What is the best application for VoIP?

There are many very good applications. The most common is for the purpose of toll savings. Many businesses make a high volume of calls between offices either domestically or internationally. These companies can deploy VoIP technology and then leverage private or public WAN connections to save 100% of the toll charges.

The best application is probably for remote agents or users. VoIP allows for a company to have a centralized telephone system and then have users be spread out all over a region or all over the country. This application allows a company to provide high value functionality to distant users, a capability that was only available to huge companies with large budgets just a few years ago.

Can you use VoIP technology over the Internet?

The technology will work over any IP data network; the problem becomes the expected quality of the call. When VoIP technology is used on a private network the quality is as good as regular telephone service. When VoIP technology is used over the public Internet there are many variables that can cause the voice quality to become very poor. All VoIP technology is not created equal! There are some products that will work better than others in this less than desirable environment.

What is a soft switch?

A soft switch is software only, application that creates all of the features and functionality of a traditional PBX or business telephone system without all of the proprietary hardware. A good soft switch application may run under Linux operating system and will allow you to leverage industry standard PC hardware.

Is there a standard for VoIP?

Not yet. There is a standards body that will, hopefully, make a decision soon. There are three real contenders at this time: SIP, H.323 and MGCP. All are good technology and all are being widely used today. The majority of VoIP products available today are H.323 with a lot of growth in SIP.

How do you make sure that your network is ready?
There are many commercially available tools that allow you to analyze your current data network traffic. Knowing the types of data that your network utilizes and the desired urgency of each will allow you to best plan for a VoIP deployment.