ABC: An Introduction to VoIP
What exactly is VoIP? Do you need it? How do you go about getting it? This overview of the promise and limitations of voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) provides the basics needed to get started.
What does VoIP mean and what does it do?
The term VoIP stands for voice over Internet Protocol. VoIP is related to the terms IP telephony and Internet telephony, which you'll be hearing more and more about during the next several years. VoIP has had a lot of buzz and hype behind it, though recently it has lost a little of its steam.
At the most basic level, VoIP technologies enable analog telephone communications to be digitally transferred and routed over data networks—whether it's a wide area network (WAN), a local area network (LAN) or the Internet. In theory, the two packets of communications—digitized voice and data—coexist peacefully and move all over a network. Of course, a third packet—video—has become a major network consideration for 21st-century organizations because it's a bandwidth hog. When combined on one network, data, voice and video offer boundless productivity opportunities for users, and potential telecom savings and efficiencies for organizations, but major headaches for IT networking staffers who have to "keep the peace" between the three demanding sets of network traffic. For their part, CIOs, burdened for so many years with legacy telecom and networking infrastructures, will have to spend a tremendous amount of resources on improving their network capability, reliability and flexibility to keep pace.
How does VoIP work?
Right now, there are three distinct ways that consumers and businesses are using VoIP technology. The first is by using a regular phone, some type of fast Internet connection and, for the consumer, an analog telephone adapter, or ATA. The ATA converts voice signals into a digital packet of data and sends it over the Internet. It's not too difficult to set up and use, and it is common in the consumer VoIP space. For businesses with many users on traditional phones, the ATA becomes a specialized server that can convert the analog voice signals into packetized data. For example, when an employee in a New York office calls a colleague in the Chicago office, the call is routed through a traditional PBX (or private branch exchange, which is the system that directs all the traffic) within the company's physical location, to the organization's in-house IP-based network, then converted to IP packets and sent via the Internet or the organization's WAN.
A second way is by using a specialized VoIP or IP telephone, which resembles a standard landline telephone but connects to a router using an Ethernet cable. A specialized IP voice server in an organization's back office is able to route the calls over the network—from one VoIP-enabled phone to another. This option is becoming more popular, and vendors that specialize in managing this functionality, especially for small and midsize companies who rely on a broadband or DSL connection, have seen steady growth.
The third way is by installing software on your laptop, which acts as a "mobile telephone." All that's needed is a fast Internet connection, what's called a "soft phone" or a speaker, microphone and sound card, to make and receive the calls that would normally go to an office number—right from a PC. That's an innovative concept and ability for mobile knowledge workers, but in reality, it has yet to take off.
How does IP telephony differ from traditional telephony?
The traditional telephone experience, with the good old dial tone, is based on circuit switching. You pick up the phone, you get a dial tone, you dial the phone number, the other person hears a ring and picks up the phone, and a circuit connection, enabled over the carrier's network, is made on both ends. Then you talk. The decades-old system behind this form of communication is called the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN).
With VoIP and IP telephony, circuit switching is replaced with packet switching, and the "public" system enabling the transfer of the packets and the communication is the Internet. Because the dial tone has become so pervasive and dependable, VoIP systems have their work cut out for them. For example, if there's a power outage, you can't make VoIP calls unless you have a backup generator—one reason why many companies that have deployed VoIP systems still have analog lines for emergencies. Another difference is that the quality of your VoIP call largely depends on the quality of the network and speed of the Internet connection on which you are sending your digitized voice signals.
In terms of appearance, there's little difference between a 21st-century phone found in any businessperson's office today versus a VoIP phone. The main technical dissimilarity between the two is that a VoIP phone has an Ethernet port, and a standard telephone does not. According to In-Stat predictions, total IP phone shipments will grow from 10 million units in 2006 to 164 million units in 2010.
What are the advantages of VoIP?
Many organizations found that they can shave a lot of money off their monthly telecom expenses, for several reasons. The first, and probably the most talked about, is that with a VoIP system, organizations can save money on long-distance calls and those made on a WAN between intra-office staffers who work in dispersed locations.
The second reason is that organizations can reap savings by having data and voice traffic on one network, rather than having to manage and pay for separate data and voice lines. This makes network management, and telephony system updates and upgrades easier. With a centrally controlled IP telephony system, any changes network administrators have to make to the telephone system, such as adding a new employee, or when an employee moves seats, is much easier—there's no back-office wiring closet to visit or complex reprogramming of phones. Changes are made through a simple Web-based application.
