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Security, Stability, and Interoperability Issues on VoIP Implementation

Now we have accepted that VoIP is no longer just a phone service, it has become feature rich as it merges with computer configurations. The VoIP's existence has changed considerably over the last few years, coupled with the availability of broadband connection to the Internet, plus leaps in multimedia technology in which virtual operations with remote sites becomes more enhanced, makes VoIP service a viable alternative to traditional communication offerings.

Cost savings is not the only driving force for VoIP implementations, enterprises have to consider some business aspects that VoIP can bring about. VoIP creates potentials for applications that could not have been done before. Collaboration, integration, and interactivity between employees and applications are one of the several business benefits that enterprises can derive from VoIP adoption. Nevertheless, amid euphoria of VoIP technology, there are three important aspects to5A0 look at before a company goes VoIP. In the following paragraphs I will summarize the aspect of security, stability, and interoperability that play a key role in the successful implementation of VoIP.

1. Security

VoIP implementations may expose new security risks and challenges that somehow become greater concern than quality and cost-efficiency among vendors and users. VoIP networks are vulnerable to all the same security risks as traditional IP data networks, including:

• Denial of Service (DoS), viruses, worms,
• Toll fraud and unauthorized access,
• Spoofing, and port scanning.

It is recommended that organizations should adopt a layered, defense-in-depth security strategy to address the issue with the increasing proliferation of new Internet-borne attacks and malicious activities in recent years. In this architecture, the network is segmented into secure zones protected by layers of firewall, intrusion prevention, and other security services. This strategy allows the organizations to logically split and secure voice and data networks in front of individual voice and data components and between interactive points in the network.

2. Stability

One of the main issues of VoIP is the amount of bandwidth required for each call. There must be adequate bandwidth reserved and the quality of the link must be well maintained 5A0throughout each call to ensure the users are not affected. As the very nature of VoIP call is real-time, any disruption during the call would be easily noticeable and unacceptable. The two issues that enterprises usually have to deal with here are bandwidth and quality of service (QoS).

VoIP calls need a data transmission speed of 64kb/s to produce the quality of voice comparable to that of a normal telephone call. That 64kb/s channel needs to remain open and unaffected for the duration of the call. Theoretically, VoIP installations would not allow such a huge bandwidth to be allocated for VoIP alone. Therefore, there needs to be a compression taking place to compact the voice data into a considerable size before it gets transmitted over a packet switching network. G.723 codec that is incorporated in VoIP standard protocol H.232 can take a 64kb/s stream of data and squash it down to a mere 5.5kb/s or so. Generally, for VoIP to work reliably over WAN links, there has to be low jitter, low packet loss, a considerably high-speed connection between the endpoints, and less than 200ms delay.

3. Interoperability

Compatibility between VoIP equipment from different vendors is a very important aspect to boost the use of VoIP products. Without standardized quality of service mechanisms businesses would need to buy all the equipment and the QoS server from the same manufacturer. The VoIP world seems to b5A0e divided between many vendors with reluctance to establish interoperability and some who are trying to be end-to-end supplier but at the same time worried about interoperability. The protocols used in VoIP communication are still considered fairly complex in comparison to most of the other protocols involved in Internet applications. SIP (Session Initiation Protocol - a signaling protocol for Internet conferencing, telephony, events notification, and instant messaging), that is regarded as simple and elegant the other protocols, is still not efficient.

On the bright side, however, SIP is approaching status as an IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) standard, after several years of work. With the recent version, it has achieved a greater amount of stability and changes are becoming smaller and smaller. Phone switch companies such as Nortel have recently begun supporting SIP, and now the manufacturers of handsets and related devices will soon ramp up their support. Motorola, Avaya, and Proxim have made collaboration on the creation and deployment of IP telephony solutions that will deliver new extents of communication mobility and network connectivity.

Finally, with these three VoIP aspects covered, businesses will be able to maximize their investment by applying it as the backbone of internal communication such as phone conversation, videoconferencing, instant messaging, faxing, etc. Another area that w501ill widely make use of VoIP is call centers, in which Web contacts, virtual operations with outsourcers overseas, and remote sites, such as home agents, all could improve the customer experience. New VoIP applications that we have not thought about may also come into existence as the services generates more business and profits for companies.

posted by blogs71770 @ 10:38 PM 0 comments

VoIP 101: Voice over IP for Beginners

For those who have never heard about the potential of VoIP, be prepared to radically change the way you think about your current long-distance calling plan. VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) is very simply, a method for taking ordinary analog audio signals and turning them into digital signals that can be sent over the Internet.

