General Information

November 23, 2007 • Vol.29 Issue 47 Page(s) 1 in print issue

SMEs Are Ramping Up For The Big Move

If only Voice over IP systems were easy to snap into the small to midsized enterprise. While we may not be far away from the perfect VoIP world, the technology is getting closer, as SMEs move toward replacing existing PBX systems or mixing both systems together. So how do you break your SME into the VoIP side of enterprise communications? How do you know your network is ready for VoIP? And what questions should you ask before implementing VoIP? Chad Agate, co-founder and CEO of NeoPhonetics (www.neophonetics.com), says SMEs are moving toward VoIP systems for good reason. He says SMEs are interested in VoIP for two reasons. First, SMEs understand the total cost of management savings associated with migrating to VoIP systems. Second, SMEs can uniquely benefit from the productivity gains associated with unified communications. Agate says, “Unfortunately, smaller businesses that want to achieve both significant savings and advanced unified communications have limited options in the market today because incremental licensing fees associated with additional users and additional features can make complete IP PBX systems more expensive than anticipated.” He says the combination of wanting to maximize cost savings and achieve better unified communications is leading some SMEs to open-source IP PBX solutions. Michael Kirchhoff, senior convergence engineer at Alliant DataTel in Atlanta (www.goalliant.net), says medium-sized businesses are ready to make the move to VoIP. Alliant DataTel is a reseller for Zultys Technologies (www.zultys.com), a California-based communications solution manufacturer. Kirchhoff says Zultys has had great successes since August 2004 focusing almost exclusively on VoIP solutions for its clients. “The greatest successes,” he says, “have been multisite companies with clearly defined IT personnel who are able to support VoIP. The failures have been very small companies not having the budget and staff to support and understand the technology.” Ready Or Not So how can SMEs tell if their networks are ready for VoIP? Kirchhoff says for starters, many VoIP technology prospects do not fully understand the necessary requirements to get ready for VoIP. He says many refuse to admit the necessity for backend upgrades, as well. Agate, on the other hand, says while these requirements may seem technical to some, increasingly, he is finding that some organizations meet them whether they realize it or not. Agate says networks need three basic features to be VoIP ready. “First,” he says, “the cabling infrastructure must be Category 5 or better to adequately handle voice traffic. Second, the network switches must have PoE (Power over Ethernet), Quality of Service, and virtual local-area networks to create prioritization for voice traffic and to be able to carry voice traffic if electricity is interrupted. Finally, the network must have 80Kbps of bandwidth for every concurrent phone call your business needs to make.” Network evaluations also play a key role in SME VoIP system readiness. But Agate recommends keeping things simple. He says, “For example, we provide a simple remote network evaluation that simulates voice traffic across a network that only takes less than an hour. After this evaluation is complete, a business can rest assured they are ready for VoIP.” Agate says if not, NeoPhonetics provides the specific steps that are necessary to get ready for VoIP. Kirchhoff says as part of the evaluation process, it’s important for any SME to have the ability to support VLANs (virtual LANs) and Quality of Service. Upgrades also play a key part for SMEs looking to move to VoIP systems. Kirchhoff says SMEs should not be without managed switches and enterprise VPN devices supporting telephony feature sets. The good news here, Agate says, is that the majority of SMEs he sees already have enough bandwidth and Category 5 cabling to handle VoIP. He says a clear majority also tends to have a number of network switches with QoS, VLAN, and PoE capability, but generally, SMEs need to purchase some number of additional switches or routers with these features to ensure a quality VoIP deployment. Answered Questions Agate says without a doubt the single most important question to answer is: What is your organization trying to achieve with VoIP? He says, “Too often, organizations begin trying to achieve specific cost savings and then decide to invest larger sums in advanced unified communications capabilities. Understanding how your organization will use its new communications capabilities will help keep the focus on the correct balance between new features and cost savings.” He says before considering a solution or vendor, an organization must understand the level of expertise and service it will need from outside integration experts. According to Agate, too many small to medium-sized enterprises select a solution that is adequate for immediate needs, but they do not consider the horizon in terms of how long they will be using their solution of choice. He notes, “Organizations that consider their expansion and business process integration needs over the next three to five years make better decisions about which solutions and vendors to select.” by Chris A. MacKinnon