Phone calling is such an integral part
of everyday life for all of us that we do not think about
"whether?" to call, but "how?".
Phone calling has moved ahead by leaps over the past few decades, and currently there is a known world-wide trend. This is to minimize the cost of calls using a resource, which is currently available in each company, and that is the internet.
A change compared with traditional phone lines is obvious. Analog telephone sets, connected to the outdated telecommunications lines with a 2-line are replaced with modern devices using classical UTP cabling. IP phones transmit voice via Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). The principle is that the digitized voice packets are transmitted over the Internet. The big advantage is that the soundtrack can be compressed and thereby causing a further saving on bandwidth connection to the Internet and also disproportionately lower costs for network devices. In addition, data can be encrypted and thus the confidentiality of information between communicating entities is guaranteed.
IP telephony is a technology that today surpasses the standard method of voice transmission in many ways. One of the indisputable advantages of this technology is to reduce operating costs. It can be seen especially at companies that communicate frequently with foreign firms, at companies that have several branches, but also at smaller companies that only want to save on telecommunications fees. Initial investment returns in a few months, depending on the frequency of subscribers' phone calls.
IP telephony also offers new possibilities which standard telephone network cannot provide. Modern devices bring whole new services, typical just for this method of communication (eg. on hold fax, fax to email, message into an email). The general trend is the convergence of data, voice, video and Internet into the IP Protocol. The aim is to transfer everything over a single network.
What do you need to introduce IP telephony in the company?
Firstly, a VoIP server. There are several solutions from highly professional systems such as Cisco or Avaya to free software solutions such as ASTERISK.
Secondly, a suited IP-phone. There are several possibilities. IP telephony can be supported directly by your laptop. Just load the proper driver into it and you can communicate with other participants. Or there are phones that you can plug into the USB port on your computer. But the most standard are independent IP desk phones. This type of phone is mostly pass through, so it does not even need a separate UTP outlet.
There are many manufacturers, it is only a matter of appropriate choice and care about compatibility between the VoIP server and connected devices.
Calling to other networks is also difficult and requires the support of an experienced partner or directly the operator. It is necessary to provide separate AIX-trunk, which is actually a separate Internet bandwidth reserved for VOIP packets with assigned phone numbers from the operator.
