Polycom is gaining ground on Cisco as it continues to define the “sweet spot” for SIP based desk phones in terms of price versus features and performance. Updating the popular Soundpoint series product line, Polycom has recently released four new IP Phones:
Polycom has eliminated the need for a seperate, external cable assembly/dongle in order to power the phones via PoE, and is now providing 802.3af PoE capability built into the handset. Full-duplex speakerphone audio is also standard on all models, as well as dual switched ethernet ports.
Polycom has also updated the look and feel of the handsets a bit with this new product release. Line appearance support ranges from 2 lines on the IP320, to 12 lines using the IP650 with expansion console.
The Polycom Soundpoint IP550 and IP650 also offer support for Polycom’s new HDVoice Wideband audio codec, which advertises “Twice the clarity of ordinary phone calls for life-like, vibrant conversations”. As of this article release date, support for HDVoice has not yet materialized on popular open SIP platforms such as Asterisk or Trixbox, but I imagine Polycom and the Asterisk community at large are endeavoring to see HDVoice supported in the near future.
If you’ve heard of VoIP, but do not have a firm understanding of how the technology works, the following primer will get you up to speed on the fundamentals. VoIP stands for Voice over Internet Protocol, and describes the method of taking analog audio signals (what you hear when you talk on the phone) and converting them to digital data (packets), that can be transmitted over the public internet, or over a private network managed by a VOIP service provider.
What does this mean to a business owner? VoIP can leverage a standard Internet connection (Cable, DSL, T1, etc) Â to place inexpensive, sometimes free phone calls. By utilizing VOIP, you are bypassing the traditional phone company, and thereby, the fees associated with transporting calls over their switched network. Â This legacy network, which includes the poles and wires which run along the side of most streets and highways, is known as the PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network).
Contrary to popular belief, VOIP is not really a new technology. VOIP has been around for more than 10 years, but has only recently made its way into the public consciousness.
Many users of VOIP in a residential setting, using managed services provided by companies such as Vonage, iConnectHere and Packet8, use a hardware device called an ATA to connect a standard analog phone to the Internet for use with VOIP. The ATA converts the analog signal to digital data so it can be transported over the internet.
Many VOIP users in a business setting use specialized IP Phones and an IP enabled PBX (Public Branch Exchange) system. IP Phones have an Ethernet (RJ45) connection onboard, and are connected to the business LAN (Local Area Network). The IP PBX is a digital phone system, which is also connected to the LAN, as well as to the Internet so that calls may be routed over the Internet.
VoIP is a powerful and disruptive technology, with the potential to transform the way we communicate in both business and personal settings. You may have seen television ads from companies like Vonage, a fast growing provider of residential and business VOIP service. Traditional carriers like AT&T, Verizon and SBC are utilizing VOIP technologies in their networks. Many carriers now route calls through a circuit switch and into an IP gateway (where the analog signals are converted to digital “packets�), allowing them to utilize their IP based networks for backhaul, which is much less expensive and resource intensive. Once these calls reach their destinations, they go through a local gateway where the call packets are decompressed, reassembled and routed to a local circuit switch.
Over the next few years, more and more of the traditional, legacy circuit-switched telephone network will be replaced by packet switched infrastructure.  More and more businesses are installing VoIP systems, and VOIP technology will continue to grow as it slowly replaces circuit-switched calling altogether.
Voice over Internet Protocol, commonly known as VoIP, is changing the face of telecommunications as we know it. The legacy PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) is slowly going the way of the dinosaur, as homes and businesses around the work embrace VoIP, attracted by the cost savings and productivity enhancing features that VoIP has to offer. To understand where this new and exciting communications technology is headed, let’s put things in perspective by taking a look at where it’s been.
VoIP is not a new technology. In 1995 a small company called Vocaltec released the first publicly available internet phone software.  “Internet Phone� could be installed on a home PC, enabling voice communications using modems, microphones, speakers and sound cards. Vocaltec’s software used H.323 software, a precursor to SIP, and packetized voice signals for transport over the Internet. This allowed users to talk via the internet, provided both parties in the conversation were running the Internet Phone software. Building on the initial success of their software, Vocaltec had a successful IPO in 1996. In the mid 90’s, broadband internet access was not as prevalent as it is today, and since Internet Phone users were conversing over dial-up connections, the quality of service (QOS) was poor due to bandwidth limitations. Vocaltec’s Internet Phone was, however, a major milestone in the evolution of VoIP communications technology as we know it today.
Up until the year 2000, VoIP traffic still represented less than 5% of all voice traffic in the United States. Hardware manufacturers began to see the opportunity in this new market, and created devices which enable PC to Phone and Phone to Phone communications over Internet Protocol. Leading technology firms including Lucent and Cisco Systems released equipment capable of routing and switching VoIP traffic, and VoIP technology continued to gather momentum.
Today, many of the technical hurdles which plagued VoIP in its infancy have been overcome. Systems are now in place which effectively prioritize VoIP traffic over Data traffic, resulting in dramatic improvements in call quality and less dropped calls. Voip equipment sales in the US market are forecast to be nearly $10 billion by 2008, and companies such as Vonage and Packet8 have successfully launched consumer targeted, unlimited VoIP calling plans used by millions of consumers.
If you are like most small business owners, you are doing business in a competitive marketplace, and minimizing costs while maximizing efficiency is important to you. You can leverage VoIP to reduce communications related costs, while maximizing productivity. VoIP offers a variety of distinct benefits versus traditional telephony, including lower costs, self administration and advanced communication features that can translate into competitive business advantages.
Most small businesses make the move to VoIP in order to reduce their monthly costs associated with office telephone usage. Traditional phone service can be quite costly, especially when you have multiple lines, if you are using advanced features like conference calling, or if you are doing a lot of long distance calling and are being charged a per-minute rate for long distance.
Most businesses these days typically have a data network, whether it consists of a cable/dsl router shared by multiple PC.s, or a T1 with internet access distributed through a switched Ethernet network. With VoIP, you can utilize this same data network for phone calls. You can often get rid of your traditional phone lines altogether when you move to an IP based communications solution, and take advantage of the unlimited local and long distance calling offered by many VoIP providers for a flat monthly fee.
Beyond the cost-savings you can realize on your monthly communications bills, you can simplify and streamline your technology infrastructure with VoIP. You can eliminate the need to administer separate voice and data networks by consolidating the two, and pay less to administer, maintain and upgrade your infrastructure over time. You might even consider hosted PBX services, which are offered by many VoIP providers and eliminate the need to purchase or maintain any equipment in-house.
VoIp also offers a wide variety of productivity enhancing features and tools. You can plug your VoIP phone into a broadband internet connection while you are traveling, in a hotel room for example, and place or receive calls just as you would in your home office. Most IP based PBX systems offer voicemail/email integration, eliminate the need to call in over the phone to retrieve voicemail. Voicemail arrives in your email inbox as a multimedia file attachment, and can be accessed conveniently. VoIP systems can also be integrated with many 3rd party office applications including office productivity suites and CRM tools.
Bandwidth is very common and important concern when considering the move to VoIP. There is a direct relationship between available bandwidth and QOS (Quality of Service = The voice quality of phone calls utilizing VoIP) Just how much bandwidth does an IP Phone require in order to make high quality telephone calls?
Wikipedia.com defines bandwidth as follows:
“In a digital communication system, bandwidth has a dual meaning. In the technical sense, it is a synonym for baud rate, the rate at which symbols may be transmitted through the system. It is also used in the colloquial sense to describe channel capacity, the rate at which bits may be transmitted through the system. Hence, a 66 MHz digital data bus with 32 separate data lines may properly be said to have a bandwidth of 66 MHz and a capacity of 2.1 Gbit/s — but it would not be surprising to hear such a bus described as having a “bandwidth of 2.1 Gbit/s.”
A more simple definition? Bandwidth describes the capacity of an internet connection (56K Modem, Cable, ADSL, ISDN, T1, etc) to transfer data from one point to another in a given time. We learned earlier that in a VoIP system, voice signals are converted from an analog format, to a digital format, and are treated much like traditional data in terms of how they are transmitted and received over the internet. Voip is ideally a broadband application, and if you are limited to a 56K “dial up� connection you may not be able to use VoIP.
There are two distinct elements that comprise bandwidth, upload and download. Upload bandwidth describes the amount of data you are capable of sending out to the internet. Download bandwidth describes the amount of data you can receive from the internet. Users with a DSL internet connection typically have an upload bandwidth up to 640 Kbps, and a download bandwidth of up to 1.5 Mbps. Cable internet users typically enjoy bandwidth of around 10Mbps for both upload and download. A T1 connection contains 24 channels, and send and receives data at 1.544 Mbps. There are other types of broadband connectivity, including ISDN and satellite, but these are the most common broadband connections used in the US market. Cable and DSL are both comparable in price, but if given the choice, cable is likely your best option if you intend to utilize VoIP in a residential or small business setting. A PRI / T1 line also makes sense if you have sufficient users to justify the monthly cost, and can be utilized for both voice and data traffic. As your business approaches 10 employees, you may want to start looking at PRI/T1 as an option for carrying your voice/data.
A typical VoIP phone call will utilize 90Kbps (kilobits per second) of bandwidth. Many VoIP service providers can accommodate service with less available bandwidth, as low as 30Kbps, without a noticeable reduction in quality of service (QOS). However, the amount of bandwidth required by a VoIP provider to deliver quality Voice Over IP is an important consideration when choosing a service provider.
The RJ45 (CAT5) cabling that connects your office or home networking can be utilized for more than transporting voice or data across your local area network (LAN). The IEEE 802.3af Power over Ethernet standard was created as the standard method of delivering power to hardware devices such as IP Phones, IP Video Cameras and other network equipment. With PoE, there is no need to power some devices locally with an external AC power supply, they can simply receive their required voltage over the network cabling.
A POE system is comprised of three elements, the power sourcing equipment (PSE), the device which needs to be powered (PD) and the cable.
The Power Sourcing Equipment (PSE) is connected to a device, and determines if the device is IEEE 802.3af compliant or non-compliant. If determined to be a non-compliant device, no electrical current is passed through the network cable to the device. If the device is determined by the PSE to be a PoE compliant device, the required voltage is supplied to the device to power it.
There are several varieties of Power Sourcing Equipment to fit your specific requirements.
Power Sourcing Equipment (PSE)
Single Port (RJ45) PoE Injector– designed to provide PoE to a single device, a single PoE Injector has (2) RJ45 network connections. The network cable is plugged into the PoE Injector, where the necessary voltage is added. A second ethernet cable runs out of the PoE Injector and is connected to the device to be powered. Some examples of Single Port PoE Injectors include thePW130, and theLinksys WAPPOE�6
Mid-Span PoE Hub– Midspans come is port spans typically ranging from 4-24 ports. A Midspan PoE Hub does not have ethernet switching capability, it is designed to be paired in tandem with an existing ethernet switch, adding voltage for IEEE 802.3af compliant devices as needed. Midspans are a good choice for businesses that have existing 10/100 Ethernet switches already installed, and are less expensive than replacing legacy switches with newer, PoE enabled switches. The Midspan hub is typically stacked on the ethernet switch and each network cable is fed into the hub, where power is added, and then cabling run out to each specific network device. Some examples of Midspan hubs include the SEI Juiceboxand a variety of products fromPowerDsine.
PoE Switch – Many manufacturers offer ethernet switches with IEEE 802.3af PoE Midspan functionality built in. PoE Switches typically come in port span increments from 12-48 ports, and offer both 10/100/1000 Ethernet managed switching capabilities and PoE injection. Some examples of PoE Switches include the Linksys SRW224P and Adtran Netvanta series.
RJ45 Network (CAT5, CAT5E or CAT6) cable is used to transmit the power. In most cases, your existing LAN cabling infrastructure is more than suitable for this purpose, and there is little or no need to run new RJ45 cabling. The maximum run length should not exceed 100 Meters, and the delivered power at the end of the cable is 12.95 Watts.
