In 1995 VocalTec (News - Alert) released the first commercial Internet phone software at a time when access was measured in double digit kilobytes. Suffice to say this didn’t encourage businesses to start dumping their public switched telephone network (PSTN) phones. Those early experiences still haunt Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service providers when they try to convince customers on the many benefits the technology delivers reliably. That early application running on a very slow Internet and what is available today is like comparing apples and oranges; there is no comparison. A company that is pushing the dependability of VoIP even further is Mushroom Networks, with the recent release VoIP Armor, a new solution that improves the voice quality and reliability of calls made using VoIP.
The VoIP Armor is built into Mushroom Networks’ Truffle (News - Alert) Broadband Bonding Network Appliance, which brings multiple Internet access lines to intelligently orchestrate traffic. As reported by Mike Robuck on cedmagazine.com, the company designed the new technology to address the inconsistency of the voice quality and reliability issues of VoIP that still exist today.
By integrating VoIP Armor with the Truffle appliance, it will be able to exploit its ability to combine multiple DSL, cable modem or T1 services to provide faster speeds and more reliable Internet access. As a packet-level, load-balancing router with WAN aggregation and Internet failover technology, Truffle delivers aggregated Internet connectivity to small and medium size businesses (SMBs), enterprise offices and other facilities to improve performance and reliability.
Armor shields the VoIP traffic against any type of WAN link performance fluctuations and link failures, according to the company. This is accomplished by using two or more Broadband Bonded Internet links to protect the VoIP packets against loss, delay and jitter as well as against starvation from other cross traffic, delivering calls with high quality by simultaneously boosting call capacity as a result of the increased WAN bandwidth of the bonded Internet lines.
"More and more enterprises are looking to take advantage of VoIP, especially to connect their branch and remote offices, because of the inherent cost savings VoIP provides. But all too often, the VoIP systems are prone to dropped calls, lower voice quality or are simply too inconsistent to be relied upon as effective audio communication," said Cahit Akin, CEO of Mushroom Networks (News - Alert). "VoIP Armor, which we designed into our Truffle line, fixes this problem by adding a reliable and consistent layer within the network connection, giving enterprises a high-speed and redundant connection that leverages readily available, low-cost broadband."
The Truffle line of Broadband Bonding Network Appliances is available in different models including Truffle Lite; Truffle V Virtualized WAN Orchestration; PortaBellaMobile Internet via bonded 3G/4G wireless; TelePorterLive, Streamer PROLive and StreamerLive video streaming over bonded 3G/4G wireless for broadcasters; and ThirdEyeVideo Surveillance over bonded 3G/4G wireless for PTZ cameras.
All of these solutions are designed to provide reliable delivery of content whether it’s VoIP, video or data, so organizations can communicate more effectively without more expensive alternatives.
Edited by Rory J. Thompson