IP Telephony Overview

IP Telephony

IP telephony is voice communication transmitted as data. Voice calls are sent over a private business network via digitized packets using Internet Protocol (IP), much like e-mail or other data transfers. Voice over IP (VoIP) gateways convert voice from circuit switched networks to the packet domain.

Business-class solution

Nortel’s voice over IP equipment provides 99.999 percent reliability. Unlike some consumer-focused IP long-distance offerings that travel over the public Internet, Business-class IP telephony solutions travel via the Internet Protocol over powerful business LAN and WAN networks for internal calls between customer locations (on-net) and the public switched telephone network for outbound calls. This ensures the consistent, high-quality telephony that is required for critical business communications.

Benefits of IP

IP telephony allows companies to merge internal voice and data traffic onto a single network, which can provide businesses with tremendous cost savings by eliminating the need to maintain separate networks for data and voice. In addition, IP telephony opens the door for Unified Messaging and other advanced features that are either unavailable or much more costly through separate voice and data networks.

Three Flavors of IP Telephony

IP-Enabled PBX solutions work in conjunction with existing PBXs and allow business users to place calls between corporate locations using existing phone or fax equipment. IP gateways and line cards, located between the PBX on the company site and the IP network, translate analog voice calls into data. The service appears seamless to the caller, who simply dials the phone and may never know the call was completed using IP.
IP PBX solutions seamlessly integrate into the corporate data network, which eliminates the need for a stand-alone PBX. They consist of computer servers running open, standards-based software that creates inherently flexible, scalable and distributed solutions with simplified deployment and management. Unlike traditional PBX systems, IP PBXs handle all calls over IP and make it easier to link telephones with desktop PCs.
Hybrid IP PBX provides the best of both worlds combining all the capabilities of the previous 2 options without sacrificing any technical capabilities, features, or architectural capabilities.