Finding The VoIP Path Of Least Resistance

BY RICH TEHRANI

Electrons always travel the path of least resistance� Any student in an EE class can tell you that and so can any writer who decided to see what would happen if he stuck a wire into both sides of an electric socket at age 10. If only there were a way to make IP packets travel via the path of least congestion, VoIP quality would be so much better. This of course is the holy grail of VoIP. Remember, there is no need to limit bandwidth of a VoIP call� 3-D stereo VoIP calls and even 7.1 surround sound quality calls can be transmitted using today�s technology. The issue is bandwidth. How much bandwidth do you have and how do you manage it effectively enough so that your traffic can be prioritized, allowing voice and video calls to be latency and jitter free?

If only there were a way to achieve what I have discussed above. Well, of course, I wouldn�t set up a scenario like this if I didn�t offer a good solution. A company called Virtela Communications (news) has come up with a way to help corporations solve bandwidth issues on a global scale. The company doesn�t own a network; think of them as an aggregator of Tier One bandwidth. They lease the bandwidth and have come up with ways of routing packets on the least congested route, allowing for the least latency and the highest availability.

Management of this network is done via NOCs in India and Denver , CO, where VoIP load balancing and call center apps are managed. Video is another application where they are seeing increased demand. The goal of the company is to allow you to reliably transport traffic over IP. Aside from VoIP and video services, there is also VPN, security and a do-it-yourself tool kit.

You wouldn�t play with electricity, would you? Of course not. So why play with IP packets when there are others who will handle this task for you, allowing you to concentrate on other more important corporate issues? Check out Virtela's Web site for more information.

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Rich Tehrani is TMC's president. He welcomes your comments. Participate in our forums.