Traditionally, organisations have run their voice and data traffic on separate networks. However, as business communication needs develop, many organisations are finding it increasingly complex and time consuming to maintain, upgrade and manage multiple networks. Furthermore, separate networks tend to rely on separate vendors and service providers and this tends to create additional complications.

IP Telephony eliminates these problems by enabling the convergence of voice and data networks onto a single, common infrastructure, thus creating a more manageable, more productive and more cost-effective solution to business communications. IPT Consultants specialise in providing tailored converged networks and IP Telephony solutions to cater for your business requirements.

IP Telephony will bring rewards to you above and beyond purely cost savings: it also facilitates important business changes, drivers and initiatives by enabling other facilities such as unified messaging, video conferencing and voice mail, to name a few. 

IPT BASICS

IP Telephony is the technology for transmitting voice communications over a network using open-standards-based IP. Enabled by Cisco AVVID (Architecture for Voice, Video and Integrated Data), Cisco IP Telephony solutions use a single network infrastructure for the transmission of data, voice, and video traffic, delivering the business benefits of a converged network (increased productivity, greater business flexibility, and reduced operational costs) to enterprise-level organisations.

With Cisco IP Telephony, you have a comprehensive suite of IP-based hardware and software solutions to choose from that scale to meet your needs. In addition, this suite of solutions can integrate with existing systems to help you migrate to full IP Communications and protect your technology investments.

The Cisco IP Telephony solution has four primary components:

Infrastructure
Includes public switched telephone network (PSTN) gateways, analog phone support, and digital signal processor (DSP) farms. Cisco IP Telephony infrastructure solutions can support multiple client types such as hardware phones, software phones, and video devices, as well as provide options for integrating traditional PBX, voice mail, and directory systems.

IP Phones
Cisco IP phones combine the functions of a traditional telephone with an Ethernet connection and optional customisations such as access to stock quotes, employee extension numbers, and Web-based content. The Cisco IP SoftPhone is a Windows-based application for the PC that offers IP functionality in conjunction with a Cisco IP phone or as a standalone end station.

Cisco CallManager
This software-based call processing agent extends enterprise telephony features and functions to packet telephony network devices such as IP phones, media processing devices, voice-over-IP (VoIP) gateways, and multimedia applications.

Voice Applications
Voice applications are physically independent from the call processing and voice processing infrastructure, and they may reside anywhere within your network.