Re: [cisco-voip] SBC/SIP Trunk Design queries

2015-03-16 Thread Terry Cheema
Thanks Roger and everyone for the replies, its been very helpful.

Terry

Sent from my iPhone

 On 14 Mar 2015, at 11:27 pm, Roger Wiklund roger.wikl...@gmail.com wrote:
 
 We use Acme 3820 with our UCaas platform. Behind it we serve Cisco,
 Mitel, Avaya and Lync PBX:es.
 You can't go wrong with Acme, especially when it comes to SIP
 manipulation, there's nothing you can't do. For me that's the number
 one selling point.
 HA is awesome with hitless failover. You can upgrade outside of
 service windows if you have to.
 Flow through/flow around is more flexible in Acme with media release
 based on same-IP for example.
 If you run Enterprise version or Service Provider version 7.2 you get
 a web GUI which is very helpful when troubleshooting.
 http://www.markholloway.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Screen-Shot-2012-08-08-at-3.00.55-PM.png
 
 The only downside with Acme for me is Oracle. I miss the days when it
 was just Acme Packet, the support was awesome. Now, not so much. It
 feels like all the talented engineers jumped ship.
 
 With that said we do use CUBE but for smaller on-prem solutions. It
 does the job and it's easy to configure.
 
 Sonus is another player that i've heard some buzz about.
 
 On Thu, Mar 12, 2015 at 1:34 AM, David Lin david@msn.com wrote:
 I think one of important things is the capacity you are looking for.
 ACME does give you better scalability and better troubleshooting capability,
 but if you are only looking for couple hundreds of concurrent calls, you
 probably can live with CUBE to keep your cost lower.
 
 D.
 
 From: tim.sm...@enject.com.au
 To: terry.che...@gmail.com; cisco-voip@puck.nether.net
 Date: Wed, 11 Mar 2015 04:19:22 +
 Subject: Re: [cisco-voip] SBC/SIP Trunk Design queries
 
 
 Hi Terry,
 
 
 
 I do quite a bit of CUBE, and have done a bit of Acme as well.
 
 
 
 There were some recent partner sessions that talk about some interesting
 things coming for CUBE, so it’s worth making sure you are getting latest
 roadmap info.
 
 
 
 My main comparison points..
 
 
 
 # HA
 
 
 
 In enterprise there was HA on CUBE, and it was improving in each release
 (but there are caveats with it)
 
 Have found Acme HA to be seamless and rock solid.
 
 
 
 # Deployment
 
 
 
 Cisco has some great interop guides – if you go with a carrier that has
 spent the money, a lot of the hard work has been done for you in terms of
 testing (as you know SIP can be implemented and configured in many different
 ways – if someone hasn’t done a lot of testing up front, you do sometimes
 end up adding SIP profiles and tweaks as you discover issues)
 
 
 
 Acme has some very thorough guides – I’m not sure if they have interop
 testing with carriers – given they are in SP’s a lot, there is a good chance
 they do. I’d look into it that with the Acme SE. Talk to prospective ITSP’s
 about their testing, and supported SBC’s.
 
 
 
 # Ops
 
 
 
 CUBE enterprise is great, IOS, most people are familiar. You will most
 likely need to train people on Acme
 
 I find troubleshooting a bit of a let down with CUBE. Basically log to
 buffer, copy to file, or packet captures. Wireshark with ladders or
 TranslatorX are great, but it’s getting the files there that bugs me.
 
 Alternatively, there did seem to be a few 3rd party tools out there, but you
 are probably looking at $$$
 
 
 
 Acme has web interface, list of calls and then ability to drill down with
 ladder diagrams, messaging capture etc. You should see this before making
 decision.
 
 
 
 Some good knowledge on Acme forums
 
 Acme has very flexible manipulation – CUBE is quite good too (and they have
 great profile testing tool) – plus you can also use CUCM LUA on the SIP
 trunk
 
 
 
 # On your other notes
 
 
 
 Centralised – this is great for flexibility DR etc, standard stuff be aware
 of the call volumes over the WAN, caller ID considerations for emergency and
 local pizza shop type services
 
 
 
 WAN – we terminate on existing equipment, and Acme is in a VLAN, I think
 this is most flexible.. you have a very flexible set up in Acme in regard to
 networking, lots of zones, interface options etc.
 
