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January 3, 2000

A New Era For Voice
Truly converged IP services are almost ready for the enterprise

By Dawn Bushaus

Illustration by Dave Plunkett

Related links:

sidebar: Who Needs Voice Over IP?

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InternetWeek IP Telephony Advancing Slowly Into the Enterprise

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onvergence is one of those technology buzzwords that elicits lots of excitement, but little substance. The idea of a single network simultaneously running voice, data, and video over an easy-to-manage protocol such as IP is garnering its share of hype. But in reality, there are only a few leading-edge companies actually running voice over IP.

These early adopters have a few things in common: They're running voice-over-IP networks only for internal communications. Further, they're using the technology to save on international calling costs. And most have had to build their own IP telephony networks because only one large service provider--PSINet Inc.--offers a voice-over-IP service aimed at large customers.

But the new year will be different, industry watchers say. Hype will give way to truly converged IP services that businesses can use to save money as well as increase productivity. By the second half of the year, the major carriers will start offering services aimed at enterprises. AT&T, Broadlink Communications, MCI WorldCom, Qwest Communications International, and Sprint all say they will launch commercial voice-over-IP services. GTE Internetworking and Level 3 Communications already have rolled out wholesale voice-over-IP services, and plan to extend the offering to enterprise customers when the market is ready.

"In 2000, we'll see voice-over-IP services become much more ubiquitous," says Jilani Zeribi, a senior analyst at Current Analysis, a consulting firm.

A few developments will help drive the market. Providers will boost their integrated access offerings, letting remote business sites link up using digital subscriber line technology, for example, while company sites will rely on asynchronous transfer mode technology. Also, vendors of IP gateway routers will make their gear carrier-class by improving reliability and port capacity and adding features that let service providers assign quality tags to voice traffic. At the same time, service providers and businesses will start exploring the kinds of new, converged services that IP networks can support. Huge cost savings will also attract many potential customers.

The Buzz

Q. What is the most pressing issue in the area of services for the next year?
A: "Finding a way to extend our network to our employees' homes for apps such as telecommuting. We want and need to take advantage of last-mile services"
--Will Weider, CIO, Trinity Regional Health System
A: "Making sure that as the company scales, Oracle as an ASP can handle the growth.
--Craig Brown, CIO, Pointclick.com

Quick Poll:

What is the most pressing issue in the area of services for the next year?

Extending our network
Making sure our ASPs are scalable

But there will be one major hurdle along the way--call quality. Voice-over-IP calls often experience delays, making them more choppy than circuit-switched calls. Carriers can address the issue over their own backbones, but when a call switches to another provider's backbone, there is--so far--no way to guarantee service levels.

Some convergence has already started. Many large companies are using their frame relay and ATM networks to carry voice traffic. And although they don't offer voice-over-IP yet, carriers have started providing integrated access--what some say is the first step to truly integrated networks over the wide area. "Until we can solve the converged access problem, voice-over-IP services won't take off," says Ron McMurtrie, VP of business product marketing at MCI WorldCom.

Though they differ in implementation, the services give users a single integrated access device that lets them route both data and circuit-switched voice over the carriers' ATM backbones. Sprint's service is called Integrated On-Demand Network; AT&T's is the Integrated Network Connection Service; and MCI WorldCom's is On-Net.

But there's a catch: Even if the integrated-access portion is adequately addressed, IP voice isn't as reliable as circuit-switched voice, especially if it's routed over the public Internet. "I'm certainly not going to tell you I can hear a pin drop," says George Emmett, systems manager at Kanematsu USA in New York, a subsidiary of Japanese commodities trading company Kanematsu Corp. Like many early adopters, Kanematsu runs its voice traffic over the Internet, so delays are a necessary evil.

The severity of the delays varies. Voice-over-IP gateways typically are programmed to assume delays, so they buffer traffic, says Ike Elliott, VP of softswitch services at Level 3. That can result in varying delays based on the amount of Internet congestion. Sometimes, it's less than 100 milliseconds--undetectable to the human ear. Other times it can reach a second or more, resulting in cellular-quality calls.

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