YOUR GUIDE TO VOICE OVER IP

VoIP

December 2008

YOUR GUIDE TO VOICE OVER IP

VOIP

An Advertising Supplement to USA Today2

VoIP comes of ageVoice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) has finallycome of age in the United States and broadavailability of VoIP services could not havecome at a better time.

During challenging economictimes, it’s hard to look past the bot-tom line, and the simple fact is this:VoIP saves money - for businessesand consumers. It also offers man-ufacturers and service providers inthe information and communica-tions technology (ICT) industryopportunities to grow their busi-nesses, in light of the currentuncertain economic climate.

According to research in TIA’s2008 Telecommunications Market

Review and Forecast, the numberof VoIP subscribers is expected togrow at a compound annual rateof 20.2 percent through 2011,reaching 33.2 million. VoIP rev-enue has had a similar growth pat-tern, increasing from $25 millionin 2003 to $200 million in 2004,$1.4 billion in 2005 and $5.0 bil-lion in 2007. Revenue is projectedto increase 19.2 percent on a com-pound annual basis through 2011,reaching $10.0 billion.

In most cases, people are usingVoIP phone services to replacetheir public switched telephonenetwork (PSTN) service, whilesome subscribers use VoIP to sup-plement their traditional service,especially for low-cost interna-tional calls. The quality of VoIPcalls made over managed net-works such as those used by cableoperators is quite good, and thecalls are often nearly indistin-guishable from PSTN calls.

Cost savings aside, in the longrun, convergence and consumerdemands for new applications andfeatures will drive growth. Millen-nials – the generation bornbetween 1982 and 2001 - are driv-ing the shift from legacy technol-ogy. There are more than 75 mil-lion Millennials living in the Unit-ed States alone. To put it in per-spective, there are more Millenni-als than Baby Boomers. It is thelargest generation – and the

largest market – in U.S. history.It’s the most tech-savvy and tech-demanding generation, too.

Competition among serviceproviders is fierce, which is alsogood for companies and con-sumers. Service providers areaggressively competing for yourbusiness. Chances are, if yourcompany hasn’t already switchedto a system that uses VoIP teleph-ony, it will be doing so soon.

What’s important to rememberabout VoIP is it is dependentupon broadband connectivity. TIAwill continue to work with thenew Congress and the incomingadministration to develop anational broadband policy thatincludes investment in ruralbroadband deployment as well aslong-term research and develop-ment. This policy will help VoIP –and all sectors of the ICT industry– realize their full potential.

At TIA, we realize that thistechnology isn’t just a gamechanger, it’s a life changer, and weadvocate for affordable, highlyadvanced and secure communica-tions services for all Americans.

TIA President Grant Seiffert

CONTENTS2 Foreword from TIA

4 What can VoIP do for me?

4 Great savings and features

5 Savings without the maintenance

5 TCO analysis

6 Features make grade for business

7 Staged migration to business VoIP

8 Huge savings and quality

8 High definition audio

10 Taking VoIP mobile

10 Small businesses think BIG

11 Improved Conferencing

11 VoIP: Secure & reliable

12 Seamless switching

13 VoIP at home

14 SIP Trunking

14 Panel of Experts

15 Dealers play vital role in VoIP

VOIP - A TITLE FROMMEDIAPLANETPublisher: Allan Chiu, +1 646 922 1404, [email protected]: Sean Hargrave Print: Vertis Design: Jez MacBeanPhotos: istockphoto.com

Mediaplanet is the leading publisherof high quality and in-depth analysison topical industry and marketissues, in print, online and broadcast.For more information aboutsupplements in the daily press,contact Kayvan Salmanpour on +1 646 922 1400

www.mediaplanet.com

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VOIP


What can VoIP do for me?Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) can meandifferent things to different people but essen-tially the technology is proof that we are livingin an exciting world of convergence where weno longer need to have separate networks forvoice and data.

Once this leap to a single networkfor handling both phone calls anddata is made, businesses and con-sumers not only get a whole newhost of features and services ontheir phone, but there are plentyof savings to be enjoyed too.

There are several sides to VoIP,or internet telephony as it is oftenreferred to. Many millions of peo-ple are already signed up to makePC to PC calls through servicessuch as Skype which have now

started to extend their offering toallow users to make calls to regulartelephones.Likewise there are mil-lions of people around the worldwith a regular-looking telephoneplugged in to their broadband orcable internet connection whomay not even realize the competi-tive, all-inclusive deals they havesigned up to are provided by theextra efficiency offered by VoIP.

At the other extreme, there arebusinesses paying thousands of

dollars per month for an old-fash-ioned PBX box to route callsaround their facilities who noware switching to making callsacross the Internet because itmeans they only need a single net-work, rather than both a voice anda data network. This brings costsavings both in reduced mainte-nance as well as the cost of calls.

