Flying High with VoIP (ntop)
A Turkish airline gets a VoIP makeover using Net2Phone technology.
vonmag.com
By their very nature as businesses, airlines have sophisticated telecommunications needs. Their business model, after all, is based on physically connecting far-flung points. To enable the services that satisfy that goal, airlines must maintain offices and personnel in numerous locations–around the globe, or at least in their region.
As one of the largest airlines in Turkey, Onur Air meets that technology requirement. With eight destinations in Turkey and in 17 European countries, Onur fits the description of an airline with a need to communicate.
In 2003, Onur assessed its telecom business model and found it both pricey and inefficient. The company had been spending $36,000 a month on phone expenses, chiefly via land lines in the nations in which it operates. The airline was looking for a solution to link their offices together, with the added benefits of gateways that could interface into a PBX.
At that point, Onur had already been aware of VoIP. Tests of two popular VoIP solutions proved less than an ideal fit for Onur’s needs. Then, early this year, Onur assessed and tested Max PVN, a cost-cutting VoIP-based solution from VoIP developer and services provider Net2Phone of Newark, NJ.
The solution was brought to Onur by Net2Phone’s Turkish-based channel partner TURCom Íletisim Sistemleri Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S., an Internet Service Provider, systems integrator and networking solutions company based in Istanbul.
Onur notes that the Net2Phone solution has reduced their monthly phone expenditures from $36,000 to $14,000, resulting in a return on investment in two months.
The Max PVN solution consists of hardware and software modules.
In a typical deployment, Max PVN software is installed at a headquarters location and can support up to 150 simultaneous calls. These calls can either be free, within the network, or low-cost long distance calls to any phone in the world–VoIP or not.
Max PVN hardware is placed at each location on the Max PVN network. Solutions range from a single-user IP telephone to the Max gateway series, which is configurable to support the calling requirements of various-size offices.
In February, 2004, Onur Air decided on an implementation that would use specific Max PVN hardware and software modules. The installation had various headquarters and field-office components.
A PVN server was installed in Onur’s Istanbul, Turkey headquarters. Also in the main office, a Max 8 Plus gateway was connected to the carrier’s corporate PBX.
For software support, PVN25 software was installed in the network hub. Appropriate to the version name, this solution enables up to 25 simultaneous calls and a maximum of 250 extensions.
The testing procedure began in March with the deployment of Max 430 gate-ways, connected to Onur’s satellite offices in Istanbul as well as their offices in Antalya, a resort town on Turkey’s scenic south Mediterranean coast. At each location, both gateways were connected to the existing PBX.
The initial test involved calls placed between the Istanbul and Antayla sales offices. “When we did some testing with their branch offices, we looked for key measures such as jitter and packet-loss latency,” says Simon McIver, Director of Enterprise Products at Net2Phone Global Services. “In the trial, most of our users noticed no difference (with previous calls),” says McIver. “This was actually one of our easier installations.”
Following the successful, bugs-free initial implementation, Max PVN was expanded to include several other ticket sales offices throughout Turkey. These included an additional 20-user office in Antayla, a 9-user facility in Izmir, a 5-user office in Trabzon, and an 8-user outpost in Adana.
Additionally, a 12-user facility in the Hatay, Turkey Customs Office was similarly equipped. International deployments in Phase 2 included a 16-user ticket sales office in Stuttgart, Germany and a similar, 15-user office in Dusseldorf.
Phase 3, which started this summer, kicked off with an expansion of the ticket sales office in Izmir to include travel agents. If travel agents call a designated number, they can reach Onur representatives via broadband IP. “In terms of bringing these channels together, this [implementation] is another part of our value proposition,” McIver says. “This [phase] was under evaluation late this summer.”
If travel agent link capability proves successful, McIver envisions the next phase of the Onur rollout as a hookup between Onur offices and catering, fuel and maintenance contractors in the cities where the carrier operates. This might be tested in 2005. |
