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Business Telephony Systems Comparison & ConversionBusiness Telephony Systems Comparison & Conversion Abstract: Many businesses are looking into the conversion to Voice over IP  (VoIP) for many different reasons. It is true that VoIP is cheaper in some instances, but there are other more enticing reasons of switching over to VoIP. One of those reasons is the easier setup of phones, and the options available on the phones. These options include video conferencing which is an extremely useful tool in businesses that are spread through multiple buildings and there are many more that will be covered later in the article. This article will cover the advantages and disadvantages of each system, and why a company should make the change. Also covered is a specific example from a North Carolina healthcare business. This company is planning on converting from a Nortel (News - Alert) Meridian phone system to VoIP. Also covered is an insight on how some of the work is done. First there will be a basic description of the present Nortel Meridian phone system, and then a basic description of the planned VoIP system. Then the article will move into the advantages and disadvantages of both systems, and why a company should make the change. ):The phone system that is described is a Nortel Meridian phone system. The initial part of the phone system is started by the phone company, and then the business can finish the phone system providing the business with as many phones as needed. The description of the system will start with the Nortel Meridian private branch exchange (PBX (News - Alert)). Covered in the North Carolina example will be the Nortel Option 11C PBX. This PBX is composed of a power supply, multiple line cards, and other cards as needed in which the line cards can be either analog or digital. Analog cards can consist of fax machines and other analog phone devices. Digital cards are used for the Meridian phones and other digital devices. Meridian phones can be different shapes and sizes for the multiple options available on the phones. The phone’s options have to be defined by the administrator. The administrator’s terminal uses specific languages specified by the Nortel administrator’s guide. Wiring is then installed from the PBX to the specific switch panel designated for the line card in the PBX, for a future example the reference will be made to the line card as number 10. The number ten in this example refers to the initial steps of making a terminal number (TN). This particular example will use a 48 port digital line card. This means that there can be forty-eight phones on this line card. From this point the phone system will be setup and will include forty-eight digital Meridian phones. Covered in this section will be a discussion starting with the end user, and then cover back to the actual setup of the end user’s phone. Starting at a user’s desk equipped with a Meridian phone. The phone is connected through an RJ-11 cable to a wall jack labeled “A1” which looks like a normal telephone wall jack at home. The cable on the other side of the wall connecting to the wall jack then goes back to the telephone system room and connects to the “A1” on the “A” switch panel. The phone will still not work, but this is where the power is supplied from the outside. Then a jumper cable is ran from “A1” to somewhere on the working switch panel setup in the earlier discussion defined as 10. A connection will then be made with the cable to “10.1”. Now there is a complete TN setup which would be 10 1. Remembering the TN is very important during the initial setup of the phone. The administrator of the phone system now has to program the phone into the server connected to the phone system. In setting up a phone the phone must be given a directory number (DN). The DN is the number everyone thinks of as an extension for example 0400. The administrator also has to setup the features of the phone including what each button does on the phone, voicemail setup, and many more. Unfortunately this includes a lot of technical items that can only be figured out by the phone company providing the service. In this case, the company has to spend the extra money out of its budget to pay a phone company technician to come out and fix the system. This is another thing that makes VoIP, so popular is that many current network administrators with little or no experience in phone systems can figure out VoIP a lot quicker than the traditional phone system. Therefore in the long run the company will be preventing multiple service calls to the service provider. Basics of Voice over IP: Voice over IP is similar in some ways, but can be very different in other ways of the setup of a traditional phone system except the wiring. Voice over IP can also use a PBX, but this PBX is defined as an IP PBX and can most of the times be mounted in a case rack which is a lot less space consuming in comparison to the wall mounted Nortel Option 11C. IP PBX’s are easily installed and setup. An IP PBX has the external lines connected to the PBX, and then the internal lines connected to the PBX. Some of the IP PBX’s have the option of RJ-11 jacks with built in analog telephone adapters (ATA). In this case the network administrator can connect analog phones, fax machines, and other analog devices. The IP PBX also comes with multiple Ethernet jacks or RJ-45 jacks in which the company can connect IP phones directly, or the company may have left over fax machines or other analog equipment in which the company can purchase additional external ATAs and attach them through the ATA. The most common implementation is with the use of voice-enabled routers and switches. Just like a normal network implementation using routers and switches except in this case you will have phones instead of computers. This implementation is highly expandable. The next question is how someone on the network can make an outside call to an analog phone if the employee is using VoIP which entails digital signals. VoIP networks start with a gateway which according to Cisco (News - Alert) forwards your call to the PSTN or the IP wide area network (WAN ) (Wallace 2006). In this particular case any analog phones or devices would need an ATA which converts the analog signal to a digital one. How reliable would the