VoIP everywherePerhaps one of the most interestingthings about VoIP is that even ifyou have never heard of the termand were unaware that calls couldbe routed through broadband net-works, you have almost certainlyused the technology without evenrealizing it. As Ari Rabban, CEO ofPhone.com explains, the largetelecommunications companies

have been routing calls throughInternet Protocol (IP) networks forseveral years.

“The quality is so good nowa-days that you just don’t realizethat a lot of the time some part ofyour call is going across an IP net-work,” he says. “In the earliestdays of VoIP, dial-up connectionsjust didn’t have the bandwidth tohandle calls well but now thatbroadband is so prevalent thequality is there and people are

making calls across IP networkswithout even realizing.”

So, for those that have been putoff by VoIP in the past, the mes-sage from Internet telephonyproviders is that just as connec-tions have gotten faster, theirsoftware and systems haveimproved to the point where, mostof the time, the only noticeabledifference with VoIP is the cost ofthe call and the extra featuresnow available.

Great savings andawesome featuresCompared to conventional telephone systems, there are two major areaswhere VoIP has a huge advantage – cost and features.

While residential customers areprobably most attracted to VoIPby competitive call plans, busi-nesses can be lured to the technol-ogy by the additional benefit ofcall features which have previous-ly cost thousands of dollars. Tra-ditionally, the ability to forwardcalls to multiple extensions withina business required a PBX boxwhich needed to be wired in to theoffice’s phone system and there-after maintained and periodically

replaced. However, with VoIP theability to set up multiple exten-sions and to conference in severalemployees and clients can be pro-vided for very little cost.

This is revolutionizing howsmall businesses can portray them-selves to the outside world, claimsAri Rabban, CEO at Phone.com.“The company with just a handfulof employees or the plumber work-ing on the road all day have neverbeen able to afford professionaltelephone services, but with VoIPthey can,” he assures.

Extensions“You can set up extensions andpass calls around them and younever need to miss a call as youcan tell the system to reach youanywhere. You can set up rulesfor when you want to receivecalls and when you don’t and thereally amazing thing is, withvoice being data, a VoIP providercan send you your voicemails as

an email attachment so you canlisten to them as an MP3. We’vealso recently offered a featurewhere you can have an answermessage transcribed in to text soyou can read it as well as listen toit and business owners can eventype a message on their comput-er’s keyboard and have it turnedin to an audio greeting when peo-ple call them.”

So, while businesses and resi-dential consumers may both beattracted to VoIP by the cost bene-fit, companies have the extra lureof obtaining the type of telephonyservice that was way beyond theirreach with conventionalproviders. Conversely, companiesthat have always been used tohaving this level of telephonyservice are starting to questionwhy they should spend thousandsof dollars on a new PBX systemwhen they could enjoy the samelevel of quality and call featuresfor considerably less.

VOIP

An Advertising Supplement to USA Today

Savings without the maintenanceWhile many claims can be made by VoIP providers over thecost of individual calls, one of the major cost benefits forbusinesses comes with unifying voice and data.

Traditionally when they ran on separatenetworks, voice and data were handled bydifferent employees or, at least, separatethird party providers. It is simple maththen to suggest that by routing voice overthe data network, a company can reducecost considerably.

Some companies switching to VoIP maywant to simply replace their conventionalPBX with an IP router and keep theirswitching equipment within their ownpremises so they maintain full control overit. However, many are choosing to simplyhave much of the setup managed remotelyby a host so they no longer need to concernthemselves with ensuring their network isworking well and up to date. Although theystill need a switch and a router on theirpremises, the backbone of their system issheltered within a secure data center, shel-tering it from human damage and the ele-ments. What’s more, hosted providers arealso capable of managing their users’ net-works remotely, down to the switch level,thereby ensuring quality of service.

This can save a lot of expense but it canalso allow companies to expand quickly,explains Stephen Canton, CEO of hostedVoIP provider, iCore Networks. “A managedprovider can have you up and running withmultiple new users in just a matter of min-utes,” he explains. “You can be making callsfrom a laptop immediately on that newextension while you wait for the new hand-

set to be delivered. We’re certainly findingthat our customers are reacting well tobeing able to open up new offices and growwithout having to get the telephone guy tocome in and set up all the wiring and con-figure the PBX box. The other benefit of nothaving to run your own telephone service isthat somebody else takes the service callsfor you. We estimate that the level of servicecalls we answer on behalf of a customersaves them at least half the time of one oftheir employees.“

One of the hot areas in corporate Ameri-ca today is business continuity and, as onecan imagine, it is an area where there is alot of interest in hosted VoIP solutionsbecause a reputable host will have theirequipment stored in a highly secure facilitythat will be about as disaster proof as ishumanly possible. “When the convention-al telecommunications providers wentdown at Los Angeles International airportduring the July earthquake, our customer’sphones and Internet remained fully opera-tional,” reveals Canton.