 
 
 Transcoding – I think you could still utilise CUCM registered transcoders
 for the ASR scenario..
 
 
 
 Virtual - We use virtual Acme, it had some teething problems in very first
 versions (and a clunky license on USB stick thing going on) but it seems to
 be good now
 
We don’t have transcoding / media resources in the virtual
 edition
 
 
 
 Flow through / around – a lot of designs the carrier doesn’t have
 connectivity into the rest of the network, so flow through is quite typical.
 
However, we do have carriers here that have SBC’s on your
 WAN, so flow through can be nice here – it also then makes CUBE HA less
 important, i.e. if call is set up, media is from end point to carrier SBC
 already (if no xcoding involved)
 
 
 
 So I won’t say one way or the other, just my

Re: [cisco-voip] SBC/SIP Trunk Design queries

2015-03-14 Thread Roger Wiklund
We use Acme 3820 with our UCaas platform. Behind it we serve Cisco,
Mitel, Avaya and Lync PBX:es.
You can't go wrong with Acme, especially when it comes to SIP
manipulation, there's nothing you can't do. For me that's the number
one selling point.
HA is awesome with hitless failover. You can upgrade outside of
service windows if you have to.
Flow through/flow around is more flexible in Acme with media release
based on same-IP for example.
If you run Enterprise version or Service Provider version 7.2 you get
a web GUI which is very helpful when troubleshooting.
http://www.markholloway.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Screen-Shot-2012-08-08-at-3.00.55-PM.png

The only downside with Acme for me is Oracle. I miss the days when it
was just Acme Packet, the support was awesome. Now, not so much. It
feels like all the talented engineers jumped ship.

With that said we do use CUBE but for smaller on-prem solutions. It
does the job and it's easy to configure.

Sonus is another player that i've heard some buzz about.

On Thu, Mar 12, 2015 at 1:34 AM, David Lin david@msn.com wrote:
 I think one of important things is the capacity you are looking for.
 ACME does give you better scalability and better troubleshooting capability,
 but if you are only looking for couple hundreds of concurrent calls, you
 probably can live with CUBE to keep your cost lower.

 D.
 
 From: tim.sm...@enject.com.au
 To: terry.che...@gmail.com; cisco-voip@puck.nether.net
 Date: Wed, 11 Mar 2015 04:19:22 +
 Subject: Re: [cisco-voip] SBC/SIP Trunk Design queries


 Hi Terry,



 I do quite a bit of CUBE, and have done a bit of Acme as well.



 There were some recent partner sessions that talk about some interesting
 things coming for CUBE, so it’s worth making sure you are getting latest
 roadmap info.



 My main comparison points..



 # HA



 In enterprise there was HA on CUBE, and it was improving in each release
 (but there are caveats with it)

 Have found Acme HA to be seamless and rock solid.



 # Deployment



 Cisco has some great interop guides – if you go with a carrier that has
 spent the money, a lot of the hard work has been done for you in terms of
 testing (as you know SIP can be implemented and configured in many different
 ways – if someone hasn’t done a lot of testing up front, you do sometimes
 end up adding SIP profiles and tweaks as you discover issues)



 Acme has some very thorough guides – I’m not sure if they have interop
 testing with carriers – given they are in SP’s a lot, there is a good chance
 they do. I’d look into it that with the Acme SE. Talk to prospective ITSP’s
 about their testing, and supported SBC’s.



 # Ops



 CUBE enterprise is great, IOS, most people are familiar. You will most
 likely need to train people on Acme

 I find troubleshooting a bit of a let down with CUBE. Basically log to
 buffer, copy to file, or packet captures. Wireshark with ladders or
 TranslatorX are great, but it’s getting the files there that bugs me.

 Alternatively, there did seem to be a few 3rd party tools out there, but you
 are probably looking at $$$



 Acme has web interface, list of calls and then ability to drill down with
 ladder diagrams, messaging capture etc. You should see this before making
 decision.



 Some good knowledge on Acme forums

 Acme has very flexible manipulation – CUBE is quite good too (and they have
 great profile testing tool) – plus you can also use CUCM LUA on the SIP
 trunk



 # On your other notes



 Centralised – this is great for flexibility DR etc, standard stuff be aware
 of the call volumes over the WAN, caller ID considerations for emergency and
 local pizza shop type services



 WAN – we terminate on existing equipment, and Acme is in a VLAN, I think
 this is most flexible.. you have a very flexible set up in Acme in regard to
 networking, lots of zones, interface options etc.