phone service be in the company if it also had employees connecting to the internet through the same internet service provider’s (ISP) line? Unfortunately this can affect the integrity of the external phone conversations if an employee or the employer is using up the bandwidth. Bandwidth is preserved however if a gatekeeper is installed. In most case it would be recommended to subscribe to a separate DSL line or to up the bandwidth on the current line. Advantages and Disadvantages of a PSTN: There are many advantages of a PSTN. First and foremost the highly debated 911 service is fully functional. The functionality of the 911 features will be covered more in the VoIP section. Second is the RJ-11 plug that is currently used on most PSTN networks. If a fax machine is purchased from a retail outlet most likely it will be an analog modem using RJ-11. If this is then the company just plugs it into the wall on the PSTN unlike the VoIP in which the company would have to purchase an adapter. Another advantage is the price of the phones and devices available for the PSTN. PSTN has been around for a long time in comparison to VoIP. Therefore VoIP equipment can be considerably more expensive in the long run. Concluding the advantages of PSTN a company would probably be wandering could there possibly be any disadvantages. However there are multiple disadvantages that make the VoIP system look like a dream. There are multiple options available in VoIP that are not available on PSTN. One example was given earlier video conferencing is available through VoIP and not PSTN. The costs of maintaining a PSTN network can be over time a lot more expensive than that of a VoIP system. The majority of these costs are spent on PSTN technicians coming to your business to repair the system or even add phones. All of this can be done by the IT department of the business on a VoIP system due to the similarities of a basic network. Advantages and Disadvantages of VoIP: VoIP has multiple advantages over PSTN some of these very advantages are described well by Brian Hinmann, President and CEO of 2Wire, Inc. According to Hinmann, there are three distinct advantages of having VoIP instead of a regular PSTN network which include: reduced capital costs, reduced operating costs, and the enhanced feature set (Hinmann 2002). The overall reduced costs can include both use of the system and upkeep of the system. The usage costs incurred through a PSTN when calling long distance is non-existent when using VoIP. VoIP travels through the internet, and therefore the long distance calls cost just as much as a local call which is the cost of the ISP’s service. Upkeep of the system was covered in the disadvantages of the PSTN. This cost is reduced because of the limited support needed from offsite personnel. Features of the system can be extremely advantageous over the PSTN. Even though some of the advantages are extremely limited right now and are breaking edge technology they can be a reason for future consideration. VoIP offers a lot of the same things that internet offers and one of these are wireless connectivity. Vo802.11 is basically VoIP on a Wireless LAN . In current studies Vo802.11 is considered to be on the low end in performance. According to Gray, Vo802.11 is considered very sensitive to packet loss which can affect the overall quality of a VoIP phone conversation (Gray 2006). The reason packet loss affects VoIP is because a conversation through a VoIP phone is sent in packets. If the packets are missing from the phone conversation it could be a really chopped up conversation or even as bad as a dropped call. There are multiple other features of VoIP in which some are used by Case Western Reserve University. They describe some of the following features: customized ring tones, access to their local directory, and multiple lines including voice mail (Case Western Reserve University 2004). Features can be considered by most companies as minor advantages in comparison to the cost saving benefits of VoIP.VoIP unfortunately has its disadvantages because it is such a new technology. VoIP disadvantages include packet loss which was mentioned earlier and translates into broken conversations. Packet loss is rare in a dedicated VoIP system however it is still possible when the bandwidth limit is reached. 911 became a major disadvantage in VoIP, and had caused some concerns amongst the FCC (News - Alert). VoIP 911 worked differently than that of the PSTN. According to the FCC, the FCC mandated that all VoIP services must provide the 911 feature to their consumers on November 28, 2005 (Federal Communications Commission 2007). However the 911 access can be lost in a power outage due to the loss of power to your voice-enabled router, and your ISP modem. This is another major disadvantage to VoIP. During a power outage you lose your phone however in a PSTN environment the phone is powered by voltage coming through the actual phone line. Security Issues with VoIP: Like a computer and a network on the internet, a VoIP phone is connected to the internet as well. And like the computer and network, the phone system can be hacked as well. This is done by hackers in order to call premium rate phone numbers (Silicon 1995-2007). Security vulnerability is always an issue when switching to new technologies, and VoIP is no different as previously described. There are other security vulnerabilities that will be described next. The next security threat is to the IP PBX. Hackers can get viruses loaded onto the IP PBX which can allow them to steal the conversations after all a conversation is converted to data when transferred over an IP network (Krauthamer 2007). There are currently security systems being implemented to prevent the loss of the data to individuals that should not receive it. Hackers can be hindered by encryption. Encryption is a great option to prevent the actual theft by hackers once they are in your system. According to Edwards, “Voice and video-enabled VPN (V3PN) technology, available in many routers and security appliances, encrypts voice as well as data traffic using IP Security (IPsec) or Advanced Encryption Standard (AES ).” (Edwards 2007). This being said VoIP can be virtually secured, but still needs to be monitored by IT. VoIP is a developing technology with multiple security threats. These security threats