Abstract: The concepts and technologies disclosed herein provide high availability and high utilization cloud data center architecture for supporting telecommunications services. According to one aspect of the concepts and technologies disclosed herein, a 4-site model of application placement within the cloud computing environment provides 37.5% resource utilization with site availability of five 9s (99.999%) and virtual machine availability of five 9s. According to another aspect of the concepts and technologies disclosed herein, a 3-site model of application placement within the cloud computing environment provides 66% resource utilization with site availability of five 9s and virtual machine availability of five 9s. According to another aspect of the concepts and technologies disclosed herein, a 4-site model of application placement within the cloud computing environment provides 75% resource utilization with site availability of five 9s and virtual machine availability of five 9s.

Abstract: The concepts and technologies disclosed herein provide high availability and high utilization cloud data center architecture for supporting telecommunications services. According to one aspect of the concepts and technologies disclosed herein, a 4-site model of application placement within the cloud computing environment provides 37.5% resource utilization with site availability of five 9s (99.999%) and virtual machine availability of five 9s. According to another aspect of the concepts and technologies disclosed herein, a 3-site model of application placement within the cloud computing environment provides 66% resource utilization with site availability of five 9s and virtual machine availability of five 9s. According to another aspect of the concepts and technologies disclosed herein, a 4-site model of application placement within the cloud computing environment provides 75% resource utilization with site availability of five 9s and virtual machine availability of five 9s.

Abstract: The concepts and technologies disclosed herein provide high availability and high utilization cloud data center architecture for supporting telecommunications services. According to one aspect of the concepts and technologies disclosed herein, a 4-site model of application placement within the cloud computing environment provides 37.5% resource utilization with site availability of five 9s (99.999%) and virtual machine availability of five 9s. According to another aspect of the concepts and technologies disclosed herein, a 3-site model of application placement within the cloud computing environment provides 66% resource utilization with site availability of five 9s and virtual machine availability of five 9s. According to another aspect of the concepts and technologies disclosed herein, a 4-site model of application placement within the cloud computing environment provides 75% resource utilization with site availability of five 9s and virtual machine availability of five 9s.

Abstract: The concepts and technologies disclosed herein provide high availability and high utilization cloud data center architecture for supporting telecommunications services. According to one aspect of the concepts and technologies disclosed herein, a 4-site model of application placement within the cloud computing environment provides 37.5% resource utilization with site availability of five 9s (99.999%) and virtual machine availability of five 9s. According to another aspect of the concepts and technologies disclosed herein, a 3-site model of application placement within the cloud computing environment provides 66% resource utilization with site availability of five 9s and virtual machine availability of five 9s. According to another aspect of the concepts and technologies disclosed herein, a 4-site model of application placement within the cloud computing environment provides 75% resource utilization with site availability of five 9s and virtual machine availability of five 9s.

Abstract: The concepts and technologies disclosed herein provide high availability and high utilization cloud data center architecture for supporting real-time services. According to one aspect of the concepts and technologies disclosed herein, a 4-site model of application placement within the cloud computing environment provides 37.5% resource utilization with site availability of five 9s (99.999%) and virtual machine availability of five 9s. According to another aspect of the concepts and technologies disclosed herein, a 3-site model of application placement within the cloud computing environment provides 66% resource utilization with site availability of five 9s and virtual machine availability of five 9s. According to another aspect of the concepts and technologies disclosed herein, a 4-site model of application placement within the cloud computing environment provides 75% resource utilization with site availability of five 9s and virtual machine availability of five 9s.

Abstract: In an arrangement where the device that is known to an ISP is communicating with the ISP through an interposed device that is not known to the ISP, the interposed device captures the known device's MAC address upon startup and clones the captured MAC address in all standard packets that it sends to the ISP.

Abstract: A network is defined with several alternative softswitches/proxies, which may be used for communication. Each softswitch/proxy has a unique Internet Protocol (IP) address. The softswitches/proxies receive configuration data from a centralized user-profile server, which maintains user-profile information. A centralized call-detail record (CDR) server also is connected to each softswitch/proxy and maintains CDRs on each user on each softswitch/proxy. Based on the network configuration, an end-device configuration system generates a provisioning file. The provisioning file includes the IP addresses of each softswitch/proxy. The provisioning file is communicated to user devices. Each user device accesses the provisioning file and uses the IP address for communication. Should the communication fail for any reason, the user device may autonomously access the provisioning file and initiate another call using the next IP address in the provisioning file. This process may continue until a call is completed.

Abstract: In an arrangement where the device that is known to an ISP is communicating with the ISP through an interposed device that is not known to the ISP, the interposed device captures the known device's MAC address upon startup and clones the captured MAC address in all standard packets that it sends to the ISP.

