IP Phone System - What Is It?

Let's start by describing the new type of phone system that businesses are now using to replace traditional phone systems in their offices. An "IP Phone System" (sometimes called an IP PBX or VOIP PBX) uses the technology of "IP (Internet Protocol)" to carry the voice conversations in your office.

The same cabling that a business uses for its data network is used to carry the voice traffic of the phone system. In some ways they are totally independent and just sharing the same cabling. In one way they affect each other.

They are independent in that if the data server goes down, the voice will still go through. Your phone system will still work. Likewise if the phone system goes down, the data will still go through.

The way the IP Phone System and data network could affect each other is in the capacity or "bandwidth" of the network, both in the office and going to the outside world. Data is "forgiving" meaning it is not time sensitive. If it is delayed by several tenths of a second or several seconds to move your data back and forth the quality of the data doesn't suffer.

However, voice is time sensitive. It must occur in "real time" which typically means there can't be more than 150 milliseconds (0.15 seconds) of delay in moving the voice traffic between its destinations. If the combined voice and data traffic is more than the capacity of the network infrastructure to handle it then the voice quality can suffer. The network infrastructure consists of the cabling and the equipment throughout the network.

IP Telephony on a properly designed, private network has the same voice quality as traditional phone systems. To be "properly designed" the network must include a proper "Quality of Service" plan and execution with the proper equipment. (That discussion is too much to include in this article. Contact us for details.)

VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) - How Does This Enter the Picture?

Although "VOIP" is often used to refer to IP Telephony as described below, it also refers to using the public Internet to carry voice traffic. When the public Internet is used, you (the user) don't have the same control over the Quality of Service as you do over your own network.

Therefore it is more likely that the voice quality over the Internet could suffer compared to that of your private network. However, if properly designed with today's technologies, the voice quality over the public internet can often be equally as good as your regular phone line quality. The details of how this is accomplished, especially troubleshooting problems that arise, are too detailed to include here. (Contact us for details.)

IP Telephony - Why Would You Want It?

Your IP Telephone System provides the following advantages:

Seamless extension dialing between all your locations. With IP Telephony you can connect all your offices together on your own private network or the Internet. Or you can use the "quasi-private" network of a carrier.

Easily and economically connecting home based and traveling workers.

Enhanced contact center (call center) responsiveness to customer needs through the economical use of multiple call centers for time zone coverage, lower labor market costs, and even overseas call centers for small and medium sized businesses.

Contact Centers using IP Telephony can affordably take phone calls, fax messages, e-mail, web text chat, web voice calls, and even web video calls, all at the same time, in the same queues for the contact center agents.

Disaster recovery and power outage backup for business continuity.

Using one cabling infrastructure to carry both data and voice traffic instead of separate cabling infrastructure for each to derive significant cost savings especially if you are moving your office or setting up a new office.

Simplified system administration through a GUI (graphical user interface).

Less costly and less complicated moves of telephone sets since you can do it yourself without reprogramming or changes in physical connections.

Software upgrades are much easier and can be performed by you instead of paying the telephone equipment vendor to do them.

Don't just improve the way you currently do business! Explore the strategic business applications and implications of IP Telephony. New technologies such as IP Telephony don't just replace previous ones but allow much greater functionality, increased productivity, enhanced customer service and lower costs than prior technologies.

Expand the possibilities of conducting your business in ways you never thought possible. All major phone system manufacturers are investing their research and development dollars into development of their IP Phone Systems. Thousands of companies have already converted to it. There must be a reason or two or twenty.