Another purported benefit is new and more responsive forms of customer service. For example, "click to talk" (or "click to connect") has become a popular option for online retailers with hefty customer service operations. With click to talk, online customers who want to speak with a live customer service representative can click on a hyperlink and be connected (via VoIP) with the most appropriate rep for some human-to-human contact. For more on the advantages of VoIP, read "Is It Time To Connect VoIP Into Your IT/Business Strategy?"
All of these potential savings are critical for 21st-century organizations. That's because total telecom expenses, which in many companies are now IT's problem, are huge. According to Aberdeen Group, the average Fortune 500 company spends $116 million each year on telecom services (for mid-market enterprises, it's $26 million), and telecom costs, as a whole, have jumped into the top three line items for most companies. With VoIP implementations, many CIOs claim monthly savings of anywhere from $1,000 to more than a million dollars in the largest of enterprises that have heavy-duty call center operations or lots of geographically separated divisions that need to communicate via long-distance phone calls.
What are the disadvantages of VoIP?
Just as the list of potential advantages might make you think, "Why aren't we doing this?" there is an equal number of disadvantages and potential pitfalls that could make you (and your CEO and CFO) wonder, "Why are we doing this?" That will most likely happen when users experience network delays and poor-quality voice communications.
The first, and possibly most crucial potential disadvantage of a VoIP rollout is the fact that voice's network requirements are so finicky that any degradation in network quality will immediately and adversely affect your communications experience. The unfortunate consequence for those on VoIP-enabled calls is what is referred to as latency, jitter and packet loss, and the resultant "garble" or dropped calls are quite annoying.
That critical flaw for VoIP is in stark contrast to how data moves around on a network, where hiccups can occur with few short-term consequences. Put another way, in a Weigh In column on CIO.com, the authors write, "VoIP is a real-time application that needs to be treated as such—it does not have the same kinds of requirements as other enterprise applications that IT departments are used to managing." A robust, high-quality network environment is paramount for VoIP to work well. For many CIOs, that will be an expensive and time-consuming upgrade.
Second, some of those much-heralded big savings on long-distance calls will be realized only when a company's VoIP phones are connected on their network—in effect closing the loop on a network, and taking the carriers out of the equation. (If a carrier is still involved in your VoIP deployment at any point in time, expect that you'll still have to pay it something.)
Third, because VoIP is so hot, scores of vendors are flooding the market and promising short implementations (a month or two!) and relatively reasonable implementation costs (less than $150,000). Beware: Many CIOs and analysts have reported that VoIP rollouts will most likely take longer than anticipated, cost more than originally planned and require lots of training for users.
And lastly, VoIP depends on electricity to make it work. This means that power outages and VoIP don't mix well—no power, no VoIP service.
What does the IP telephony market look like?
The IP telephony market is poised for a lot of growth. Unfortunately, it's been stagnant that way for the last couple of years now.
There are many predictable issues that need to be ironed out before VoIP does, indeed, take off. The most critical one is all about perception: With VoIP, there still seems to be a steady undercurrent of skepticism—especially from businesses—that IP telephony does work well and that the quality is equal to what's offered from traditional carrier services. VoIP vendors have to get CIOs to buy into VoIP as a reliable, cost-effective and secure alternative, and dispel the FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt) factor.
"Enterprises are being barraged by conflicting messages about the cost-effectiveness of adopting VoIP. These unclear messages surrounding sizable capital expenditures have made enterprises hesitant to deploy VoIP on a wide scale," according to market research firm Current Analysis.
Current Analysis predicts that the following near- and long-term market drivers will have a crucial effect on VoIP's adoption in enterprises:
- Evolving standards: Session Initiation Protocol will continue to be developed by standards bodies, heavily marketed by companies supporting them and integrated into vendors' VoIP equipment as it displaces the H.323 standard. For mass appeal, support for as many protocols as possible remains necessary.
- New applications: Enterprises are beginning to deploy (or plan the deployment of) a new breed of communications applications that takes advantage of packet-based communications. These include multimedia conferencing, video, presence management, IP-enabled call centers, and e-commerce applications such as "click to talk" customer assistance.
- Reliability and security: Potential enterprise customers regularly voice concern for packet telephony's low levels of reliability and security when compared with traditional voice networking. Providing solutions that maximize the reliability of VoIP gateways is central to calming these anxieties. As such, improvements in both security and survivability have been the primary focus for many vendors.
