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July 26, 1999 Carriers Push VoIP Plans
Combined voice and data services could simplify network management, cut costs
By Brian Riggs
Frontier Communications Inc. said last week it is deploying voice-over-Internet protocol equipment to offer VoIP and unified messaging services by year's end. By 2002, it plans to carry all its voice traffic on its IP network. Covad Communications Inc. began adding voice capabilities to the digital subscriber line services it deploys to small businesses and branch offices of larger companies.
Such services could simplify the deployment and management of separate voice and data networks, as well as cut costs. Workers Compensation Fund of Utah, a provider of employee compensation services in Salt Lake City, uses local DSL services to let out-of-state offices and telecommuters access the fund's data network. But they have to dial long distance to speak with workers at other branches. "Running voice over the DSL lines would let those offices call in without having to incur any kind of long-distance costs," says Dale Kendrick, the fund's network manager.
But only 5% of the 1,000 largest U.S. public companies will havemerged voice and data on their LANs by 2004, according to Gartner Group. Says Todd Hanson, senior analyst at Dataquest: "Large enterprises will find it difficult to just throw out their capital investment in telecom equipment."
And all companies must consider whether to trade the reliability of the telephone network for the capricious quality of Internet services. "You would be at the mercy of the Internet, so there may be times when the reliability and the quality may not be there," Kendrick says. "But the cost savings would probably outweigh that."
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hile IT managers have been slow to combine voice and data traffic on a single network, communications service providers are enhancing their networks to offer combined voice and data services.