ow Chemical Co. has set out to build what it says will be the world's largest voice-over-IP network, which will connect all of Dow's nearly 50,000 employees when fully implemented by early next year.

Dow has deployed voice over IP to 1,000 people in a pilot project. It plans to add several thousand more people to the network in the next several months, CIO and VP of E-business David Kepler says. By year's end, Dow expects the project will be 95% done, Kepler says. Early next year the network will be complete, including deployment to companies that Dow has acquired, he says.

The pilot phase involved implementing the voice-over-IP system in Midland, Mich., and Pittsburg, Calif.; the second phase will take place in Edegem, Belgium. Dow will then deploy the system in Singapore and Sao Paulo, Brazil. Dow says building and operating the network will cost $200 million a year for five years.

Dow is working with Cisco Systems and EDS on the project. The network will consist of routers, switches, IP phone handsets, and CallManager call-processing software and servers from Cisco. Dow will install 40,000 IP phones and network infrastructure at more than 350 of its locations worldwide this year. Features available on the phones will include IP voice calls, unified messaging, and IP fax.

Dow also will use Cisco IP phone software, including the vendor's IP Contact Center, Intelligent Contact Manager, and IP interactive voice-response call center and call-handling software. EDS will provide Dow's network services for the project, including security, Internet access, firewall management, wide-area data links, and the management of the network and more than 1,300 servers.

"It's an ambitious project and shows they believe in the technology," Yankee Group analyst Brian Jones says. Most companies recognize that integrated IP or packet-based networks have advantages and are moving in that direction, he says, but not as fast as Dow.