Convergence of voice and data is being fueled by the growth and evolution of the Internet. Demand comes from applications such as tariff arbitrage and Web-based call centers. However, there are many obstacles to voice and data integration, including possible changes in regulation, insufficient reliability, a quality-of-service level not fit for real-time communications, bottlenecks in capacity, and the slow migration of existing voice and data networks.
The Case for Voice Over IP
The goal of merging voice and data networks is not new, as the industry has been searching for more than 15 years for ways to converge networks. The list of technologies that have been tried includes PBX, ISDN, SMDS, and ATM; now comes voice over IP as a strong contender.
Having one network for all types of traffic is appealing for a number of reasons. The implicit goal is to have one network that will be less expensive than two networks and easier to manage and that will enable the growth of multimedia applications and unify expensive wide-area links. Is this goal a fantasy or can it be achieved? Given the many failed attempts, it is legitimate to wonder whether it will ever happen.
IP is the latest technology to come forward with the promise of merging voice and data networks. Can IP succeed where ISDN and ATM have failed? Optimists say it is not a question of if IP will unify voice and data over a single network but a question of when. People in the pro-IP camp believe that the ubiquity of IP in data networks makes it the obvious solution for integrating voice and data networks. Pessimists are quick to point out that there are many issues that must be resolved before users can funnel all of their traffic through their IP networks. Pessimists argue that "the Devil is in the details" and if voice networks aren`t broken, why fix them with data network technology that has proven to be far less reliable?
We all agree that the Information Age is being driven by the Internet. Since IP (Internet Protocol) is the protocol for the Internet, IP-based networks have become the standard for corporate data networks. IP networks, however, are not ideally suited to carry voice and video traffic. ATM is a superior method to blend voice, video, and data because of its fixed cell arrangement. It is the ubiquity of IP, thanks to the Internet, that makes it a legitimate solution to carry voice traffic on a broad scale. The success of both ISDN and ATM has been impaired by slow deployment and high cost. With IP, we are not starting from scratch; the network is already in place.
Considerable hype clouds this issue. Separating the truth from the fiction is not easy given the volume of hype coming from the vendors, trade publications/press, analysts, and consultants. ISDN, SMDS, and ATM were all heavily hyped, but the excitement never translated into sweeping success in the marketplace. Indeed, the hype was followed by a period of backlash from the marketplace when these technologies failed to live up to the grand expectations.
Driving Applications for Internet Telephony
The explosive growth of the Internet has made IP the de facto standard for data. The fact that IP is everywhere makes it the most practical solution for merging voice, video, and data. Data traffic is growing at an astounding rate while voice traffic is increasing at a rate less than 10% per year. As more bandwidth is added to meet the growth of data traffic, it makes sense to add voice to the mix given the high cost of WAN links. The hype surrounding IP has created an avalanche of investment dollars funding start-up companies that are trying to exploit VoIP. The focus on Internet telephony is also attracting hoards of applications developers to companies rushing to create the products that will drive this new market. The presence of both financial capital and human resources is critical to the success of developing applications for voice, data, and video over IP networks.
Telecom reform has also played a role as nontraditional players are trying to get into long distance, local calling, and Internet access. RBOCs, interexchange carriers, cable companies, and ISPs are all trying to remake themselves in anticipation of a new playing field, where competition is expanding into all types of traffic.
The demand for VoIP will increase with the growth of applications that save a company money or give a strategic advantage. The companies having the most to gain from VoIP are those that have geographically disperse locations, especially companies with international operations. Without the presence of "killer applications," VoIP will not be successful.
Technologies Enabling Internet Telephony
Putting voice and video over IP-based networks requires many changes in the network infrastructure. Expanding a data network to carry voice and video requires more bandwidth at every point in the network, including remote access locations, the workgroup level, the network core, and the wide area network. Quality of service and policy management are needed to guarantee that latency will not degrade real-time communications.
Barriers to Deployment
It`s important to recognize that significant obstacles need to be addressed before a fundamental shift to VoIP can occur. Although the hype for IP telephony is in high gear, we must recognize that the technology needs further development. The most significant barriers to carrying voice over IP networks include the following:
- Will users settle for lower quality and less reliable voice communications?
- The keys to IP being able to carry voice and video traffic include quality of service (QOS), bandwidth reservation, and policy-based management.
- Large installed bases of voice gear and data networking equipment need to be migrated into a single, unified network.
- Does the Internet have the capacity to handle the extra traffic that will be generated by the addition of voice and video?
- More work needs to be done in refining the many industry standards that already exist.
- For true convergence to occur, corporate IS and telecom departments need to merge.
- A number of regulatory issues are waiting to interfere with the success of Internet telephony.
- Network management for converged voice, data, and video traffic is likely to be complex given the considerations that must be made for quality of service and bandwidth reservation. Network management is an issue that will need time to be ironed out.
Clearly, there are many issues that need to be addressed before everyone can shift all of their traffic to IP networks, and these factors need time to be resolved. Despite the current level of excitement, quick, widespread acceptance of VoIP is not likely to occur within the next two or three years.
Conclusion
The Internet has become a powerful force in our lives, changing the way we work and play. Fueled by the Internet, it is inevitable that some level of voice and video traffic will flow over IP networks. Indeed, this process is beginning to happen for long distance calls as users try to cut the cost of overseas calls with tariff arbitrage. The question that cannot be answered at this time is whether all voice, data, and video traffic will travel over IP networks in the future or whether it will be used on a more limited basis determined by the application.
One point is clear: There is a long list of obstacles standing in the way of convergence over IP networks. Issues such as difficult network management, poor call quality, lower reliability, and changes in regulation will slow and possibly limit the success of voice/data convergence over IP. Despite the high level of attention and hype, the reality of Internet telephony is that more time is needed for development.
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