Voice over IP feature
Type of feature
Voice over IP (VoIP) is a licensed feature. You must have an RTU license for each port (channel) that uses this feature.
About VoIP
The VoIP feature enables the Avaya IR system to serve as an IVR adjunct that connects to a DEFINITY or MultiVantage switch over a packet-based network. With VoIP, transmission to the switch is achieved without digital interfaces (T1/E1). Instead, all transmissions occur over the packet network using the network interface card (NIC) on the Avaya IR system. Beginning with Release 1.2.1, VoIP and T1 or E1 digital interfaces can be used on the same Avaya IR system at the same time.
With packet-based call handling:
- Each call can use variable bandwidth, as required.
- Network capacity that is not used for calls can be used for other applications, such as file-sharing, email, and Web browsing.
- There is no need to maintain separate networks for voice (telephony) and data (office LAN). This reduces maintenance and infrastructure costs.
- Although VoIP works using standard hardware required for LAN communication, configuration settings are applied to a virtual VoIP "card." The card concept is familiar and allows you to group VoIP channels for the purposes of management and control, similar to grouping channels for a digital telephony card. VoIP connectivity is supported using the MultiVantage H.323 Terminal (Station) protocol.
Feature Summary
The VoIP subsystem supports:
- Incoming and outgoing calls � the Avaya IR system can receive and make calls via the VoIP subsystem. The destination of outgoing calls and the origin of incoming calls can be anywhere in the public telephony network.
- Up to 93 simultaneous calls � there is no restriction on the mix of incoming and outgoing calls at any given time.
- Right-to-use (RTU) licenses on per channel basis � each licensed channel can be used by an incoming or an outgoing call at any given time.
- G.711 mu-law voice encoding to and from the network.
- Voice energy detection on per channel basis � this feature is activated on demand, usually by Avaya IR applications that need to detect silence from the remote end. It may be described as either on-interface or in-band, meaning that the network connection between the DEFINITY or MultiVantage system and the IR system is used.
- DTMF barge-in � tones are passed to the IR system through the connection between the DEFINITY or MultiVantage system and the IR system (in-band). Signals may also be used and are passed off-interface or out-of-band.
- Voice barge-in � this facility is under the control of an external speech recognition system. It is described as off-interface, or out-of-band, meaning that the required packets are passed to another system.
- Call transfer � Avaya IR applications can request fully-supervised or unsupervised transfer of calls using the ASAI or CTI feature.
- Beginning with Release 1.2.1, Avaya IR uses a unique product ID when registering with the Communications Manager R2.1.
- To improve security, passwords can be assigned to VoIP communication channels. For more information about assigning passwords, see Assigning telephone numbers and passwords to channels.
- Optional reporting to a VoIP Monitoring Manager � the VoIP Monitoring Manager is a call quality monitoring application for calls that use packet-forwarding technology. The manager is an application part of the Avaya VisAbility� Management Suite.
- The VoIP subsystem is fully transparent to existing IVR applications. These applications can:
- Play announcements or prompts
- Record voice messages
- Receive or send DTMF digits
- Interact with speech recognizers and Text-to-Speech converters
- Interact with enterprise servers (databases)
The VoIP subsystem does not support:
- Voice encoding other than G.711 mu-law
- Incoming or outgoing FAX calls
- On-system bridging of calls. Historically, the Avaya IR system did support on-system bridging of channels in order to provide for call transfer when the Avaya IR system worked as an adjunct to a switching element that did not support third-party call control.
- Echo cancellation. There is no need to support echo cancellation on the VoIP subsystem since this function is performed by the MultiVantage or DEFINITY switch.
- Gateway function as defined in the ITU-T H.323 Recommendation. Basically, an Avaya IR system cannot be used as an interface between a circuit and a packet network.
- Quality-of-Service (QoS) protocols.
- Voice and call signaling encryption.
Hardware requirements
The VoIP feature requires that the Avaya IR system be connected to a local area network (LAN) that also supports a DEFINITY MultiVantage 1.3 with R11 or later system software. Calls handled by VoIP must be received from the DEFINITY or MultiVantage switch. VoIP calls cannot come directly from a public network switch to the Avaya IR system, as they may with other (T1/E1) digital protocols.
The MultiVantage or DEFINITY switch has the following hardware requirements:
- A Prowler card (TN22302AP)
- A C-LAN card (TN799DP)
Capacities
Maximum number of channels on a VoIP subsystem is 93. If WholeWord is used, the maximum number of channels is 60. FAX is not supported for VoIP calls. Beginning with Release 1.2.1, for the Sun Fire 280R or the Sun Fire V240, the sum of VoIP ports and T1/E1 ports cannot exceed 240 ports. For the Sun Blade 150, the sum of VoIP ports and T1/E1 ports cannot exceed 120 ports.
Software requirements
VoIP requires the Voice over IP package installed on the Avaya IR system. For more information, see Voice over IP package.
Using this feature
This feature is used for transmission of voice information from the switch to the Avaya IR system.
Administer this feature using Web Administration (Configuration Management > Switch Interfaces > Voice over IP) or the voip command.
