Siemens unveils high-end VoIP system

Last week, Siemens Information and Communication Networks announced the upscale HiPath 8000 Real-Time IP System. Supporting up to 100,000 users per node, the hosted system can be deployed and managed from a data center.

According to Siemens, the system provides core communication functions in a pair of fault-tolerant servers working with Resilient Telco Platform middleware to protect against both hardware and software failures.

The HiPath 8000 runs on a pair of Linux-based IBM servers; the design leverages the skill sets already available to most IT managers.

Additional servers are not required to support basic communication features. Fewer servers mean lower costs of implementation and maintenance and fewer potential points of failure.

The design was built with an eye towards saving on more than just servers and hardware. A joint study by Siemens and Accenture projects time and resource savings of 30% to 50% that are incremental to the savings offered by other VoIP products.

Other than the capacity and some substantial savings, what’s the big deal? Well, we believe Siemens and others wouldn’t build such a large system unless very large enterprises were willing to buy it. Hence, the adoption of VoIP by large enterprises is one more vote of confidence. Plus, the Siemens approach shows that building bigger doesn’t necessarily mean a bigger price per user when all is said and done.