do not however hinder multiple companies from making the change because there are so many technologies out there to counter the activities of hackers. Decision Time PSTN or VoIP: Overall VoIP is more functional, and will be a major part of the future of business and home telephony. According to Abramson, “You’re going to see an awfully big push with Live Communications Server from Microsoft. You’re also going to see a greater push around Cisco CallManager and a more enlightened view toward Asterisk from Digium (News - Alert) and Fonality”(Tippit, Inc. 2007). In other words, the majority of major IT companies are looking toward incorporating VoIP into their systems. This in the long term means this is where technology is headed, so if a company is truly interested in VoIP this could be an excellent opportunity. Companies should always keep in mind that switching over to VoIP includes a lot of removal of equipment and purchasing of new equipment, so the bulk of the money for VoIP will be spent at the beginning of the project. The main issue with the decision at the present moment is: “Will VoIP be secure enough for a business?”. This can be a huge question amongst many newcomers, and is being researched by many IT companies. With this question in mind VoIP in the long run is the better option, and will most likely be widely used in the next 5-10 years. Summary of the Removal of PSTN and Installation of VoIP: First of all this is mainly just a summary to entail the amount of work that is included in the conversion. Beginning with the removal of the PSTN system, this project has to take place over time and for that matter during off hours. The best way is to proceed by phases. Setup phases that work best for your company, in this particular case the installation of the VoIP system took place first, and as the phones were installed the PSTN phones were removed. The installation of the VoIP system includes the installation of the IP PBX, the administrator’s telephony server, voice enabled routers and switches depending on the number of phones needed, and unfortunately all the Ethernet cabling. The main workload of installation is the cabling, and for most companies can be contracted out. This all entails a lot of work which will be described next. The majority of the work that is described is programming of phones through the initial setup which is not that bad excluding cabling. In the North Carolina case the business installed voice enabled routers and switches. Connected to the switches were multipoint control units (MCUs). The MCUs are used for call conferencing. This allows people on multiple handsets to communicate. There is also the Cisco CallManager software installed on the administrative server. According to Cisco, “Cisco CallManager is the software-based call-processing component of the Cisco IP telephony solution. The software extends enterprise telephony features and functions to packet telephony network devices such as IP phones, media processing devices, voice-over-IP (VoIP) gateways, and multimedia applications”(Cisco 1992-2007). Also installed at the business was a VoIP gateway which helps connect the company to the outside PSTN, and other VoIP networks. Without the gateway the company would be unable to talk to others that have the traditional PSTN and for that matter others that use VoIP. This being said, there are multiple other items that can be installed on the VoIP network in order to enhance the services of the VoIP network. Conclusion: VoIP can be a long term investment, and at first can seem very costly. However, the easy expansion of the system, and the lower costs of maintenance can make this system very compelling to the executives of a company. VoIP is a rapidly developing technology, and is definitely going to be a large part of the future of telephony. This makes VoIP essential for companies trying to stay up to date with technology. After the research of this topic it seems like this technology is going to be the future of telephony, and should be considered as an option amongst all companies. It really seems that it is only a matter of time before there will be major companies converting to this technology. VoIP has multiple appealing features that can cause the largest companies with executives spread out amongst the nation to feel like they are all in the same building for you conferences. PSTN is slowly becoming a thing of the past, and in the distant future will become obsolete. The security of the VoIP system right now can be a major turn off to most IT department directors. Security however is an issue amongst any developing technology; and will probably be vastly improved over the next few years. An author’s recommendation for most companies is to invest in the technology because it is either now or later. Remember the security vulnerabilities, and the issues they may cause a company. If the company sees this as too great of a risk then of course the author’s suggestion would be to hold off until VoIP security has caught up with mainstream security of normal network systems. Bibliography Case Western University. 2004. Voice over IP. Information Technology Services at Case Western University. http://www.case.edu/its/voip/feature.htm Cisco Systems, Inc. 1992-2007. Cisco: Cisco CallManager. http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/cc/pd/nemnsw/callmn/index.shtml CNET Networks, Inc. 1995-2007 VoIP Security: The biggest VoIP security threats - and how to stop them. Silicon. http://www.silicon.com/research/specialreports/ voipsecurity/0,3800013656,39166479,00.htm Computerworld, Inc. 2007. VoIP: Don’t Overlook Security. Voice as Data. Jaikumar Vijayan. http://www.computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/ 0,10801,74840,00.html Federal Communications Commission. 2007. VoIP and 911 Services. FCC. http://www.voip911.gov/ Gray, Benjamin. 2006. Issues with Wireless 802.11 Networks. University of Southern Queensland. Hinmann, Brian L. 2002. Voice over IP Opportunities for DSL. Supercomm Tippit, Inc. 2007. A Guide To Understanding The VoIP Security Threat. John Edwards. http://www.voip-news.com/feature/voip-security-threat-021407/ Tippit, Inc. 2007. Enterprise VOIP In 2007: Where Is It Headed?. VoIP-News / Making VoIP Connections. Wallace, Kevin. 2006. Voice over IP: First Step. Indianapolis: Cisco Press. |