 Transcoding – I think you could still utilise CUCM registered transcoders
 for the ASR scenario..



 Virtual - We use virtual Acme, it had some teething problems in very first
 versions (and a clunky license on USB stick thing going on) but it seems to
 be good now

 We don’t have transcoding / media resources in the virtual
 edition



 Flow through / around – a lot of designs the carrier doesn’t have
 connectivity into the rest of the network, so flow through is quite typical.

 However, we do have carriers here that have SBC’s on your
 WAN, so flow through can be nice here – it also then makes CUBE HA less
 important, i.e. if call is set up, media is from end point to carrier SBC
 already (if no xcoding involved)



 So I won’t say one way or the other, just my thoughts on things you can
 consider.

 I like both, and will continue to work on both!



 Cheers,



 Tim





 From: cisco-voip [mailto:cisco-voip-boun...@puck.nether.net] On Behalf Of
 Terry Cheema
 Sent: Wednesday, 11 March 2015 1:10 PM
 To: cisco-voip voyp

Re: [cisco-voip] SBC/SIP Trunk Design queries - Acme Packet vs CUBE

2015-03-11 Thread Terry Cheema
Yes - definitely will like to have views from the community where things are 
heading these days.

I have updated the title slightly, lets see if it gets further response.

-Terry

Sent from my iPhone

 On 11 Mar 2015, at 5:17 pm, Tim Smith tim.sm...@enject.com.au wrote:
 
 No problems, I'm also keen to hear other peoples experience too.
 
 It's an interesting topic!
 
  
 
 Cheers,
 
  
 
 Tim.
 
  
 
  
 From: Terry Cheema terry.che...@gmail.com
 Sent: Wednesday, 11 March 2015 5:09 PM
 To: Tim Smith
 Cc: cisco-voip voyp list
 Subject: Re: [cisco-voip] SBC/SIP Trunk Design queries
  
 Tim,
 
 Thanks for your detailed and a quick response, much appreciated.
 
 Thanks,
 Terry
 
   
 
 On Wed, Mar 11, 2015 at 3:19 PM, Tim Smith tim.sm...@enject.com.au wrote:
 Hi Terry,
 
  
 
 I do quite a bit of CUBE, and have done a bit of Acme as well.
 
  
 
 There were some recent partner sessions that talk about some interesting 
 things coming for CUBE, so it’s worth making sure you are getting latest 
 roadmap info.
 
  
 
 My main comparison points..
 
  
 
 # HA
 
  
 
 In enterprise there was HA on CUBE, and it was improving in each release 
 (but there are caveats with it)
 
 Have found Acme HA to be seamless and rock solid.
 
  
 
 # Deployment
 
  
 
 Cisco has some great interop guides – if you go with a carrier that has 
 spent the money, a lot of the hard work has been done for you in terms of 
 testing (as you know SIP can be implemented and configured in many different 
 ways – if someone hasn’t done a lot of testing up front, you do sometimes 
 end up adding SIP profiles and tweaks as you discover issues)
 
  
 
 Acme has some very thorough guides – I’m not sure if they have interop 
 testing with carriers – given they are in SP’s a lot, there is a good chance 
 they do. I’d look into it that with the Acme SE. Talk to prospective ITSP’s 
 about their testing, and supported SBC’s.
 
  
 
 # Ops
 
  
 
 CUBE enterprise is great, IOS, most people are familiar. You will most 
 likely need to train people on Acme
 
 I find troubleshooting a bit of a let down with CUBE. Basically log to 
 buffer, copy to file, or packet captures. Wireshark with ladders or 
 TranslatorX are great, but it’s getting the files there that bugs me.
 
 Alternatively, there did seem to be a few 3rd party tools out there, but you 
 are probably looking at $$$
 
  
 
 Acme has web interface, list of calls and then ability to drill down with 
 ladder diagrams, messaging capture etc. You should see this before making 
 decision.
 
