To the telephony novice, the world of modern communication can be an intimidating place. In a world so acronym-laden and thick with trade-jargon, it can be tough to know just what it is that you’re reading about in the first place. If you’re a small business-person, it’s even worse (and let’s face it, who else is reading this?): not only are you supposed to be familiar with these technologies, you’re expected to be able to make informed decisions regarding their use and implementation.
Faced with the daunting array of telecommunications options, you’ve turned to that trusted informant and advisor of the contemporary techno-savvy citizen, the Internet. A quick search for ‘IP Telephony’ or ‘VoIP’ will reveal that it’s easy to find virtual heaps of “information” about VoIP or IP phones (try it now!), but it will also present as many problems as it solves. On the one hand you’ve got the technical articles that immediately lose the reader in thick forests of acronyms that only the technologically initiated can sift through, and on the other (in much greater abundance) you’ll get hundreds of thousands of matches (seriously, try it) which at best are links to places to buy something and at worst are thinly veiled advertisements, clumsily disguised as informative articles.
On the Internet, as in the rest of life, nothing is free. The problem is that every company would love for you to believe that the “quality” content they churn out is an act of pure altruism for the benefit of the consumer at large. I won’t insult your intelligence by pretending that I don’t have an ulterior motive. But today, friends, is your lucky Internet-browsing day! That fact that I’m not pitching any particular brand of anything gives me the rare opportunity to furnish information that I think you might actually find useful. Now that I’ve gained your trust, let me proceed.
So what exactly is IP Telephony, and how is it differentiated from VoIP? If you refer back to your hypothetical search, you’ll find that most companies simply don’t distinguish between the two – it’s just another synonym that their copywriters can use to avoid using the term “VoIP” too often. But there is a difference. IP Telephony, in it’s strictest sense, refers to the use of VoIP, likely in conjunction with other products and services, in a company’s communications network.
Let me put it another way. If a company is advertising VoIP and raving about what it can do for your business, take a good look at what it is they’re offering to sell you. All that VoIP means by itself is the capability to send voice data over digital lines. This could be as simple as a media gateway, or an IP enabled phone. IP Telephony depends upon VoIP, but VoIP is not IP Telephony.
Don’t get me wrong – this is a powerful tool, but by itself it is by no means the business revolution that is so often billed. If all you’re looking for is a way to cut down long-term telephone costs a little, that maybe all you need. Most companies, however, are looking for something a little more useful.
All the fancy extras that you’ll hear about – vemail, virtual call centers, mobile technology integration, and so on – are actually facets of an IP Telephony platform. IP Telephony refers to the actual service – the package deal from a provider including software, hardware, and knowledge that gives you something more than an advanced phone or a specialized router. When you really think about it, the idea of a company offering to sell you VoIP is an absurd one. That would be like a company advertising TCP/IP or trying to sell the concept of packet switching.
Most websites advertising VoIP are simply trying to capitalize of off a trendy buzzword. It is rare to find an actual IP Telephony platform for sale other than the industry standard (which for reference is Avaya IP Office), though they do exist. One such is a small business-oriented virtual call center affair by the company GotVMail called VirtualOne.
But of course, it’s not that simple. There is no standard differentiation in the terms observed by all technology providers (there seem to be few standards on the Internet at all), and this will inevitably lead to confusion. Many companies are as already noted simply trying to sell you an expensive phone by impressing you with the word VoIP, but some more legitimate businesses simply refer to their entire IP Telephony platform as “VoIP service.” Frustrating. It would be nice if we could trust companies to be honest with us, but it’s simply not the case. In the end, the burden of research falls squarely upon the consumer. Good luck.
By: David M Roberts
Posts Tagged ‘Acronym’
IP Telephony, VoIP, & The Syllogistic Fallacy
February 16th, 2010VoIP – Thee Emerging Technology
November 21st, 2009
Changes in technology are opening doors and creating jobs that simply didn’t exist a few years ago. VoIP is one of those areas, and this emerging technology has produced significant changes in the way people communicate. Understanding VoIP is rather difficult for many, but the concept is actually a fairly basic one.
VoIP is the acronym for Voice Over Internet Protocol. Most commonly, the term is written as VoIP (note the small “o”), though there are many other terms that refer to this same process. Telephony is one of those terms, and Broadband telephony is another.
The idea of VoIP is too simply to create a network and then allow people to send all sorts of transmissions across that same network. Consider what that can do to the costs of communicating in some situations.
For example, a large office of a half-century ago would likely have two major methods of communication. There’d be a telephone system that connected all the desks and offices within that building – a network of telephones that may or may not have also been connected to outside lines. But what happened when those workers on the second floor needed to see a report that the workers on the eighth floor had just produced? For that situation, there were usually messengers who had the important task of physically taking those documents, messages and packages from one point in the office to another.
Then personal computers and personal fax machines became affordable and available, effectively replacing the need for messengers in most cases. Email and faxes became the norm, making it possible for those people within a specific network to instantly share those documents and reports. But there was still a need for telephones for those cases in which voice communication was necessary as well.
As technology tends to do, it was probably inevitable that the personal computers and telephones would eventually find more common ground. VoIP is that common ground.
VoIP allows data and voice streaming within a particular network. That network may or may not be limited to a specific building or company, though many companies are finding that it’s a very cost effective way of dealing with the need for data and voice streaming.
The fact that this is typically a very effective and cost effective way of communicating means that more companies are likely to be moving in this direction in the future. For those who are technically adept at understanding VoIP, this means that there will continue to be more jobs in the field. As is the case with computers, it takes some natural ability to be truly adept in this field, but there are also many schools and training facilities ready and able to offer quality programs to prepare you for a career in this field.
As more people and companies understand the potential for effective communication with VoIP, there’s likely to be more career opportunities in the field. If you’re one of those people who understand technology, computers and electronics, you may very well find that this is a perfect field for you.
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By: Scott Knutson
