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Technology Industry

Voice over IP gaining steam

Communications News, March, 2004

Small and midsize businesses are prepared to invest in converged voice and data networking solutions that will allow them to reduce communications costs, boost employee productivity and adapt to changing business conditions. That is one of the key findings of a new study from the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA), Oakbrook Terrace, Ill.

Another study from Synergy Research Group, Westlake Village, Calif., says the U.S. enterprise IP telephony market grew 15% sequentially in the third quarter of 2003, reaching nearly one million IP lines shipped. U.S. IP phone shipments were up 38% sequentially, the study says, but the IP telephony market remains highly price elastic and [P phones remain a significant price consideration.

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The CompTIA study evaluated current opportunities for deploying converged voice and data services in the small and midsize business market (from 20 to 499 employees). Sixty percent of companies with 50 to 499 employees say they intend to upgrade corporate phone systems within the next 24 months; and 44% of small businesses (20 to 49 employees) intend to do so, as well, in the same time frame. About one-half of the businesses with 50 or more employees have already allocated money for the upgrade. More than half of all respondents say they will consider a converged solution when making an upgrade decision.

"The majority of these businesses have multiple locations and are managing disparate phone systems," says Edward Migut, a director at CompTIA. "Their business is more dispersed than ever before, their employees art: more mobile, and integrated voice and data capabilities are integral to their profitability and success."

Two examples of the move to voice over IP systems are Aviva Life Insurance Co. in North Quincy, Mass., and Brigham and Women's Hospital Surgical Planning Laboratory at Harvard University in Boston.

Aviva relies heavily on its telephone system to process transactions and provide product support to a network of 10,000-plus independent sales agents. With its 3Com networked telephony solution, Aviva is able to use a single service provider for its voice and Internet communications at significantly reduced rates. Additionally, the voice system works with Aviva's existing Gigabit Ethernet network and supports advanced third-party business applications, allowing the company to maximize the productivity of its customer-service personnel, help agents more quickly close sales and better manage its agent relationships.

"This is a practical, high-value phone solution that improves our service to agents and considerably lowers our costs," says Greg Partyka, chief technology officer at Aviva. "We'll recoup our investment in 30 months and save $800,000 in Internet and long-distance fees in years three to five,"

Using 3Com's SuperStack 3 NBX Networked Telephony Solution, Aviva delivers telephone services to the agents who drive 100% of the insurer's revenue. The voice platform supports Interactive Intelligence's call center solution, which enables call center representatives to promptly service agents dialing in for information.

Linked via the company's WAN and configured so that calls can be received by either Aviva office, the voice solution also provides a measure of disaster recovery Should its North Quincy site fail, incoming calls will be switched stainlessly to the company's Buffalo location, ensuring that no revenue opportunities are lost. The two sites can also retrieve one another's overflow calls; and, if a power outage occurs, 3Com Ethernet Power Source units, which run over Ethernet cabling, will keep the phones online for up to four hours by connecting them to Aviva's universal power source units.

SYSTEM AIDS SURGEONS, RESEARCHERS

At the Brigham and Women's Hospital Surgical Planning Laboratory (SPL), Alcarel's OmniSwitch family of enterprise data switches is aiding surgeons in real-life medical procedures and helping researchers perform post-operation analysis of digital medical imaging data. Key to its selection, says Harry Khidhir, director of network and operations for SPL, was the OmniSwitch's ability to provide carrier-class redundancy, process real-time traffic, and intelligently secure and manage mission-critical data.

With nine remote sites and more than 400 users that are part of a hospital of more than 10,000 employees, SPL has a dual mission--to assist in state-of-the-art computer-aided surgery and to serve as a research-development center for the computer-integrated surgery tools of tomorrow. Almost the entire SPL network is Alcatel-powered, with a combination of OmniSwitch 8000s and OmniSwitch 6600s.

"SPL performs state-of-the-art medical procedures and researches tomorrow's imaging applications. We therefore view the network as absolutely mission-critical," says Khidhir. "This was the only switch family we felt could confidently provide us with zero downtime and the speed to handle everything from our sophisticated 3-D slicer diagnostic visualization software tool to real-time image-guided therapy."

Technology Industry

Voice over IP gaining steam

Communications News, March, 2004

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