  
 
 Some good knowledge on Acme forums
 
 Acme has very flexible manipulation – CUBE is quite good too (and they have 
 great profile testing tool) – plus you can also use CUCM LUA on the SIP trunk
 
  
 
 # On your other notes
 
  
 
 Centralised – this is great for flexibility DR etc, standard stuff be aware 
 of the call volumes over the WAN, caller ID considerations for emergency and 
 local pizza shop type services
 
  
 
 WAN – we terminate on existing equipment, and Acme is in a VLAN, I think 
 this is most flexible.. you have a very flexible set up in Acme in regard to 
 networking, lots of zones, interface options etc.
 
  
 
 Transcoding – I think you could still utilise CUCM registered transcoders 
 for the ASR scenario..
 
  
 
 Virtual - We use virtual Acme, it had some teething problems in very first 
 versions (and a clunky license on USB stick thing going on) but it seems to 
 be good now
 
 We don’t have transcoding / media resources in the virtual 
 edition
 
  
 
 Flow through / around – a lot of designs the carrier doesn’t have 
 connectivity into the rest of the network, so flow through is quite typical.
 
 However, we do have carriers here that have SBC’s on your 
 WAN, so flow through can be nice here – it also then makes CUBE HA less 
 important, i.e. if call is set up, media is from end point to carrier SBC 
 already (if no xcoding involved)
 
  
 
 So I won’t say one way or the other, just my thoughts on things you can 
 consider.
 
 I like both, and will continue to work on both!
 
  
 
 Cheers,
 
  
 
 Tim
 
  
 
  
 
 From: cisco-voip [mailto:cisco-voip-boun...@puck.nether.net] On Behalf Of 
 Terry Cheema
 Sent: Wednesday, 11 March 2015 1:10 PM
 To: cisco-voip voyp list
 Subject: [cisco-voip] SBC/SIP Trunk Design queries
 
  
 
 Hi List,
 
  
 
 I am working on to finalize the SBC vendor for one of our environments. I 
 have a couple of queries related to the SIP Trunk design and SBC vendor 
 choices(basically CUBE vs Acme Packet). I would really appreciate if anyone 
 with SIP Trunking/SBC expertise  (Cisco/Acme Packet) can provide some input 
 on the below queries:
 
  
 
 1)  CUBE vs Acme Packet: First of all Cisco has marked the CUBE SP 
 Edition product line for EoL, exiting the SBC Service Provider segment, so 
 leaving only SBC Enterprise as the option. Although at this stage we are 
 looking for an enterprise grade SBC

Re: [cisco-voip] SBC/SIP Trunk Design queries

2015-03-11 Thread David Lin
I think one of important things is the capacity you are looking for.ACME does 
give you better scalability and better troubleshooting capability, but if you 
are only looking for couple hundreds of concurrent calls, you probably can live 
with CUBE to keep your cost lower.

D.
From: tim.sm...@enject.com.au
To: terry.che...@gmail.com; cisco-voip@puck.nether.net
Date: Wed, 11 Mar 2015 04:19:22 +
Subject: Re: [cisco-voip] SBC/SIP Trunk Design queries









Hi Terry,
 
I do quite a bit of CUBE, and have done a bit of Acme as well.
 
There were some recent partner sessions that talk about some interesting things 
coming for CUBE, so it’s worth making sure you are
 getting latest roadmap info.
 
My main comparison points..
 
# HA
 
In enterprise there was HA on CUBE, and it was improving in each release (but 
there are caveats with it)
Have found Acme HA to be seamless and rock solid.
 
# Deployment
 
Cisco has some great interop guides – if you go with a carrier that has spent 
the money, a lot of the hard work has been done for you
 in terms of testing (as you know SIP can be implemented and configured in many 
different ways – if someone hasn’t done a lot of testing up front, you do 
sometimes end up adding SIP profiles and tweaks as you discover issues)
 
Acme has some very thorough guides – I’m not sure if they have interop testing 
with carriers – given they are in SP’s a lot, there
 is a good chance they do. I’d look into it that with the Acme SE. Talk to 
prospective ITSP’s about their testing, and supported SBC’s.
 
