Converged communications: the next level for IP

Voice over IP has served us well, but we're only scratching the surface.

Voice over IP (VoIP) may be taking the world by storm, but how effectively is it being used? Cutting telephony costs is always the first benefit cited, but experts say Canadian business could do a lot more to realize the technology's potential.

The most basic VoIP installation simply replaces a company switchboard with an IP alternative. "That's IP telephony 1.0," said John Arnold, founder of J Arnold & Associates, a Toronto-based consultancy specializing in VoIP. "The 2.0 version of things is where you get into a more converged communications environment."

Converging voice and data communications - e-mail and phone calls, for example- on to a single channel creates significant functionality. "Then the world opens up for all kinds of possibilities, such as multimedia and [Session Initiated Protocol]-based communications. You can take real-time communications beyond simple voice into video and collaboration.

"Companies simply looking at cost-reduction technology will be looking at this IP telephony approach," Arnold said, "but when you start getting into a more strategic mindset about what you can do, you broaden your horizons."

Not Enough Uptake
The problem is few companies in Canada seem to be moving beyond cost, argues Stephan Dubowski, managing editor for Telemanagement, an industry journal from analyst firm Decima. "Most Canadian companies recognize productivity enhancement is the way to go, but if you ask them why they purchased VoIP in the first place, increasingly it's because they had to. The old system was falling apart, and they had to move to something."

Dubowski said Candian businesses are lagging American counterparts in their uptake of VoIP. Why are they so reactive? Much of it could be down to company size, Arnold said. The more advanced colaborative aspects of VoIP are often more appropriate for larger businesses, yet Statistics Canada reports 97.6% of all businesses in Canada have less than 50 employees.

Things are changing only slowly, according to Mark Tauschek, a senior research analyst at Info-Tech Research, because downward pressure in the conventional telecommunications sector is making it harder to justify VoIP on cost alone. "If you do some intuitive intelligent routing, an you have multiple branches, you can reduce long-distance costs- but long distance is already very cheap these days," he said.

Companies wanting to make more of VoIP can start with basic enhancements such as follow-me calling, where incoming calls follow users to different phones, and can have voicemail delivered as e-mail. Such productivity gains help companies build a better case for advanced VoIP operations.

Value of Presence
The ultimate goal for VoIP will be advanced integration with back-end business systems, Arnold said, adding this often starts when companies employ presence information so they can tell when individuals are available. He uses the example of supply chain management, in which a back-end inventory system notices stocks have dropped below a certain threshold. the system could arrange a conference call between the supplier and the vendor, and dial them both after checking their availability status. they could even use their VoIP-enabled phones to share access to an image viewer to review product designs, for example.

But such developments are far into the future. Even the U.S. firms that Dubowski speaks with aren't yet using presence information yet. Commercial VoIP may be five years old, but much of the market is still at a basic level, using services like Vonage for free calling and basic call management capabilities. The chasm between those two points will take effort-and customer education- to cross.

THREE VOIP SUCCESS STORIES

National Ballet School dances up IP storm

The most ambitious way to replace your phone system is to also replace your entire building. The National Ballet School's new Toronto location has a state-of-the-art network which supports IP telephony, said Larry Beevers, head of operations and property for the school. The organization partnered with NEC and purchased a hybrid telephone switch that will allow it to move gradually to IP phones. At present, teh school has five Inaset 320 phones, along with 10 Wi-Fi-based handsets with people such as carpenters, who tend to move around the building.

As the school rolls out additional services, Beevers envisions delivering students chedules and cafeteria menus to handset screens. The school is also installing softphones (software-based IP phone functionality) onits laptops so staff traveling for auditions can stay on the school's telephone network.

SD67- The little school district that could

British Columbia School District 67 has revolutionized the schoolcommunications network in Okanagan Skaha. The district, which has just five It staff and 19 buildings to manage, worked with the City of Penticton to run its own fibre along local telephone poles, escaping the high costs of leasing unused fibre from local telecommunications firms. Danny Francisco, IT manager for the district, said the project is now handling VoIP-based calls for both the district and the city.

The school is also busy hooking the VoIP network up to the loudspeaker system and will be taking that idea district-wide shortly. "Someone can pick up an IP handset and page... and you can also have it display text messages on your computer," Francisco said.

The district is also experimenting with connecting the loudspeaker system to the lightning network. in one test school, when the bell rings for students to go back to class, the lights dim to save energy.

VoIP ups efficiency at FMC

Legal firm Fraser Milner Casgrain knew early on it wanted to integrate its phone and data networks. It began upgrading its network infrastructure in 2000, and by the time it began implementing Cisco-based VoIP in 2003, the network was able to deliver low-latency voice calls.

The company, which has up to 700 phones in its Toronto offices alone, installed IP phones to deliver extra functionality to lawyers. These units serve up a full intranet-based telephone directory on the handsets screen. The company also put IP phones into lawyers homes, making it easy to route calls to them when they are not in the office. Voicemails arrive as e-mails, which makes it esaier to keep up to date on client communciation and the company has also been using its network for video conferencing.

"We could be sitting here with a client and decide to go to lunch, but may not have made reservations." said David Komaromi, manager of data networks and telecommunications for FMC. The firm has a list of local restaurants programmed into the IP phone system so "we could just pick out a restaurant at random." Other benefits include the ability to pull third parties onto conference calls without having to hang up and redial.

Future developments will include the ability to deliver client notes to handsets using incoming caller ID information, so lawyers can access relevant client information when they pick up the phone.