From the SIP Trunking Experts

Home
April 02, 2015

ExtraHop Leaps into VoIP Service with ExtraHop Enterprise Modules


By Steve Anderson
Contributing TMCnet Writer

Share
Tweet

Voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) access has been, for some time now, a tool that businesses of all sizes turn to for its many benefits. Advancement in the field, such as ExtraHop (News - Alert)'s new ExtraHop Enterprise VoIP and Video Analysis module, announced only recently, are to be expected.


The ExtraHop Enterprise VoIP and Video Analysis module is designed not so much to provide VoIP service, but to improve the quality of the service. With this module, IT operations teams are better able to spot problems in the service and address them before they become sufficiently widespread to cause real issues for a wider operation. The module offers the ability to monitor traffic with 40 Gbps throughput, as well as a set of dashboards immediately available for users that provide perspective into issues experienced in both VoIP and video. Intelligent alerting systems can note deviation from baseline standards and call attention to them, while capacity planning tools allow users to make sure there's enough network capacity in the system to support the quality of VoIP service desired. Precision packet capture tools allow for easier, less expensive investigations into issues experienced, and problem correlation systems allow IT to figure out if the problem with the service is VoIP itself or a different part of the larger system.

The system is designed to monitor several key VoIP-related protocols, including session initiation protocol (SIP), real-time transport protocol (RTP), and several others to help find the problems in question before such problems can become substantial. These protocols are often tied to call quality metrics ranging from jitter and latency issues to Mean Opinion Score (MOS) figures, and raising one tends to raise the overall perception of a call.

As ExtraHop's CEO, Jesse Rothstein (News - Alert), explained, VoIP services can show instantly-noticeable problems whenever there's a delay or degradation in the transmission. Whether or not that delay or degradation is considered a problem or a temporary hiccup akin to static on an analog phone line is a matter of how quickly it's fixed, and tools like ExtraHop's can make all the difference between hand waved problems or calls to IT. Those interested in getting in on the service, meanwhile, can pick up an ExtraHop virtual appliance or start with an interactive online demonstration.

Rothstein's point is clear; it's easy to pass off a momentary hiccup as an issue of transmission or the like, even when several happen in one call. But when there are prolonged periods of difficulty, or extreme problems, the whole system is called into question. It's generally best to be able to stop a problem while it's small—the “nip it in the bud” philosophy popularized by Deputy Barney Fife of “The Andy Griffith Show” fame—and tools like ExtraHop's should go a long way in catching problems while they are still small and easy to fix. It will be interesting to see how many companies put this tool to work, but for those who do, better overall service should be in the offing, and right away.




Edited by Dominick Sorrentino
Home