# Ops
 
CUBE enterprise is great, IOS, most people are familiar. You will most likely 
need to train people on Acme
I find troubleshooting a bit of a let down with CUBE. Basically log to buffer, 
copy to file, or packet captures. Wireshark with ladders
 or TranslatorX are great, but it’s getting the files there that bugs me.
Alternatively, there did seem to be a few 3rd party tools out there, but you 
are probably looking at $$$
 
Acme has web interface, list of calls and then ability to drill down with 
ladder diagrams, messaging capture etc. You should see this
 before making decision.
 
Some good knowledge on Acme forums
Acme has very flexible manipulation – CUBE is quite good too (and they have 
great profile testing tool) – plus you can also use CUCM
 LUA on the SIP trunk
 
# On your other notes
 
Centralised – this is great for flexibility DR etc, standard stuff be aware of 
the call volumes over the WAN, caller ID considerations
 for emergency and local pizza shop type services
 
WAN – we terminate on existing equipment, and Acme is in a VLAN, I think this 
is most flexible.. you have a very flexible set up in
 Acme in regard to networking, lots of zones, interface options etc.
 
Transcoding – I think you could still utilise CUCM registered transcoders for 
the ASR scenario..

 
Virtual - We use virtual Acme, it had some teething problems in very first 
versions (and a clunky license on USB stick thing going
 on) but it seems to be good now
We don’t have transcoding / media resources in the virtual 
edition
 
Flow through / around – a lot of designs the carrier doesn’t have connectivity 
into the rest of the network, so flow through is quite
 typical.
However, we do have carriers here that have SBC’s on your WAN, 
so flow through can be nice here – it also then makes
 CUBE HA less important, i.e. if call is set up, media is from end point to 
carrier SBC already (if no xcoding involved)
 
So I won’t say one way or the other, just my thoughts on things you can 
consider.
I like both, and will continue to work on both!
 
Cheers,
 
Tim
 
 
From: cisco-voip [mailto:cisco-voip-boun...@puck.nether.net]
On Behalf Of Terry Cheema

Sent: Wednesday, 11 March 2015 1:10 PM

To: cisco-voip voyp list

Subject: [cisco-voip] SBC/SIP Trunk Design queries
 

Hi List,
 
I am working on to finalize the SBC vendor for one of our environments. I have 
a couple of queries related to the SIP Trunk design and SBC vendor 
choices(basically CUBE vs Acme
 Packet). I would really appreciate if anyone with SIP Trunking/SBC expertise  
(Cisco/Acme Packet) can provide some input on the below queries:
 
1) 
CUBE vs Acme Packet: First of all Cisco has marked the CUBE SP Edition product 
line for EoL, exiting the SBC Service Provider segment, so leaving only SBC 
Enterprise as the option. Although at this stage we are looking for an 
enterprise grade
 SBC but it will be a plus if it has the potential to step up into a SP SBC in 
a multi-tenanted environment. I was comparing AP 3820 with the CUBE Ent ASR1k-x:
 
CUBE provides no HA (though in some documents it says, came out from a meeting 
with the Cisco SME informing HA is not available), No transcoding (due to lack 
of DSP on ASR1K), No
 Multi-tenancy support  with all of these features supported in a 3820 SBC 
Any feature better in CUBE that I may have overlooked? I am aware that CUBE 
configuration etc. can be easy

Re: [cisco-voip] SBC/SIP Trunk Design queries

2015-03-11 Thread Terry Cheema
Tim,

Thanks for your detailed and a quick response, much appreciated.

Thanks,
Terry



On Wed, Mar 11, 2015 at 3:19 PM, Tim Smith tim.sm...@enject.com.au wrote:

  Hi Terry,



 I do quite a bit of CUBE, and have done a bit of Acme as well.



 There were some recent partner sessions that talk about some interesting
 things coming for CUBE, so it’s worth making sure you are getting latest
 roadmap info.



 My main comparison points..



 # HA



 In enterprise there was HA on CUBE, and it was improving in each release
 (but there are caveats with it)

 Have found Acme HA to be seamless and rock solid.



 # Deployment



 Cisco has some great interop guides – if you go with a carrier that has
 spent the money, a lot of the hard work has been done for you in terms of
 testing (as you know SIP can be implemented and configured in many
 different ways – if someone hasn’t done a lot of testing up front, you do
 sometimes end up adding SIP profiles and tweaks as you discover issues)



 Acme has some very thorough guides – I’m not sure if they have interop
 testing with carriers – given they are in SP’s a lot, there is a good
 chance they do. I’d look into it that with the Acme SE. Talk to prospective
 ITSP’s about their testing, and supported SBC’s.