The other significant factor for the VoIP market is how much more the carriers will enable VoIP services of their own. Carriers (AT&T, Verizon, Qwest, etc.) are making inroads into the market by offering hosted and managed VoIP services, especially to small and midsize businesses. "These new services offer enterprises a migration path from TDM to IP that enables them to maintain a hybrid environment for as long as necessary, provides operational expense savings, new features and flexible call management options," according to Current Analysis research.
Do Skype and Vonage have anything to do with VoIP?
You've probably heard about Skype and Vonage. These two companies provide VoIP services for consumers, and they are now targeting the business market (small and midsize first) as well. With Skype software, there are many ways to make free calls, such as Skype user to Skype user calls, but there are charges for other types of calls. Vonage offers variously priced calling plans that allow you to make free calls. In both cases, check the companies' websites for more detailed information because not every call you make using their services will actually be free.
What about security issues?
Security issues surrounding VoIP have been simmering in the background for years as the technical hurdles have drawn much of the spotlight. However, vendors and enterprises have recently started addressing the problems. In 2005, a story on CIO.com looked at the risks and challenges. In that article the writer said "...IP voice servers are susceptible to virus attacks and hackers. VoIP is even more sensitive than data when it comes to disruption and packet loss. Yet many security measures that are applied to data networks don't work well for VoIP. For example, traditional firewalls can result in delays or blocked calls, and encryption can cause 'latency' and 'jitter' (packet slowdowns that can disrupt calls). As a result, security techniques must be specialized for VoIP. And it should go without saying that VoIP equipment should be placed in a secure, locked location." The article also addressed the fact that unencrypted VoIP calls are easy to intercept using software downloaded from the Internet.
Clearly, there's a lot of work to be done. In recognition of the fact that security issues have become a huge concern, for the first time VoIP has been added to the list of top 20 threats on the most recent SANS Institute security update. Market researcher In-Stat reported in its November 2006 article "VoIP Security: Preparing for the Evolving Threat" that "with businesses poised to rapidly adopt IP PBXs and IP phones, companies need to revamp their security strategies to accommodate VoIP." An In-Stat survey found that although more than 40 percent of the respondents did not have specific plans for securing VoIP deployments, the majority did have budgets in place to do so, and when asked to rate their knowledge of VoIP security, most characterized themselves as "somewhat knowledgeable," the lowest rating provided on the survey.
How are CIOs using VoIP right now?
The rise of VoIP comes at an interesting and challenging time for CIOs. As CIO reported in "Untangling Telecom," during the last decade or so, the IT department and telecom staffers have "entered into a sort of arranged marriage," and it's been a sometimes rocky union. That arrangement took place because CIOs' IT departments have always run data networks, and telecom carriers have been increasingly providing network-based services (for WANs and LANs). Additionally, voice and video can now run over networks, all of which led to telecom being rolled under IT's purview.
The convergence of networking (data, voice and video), as well as unstoppable demand for bandwidth from users, has put a tremendous amount of pressure on CIOs to come up with a unified strategy that takes advantage of these newer technologies that should enable greater productivity for users, and ultimately save the company money. For CIOs, it's a balance right now—piloting VoIP in controlled, small-scale environments while keeping the traditional, circuit-switched phone lines until companies are confident that they aren't necessary. However, nobody is sure when that will occur.
In general, CIOs are taking a phased, cautious approach to rolling out VoIP across the enterprise. That's largely because of the technical hurdles discussed earlier and also the fact that many CIOs are still skeptical that VoIP and IP telephony can be "the solution" to all of their telecom woes. There are places where a VoIP pilot makes perfect sense, and those where it doesn't. For example, if you're a retail manufacturer who has a large amount of seasonal sales, you don't want to go live with a wide-scale VoIP rollout in your call centers around Christmas. But in areas where VoIP's kinks can be worked out, and the work can still get done (meaning delays in phone calls and intermittent service won't kill the company), VoIP makes a lot of sense. Osterman Research claims that just one in 10 U.S. companies has already deployed VoIP, though it predicts that by late 2007, 45 percent of companies will have deployed some type of VoIP.
Three tips for VoIP rollouts
Problems and challenges lie around every corner when it comes to VoIP implementations. Here are three things to remember, courtesy of "Don't Let VoIP Throw You," in the Nov. 15 issue of CIO.
