Integration / Citrix
Optimizing VoIP performance in Citrix VDI environment
In the era of increasing digitalization and the dynamic development of virtualization technology, companies are increasingly opting to virtualize their work environments. One of the key challenges faced by enterprises is ensuring reliability and high-quality services, especially in the context of audio communication in call center teams.
Challenge
A client with one of the largest virtual desktop farms in Poland needed to virtualize the work environment for the call center team. The primary challenge was to ensure the best quality of audio connection between the consultant and the end customer.
In the case of a virtual environment, the situation became complex due to the need to transmit voice data (VoIP) from the virtual desktop to the consultant's terminal. This posed a significant risk to the stability of the connection and network overload used by virtual desktops. A decrease in quality would impact all users working in this environment.
Solution
After analyzing the defined challenge, it was proposed that the VoIP data transfer be directly from the terminal, with communication control occurring on the virtual desktop. A solution was found on the official Genesys website, suggesting unlocking additional ports from all virtual desktops to the terminals. This raised serious concerns regarding security and the stability of such a solution due to the need to reconfigure network devices.
The most effective solution in this case was to utilize the existing communication using the HDX (ICA) protocol. To achieve this, Citrix Virtual Channel technology was employed, and a dedicated module was implemented. The extension was designed to convey instructions from the application used by the call center team on virtual desktops to the Genesys SIP Endpoint software, which operates on the terminal and communicates directly with the phone system.
Outcomes
After implementing the dedicated module and deploying it on several hundred endpoints, we achieved the following results:
- Enabled the call center to operate on virtual machines.
- The call center team can initiate and receive phone calls (VoIP) from customers using virtual desktops.
- Mitigated the risk of connection instability that could occur if audio data were transmitted from virtual desktops to terminals.
- Mitigated the risk of overloading the internal LAN with VoIP communication data, which could impact the work of users on virtual desktops.
- Thanks to the virtualization of the call center's work, administrators can provide a unified working environment and easily manage it.