VoIP Expert

Observer’s VoIP Expert, available in Observer Expert and Observer Suite, helps to manage and quickly troubleshoot VoIP across your network. Whether you are interested in the big picture or in a specific conversation, Observer offers real-time statistics, Expert VoIP analysis, and reports for all levels of VoIP traffic.

Understanding network and VoIP performance is the key to accurate troubleshooting. Observer provides visibility into the network, application, and VoIP traffic to quickly resolve any issue. The VoIP Expert provides summary views to easily understand the overall health of the VoIP network. Over 70 VoIP-specific metrics, like call quality, can be tracked on an aggregate or per-call basis. In troubleshooting, there are over 50 Expert events for immediate problem identification. Once an issue has been identified, drill-down on specific conversations for an in-depth view.

 

VoIP Expert Analysis Features

  • Convenient at-a-glance summaries
    • VoIP Traffic Summary
    • Call Summary
    • Voice Quality Scoring
    • Precedence (QoS)
  • Detailed views with in-depth Call Detail Records
    • Addresses
    • Status (Open, closed, fail)
    • Number of packets, packet bytes, packet loss
    • Start time, initial setup duration, duration
    • Current jitter, maximum jitter
    • MOS, R-factor
    • QoS for each call
    • Number of packets that arrive out of order
    • Detailed analysis for packet loss and delay
    • Gap and burst measurements

  • Long-term trending can now be performed on Call Details Records (New)

 

Quickly Solve Problems with over 50 VoIP Experts
Observer offers over 50 event-based and threshold-based VoIP Experts to immediately flag problems for faster problem resolution. Examples include:

   • Alarms for unacceptable jitter level
   • Lost packets
   • Alterations in the QoS stream

 

 

Share VoIP Reports With Others
Through a web browser, engineers can generate and view a variety of reports on VoIP performance statistics and call quality scoring. These reports can be easily shared across the company and scheduled to be automatically e-mailed to management.

Manage VoIP Audio Quality
Observer displays the individual Mean Opinion Score (MOS) and R-factor for every call and as an average for all calls. Place alarms on this score to proactively manage overall VoIP quality.

Learn more about call scoring:

Factors that measure call scoring within Observer can be customized depending upon the network’s specific VoIP equipment and overall network characteristics. For example, VoIP calls made on the factory floor may be scored differently than a call made within a small, quiet office.

Quality score impairment factors include:

    • Loudness rating
    • Talker Echo Loudness Rating
    • Circuit noise
    • Floor noise    
    • Coding and decoding delay

 

Monitor Quality of Service (QoS)
Observer’s VoIP Expert reports QoS levels by call, packet, and protocol. This VoIP analysis also shows percentage of VoIP utilization as compared to the rest of network traffic allowing you to plan network upgrades.

QoS standards recognized include:

  • Default: RFC 1349, 1195, 1123, 791
  • OSPF V2: RFC 1248, 1247
  • DSCP: RFC 2474

VoIP Expert includes call ID and stream information including:

  • Number of packets
  • Jitter
  • Call setup
  • Duration
  • Teardown
  • Lost packets burst and gap measurements

Evaluate Jitter
Observer’s VoIP Expert displays the statistical variance of packet arrival times, also known as jitter, measured in timestamp units or RTP time units.

Measure Bursts and Gaps
Observer’s VoIP Expert provides comprehensive metrics for monitoring bursts, which are periods characterized by high rates of packet loss, and gaps, or periods characterized by low rates of packet loss. Burst and gap percentages can quickly indicate the quality of a call.

 

Track and Decode VoIP and Video
Observer offers complete VoIP and video decodes, including H.323, Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), MGCP, and SCCP (Cisco "skinny"). Observer also supports Avaya CCMS, Nortel UNIStim, and Mitel® systems.

Nortel UNIStim licensed separately

Reconstruct and Review VoIP Calls
Captured calls can be reconstructed so you can review and hear call quality issues experienced by users.

Compare VoIP to Network Performance
An analyzer with comprehensive VoIP analysis, Observer has the ability to track VoIP as well as overall network performance. Observer can identify whether jitter or delay is being caused by other applications on the network.

Monitor VoWLAN
With the Network Instruments Distributed Network Analysis (NI-DNA) architecture, all of Observer’s VoIP enhancements are automatically available across multiple topologies. For example, Observer’s VoIP Expert has the capability to monitor VoIP traffic even over wireless networks.