1. Organizational mess
VoIP works across wide area and local area networks, which many companies handle through different budgets and departments when IT and telecom groups are separate.
TIP: Companies may have to reorganize internally before developing a companywide VoIP strategy.
2. Network traffic trouble
It's not unusual for performance problems to creep in as you add VoIP users or sites. "The most important decision anyone who is considering implementing VoIP can make is how they will 'live' with it after the installation is completed," says Forrester Research analyst Lisa Pierce.
TIP: Make sure you have comprehensive VoIP monitoring and management tools, and staff expertise before rollout. If you can't afford these, consider managed or hosted services, Pierce advises.
3. Tough business case
Moving to VoIP typically means network upgrades. But VoIP may not be top on the list of networking upgrades, especially with telecom budgets growing more slowly than IT budgets. Meanwhile, conventional long-distance rates are plummeting; undercutting what has been VoIP's biggest advantage.
TIP: Piggybacking on a network redesign may help. Keep a close eye on the VoIP dollars and sense as phone rates change.
Anything missing? Got a gripe about these pieces? Send a note to clindquist@cxo.com with your additions and omissions.
© 2008 CXO Media Inc.
China - Rising by stamping skulls of our fellow countryman who were mercilessly slaughtered
Are you aware that the news you are watching is interlaced with Communist China's propaganda,as
Communist China maps a realm of news with innocent lives?
Communist China is scheming a millennial terrorist activity by manipulating people's behaviors
through electromagnetic waves to contain criticism and harm innocent human lives.
1. The anomaly in community traffic of cars and motorcycles and drag racing,and reckless honking by
cars and motorcycles is exceeding an unprecedented level.
2. Communist China has the technology to scan the human brain waves through military satellite and
to discern and decipher their thoughts,scheming to instill individual interference focusing on
each individual in need using the satellite electromagnetic waves.
3. Deploying electromagnetic waves is poised to project onto the human brain with certain
sounds for the perception of grossly traumatizing or startling pain,or deploying the broadcast
of noise via electromagnetic waves in sleeping humans with edited clips of films or through
voice or image signals onto our brains or besiege our sensory functions with fabricated
audible and sensory illusions.
4. It manipulates one's moods,such as smiling,nervousness,disgust,panic,anger,sorrow,
desires,appetite,and so forth.
5. It interferes the human brain's thinking capability,memory or linguistic capability,to name a
few,causing spasms of muscles and fingers in the left and right hands,stinging aches
throughout the body,coughing,yawning,trembling,involuntary blinking of the eye,runny
nose and so forth.
6. Electromagnetic waves are deployed to hinder the motoring functions of the body and neck,
disrupt the heartbeat or respiration,manipulate dizziness,deprive one's sleep,spasm,saliva
gland,dental neural pain,etc.
7. Watch out that Communist China is infiltrating the news media by deploying electromagnetic
waves to besiege the broadcast media,map out viral disillusion or erroneous perception,and
investigate threats of brainwashing in viral spreading.
8. It further moved to deploy various symptoms in what one sees of media icons,gesture terms,
adding a skewed interpretation to one's cognitive awareness,misleading an individual to
hallucinate or suffer,such as the North Korean's rigid smile,which is a tactic Communist
China often deploys to counter the people.
9. By observing the resolution accuracy of Communist China's sound and image (scenario)
interference projected onto the human's brain,this can only be achieved with a certain level
of frequencies at the source of interference,hence there is no doubt that it has to be the
electromagnetic wave. Yet questions remain as to what range of frequencies the source of
interference deploys,or what kind of electromagnetic waves insulation chamber would suffice
to provide an insulation yield? Communist China might deploy specific metal alloys as small scale
molecular antennas, which are attached to the human brain in large number,creating
electromagnetic waves when the human brain is in function,where the current created by
Communist China's electromagnetic interference would poise to amplify in a staggering
number of multiplication,which Communist China can detect at all times to discern and
muscles would excel the generation of electrode,which in turn create a corresponding
electromagnetic wave within.
10. Some of Communist China's intimidation experiences in 2002:6.9 "Hey,are you tired of living?"
6.14 "We had concocted the bombing incident at the U.S. embassy in Pakistan"
"Jiang Zhemin ordered us to kill you,but without creating scenes"6.16 "The Pakistani
civilian troops confessed that they had schemed the bombing of the U.S. embassy in
Pakistan,which we had manipulated them to confess,so what are you going to do about it?"
