Homeworking

[ableseaman]

Our organisation is now looking at homeworking initially for around 50 employees. The requirement will be to service these employees with a laptop so to gain access to backend systems. Telephony will be provided via a Nortel 1100 series IP Handset or i2050 IP Softphone. Connectivity will be via ADSL. In addition some of these employees will be Contact Centre agents accessing CC6.

We currently have a Cisco ASA 5510 VPN to service the small number of remote workers currently in place via Client based IPSec/SSL VPN. These workers don’t have telephony requirements. We will be looking to service these new homeworkers via the ASA.

Just looking for any advice from others who have experience with a similar requirement - namely what have they deployed at the homeworking end? I have read that the Nortel BSR222 is a “proven” solution but our Nortel rep highlighted that this product is likely to become MD as they don’t see a big market for it. In addition the BSR222 has an Ethernet WAN presentation so would need additional kit to provide the connectivity to the ADSL line.

Our budget is limited for testing so just looking for guidance on a proven or reliable set-up that provides a secure VPN tunnel between the homeworker and ASA at our main site.

Sorry if a bit high level, the VPN side of things isn't my forte

 

[unclerico]

I don't know if it is out of your budget, but maybe take a look at placing a 5505 at each house and use the EasyVPN feature to build L2L tunnels. This would obviously be a bit on the expensive side. Have you looked into using the Nortel softphones on the laptops? Couple that with remote acres VPN and it could work pretty well.

I hate all Uppercase... I don't want my groups to seem angry at me all the time! =)
- ColdFlame (vbscript forum)

 

[ableseaman]

Thanks unclerico

Yes we had considered the 5505 as it seems the most straightforward solution but the associated costs will probably rule this out.

The i2050 softphone will be trialled via our remote access VPN but we also want the option of an IP desk phone. In addition we would require a device which offers bandwidth management for QoS.

Any additional advice welcome.

 

[unclerico]

you're dealing with the internet so there is no such thing as qos once it leaves the cpe device. we use mitel for our voice platform and they have a teleworker solution that puts a proxy server out in our dmz and permits people to place phones within their home networks and login as a hotdesk user. we also deploy a cisco anyconnect vpn client to them for remote access.

I hate all Uppercase... I don't want my groups to seem angry at me all the time! =)
- ColdFlame (vbscript forum)