* Network and data managers must work together to ensure network integrity
Throwing voice down a data line poses challenges, for sure. One of the biggest is security. But the question is who is responsible for making sure that voice calls aren’t hacked into like their data counterparts? The answer is unclear.
After all, there is a line in the sand between the data managers and the voice managers. It’s a line that should be fading as voice over IP gains traction. But that’s not the case.
Instead, no one seems to be claiming responsibility for the security of voice calls. This issue surfaced during our current Technology Tour “Voice over IP: Maximizing the Impact of Your Rollout.”
Johna Till Johnson, president of Nemertes Research and my co-moderator on the tour, said that when she asked about security in a recent survey, neither the data nor the voice managers stepped to the plate.
As for who’s responsible, Johnson says simply: both. You need the expertise of both camps to make sure that calls are protected over the network. Data engineers worry about one thing, while voice engineers worry about other things. Together, they offer a complete picture of how to encrypt and safely deliver voice traffic to its destination.
The problem was obvious in the questions attendees were asking as well. It had the same feeling as a child getting a new pet and not knowing what to feed it. Attendees, who were mostly on the data side of the house, were concerned that typical security precautions would add too much delay to packets and affect the quality of the call.
Others thought that voice was not as likely to pose “liability” problems for them as data traffic and therefore did not require as much protection.
Members of the tour panel from Equant, Foundry, HP, Mitel and Qwest agreed that security has not been job one for network managers, but it needs to be before voice over IP can truly reach critical mass.
What do you think? Is security the job of both data and voice camps? Or should data folks go with what they know in securing voice? Let me know what you think at sgittlen@nww.com
To register for the last city on this tour – Chicago – visit https://www.nwfusion.com/events/voip/
