Products

VoIP

Because of the bandwidth efficiency and low costs that Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology can provide, businesses are gradually beginning to migrate from traditional copper-wire telephone systems to VoIP systems to reduce their monthly phone costs.

VoIP solutions aimed at businesses have evolved into "unified communications" services that treat all communications—phone calls, faxes, voice mail, e-mail, Web conferences and more—as discrete units that can all be delivered via any means and to any handset, including cell phones. Two kinds of competitors are competing in this space: one set is focused on VoIP for medium to large enterprises, while another is targeting the small-to-medium business (SMB) market.

VoIP also offers the advantage of running both voice and data communications over a single network which can represent a significant saving in infrastructure costs. Other advantages that appeal to business is that the per extension prices of VoIP are lower than those of PBXs or key systems. Also, VoIP switches rely on commodity hardware, such as PCs or Linux systems, so they are easy to configure and troubleshoot. Rather than closed architectures, these devices rely on standard interfaces

VoIP devices also have simple, intuitive user interfaces, so employees can often make simple system configuration changes. Features such as dual-mode cell phones enable users to continue their conversations as they move from an outside cellular service to an internal wi-fi network. The bundling means employees no longer have to carry a desktop phone and a cell phone, so companies can reduce their telecommunications equipment costs. Maintenance also becomes simpler, because there are fewer devices to oversee.