“By hosting voice and data services insecure data centers, we are able to providecustomers with a high degree of redundan-cy which protects them against disasters

that would otherwise disrupt communica-tions. Of course, the beauty of a hostedVoIP solution is that if staff can’t get in tothe office, for whatever reason, they canjust divert calls to their home numbers, amobile phone or take and make calls on a‘soft’ phone through a computer whereverthey are,” Canton adds.

When considering a hosted solution itmakes good sense for a company to gothrough the fine detail of the proposedService Level Agreement (SLA) to ensurethe provider is delivering a phone servicethat will be at least as reliable as a conven-tional phone line.

VOIP


Features make thegrade for businessesMost businesses are probably aware that theycould save money through switching to a VoIPprovider but many may well be unaware of thecalling features that accompany the transition.

With VoIP, voice is carried acrossdigital IP networks and so voice-mail messages can be stored asaudio files. This means voicemailmessages can be emailed to therecipient, just like any other datafile, allowing them to be picked upwherever they have internetaccess.

Furthermore, employees nolonger need to be at their desk topick up calls and voicemails on

their work number. Instead theycan travel the world, or even stayat home, and simply plug in theirVoIP telephone on an Internetconnection and they are instantlyavailable on their office number.Alternatively, to save on carryinga handset around, they can simplyuse a 'soft phone' on a laptop. Thisis essentially a piece of softwarewhich turns the laptop into theirVoIP phone, allowing them to

make and receive calls with amicrophone and earpiece headset.

Scale with speedHuw Rees, VP Sales and Market-ing at business VoIP provider 8x8believes there are a multitude offeatures which transform the waycompanies do business, particu-larly those relating to multipleextensions. In the past multiplenumbers or extension would havecost a fortune but now they arereadily affordable.

“A great example of multiplelines and extensions are realestate companies,” Rees pointsout. “You’ll often see a board out-side a house with a telephonenumber, you call it and you getthe audio description for thathouse. With VoIP, it is very easy toset up multiple numbers (“virtualextensions”) very quickly and far

cheaper than with conventionaltelephony. This ability is helpingbusiness transform as they needto grow or shrink rapidly. Compa-nies that have seasonality to themor find they get busy cycles canramp up how many people theyhave on extensions and then restthose extensions so they’re notswitched off but are ready to bereactivated when they’re neededagain.”

According to Rees the mostpopular business feature amongthe small and medium enterpriseis the auto attendant, althoughcontact management and cus-tomer relationship managementfeatures are also proving transfor-mative.

“Businesses love having anauto attendant answer the phoneand allow customers to dial anoption for each person or depart-

ment, it makes a small businesslook a lot larger,” he says.

“Businesses also like the waythey can just click on a contact inthe Outlook contacts on their PCto make a VoIP call and wherethey are truly finding VoIP atransforming force is with CRM.When voice calls are data you cando many clever things, such asintegrate incoming calls with apackage such as salesforce.com.This allows business customers toknow who is calling and have therelevant information about themup on screen the moment the callis taken. It means your staff canbe much more helpful and theystart off the call in a warm wayinstead of asking lots of personaldetails. Businesses who try thissay their clients are amazed by it,it truly revolutionizes how busi-nesses interact with their clients.”

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VOIP

An Advertising Supplement to USA Today 7

Evolution rather than revolution can make business sense

Switching to VoIP is not a decision a businessshould take lightly. Handsets that work andprovide good quality calls are so vital to busi-nesses that a good phone system is, quite right-ly, taken for granted within most companies.

So, changing something whichhas usually worked withoutmany problems to take advan-tage of the cost savings andmany call and data featuresoffered by VoIP can seem daunt-ing for companies. For this rea-son, the best practice can oftenbe to take it one step at a time.

According to Rick Stein, Execu-tive Director of Voice NetworkingProduct Management at AT&T,

most businesses are discoveringVoIP through some proverbial ‘toedipping’. “When you spend a lotof time with business customers,you see that they are very inter-ested in VoIP but they want to tryit out in some capacity before theydecide to move their entire busi-ness to IP telephony,” he says.

“We find that a lot of companiesstart off by routing their internalcalls through VoIP. So it tends to

be companies that have severaloffices that are most interested inVoIP because they realize thatthey can route calls between theirfacilities on their own networkand see large cost savings.”

Step by stepFor this approach, serviceproviders need to be flexible.While an individual telecommu-nications consultant may beaware of the quality and reliabili-ty of VoIP, business concerns needto be listened to, and so a roll outone step at a time is usually whatmost clients will require.

