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Product Overview
Cisco® MediaSense is an open-standard, network-based, scalable platform that supports recording, playback, live streaming, and storage of media, including audio and video, with rich recording metadata. It provides an efficient, cost-effective platform for capturing conversations between businesses and their customers. The conversations then can be examined by third-party analytics applications from Cisco technology partners to provide a variety of valuable business functions, including regulatory compliance review, quality management, service optimization, legal discovery, business intelligence gathering, agent training, and real-time guidance that can dramatically improve customer care.
Business Value
Contact centers handle thousands of customer conversations a day, but unfortunately much of the enterprise intelligence that could be gleaned from those conversations is never used - because it is either too expensive to capture or too difficult to mine for useful information. Cisco solves these challenges by recording conversations on the network - rather than on a device - simplifying the architecture, lowering costs, and providing optimum scalability.
Just as important, the Cisco network-based recording approach allows for quick availability of the captured media for different applications - regardless of location - through simple application programming interfaces (APIs). These interfaces implement open web standards, enabling a new ecosystem of applications from Cisco technology partners that can gather useful information from conversations, either in real time or afterward. Such information can provide insights into caller concerns, guiding customer service agents toward speedy first-call resolution, thereby improving agent productivity while increasing customer satisfaction. With Cisco, gaining valuable business intelligence from customer conversations is no longer a daunting challenge.
Table 1 lists the new features and benefits available in the latest release of Cisco MediaSense.
Table 1. New Features and Benefits of Cisco MediaSense 9.1
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Feature |
Benefits |
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Search and play |
• This built-in application makes MediaSense a complete recording solution for many businesses. If more capabilities are required, however, MediaSense still enables best-of-class recording and analytics applications from a variety of Cisco technology partners.
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Video-in-queue |
• MediaSense performs upload and streaming of prerecorded video files to provide video-in-queue to callers. This feature allows businesses to provide information and advertising to callers waiting for a video-enabled agent or expert. For information about supported video endpoints, consult the Cisco MediaSense Solution Reference Network Design at: http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps11389/products_implementation_design_guides_list.html.
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Table 2 lists the continuing features and benefits of the product.
Table 2. Features and Benefits of Cisco MediaSense
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Feature |
Benefits |
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Product Baseline Features |
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Audio recording Audio live monitor Audio play |
• The unified network platform performs dual audio stream recording of conversations (that is, it records both sides of the conversation as separate but correlated entities), facilitating speech analytics.
• Audio recording is lossless (that is, no data is thrown out), helping ensure that each recording is of the highest possible quality.
• Live monitoring allows customer care supervisors to listen to a caller or agent conversation even while the conversation is being recorded. Note: A separate application is required to control the live monitoring.
• Audio play functions support straightforward playback of recorded conversations.
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Video recording Video play |
• The unified network platform supports single-party video recording (for example, video blogging).
• Video recording is lossless (that is, no data is thrown out), helping ensure that each recording is of the highest possible quality, based on the source.
• Video play functions support straightforward playback of recorded conversations.
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Remote expert recording |
• Cisco MediaSense provides audio-only recording of calls from select video devices in remote expert scenarios (for example, a customer at a branch office or retail site consults a remote agent through a video kiosk).
Note: Cisco Unified Border Element (Cisco UBE) is required to provide the audio forking. For information about supported video devices and Cisco IOS® Software Release versions, consult the Cisco MediaSense Solution Reference Network Design at: http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps11389/products_implementation_design_guides_list.html. |
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Open Web 2.0 APIs |
• APIs simplify the development and integration of value-added applications by Cisco partners.
• APIs are at a high or conceptual level, in effect hiding the complexity of the underlying architecture and functions and minimizing the need for detailed telephony or recording expertise, thereby allowing Cisco partners to take advantage of pervasive web developer talent to create speech and video search, playback, analytics, and live monitoring applications.
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Streaming support |
• The solution uses forking (splitting) of the media stream of the conversation, which supports live monitor and the use of real-time audio and video analytics applications, even during recording.
