TechBrief: Making Unified Communications a reality in the trading room

by Neil Isaacson, IP Trade

For some companies today VOIP is passé. Industry leaders expect that, over the next three years there will be more VOIP deployments than TDM in North America. But, as technology continues its rapid development onto the next hot topic, so the focus of forward looking technologists has moved to Unified Communications and what this can achieve.

For those that have yet to take the plunge with deploying VOIP within the trading enterprise, the only barrier may be finding the business case to move this forward. Some of the advantages of moving to VOIP have been slow to materialise, but deploying UC in addition to VOIP makes the business case more compelling than ever.

UC harnesses the communication and collaboration tools that many companies have already adopted, including: voice, email, IM, fax, video, presence, web conferencing, audio conferencing and unified messaging, and seeks to integrate them to deliver further benefits to the enterprise and the user. While these disparate systems may be used effectively today, it is the lack of integration between them (and the numerous vendor solutions) that is the main stumbling block. If improved this will lead to further benefits.

UC is beginning to change users’ behaviour and expectations of telephony. One example is the standard call control interface (dial pad, buttons to start and end calls, etc) that is being integrated into various applications, such as CRM products.

But there is little agreement across the telecoms industry about exactly what UC actually means and therefore how best to deploy it. In essence the two main concepts are:

1. Integration and interoperability of UC components at the infrastructure layer

2. A single (unified) software interface which enables the user to control all UC applications with minimum effort

In terms of deployment within a trading entity the answer to this question is driven by the end user requirements. On trading floors today:

▪ collaboration is key and speed is fundamental

▪ voice communication remains an absolute necessity, especially for complex transactions, as it is faster to talk then type!

▪ communicating by IM is a key channel, as is the need to access persistent chat channels

▪ electronic trading is making many companies focus more on customer service, creating parallels with contact centre markets.

It is clear from these requirements alone that deploying a single user interface to cover all requirements across the enterprise is unlikely to happen. This means that if UC is going to be deployed successfully across a trading entity then it will be through ‘integration and interoperability at the infrastructure layer’.

But trading entities must remember that to drive competitive advantage the focus must remain on enabling productivity improvements. These will be achieved only by focusing on the user experience.

Key attributes to look for in a UC vendor solution	Advantages of this approach
Software built on open industry standards. Key amongst these is SIP	Speed of integration and inter-working. Note the standard SIP stack does not fulfil every turret function, so the capabilities of different solutions may vary
Interoperablity with other best-in-class solutions	The solution must be able to work easily with any and all UC component vendors – standards such as Web Services & Simple Objects Access Protocol (SOAP) should be supported
A virtualised architecture	This inherently provides customers with the ability to access their assets from any location – giving in-built business continuity options, at a much lower cost
Ease of integration with other systems	The time taken to integrate with other vendor and client applications and solutions needs to be measured in weeks as opposed to months
Innovative applications & devices	Customisable and configurable applications enable you to meet the different user demands across your whole enterprise
A software-based approach & business model, with minimum proprietary hardware	More flexible pricing models can be offered, quicker development timeframes are achievable and the applications can run on your standard server build

A common framework

Given that the main challenge will be to integrate and interoperate multiple vendor solutions together, it is important to have a common framework made up of building blocks as follows:

▪ IP network: An IP network is required to deliver information and communications to users. IP is the only protocol that is scalable and simple enough to make the vision of UC a reality. Added to this, the usage of SIP will prevail as it’s now becoming the standard used by most vendors.

▪ Industry standard hardware: As far as possible (to minimise costs) all software should run on off-the-shelf components.

▪ Open Communications Platform: VOIP is seen as one of the fundamental applications of UC. Once VOIP has been deployed organisations can then integrate other collaboration tools into this PBX architecture. If one single voice platform can be adopted across the enterprise for all needs, operational savings can be made.

▪ Interoperable applications: Within the UC context the three most important aspects are:

1. Mobility Solutions: Given local compliance requirements within the front office environment the main requirement for mobility will be when a disaster recovery scenario is invoked. In this instance the user will need access to their ‘voice assets’ and be able to collaborate and communicate effectively with team members and counterparties.

2. Presence information: The ability for users to understand another user’s availability and willingness to communicate over a variety of devices. Presence information must be integrated and aggregated together to deliver value.

3. Integration between UC capabilities and business applications: Breaking down the voice and data silos gives the opportunity to integrate more easily with business applications and hence create competitive advantage.

▪ Innovative devices/phones: These include phones, turrets and the UC software that runs on the PC. The need for flexible and adaptable turret applications is becoming increasingly important. It’s also essential that the numerous devices can interoperate (using SIP) and be easily managed.

Recommended approach

While most, if not all, of the enterprise communication companies have produced UC products and solutions, the situation in the trading environment is different. The incumbent voice suppliers within this market do not have the scale or the available funds to rapidly change their product sets. This prevents them from keeping up with the solutions that are now seen by many PBX vendors as mature.

These issues are compounded by the fact that many legacy voice providers have at their core a TDM solution that relies on proprietary hardware and software. Furthermore, their business models are predicated on obtaining revenue from hardware sales, especially on the switch side. Put simply these companies can not afford to change their products quickly and embrace UC.

Given the changes in technology over the last three years, many of the old barriers to entry to provide voice trading solutions have been reduced. These changes have enabled new entrants, such as IP Trade, to enter the market and offer solutions conceived specifically for the IP world.

Often their recommended approach differs from the legacy providers because no proprietary voice switch is required. This enables clients to easily deploy UC through integration and interoperability at the infrastructure layer, because there is no need to integrate with a proprietary voice switch. The use of open standards means that integration and interoperability between the turret and other UC components is easy to achieve.

Taking this approach puts the focus on the user as opposed to the infrastructure and enables users’ requests to be handled more quickly, for example, through a flexible application on the turret.

The key solution components recommended over and above a standard IP PBX solution include:

▪ The Turret – a SIP end point which can have multiple handsets, speakers and handle multiple concurrent calls.

▪ A TPO Server – for connectivity of lines via media gateways and delivery of core trading features including: open line dealing, barge-in and intercom.

▪ A TSS Server – providing management of security access, end-user profiles and acting as the bridge to applications and other systems.

The future of UC in trading entities

Once companies have deployed their UC architectures and tools, they will want to understand how the next level of business benefits can be achieved. The key enterprise communication vendors point almost unanimously in one direction, towards the integration of UC capabilities with business processes.

The potential benefits of such an approach include a reduction in time spent communicating with someone on the active device, and improved customer responsiveness. Examples of scenarios that could be aided include bringing together the parties when sorting out unsettled trades, or gaining agreement on client risk profiles before commencing new trades.

As voice becomes more embedded into business processes, there is a strong likelihood that the way turrets are used will also evolve. The need for a customisable application using a touchscreen device seems to be a strong contender in this rapidly changing landscape.

Moving forward, trading entities should focus on ensuring that their chosen communications infrastructure easily integrates and interoperates, for example, using SIP. The possibilities for embedding voice and presence awareness technology into business applications to transform business processes are almost endless. In this environment the UC capabilities of the voice trading solution you select are of paramount importance.

Neil Isaacson, IP Trade