Integrated Voice over Internet Protocol conferencing is the technology of the future, say communications experts. Unlike conferencing technology of the past, VoIP -- integrated with video and collaboration tools -- allows people across the globe to work on business projects and develop documents in real time, with unmatched accuracy and unparalleled efficiency.
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Experts predict that 95 percent of large and midsize companies will start adopting integrated VoIP technology within the next five years. Heightened mergers and acquisitions within the communications industry, plus increased regulatory actions by the government and tighter controls on corporate expenses, will position the next generation of VoIP service to change the way business is conducted forever.
Convenience aside, the ability to curtail rising travel costs likely will spur adoption of this teleconferencing technology. The savings in business travel expenses alone will make up for much of the implementation costs, especially for global companies. Yet many companies are unsure how the technology can be applied most effectively to achieve positive business results.
Closer View
Integrated VoIP conferencing combines voice, video, Web and instant-messaging functionality into a single, seamless meeting experience. According to Richard Zimmermann, Forsythe Technology's director of network solutions, the technology differs from earlier forms of conferencing in several ways.
With new on-premise conferencing systems, such as Cisco's (Nasdaq: CSCO - news) MeetingPlace or Nortel's (NYSE: NT - news) Multimedia Communications Server, customers exercise greater control over their conferencing environments.
In traditional or outsourced conferencing, companies pay a fixed charge per minute to a service provider for audio- or Web-conferencing services. These services are provided through third-party hardware not located on the customer's premises.
In contrast, a premises-based, integrated-conferencing system uses conferencing hardware directly connected to the customer's internal network. This allows customers to ensure the conferencing traffic adheres to their internal security policies and that external users can access conferences securely.
This conferencing strategy differs drastically from earlier conferencing technologies that required customers to set up separate systems for audio conferencing, Web conferencing and video conferencing, said Zimmermann. In many instances, configuring these separate systems to operate together proved difficult, making the user experience cumbersome at best.
"Integrated conferencing is driving video-conferencing capabilities to the desktop, with the result that scheduling a multimedia conference call becomes as easy as sending out an e-mail invitation to a meeting," said Zimmermann.
"Integration with a corporate e-mail system, such as Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT - news) Outlook or Lotus Notes, enables users to set up a conference bridge and reserve audio, video and Web ports with a single mouse click," he explained.
Drive to Desktop
Analysts see integrated VoIP service as gradually replacing corporate use of call centers for setting up conference calls.
To set up a conference call through traditional call centers, the corporate worker must contact the call center, schedule a virtual conference room and then distribute the call-in number and user ID to all participants. By contrast, having integrated VoIP service at the corporate location lets workers simply pick up the Internet phone and conference with all involved parties.
The New York Times (NYSE: NYT - news) recently reported that by the end of April 2005, Vonage had amassed 600,000 residential subscribers, up from 400,000 in January 2005. Meanwhile, Cablevision had 350,000 subscribers in April 2005, up from 270,000 in January 2005.
"People are starting to use VoIP conferencing quite a bit as the cost is falling sharply," said Fonix Telecom CEO Matthew Sines. "Find-me-follow-me features and conferencing are all available on-demand and controlled by the user."
Clearly, said Forsythe's Zimmermann, VoIP is not a temporary technology. In fact, analysts predict that by 2009, most businesses will be buying VoIP phone systems exclusively and sales of traditional analog phone systems will all but disappear.
"Most major manufacturers have announced that they are no longer developing new features or applications on their analog systems and have shifted their investment dollars and efforts to VoIP systems," noted Zimmermann.
Network Investments
Like most new technologies, VoIP technology was initially adopted by the business-to-business market, although it has quickly found application in the consumer markets for the same reason business adopted it: avoidance of toll charges.
Several providers have been offering VoIP service directly to consumers. And consumer adoption has increased rapidly as monthly service fees have fallen and the technology's quality of service has increased.
Zimmermann said one of the key reasons for the growth in popularity of these telephony systems is that they use existing data networks, allowing consumers and businesses to leverage the investments they have made in their networks.
"Instead of making multiple investments in telephone switching equipment at each distinct site, companies can make a single investment and realize the benefit of that investment at geographically dispersed locations," he said.
But, as with most things based on new technology, it takes several generations of development for consumers and enterprise users to replace older technologies with the newer versions.
Improved Efficiency
The growth of VoIP in recent years has followed that same course. Although users' risk-tolerance varies greatly, both business and residential customers seem to be gaining confidence in VoIP systems as they become more widely deployed and as the services become more sophisticated with collaboration technologies built right in, said Zimmermann.
"Great strides have been made in ensuring quality of service on these systems so that the difference in voice quality between traditional systems and VoIP systems is becoming negligible," he explained.
Zimmermann noted that many residential users already have disconnected their landline services, opting either for VoIP or cellular services. Similarly, many businesses are operating exclusively on VoIP systems and getting significant improvements in efficiency as a result.
For instance, traveling business users who routinely check in to hotels, both domestically and internationally, can log on to a high-speed Internet connection in their rooms and use VoIP softphones to make calls through their computers and collaborate with colleagues anywhere in the world.