“Customers have usually put alot of investment in their existingPBX system so it helps if you can

offer to plug a card or a box intothat digital PBX that will allow itto work with VoIP,” Stein.

“Often companies have workedwith a particular PBX manufac-turer for years and are happywith the service and they knowhow it works, so they don’t wantto switch. So it’s helpful to beable to add VoIP to what theyhave. Then, when things workwell, we find that customers areoften ready to install an IP PBXand commit to VoIP fully.Sometimes they like tokeep the equipment ontheir premises, so theymaintain control, or some-times they prefer a hostedsolution where they save office

space and don’t have to thinkabout the equipment.”

So, while the cost savings andfeatures which VoIP brings areattractive to businesses, many willunderstandably want to proceedwith an element of caution, pre-ferring to migrate in stages ratherthan take one massive leap.

Let AT&T simplify your transition to VoIP. We have the expertise to help enterprise customers unravel the complexity of VoIP, enabling you to get the most out of convergence, no matter what your stage of readiness. Visit att.com/voip today and change your game.

VoIP from AT&T

AT&T knows a lot about VoIP.So you don’t have to.

VOIP


VoIP technology has changedthe Long Distance GameRemember the days when an overseas call was so expensiveyou only spoke on special occasions? Now rates are onlypennies a minute. What has changed? VoIP technology.

VoIP technology routes calls using theInternet. Using VoIP, carriers can route thecalls at a fraction of the cost they used topay with traditional phone networks. Con-sumers and businesses who make interna-tional calls reap the benefits.

Telecommunication providers havepassed their savings along to consumers in

the form of lower rates and enhanced serv-ices not offered with traditional phone serv-ice. VoIP technology has opened the door tonew competitors, such as cable operators,who now offer digital phone service,employing VoIP technology over broad-band connections, as part of triple playpackages.

There are different options available foraccessing VoIP services and enjoying savingson international calls. Consumers can choosea VoIP company to be their telephoneprovider (that company may refer to VoIP as‘digital telephony’) or they can buy a callingcard which utilizes VoIP to carry the calls. Theconsumer may not know which technology isbeing used. What they do appreciate are thelower rates they are paying. This has allowedfriends and families to stay in touch more fre-quently. Lower international rates have alsofacilitated global trade for small and mediumsized businesses, allowing them to reach outto new suppliers and customers worldwide.

Consumers who choose a VoIP provider fortheir home phone service can now get unlim-ited calls throughout North America for sig-nificantly less than they are paying for tradi-tional domestic phone service. Additionally,they get very attractive international rates.

According to Sant Srinivasan, VP of Prod-uct Management at IDT, “Routing callsthrough broadband is more cost-effective forthe VoIP carrier. Consumers and businesses

benefit from lower costs as the savings arepassed on to them, even for calls that termi-nate on a conventional, analog telephoneline. In addition, VoIP services often includesophisticated and customizable features thatare not available with traditional phoneplans. IDT utilizes VoIP technology to deliverhome phone and calling card services, web-based phone services and wholesale termina-tion for cable operators and global carriers.”

When considering their options, consumersshould not be concerned about call quality.Today’s VoIP networks provide call qualitythat is as good as analog telephony. “In thevery early days of VoIP, there were concernsabout quality but today the quality is excel-lent,” Srinivasan says. In fact, the quality mayexceed current expectations since broadbandtechnology offers extra bandwidth which cansignificantly improve audio quality.”

VoIP technology has changed the way con-sumers and businesses connect globally. AsVoIP technology evolves, additional capabili-ties and features, including video communica-tion, will be accessible for callers worldwide.

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High definition audio revolutionThere are constant improve-ments being made to VoIPcommunications systems butthe one which end users aresoon likely to notice the mostis high (HD) definition audio.

People have long grown used to the tele-phones not fully capturing the voice of theperson they are speaking to but there arealready VoIP handsets being shipped thatsupport CD quality audio. This doubles the‘response’ of a traditional analog call so high

and bass notes are far more detailed andsound far more like real life. For the new HDtechnology to work, both the caller and therecipient of the call need to have HD com-patible phones and the network routing thecall also needs to support the technology.

Already, there are many VoIP handsetsbeing shipped today that are capable ofsupporting HD quality calls and IP net-works are constantly improving. There-fore, industry insiders do not believe itwill be long until VoIP providers beginoffering customers audio quality whichgoes way beyond their normal experienceon the phone.

VOIP


One of the major advances that VoIP offerscompanies is the ability for small and mediumbusinesses to think big.

With a phone number that follows you any-where around the world and the capability tohave a virtual receptionist that greets cus-tomers and direct calls, VoIP allows companiesto “look big and act big” as Todd Curry, VPMarketing at ifbyphone, puts it.

