VoIP for Dummies Book - XO Communications

32
XO Communications VoIP For Dummies
Bandwidth on demand
Besides the movement of the market including your competitors
towards VoIP, you need to evaluate a couple of significant
technical benefits. First, IP Telephony and VoIP networks
support the kinds of network transport services that run
packetized services not only for computer data, but telephony
voice as well as video where needed. These transports are
usually dedicated lines of substantial bandwidth capacity.
Bandwidth is normally channelizable, which means that the
bandwidth of the line can be divided into channels. The channels
can be used dynamically (whenever they’re needed for a
specific application to run on them at any point in time). When
channels are not needed, they go back into a pool of channels
for other applications including data, voice, and video needs.
This type of operation is often referred to as bandwidth on
demand.
To achieve this type of bandwidth usage, the network architecture
uses select types of terminating equipment called
Level Three switches. Network service providers that supply
the transports usually include or specify exactly what model
of switches fit the bill. Bandwidth on demand is a function of
the WAN network design that works very well with VoIP.
Scalability to size up
or down as needed
Scalability refers to the degree to which your company can
make changes to support growth, as well as increase access
to and use of the IP Telephony and VoIP network.
On the IP Telephony LAN side of the network, each LAN uses
an Ethernet LAN, which is highly scalable. New users, IP telephones,
computers, and other devices can be connected to
the LAN on a plug-and-play basis.
When an employee needs to move to a new location in the
building, for example, their IP telephone and computer can
be unplugged and taken to the new location, where they are
plugged back in. Both devices relearn automatically on startup
the identity of the employee. The devices are operational
immediately.