The basics first. There’s a lot you can do with a well-engineered data network. In particular, you can use it to carry converged voice, data and video; in the case of voice this is called “Voice over IP” (VOIP) or IP telephony. IP telephony saves your business money because you pay data network charges to carry voice rather than the cost of accessing switched circuit, external telecommunications lines (toll calls).

Using a data network to carry voice also means, that you can deliver voice, data and video services through one device; like a PC or mobile computer or phone. While practical examples of such convergence are light on the ground and the technologies are progressing only slowly, they are progressing nonetheless. Many businesses want to be in a position to grab on to convergence as it crosses the finish line, and this is driving a gradual move to IP telephony.

In this issue we detail the steps an organisation needs to take to be IP telephony empowered. What they should know, where they should start and whom they should partner with. Read on for all the answers.

Step 1: Know your business case
Businesses are often surprised if IP specialists tell them to forget IP telephony – at least for the moment. Surely, companies that sell IP telephony systems and consulting services want customers? And isn’t IP telephony supposed to save money? They do, and it does. But depending on the state of your data network and the IP telephony applications you want to run, sometimes the business case for IP telephony doesn’t justify the often-considerable cost. Usually, it’s simply a matter of timing. Phil Turnbull, market manager of integrated solutions for Telecom, says he sometimes recommends businesses stay where they are.

A business with a switched circuit investment which isn’t letting them down in any way is probably not ready for IP telephony. In short, an IP consultant will be unlikely to advise scrapping a legacy invest-ment to install an alternative that isn’t yet needed.

Turnbull says businesses must understand where they’re at and what they need from IP telephony be-fore embarking on the journey. “We’re not at the tick the boxes stage yet. Hosted IP telephony systems like Telecom’s IP Centrix [and TelstraClear’s Private Voice] are getting close to an out-of-the-box system, but in-house IP telephony is still quite a customised process.”

Patrick Carson, head of Solutions Management for TelstraClear says deciding either to use a hosted IP service like Private Voice or IP Centrix, or install an in-house IP network often comes down to internal technical competence. “Typically, a chief information officer (CIO) will be the IP telephony decision maker. But more business-driven organisations may decide employing a CIO is not what they want; those organisations look to [telecommunications providers] for advice and to manage their telephony.”

Turnbull says while IP telephony has wide potential, what can be delivered depends on how much of that potential a business can grasp. “IP telephony can deliver advanced screen-popping or collaborative tools; these are quite big steps forward from just having a phone on the desk. But it can also create significant support and re-engineering costs.” Planning options include deferring PBX upgrades for a defined period of time or gradually moving towards IP telephony through staged integration.

However long it takes, you should know why you want IP telephony for your organisation; how much your existing telephony systems cost, how they work and how old they are. Consider what your business will use IP telephony for. Do you want to connect remote offices over IP? Run new telephony applications? Develop customer relationship management strategies? Will you want to videoconference? Are you simply interested in saving on toll calls? Once you know what you want, an IP telephony provider can help you to assess whether the business case for IP telephony justifies the investment it demands.

Step 2: Finding the right IP telephony provider
No matter how many IT savvy people you employ, if you don’t have an IP telephony specialist experienced in IP telephony planning, implementa-tion and project management, you will eventually need one. So it’s wise to use an IP telephony provider from the outset. And it’s not just technological expertise you will come to rely on an IP telephony provider for. The challenges of implementing IP telephony include human resource issues like education, change management, training, and support.

For example, if your business has one person looking after the applications on a data network and another looking after applications on a switched circuit voice network, realise these people and their teams will need to work together and consider the implications of that. Occasionally, introducing IP telephony makes people redundant. An IP telephony provider will work with you to develop internal education and training policies early in the project, and should also provide training and support material.

There are two main ways to find an established IP telephony provider or to source a list. You can ask around – are there organisations similar to yours with IP telephony up and running?
What was their experience? Who did they use? Or you can call your core telecommunications supplier – Telecom or TelstraClear (or sometimes both) – and ask them to recommend a short list of IP telephony partners filtered according to your business type, size, and telephony needs.

