A short presentation with some things I've discovered being important in Unified Communication migration projects I've worked on. Presentation from the Uninett Telephony Workshop in Trondheim, May 2012.

1. Moving to a new
UC Platform
10 slides, 10 bullets to remember
Olle E. Johansson * oej@edvina.net * Twitter oej
© Copyright Edvina AB, Sollentuna, Sweden 2012. All rights reserved.

2. 1. Learn and lab
• Install an Asterisk or a FreeSwitch server
• Buy a few different SIP phones
• Get SIP softphones
• Understand the technology
• Attend this workshop!

3. 2. Take inventory
• Check all the PSTN lines
• PRI lines, internal leased lines, alarms,
elevator phones, POS connections
• Check current equipment
• Protocol support in phones and PBX
• SIP or PRI trunks in the PBX

4. 3. List used PBX
services
• List all current PBX services
• Try to understand who uses what
• Who depends on what?
• Find the set that few uses and no one
depends on and delete it from the list
• Focus on the important services and the
new services - presence and IM

5. 4. Identities
and name space
• The address plan is important
• Phone numbers and internal numbers
• SIP addresses
• Both email-style and numeric
• Domain management
• LDAP/AD integration

6. 5. Migrate, migrate
• Is there a way to connect the new platform
with the old
• Can you migrate department by
department or in some other way?
• Synch this with cancellation of old lines

7. 6. Integrate
• There is a cost of managing user accounts
and groups
• Try to build on the IT-departments systems
• LDAP, Active Directory
• The new system needs to be managed like
any server - SNMP, Nagios/Icinga and other
management platforms

8. 7. Work with open
source
• Build local knowledge and participate
• Or hire consultants and have them
contribute back
• Consider sharing source code with fellow
institutions
• Look at it from a professional and financial
point of view.

9. 8. Security
• Consider which type of security that is
needed for every use case
• CDRs and logs contains important
information
• Some phone calls or networks may need
security

10. 9. Integrate cell phones
• Mobile extensions
• Control PBX services in smart phones
• Callback, dial-through
• Wifi/Softphone reachability when travelling
• Make cell phone users part of the platform

11. 10. It’s all about
marketing
• You have to sell the new platform to the
users
• Before you do the switch!
• Let them be part of the project
• Make it easy to learn and use
• This requires hard work

12. Most important:
Use open standard protocols to get interoperability
in your realtime communications network.
AVOID VENDOR LOCK-INS.