Has anyone used Avaya IP Agent 2

[giar]

Who out there has implemented IP Agent or Shoftphone? My firm is looking into allowing Helpdesk agents to work from home. If someone has experience with IP Agent please let me know.

Thanks,


Gia K. Reynolds
Sr. Telecommunications Analyst

 

[PBXJay]

I have used it but it failed because the PCs were under powered -couldn't talk and use an application at the same time and the voice was not on it's own vlan at the time.

What ever you do, make sure the users are running in a multitasking environment-Winnt or 2000 not 98!

How are they going to work at home? Cable modem and vpn?

 

[CommDude]

I have deployed IP Agent & IP Softphone in many places with up to Definity R10.x and it works just fine... providing (always qualifications, aren't there!) ... providing the computing and network environment are robust enough to support it. Meaning, ask Avaya for the minimum PC requirements AND recommended PC requirements (go for the recommended). Consider whether you want to use IP Agent/Softphone in dual-connect or single-connect mode; single-connect uses VoIP and dual-connect uses signaling over IP withvoice going over PSTN or private TDM system (e.g. PBX).

With respect to home agents, do you plan on using dial-up data connection or VPN? VPN has been better in my experience, but I still would not recommend doing VoIP. The data path from home to Internet to corporate VPN server to Definity is likely not a managed network. You need a managed network for consistent voice quality. I think the best configuration is a VPN connection via cable modem or DSL with the voice going over a PSTN line.

My experience with dial-up connections has been mostly with International or National ISP's providing local access to the Internet then connectivity into the corporate site. Bottom line is, there are still delays in the Internet. IP Softphone has keep-alive signal with the C-LAN. If this signal is not detected, the connection is dropped. Most people I've dealt with using a dial-up connection for IP Softphone experience intermittent dropping of the connection... sometimes while on calls and sometimes while idle. This may be better with R11.x/MultiVantage R1.x.

I have configured IP Agent to support home agents, roving agents, and to support continuity of operations in the event of main site inaccessibility... all have worked fine. Go for it!

 

[telcomwork]

Can you give a list of the basic which need configured?

 

[keithmyers]

Commdude, I am in the planning stages of sending 50 agents home to handle ACD calls. I have run into a problem using dual-connect and I was hoping you would have some insight. Here's the problem:

The call is queued to the skill that the remote agent is on. The call is delivered to the remote agent. The time that it takes for the PBX to set up the PSTN connection between it and the home agent is a few rings. If I have my RONA set at three rings, it will sometimes RONA before it reaches the agent. I can increase the RONA, however, that will increase the chance that the caller will abandon because they are hearing too many rings. I thought about a "nailed-up" connection wherein the agent connects to the PBX and leaves it connected, however, this is cost prohibitive if the remote agent is long-distance.

Thanks in advance for any advise you can lend.

Keith Myers
k m y e r s@globaltravel.com

 

[AvayaHelp]

Min requirements are:
200 MHz or faster but Road Warrior needs 300 or faster
IPA needs 30 mb of space, more is better
All Windows platforms are supported but 2000 needs at least 64mb ram minimum, XP and NT needs 128mb
Road Warrior - a single network connection
Telecommuter - one network connection and one telephone
CallmasterVI - DCP connectivity to the PBX and a RS-232 connection from the PC to the CMVI

We have set up 20 Agents with various configs with no issues other than the obvious, network related problems you may occur. The nice thing is that if you do lose network connectivity in the middle of a call you don't lose the caller.

We have yet to try VPN Mode.

 

[avayaman]

The delay is a hassle. We did the same thing for a large national call center, but we locked up the connections permanently for the shifts. In this case it was one Avaya call center feeding 4 existing Nortel Meridian switches in the other centers. The LD charges were still more cost efective than installing another 3 Avaya switches & running tie lines. (Not mention it happened to be a Telco so they were in effect paying themselves) If you increase RONA, whey not warn the customer in the announcement that they may hear a few extra rings?

Paul Beddows

Consulting, Avaya/EAS implementation, Training
Vancouver, Canada
E-mail use form on website at

http://www.vancouver.hm/email.html

 

[AvayaHelp]

avayaman - what do you mean increase RONA? I know what RONA is just what do you mean?

 

[avayaman]

I mean't increse the number of rings.

Paul Beddows

Consulting, Avaya/EAS implementation, Training
Vancouver, Canada
E-mail use form on website at

http://www.vancouver.hm/email.html

 

[AvayaHelp]

Sorry for sounding stupid but are you saying that to use IP Agent I should iuncrease the number of RONA rings as a result of the delay to the call being received?

 

[avayaman]

If its a problem because of delay in your network, you may not have much choice but to do that. The other option is to use auto answer, in which case RONA doesn't work anyway.

Paul Beddows

Consulting, Avaya/EAS implementation, Training
Vancouver, Canada
E-mail use form on website at

http://www.vancouver.hm/email.html

 

[avayaman]

One other thing, you may want to put 1 or 2 seconds wait time hearing ringback in your vectors, prior to the first announcement. If you don't callers will sometimes hear a couple of words of the first announcement even if there is an idle agent available. In other words don't present the first announcement immediately after the Q to statement. I had this problem. It was due to the delay in the call being presented to the agents PC or actually, I guess, the Avaya gettign the info back from far end PC's as to whether an agent was available. Mind you in this case, some of the PC's were on the other side of the country from the switch & had to pass through god knows what in the customer network. In this particular instance the set up was an Avaya switch in one city directing call center calls to 3 Nortel Option 61's & one Option 11. The Option 61 on site was tied to the Avaya via tie trunks, all the others were accessed over the PSTN using UDP in the Avaya with calls terminatign on DID's in the far end Nortels. Agents had permanently locked up connections for the duration of their shifts & were in auto answer, so RONA was not used. It was desirable to use locked up connections so calls into the agents M2616 sets did not follow treatment options programmed into the sets themselves. Calls from far end cities were directed via a central 1-800 number to the Avaya & then the call was transferred back to that city over the PSTN with the control being on the Agents PC's in that city. Sounds like a huge LD bill & it is, but it was cheaper than tying all the Nortels together with tie trunks & using Symposium. Plus the customer did not like Symposium & wanted the CMS stats Package. (and they are a major company with lots of bucks)

Paul Beddows

Consulting, Avaya/EAS implementation, Training
Vancouver, Canada
E-mail use form on website at

http://www.vancouver.hm/email.html