Chapter 1. Voice and Data: Two Separate Worlds?

Telephony is the communication of spoken information between two or more participants , by means of signals carried over electric wires or radio waves. Ever since Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone circuit and first envisioned the public telephone system, consumers and businesses have relied on telephony as a staple of human interaction.

With the advent of Internet technologies and high-speed data connectivity in the enterprise, a new family of telephony technologies began taking hold. Voice over IP, or VoIP, has significant appeal for the enterprise, for service providers, and for end users, because it allows the Internet and commonplace data networks, like those at offices, factories, and campuses, to become carriers for voice calls, video conferencing, and other real-time media applications. VoIP-savvy organizations are discovering that they can apply the paradigm of distributed, software-based networking to voice applications and enable a new generation of telecommunications features, cost-savings, and productivity enhancements.

VoIP can replace business telephone systems, or it can add value to existing traditional telephony devices. For instance, long-distance connectivity between two offices with traditional telephone systems can often be accomplished with a lower cost per call when VoIP is employed.

VoIP network protocols can serve as a platform for other communication media like text messaging and video conferencing. In fact, you've probably used a flavor of VoIP for such an application by now; they've been popular as an Internet pastime for several years . Yahoo! offers a "party line"-style service that features Voice over IP chat rooms (http://chat.yahoo.com). Apple's iChat and Microsoft's NetMeeting applications also offer text, voice, and video calling delivered through VoIP protocols.

Dozens of standards define how Voice over IP works, but little documentation exists on best practices for implementing and maintaining the technology in the enterprise. There's not much introductory instruction for VoIP, so beginners may have a hard time taking their first steps with it. There have been several high-profile implementation failures among large enterprise adopters, and this may be why IP telephony has such an intimidating reputation.

Nonetheless, if it's done right, Voice over IP can transform the cost model of telecommunications by combining the overhead of voice and data expertise and infrastructure. It can also enhance productivity for end users by introducing new features and for telecom administrators by centralizing management functions. Voice over IP can decrease the expense of future computer-telephony integration projects, while making it easier to link voice systems with web servers and database applications.

This book will give you practical guidance on switching to Voice over IP from traditional telephony systems. It gives a brief introduction to traditional telecom systems, and correlates their features and fundamentals to those of IP telephony systems, while showing ways of integrating traditional telephony assets into an IP-based voice network. It will describe the standards involved, so you can make educated choices among the large selection of components and vendors . It will also help you conquer some of the most problematic issues that people face when building telephony systems with Voice over IP.