Frequently Asked Questions

SECURITY

How do I know that the data is secure?

The Echopass Hosting Center maintains the highest level of both data and physical security. Data is secured for use in individual system maintenance and recovery as well as disaster recovery scenarios. Comprehensive data security and archival procedures include:

Advanced firewall system and round-the-clock monitoring by Echopass network engineers for intrusion detection.
Anti-virus protection at the network, server, and desktop level.
Critical system backups to tape are made multiple times during a 24-hour period.
Backup processes are monitored 24/7/365.
Backup tapes are routinely rotated between sites and to off-site locations.
Critical recovery data is stored in a hardened, data protection facility.

What types of firewalls and intrusion detection/prevention do you use?

Echopass utilizes redundant Cisco firewalls. All systems are enabled for auditing so all access requests can be analyzed for intrusion detection and immediate firewall protection.

If my customer database resides behind my corporate firewall, how do you access it securely for IVR and routing?

We configure a secure Virtual Private Network (VPN) between Echopass Hosting Center and the customer; so all database access is done between two authenticated points with full security and encryption.

What are your physical security procedures?

Access is controlled and restricted to Echopass NOC personnel only. The center is card-key controlled 24 hours a day. A card-key (with appropriate privileges) is required to enter during regular business hours. After regular business hours, a card-key is also required to gain access to the building, the floor and the wing where the data center resides. Only selected personnel are given access. All entries and exits are logged via the security system. Only those persons requiring data center access are approved for entry. Regular audits of the access lists are performed quarterly. Audit of security system functionality is performed daily.

REDUNDANCY

What are the specific redundant components of your communications center?

Multiple fiber paths into the building from Qwest
Redundant electrical UPS units
Diesel-powered backup generator capable of supporting the entire center, indefinitely
Air conditioning and humidification
Waterless fire suppression
Application servers (n+1)
PBXs (Nortel Option81)
Genesys CTI systems
Intervoice Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems
Web servers
EMC Disk Arrays

What do you have in place for telco redundancy?

The center is connected via OC48 connections on a SHNS (self-healing) SONET ring from Qwest. Redundant fiber paths into the building, one on each side (east/west), allows one to immediately become active if the other goes down. These are also redundant from the pop so if a fiber cable is cut, Echopass will still have service.

DATA BACK-UP AND ACCESS

What are your data backup policies and procedures?

It is the policy of the Echopass Operations Team to provide computer system backups to tape on a regular basis. The specific backup plan for each Echopass data solution is as follows:

	Hourly	Daily	Weekly	Monthly — Full Back-up
User Data		X	X	X
Web Servers		X	X	X
Windows Data		X	X	X
Mail Servers	X	X	X	X
Database Servers	X	X	X	X
Genesys CTI Servers		X	X	X

Once per month the backup system are tested by restoring a single random file from a random machine, and manually inspected for accurate restoration. Once per month, a similar test is performed using an entire database. These restoration tests are performed into temporary areas so that current "real" user copies of the files will not be overwritten.

How long do you archive data?

With the exception of database data daily backups are retained for one week, weekly backups for two weeks and monthly backups for one year. Daily database data backups are retained for one month; weekly backups for one month and bi-weekly full backups are maintained for ten years. Bi-weekly and monthly full backups are retained offsite.

How can I extract my data and in what formats?

Your data can be extracted in a number of different ways. Dynamically, data can be extracted to drive other applications such as CRM applications and screen pops through the use of Echopass' API, as well as other integration solutions such as web services, etc.

Your data can also be selectively extracted and stored to CD/DVD media, as well as emailed. This data is generally captured and provided to you as a comma delimited text file for easy conversion to other data formats, including off-the-shelf software tools such as Excel.

NETWORKING

Why do you use VoIP for your voice solution?

With VoIP from Echopass, calls are delivered via the data network, eliminating the costs and infrastructure associated with traditional telco circuits, premise systems, wiring and CTI. With Echopass each agent gets a CTI-enabled IP phone capable of all call center features with a simple data connection to the LAN.

VoIP also allows us to offer our customers the benefits of virtual contact centers, offshore agents and work-at-home agents with the full feature set and management tools of traditional, centralized call centers.

What kind of data connection do I need?

The size of the data connection from the Echopass Hosting Center and your locations depends on a few factors - how many users are at each location, what services (voice, eservices, both) are being used, frequency of use, etc. Typical Echopass engagements range from a fractional T1 to a couple of T1 circuits per location. Work-at-home agents require DSL service with static IP-addresses.

Can I use my own IP phone?

There is no need to use your own phone, as Echopass provides the IP phone to each user as part of the Echopass service, eliminating the need for our customers to purchase phones or other hardware. The phone currently supplied is the Nortel Networks i2004 IP phone, capable of support services from the small office to a large multi-channel contact center.

How do you guarantee voice Quality of Service?

Voice Quality of Service (QoS) is guaranteed by installing a dedicated managed circuit between Echopass and the customer location that's used for all voice traffic. Since the telco provides the circuit - the bandwidth required to deliver the QoS is reserved and guaranteed by the telco. It is not subject to issues like latency delays, static, bad connections that are caused by spikes and congestion of the public Internet. As a result, the quality of the service being provided both through the circuit, as well as the quality of the circuit itself, can be guaranteed to always meet the minimum needs of the voice traffic. If the customer uses the same circuit to run both voice and data traffic, then Echopass deploys a Cisco router on the customer's site to prioritize the voice traffic over the data traffic - and therefore preserve the quality of voice conversations.

What VoIP protocols do you support?

Echopass supports SIP as the underlying VOIP protocol. The voice calls are compressed using G711 and G729 protocols. SIP is the de facto industry standard in Telco VoIP networks (versus H323 being used as a standard for PC-based point-to-point telephony).

What telcos do you work with, what is your relationship, and what is the value?

While Echopass can work with any RBOC or national carrier, Echopass currently maintains vendor relationships with Qwest, Sprint and XO Communications. Our relationship with each allows Echopass to receive immediate support in the event of problems arising, accelerated order and provisioning schedules, and favorable pricing on data circuits.

Who bills me for long distance charges, and how much?

Echopass will bill your organization for all long-distance charges,both inbound and outbound, domestic and international (where applicable). As for rates, since Echopass purchases long distance from our carrier partners in large volumes and splits the minutes across multiple carriers, we are able to offer long distance rates far superior to those that a small company can often secure in their own.

Can I keep my toll-free numbers?

Yes you can. Echopass will simply work with your phone carrier to point your toll-free numbers to the Echopass data center, and route all calls to those lines to your agents through the Echopass service.

SERVICE LEVEL AGREEMENT

What are your Service Level Agreements for network uptime?

Echopass contractually guarantees a network uptime of 99.9% as measured in a calendar month.

	Single Agent	10+ Agents
Down	Confirm receipt of problem within 10 minutes. Return to service or an effective work around within 4 hours for 95% of related issues.	Confirm receipt of problem within 10 minutes. Return to service or an effective work around within 30 minutes for 95% of related issues.
Very Limiting	Confirm receipt of problem within 10 minutes. Return to service or an effective work around within 6 hours for 95% of related issues	Confirm receipt of problem within 10 minutes. Return to service or an effective work around within 1 hour for 95% of related issues.
Limiting	Return to service or an effective work around within 24 hours for 90% of related issues.	Return to service or an effective work around within 12 hours for 90% of related issues.
Not Limiting	Return to service or an effective work around within 48 hours for 90% of related issues.	Return to service or an effective work around within 24 hours for 90% of related issues.