Article:
Communication constraints the biggest inhibitor to cutting costs
by using VoIP.
COMPANIES have the choice of continuing to run their voice
networks separately, run interbranch calls over their own
wide-area network (WAN) or get a
internet service to act as both data and voice
provider.
In an in-house scenario, a company could implement a Voice
over Internet Protocol (V0IP) solution to route voice calls
for interbranch communication between employees over the
company-owned WAN, using traditional telephones.
The next step would be to add an IP telephony solution
that integrates voice capabilities into PC applications.
For example, the user could then make an interbranch voice call
by selecting an option in Outlook and speaking into an IP phone
or speaking directly into the PC using a headset or built-in
microphone.
"The latest laptops are coming out with a built-in,
high-quality microphone so users can speak directly into it
when making VoIP calls," says Danie Nel of Nebula.
Once regulations are in place that allows interconnection
agreements between network operators and service providers,
users will also be able to make VoIP calls from their PC to any
subscriber locally and globally across different networks.
From this information we see there is merit in companies
outsourcing interbranch voice and data communication
functions to a service provider that will provide the WAN
infrastructure, manage the service and route the traffic to
relevant parties over their network.
Dave Gale, business development director at Storm, says
bandwidth constraints are the biggest inhibitor to the
take-up of VoIP. With a VoIP service, a gateway device is
installed between the company's PBX and the Telkom line and the
signal is routed over a data line to the service providers
network. This is where the bandwidth challenges starts.
Companies typically use a dedicated Diginet leased data
line to connect to the service provider, because it is the
only way to get consistent throughput and guaranteed bandwidth,
says Gale.
Most companies use a 128 kilobits per second (kbps) leased
line, which costs about R3 000 a month and is expensive for
smaller businesses. With a 128kbps line a service provider like
Storm has to optimise the bandwidth between the customer and its
own network, and within its own network, tightly.
There are advantages in using the same leased line for data
when it is not being used for voice, but this situation needs to
be managed so the data traffic does not impede the
quality of the voice calls. It is necessary to have an express
speedway for voice and later for video.
A big enough bandwidth pipeline will ensure that the quality of
VoIP calls can be better than when communicating over the public
switched telephone network. But in a bandwidth-lean environment,
South African companies and service providers need to
optimise bandwidth usage or purposely downgrade the VoIP
quality to a level that is still acceptable.
Jacques du Toit, sales and marketing director for Orion
Telecom, says traditional PBX suppliers are selling companies on
the benefits of attaching the equipment to the local area
network (LAN) and carrying voice calls over the data network
using VoIP.
However, the leased line is owned by Telkom and the company is
at risk by having all its eggs in one basket if the link goes
down, says Du Tolt.
It is better to have separate external voice and data
lines than to run voice on the main wide area data network,
because these links are unlikely to both go down at the same
time.
It is important for a company to ensure its internet service
provider can guarantee bandwidth capacity from origination to
destination when voice calls are travelling over its network.
Separate agreements should be drawn up for voice and data
services.
About the author:
Stand apart with Storm
Telecom: a voice and data provider that makes sure your
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