CASE STUDY
Belgacom Case StudySIP Trunking connectivity with emergency call handling forLync 2010 and 2013 customers
Belgacom selected AudioCodes Enterprise Session
Border Controller (E-SBC) to enable customers who had
deployed Microsoft Lync to interconnect with its Explore
Business Trunking service. A critical factor in Belgacom’s
decision was AudioCodes E-SBC’s ability to meet the local
regulator’s requirements for handling emergency callsfrom the Lync environment.

Background
The Belgacom Group (www.belgacom.com), Belgium’s national telecom
operator, is the main provider of integrated telecommunication and ICT
services in Belgium. Thanks to its continuous investments in cutting-edge
technology, Belgacom offers its private and professional customers acomplete range of telephony, Internet and television services.

Challenges
Among the advanced enterprise services offered by Belgacom is Belgacom
Explore Business Trunking solution, which enables the integration of voice
and data traffic on one single data network, thus removing the need for ISDNlines.
The Explore Business Trunking service’s infrastructure is a based on an Alcatel
IMS platform. Companies connect to the network via their PBX (with a VoIPgateway) or IP-PBX equipment. One prerequisite for signing up to the service
is that any equipment interfacing with the Business Trunking network has to
be officially certified by Belgacom to ensure compatibility and to integrate
regulatory requirements.

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CASE STUDY
Recently, many companies have begun adopting Microsoft Lync as their enterprise unified communications platform,realizing the wide-ranging benefits that Lync can offer their organizations. Companies wishing to do so need to deploy thirdparty media gateways or enterprise session border controllers (E-SBCs) that are qualified to work with Lync to ensure fullcompatibility. In order for a company using Lync to connect with Belgacom’s VoIP infrastructure, the whole solution, including
any media gateways or E-SBCs, needs to pass Belgacom’s qualification testing which covers technical considerations andregulatory requirements. Belgacom, therefore, was looking for a solution that would integrate the regulator’s requirements
and allow customers that had migrated to Lync to benefit from its converged Business Trunking service.

Solution
The platform chosen by Belgacom to act as the interface between its customers’
Lync 2010 and Lync 2013 installations and the Business Trunking network was
the AudioCodes Mediant 1000 Enterprise Session Border Controller (E-SBC)
platform.
The AudioCodes Mediant 1000 E-SBC acts as the demarcation point between
enterprise VoIP networks and the SIP trunking service provider domain, providing
protocol mediation between different SIP implementations. Furthermore, theMediant 1000 E-SBC is fully qualified for use with Lync Server 2010 and Lync
Server 2013. In Belgacom’s case, this meant that customers could be sure ofsmooth interoperability between their Lync-based UC environments network andBelgacom’s IMS core network.

“AudioCodes’ great experience ofdeveloping and deploying fieldproven VoIP solutions was criticalin providing us with a solutionthat would meet our technicalrequirements, offering a better
answer to Belgian regulation andcontributing to the safety of staff
working in VoIP environments.”
Yashfeen Saiyid
Product Manager, Microsoft Unified
Communications at BelgacomTwo of the Mediant 1000 E-SBC’s features were of critical importance for Belgacom’s selection.
The first of these was the ability to convert between the TCP transport protocol used in the Lync environment and the UDP
protocol used in Belgacom’s Business Trunking network.
The second was the Mediant 1000’s ability to meet the Belgian regulator’s requirements for the support of emergency calls.
Handling emergency calls in an IP-based communications environment such as Lync can pose a particular challenge forservice providers such as Belgacom. In traditional telephony networks where there is a physical connection to users’ phones
or PBXs, callers and their locations can be relatively easily identified, enabling emergency services to be dispatched to thecorrect location as quickly as possible.
In VoIP based systems, however, there is no longer an automatic correlation between the caller’s number and their physicallocation. A company’s communications system may be based on a centralized Lync platform which is only connected to theservice provider at the company’s head office. Individual workers, however, may be located at any of the company’s branchoffices.

