Sascha KylauBusiness Development Manager, Central Station & Communication Products - Global

What is VoIP and how can it effect your business?

What is VoIP?

Voice over IP or VoIP is a term used in IP telephony for a set of facilities that use the Internet Protocol (IP) to deliver voice information

In general, this means sending voice information in digital form in discrete packets rather than in the traditional circuit-committed protocols of the public switched telephone network (PSTN)

A major advantage of VoIP and Internet telephony is that they avoid the tolls charged by ordinary telephone service

Different Types of VoIP

AT&T/Verizon IP Flex circuits (IP T1’s)

Verizon FIOS (Fiber to the premises)

Packet Switched Networks

•UK (CN21), Spain, Canada

Cable (Digital Phone) Facilitated VoIP

Internet VoIP (Vonage) Non-Facilitated VoIP

AT&T/Verizon IP Flex Circuits

IP Flex T1

•IP Flex T1 is specifically designed for small businesses that are looking for a cost-effective way to carry voice and data over the same connection and require only standard voice telephony features.

•Can be custom built with specific features and codecs

Verizon FiOS

Fiber circuit right to the premise

Get bundled service (TV, Internet, Phone)

Digital to the outside of the house

Software upgrades are routinely performed (No service during this time)

Packet Switched Networks

Some countries are switching their entire phone network to an IP backbone and switches

UK (CN21)

Spain

Canada (Bell Canada)

Cable Digital Phone

Cable companies have their own voice over data product

They call it digital phone

They convert voice in to data packets using their own proprietary protocol (DOCSIS)

Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification is an international standard developed by CableLabs

Internet VoIP

There are many different types of VoIP applications that use the Internet

•There are peer to peer PC applications such as Skype

•Applications that use MTA’s such as Vonage

•IP PBX applications that use the Internet/Intranet to make virtual extensions available to companies with multiple offices without having to buy a switch for each office

Facilitated VoIP

The above figure shows the communication path through a facilitated Voice over IP provider. In this example the alarm panel has a POTS connection from the MTA. The MTA then converts the call into IP packets and sends the information across the provider network through a cable modem to a server that is connected to an SS7 switch. The call is then converted back to analog and sent across the public switch telephone network to the receiver in the central station.

Central Station Receiver

Cable Network PSTN Network

Alarm Panel

MTA

SS7

Switch

Cable Modem

Non-Facilitated VoIP

The above figure shows the communication path through a Non-facilitated Voice over IP provider. In this example the alarm panel has a POTS connection from the MTA. The MTA then converts the call into IP packets and sends the information through the DSL modem to the Internet using and then onto the VoIP provider network to a server that is connected to an SS7 switch. The call is then converted back to analog and sent across the public switch telephone network to the receiver in the central station.

ISP PSTN Network

Alarm PanelCentral Station Receiver

MTA

SS7

Switch VoIP Provider

DSL Modem

What is a Codec?

Codec•A codec is a device or program capable of encoding and/or decoding a digital data stream or signal.

•Codecs are used to convert an analog voice signal to digitally encoded version. •Codecs vary in sound quality, the bandwidth required, the computational requirements etc. There many different types of codes that encode analog signals such as G711, G722, G723, G726, G729 etc.

How can a Codec effect alarm transmission?There are many different types of codecs and their characteristics differ as well for example:

G.711

•G.711 is an ITU-T standard for audio compounding.

•It is primarily used in telephony

•G.711 emulates the circuit switched network and works best with alarm communication

•G.711 also uses the most bandwidth of any of the codecs which also makes it the least cost effective

How can a Codec effect alarm transmission?

G.729

•G.729 is mostly used in Voice over IP (VoIP) applications for its low bandwidth requirement.

•G.729 is an audio data compression algorithm for voice that compresses voice audio in chunks of 10 milliseconds.

•Music or tones such as DTMF or fax tones can only be transported reliably with this codec using the RTP payload for DTMF Digits, Telephony Tones, and Telephony Signals as specified in RFC 2833, and thus use G.711 or out-of-band methods to transport these signals

Alternate Alarm Transmission Methods

GSM

•GPRS (DSC, Honeywell)

•SMS (Tellular, Uplink)

Radio

•Licensed/ Unlicensed (AES, KP Electronics)

Internet/Intranet

•TCP/IP (Honeywell, GE)

•UDP/IP (DSC, Bosch, DMP)

•VOIP Gateway products (NextAlarm.com, LoBeen etc.)

