February 2003
IP Telephony: Not Just Voice Over IP
BY JORGE BLANCO
For the past five years, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) has long
been positioned as the technology that will lead the enterprise
communications revolution. And within the business arena, VoIP has indeed
gained significant ground, providing benefits to businesses in many
industries. Yet by focusing solely on VoIP, which allows businesses to send
voice traffic over Internet Protocol (IP) networks -- primarily for toll
avoidance -- businesses are missing out on the bigger picture. When it comes
to boosting an organization�s productivity, functionality, and bottom line
growth, VoIP is actually just one component of a broader communications
solution.
.The solution IT managers need to consider is one that delivers
operational efficiency and leverages existing technology investments to
boost employee productivity and revenue growth. This is not provided by VoIP
alone, but by IP telephony, which delivers the full range of benefits
businesses seek. When assessing next steps for enhancing business
communications, it�s important that IT managers have a complete
understanding of IP telephony, and its differentiation from VoIP. Realizing
the differences between the two will help IT managers and those holding the
purse strings choose the right solution to optimize their networks for
improved business performance.
UNDERSTANDING THE DIFFERENCE
When explaining the two, a comparison comes to mind from the computing
world. Just as the Commodore computer dazzled users early on, it wasn�t
until the arrival of the IBM PC (and eventually Microsoft Windows) that
businesses began to realize the full benefits of personal computing. These
events marked the transformation of technology into a quantifiable business
value. The same goes for VoIP, which impressed early on, but has given way
to IP telephony, which now fulfills a full scope of business benefits.
VoIP, which simply allows phone calls to be made over packet-switched IP
data networks, is really an �all or nothing� proposition. As deployed and
marketed by many service providers, it was designed to be a shortcut to
transmit voice traffic cheaply. This type of shortcut sometimes save money,
but often reveals its cost savings in a lack of feature functionality. IP
telephony, on the other hand, makes good on its promise to deliver new
applications to the enterprise, helping to �virtualize� today�s workspaces
and empower employees in many ways. Once a term thought to be synonymous
with VoIP, IP telephony actually engages its beneficiaries in different and
innovative ways.
IP telephony employs VoIP technology, but goes an important step further
by enabling reliable voice and data collaboration over an IP network. The
key here is collaboration because IP telephony allows workers to interact
with mission critical enterprise communications applications -- such as
groupware, conferencing, and messaging -- that leverage both the voice and
data capabilities made possible by converged networks. It is the utilization
of these applications that enable a company�s entire workforce to become
more mobile, flexible, and better able to respond to and service customers.
Thus, IP telephony should be the focal point of any discussion on
utilizing communications to raise the productivity and revenue prospects of
a business. While VoIP�s primary benefit is lowering the costs of voice
traffic, IP telephony works on the premise that companies cannot just grow
through cost-cutting, but through empowered workers, enhanced functionality,
and increased business performance. By delivering results through business
communications, IP telephony is tied directly to a company�s bottom line.
ENABLING NEW MOBILITY
With IP telephony, users are able to access new levels of feature
functionality from a diverse range of devices, including phones, PCs,
personal digital assistants (PDAs), and mobile phones. Additionally, users
can set their preferred mode of communications -- and the way they would like
to be contacted -- either via e-mail, instant messaging, or voice
communications.
Additionally, IP telephony incorporates VoIP to broaden the capabilities
of workers by letting employees on the road or at home leverage all of their
business telephony capabilities -- such as one-number access, multiple line
appearances, conferencing and corporate directories -- via their PC. For
example, users can now use their laptop or PDA to remotely access tools that
are available on their office PC -- including e-mail, customer databases, and
voice communications.
Once IP telephony is implemented into a corporation, it becomes clear
that it extends beyond VoIP to become part of a larger business plan that
employees can appreciate for improving their daily workspace activities.
THE FINANCIAL CASE FOR IP TELEPHONY
At this point, the differentiation between VoIP and IP telephony should
be evident for managers seeking to enhance their business communications.
But besides the end-user benefits between VoIP and IP telephony, there are
also important financial disparities. VoIP�s number one benefit is its
ability to lower the costs on your phone bill. But IP telephony goes further
by producing new operating efficiencies and cost savings, thus creating an
even stronger business case.
IP telephony extends the administration and financial benefits of large
enterprise office systems to smaller organizations as well, while saving on
capital and operating costs. For instance, by connecting IP telephones to a
company�s wide-area network, a company reduces the expense of providing a
complete infrastructure at each site. In addition, total system management
is streamlined from a single location with reduced costs for moves, adds,
and changes.
A COST-EFFECTIVE EVOLUTION
Once the business decision is made to move to IP telephony, companies
should consider a strategy that is cost-effective, practical � and
evolutionary. By implementing an evolutionary strategy, companies can retain
their existing network infrastructure, including switches, phones, and
software, and simply migrate to the next level.
There are several other guidelines to follow when pursuing an IP
telephony implementation. The following tips can help ensure a world-class
communications upgrade:
� Open Standards Are Key: When evolving to an IP telephony network,
companies should choose equipment that is interoperable and supports an open
architecture environment. This helps enterprises to keep their IP telephony
infrastructure cost-effective and capable of accepting equipment from a
best-of-breed vendor. When it comes to claims of open architecture, however,
caveat emptor: Some vendors state they are open and interoperable when they
are not.
� Voice Expertise is Essential: People will excuse a lot of technology
problems, but not when they compromise the reliability of a voice network.
When choosing a convergence partner, it is important to work with a company
that not only understands data, but also has expertise in voice
applications. Understanding that voice is the most demanding and critical
application on the data network can help smooth the pathway to convergence.
� Size Up Your Organization: The number of users within an enterprise
will impact the IP telephony implementation. Smaller companies, for
instance, may require a scaled-down solution that is logical for linking
together one or two branches. Larger corporations, meanwhile, could require
a larger IP telephony appetite serving dozens of locations around the
country and meeting mobility needs for thousands of employees.
� Assess Your Business Applications and Network: In order to ensure that
your existing business applications and data network can support new IP
telephony capabilities and voice traffic, organizations should also consider
a comprehensive assessment before implementation.
The full potential of IP telephony has yet to be realized by most of the
business world, but its benefits should not be ignored or forgotten. The
technology opens doors to a business arena where employees can simply
utilize one device to manage all of the intricacies associated with
communicating in today�s complex, fast-paced business world. While VoIP
began the process of introducing new cost-saving benefits, IP telephony is
the solution offering the large umbrella of communications capabilities that
managers should not miss out on in order to help their businesses gain
communications-driven results.
Jorge Blanco is vice president, Converged Systems and Applications
Group for AVAYA Inc. A leader in secure and reliable Internet Protocol (IP)
telephony systems, communications software, applications, and services,
AVAYA is driving the convergence of voice and data applications across IT
networks enabling businesses large and small to leverage existing and new
networks to enhance value, improve productivity and gain competitive
advantage. For more information visit the company�s Web site at
www.avaya.com.
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