Sr

Executive

Bulletin

COMPUTERWORLD

INTRODUCTION

All Roads Lead to IP .................................2

TRENDS &STRATEGIES

Wading Into IP Telephony ..........................4

Getting ROI From VoIP ..............................7

VoIP Monitoring Tools ............................10

VoIP Security .......................................13

Call Centers and IP ................................15

Voice Over Wireless LANs .......................18

RESOURCES

QuickStudy:Session Initiation Protocol ......21

Emerging Technology:..........................23

IP Videoconferencing

IPCommunications

Voice-over-IP is changing the way we

think of,and manage,communications.

Compliments of

Computerworld Executive Bulletin IP Communications 2

Converged IP networks allow for

a wide variety of new applications

to ride on the network and interact,

including IP telephony,audioconfer-

encing,videoconferencing,unified

messaging and presence technolo-

gies (like chat).

Getting Started

Corporate America is just starting

down the road to voice-over-IP

(VoIP)communications,though

every analyst says itЎЇs just a matter

of time before it becomes main-

stream.ÐŽoBy 2009,the installed base

of IP [communications]equipment

will dominate the enterprise land-

scape,but thatЎЇs still a few years

away,ÐŽ±says Robert Rosenberg,presi-

dent of Insight Research Corp.in

Boonton,N.J.

There are several reasons why

VoIP hasnЎЇt been an overnight suc-

cess.Companies started testing the

waters of VoIP in 2001,but there

were serious concerns about voice

sound quality that slowed the mo-

mentum (those concerns have been

largely resolved).Moreover,one of

the key reasons for implementing

VoIP was to reduce the long-distance

charges associated with the tradi-

tional phone networks,yet those

charges have dropped so low that

those cost savings are less dramatic.

The cost of IP phones is another

reason for the slow pace.ÐŽoThe cost

of going VoIP is certainly a factor

here,since the price of newer IP

phones will continue to be about

25%higher than the [traditional]al-

ternative,ÐŽ±Rosenberg says.

ÐŽoVoIP never was and never will be

the least expensive way to deliver

voice to the enterprise,but the al-

lure of VoIPЎЇs rich applications like

video telephony will slowly convert

legacy customers,ÐŽ±he adds.

Indeed,there are a variety of rea-

sons for moving to a converged IP

network.Users report benefits such

as the following:

ЎцMuch lower costs for audiocon-

ferencing.

ЎцThe ease of moving,adding

and changing phones.

ЎцThe fact that the IT staff can

manage a single network infrastruc-

ture out of the data center,instead of

two or more very different networks.

Thumbs Up

Early users are giving a thumbs up

to converged networks,saying their

technology choices have saved mon-

ey and made their voice communi-

cations setups more flexible.Some

implement pure VoIP systems,while

others rely on a hybrid of IP and cir-

cuit-switched technologies.Either

way,the users say theyЎЇre realizing

greater efficiencies just by starting

to merge their voice and data net-

works.

IBM,for example,is rolling out a

global VoIP network over the next

five years thatЎЇs expected to cut

voice/data communications costs by

25%,according to Fred Spuleck,di-

rector of global voice infrastructure