TeleMate Deployments

Simplify the transition to VoIP

In most enterprises, the transition to VoIP networking is a process of migration, with IP solutions being gradually added to existing legacy environments, based on the business' specific needs. Despite these blended infrastructure, enterprises still demand the same high-quality, comprehensive reporting features they have become accustomed to with their circuit-switched PBXs alone.

TeleMate meets this requirement because it tracks all calls on all switching platforms, whatever the underlying technology may be. In fact, TeleMate's ability to seamlessly capture data from multiple ODBC-compliant call detail repositories and merge this data with data from multiple circuit-switched PBXs is so unique that it is patented. TeleMate's well-recognized data collection and reporting functionality integrates with all industry-standard PBXs and IP-PBXs, including industry leaders – Cisco, Avaya, and Nortel. Equally impressive, the solution can merge network usage data collected from any ODBC-compliant call detail repository with data from any back-end business management software – without the need for custom code development.

For today's enterprise, TeleMate's flexibility means that the migration to next generation VoIP networks doesn't have to mean sacrificing the ability to monitor and control usage of your entire voice network. No matter how calls are made, TeleMate can track them with the same flexibility and ease-of-use that have been a hallmark of the TeleMate product for over 20 years.

Cisco™ Call Manager and Call Manager Express

TeleMate handles all versions of Cisco^™ Call Manager and Call Manager Express. Whether call detail is pushed or pulled on a configurable frequency TeleMate provides real-time processing of the call detail stream with performance monitors to enable instant access to bandwidth and capacity planning statistics. Call detail can be segmented by any call manager attribute with user defined classifications.

Figure 1: CCM Deployment

In Figure 1, both Cisco Call Manager Subscribers are pushing their call detail records to the CCM Publisher. All CDR for the three CCM PBXs are stored in the Publisher. TeleMate will collect the CDR from the Publisher and filter the combined CDR into the corresponding TeleMate datasource by the Call Manager ID.

By separating CDR from each Subscriber into a a separate TeleMate datasource TeleMate will accurately represent local, national, international calls as well as interstate and intrastate calls. Please note that if all CCMs are for the same rate center (Area code + Exchange) they can be collected into a single TeleMate datasource. Otherwise, separate TeleMate datasources are recommended for accurate classification and rating.

The deployment portrayed in Figure 2 includes a central CCM Publisher and a off-site Backup used for disaster recovery. Remote Offices / Phones register with either the Primary or Backup CCM and route accordingly as network conditions change. Call detail records contain both an originating and destination IP that represents the ingress or egress network depending on the call direction.

Figure 2: Redundant CCM Deployment

Each remote location will have a Cisco Gateway. Each CDR contains an originating or destination IP address of the call. Based on the call direction TeleMate can associate the IP address of the gateway to the TeleMate Datasource for rating and call type classification. If a location has multiple gateways datasource association can also be addressed by IP address or subnet.

Additional details

In CCM Versions 4.x and older TeleMate uses MS SQL to query the CDR directly from the CCM Publisher Database.
In Version 5.x and 6.x the CCM Publisher needs to be configured to push the CDR to the TeleMate Server via FTP.
Call Manager Express (CCME) streams SYSLOG output to the TeleMate Server.

Geographic Redundancy

Switching manufactures including Cisco, AVAYA, and Nortel have introduced technology supporting distributed voice networks with centralized management and enhanced local survivability or geographic redundancy. Deployments offer improved reliability and performance, enhanced security by ensuring PSTN access during network outages and providing redundancy for both TDM and IP resources.

TeleMate fully supports collecting call detail from legacy and IP aware gateways carrying voice traffic. TeleMate^™ Collector ensures real-time collection and automatic IP Relay of call detail eliminating the need for buffer box technology and ensuring 100% collection of all call detail.

Figure 3: Geographic Redundancy

Eliminate Points of Failure

Legacy networks often use call storage devices (CSD) to collect and FTP the CDR to the TeleMate Server. In this deployment each CSD is a point of failure in collecting and reporting on call traffic. CSD are very expense hardware devices with a limited life span.