 # Ops



 CUBE enterprise is great, IOS, most people are familiar. You will most
 likely need to train people on Acme

 I find troubleshooting a bit of a let down with CUBE. Basically log to
 buffer, copy to file, or packet captures. Wireshark with ladders or
 TranslatorX are great, but it’s getting the files there that bugs me.

 Alternatively, there did seem to be a few 3rd party tools out there, but
 you are probably looking at $$$



 Acme has web interface, list of calls and then ability to drill down with
 ladder diagrams, messaging capture etc. You should see this before making
 decision.



 Some good knowledge on Acme forums

 Acme has very flexible manipulation – CUBE is quite good too (and they
 have great profile testing tool) – plus you can also use CUCM LUA on the
 SIP trunk



 # On your other notes



 Centralised – this is great for flexibility DR etc, standard stuff be
 aware of the call volumes over the WAN, caller ID considerations for
 emergency and local pizza shop type services



 WAN – we terminate on existing equipment, and Acme is in a VLAN, I think
 this is most flexible.. you have a very flexible set up in Acme in regard
 to networking, lots of zones, interface options etc.



 Transcoding – I think you could still utilise CUCM registered transcoders
 for the ASR scenario..



 Virtual - We use virtual Acme, it had some teething problems in very first
 versions (and a clunky license on USB stick thing going on) but it seems to
 be good now

 We don’t have transcoding / media resources in the virtual
 edition



 Flow through / around – a lot of designs the carrier doesn’t have
 connectivity into the rest of the network, so flow through is quite typical.

 However, we do have carriers here that have SBC’s on your
 WAN, so flow through can be nice here – it also then makes CUBE HA less
 important, i.e. if call is set up, media is from end point to carrier SBC
 already (if no xcoding involved)



 So I won’t say one way or the other, just my thoughts on things you can
 consider.

 I like both, and will continue to work on both!



 Cheers,



 Tim





 *From:* cisco-voip [mailto:cisco-voip-boun...@puck.nether.net] *On Behalf
 Of *Terry Cheema
 *Sent:* Wednesday, 11 March 2015 1:10 PM
 *To:* cisco-voip voyp list
 *Subject:* [cisco-voip] SBC/SIP Trunk Design queries



 Hi List,



 I am working on to finalize the SBC vendor for one of our environments. I
 have a couple of queries related to the SIP Trunk design and SBC vendor
 choices(basically CUBE vs Acme Packet). I would really appreciate if anyone
 with SIP Trunking/SBC expertise  (Cisco/Acme Packet) can provide some input
 on the below queries:



 1)  *CUBE vs Acme Packet*: First of all Cisco has marked the CUBE SP
 Edition product line for EoL, exiting the SBC Service Provider segment, so
 leaving only SBC Enterprise as the option. Although at this stage we are
 looking for an enterprise grade SBC but it will be a plus if it has the
 potential to step up into a SP SBC in a multi-tenanted environment. I was
 comparing AP 3820 with the CUBE Ent ASR1k-x:



 CUBE provides no HA (though in some documents it says, came out from a
 meeting with the Cisco SME informing HA is not available), No transcoding
 (due to lack of DSP on ASR1K), No Multi-tenancy support  with all of these
 features supported in a 3820 SBC

 Any feature better in CUBE that I may have overlooked? I am aware that
 CUBE configuration etc. can be easy compared to Acme Packet but apart from
 that any solid reason to choose CUBE over AP?

 2)  *HA vs Non-HA*: HA is obviously the preferred approach and looks
 like only possible with AP. Can anyone confirm the HA works as 

Re: [cisco-voip] SBC/SIP Trunk Design queries

2015-03-11 Thread Tim Smith
Hi Terry,

I do quite a bit of CUBE, and have done a bit of Acme as well.

There were some recent partner sessions that talk about some interesting things 
coming for CUBE, so it’s worth making sure you are getting latest roadmap info.

My main comparison points..

# HA

In enterprise there was HA on CUBE, and it was improving in each release (but 
there are caveats with it)
Have found Acme HA to be seamless and rock solid.

