions are FREE, just register online for tomorrow’s courses.

Finally, since I’m on the subject of hosted voice, this is a great time to welcome a new voice for voice to Connectivity. Tomorrow you’ll get a chance to meet Diane Giuffre who has been knee-deep in getting Duet Hosted ready for our customers. Remember, if you’re in Vegas for Channel Partners, don’t miss Bernie McGroder’s session today or MegaPath University tomorrow!

With the end of the year coming up fast, it seems like it is a good time to take a look at what 2010 has in store for us.  Several trends in business connectivity have developed over the last year, and will continue to further evolve in 2010.  Here is a list of 10 topics you should take into consideration as you do your planning for next year.

SIP Trunking - VoIP really exploded this year, due both to the increased functionality and the cost savings it offered to so many companies.   In 2010, combining SIP trunking with MPLS and security is going to really take off.

Managed Security - Everyone knows that security is vital in today’s business climate.  In fact, in many instances it is mandated.  More SMBs and small enterprises, who don’t necessarily have dedicated IT staff, will be outsourcing this function to a partner whose 24/7/365 NOCs will monitor and ensure that communications integrity is maintained.

Extended Workforce - Several events over the last year, including the H1N1 flu pandemic and various disasters, highlighted the need for the workforce to be able to access corporate communications from their home offices.  Telecommuting will see large scale adoption in 2010. Make sure you work with a partner who can reach your team wherever they are, and with DSL, Cable, Satellite and Wireless options.

Enterprise Social Networking - Facebook and Twitter exploded in 2009, and the communication capabilities they offer will invade the workplace in 2010.  Look for various offerings in both internal and cross-company social networking in 2010, and make sure your network has the security and connectivity necessary to meed the demands of these applications.

Cloud Computing – We’ve been hearing about this one for a while, but I expect 2010 will be the year many companies move to adopt this technology.  With Google and Microsoft both prepared with web applications, and with many companies having broadband connectivity in place, it seems like this is the year this might all come together.

Business Ethernet - Ethernet has always been a simple, high speed bandwidth option used for the LAN. In 2010, we will see large scale adoption of Business Ethernet for the WAN by SMBs and Enterprises due to the new economics that allow you to leverage these large pipes for a low cost.

Enterprise Video - Telepresence, Video Conferencing, Video Surveillance  and Video Training will all see a major push in the next year, as businesses leverage these technologies to save costs, increase revenues and keep their workforces up to speed.  It is vital that your network partner be ready with QoS enabled across many bandwidth options so you that you can be sure the video gets through loud and clear.

Extended Enterprise - People now work wherever they happen to be.  In 2010, we will see more adoption by Enterprises of systems and policies that allow people to access anyone, from any location, on any device, at any time.  Managed SSL VPNs will enable businesses to realize such a goal, while lowering costs and ensuring the security of sensitive data at all times.

Wireless Data - The application of wireless technologies to business communications will continue to grow.  For years now, businesses have leveraged wireless voice applications to great success. In 2010, we will continue to see more deployment of data applications across wireless networks, both 3G and 4G.  Wireless data technologies can enable rapid provisioning of communications to a store, offer an excellent option for backing up wireline communications, and can be used by your mobile workforce to access corporate data on devices such as Netbooks.

Payment Card Security - Securing credit card transactions will be the focus of a great deal of activity in 2010.  The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) will continue to evolve (PDF), and changes in areas like wireless networking will need to be implemented in 2010.  All levels of merchants should be working with a PCI DSS Validate Service Provider (PDF) payment card extranet partner to make sure they are ready for the changes in the coming year.

People have been asking me ‘What is a SIP Trunk, and why do I want one?’ lately, I imagine as a result of all the positive press SIP Trunks have received lately.  In response, I’ve put together this quick list of 5 facts on SIP Trunks that will hopefully help as you consider your connectivity options

1. What is a SIP Trunk, anyway?

A Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) Trunk is a service that connects a company’s PBX to the existing public switched telephone network (PSTN) via the Internet by making use of  the SIP standard. 

3. There is a lot of talk these days about ‘Hosted VOIP’. Why would a business choose a SIP trunk over such a service?

This question really comes down to whether you want a telephony service that is physically located at your business, or whether you want to completely outsource your telephony needs.  Many businesses want the security and reliability of a premise based PBX, as it allows for greater control.  SIP Trunks are perfect for these customers, offering them a technicaly sound solution and cost savings at the same time.

4. Wait a minute, did you say a SIP Trunk will also get me Internet access?

A SIP Trunk uses IP to deliver phone calls to the PSTN.  Depending upon the volume of calls placed, any excess bandwidth not being utilized for VoIP can be used to access the Internet.  By moving to a product like DUET from a traditional PRI, you may find that not only do you save money on your phone bill, but on your Internet access bill as well.

5. What hardware do I need to make use of SIP Trunks?

You will need to have a PBX that is capable of connecting to a SIP Trunk.  There are many of these on the market, from custom turn-key solutions, to open source solutions that many businesses implement themselves.  When you work with your SIP provider, they will be able to tell you if your current PBX is compatible with this money-saving service.

There is an interesting article on NetworkWorld (also avaiable on over on ComputerWorld) that talks about what plans you should be making for your WAN.  It points out that MPLS and Ethernet are widely deployed and are clearly mainstream solutions, and that most enterprises are now supporting remote access via tunnelling, whether that is SSL or IPSec.  If you aren’t already using these tools, the article recommends you should look into them.  The article goes on to point out that SIP Trunking is gaining traction with business in a big way, and that most business should be looking into how they could be better utilizing managed services.

Of course, with one phone call to the right partner, you could speak to experienced experts on all of these topics, who have been deploying these solutions succesfully for years.

A report out by The Eastern Management Group states that Open Source PBXs (such as Asterisk) were  used to deploy more new installed lines than solutions from Cisco, Avaya and Nortel last year.  The report indicates that Open Source PBXs now have 18% of the market, and that growth in 2008 was 40%.

This clearly indicates something that we knew, which is that Open Source PBXs are not a niche market, but a solution that customers have embraced.  Keep in mind that regardless of the PBX solution you deploy, you want an experienced partner who can deliver the connectivity and VOIP features you need.  SIP Trunking solutions from MegaPath work great with any IP PBX solution, including Asterisk.  And, if you are using a digital PBX from a vendor like MITEL or NEC, a PRI solution is available to assist you in realizing the benefits of VoIP.

If voice quality and security are key concerns for you, please look into layering MPLS into your VoIP solution. MPLS+VoIP from the right partner will give you a simple, scalable and managed solution that will increase your communications capabilities while lowering costs.