The answer is, as usual, it depends. Voice over IP is evolutionary, not revolutionary, technology. If you are moving into a facility where you need to completely build out your infrastructure, then installing voip devices makes sense. It can be very competitive with traditional POTS switched networks. Some companies put a Voice over IP blade in an existing POTS switch. They feel that it gives them the best of both worlds, but I suspect that they might be hedging their bets a bit too much and not benefiting fully from either technology.

Advantage Of Voice over IP
There are some other ways that you can take advantage of Voice over IP technology. In a “green field” installation, you have a number of attractive choices that can give you more network flexibility. One possibility is eliminating the wires entirely. There is nothing preventing you from installing Voice over IP over wireless 802.11x networks.

Unified Messaging
Unified messaging is another example. Unified messaging is one-stop shopping for all your voice mail, email, and fax communications (Email Fax). Unified messaging lets you retrieve all your messages with one phone call or visit to a website. While unified messaging sounds great, the technology has not entirely jelled yet. It can be costly and complicated to implement, and the services have not been perfected, including problems with voice to text translation. Unified messaging is dependent on the Voice over IP technology so as that application matures, there will be more incentive to implement a Voice over IP solution.

Investing in Voice over IP
It is claimed that a Voip technology will save 50% over the costs of maintaining the old equipment.
Of course, it isn’t clear whether or not renewing an old system with a more modern switched network would result in similar savings. IT departments are real pragmatists. They will not invest in a technology unless there are demonstrated cost savings or substantial improvements in the quality of service..
Here’s a checklist of things to watch for when considering whether to invest in Voice over IP or not:

If you answer Yes to most of these questions, then you should seriously consider Voice over IP Technology as part of your IT infrastructure mix.
- Is your existing POTS device overdue for replacement?
- Does your company have enough bandwidth to the Internet?
- Does your company have enough bandwidth to the Internet?
- Does your company have enough bandwidth for all your voice and data needs?
- Does your company have a substantial international presence or communication requirements?
- Does your company have more than one location?

Jim Francisto
Voip Blog

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