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Belgacom was able to overcome this challenge thanks to a combination of Lync’s Location Information Server (LIS) featureand AudioCodes E-SBC’s ability to perform complex SIP packet header manipulation. AudioCodes was the first vendor
to achieve Lync qualification for its solution for supporting E-911 calls in North America (using the ELIN feature) and its
products possessed the flexibility to adapt this functionality to enable support for emergency calling in Belgium.
The process by which emergency calls from Lync are handled in Belgacom’s network is as follows (illustrated also in thediagram below):
1. When a user dials 112 (the local emergency phone number) to place an emergency call, Lync identifies his or her locationfrom information stored in the Location Information Server (LIS)
2. Based on the information provided by the LIS, AudioCodes’ E-SBC applies manipulation to the SIP header and dialed
number before the call setup request is passed to the IMS platform
3. The IMS platform receives the call setup request, analyzes the data included in the header and routes the call to therelevant emergency call center or Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP)
4. The PSAP handles the call and dispatches the necessary emergency teams to the caller’s location

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CASE STUDYResults
Having passed the necessary testing, AudioCodes E-SBCs can be deployed in Belgacom’s Business Trunking network toconnect Lync customers to the service. Customers will benefit on the one hand from Lync’s extensive range of unified
communications features and from Belgacom’s cost-effective converged data and voice trunking infrastructure on the other.
“AudioCodes’ great experience of developing and deploying field-proven VoIP solutions was critical in providing us with asolution that would meet our technical requirements a, offering a better answer to Belgian regulation and contributing to thesafety of staff working in VoIP environments,” stated Yashfeen Saiyid, Product Manager, Microsoft Unified Communicationsat Belgacom. “The AudioCodes solution enables us to tap into the growing Microsoft Lync community and offer our converged
data and voice services to a wider range of customers.”

About AudioCodes
AudioCodes Ltd. (NasdaqGS: AUDC) designs, develops andsells advanced Voice over IP (VoIP) and converged VoIP andData networking products and applications to Service Providers
and Enterprises. AudioCodes is a VoIP technology marketleader focused on converged VoIP & data communications
and its products are deployed globally in Broadband, Mobile,
Enterprise networks and Cable. The company provides a range
of innovative, cost-effective products including Media Gateways,
Multi-Service Business Routers, Session Border Controllers(SBC), Residential Gateways, IP Phones, Media Servers andValue Added Applications. AudioCodes’ underlying technology,
VoIPerfectHD™, relies on AudioCodes’ leadership in DSP, voicecoding and voice processing technologies. AudioCodes HighDefinition (HD) VoIP technologies and products provide enhanced
intelligibility and a better end user communication experience inVoice communications.

Contact us: www.audiocodes.com/infoWebsite: www.audiocodes.com©2012 AudioCodes Ltd. All rights reserved. AudioCodes, AC, HD VoIP, HD VoIP Sounds Better, IPmedia,Mediant, MediaPack, OSN, SmartTAP, VMAS, VoIPerfect, VoIPerfectHD, Your Gateway To VoIP and 3GX
are trademarks or registered trademarks of AudioCodes Limited. All other products or trademarks areproperty of their respective owners. Product specifications are subject to change without notice.

Ref. # LTRM-06040 11/12 V.1

About Belgacom

Belgacom (Euronxt: BELG), is the leading operator in Belgium,active on the Belgian and international market. It has vast
experience with a variety of customer groups: residential,professional, corporate and institutional. Thanks to its constantinnovation, Belgacom has developed a comprehensive range ofproducts and solutions for fixed and mobile networks, going from
telephony, internet, digital television, ICT and networking.
The Enterprise Business Unit of the Belgacom Group has built up
vast experience with a varied group of professional customers.
As a customer, you can benefit from our many investments indevelopment, our high-level expertise in ICT and connectivity,and numerous solutions set up to meet your needs: Enterprise
Network Solutions like LAN, WLAN, WAN, Enterprise Datacenterand Cloud Solutions, Enterprise Security Solutions, Enterprise
IP-Telephony and Unified Collaboration Solutions, Enterprise
Applications Solutions, and Enterprise Mobility Solutions.
Belgacom helps you by offering strategic and technicalconsultancy services, integrating all ICT aspects into these. In
addition, we ensure the continuous improvement of your ICT
tools and maintain or manage your whole infrastructure. With
these managed services we also ensure an efficient and effective
improvement of your operations. Belgacom takes care of all
aspects to set up a secure and integrated ICT environment forher customers: consultancy, implementation, validation, support
during installation, and project management. Belgacom is also aleader among ICT training providers in the Benelux offering a fullrange of ICT courses. Belgacom’s goal is to create ICT solutionthat will help customers reach their company objectives and to
make them more sustainable today, and in the future. For more
info on the Belgacom Group, visit: www.belgacom.com.

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