Using IP for Alarm Signaling

Pro’s for using IP

•Supervision of an alarm panel can be accomplished when using IP signaling

•Higher level of security

•Alarms can be received much quicker when using IP for communication than over traditional POTS

•Much faster upload/download of the panel

Con’s for using IP

•If there is a power outage then a UPS on all network equipment that the communicator is linked to is required

•The premise connection to the Internet/Intranet is only as good as the ISP being used

Using Digital Cellular or Radio for Alarm SignalingPro’s for using Cellular

•Can be run off of a battery so it will work during power outages

•Not effected by phone line cuts

Con’s for using Cellular

•Signal strength and coverage maybe an issue in certain areas

•Additional Cost

•Not conducive for all building environments and may require an external antenna

Using VoIP Gateway TechnologiesPro’s for using VoIP Gateway products:

•Use existing panel in the premise

•Acts like a phone line

•Upload/download the panel

Con’s for using VoIP Gateway products:

•Cost

•Power outages

•Reliability of ISP

•Added potential point of failure (Clearing center/software receiver)

Wrap Up

The Phone networks are changing

Increasing amount of technology options for sending alarms

POTS communication will not always work

Questions?

• VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol)– A technology for transmitting ordinary telephone calls over the Internet using packet linked routes.

• Internet– The vast collection of inter-connected networks that all use the TCP/IP protocols and that evolved from the ARPANET of the late 60's

and early 70's. The Internet now (July 1995) connects roughly 60,000 independent networks into a vast global internet

• Intranet– A private network inside a company or organization that uses the same kinds of software that you would find on the public Internet,

but only for internal use

• NOC (Network Operations Center)– NOC is the organization responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Internet', telecommunications or cable company component

networks • ISP (Internet Service Provider)

– A business that provides subscriber-based access to the Internet. Subscribers can be individuals or businesses. ISP’s operate at the fourth or lowest level of the Internet.

• Packet Switching– A means of economically sending and receiving data over multiple network channels. Packet switching takes data and breaks it down

into packets-small bundles of information containing the payload and routing information. The packets are then transmitted to the receiving end, where they are converted back to the original data

Glossary

• Circuit Switching– In telecommunications, a circuit switching network is one that establishes a fixed bandwidth circuit (or channel) between nodes and

terminals before the users may communicate, as if the nodes were physically connected with an electrical circuit. The bit delay si constant during the connection, as opposed to packet switching, where packet queues may cause varying delay

• Signaling System #7 (SS7)– The basis for routing traffic with out-of-bound signaling. SS7 in itself is not a network service offering, but rather the underlying

infrastructure upon which many existing and proposed offerings are based.

• Codec– A codec is a device or program capable of encoding and/or decoding a digital data stream or signal. Codecs are used to convert an

analog voice signal to digitally encoded version. Cedecs vary in sound quality, the bandwidth required, the computational requirements etc.

• ITU (International Telecommunication Union)– Established to standardize and regulate international radio and telecommunications. It was founded as the International Telegraph

Union in Paris on May 17, 1865. Its main tasks include standardization, allocation of radio spectrum, and organizing interconnection arrangements between different countries to allow international phone calls

• RFC (Request for Comments)– In computer network engineering, a request for comments is a memorandum published by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)

describing methods, behaviors, research, or innovations applicable to the working of the Internet and Internet-connected systems.

Glossary

• Cellular– In Wireless communications, cellular refers most basically to the structure of the wireless transmission networks which are comprised

of cells or transmission sites.

• GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications)– GSM is the most popular standard for mobile phones in the world. Its promoter, the GSM association, estimates that 82% of the

global mobile market uses the standard

• GPRS (General Packet Radio Service)– GPRS is a packet oriented mobile data service available to users of (GSM) mobile phones. It provides data rates from 56 up to 114

Kbits'.

• SMS (Short Message Service)– SMS is a communications protocol allowing the interchange of short text messages between mobile telephone devices

• AMPS– The analog cellular mobile phone system in North and South America and more than 35 other countries. AMPS is the cellular

equivalent of POTS.

• Radio– A communications device allowing the wireless transmission through space of audible signals encoded in electromagnetic waves in

the approximate frequency range from 10 kilohertz to 300,000 megahertz.

• Clearing House– an organization that exists to gather information from a variety of sources and distribute it to individuals and organisations according

to their different needs

Glossary