• Real-Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP) support provides fast-forward and rewind "seek" capabilities during playback of recorded media, plus live monitoring support.
Note: Separate applications are required to control the live monitoring, search, and playback functions. |
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Media Access Control (MAC) |
• Load balancing between MediaSense servers for record and playback optimizes platform resources. Controlled access to media streams helps ensure the security of conversations.
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Playback: General |
• Playback of recorded media is supported through multiple methods:
• RTSP
• HTTP, by direct access to the raw recording (also known as "fast HTTP" access), or by transcoding to advanced audio coding (AAC) in an MP4 container
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Scalability |
• The Cisco MediaSense platform supports up to 1000 simultaneous audio sessions per MediaSense cluster, where a session includes recording, playback, and live streaming.
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Supported Applications |
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SolutionsPlus applications |
• Recording and quality management applications from Calabrio and NICE are now offered with Cisco MediaSense on the Cisco Price List through the SolutionsPlus program. Analytics applications from NICE are also offered with MediaSense through the SolutionsPlus program.
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Third-party applications |
• Third-party applications (for example, for speech or video analytics) taking advantage of the open APIs of the product are supported through the Cisco Developer Network. For information about supported application partners, visit the Cisco Developer Network at: http://developer.cisco.com/web/partner/search.
• A list of Cisco technology partners that have announced products and support for Cisco MediaSense is available at: http://www.cisco.com/en/US/partner/products/ps11389/products_partner_resources_list.html.
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Media Capture |
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Audio |
• Recordings can be made for the most common uncompressed and compressed audio formats, including G.711 a-law, mu-law, G.722, and G.729a/b.
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Video |
• Video recording is supported for MPEG-4 AVC/H.264.
• Resolution up to and including VGA is supported.
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Media Storage and Management |
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Fibre Channel storage area network (SAN) |
• Fibre Channel SAN is supported, providing gigabit-level recording speeds over fiber-optic cable and traditional twisted-pair copper wire.
• This feature supports extended storage of recordings in a manner consistent with Cisco Data Center solutions.
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SAN storage capacity |
• The Cisco MediaSense platform supports SAN storage of up to 60 terabytes.
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Media-retention rules |
• Retention policies provide storage for a configurable period, with automated deletion on a rolling basis (for example, every day all recordings older than a specified number of days are deleted).
• Operating modes allow you to decide whether to optimize storage for new conversations ("recording priority") or preserve existing ones ("retention priority").
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Encoding and export |
• Recorded audio can be transcoded to AAC with an MP4 container, enabling easy export and access by other applications.
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Application APIs |
• Application APIs provide straightforward functions to delete or copy recorded media.
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Metadata Storage and Search |
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Associate recording sessions with calls |
• Metadata is associated with each recording session, enabling easy search by any of multiple criteria.
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Query API |
• An API is provided to allow external applications to search for recorded and live calls.
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Tagging API |
• An API is provided to allow real-time tagging of calls to facilitate subsequent search and playback. For example, a customer service agent could tag a call as being associated with a certain type of technical or sales support.
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Operating Environment |
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Cisco Unified Communications Voice Operating System (VOS) 9.0 |
• The standard Cisco Unified Communications Voice Operating System is supported, providing a common interface and consistent operation, administration, management, and provisioning (OAM&P) with other Cisco products.
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Cisco Unified Computing System™ (Cisco UCS®) C-Series and B-Series servers |
• The cost per server is lower with Cisco UCS servers.
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VMware ESXi 5.0 |
• Support for the latest version of VMware offers more deployment options on fewer boxes.
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Enhanced virtualization |
• More flexible configuration and implementation of Cisco MediaSense on virtual machines is supported, including resource reservation to enable the use of multiple virtual machines on the same server. MediaSense is deployable on select HP and IBM servers, in addition to Cisco UCS servers. Server specifications are located at: http://docwiki.cisco.com/wiki/UC_Virtualization_Supported_Hardware.
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Product Compatibility |
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Phones |
• Recording is supported with the Cisco Unified Communications Manager Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) recording API, using phones with built-in bridge media forking (the phone splits or "forks" off the media to be recorded). Supported phone models are listed at: http://developer.cisco.com/web/sip/wikidocs/bibdevices.