"VoIP obviously gives you savings but it canreally transform a business where someone isoften on the road and needs to have calls pro-fessionally answered and routed to whereverthey are," he says.

“I used to run a consulting firm with sixother consultants and VoIP allowed us to workremotely with a virtual operator putting callsthrough to each of us. We were able to look likea much bigger organization and it was allthanks to VoIP giving us the flexibility to workoutside of the normal office set up.”

Therefore, Curry believes, VoIP technologyis allowing companies to take advantage of atelephone system (which they have previouslyconsidered way beyond their means), as anoption that not only reduces their bills butmakes them appear as a far larger, more profes-sional organization.

Taking VoIP mobileSending voice calls across the Internet makes for greatsavings but it normally comes with the stipulation thatthere needs to be an Internet connection available.

This is becoming less of a problem asWi-Fi hot spots are rolled out aroundthe globe. Wi-Fi hot spots allow thosewith ‘soft’ phones on their laptops or asmart phone with Wi-Fi capability toroute calls from their mobile deviceacross the wireless Internet. The resultis free calls or, or at least, immense sav-ings when compared to the cost of usinga mobile phone network, particularly ifroaming abroad.

Out and aboutThe obvious problem occurs when a

person does not have a Wi-Fi hot spot,and thus will be solely reliant on theirmobile phone.

According to Paul Arena, Chairmanand CEO of i2Telecom, VoIP could stillhold the answer. His company hasalready launched a service calledMyGlobalTalk, where mobile phoneowners can dial a code before thedesired number. Although the call isinitiated on the mobile network, the restof the journey is then routed through IP.While this service is initially planned tocut the cost of calls within the United

States, Arena plans to offer this serviceglobally next year.

“With a global SIM card, you will beable to roam abroad on your mobile andonly be charged the same rate as the localcallers around you using their cell-phones,” he says.

“You won’t get hit with a huge bill forroaming. You’ll just pay whatever thenormal rate for a mobile call is in thatcountry. So you’ll probably be paying 30cents instead of a couple of dollars perminute. It’s designed for those people thatwant to be able to use their mobile to callwhile on holiday or working abroad with-out dreading a huge bill at the end of it.”

At the moment, Arena believes thatVoIP has had a huge impact on mobility,but this has mainly been restricted to Wi-Fi hot spots. He claims the next step is totake the cost savings of VoIP beyond Wi-Fi and extend it to mobile networks.Although the first part of the call willalways be handled by the mobile compa-ny, and so be relatively expensive, thesavings of passing the majority of the restof the call over VoIP can still result in acheaper service for cellular users.

Small companiescan sound big

VOIP


Video/call conferencingrevolutionized by VoIPCompanies across the world are always lookingat ways for their employees to become moreproductive and flexible. At the same time, thecurrent economic climate is forcing many man-agers to look for ways for their businesses tobecome even more efficient than ever before.

VoIP is set to play a crucial role inaligning these two objectivesbecause not only can the technologybring new calling advantages tobusinesses, it is also less costly thanprevious communications solutions.Enter the VoIP Video and Call Con-ferencing Revolution. With newadvancements made in conferenc-ing technology and the ability forVoIP to combine voice and data, set-ting up both audio and video con-ference calls are now far simpler andmore cost effective than in the past.

With the benefit of allowing mul-tiple parties in different geographiclocations to feel like they are in thesame room, business travel can bereduced significantly and executivescan commit more time to runningtheir department rather than feelingthat they are always at an airport inbetween meetings. And what’sinteresting is that all of this can hap-pen at a higher quality than experi-

enced before. Early versions of videoconferencing were expensive to setup and the costs to run them pre-vented many businesses from quick-ly adopting the technology. Today,broadband bandwidth has comedown significantly in price and thereare technology alternatives to turn tothat quite frankly, don’t require anyhardware besides a computer with avideo feed or webcam.

Of course, this is only the entrylevel for VoIP video conferencingand only suitable for those whodon’t mind seeing video within asmall frame on their computer. Aswith any technology, there are manyupgrade options from this entry levelwhich will provide better qualitycameras and equipment that trans-mit and receive in various qualities,right up to high definition (HD)video. Of course, companies do notalways feel they need employees touse video and that audio conferenc-

ing is sufficient. Again, VoIP is mak-ing a huge difference here.

In the early days, audio confer-encing could not only be costly toset up (either in the office orthrough a provider), but it alsocould lead to large phone bills forcompanies as employees dialed infrom around the world.

VoIP has helped by bringingdown the cost of audio conferenc-ing setup but, just as importantly, ithas made a huge difference byslashing the cost of long distanceand international calls. Instead of abusiness paying a couple of dollarsper minute or more for each inter-national colleague joining a call,they can instead today pay just afew cents, or even less.