So what? Well, for those of you who are already paying a monthly fee for an Internet connection, this means that you can use that same connection to place free long distance phone calls. This process works by using already available VoIP software to make phone calls over the Internet, essentially circumventing phone companies and their service charges.

Interestingly, VoIP is not an entirely new thing. In fact, a number of providing companies have been around for some time. But it has only been with the more recent explosion of high-speed internet access usage, that VoIP has gotten any attention. Now the major telephone carriers are setting up their own VoIP calling plans throughout the US, another testament to the potential of the technology.

How VoIP Is Used

While there are a number of ways that VoIP is currently being used, most individual callers fall into one of three categories: ATA, IP Phones, and Computer-to-Computer.

ATA or Analog Telephone Adaptor, is the most common way of using VoIP. This adaptor actually allows you to hook up the phon5A8e that is already in your house, to your computer, and then your Internet connection. What the ATA does, is turn the analog signals your phone sends out into digital signals that can be sent over the Internet. Setting up this system is quite simple. It simply requires that you order an ATA (its an adaptor remember), plug the cable from your phone which would normally go into the wall socket into the ATA, and then the ATA gets plugged into your computer, which is connected to the internet. Some ATAs include software that has to be installed on your computer before its ready, but basically it's quite a simple process. Then you are ready to make some calls.

The next type of VoIP usage utilizes IP Phones instead of your home phone. The IP Phone looks just like a normal phone, with all the same buttons and cradle, the only difference is that instead of having a normal wall jack connector, it has an Ethernet connector. This means, that instead of plugging in your IP phone to the wall jack like you would with a regular analog phone, it gets plugged directly into your router.

This option allows you to circumvent your personal computer, and it also means that you will not have to install any software, because its all built in to the handset. In addition, the fact that Wi-Fi IP phones will soon be available, which will allow subscribing callers to make VoIP calls from any Wi-Fi hot spot, make this option an excitin5A8g possibility.

The simplest and cheapest way to use VoIP is through computer-to-computer calls. These calls are entirely free, meaning no calling plan whatsoever. The only thing you need, is the software which can be found for free on the internet, a good internet connection, a microphone, speakers, and a sound card. Except for your monthly internet service fee, there is literally no cost for making these calls, no matter how many you make.

For large companies, VoIP also offers some very unique possibilities. Some larger companies are already utilizing the technology by conducting all intra-office calls through a VoIP network. Because the quality of sound is comparable to and in some cases surpasses that of analog service, some international companies are using VoIP to route international calls through the branch of their company nearest the call's destination and then completing it on an analog system. This allows them to pay local rates internationally and still utilize the same intra-office VoIP network that they would if they were calling someone in the next cubicle over.

Other Advantages of VoIP

While your current long-distance plan covers you for only one location, say calls made from your office, with VoIP, you can make a call anywhere that you can get a broadband connection. That is because all three methods above, unlike analog calls, send the call information via the Internet. This m5A8eans you can make calls from home, on vacation, on business trips, and almost anywhere else. Anywhere you go, with VoIP you can bring your home phone along with you. In the same way, computer-to-computer connections mean that as long as you have your laptop and a connection, you're ready to go.

There are also some nifty benefits to having your calls transmitted over the Internet. For example, some VoIP service providers allow you to check your voicemail via your e-mail, while others allow you to attach voice messages to your e-mails.

How VoIP Works

The current phone system relies on a reliable but largely inefficient method for connecting calls known as circuit switching. This technique, which has been used for over 100 years, means that when a call is made between two people a connection is maintained in both directions between callers for the duration of the call. This dual directional characteristic gives the system the name circuit.

If, for example, you made a 30-minute call the circuit would be continuously open, and thus used, between the two phones. Up until about 1960, this meant that every call had to have an actual dedicated wire connecting the two phones. Thus a long distance call cost so much, because you were paying for pieces of copper wire to be connected all the way from your phone to the destination phone, and for that connection to remain constant throughout the call.

To5A8day, however, your analog call is converted after leaving your house to a digital signal, where your call can be combined with many others on a single fiber optic cable. While this system is certainly an improvement over the past copper wire system, it is still quite inefficient. This inefficiency is due in part to the fact that the telephone line can't distinguish between useful talking and unneeded silences. For example, in a typical conversation while one person is talking the other person is listening.