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Cisco Unified Border Element Enterprise Edition recording |
• Network-based recording is supported with Cisco Unified Border Element Enterprise Edition using standard dial peers to fork session media to the Cisco MediaSense platform.
• Use of Cisco Unified Border Element Enterprise Edition provides highly efficient recording of conversations to and from remote endpoints, supporting a diverse range of recording scenarios including mobile compliance, home customer care agents, hosted recording, outsourced contact centers, and third-party devices.
• Cisco Unified Border Element Enterprise Edition supports end-to-end call recording, regardless of where the call might be transferred to. It also enables centralized recording architectures, helping lower operating costs.
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Router blade deployment |
• You can deploy Cisco MediaSense on the Cisco Services-Ready Engine (SRE910) blade with Cisco Integrated Services Routers Generation 2 (ISR G2) routers, so you can use the application efficiently in small-scale and distributed branch-office deployments on a local-site router. (Note: Media forking still occurs at the phone or at Cisco Unified Border Element, as described in this section in this table.)
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Architecture |
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High availability and failover |
• The network-based architecture of the platform provides robust failover capabilities. For example, if a network recording element is taken out of service, subsequent calls can still be recorded using different network assets.
• Active-active server load balancing and failover are supported for the capture layer and client applications.
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Management |
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Cisco Real-Time Monitoring Tool (RTMT) |
• Operational management is enhanced through integration with Cisco RTMT, providing platform-specific alerts to simplify maintenance.
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Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) |
• SNMP with an associated MIB is supported through the Cisco Unified Communications Voice Operating System.
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Upgrades |
• Built-in upgrade support enables straightforward migration to newer versions of the platform.
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Reporting |
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Cisco Unified Intelligence Center |
• Customers can optionally purchase Cisco Unified Intelligence Center to create customizable reports of recording events.
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Unified Communications Integration |
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Cisco solution releases |
• This product is fully tested with other Cisco Unified Communications products (for example, Cisco Unified Communications Manager) as part of each Cisco Unified Communications release, assuring customers of robust, fully supported end-to-end solutions.
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Platform Support, Compatibility, and Specifications
Consult the hardware and system software specifications for hardware and operating system requirements for compatibility with other Cisco and third-party products, and for additional product specifications.
Licensing
This product is licensed by the number of concurrent recordings.
Warranty Information
You can find warranty information on Cisco.com at the Product Warranties page.
Ordering Information
To place an order, visit the Cisco Ordering Home Page. To download software, visit the Cisco Software Center.
Cisco Services
Cisco Services adapt to market changes while increasing productivity, improving competitive advantage, and delivering a rich-media experience across any workspace.
The combined strengths of Cisco and our partners provide a portfolio of services that can help you prepare your infrastructure for future changes aligning to long-term business goals.
Together we create innovative, network-centric architecture solutions resulting in a scalable and responsive foundation that can help you realize the full value of your IT and communication investment.
For more information about Cisco Unified Contact Center Services, visit http://www.cisco.com/go/uccservices.
Cisco Technology Partners
Many Cisco technology partners have announced products and support for Cisco MediaSense. A current list is available at: http://www.cisco.com/en/US/partner/products/ps11389/products_partner_resources_list.html.
Cisco Authorized Partners
Cisco Advanced Technology Partners (ATPs) have completed rigorous training and validation of their knowledge of Cisco Contact Center product and can offer customers some or all of the following capabilities:
• Planning
• Design
• Implementation
• Operation
• Optimization
• Product resale
• Professional services
• Postsales support
Information about Cisco Contact Center ATP partners is available at: http://www.cisco.com/web/partners/pr11/atp/ucc_enterprise/index.html.
Cisco Developer Network Partners
The Cisco Developer Network program offers a formalized means for developers to certify value-added applications and solutions for use with this product. Information about Cisco Developer Network partners is available at: http://developer.cisco.com/web/partner.
For More Information
For more information, please visit: http://www.cisco.com/go/cc.