Ensuring quality in IP multi-service networks requires that both the signaling and media be monitored effectively. Tektronix' Unified Assurance monitoring features analyze and correlate media and signaling for every call, enabling you to deliver outstanding media quality while reducing downtime, trouble tickets and costs.

With traditional data services such as email or text messaging, minor timing delays and outof- sequence data packets don't impact the quality of the service because missing packets can be retransmitted, and late packets are still useable. However, voice and video are uniquely time-critical services. The quality of speech audio and video images are very sensitive to transmission effects inherent in an IP network such as packet loss, latency and jitter. It isn't possible to replace a missing or delayed packet for a time-critical service like voice—the conversation has already moved on. Delivering media quality for voice and video over IP services requires tight interworking and millisecond precision across a variety of media and signaling devices.

Whether to ensure adherence to Service Level Agreements or to maximize service growth and minimize churn, it's imperative to ensure the quality of media in an IP multi-service network. The most accurate and effective method of ensuring media quality is to proactively monitor the media streams, correlating results with signaling for the associated voice or video sessions, for a unified view of the quality of the service at the network, service and customer level.

Deliver Reliable Media Quality of Service in Your IP Multi-Service Network

• Ensure outstanding media quality
• Reduce downtime and trouble tickets
• Reduce operational and capex costs
• Maximize staff efficiency

Monitor Media Quality Directly

In IP networks, voice and video media data is carried by Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) packets. Depending on the capabilities of each network device, metrics for deriving quality of this media may be provided in Real-time Transport Control Protocol (RTCP) packets, which periodically report packet loss, jitter, and latency in active RTP sessions. When available, RTCP and RTCP-XR information can provide the key metrics necessary for media quality monitoring. However, monitoring RTP data directly can provide more accurate and more timely data on performance and media quality. Direct RTP monitoring is vital in cases where RTCP data is not available or special focus is desired, such as newly-provisioned network elements or services and highvalue accounts.

When quality issues are detected, it's essential to be alerted instantly with information that enables you to quickly diagnose and isolate the problem, whether its due to signaling or media transmission.

Direct RTP Monitoring with Unified Assurance

Tektronix' Unified Assurance suite provides an independent, highly-accurate, timely view into media quality through direct RTP monitoring. The Unified Assurance applications deliver carrier-class performance, providing near-real time insight into media quality for potentially hundreds of thousands of active calls from network, service and key customer perspectives.

With the Unified Assurance solution, all media quality metrics from RTP are correlated with the signaling for each call—even across network types and signaling protocols— enabling faster detection, isolation and resolution of network problems. Configurable alerts enable proactive detection of impeding problems, allowing early warning so service problems can be prevented before they result in outages, trouble tickets or customer complaints. Detailed statistics and customizable Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) deliver accurate views of performance from network, service and customer views in near-real time for operations, and over time for analysis and capacity planning.

Perceived media quality scores (MOS) based on direct RTP monitoring in the Unified Assurance system are very accurate, and are derived from algorithms that provide MOS scores that are highly consistent with traditional subjective human perception tests. When monitoring millions of calls a day, objective, non-intrusive call quality scoring in realtime is critical to ensuring exceptional quality and customer experience.

Direct RTP monitoring complements Tektronix' other call quality scoring capabilities, and provides the flexibility of simultaneous monitoring of RTCP, RTCP-XR, RTP and endof- call quality measurements for service performance monitoring and SLA management.

GeoProbe

RTP stream statistics such as latency, jitter, dropped packets, MOS and audio codec are available in real time in GeoProbe. In addition, RTP streams are displayed with call traces, enabling rapid diagnosis of no-audio or one-way audio problems within and between networks. RTP stream origination and destination is displayed conveniently in standard ladder diagrams, making analysis of media-related problems easier.

GeoProbe APM

GeoProbe APM has integrated media reporting capabilities that provide proactive, near real-time analysis of voice quality on a hop-by-hop basis. KPIs include MOS scoring as well as packet-based statistics such as dropped packets, latency and jitter. Analysis can also be done on a directional basis to isolate speech quality problems on calls entering or leaving the network. GeoProbe APM enables advanced analysis and troubleshooting on media problems within the network through intuitive drill-down features.

Orion

Orion monitors the media and service quality from an end-to end perspective to proactively identify problems and potential problems before they result in customer complaints. Bi-directional monitoring enables detection of real-time problems and analysis of historical trends both within the network and at network interconnection points. Orion features extensive capacity planning, SLA and service usage reports that make this a vital tool for operations, planning, marketing and other departments across the entire organization.

Beamer
Beamer extends the end-to-end analysis media and service monitoring capabilities of Orion to performance monitoring and historical trending on individual accounts. Services delivered to High Value Accounts can be monitored and alarmed in real time to provide proactive visibility into service quality delivered to individual customers or groups of customers.

Key Benefits

• Manage the quality of your revenue-generating services, not just network alarms.
• Detect service quality issues faster through nearreal time monitoring of media.
• Isolate and resolve performance problems faster with correlated views of media and signaling for every call and session.
• Meet and exceed your Service Level Agreement standards to drive service adoption rates with new customers, and maintain loyalty and reduce risk of penalties with existing customers.
• Reduce trouble tickets by proactively detecting impending issues before they become problems, outages or complaints.
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  Maximize staff effectiveness with an intuitive interface that enables less-experienced staff to easily monitor and pinpoint issues, allowing experienced staff to focus on problem resolution.
• Optimize your network deployment and capex purchasing through accurate analysis and forecasting.

Functions

• Compare media quality as detected by RTP and reported by RTCP to identify compliant network devices and verify accuracy.
• Accurately characterize network and service performance through historical reports and trend analysis.
• Monitor all or a subset of your RTP traffic to accurately track quality network-wide or just for high-value or trouble areas.
• Follow alarms, statistics and call records through drill-down "actionable paths" that provide more detail on each event, all the way down to the octet level.
• Gain a single, unified view of quality from network, service and customer perspectives.

Features

• Statistics (min, max, avg for each IP interface): RTP packets sent, RTP octets sent, RTP packets lost, RTP packets out-ofsequence, RTP latency, RTP jitter, R-Factor score, MOS score
• VoIP call trace with user-specified filters by: timeout event, call status, release cause, SSRC, called/calling party ID (CNAME, email, name) IP address
• Alarms: Near real-time alerts based on customizable statistic thresholds and changes
• Media quality metrics and media streams displayed with signaling in call trace views
• Passive monitoring adds no impact to network and is equipment- vendor neutral.
• Open system interfaces with existing and third-party OSS.