Making The VoIP Call

Keeping It In-House
By far, the majority of solution providers building IP communications solutions today are doing so with vendors whose product lines include dedicated IP-PBX boxes. In many cases these vendors carry recognizable names, offer full-bodied channel programs and have broad product lines that include routers, switches, security, applications and other building blocks of IP communications solutions.

The use of VoIP can, in some cases, reduce long-distance charges for companies, particularly if they are connecting multiple sites. But solution providers say the real benefits of premise-based solutions come from productivity gains achieved by deploying unified messaging, mobility and video applications.

"One of the key lessons we learned is that IP telephony is not necessarily going to save money for the customer," Labatt-Simon said. "Most organizations that implement it spend more on it, so cost-savings is not an end result of implementing VoIP. What it can do, however, is increase the quality of customer service and increase productivity throughout the organization."

In-house IP-PBXes can be found to target a wide range of customers, from SMB specialist Allworx's 6x platform, which supports up to 30 users, to high-end systems from players such as 3Com that support tens of thousands of users. A modern IP phone system installation for a business of 50 users typically costs upward of $40,000 for the IP-PBX and the phones and $450 a month for a T1 line.

Premise-based solutions also offer flexibility. Solution providers can choose pure VoIP offerings from players such as 3Com or Cisco or they can opt for a hybrid system from the likes of Avaya, Nortel Networks or Allworx.

Allworx's 6x hybrid system lets users migrate at their own pace, said Allworx CEO George Daddis. While analog lines support fax machines and legacy phones, the system also delivers VoIP functionality and can be used with any Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) 2.0 phone at the same price point as an old analog key system. "The 6x is our key system killer," Daddis said.

In addition to deciding whether to go with a pure-play or hybrid system, solution providers need to consider other factors. SIP represents the future of VoIP. It is built on top of the standard IP stack using the UDP/IP standard, and most IP-PBXes and the phones that go with them support SIP. These systems typically use an Open Architecture Interface, making it easy for software developers to write applications.

Simple SIP phones typically have simple text display and navigation buttons. But proprietary IP-PBX systems offer much greater functionality. Cisco offers advanced IP phones that use XML to call Web pages from the IP-PBX to the phone screen for configuration, customization and added functionality.

Such phones with color LCD screens can be programmed to display things such as stock quotes, company logos and an array of services. In hotels, a phone's display can be customized for returning customers, and maids can access a menu to set a room's status to ready. In the education market, teachers can check attendance records. And in hospitals, doctors can check patient records without having to carry any other devices.

Using advanced IP phones is like having a PC in every room. The phones can also be programmed for use as database connections, to set up conferences from lists of users, bring up pictures and business cards of different employees and more. Customizing these systems is far too complicated for the average user, which creates opportunities for solution providers.

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