VoIP Equipment Essentials for the Enterprise and Small Businesses

To be able to place or receive calls using VoIP, you need a hardware setup that will allow you to speak and listen. Depending on the service you choose, you might need simply a headset with your PC or a complete set of network equipment including routers and phone adapters.

Read on to find out more about essential enterprise and small business VoIP hardware from the industry's two frontrunners, and their products that are available through Hardwyre.

For the Enterprise: Cisco Unified Communications

The Cisco Unified Communications portfolio is an integrated solution for large organizations that also includes routing, switching, security, and network management products, wireless connectivity, and a lifecycle services approach, along with flexible deployment and outsourced management options, end-user and partner financing packages, and third-party communications applications.

Cisco Unified Call Manager

From Cisco: Cisco® Unified Communications improves operational efficiency and contributes to a consistent and superior customer experience by making communications more effective, secure, mobile, and personal. More than just a voice solution, Cisco Unified Communications is a strategic business investment that integrates voice, data, video, security, and mobility into a single, smart solution that works with existing business applications to make the organization more competitive. It transforms the business with advanced messaging; virtual contact centers; integrated voice, video, and Web conferencing; mobile IP soft phones; and voicemail. Employees can communicate how they want and when they want - from one easy-to-use interface.

Cisco Unified Communications Manager (formerly Cisco Unified CallManager) is the powerful call-processing component of the Cisco Unified Communications solution. It provides voice, video, mobility, and presence services for businesses with up to 60,000 users, Unified Communications Manager is a scalable, distributable, and highly available enterprise-class IP telephony call-processing system.

Cisco Unified Communications Manager creates a unified workspace that extends enterprise telephony features and capabilities to packet telephony network devices such as IP phones, media processing devices, voice over IP (VoIP) gateways, mobile devices, and multimedia applications. Additional services, such as unified messaging, multimedia conferencing, presence, collaborative contact centers, and interactive multimedia response systems, are made possible through open telephony APIs.

Cisco Unified Communications Manager hincludes the following features:

• Highly scalable, supporting up to 60,000 lines per server cluster
• Able to support a full range of communications features and applications, including SIP-based applications
• Highly available for business continuity, supporting multiple levels of server redundancy and survivability
• Support for a broad range of phones to suit varying user requirements
• Choice of operating system environments: Windows server-based implementation or Linux-based appliance model implementation
• Available in an easy-to-manage single-server solution, Cisco Unified Communications Manager Business Edition, that combines call processing and unified messaging

Cisco^® Unified Communications is a comprehensive IP communications system of voice, video, data, and mobility products and applications. It enables more effective, more secure, more personal communications that directly affect both sales and profitability. It brings people together by enabling a new way of communicating-where your business moves with you, security is everywhere, and information is always available...whenever and wherever it is needed. Cisco Unified Communications is part of an integrated solution that includes network infrastructure, security, mobility, network management products, lifecycle services, flexible deployment and outsourced management options, end-user and partner financing packages, and third-party communications applications.

Cisco Unified Communications Manager (formerly known as Cisco Unified CallManager) is the powerful call-processing component of the Cisco Unified Communications system. It is a scalable, distributable, and highly available enterprise IP telephony call-processing solution. Customer needs are continually evolving, and Cisco Unified Communications Manager evolves to meet those needs. Version 6.0 of Cisco Unified Communications Manager includes features that will benefit enterprise-sized business customers as well as smaller businesses.

Cisco Unified IP Phones

From Cisco: Take full advantage of converged voice and data networks, while retaining the convenience and user-friendliness you expect from a business phone. Cisco Unified IP Phones can help improve productivity by meeting the needs of different users throughout your organization. The new suite of evolutionary Cisco Unified IP Phones, Cisco Unified IP Phone 7975G, 7965G, 7945G, 7962G, and 7942G models, have Advanced Media endpoints, which create an even better end-user experience.

The Cisco Unified IP Phone portfolio provides:

• IP phones with color LCD displays, including dynamic soft keys for call features and functions
• Support for information services, including Extensible Markup Language (XML) capabilities to extend IP phone systems
• The ability to customize XML-based services to give IP phone users access to a variety of information, such as stock quotes, employee directories, and Web-based content

For Small Businesses: Linksys VoIP Solutions

Linksys offers complete, affordable, easy-to-install communications solutions that deliver voice services, data networking, specialized applications, and the Internet through one high-speed connection from a single provider. Business class communications services are delivered by a Linksys One Services Router, which requires only one Internet connection for all services including low-cost phone service. The PHM1200 is the premier wired IP telephone that provides quality voice services in conjunction with the Linksys One services router. The services router is the core of your network, and must be present to facilitate all Linksys One solution configurations.

