December 2001
 

BY ED WADBROOK

Business communications today generally exists in two distinct, parallel universes, particularly for companies with multiple sites. In one world, computer networks based on the Ethernet and IP standards distribute data, e-mail, and instant messaging. In the other world, traditional business telephone systems handle voice services and faxes. Both are essential to success, but paying for and operating two independent systems is inefficient and costly.

The business telephone system is clearly the legacy solution and more problematic. By using a traditional PBX system, a company can rack up a hefty long-distance bill just by making the day-to-day interoffice calls that keep business flowing. Adding, moving, or changing phones means scheduling a high-priced technician skilled in arcane phone technologies. What happens to the bottom line when various departments located in separate locations cannot transfer calls back and forth or teleconference? Without a networked, enterprise-wide phone system that offers easy access across multiple locations to a specified department, customers must hang up and dial each one individually for the information and services they need -- an annoyance that could drive them to the competition. The costs and complexities of getting voice and data networks to communicate to enhance customer relation management (CRM) strategies only exacerbates the problem.

Fortunately, internetworking has emerged as a viable, long-term solution. Internetworking is the integration of all communications (voice, data, video, etc.) over one local and global wired or wireless network that extends virtually everywhere. Internetworking fulfills the promise of digital networking, providing truly integrated communications so firms can enhance their relationships with customers, employees, and partners.

Internetworking is driven by the premise that data networks are still evolving and that traditional voice networks are no longer practical. Its foundation lies in the migration of telephone services to the IP standard, allowing companies to carry voice, data, and video to users in worldwide locations. Yes, internetworking includes placing voice and data services on a single network, but it goes far beyond unified messaging and VoIP gateways.

Over time, internetworking will offer even more communications flexibility and convenience, allowing users to access and exchange information anywhere, anytime from laptop and desktop computers, PDAs, cellular phones, and landline telephones. Customer service representatives in Peoria, Ill. will be able to answer questions from callers in London based on information transmitted from a consultant's wireless pager in Hong Kong. It may sound like science fiction, but this IP-driven change in overseas communications has already begun.

Companies today can prepare their networks for these innovations by replacing their traditional legacy phone systems with VoIP systems that tear down the walls between computer and telephone networks. Network-based telephony, sometimes known as IP-PBX, is cost-effective, highly reliable, distributed, standards-based, and built on an open architecture. As a result, it provides the ideal foundation for a broader migration to IP-based services.

PAVING THE WAY TO INTERNETWORKING
Networked telephony offers companies a global communications infrastructure for little more than the cost of Internet service. Being IP-based, it also leverages local area networks (LANs), wide area networks (WANs), and the Internet to deliver voice traffic to distant locations without incurring long-distance phone bills. Employees working at home or on the road need only plug their phones (or voice-enabled laptops) into DSL or cable modems to connect via the WAN or Internet to the corporate communications network and all of its functionality. You can reach the customer across the globe just as easily as the employee across the aisle -- without complex dialing, conferencing, or transfer instructions. Because each networked telephone has its own IP address, users can relocate their phones simply by plugging them into any network jack, eliminating delays and the need to pay technicians to spend time in the wiring closet. From their new locations, users' phones keep their personalized features and unique extensions. Solutions based on the voice profile for Internet messaging (VPIM) standard allow voice and fax messages to be delivered across the globe over the Internet, rather than by using the traditional telephone network and incurring high costs. Such ease of ownership ensures that each organization can manage its own communications infrastructure.

Network-based telephony can reach any location on the Internet, freeing companies to expand their network in any direction -- horizontally (to connect employees in multiple sites), or vertically (to link internal departments with strategic partners). A company can quickly and easily add a key vendor to its communications network simply by placing networked telephones in the supplier's offices and adding those network addresses to its servers and routers.

By converging voice and data services on one infrastructure, internetworking deepens communications opportunities. When a customer calls, all relevant records can appear on the responding employee's computer screen before the call is answered, ensuring prompt and accurate service. Or, with the touch of a button, marketing can forward a satisfied customer's voice mail across the Internet to hundreds, even thousands of employees around the world simultaneously. Adding enhanced functionality is as simple as downloading various software modules for such advanced features as multimedia messaging, fax over IP, or video e-mail.

TO DEPLOY OR NOT TO DEPLOY
Worldwide, the migration to IP-PBX is inevitable. To accommodate the evolving needs of business communications, every enterprise will need to implement major changes to their networks over the next one to three years. The inherent challenge confronting decision makers is determining the right strategy and combination of solutions that will adequately prepare networks for the forthcoming changes and advancements in technologies and compelling applications.

For example, in addition to IP, future networks will need to support both wired and wireless networking as well as performance-boosting new speeds, feeds, and open protocols. To ensure they are headed in the right direction, companies should evaluate their networked-based telephony choices by these criteria:

• Does the solution integrate with my existing data network, deploying a standards-based quality of service (QoS) mechanism for integrating voice and data over one infrastructure?
• Will the solution co-exist with legacy PBX systems during a transitional period? An ideal system will be able to blend analog, digital, and IP networks.
• Is the solution based on an open architecture, supporting access through multiple platforms and easy deployment of new features over time?
• Does it support multiple industry QoS standards such as 802.1p/Q, IP-ToS, and DiffServ? Users have come to expect seamless, high-quality audio from their telephones; voice traffic must come through with sparkling clarity despite sharing the network with data traffic.
• Does it conform to common communications protocols?
• Does it provide a multi-site networking solution that includes least-cost routing and a uniform dial plan for seamless connection for two to a thousand locations?
• Does it include secured communications for both wired and wireless connections?
• Is it reliable, running independently of the data network's operating system to ensure consistent telephone service even if the network crashes?
• Is it based on a familiar interface -- the traditional multi-line business phone -- so end users feel comfortable adopting it?
• Does it offer robust feature/functionality, delivering a no-compromise investment?
• Does it offer choices -- phones, networks (LAN, WAN, PSTN, Internet), and applications (messaging, contact center, billing)? Or, is it simply technology in search of a customer?

ARCHITECTURE MATTERS
Internetworking based on a highly reliable, distributed, standards-based, open architecture, is the optimal way to extend communications naturally and cost-effectively in a global economy. This strategy offers new services that either were not available or were not affordable and provides platforms that can deliver highly valued applications such as CRM over both wired and wireless networks. For example, a broadband provider can provide its new customers with an IP telephone for the first 30 days of service. Previously, customers with questions or trouble reports had to find the appropriate service number, dial it, give account information to the help desk and wait while someone pulled up their records. Now, customers need only lift the handset and push a button to reach customer support; the network transmits their name and location, as well as other relevant account information for near-instant service at no additional cost. If the broadband provider chooses to expand its offerings -- for example, giving customers a direct line to video-on-demand -- the infrastructure is already in place to make that possible.

Internetworking may still seem like science fiction, but it is rapidly becoming a business reality. Thousands of companies are already turning to networked telephony; inevitably, it will replace traditional PBX technology entirely. While this shift is currently driven by the potential for cost savings, it is really the first step in a broader migration to advanced IP-based applications that will simplify users' lives and allow businesses to deliver better services more quickly.

Ed Wadbrook is executive director, Strategy and Access Products, Voice Solutions, for 3Com Corporation. As executive director, Wadbrook is responsible for leading a team of people in the definition and delivery of IP-PBX telephony products and services, focused at enterprise customers worldwide. For more information, visit www.3com.com.

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