Equinox and Remote/Mobile Use

[Boulevard999]

Hey All,

I would like to know:

Can I take a group of end users on a legacy (Stand alone)system,
Decommission said Legacy system,
Change their existing DID numbers over to SIP DID's,
Point them to our new Core PBX in another State,
And set them up on Avaya Equinox "WITHOUT" the use of any MGW/SBC/Any HW locally at 'their' site?

The goal would be to have them completely virtual with their local numbers on their Laptops/Mobile devices.

What would be the actual design?

 

[kyle555]

Yea. Presuming the porting is all doable between the carriers and to an SBC in another state.

Aura Device Services is like a settings file server on steroids for Equinox - it can push settings files out and have specific settings for iOS vs macOS vs Windows, and differentiate based on what LDAP group the users are in.

The crux of the autoconfiguration of Equinox lies in a special DNS SRV record for Equinox. You can have DNS SRV records for SIP or LDAP or mail or whatever and when I ask the DNS "what is the SIP server for example.com" as a DNS SRV query, the result might be "sip.example.com" or "asterisk.example.com" or whatever.

You have a custom service record for Equinox that points to the AADS server (both on the public internet DNS and your corporate). When the Equinox client fires up and people autoconfigure with their email address, Equinox does a DNS SRV lookup on the mail domain and then passes along a HTTP request to AADS with the email address of the user (which then reveals their LDAP group).

If Kyle in the AD group "regular non-admin users of Equinox" hits AADS from user-agent "Safari on iOS", then AADS knows to push me iPhone settings and for whatever group I'm in. Use FQDNs for everything and have DNS on the outside point to the SBC and DNS on the inside point to the inside stuff, and you're off the the races.

 

[Wanebo]

There are some other considerations to doing that too. First, like Kyle said, make sure the numbers can actually be ported. Many Mom and Pop local telephone service companies simply can't port out numbers. Make sure that your SIP provider has a point of presence at the remote site also. You need to make sure the network connection between the remote site and the core CM is sized correctly for the increased traffic and has relatively low latency. It also should be able to carry the QOS tagged packets end to end either using MPLS, tunneling, or mesh. Some technique to keep an ISP from removing or changing the tagging. You will probably want to have a TFTP server on the remote site to be able to hand out the firmware, 46xxsettings, and any certs the phones will need otherwise deploying new firmware can be a painful experience to a remote site. There is also the consideration of E911 service and how you get any E911 calls from that remote site to the proper PSAP. And with Kari's Law now passed and signed that became a big consideration.

I have done what you are proposing to do Boulevard999, but with hard phones, not softphones. Matter of fact we did it to over 250 remote sites. It can be done but very thorough preparation will be necessary before you can turn down that stand alone PBX.

 

[Boulevard999]

@Wanebo:

"Many Mom and Pop local telephone service companies simply can't port out numbers. Make sure that your SIP provider has a point of presence at the remote site also. You need to make sure the network connection between the remote site and the core CM is sized correctly for the increased traffic and has relatively low latency. It also should be able to carry the QOS tagged packets end to end either using MPLS, tunneling, or mesh."

Provided the Service Provider is capable of porting the DID's, I would need some type of presence at the remote site?

So, basically, I can't just point a DID to the SBC at the Core site, and 'Johnny/Jane User' would be able to use Equinox from Home or say Starbucks without the dangers of QOS over the internet or local Wifi capacity, correct?

There would HAVE to be some type of suitable network infrastructure at the 'remote' location to support the inbound/outbound voice traffic. Do I have that right?

 

[Wanebo]

The remote network infrastructure to maintain QOS could be as simple as a hardware or software VPN tunnel where traffic is encrypted and the ISP can't mess with the packets.

We almost always insist remote users/sites use wired connections due to the vagaries if WiFi.

The point of presence for your SIP vendor is geared more towards a capability for them to contact the correct PSAP in the case of a 911 call and their ability to provide additional numbers if they are ever needed.

 

[Boulevard999]

Thank you Very Much for the Information!! Very much Appreciated!!