The beauty of VoIP is thatalthough the cost savings arealways attractive, one must neverforget about the extra call featuresthat can be offered once data andvoice travel on the same IP network.There are already some interestingexploratory services investigatinghow VoIP can remind callers aheadof time to join a call. If a party failsto show up, the call organizer cansimply press a button on their com-puter or smart phone to inform thatperson that they need to dial in.

VOIP ADVANCES MAKE IT SECURE AND RELIABLE

VoIP has come an incredibly long way since the 1990s when narrowbandconnections meant there was sometimes a question mark over quality.

Now that broadband is widely available and VoIP hardware and softwarehas improved, many people who do not have a VoIP service will be surprisedto find that the quality is so good that many of their calls are routed overVoIP networks anyway by the major carriers without them noticing.

One area that has always been a concern for companies consideringinvesting in a VoIP network is security. Telephone calls are not traditionallysomething the average business feels they need to protect but as soon asthose calls are routed on data networks there is cause for potential concern.However, Dominique Kull, CTO and founder at VoIP business solutionsprovider Taridium, points out the beauty of a joint network is that the sameprotection given to data need simply be widened to encompass voice.

“Phones were never completely secure in the first place because any wirecan be tapped so it’s not right to suggest that VoIP is any less safe justbecause it’s digital,” he insists.

“What you need to do is realize that voice is now being carried on thesame network as your data and so you need to give it the same protection.You need to make your servers secure and you need to set up a virtual pri-vate network, a VPN, to ensure it’s safe from eavesdroppers.

One area where Kull does believe there is a need for businesses to realize apotential limit on VoIP’s capabilities is the simple fact the service they get isdirectly related to the bandwidth they have.

“Bandwidth can be a serious issue, a business has to realize that if itwants a lot of people to make calls outside its offices then it needs to investin sufficient, good quality bandwidth to handle their needs,” he says.

“The good thing is the cost of bandwidth is coming down and there aregood providers out there but the sayings are true, you really do only getwhat you pay for. So you need to really look at the service level agreementtoo to make sure you’re being guaranteed a reliable service.”

The good news for companies considering VoIP is that the networkingequipment is essentially the same servers which drive the internet and sothey are built to be very reliable and the code that allows voice to traveldown data networks has radically improved. In the past, parts of a conversa-tion, or ‘packets’, had a tendency to arrive out of sync with the rest of theconversation which made it very confusing. This has now been eradicated byreputable suppliers utilizing VoIP software which prioritizes voice traffic onthe data network and ensures it arrives without delay in the right order.

VOIP


Seamless switchinggives highest qualityWithin just two decades, VoIP has developed from a technology thatallowed the net-savvy to talk from one PC to another, to a globaltelecommunications system which enterprises and residential customersuse every day from either a PC or a standard telephone.

Looking at business VoIP, thereare several parts to every call. Thefirst element is, of course the tele-phone, which will have an IPaddress assigned to it before it isplugged in to the IP network. Thisaddress, or number, follows thatphone around, wherever it isplugged in to an IP network.

With what looks like a regularphone, customers can thenmake calls anywhere in theworld, via the IP PBX in theiroffice or perhaps through ahosted solution. Although callsbetween office colleagues willalmost certainly simply travelalong a local IP network, those

going further afield are likely togo across the traditional PSTNnetworks as well.

No need to worryThe beauty is that, according toAlla Reznik, Director of AdvancedVoice Services at Verizon, “neitherperson on the call would need to

be concerned how the call is rout-ed because the networks’ modernhardware and software workseamlessly with earlier networksso there is no noticeable change inquality.

“The quality in the switching ofcalls between an IP network andthe existing PSTN network is nowso good you’d have no idea thecall had been passed from onenetwork to the other,” she says.

“The call might originate on anIP network and go as far as it canon a VoIP network until it needsto connect with the PSTN to travelto the other area or country or goabroad. When it gets there itmight carry on and terminate onthe local PSTN or it might beswitched back in to an IP networkfor the final leg of its call, depend-ing on how the recipient’s phonesystem is set up.”

It is this quality issue whichReznik believes should be front ofmind when companies exploreVoIP. “There are a lot of verycheap deals out there but I wouldalways advise people to look atthe track record of whoeverthey’re considering opting for,”she urges. “There are some goodnewcomers, don’t get me wrong,but I think businesses need toconsider the experience compa-nies have in providing a qualityservice before signing up to aVoIP provider. “

Bright futureWith high quality calling nowavailable, Reznik believes VoIPhas a bright future ahead of itbecause people need data andthey can’t communicate withoutvoice, so to have the two unified isa very strong proposition.

VOIP


Savings and features for residentialThere is a clear price advantage which isattracting American homeowners to switchfrom their conventional telephone providerto VoIP but there are also many featureadvantages that further build the case forVoIP use.