When you evaluate potential providers, consider not only how well they meet your technological and budget needs, but how closely their business culture is aligned with yours. This is not as touchy feely as it sounds. Smaller IP telephony specialists logically identify with the needs of small businesses; while fast-moving, big thinking, energetic partners are snatched up by organisations which want their IP telephony to just happen and preferably in the shortest possible timeframe.

Thoughtful, careful organisations prefer slow-moving detail and documentation conscious technology partners. And while some managers like to be informed daily of the tiniest project development, others call this ‘getting in my face’ and want their technology partners to work autonomously. The key is to not only source competitive assessments and quotes from potential providers, but to consider the business culture each promotes and examine how well your key people communicate with their key people. Finally, ask for reference sites and visit them – or find your own.

Step 3: Mix and Match – leverage your existing technology
When you introduce IP telephony there’s no need to go the whole hog – in fact it’s wise not to. No organisation wants to replace an entire telephony system only to discover it has serious “settling in” problems that will take time to fix.

Instead, most IP telephony projects involve ‘mixing and matching’ new and existing technologies.

So what does this look like? Businesses may upgrade some PBXs to be IP capable and not others; or use a hosted IP network for one part of the business and an in-house IP network for other parts. Further options include IP-enabling head of.ce telephony systems and applications, but not remote branches.

Turnbull says it is the job of the IP telephony partner to work through what the customer has and decide what upgrades are required. “Coverage can be an issue for organisations with a lot of remote offices; you have to agree on what cost-effective networks can be put into place.” He says smaller offices running smaller telephony applications may move to a pure IP solution because of the simplicity of their systems; however the business case must always justify the cost.

Step 4: Network re-engineering
Return to the first sentence of this article and highlight the term ‘well-engineered’. Engineering a data network to carry voice of acceptable quality will always incur costs – how much depends to what extent the current data network needs upgrading. In a previous issue of iStart, Brian Evans, product manager for telephony provider Ericsson Enterprise Systems, said the most critical part of any IP telephony installation is ensuring the network is voice capable.

It should be load tested for its capacity to carry voice and data reliably and in a timely manner. Then an IP telephony server can be set up and devices connected to the network.”

Mark Gordon, IP telephony practice manager for telephony provider Logical CSI, told iStart only 15% of the data networks his company sees are voice-ready. “The other 85% have varying levels of infrastructure to support it.” Russell Locke, head of product development and management for Telecom, says businesses that decide to invest in their own IP telephony infrastructure may be in for a shock.

"When we do an IP telephony implementation, we do a lot of network re-engineering. One of the key issues is the cost of the gateways needed to connect the IP network to the national telephony network. If you have 10 offices spread around the country it can get expensive.”

Locke says these costs will ease when IP-grade telephone exchanges are widely available. So be prepared to upgrade your data network and the network devices attached to it when you migrate to IP telephony. You will also probably need to increase network bandwidth.

Step 5: Implementation
According to IP telephony specialists, it takes an average of between three and six months to complete IP telephony projects, irrespective of the size of the company. Turnbull says this typically involves a phased implementation, because problems can then be contained and addressed without the business being forced into disarray. A pilot or trial period followed by a two-step implementation process is common.

Existing PBXs are IP-enabled to communicate with other offices or departments over the network; then IP devices phased in to sit on the network and work alongside analogue devices. Businesses can then leverage more ROI from their last analogue investment cycle. And what about existing hardware and operating systems? Turnbull says while IP applications are available for most operating platforms, some hardware will baulk at running them. “You need computers that are less than three years old.”

Step 6: Ongoing analysis and support
Once an IP telephony system has been installed, the IP telephony provider will supervise a hand-over period. During this time, the business will take on more responsibility for running and maintaining the IP telephony network and its associated devices and applications. There is typically some hand-holding for a while, which shouldn’t be uncomfortable as most businesses and IP telephony providers have developed a close working relationship by this stage. Ideally, ongoing support will include access to a help desk and the key staff in each organisation will know each other’s names and contact details.

For more information on IP Telephony click here

July 2004