Many small businesses want to migrate to VoIP to save on communications costs, but cannot because the local network can’t support it. They can’t afford to upgrade the network, and some don’t like the idea of using hosted services, so they put off the migration for another year.

Worse is when companies upgrade the network for convergence, conduct the necessary network readiness testing, but then discover, after VoIP has been deployed, that the network can’t deliver voice reliably or with high quality during periods of high traffic volume. Worse still the IT staff in a small company often can’t deal with the complexities of having voice and data converged on the same network.

Phybridge’s UniPhyer product helps overcome these challenges by allowing companies to run VoIP on their existing telephone lines, thus creating a “parallel network” dedicated for voice. This compact telephony appliance -- dubbed the “VoIP Enabler” -- lets companies quickly and affordably deploy VoIP using their existing CAT3 (traditional) telephone lines. 

Not only does this help companies avoid the high cost of cabling (or re-cabling) their older facilities -- it also allows them avoid the hassles associated with converging data and voice on the same network. Thus companies no longer have to go through the trouble of testing their LANs to ensure VoIP readiness; deploying new hardware or infrastructure; taking the risk of service disruptions; or dealing with poor service following installation.The appliance, which comes in both 24- and 48-port models, delivers Power over Ethernet over existing telephone lines, which solves the problem of how to power up the IP phones without running additional cabling.

Now you might be thinking: “If the voice is running on a ‘parallel’ network, that must mean I cannot integrate voice and applications.’”

Wrong, wrong, wrong.

With UniPhyer, a business can still enjoy all the benefits of a fully converged network. Businesses have the choice of deploying a completely separate voice and data network (and experts agree the best way to deploy IP phones and optimize your network for convergence is to have separate physical connections for both voice and data, centrally converged) or having full unified communications and seamless integration with business applications such as CRM.

UniPhyer has features including port isolation (isolating voice and data access to each end point) and Mac address isolation (IP devices with specific mac addresses working on designated ports).

Bottom line: UniPhyer offers all the benefits of a converged IP network while at the same time avoiding the hassles commonly associated with converging voice and data.

“Having voice and data share the same physical path while ensuring quality of service is a challenge for even the most competent IT staff,” Phybridge (News - Alert) claims on its website. “The UniPhyer eliminates network monitoring and management stresses by simplifying the network with a separate physical path for voice. Your IT staff will thank you.”

To download a free data sheet on the UniPhyer, click here.