While paying around $25 a monthto get unlimited long distance andinternational calls is obviously agreat attraction, VoIP connectionsalso have many of those ‘how did Iever get by before’ features whichsimply cannot be offered by con-ventional telephone systems.

Although there are many tochoose from, Mary Grikas, Execu-

tive Director of Device Develop-ment at Vonage believes thatvoicemail, ‘find me’ services, andthe flexibility of number portabil-ity are features residential cus-tomers immediately take to. “Myson had to give one number to histeacher,” she says. “The teacherwanted an office and cell numbertoo and he just said she didn’t

need it because my home Vonagenumber follows me around, whichit does. When someone dials myVonage line, it can ring up to fiveother phones at the same time.”

Calls abroad“Another great feature you

can’t get with conventionaltelephony is if someone is abroador calling long distance they canoften dial a local code and thenhave the call routed via the Net sothey only pay the cost of a localcall in their country when callinga Vonage line. Then there’s theportability. If you have an adaptorwhich plugs in the phone socketfor your home VoIP number you

can take it with you and use itpretty much anywhere in theworld where you have a broad-band connection. It means youcan keep that same number forlife and not change when youmove. You can also take it withyou on business anywhere in theworld and make calls that are freeor minimal cost and way cheaperthan using your mobile phone andpaying roaming charges.”

Low costAlthough added features helpretain customers and make themwonder what they did during thedays of using analog telephonelines, the economic reality is that

the initial interest in VoIP willnormally come through a house-hold wishing to save money.

Save moneyVoIP providers are reporting that,in the current economic climate,many residential customers arelooking at their monthly out-bound calls and realizing thatthey could save money on theirphone bill and have their unlimit-ed calls to Europe and beyond forthe same monthly fee they arepaying now, or even less. In fact,Grikas estimates that the averagehousehold could save around$300 per year by switching theirnumber to Internet telephony.

VOIP


SIP TRUNKINGVoIP has many advantages but the one problemit can bring is that if a network is not properly setup to handle voice calls, quality can be reduced.

It is for this reason that David Byrd, VP Mar-keting and Sales at Broadvox believes companiesshould take an active role in researching the net-work their potential VoIP provider is suggestingthey use and ensure it features SIP (Session Initi-ation Protocol) Trunking.

“With SIP Trunking you get a network thatroutes calls not through the public internet buton an IP network that is prioritized for voice,” hesays. “It means that voice is prioritized aboveaccompanying data, such as peoples’ presencestatus or ‘follow me’ instructions for servicesthat ring different numbers to locate them. Itmeans that calls are the best possible quality.You can even set it up so individual users withinthat business can be prioritized over others.”

According to Byrd, although price and fea-tures are important, the best question any busi-ness considering switching to VoIP can pose iswhether that provider uses SIP Trunking or doesit rely on the public internet?

Ask the expertsIf VoIP is sogreat, why aresome companiesnot investing init?

“The problem isthat some com-panies may notrealize thepower of VoIPbecause the

known telecom manufactures prefer tosell legacy equipment where they makehigher margins. Also the IT and IP solu-tion resellers don’t sell known brandsbecause in the world of VoIP the mosteffective solutions are “Best of Breed”Vendor Independent Open Standardsbased solutions. The leaders are all newbrands and customers are not used tobuying phone systems that way.“There’s also been far too much concen-tration on price. VoIP solution providersneed to stop focusing on price and high-light the killer applications, such astelecommuting, find-me and integrationwith CRM systems that offer companiestremendous productivity boosts.”

What in yourexperience arethe key driversfor peopleswitching toVoIP?

“After muchspeculation andhype, Voice overIP (VoIP) hasbecome a main-

stream technology. While initial deploy-ments focused on cost savings and simpli-fying network management, VoIP is onthe verge of encompassing an array ofrelated services, building upon a common,flexible IP foundation. It can extend intoother applications such as integrated mes-

saging, as well as IP-enabled audio, web andvideoconferencing. Furthermore, with fixedmobile convergence, mobility is introducedto these services making them available vir-tually anywhere, anytime. When imple-menting a VoIP solution, the businessowner/IT manager should recognize thattheir solution will evolve over time and theyshould look for a service partner who isflexible and willing to work with them andthe various technology partners that will bepart of a comprehensive VoIP solution.”

VoIP is linked withmany call featureadvances but doyou think there arehuge benefitsbeyond just priceand features?

“The price and fea-ture wars betweenVoIP Providershave been fought.

