26 October 2016
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"Dig deep for root causes", suggest experts
Dealing with common unified communcations issues is "nearly impossible" without holistic visibility and strong performance management capabilities, network monitoring firm NetScout has stated.
Experts at the company say that without such capabilities, "diagnostic information is often limited to little more than basic network connectivity tests" as well as very vague complaints like echoes on phone lines or choppy video.
"To get to the bottom of UC&C performance issues, you need to dig deep for the root causes," suggests NetScout.
End-to-end visibility, says the company, is currently only typically achieved by "multiple functional IT teams to deliver the performance and end-to-end user experience that businesses and their users demand".
But NetScout laments that these teams are "often forced to use silo-specific tools, each focused on assuring the performance of a particular component in the converged infrastructure, as point tools that focus on specific components".
"These UC&C components are often purchased from different vendors. Consider for a moment how different management tools for various UC&C components might operate for an enterprise IT department that is trying to achieve end-to-end service assurance and resolve UC&C performance issues."
According to NetScout, siloed component tools may provide disconnected information "at best", but at worst, "conflicting information".
"in particular, for media quality, typical UC&C component management tools rely on metrics and data, provided by end-point devices that signify whether the network is the cause of quality issues in the media."
NetScout's basic stance is "knowing what is happening is always important", but "knowing why it is happening tends to be even more important".
