Cybertek: A Case Study in Reliability

Cybertek has been managing enterprise networks and systems integrations for over 20 years. The Company’s President, Scott Siegel, knows it’s crucial that customers can reach you at all times; busy signals, hold music and dropped calls severely damage relationships. When Scott set up a Cisco Unified Communications system to manage single number reach for all technicians, his plan hit a wall when his existing carrier wasn’t able to accommodate the trunks he needed – important support calls couldn’t get through. By switching to Flowroute’s unlimited channel plan, Cybertek can provide the responsive support model customers demand, and Scott is confident his phone lines will always be up.

The case for SIP trunking

When companies provide customers with a single number to reach techs anywhere, they essentially double the number of channels required because calls come in and are rerouted back out through another channel. There is an inbound call and an outbound call involved in connecting the customer to the technician.

Traditional options for connecting CyberTek’s Cisco system weren’t ideal for single number reach because T1s and PRIs lack the flexibility the Company needed to facilitate high availability. Scott would have had to either overspend on trunks or risk cutting off calls that exceeded a lower fixed channel capacity. “I was looking for a method of having multiple calls go on at the same time without having to buy a T1 or PRI bundle. Our channel needs fluctuate so I didn’t want to commit to a set number of hard lines, I needed the ability to burst.”

While some SIP trunking providers do sell network access in groups of trunks, there is no technical reason organizations need to settle for being restricted in that way. When Scott found out that Flowroute provides unlimited SIP trunks, he signed-up right away. “I love that I can buy the phone number and then have as many inbound calls as I need. It means I’m getting the most out of my Cisco,” explained Scott.

What makes SIP trunking reliable

Availability is crucial to Cybertek’s business. Flowroute’s unique inbound routing technology reroutes calls around downed network switches blocking inbound calls; so Cybertek can receive calls while other affected companies wait for the switch to be repaired. And because Flowroute doesn’t proxy call audio, there’s less latency on outbound calls, and connections are more reliable. Scott noticed the difference, “We need our phone service to be reliable when it’s not our customers complain. But since switching to Flowroute we haven’t heard any complaints.”

If Cybertek’s phone system is ever unavailable, Scott doesn’t worry. “Another thing Flowroute does really well is that when there’s a problem with my system receiving calls, Flowroute immediately reroutes to my cell.” Even if your Cisco system isn’t available, Flowroute provides customizable fail-safe routes that  can be managed in real-time to ensure inbound calls can still be received.

Reliable SIP trunking needs reliable support

Even when you know your SIP, the complex nature of telecommunications makes it likely that issues that require an expert consult will arise. It’s important your carrier has a team in place that can quickly resolve trouble and get your phone lines working again. Scott described the Flowroute team of Support Engineers as “one of the most supportive and responsive in the industry.” When it comes to resolving problems, regardless of where the issues lie, Scott said, “I’ve always been impressed with Flowroute’s ability to troubleshoot my entire system.”

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Secure SIP trunking

As a network and data center specialist, Scott knows phone system security  is just as important as reliability. “If you turn off the firewall on a Windows 7 system, it’ll be compromised in less than three minutes,” he explained. So he appreciates the customizable fraud controls Flowroute brings to his Cisco phone system such as outbound rate limits and on demand whitelisting.

For added security, Cybertek is also using Flowroute’s IP-based authentication to avoid transmitting SIP credentials or having to store them in Cisco CallManager for intruders to find.

To further protect customer accounts from toll-fraud, Flowroute monitors network traffic for anomalies and blocks unusual bursts in usage. At one point, before they had fully set up security protocols on their own system, Cybertek was compromised by fraudsters through an open port. Scott explained that Flowroute automatically recognized anomalies in Cybertek’s traffic and cut off the fraud attack before the damage exceeded $10.

Flowroute and Cisco

When Cybertek recently installed a Cisco Business Edition 6000 to upgrade Unified Communications capabilities, integration with Flowroute was fast. Scott said, “Flowroute makes testing really easy. It took less than 40 minutes to get everything setup and tested.”

The way Cisco systems handle SIP trunking is much more simplified with the release of CallManager 10. Previous versions of Cisco CallManager required STCP to Unity, but after upgrading to CallManager 10, as Scott puts it, “there’s no conversion necessary, it’s all SIP traffic, which makes implementing Flowroute a cake walk”.

Functionality and reliability

The combination of Flowroute SIP trunking and Cisco delivers the functionality and availability Cybertek needs to be responsive to customer needs. Scott knows he’s got the right combination, “Customers can dial a number and, no matter what, someone will answer them. I’m really happy with how Flowroute connects to Cisco. I love using Flowroute with our BE 6000.”

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