Voice over IP (VoIP)

Voice over IP — voice communications delivered via the Internet Protocol — sends voice information digitally in discrete packets rather than using the dedicated circuit-switched protocols of the public switched telephone network (PSTN). One big advantage of this is that it bypasses the toll structure of conventional phone service. More generally, because it uses digital information sent over data networks, VoIP offers the same efficiencies, conveniences, and opportunities for integration as other IP-based digital technologies — such as email, directory services, and the web.

VoIP leverages existing IP networks to support voice communications across the LAN and WAN, enabling businesses to connect a globally distributed workforce — from overseas sales offices to telecommuting executives — with a unified, cost-efficient phone system.

Business benefits
Point-and-click call routing is both efficient and fun. Having your desk phone (with all its features) seamlessly available on your laptop provides an exhilarating mix of flexibility and mobile professionalism. But while it's unquestionably cool (and your employees will love it), you have to wonder: What will VoIP do for your bottom line?

As it turns out, it'll do a lot.

1. Reduce your costs.
Cutting your long distance costs — both voice and fax — is reason enough to implement VoIP. What's more, the ability to share equipment and operations costs across data and voice users can improve overall network efficiency. And VoIP can create economies of scale for voice, since excess bandwidth, too, will be shareable and can be allocated wherever it's needed.

2. Simplify your infrastructure.
Implementing an integrated infrastructure that supports all forms of communication:

• enables greater standardization,
• reduces the total need for equipment,
• supports dynamic bandwidth optimization, and
• allows for a fault-tolerant system design.

The differences in traffic patterns between voice and data make VoIP significantly more efficient than traditional telephony. Moving your voice communications as data traffic also means they benefit from network optimization just as your other networked applications do. And all these improvements in efficiency end up helping your bottom line.

3. Consolidate your operations.
Any time you can combine operations, eliminate points of failure, and consolidate administrative overhead, you win. VoIP uses the same standard IP protocols universally used by other networked applications, reducing complexity and increasing flexibility. And because your VoIP phone system plays on the same field as the rest of your applications, it can leverage the broad capabilities and enhanced efficiencies of your data network.