HP StoreFabric Converged Network Adapters vs. Lumen Next-Generation SIP Voice Services

Do you need to combine the functionality of a NIC (Ethernet/iSCSI) and Fibre Channel HBA onto a single adapter and reducing the number of adapters and cables and space used as well as a [reduction] in operational, power and cooling costs while preserving your existing Ethernet and Fibre Channel infrastructure? Then look into HP SF CNA's, they are a great fit in most data centers. HP StoreFabric CNA's have undergone HPE interoperability testing for connecting HPE ProLiant servers into storage and networking environments.

Incentivized

CenturyLink SIP is an acceptable solution if you have an on-prem PBX (ShoreTel, Mitel, etc) that accepts SIP. I have found a better solution is to run two different carriers through SD-WAN (such as Bigleaf or Velocloud MSR) and use a provider like BCMOne (formerly NexVortex) to manage the SIP.

Incentivized

• By using the HP SF CNA's we the Ethernet, iSCSI, and Fibre Channel connections are consolidated onto a single converged network adapter
• HP SF CNA's offer a wide range of connectivity on a single dependable interface adapter
• As with most HPE products, dependability, performance and utility are the docus

Incentivized

• Reliable service
• Supports wide range of key features
• They do have high levels of support where you can receive real answers

Incentivized

• The price is pretty high when compared to other CNA's, but we choose dependability and performance over cost

Incentivized

• Lumen-Centurylink has suffered from many noticeable outages in the last few years - this is a blow to their reputation that they still have to recover from.
• Lumen-CenturyLink does not peer well enough with OTHER carriers - they depend on their own network to give you SIP, which means less true redundancy.
• Lumen-CenturyLink needs a better customer portal/interface to handle failover, see the real-time status, etc.

Incentivized

SIP service support is definitely improving. A few years ago I would have rated them a 2. Now a 7. But, Lumen still needs a better portal experience to report and see a real-time status. Also to manage SIP failover functions in a WYSIWIG/GUI interface. When Lumen's network breaks in a larger outage, there are long hold times and support is not good.

Incentivized

When optimizing ethernet and fiber topos, performance is always key. HP SF CNA's outperform every other hardware platform we tested. Add in the dependability of the HP SF CNA's specifically and HPE generally then you can see why we chose HP StoreFabric CNA's.

Incentivized

CenturyLink [Enterprise Voice SIP] was the incumbent, so switching providers, particularly for our HQ was an overwhelming task for our small team. We did migrate from the legacy CenturyLink voice product EIPT to the new Voice Complete solution as well as upgrade our US and UK circuits along with a hardware upgrade of the managed PE routers in each location. We also decided to implement RingCentral in one of our very small international branches but the lack of features is problematic. We still have T1 service in our other international branches but are looking to go full cloud SaaS PBX there, likely through Microsoft Teams, which we already use for messaging. There are some complexities, as we can't port our numbers directly yet and need to set up an additional CUBE router for SIP. Eventually we hope to get to fully SaaS via Teams.

Incentivized

• With the reduction of the number of adapters and cables and maintaining the existing Fibre and Ethernet topology thus reducing acquisition, installation and operational costs
• Performance is high, Dependability is high = ROI is high

Incentivized

• Faster learning
• Increased numbers of calls
• Organization of calls

Incentivized