6.19 "Hey,why don't you just go ahead and commit suicide""We are going to scheme
murder using the public bus"6.20 "Commit suicide by burning charcoal,get it?"6.25 "Jiang
Zhemin just does not like you,go hit your head against the wall".
11. I reckon that there are victims abound out in the street,no less alarming than wars,and those
not in the know or did not understand that Communist China's simple electromagnetic design
could easily turn people against each other,create moving incidents,little lese to say mislead
the youth to broach down the wrong path,suicidal prompting,design and fabrication of a host
of society news (which Communication China refers to as movie making),as Communist China has had a
decade long of the technology,and has long abused its technological advantages to scheme up design
of abusing human lives by arranging fabricated news to poison and infiltrate the free
world,manipulate and misguide the contents of the media,and deploy brainwashing and malicious
spread of viruses,done with insinuation and riddles.The fact that Communist China's slaughtering
the innocent had been the result of a high level of calculation,and a high level of rationalization,
where the threats are in existence,and cannot be ignored of their detrimental severity.
12. Communist China often coerce people to watch news compiled by the reporter Lu Yuling of the cable
news in order for them to be saved,but few are aware that Communist China had merely deploy the
reporter to entrap many people. I do envision that those that turn to committing crime as framed
by Communist China,the extra sufferings by the ordinary people,and the deaths of many innocent
lives will not go unnoticed as hindered by a condoning attitude.
13. Nazi Hu Jintao, Jiang Zemin, Chinese Liberation Army, security police and armed police have committed suppression and massacre on their own civilians. Hu, Jiang and the other atrocious butchers owe these innocent civilians! More horrible and serious is that they are using mysterious killing technologies to cause harms to human brains around the world, making advantage of numerous international politicians and journalists to help them commit atrocities and beautify their actions, aiming to overturn and suppress those innocent people and cover up their terrorist acts and win fame by cheating the world. Securing in the knowledge that they have strong backing, these arrogant and shameless butchers have committed tortures and mass killing cruelly to those innocent ones around the world. Unfortunately, neither these politicians and nor journalists knowing what is what would dare to express their conscience.
14. The inhumane acts and atrocities committed by Nazi China are far more vicious than that of Nanjing massacre in China during WWII committed by Japanese army, as Chinese government is using mysterious technologies to commit massacres to masses of bare-handed civilians around the world as well as launch violence and terrorist activities to suppress these completely unarmed people’s freedom of speech. These demons, like Hu, Jinag and Chinese Liberation Army, despise the chastity, dignity and precious life of those innocent ones and suppress the emotions of their beloved. Meanwhile, relying on the condition that most of people in the world will not be able to witness their vicious acts of violence and behaviors they have committed unscrupulously and shamelessly, these Chinese Liberation Army enjoys using cruel ways to torture, massacre and trample on these innocent people, physically and mentally, in one free world. The arrogant Hu, Jiang and those jackals nurtured under such ferocious power treat themselves as the symbol of benevolence and hero, as they fail to learn their gutless and vicious acts to trample on those innocent people. If these demons, butchers and dregs of human, such as Hu, Jiang and Chinese Liberation Army who have become frenzied and conscienceless appeared in the site of Nanjing massacre in WWII, they definitely would be the leading roles to act atrocities!
15. We don’t want to see masses of innocent people to fall victim to the hell on earth built by red China where they will be susceptible to tortures and massacres for thousands of years.
16. Despite being even unable to fend for themselves in face of the high-tech detriments and attacks from China, we can not tolerate the fact that these politicians and journalists will become the accomplices to help China commit its terrorist acts and suppression on these innocent people in the current era or an unknown future.
17. In view of the notorious, vicious and sinister Hu, Jiang, Chinese Liberation Army with blood-stained hands, we just cast doubt over whether these greats of knowing what is what who have negotiated with these demons will show their conscience to save these innocent civilians or will act just for the sake of their profits, or are under the control of China. In this current drowned world, how will these innocent lives be treated in face of the atrocious acts committed by these diabolical figures, or when these innocent people will witness the practice of democracy in China? Will these phenomena turn out to be the joint efforts and endeavors achieved by China and those powerful figures in the world? Are we really dedicated to overturning such adversity? Our goal is to eliminate the vicious power one day with our strenuous efforts, and we absolutely will achieve it!
Chen,Shun-Chuan 2002.10.13* Republic of China (Taiwan)