Linksys One PHM1200 Manager Phone

From Linksys: The Linksys One PHM1200 IP telephone works like a desktop business phone, but it operates over Ethernet that makes it very easy and cost-effective to deploy. Linksys One technology is automatic and self-configuring simply plug in a Linksys One phone to the Linksys One Services Router switch port and you'll be ready to make and receive quality calls using Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). The Linksys One PHM1200 IP telephone delivers traditional telephony services to the small business user such as call forwarding, transfer, busy lamp field and shared line appearances on a next-generation IP phone platform.

This platform contains a high-resolution (320 X 240) color, backlit display; 24 programmable buttons with integrated status indication, 4 softkeys, 3 fixed function keys and a 5-position navigation key. A full-duplex speakerphone, handset and headset port offer superlative audio quality, volume control and muting control. An integrated quality of service enabled 10/100 switch provides wired network access for the phone plus an attached PC. The upstream port accepts IEEE power over Ethernet (802.3af) and fully powers the phone and connected media devices. An integrated voice mail application provides cost-effective, high-quality voice messaging service with both local and remote access to stored messages. Automated attendant, call history, directory, are additional examples of the integrated feature set of the PHM1200.

Software running on the PHM1200 phone interacts with provisioning, management, and security software on the site's services router and interacts further upstream to the service provider. This interaction provides a simple, one-step installation and access to web-administered features for the administrator and users. Upcoming application interaction will allow third party applications to be driven by the phones. These applications can either be local to the business site or delivered as a component of a hosted service. But there's no need to wait – today's Linksys One IP phones have all useful features of most popular key sets and can save you money, starting now. Simple, affordable network operations throughout the network's lifetime are the result.

• Simple, automated installation with Linksys One Services Routers
• High-resolution, graphical color backlit display, 24 feature buttons, full-duplex speakerphone
• Two port 10/100 QoS Ethernet switch, IEEE 802.3af PoE powered by upstream switch (SVR3000)
• Integrated call processing features with voice mail, automated attendant, and phone applications

Linksys One Analog Voice Gateway

From Linksys: Linksys One technology is automatic and self-configuring. Plug in a Linksys One voice gateway to a Linksys One Ethernet switch port and your business is ready to communicate. The Linksys One VGA2100 analog voice gateway provides three FXO ports to connect public telephone network lines to the Linksys One solution. When more than three simultaneous calls are required additional VGA2100 analog voice gateways can be added to the solution. The 10/100 Ethernet port connects the VGA2100 to the site and enables Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) calls. This port also accepts IEEE power over Ethernet (802.3af) and fully powers the voice gateway and additionally provides quality of service for each call (DSCP).

Software running on the VGA2100 analog voice gateway interacts with provisioning, management, and security software on the site's services router and interacts further upstream to the service provider. This interaction provides a simple, one-step installation and access to web-administered features for the administrator and users. Simple, affordable network operations throughout the network's lifetime are the result.

• Simple, automated installation with Linksys One Services Routers
• Provides three simultaneous analog connections to the public telephone network
• Accepts IEEE 802.3af PoE from connected Linksys One switch port
• Integrated call processing features with security, management, QoS

Data Deduplication Appliances for the Enterprise

For backup – where the same data is often backed up over and over again – Quantum's data deduplication technology can retain 10 to 50 times more data than conventional disk of similar capacity.

Quantum's DXi-Series solutions dramatically expand the role that disk can play in corporate data protection strategies. They deliver data deduplication technology and other enhanced functionality, providing best-in-class performance of up to 800 GB/hour and the flexibility to combine NAS and virtual tape library (VTL) presentations. And they retain 10 to 50 times more backup data than conventional disk system, and allow users to leverage remote replication as a DR tool, reducing or eliminating media handling.

These DXi-Series product claims stack up to the rigorous real-world testing of the Enterprise Strategy Group. ESG Lab performed hands-on evaluation and testing of the DXi-Series disk backup and replication appliances at a Quantum facility in Englewood, Colorado. Both DXi-Series appliance models were used during the evaluation: the DXi3500 and the DXi5500.

Highlights from the ESG Lab Validation include:

• Veritas NetBackup jobs were streaming data to DXi3500 over an iSCSI interface only ten minutes after beginning the configuration using the web-based DXi-Series console.
• After the DXi3500 had been configured as a virtual tape library, Veritas NetBackup worked exactly as if it were using a real tape library.
• A data reduction of 7.46 to one was measured when retaining four full backups of home directory files and a data reduction of 5.00 to one was measured when retaining four full backups of Microsoft Exchange data. These measured rates were projected over 60 backup events.
• Quantum's comprehensive sizing tool was compared to the ESG Lab sizing spreadsheet. This verified its accuracy and importance when consulting customers' expected data reduction experiences.
• While ESG Lab found that the DXi-Series GUI is intuitive and easy to use, Quantum indicates that ease-of-use improvements are planned. To that end, ESG Lab believes that system-level data reduction statistics displayed in graphical form over time would be a valuable addition to the home screen.
• ESG Lab verified Quantum's claims of up to fifty to one data reduction using home directory file data and validated the achievement of these results after only 33 backup events
• Multiple single and multi-stream backups were performed using Veritas NetBackup to verify Quantum's claims of backup performance up to 290 GB per hour for the DXi3500. An audit of a similar round of testing was used to validate claims of up to 800 GB per hour for the DXi5500.
• A single file restore retrieved from an 11.5 GB backup took only 18 seconds to complete.

