IP Office as an enterprise branch overview
You can deploy IP Office as an enterprise branch to provide a communications solution that is adaptable to meet the growing needs of an enterprise branch network while providing investment protection of the installed hardware platform and phones. You can implement an IP Office enterprise branch on an IP Office Standard Mode, Essential or Preferred, system. The IP Office system can be installed as an independent, standalone branch, or be connected to the Avaya Aura® network and migrated to a Distributed, Centralized, or Mixed enterprise branch to provide specific features and applications to meet the needs of individual employees in each branch location. In addition to centralized SIP endpoints or centralized analog devices configured as ATA, IP Office can concurrently support other IP and TDM endpoints for a community of Centralized users and IP Office users in the same branch. Ideal for enterprises wanting applications deployed in customer data centers or in the branch itself, an IP Office branch can effectively deliver a range of communication tools without complex infrastructure and administration. See Administering Centralized Users for an IP Office™ Platform Enterprise Branch for information on how to add Centralized users to an IP Office enterprise branch. IP Office is also supported in an Avaya Communication Server 1000 (CS 1000) branch environment.Only the Distributed enterprise branch option is supported. IP Office can be deployed as a new branch in an existing CS 1000 configuration with the addition of Avaya Aura® Session Manager to which IP Office connects through the SM Line for branch connectivity. Providing phone investment protection, it can also be deployed as a replacement for Business Communications Manager (BCM) or Norstar in a branch office and connect to CS 1000 via Avaya Aura® Session Manager. IP Office cannot operate as a survivable gateway to CS 1000 endpoints the way that Survivable Remote Gateway (SRG) does.
Topology
The IP Office Branch solution provides the flexibility to support independent, stand-alone IP Office Branches as well as IP Office branches connected to an Avaya Aura system. The Branch solution also supports CS 1000 integration. The following deployment options are available for the solution architecture:
- Stand-alone IP Office branch option: Independent IP Office systems are deployed within the network. These IP Office systems are not connected to each other or to anything else in the network. With this option, the IP Office branches are not connected to an Avaya Aura® system and users cannot access any Avaya Aura® services.
- Distributed enterprise branch deployment option: All users in this deployment option are IP Office users. These IP Office users obtain telephony services from the local IP Office and not from Avaya Aura®. The IP Office systems in this deployment option can be connected to AvayaAura® Session Manager and administrators can obtain Centralized management services through Avaya Aura® System Manager. The enterprise can choose to connect IP Office users in this deployment option to an IP Office voice mail system, Embedded Voicemail or VoiceMail Pro, or a Centralized voice mail system, such as Avaya Aura® Messaging or Avaya Modular Messaging. IP Office users in this deployment also have access to some Centralized Avaya Aura ® applications and services.With the Distributed branch deployment option, you can also connect CS 1000 to the IP Office in the branch through Avaya Aura® Session Manager. Users still obtain telephony servicesfrom the local IP Office, but can use Avaya CallPilot® as their voice mail system. When connected to CS 1000, the IP Office and CS 1000 interoperate as peers through Avaya Aura® Session Manager.
- Centralized enterprise branch deployment option: All users in the enterprise are Centralized users.
- Centralized users register to Avaya Aura® Session Manager and obtain telephony services from the Avaya Aura® Communication Manager Feature Server or Evolution Server in the enterprise core. If WAN connectivity to the Avaya Aura® Session Manager is lost, the user automatically gets basic telephony services from the local IP Office. The telephony features provided by the IP Office in survivability mode is limited compared to the features that are normally provided to the Centralized phone. Centralized users must be configured on the Avaya Aura® Session Manager, Communication Manager, and IP Office. A Centralized user must be configured on the Avaya Aura® Session\Manager and Avaya Aura® Communication Manager as a SIP user. On the IP Office, the Centralized user must have either a SIP extension, an analog extension, or an analog fax device.
- Mixed enterprise branch deployment option: An enterprise branch with both Centralized users and IP Office users. Centralized users and IP Office users obtain the same telephony services described above. All users in this deployment option must use a Centralized voicemail system: Avaya Aura® Messaging or Avaya Modular Messaging.
The deployment options in the Branch solution allow you to start off with stand-alone IP Office systems and then slowly evolve the solution architecture into a Centralized environment as your enterprise grows.The following image shows the topology of the solution architecture with the deployment options described above. This image does not show CS 1000 in the Distributed branch deployment.
Branch deployment options
An IP Office system can be deployed as a Distributed, Centralized or Mixed enterprise branch. A new IP Office system can be installed with one of these branch deployment options or a standalone IP Office system that is already installed can be migrated to one of these deployment options.
- Distributed enterprise branch deployment option — With this option, all users in a branch are IP Office users. IP Office users get their telephony features and services from the local IP Office system. Prior to IP Office 9.0, these users were referred to as distributed users, local users, or native users. IP Office users with non-IP phones are connected to the IP Office system while IP Office userswith IP endpoints can be administered with IP Office as their controller. Access to and from the rest of the Avaya Aura® network is via the IP Office system’s SM Line, which connects to Avaya Aura® Session Manager across the enterprise WAN. This connection allows for VoIP connectivity to other sites in the enterprise, to centralized trunking, and to centralized applications such as conferencing and Avaya Aura® Messaging.
- Centralized enterprise branch deployment option — With this option, all users in a branch are Centralized users. A Centralized user is a user whose call processing is controlled by Avaya Aura® Communication Manager Feature Server or Evolution Server in the enterprise core. During normal operation, the Centralized user gets their telephony features and services from the Communication Manager Feature Server or Evolution Server. Through the core Session Manager, the Centralized user can also access local PSTN trunks and services, such as local paging, local auto-attendant, and local Meet-me conferencing, on the IP Office system in the branch. If WAN connectivity to Session Manager is lost, the Centralized user gets basic services from the local IP Office system. When connection to Session Manager is available again, failback occurs either automatically or by manual administrative action where call processing for the Centralized user is returned to being controlled by Avaya Aura®. A Centralized user must be configured on Session Manager, on Communication Manager, and on the IP Office system. On the IP Office system, the Centralized user must have either a SIP extension or an analog extension. There are two types of centralized users:
- Centralized SIP user – a user configured as a Centralized user whose associated extension is a SIP extension.
- ATA user – a user configured as a Centralized user whose associated extension is an analog extension or an analog fax device.
For information about adding Centralized users to an enterprise branch, see Administering Centralized Users for an IP Office™ Platform Enterprise Branch.
- Mixed enterprise branch deployment option — With this option, there are Centralized users and IP Office users in a single branch. The Centralized users get their telephony services delivered by the Communication Manager Feature Server or Evolution Server in the core and the IP Office users get their telephony services delivered by the local IP Office system.
Components
The components in the Avaya IP Office Branch solution vary depending on the deployment option at the enterprise. IP Office is a mandatory component regardless of how the solution is deployed. CS1000 and Avaya Aura® products are also used in certain deployments.The IP Office in the branch can interoperate with the applications and services listed at http://support.avaya.com/CompatibilityMatrix/Index.aspx. Some of these applications and services are not available to all users. None of these applications and services are available to users in a stand- alone IP Office branch deployment. The following table briefly describes how the applications and services listed above interact with different users in the branch.
Functionality of major components
The following sections describe the main components in the Avaya IP Office Branch solution and when these components are used.
