Many factors are driving multivendor VoIP networks, and those with multivendor networks typically are faced with managing different vendors’ equipment not only in their headquarters, but also in hundreds or thousands of branch offices.

What’s driving multivendor VoIP networks, and how should organizations prepare to effectively manage them?

A few key factors are driving the trend toward multivendor VoIP deployments, including:

* Mergers & acquisitions: Each company in the merger already has deployed VoIP using a different vendor.

* Best of breed: IT executives want to leverage the strengths of vendor products, perhaps Avaya in the contact center, and Cisco or Nortel in headquarters and branch office.

* Reliance on single vendor: IT executives do not want all of their voice communications dependent on a single vendor.

* Bad experiences: Some organizations had a poor experience with their initial VoIP deployment with one vendor, so they continued the rollout with a second vendor.

* Global relevance: Companies deploy different vendors in different regions of the world, depending on where those vendors are most entrenched.

Managing these multivendor networks arises as a challenge in no time. Administrators of early multivendor networks have been relying on multiple tools. So if Cisco were deployed at the headquarters, Avaya in the contact center, and Nortel in the branch, they would be using at least three tools from each of the vendors, plus perhaps a third-party tool and several network-specific tools. Hardly a comprehensive and efficient way to manage voice traffic at the branch offices!

Now there are other options. IP telephony management specialists, including Integrated Research’s (better known as Prognosis), Infovista, and NetIQ, are branching out with tools that manage multiple IP telephony vendors in a single tool and interface. This way, a central IT staff can use a single tool to manage all voice communications at headquarters and all remote locations - regardless of which vendor’s IP PBX is at each site. Not only does that make it easier on the IT staff, it also reduces expenses associated with maintaining multiple management tools.

Additionally, a growing number of organizations are considering managed service providers (MSP) to monitor and troubleshoot their VoIP networks. These MSPs, including such heavyweights as IBM, EDS, Orange, as well as regional and local providers, benefit from using tools that allow them to manage multiple client networks in an integrated fashion.

One problem, though, is that IT managers underestimate VoIP management requirements. They often believe that existing network management systems, or tools that come with their IP PBX, will effectively enable VoIP management. Typically, one to two years into the VoIP deployment, though, they begin searching for management tools that provide more details, root-cause analysis, and a common interface that integrates the management databases into a single view. And this happens with just a single IP telephony vendor.

As more organizations move to multivendor environments, consolidated IP telephony management tools will become even more important - particularly as they extend VoIP to small branch offices that are managed centrally.