DXi3500

From Quantum: The DXi3500 disk-based backup appliance uses Quantum's patented data de-duplication technology to increase the amount of backup data users can retain on disk by 10 to 50 times. Quantum's DXi3500 provides fast and reliable backup and restore and they make WAN replication a practical, cost-effective part of disaster recovery planning. The DXi3500 is designed for sites with from 1.2 to 4.2TB of local data to protect.

Quantum's DXi3500 solution is an integrated appliance that is easy to install and use with all leading backup applications. It provide best-in-class performance and flexible, easy-to-use interface options including NAS, virtual tape library or mixed presentations along with Fibre Channel and iSCSI connectivity. The DXi3500 delivers:

Advanced Data De-duplication Increasing Disk Retention for Backup Data
The DXi3500 disk backup and replication appliance leverages Quantum's patented data de-duplication technology to dramatically increase the role that disk can play in the protection of critical data. With the DXi3500 solution, users can retain 10 to 50 times more backup data on fast recovery disk than with conventional arrays.

Remote Replication of Backup Data Providing Automated Disaster Recovery Protection
With DXi3500 replication, users can transmit data from a single site or multiple sites to a central location. DXi3500 replication is asynchronous, automated, and it operates as a background process.

Easy Installation and Use in Existing Environments
The DXi3500 is an integrated appliance with an intuitive graphical user interface and two presentation modes that make it easy to install, share, and manage. A backup NAS interface allows users to attach a DXi3500 appliance to any Ethernet network and share it easily between multiple media servers. For larger, SAN environments, a virtual tape library interface (Fibre Channel or iSCSI) gives users enterprise performance and lets them use standard tape library presentations.

Advantage Over Conventional Disk
Quantum's DXi-Series are a cost-effective way for IT departments to store backup data on disk for months instead of days, providing high speed, reliable restores and increasing both recovery points and your disaster recovery options.

DXi5500

From Quantum: The DXi5500 disk-based backup appliance uses Quantum's patented data de-duplication technology to increase the amount of backup data users can retain on disk by 10 to 50 times. Quantum's DXi5500 provides fast and reliable backup and restore and makes WAN replication a practical, cost-effective part of disaster recovery planning. The DXi5500 is designed for larger sites and mid-range data centers with up to 11TB of local data to protect.

• Up to 540TB of backup retention disk capacity
• High backup performance of up to 800GB per hour provides enterprise scale protection
• Multi-site replication options for WAN-based remote replication

Quantum's DXi5500 solution is an integrated appliance that is easy to install and use with all leading backup applications. It provide best-in-class performance and flexible, easy-to-use interface options including NAS, virtual tape library or mixed presentations along with Fibre Channel and iSCSI connectivity. The DXi5500 delivers:

Advanced Data De-duplication Increasing Disk Retention for Backup Data
The DXi5500 disk backup and replication appliance leverages Quantum's patented data de-duplication technology to dramatically increase the role that disk can play in the protection of critical data. With the DXi5500 solution, users can retain 10 to 50 times more backup data on fast recovery disk than with conventional arrays.

Remote Replication of Backup Data Providing Automated Disaster Recovery Protection
With DXi5500 replication, users can transmit data from a single site or multiple sites to a central location. DXi5500 replication is asynchronous, automated, and it operates as a background process.

Easy Installation and Use in Existing Environments
The DXi5500 is an integrated appliance with an intuitive graphical user interface and two presentation modes that make it easy to install, share, and manage. A backup NAS interface allows users to attach a DXi5500 appliance to any Ethernet network and share it easily between multiple media servers. For larger, SAN environments, a virtual tape library interface (Fibre Channel or iSCSI) gives users enterprise performance and lets them use standard tape library presentations.

Advantage Over Conventional Disk
Quantum's DXi-Series are a cost-effective way for IT departments to store backup data on disk for months instead of days, providing high speed, reliable restores and increasing both recovery points and your disaster recovery options.

For more information about Quantum's DXi-Series, go to quantum.com or call Hardwyre at 501.851.2880.