In this day and age, virtually all VoIPproviders offer their users feature-rich plansat a reasonable price. However, in the busi-ness sector, VoIP—particularly the hostedkind—offers benefits that are critical to thesuccess of any venture. Among these addi-tional benefits lie the business continuityand disaster recovery that are inherent in thedesign of a hosted VoIP solution. By treatingvoice as a service, companies can add multi-ple layers of redundancy to their voice net-work that were previously unavailable. On ahosted platform, users can remotely man-age their phone settings online to ensurethat incoming calls are routed andanswered in time and properly. Forinstance, in the case of a natural disaster orloss of power, rather than remaining with-out phone access, hosted VoIP users can useonline applications to develop call routingplans that will direct their incoming calls toan alternative means of communicationlike a mobile phone or another office notaffected by the natural disaster.”

What are the main bene-fits for residential cus-tomers from VoIP?

“In the current economy,everyone is looking forways to save and everydollar counts. VoIP cus-tomers typically reducemonthly phone bills andcan save hundreds of dol-lars per year when switch-ing from a landline phone

service. VoIP also often includes additional fea-tures that landline providers will often chargefor, such as caller ID, call forwarding and three-way calling. “VoIP can also provide local andlong distance calling for a fraction of theprice of a landline provider and eliminatesthe need to count minutes when callingyour loved ones. Additionally, VoIPproviders often have international rates thatare far lower than a landline service. Asbroadband services become more wide-spread, VoIP will continue to grow andbecome more mainstream with users.”

Are there benefitsin both maintainingyour own equip-ment in your prem-ises as well a hostedsolution?

Both have strengthsand disadvantages,which is why thisargument will rageon. Premise is more

reliable and secure—it lets you mix VoIP withgood ol’ POTS (the thing birds sit on). Howev-er, premise is expensive and chains employeesto their office. Hosted is less secure and reli-able (as it uses only newfangled VoIP). Butyou save money and have complete mobility– where you have Internet you have phoneservice. At Fonality, we looked at the prosand cons of each model and decided to splitthe difference. We designed a “hybrid-host-ed" architecture. Half our solution sits onpremise—we send customers a Dell server.This allows them to always make reliablecalls. The other half is “hosted" at our datacenter, so employees have free calling whenthey go home or hit the road.

Robert Messer, Presi-dent, ABP Technology

Stephen Canton, CEO,iCore Networks

Mary Grikas,Executive Directorof Device Devel-opment, Vonage

Chris Lyman, CEO Fonality

Dan Dooley, President ofWireline, Sprint

VOIP


Dealers play vital rolein the VoIP revolutionMention the word Internet and there is a natu-ral inclination to link the channel with goingdirect to a service provider and, much of thetime, that has also been the case with VoIP.

With so many very low cost Inter-net telephony companies compet-ing for margins on calls, it mayseem that the days of purchasingequipment and seeking advice froman independent dealer are over.

However, Robert Messer, Presi-dent of ABP Technology believesthe VoIP industry, in its drive tocreate a direct channel between

customers and service providerscould well be missing an impor-tant point. “We made a consciousdecision not to sell our equipmentdirect but to instead go throughthe reseller channel,” he says.

“The main point is that youneed resellers to be selling VoIP,otherwise what’s going to hap-pen? If a business goes to seetheir local dealer and asks themwhat should they replace theirequipment with or how can theyupgrade, what’s the dealer goingto say? He’s going to sell what hesells. If he’s not selling VoIP,then VoIP won’t get sold; it’s thatsimple.”

Tight marginsThe problem, of course, of goingthrough the reseller channel isthat there needs to be a margin forthe dealer and so this does notalways fit in with the public’s per-ception that VoIP can be enjoyedfor very little cost. While thereare savings inherent in combining

voice and data networks and rout-ing calls over the net, Messer cau-tions that the industry still needsto retail its quality, open sourceproducts at sensible prices toenergize dealer networks. “Thereare a lot of security and networkissues surrounding VoIP and thereseller is a very importantresource for companies to go tofor advice,” he says. “I trulybelieve that for premium, opensource VoIP equipment thereshould always be enough of amargin for dealers and, at thesame time, the customer can alsoget great long term value and sav-ings. I think that when some busi-nesses look at some of the offersout there that look too good to betrue, they’ll decide that, actually,they are too good to be true. Cus-tomers are clever, they know theyneed the right advice and theyneed to pay for quality.”

Without dealers advising cus-tomers on VoIP solutions, Messerbelieves many are going for pack-ages that are not ideal for them.Customers who have a lot ofinternal calls within their officesmay well be better off going for amanaged, on-site VoIP solutioninstead of a remotely, hosted solu-

tion because routing those inter-nal calls out of the building overthe net and back in again canplace an unnecessary demand onbandwidth. Without well-sup-

ported VoIP dealers around thecountry, the range of open sourceoptions available to businessesmay not always be presentedthem, Messer warns.

Documents

YOUR GUIDE TO VOICE OVER IP