Thus the current analog system uses roughly half its space sending useless messages like this silence. But there is also more information, even down to pauses in speech, which under a more efficient system can be effectively cut out rather than wasting the circuit space. This idea of only transmitting the noisy bits of a telephone call and saving a great deal on circuit space, is the basis of Packet-Switching, the alternative method to circuit switching that the VoIP phone system uses.

Packet-Switching is the same method that you use when you view a website. For example, as you read this website, your computer is not maintaining a constant connection to the site, but rather making connections to send and receive information only on an as needed basis (such as when you click on a link). Just as this system allows the transfer of information over the Internet to work so quickly, so also does it work in the5A8 VoIP system. While circuit switching maintains a constant and open connection, packet switching opens connections just long enough to send bits of data called packets from one computer to another.

This allows the network to send your call (in packets) along the least congested and cheapest lines available, while also keeping your computer or IP phone, free to send and receive messages and calls with other computers. This way of sending information, not to mention data compression, makes the amount of information which must be transmitted for every call at least 3-4 times less for VoIP than the exact same call in a conventional telephone system. For this reason, VoIP is so much cheaper than conventional calling plans.

The Future of VoIP

While most analysts believe it will be at least a decade before companies and telephone providers make the full switch to VoIP, the potential for the technology's use today is already quite astounding. A report by the Forrester Research Group predicts that by the end of 2006, nearly 5 million U.S. households will be using VoIP phone service. With the savings and flexibility that the technology already offers, and new advances just ahead on the horizon, we can expect those numbers will only increase in the future.

posted by blogs71770 @ 7:50 PM 0 comments

Looking For Headsets For VOIP?

Many people use headsets when talking to their friends and family using VOIP. VOIP stands for voice over internet protocol and it is a very inexpensive and a popular way to make phone calls from your computer or land line phone over a broadband internet connection. If you are using your computer to make phone calls, then you should definitively check out headsets for VOIP.

Benefits Of Using A Headset For VOIP
Headsets for VOIP computer calling makes it easier when on the road or at home to make free or very affordable phone calls. Headsets main benefit is that they set your hands free, enabling you to be more productive. And using a headset for VOIP is very easy! Most headsets are extremely comfortable and either fit over the head, behind the neck or is ear buds that gently fit in your ears. The difference between a cell phone headset and headset for VOIP is that a VOIP headset has a microphone RCA connector and an earphone RCA connector which is made specifically for a computers sound card. A quality headset system can dramatically improve the quality of your VOIP calls and will as well considerably reduce shoulder, back and neck strain.

Costs Of VOIP Headsets
Headsets for VOIP are extremely affordable and usually start at about $10. There are several models that are wireless if you don't like to be connected by a cord, which makes it easier for 5A6you to walk around your room or office. Keep in mind that wireless headsets are generally more expensive than headsets connected by a cord.

Where To Buy VOIP Headsets
You can buy headsets for VOIP at all computer stores, office supply shops and online at VOIP provider shops. Ebay is also a great way to grab inexpensive headsets. Just be sure that the shipping costs are not going to cost you more than the headset! GN Netcom, Headsets.com, Jabra, Plantronics, Sennheiser and Sony are the main manufacturers of headsets and they all provide quality equipment.

What If You Do Not Want A Headset?
Headsets for VOIP are just one way to talk over VOIP. Other ways are to use a land line phone plugged into an adapter or a USB phone that plugs directly into your computer's USB port. However, headsets for VOIP are usually the cheapest option and are the easiest to install. So if you are looking to talk over VOIP, check out headsets for VOIP, you will not regret it!

posted by blogs71770 @ 4:41 PM 0 comments

VoIP in Canada - Marketing by The Majors

Voice Over IP is a leading-edge technology that is highly touted by industry experts as the future of telecommunications . Analysts believe that a shift away from traditional telephone lines to a fully digital, broadband service is inevitable, and indeed, while the major telecom companies in Canada offer the products, as we approach the end of 2006, some of them are doing anything but trumpeting the new technology.

A quick online perusal of the Canadian cable providers information will reveal that they are doing their very best to keep the difference between the traditional service and the broadband technology as quiet as possible. Even though the cable providers are in an ideal position to capitalize on the fact that they already have the technology to handle data calls, 'don't worry!' appears to be the message, 'nothing will change if you switch to the digital service'. And while that might sound good to some people, a small 'bundling discount' alone hardly seems enough to make consumers want to make the jump from analog service.

