Small and midsized businesses are turning to VoIP, and for good reason: It promises both tremendous cost savings and increased functionality. Techspertise

Small and midsized businesses are turning to VoIP, and for good reason: It promises both tremendous cost savings and increased functionality.

A reduction in monthly call charges is only half of VoIP's attraction for SMBs. Converged networks present users with multiple avenues to cost savings. IP telephony puts telephones on the same network as data, carrying voice traffic in a digitized form and enabling other applications, including IP videoconferencing, faxing, and unified messaging, to run simultaneously. This eliminates the extra burden and cost of maintaining separate networks for each function. Because these functionalities are software-based, they can easily be added without incurring significant additional investments in hardware.

Leveling The Playing Field

VoIP also helps SMBs compete with larger enterprises. The Internet and globalization are providing SMBs with an opportunity to take a broader view of their geographic markets and how they do business. SMBs now face many of the same challenges larger enterprises have faced for decades, including the costs associated with a mobile workforce, remote offices, worldwide partners, and foreign markets.

IP telephony helps SMBs address these challenges and adds value by providing cost-saving alternatives for collaborating over greater distances. Separate phone systems between offices can be unified and added to data traffic, reducing interstate toll charges for remote workers while strengthening connection quality. A videoconferencing application can be added to the IP platform for virtual collaboration.

While IP telephony has many advantages for businesses, it's not for everybody. VoIP still hasn't reached the high uniform service levels standard for analog PBX systems. But with the proper router, switch hardware, and bandwidth in place, VoIP can match the level of reliability most people take for granted with the traditional phone systems. In addition, IP-based systems offer a price and convenience factor traditional PBX can't beat.

VoIP Preparations

Companies eager to shift to IP telephony should:

  - Conduct a network assessment to determine whether their current LAN infrastructure can support an IP-based application, such as VoIP. With both data and voice traffic converged onto a single network, companies should expect a significant increase in bandwidth utilization. Recreating a surge in traffic during peak utilization hours will help measure the capacity of the LAN infrastructure. IP telephony buyers should conduct this testing and ensure they understand the true cost. Installations often come to a halt because estimates and initial tests are rushed without a comprehensive audit to factor in variables including power requirements or new routers.

  - Have a strong knowledge of both data and voice networks and appropriate IT support. While a company with VoIP doesn't need separate voice and fax circuits or separate telecom and IT departments, it will need to integrate voice/VoIP experts into its IT operations to redesign the Internet backbone for voice and help manage and maintain the new VoIP and data network.

  - Choose a system that will grow with your business. Because the technology changes rapidly, it must: 1) be easy to upgrade; 2) have ample bandwidth and connectivity; 3) include a plan to integrate Session Initiation Protocol, which provides the framework for delivering voice, video, data, and wireless services seamlessly and transparently over a common network; and 4) come from a reputable vendor with staying power.

  - Evaluate the cost-to-benefit ratio and the standards required for greater manageability. Protocol support is particularly critical with IP telephony or VoIP because these networks have the capability to support numerous current and future applications. Protocols help catalog the compatible software and hardware options available to a given technology and indicate whether an application can support capabilities down the road. For example, consider switches that support the 802.3af power over Ethernet, the first international power-delivery standard, and its cousin, 802.3p. The 802.3p network management standard isolates voice from data traffic, improving the quality of service, while the former provides the basis for powering deskset phones and wireless access points over the network wiring. With 802.3af, a company can eliminate the need to run AC power outlets to desks and other phone locations, which can be expensive and difficult. It also lets IT provide backup power for these devices from the wiring closet instead of via several UPSes scattered throughout the office.

Finally, finding a good vendor is key to a successful transition to VoIP, and because most SMBs do not support a large IT staff, they will probably need to outsource integration and maintenance.