Prerequisites
Enviromental Requirements
Your UCx system is designed and tested to meet the latest standards of safety for information technology equipment. However, to ensure your safety, it is important that you use the system in proper operating environments.
Please ensure that your installation meets the following environmental requirements:
The operating temperature must be in the range 32 - 95 °F (0 - 35 °C) with a maximum temperature gradation of 10°C per hour.
The operating relative humidity must be in the range 20% - 80% (non-condensing humidity) with a maximum humidity gradation of 10% per hour.
Openings on the UCx system's chassis are for ventilation. Do not block or cover these openings. Make sure you leave space around the system for ventilation. Never insert objects of any kind into the ventilation openings.
Do not use the UCx system near water or a heat source such as a radiator. Do not use the UCx system near equipment such as photocopiers, electrical motors, and other equipment that produces electromagnetic, radio frequency, and electrostatic interference.
Network Requirements
UCx has been designed for easy implementation in business environments. In the majority of cases, UCx will function correctly in a variety of settings with minimal effort. However, it is still valuable to gather information about your network in order to determine if the environment is ready for a UCx system deployment. Assessing the network is also necessary to plan what network changes may be required to ensure a successful deployment. You may contact your UCx system distributor to conduct a site survey and assess your network's readiness for VoIP.
Defining IP Address for the UCx System
You should use a dedicated static IP address on your network for the UCx system. To eliminate potential IP address conflicts, you must make sure that this IP address is outside of the range of IP addresses managed by your DHCP server.
Gathering Network Related Information
In order to determine the network bandwidth requirements for the UCx system, you should gather the following information about the business environment:
|
Phone Count |
Description |
|---|---|
|
Users requiring a phone |
This is the phone count that will give you a basic idea of the load that the UCx system will put on the network. |
|
Non-user phones |
Phones for guest offices, conference rooms, etc. - these phones typically do not affect the network load as the anticipated call volume on |
|
Phone Usage |
Description |
|---|---|
|
Average number of external calls per day |
If your business makes or receives a large number of calls each day, you have to ensure that your network is ready to handle the corresponding network traffic. |
|
Average number of internal calls per day |
Internal calls (including calls to the voicemail system) increases the required network bandwidth similar to external calls. |
|
Peak usage |
It is important to understand the anticipated peak usage, which is necessary to help you determine the number of required trunks and the maximum number of concurrent calls that are needed (as opposed to simply counting how many people have access to the system). The maximum number of concurrent calls can be used to determine the network bandwidth required for these calls. |
|
Network Traffic |
Description |
|---|---|
|
Network traffic for VoIP |
The UCx system will generate certain amount of network traffic for each active call. By default, IP phones typically use the G.711 encoding, which generates approximately 160 kbps of traffic on your Ethernet based network. Each active phone with the UCx system must be counted as a call. Each active trunk must be also counted as a call. For example, with 50 phones active on external calls (using 50 trunks) all using the G.711 encoding, the network traffic generated by the UCx system, phones and trunks would be approximately ( 50 + 50 ) * 160 kbps = 16 Mbps. |
|
Network traffic for data |
Heavy network traffic generated by data applications could affect call quality during periods of network congestion. You must consider the data traffic during the day as well as the peak data traffic together with the network bandwidth required for VoIP calls when calculating your anticipated network usage. |
Assessing your Network Infrastucture
Network Utilization and Capacity
- Test Ethernet segments for high collision counts, dropped packets, and excessive utilization
- Calculate the maximum anticipated local (LAN) network traffic requirements based on the information gathered in the previous step and ensure that all network segments and network devices can handle the traffic
- Calculate the maximum anticipated external (WAN) network traffic requirements based on the information gathered in the previous step and ensure that your broadband connection is adequate to handle the traffic
Network and Phone Cabling
- Ensure that all patch cables and Ethernet RJ-45 jacks are Cat 5 or better (Cat 5e or better for all devices that use 1 Gbps connections)
- Test Ethernet jacks and segments for bad frames or excessive collisions to identify bad cabling
- Ensure that phone lines from the your provider do not have voice-quality issues
General Infrastructure
-
Document the number and location of network jacks and power outlets. Ensure there are sufficient numbers of each where phones will be deployed, and that
there are a sufficient number for other network-connected equipment such as computers. If additional ports are required but cannot be added, it is possible to
daisy-chain IP phones. - Make sure all network drops are active or can be activated
- Ensure that there is adequate power capacity for the UCx System as well as for all phones
- Power redundancy is important - ensure that the UPS has sufficient capacity for the UCx System and all associated infrastructure (switches, router, etc.)
Having Separate Networks for Voice and Data
You may consider having a separate network for your Voice (SIP) traffic for improved voice quality and reliability, better security and problem isolation, The following network diagram shows how to deploy UCx to have separate networks for voice and data. Refer to Configure a Second Network Port for configuration details.