# Deployment

Cisco has some great interop guides – if you go with a carrier that has spent 
the money, a lot of the hard work has been done for you in terms of testing (as 
you know SIP can be implemented and configured in many different ways – if 
someone hasn’t done a lot of testing up front, you do sometimes end up adding 
SIP profiles and tweaks as you discover issues)

Acme has some very thorough guides – I’m not sure if they have interop testing 
with carriers – given they are in SP’s a lot, there is a good chance they do. 
I’d look into it that with the Acme SE. Talk to prospective ITSP’s about their 
testing, and supported SBC’s.

# Ops

CUBE enterprise is great, IOS, most people are familiar. You will most likely 
need to train people on Acme
I find troubleshooting a bit of a let down with CUBE. Basically log to buffer, 
copy to file, or packet captures. Wireshark with ladders or TranslatorX are 
great, but it’s getting the files there that bugs me.
Alternatively, there did seem to be a few 3rd party tools out there, but you 
are probably looking at $$$

Acme has web interface, list of calls and then ability to drill down with 
ladder diagrams, messaging capture etc. You should see this before making 
decision.

Some good knowledge on Acme forums
Acme has very flexible manipulation – CUBE is quite good too (and they have 
great profile testing tool) – plus you can also use CUCM LUA on the SIP trunk

# On your other notes

Centralised – this is great for flexibility DR etc, standard stuff be aware of 
the call volumes over the WAN, caller ID considerations for emergency and local 
pizza shop type services

WAN – we terminate on existing equipment, and Acme is in a VLAN, I think this 
is most flexible.. you have a very flexible set up in Acme in regard to 
networking, lots of zones, interface options etc.

Transcoding – I think you could still utilise CUCM registered transcoders for 
the ASR scenario..

Virtual - We use virtual Acme, it had some teething problems in very first 
versions (and a clunky license on USB stick thing going on) but it seems to be 
good now
We don’t have transcoding / media resources in the virtual 
edition

Flow through / around – a lot of designs the carrier doesn’t have connectivity 
into the rest of the network, so flow through is quite typical.
However, we do have carriers here that have SBC’s on your WAN, 
so flow through can be nice here – it also then makes CUBE HA less important, 
i.e. if call is set up, media is from end point to carrier SBC already (if no 
xcoding involved)

So I won’t say one way or the other, just my thoughts on things you can 
consider.
I like both, and will continue to work on both!

Cheers,

Tim


From: cisco-voip [mailto:cisco-voip-boun...@puck.nether.net] On Behalf Of Terry 
Cheema
Sent: Wednesday, 11 March 2015 1:10 PM
To: cisco-voip voyp list
Subject: [cisco-voip] SBC/SIP Trunk Design queries

Hi List,

I am working on to finalize the SBC vendor for one of our environments. I have 
a couple of queries related to the SIP Trunk design and SBC vendor 
choices(basically CUBE vs Acme Packet). I would really appreciate if anyone 
with SIP Trunking/SBC expertise  (Cisco/Acme Packet) can provide some input on 
the below queries:

1)  CUBE vs Acme Packet: First of all Cisco has marked the CUBE SP Edition 
product line for EoL, exiting the SBC Service Provider segment, so leaving only 
SBC Enterprise as the option. Although at this stage we are looking for an 
enterprise grade SBC but it will be a plus if it has the potential to step up 
into a SP SBC in a multi-tenanted environment. I was comparing AP 3820 with the 
CUBE Ent ASR1k-x:

CUBE provides no HA (though in some documents it says, came out from a meeting 
with the Cisco SME informing HA is not available), No transcoding (due to lack 
of DSP on ASR1K), No Multi-tenancy support  with all of these features 
supported in a 3820 SBC
Any feature better in CUBE that I may have overlooked? I am aware that CUBE 
configuration etc. can be easy compared to Acme Packet but apart from that any 
solid reason to choose CUBE over AP?
2)  HA vs Non-HA: HA is obviously the preferred approach and looks like 
only possible with AP. Can anyone confirm the HA works as claimed by AP? Due to 
the costs involved in double the equipment – whats the common approach followed 
here HA or non-HA?
3)  Centralised Design: We are planning on a centralised SIP solution (with 
SBCs at both the DCs), anything to be careful of?
4)  Transcoding: CUBE ASR1K