* What are the real reasons for adopting VoIP?
IP telephony, and its most conspicuous application VoIP, is finally reaching a level of quality acceptable enough to make its way out of the proverbial “laboratory” and into the business and consumer mainstream. Some other IPT applications – those focusing on Layer 8 of the OSI stack using protocols such as H323 and SIP – include video-on-demand, long distance learning, corporate virtual meetings, MP3 music downloads, PC cams and instant pictures. But VoIP remains dominant, and most research, EMA and otherwise, indicate that the most IT executives view converged networks and IPT as a strategic necessity; for them it’s not an issue if “if” but “when.”
At the same time, businesses and consumers are “bombarded” with VoIP related media coverage and ads for services by VoIP pioneer Vonage and other less known competitors such as Lingo and BroadVoice. Not to be outdone, the established service providers are rolling out a variety of business/consumer VoIP services, while new players such as CommPartners and Broadwing are entering the market.
There are almost 400 VoIP providers listed for the U.S. on VoipProviderList.com (http://www.voipproviderslist.com) making it a veritable shopping mall for businesses and consumers seeking VoIP services.
Nonetheless, it’s interesting to note that while the trend toward VoIP is visible and obvious, the reasons for its adoption remain a lot more obscure. Is it just a nifty technology or is akin to the move from vinyl to CDs – like it or not it’s time to make the move? Let’s look at a few reasons/benefits and put them in perspective:
* Capital cost savings from capital investments: This has turned out to be largely a misnomer as capital costs for VoIP and IPT implementations may add as much as 30% in infrastructure equipment replacement or additions.
* Service costs savings: Indeed, from a home consumer perspective, there are service cost benefits but those can be Faustian pacts with dangerous tradeoffs, as we shall see.
* Operational savings: As IT evolves from a fragmented organization to telephony and data integration the benefits are real. IPT users are able to develop integrated service desks with common processes across telephony, data, media and other services. However, it’s sad to say that the industry is probably two or three years away from waking up to this benefit.
* Quality of experience: Customers benefit from an integrated portfolio of services, with greater fluidity in service choice. This is also real and related to the operational cost savings as well as enhanced revenue due to more user services. An integrated portfolio could also offer unique applications where, for instance, a GPS (Global Positioning System) could trigger a phone call to a parent when the school bus is delayed arriving at a specific stop, or an application could automate information about customer care and contractual commitments when a truck shipment is delayed.
So, what’s the Faustian pact for home consumers sold on $15 or $20 per month fees for unlimited domestic calls and low per minute rates for international calls? The tradeoff, as highlighted in recent regulatory debates about 911 support, is that some of the onus for fail-safe telephony gets shifted to the home owner.
The consumer (home, small business, et al.) virtually “owns” components such as a VoIP box attachment, a modem connection, often a router or some networking device, and a UPS (uninterruptible power supply) for emergency situations when the power goes out. The result is a mini, on-premises telephony-support infrastructure whose health and administration fall on, guess who? Given this, and other issues, it will be awhile before it’s really credible to give up traditional circuit-based telephony completely.
Some of the other issues come from core requirements for management. These issues, such as security, capacity planning, and hierarchical SLA (service level agreement) processing, have stimulated a whole host of new IPT management solutions from different types of providers. These include network suppliers such as Cisco, Nortel and Lucent, established IT management vendors including NetIQ, NetScout, Concord/Aprisma and Visual Networks, as well as relative newcomers such as Brixnet, Converged Access, Corvil, Integrated Research and Viola, to name just a few.
Given these requirements, it’s hard to believe that VoIP is ready for the final “big surge” to all-pervasive deployments in 2005. Considering the management issues, such as security, readiness assessment, which involves the evaluation of whether a data network is able to handle VoIP, and QoE – one of the more important gating factors, it’s likely that we will continue to have “years of VoIP”. The market will continue to evolve beyond domain-centric and network focused toward a more integrated service focus in which VoIP is understood as one of many business/customer applications.