Abstract: When an entity (such as a customer using a communication device 131, 141, 151 . . . ) attempts to communicate with a target (such as an employee), an arrangement indicates to the customer, “status” information describing at least the employee's present and future ability to communicate with the entity (such as by returning his call). At least one sensing device 111-119 is configured to provide sensing information concerning the target employee's status in response to an action of the target employee with respect to the sensing device. A monitoring server 102 is configured to receive the sensing information and to govern communication to the entity (customer) of the target's “status.” In one implementation, a particular sensing device (such as a cash register 111, computer terminal 112, or time clock 113) is configured to perform both (A) a primary function that is not related to providing the sensing information, and (B) the secondary function of providing the sensing information.

Abstract: In an arrangement where the device that is known to an ISP is communicating with the ISP through an interposed device that is not known to the ISP, the interposed device captures the known device's MAC address upon startup and clones the captured MAC address in all standard packets that it sends to the ISP.

Abstract: When an entity (such as a customer using a communication device 131, 141, 151 . . . ) attempts to communicate with a target (such as an employee), an arrangement indicates to the customer, “status” information describing at least the employee's present and future ability to communicate with the entity (such as by returning his call). At least one sensing device 111-119 is configured to provide sensing information concerning the target employee's status in response to an action of the target employee with respect to the sensing device. A monitoring server 102 is configured to receive the sensing information and to govern communication to the entity (customer) of the target's “status.” In one implementation, a particular sensing device (such as a cash register 111, computer terminal 112, or time clock 113) is configured to perform both (A) a primary function that is not related to providing the sensing information, and (B) the secondary function of providing the sensing information.

Abstract: A network is defined with several alternative softswitches/proxies, which may be used for communication. Each softswitch/proxy has a unique Internet Protocol (IP) address. The softswitches/proxies receive configuration data from a centralized user-profile server, which maintains user-profile information. A centralized call-detail record (CDR) server also is connected to each softswitch/proxy and maintains CDRs on each user on each softswitch/proxy. Based on the network configuration, an end-device configuration system generates a provisioning file. The provisioning file includes the IP addresses of each softswitch/proxy. The provisioning file is communicated to user devices. Each user device accesses the provisioning file and uses the IP address for communication. Should the communication fail for any reason, the user device may autonomously access the provisioning file and initiate another call using the next IP address in the provisioning file. This process may continue until a call is completed.

Abstract: When an entity (such as a customer using a communication device 131, 141, 151 . . . ) attempts to communicate with a target (such as an employee), an arrangement indicates to the customer, “status” information describing at least the employee's present and future ability to communicate with the entity (such as by returning his call). At least one sensing device 111-119 is configured to provide sensing information concerning the target employee's status in response to an action of the target employee with respect to the sensing device. A monitoring server 102 is configured to receive the sensing information and to govern communication to the entity (customer) of the target's “status.” In one implementation, a particular sensing device (such as a cash register 111, computer terminal 112, or time clock 113) is configured to perform both (A) a primary function that is not related to providing the sensing information, and (B) the secondary function of providing the sensing information.

Abstract: In an arrangement where the device that is known to an ISP is communicating with the ISP through an interposed device that is not known to the ISP, the interposed device captures the known device's MAC address upon startup and clones the captured MAC address in all standard packets that it sends to the ISP.

Abstract: A network is defined with several alternative softswitches/proxies, which may be used for communication. Each softswitch/proxy has a unique Internet Protocol (IP) address. The softswitches/proxies receive configuration data from a centralized user-profile server, which maintains user-profile information. A centralized call-detail record (CDR) server also is connected to each softswitch/proxy and maintains CDRs on each user on each softswitch/proxy. Based on the network configuration, an end-device configuration system generates a provisioning file. The provisioning file includes the IP addresses of each softswitch/proxy. The provisioning file is communicated to user devices. Each user device accesses the provisioning file and uses the IP address for communication. Should the communication fail for any reason, the user device may autonomously access the provisioning file and initiate another call using the next IP address in the provisioning file. This process may continue until a call is completed.

Abstract: In an arrangement where the device that is known to an ISP is communicating with the ISP through an interposed device that is not known to the ISP, the interposed device captures the known device's MAC address upon startup and clones the captured MAC address in all standard packets that it sends to the ISP.

Abstract: An intelligent method is disclosed for handling call redirection to an external service provider (ESP) for subsequent call processing. In one embodiment, a network database (30) is queried to determine whether the calling party station (5) has pre-selected an ESP for subsequent call processing. In the event that the calling party station has pre-selected an ESP, the call is automatically redirected to the pre-selected ESP; no caller input is required. If, however, the calling party station has not pre-selected an ESP, an announcement is played to the calling party offering a menu of available ESPs. To accept the offer, the caller must explicitly respond to the offer using, e.g., DTMF signaling. The call is then redirected on a per-call basis in accordance with the calling party's selection.