Rogers takes pains to distance itself from any association with VoIP. A comprehensive search of their website turns up only one mention of Voice over IP, and then only in the context of how their broadband service is NOT VoIP. Strictly speaking, that may be true; Rogers has a private broadband network that has been delivering their cab5A8le TV service for years, and by using that existing network, they avoid using the public internet and the sometimes negative connotations that can be associated therein. But VoIP can be defined as phone calls delivered via ANY data network, not necessarily the public internet, and if that's the case, Rogers Digital Home Phone Service is indeed VoIP.

For Western Canadians, Shaw Cable is the Rogers of the region. Shaw has been supplying the cable service almost exclusively for some time, and they have, like Rogers, recently begun to offer a digital alternative to the phone service that has traditionally been the domain of Telus. Shaw goes a little further than Rogers and makes a more vigorous attempt to dissuade consumers from choosing what they call 'best-effect' VoIP, and qualify their own VoIP service as 'Managed IP Telephony'. It's an interesting strategy; on the one hand they tout the benefits of the data network, while at the same time distance themselves from the possible limitations of the un-managed internet. And most strikingly, with a reference to the Enhanced 911 question that many VoIP companies are dealing with, Shaw ultimately claims that their IP telephone service won't "compromise personal safety".

The only of the major telecommunications companies in Canada that actually seems to embrace VoIP is, ironically, Bell Canada. In addition to the traditional Home Phone service that Bell has offer52Fed forever and that VoIP acts as an alternative to, Bell now sells what they call 'Digital Voice' and 'Digital Voice Lite'. These services are clearly advertised as VoIP, and unlike the Cable providers, Bell actually proclaims that VoIP is "the future of telecommunications". They tout its "reliability" and "innovative calling features", and profess VoIP's "simplicity and convenience". Unfortunately, starting at $34 per month, the pricing is not as competitive as some of the other offerings in the market.

So while the Cable companies are slow to associate with VoIP, in name at least, it's encouraging to see that at least one of the major Canadian players is embracing the technology, and spirit, of what's surely to be the standard for the future.

Jesse Wallace is a staff writer for VoIP Life, an information resource and comparison center for Voice over IP. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jesse_Wallace

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posted by blogs71770 @ 2:57 PM 0 comments

VoIP: A New Telecommunication Mantra

In the coming years, voice over internet protocol (VOIP) is going t5A8o dominate the communication world with its technological advantages. In fact, many communication companies have started using VOIP technology for their long distance calls. You may have used this service unknowingly since many companies use VOIP to route long distance calls through a circuit switch into an IP phone, and another IP phone at the other end receives calls for another local circuit switch.

For a novice it is must to know what VOIP is and how it works. A device converts large amount of analogue signals to be compressed and transmitted, then uncompressed and delivered into digital data. It is cheaper then a traditional land phone, especially if you want extra facilities such as call forwarding and caller ID.

How it works?

VoIP is a unifying stand for treatment and supporting modified, intelligent, and strategic uses of voice communications. What makes it so effective is that it turns speech into digital data that can be stored, browsed, copied, combined with other data, and distributed to any device that connects to the Internet. VOIP has a few features that provide different technical modes such as Caller ID, Call Waiting, Call Transfer, Repeat Dialing and Return Call. These features enable you to give the caller a busy signal, send the call directly to voicemail, and forward the call to a particular number. Soft phone is another distinguishing feature of VOIP service. It is specially developed 5A8software that installs the VOIP service into your computer.

Others majors are:

Analogue telephone adaptor: It is also called gateway and works with your already existing phone. You have to attach your phone to this device then this is connected to computer. Computer carries VOIP calls over internet. This system changes analogue signals of your phone into digital signals. Some time software is required to be installed on your computer before it is ready to be used.

IP phone- this type of phone is different from traditional phone in a manner that it has an Ethernet connector instead of Jack connector. It allows you not to install any software as is required in ATA.

Computer to computer: Easiest and cheapest way to use VOIP service. Usually even for long distance calls the only charge you pay is the monthly charge for your internet service. It only requires microphone, speakers, a sound card and a software.

With VOIP's technical advantages now, let us see a few problems that are still at its way. The biggest problem is VOIP exist in the form of digital phone and if your power goes out, you service get disconnected. Second, right now you cannot have an access to emergency service. Voice over IP calls often have a buzzing tone in the background and it has delay up to 400 milliseconds, means that users cannot hear each other with normal conversation flow. For better use of VoIP, you need to have a 434high-speed Internet connection; otherwise, you have to pay quite more than what you are currently paying.

posted by blogs71770 @ 2:00 PM 0 comments