Science Behind Data Deduplication

Of all the storage technologies emerging today, data deduplication is gaining the most attention. Different from compression, data deduplication identifies and gets rid of redundant data, saving companies huge amounts of capacity – translating into big dollar savings.

So, how does this technology work? Let's look under the hood and explore the science behind data deduplication.

Understanding Data Deduplication

Data deduplication, sometimes called "intelligent compression" or "single-instance storage,” is a method of reducing storage needs by eliminating redundant data. Only one unique instance of the data is actually retained on storage media, such as disk or tape. Redundant data is replaced with a pointer to the unique data copy.

For example, a typical email system might contain 100 instances of the same one megabyte (MB) file attachment. If the email platform is backed up or archived, all 100 instances are saved, requiring 100 MB storage space. With data deduplication, only one instance of the attachment is actually stored; each subsequent instance is just referenced back to the one saved copy. In this example, a 100 MB storage demand could be reduced to only one MB.

When byte level changes are made to a file, the difference in the hash between the original file and the modified file automatically creates a second copy of the file.  So that means if you change the title on a 10 MB PDF file, even if the change takes up a couple of bytes, your file share winds up holding 20 MBs worth of content.

Data deduplication technologies keep track of minor changes and can create versions on the fly by reapplying the differences.  For example if you have a single 10 MB presentation that needs to be sent out to 10 different customers, changing the names and addresses to personalize the presentations will not eat up 100 MBs of space, even if you save a version for each customer.

When a unique segment is written to the file system, a hash is associated with it and knowledge of it is kept in a repository.  If a recognized segment is sent to the file share, the data deduplication software acknowledges it but doesn't write the segment to storage.

So when a user tries to pull up her version of the file, the data deduplication software rebuilds the file from the stored segments on the server.

Data deduplication can generally operate at the file, block, and even the bit level. File deduplication eliminates duplicate files (as in the examples above), but this is not a very efficient means of deduplication. Block and bit deduplication looks within a file and saves unique iterations of each block or bit. Each chunk of data is processed using a hash algorithm such as MD5 or SHA-1. This process generates a unique number for each piece which is then stored in an index. If a file is updated, only the changed data is saved. That is, if only a few bytes of a document or presentation are changed, only the changed blocks or bytes are saved, the changes don't constitute an entirely new file. This behavior makes block and bit deduplication far more efficient.

Data deduplication is especially powerful when it's applied to backup, because most backup data sets have a great deal of redundancy. It's common to see a backup appliance with data deduplication technology holding 10 to 50 times more backup data than a conventional disk storage product. The advantage depends on the data being backed up, the backup methodology, and the length of time data is retained.

Benefits of Data Deduplication

Data deduplication offers several important benefits. Storage costs are reduced because less storage is needed. This means fewer disks and less frequent disk purchases. Less data also means smaller backups. This translates into smaller backup windows and faster recovery time objectives (RTO). The smaller backups also allow for longer retention times on virtual tape libraries (VTL) or archives.

Call Hardwyre today at 501.851.2880 to learn more about how data deduplication technology can help your company increase storage space, boost backup efficiency, and save time and money.

Data Deduplication Tools for Home Use

Check out these handy tools for cleansing data and deduplicating files on your home PC:

WinPure ListCleaner Pro

From WinPure: WinPure ListCleaner Pro is a powerful, affordable, and easy-to-use data cleansing, list cleaning and dedupe software that cleans, corrects, de-duplicates, and standardizes lists from Excel, Access, text files, and other databases. With 8 list and data cleansing modules, you can increase business efficiency by transforming your current lists into more accurate, cleaner, and duplicate free data, easily, and cost effectively. WinPure ListCleaner Pro can handle any type of lists including contact address details, e-mail address lists, product category and price lists and student names. It's a standalone product, containing eight cleaning modules (duplication remover, text cleaner, column analyzer, e-mail checker, case converter, statistics, table matcher). It is easy-to-use because it's been designed to save time, and help your business generate more profits.

Download WinPure ListCleaner Pro free from Download.com

WinDeDup

From BlueSAN Technology:  A fast and simple program to find true duplicate files based on byte by byte comparison of your photo, video, office documents, web pages and any other files. By default, matched duplicate files are available in a html report and in a CSV file. Review the duplicates report and mark the duplicates in the CSV file, and then submit the marked CSV file to the data-mover facility of WinDeDeup for batch mode cleanup. WinDeDup has built in support to protect against mistaken cleanup. You can find duplicates among specific file types and you can scope based on file sizes and file age. Added bonus is handling of unused and old files in the disk. The free version of WinDeDup finds duplicate files in up to 5 top level folders/drives. To manage duplicate files in more than 5 top level folders/drives, use WinDeDup-Home or WinDeDup-Pro instead.

Download WinDeDup free from Download.com