"From the perspective of the people they are talking to," said Zimmermann, "they appear to be at their desk using their office phone."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nf/20050830/tc_nf/37866;_ylt=AqfKykZcC9Sd5K2Xe3LBOZkjtBAF;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl
ADVERTISEMENT
Experts predict that 95 percent of large and midsize companies will start adopting integrated VoIP technology within the next five years. Heightened mergers and acquisitions within the communications industry, plus increased regulatory actions by the government and tighter controls on corporate expenses, will position the next generation of VoIP service to change the way business is conducted forever.
Convenience aside, the ability to curtail rising travel costs likely will spur adoption of this teleconferencing technology. The savings in business travel expenses alone will make up for much of the implementation costs, especially for global companies. Yet many companies are unsure how the technology can be applied most effectively to achieve positive business results.
Closer View
Integrated VoIP conferencing combines voice, video, Web and instant-messaging functionality into a single, seamless meeting experience. According to Richard Zimmermann, Forsythe Technology's director of network solutions, the technology differs from earlier forms of conferencing in several ways.
With new on-premise conferencing systems, such as Cisco's (Nasdaq: CSCO - news) MeetingPlace or Nortel's (NYSE: NT - news) Multimedia Communications Server, customers exercise greater control over their conferencing environments.
In traditional or outsourced conferencing, companies pay a fixed charge per minute to a service provider for audio- or Web-conferencing services. These services are provided through third-party hardware not located on the customer's premises.
In contrast, a premises-based, integrated-conferencing system uses conferencing hardware directly connected to the customer's internal network. This allows customers to ensure the conferencing traffic adheres to their internal security policies and that external users can access conferences securely.
This conferencing strategy differs drastically from earlier conferencing technologies that required customers to set up separate systems for audio conferencing, Web conferencing and video conferencing, said Zimmermann. In many instances, configuring these separate systems to operate together proved difficult, making the user experience cumbersome at best.
"Integrated conferencing is driving video-conferencing capabilities to the desktop, with the result that scheduling a multimedia conference call becomes as easy as sending out an e-mail invitation to a meeting," said Zimmermann.
"Integration with a corporate e-mail system, such as Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT - news) Outlook or Lotus Notes, enables users to set up a conference bridge and reserve audio, video and Web ports with a single mouse click," he explained.
Drive to Desktop
Analysts see integrated VoIP service as gradually replacing corporate use of call centers for setting up conference calls.
To set up a conference call through traditional call centers, the corporate worker must contact the call center, schedule a virtual conference room and then distribute the call-in number and user ID to all participants. By contrast, having integrated VoIP service at the corporate location lets workers simply pick up the Internet phone and conference with all involved parties.
The New York Times (NYSE: NYT - news) recently reported that by the end of April 2005, Vonage had amassed 600,000 residential subscribers, up from 400,000 in January 2005. Meanwhile, Cablevision had 350,000 subscribers in April 2005, up from 270,000 in January 2005.
"People are starting to use VoIP conferencing quite a bit as the cost is falling sharply," said Fonix Telecom CEO Matthew Sines. "Find-me-follow-me features and conferencing are all available on-demand and controlled by the user."
Clearly, said Forsythe's Zimmermann, VoIP is not a temporary technology. In fact, analysts predict that by 2009, most businesses will be buying VoIP phone systems exclusively and sales of traditional analog phone systems will all but disappear.
"Most major manufacturers have announced that they are no longer developing new features or applications on their analog systems and have shifted their investment dollars and efforts to VoIP systems," noted Zimmermann.
Network Investments
Like most new technologies, VoIP technology was initially adopted by the business-to-business market, although it has quickly found application in the consumer markets for the same reason business adopted it: avoidance of toll charges.
Several providers have been offering VoIP service directly to consumers. And consumer adoption has increased rapidly as monthly service fees have fallen and the technology's quality of service has increased.
Zimmermann said one of the key reasons for the growth in popularity of these telephony systems is that they use existing data networks, allowing consumers and businesses to leverage the investments they have made in their networks.
"Instead of making multiple investments in telephone switching equipment at each distinct site, companies can make a single investment and realize the benefit of that investment at geographically dispersed locations," he said.
But, as with most things based on new technology, it takes several generations of development for consumers and enterprise users to replace older technologies with the newer versions.
Improved Efficiency
The growth of VoIP in recent years has followed that same course. Although users' risk-tolerance varies greatly, both business and residential customers seem to be gaining confidence in VoIP systems as they become more widely deployed and as the services become more sophisticated with collaboration technologies built right in, said Zimmermann.
"Great strides have been made in ensuring quality of service on these systems so that the difference in voice quality between traditional systems and VoIP systems is becoming negligible," he explained.
Zimmermann noted that many residential users already have disconnected their landline services, opting either for VoIP or cellular services. Similarly, many businesses are operating exclusively on VoIP systems and getting significant improvements in efficiency as a result.
For instance, traveling business users who routinely check in to hotels, both domestically and internationally, can log on to a high-speed Internet connection in their rooms and use VoIP softphones to make calls through their computers and collaborate with colleagues anywhere in the world.
"From the perspective of the people they are talking to," said Zimmermann, "they appear to be at their desk using their office phone."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nf/20050830/tc_nf/37866;_ylt=AqfKykZcC9Sd5K2Xe3LBOZkjtBAF;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl
