Interest in VoIP projects at US businesses remains keen,
according to analysts, and several companies are moving ahead with
plans to install such systems.
For example, Boeing said last month that it plans to install
150,000 VoIP phones and related networking equipment from Cisco
Systems.
In March, IBM outlined plans to provide VoIP phones to about
400,000 of its employees and contractors over the next five years
using kit from Avaya, Cisco and Siemens. And SouthTrust Bank has
installed a VoIP system, based mainly on Cisco gear, in 825
branches in the south east US over the past three years. The system
has saved the bank millions of dollars and reduced annual
communication costs by 30%, said Stanley Adams, SouthTrust's group
vice-president of network services.
Despite these steps forward, not all VoIP implementations have
gone smoothly. The Dow Chemical company recently appointed a new
contractor to install a converged voice and data network for its
46,000 workers. The move followed problems going back three years,
to when VoIP was still cutting-edge technology, analysts noted.
Dow's experience has been "unfortunate", Adams said this week.
Pointing to his own experience at SouthTrust, he said, "It is
apparent that the technology works reliably and on a reasonably
large scale." VoIP installations require thought and planning, and
information about the technology is more widely available now than
in 2001, Adams said.
"I'm pretty positive on VoIP, and it's going to happen, so it's
more a matter of when than if," said Zeus Kerravala, an analyst at
Detwiler, Mitchell, Fenton and Graves in Boston. But he cautioned
that the pace of deployments this year has been "certainly slower
that it was supposed to be", with trial deployments for a branch
office or a single department more likely to be announced than
companywide installations.
Elizabeth Herrell, an analyst at Forrester Research, said that
while the pace of VoIP deployments is accelerating, large companies
are still resorting to small rollouts. "It's a replacement market
of traditional switches, regardless of the hype, and it's not going
to move faster than the financial payback," she said.
However, new VoIP lines are on track to hit 40% of all US lines
installed this year and should pass the 50% mark in 2005, said
Allan Sulkin, president of TEQConsult Group.
Sometimes VoIP equipment costs more than traditional
replacements, analysts said. In some cases, converged networks cost
10% to 40% more because of new management software and site
upgrades to add power for Power-over-Ethernet switches, Kerravala
said.
Herrell released a report last week listing a series of site
upgrades required for VoIP, as well as the need for additional
security for voice running on a data network. While Herrell remains
a VoIP proponent, she said, "You also have to look under the covers
at what the suppliers aren't mentioning."
In contrast to large companies, where installation costs might
diminish ongoing savings, the savings from a VoIP installation at a
smaller company with fewer than 500 workers is dramatic, Kerravala
said. In one example, real estate company Coldwell Banker Elite saw
an 80% reduction in monthly telecommunications costs after
installing a VoIP system six months ago. The system, which cost
about $280,000 (£150,000) for phones, switches and related
hardware, is used by 150 sales agents in three offices.
A major saving came from eliminating 80 business lines that cost
$60 a month each and replacing them with three T1 lines between the
offices, each costing $850 a month, said company president Kevin
Breen. In addition, long-distance calls have been replaced by IP
calls between offices, and the cost of moving, adding or changing
phones for new or moved workers has dropped to nothing.
Aside from a steep learning curve for users unaccustomed to the
technology, Breen said the VoIP technology has improved
communications by enabling videoconferences to agents' homes and
instant messaging on workers' laptops. "It depends on the type of
business, but for us, [VoIP] is fantastic," Breen said.
Matt Hamblen writes for Computerworld