VoIP or Voice over Internet Protocol is a technology
that handles the routing of voice conversations over an IP network,
such as the internet.
Using voice over IP requires the use of both hardware and
software for users to send their voice as a digital signal over the
internet, instead of over traditional PSTN networks provided by
telecom providers.
Popular services such as the Gizmo Project and Skype run a
software client on the computer to enable calls to be made over the
network, for example, using a sound card and headset.
Voice over IP technology can potentially
offer savings because a single network is used to deliver voice
and data traffic over an IP network. Voice data is sent in packets
using rather than by traditional POTS circuits.
Users who have existing under-utilised network capacity can then
carry VoIP with
no extra charge . VoIP calls over the internet generally do not
incur a charge beyond what the user is paying their ISP for
internet connectivity.
Voice over IP calls can present certain
security challenges with
bandwidthand quality of service
(QoS). These include the available bandwidth, delay/network
latency, packet loss and jitter.
Reliability of voice over IP technology in business can also be
compromised by power outages.
Closely linked with VoIP, some companies are considering using
the
IP Multimedia subsystem (IMS) to bring together mobile
applications which use VoIP. The prevalence of IMS would allow uses
to upgrade their existing IT infrastructure while also linking web
technologies including email, video conferencing and presence
information. This would allow existing VoIP systems to interface
with PSTN networks and mobile phones.
The two major competing standards for VoIP are the IETF standard
Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) and the ITU standard H.323.
Recently however, H.323 has since been surpassed by SIP.
Recent CW articles on VoIP
11/04/07: VoIP not ready for mainstream adoption, says Forrester
>>
12/03/07: Lost patent battle leaves VoIP provider in a hole
>>
08/03/07: Skype downloads hit 500m milestone >>
15/02/07: VoIP complexities stall implementation for SMBs
>>
CW features
30/06/06: Sowing the seeds of IP flexibility >>
04/04/06: IP telephony to the rescue >>
Other articles
11/01/07: Juniper Research: the future of mobile browsing
>>
11/12/06: Forrester: enterprises
slowly migrating to VoIP >>
15/01/06: Ovum: the
battle for unified collaboration
>>