VoIP and WLAN - a dreamy new combo

A sunny forecast The right prescription Catching the wave Deployment tips

Wireless LANs and VoIP are two new data center hotties gaining admirers because of the productivity improvements they offer. No surprise, then, that a growing number of companies are pairing these stars - and so far, the union is proving much stronger than J.Lo's and Ben's had been.

"Now that VoIP has proven itself to be a viable, easy-to-use technology, enterprises are searching for ways to leverage its capabilities, and one way is to run it over their WLANs," says Allen Nogee, a principal analyst with In-Stat/MDR. The research firm found only 60,000 VoIP handsets were deployed on WLANs in the U.S. in 2003, but that almost half the companies it surveyed are examining the technology for future deployment.

Pacific Sunwear of California, Condell Medical Center and the town of Ocean City, Md., are among early adopters of VoIP over WLANs. The attraction for VoIP over WLAN differs among them, but all have reaped benefits from their installations. Even call-quality issues haven't dampened their enthusiasm for the technology.

A sunny forecast

For PacSun, an Anaheim, Calif., specialty retailer of teen apparel, accessories and shoes, WLAN technology came into play as it moved into new headquarters and distribution center buildings. "Because of our rapid expansion, we have been tripling in size and outgrowing our building requirements every four years," says Ron Ehlers, vice president of IS at PacSun, which operates more than 900 stores in the U.S. "In 2002 for the first time, we had the opportunity to build the corporate offices, data center and distribution center the way we wanted. Previously, we had to fit our requirements into existing buildings."

The company went with Cisco Aironet WLAN access points in its corporate office, which has 300 users, and Symbol Technologies handheld and truck-mounted systems for its warehouse, which has about 150 employees. Initially, the 11M bit/sec 802.11b links were used only for data applications. When traveling to department meetings, corporate employees used laptops to access and analyze information, such as individual-store sales data or product pricing. In the warehouse, employees used portable scanners to examine inventory data.

The network design paid big dividends, especially in the distribution center, Ehlers says.

"In our old facility, our warehouse management system was an antiquated manual system," he says. "The new building has an automated, paperless system, and since we've been in it, we have grown by 160 stores, but our distribution center costs as a percent of sales have gone down."

Yet this bright tale came with two dark sides. Employees, especially those in the distribution center and network service center, spent a lot of time away from their desks and missed important calls. PacSun looked at various options, including wireless radio systems, walkie-talkies and cellular services. All were expensive and would have required additional infrastructure investments. The retailer had an Avaya Definity PBX, but its 802.11b option was based on a proprietary design that would have required new access points.