VoIP for Dummies 2005

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for itself in the near term, and it can save the company a whole lot of money going forward. (For examples of how other companies have accomplished it, see Chapters 12 through 14.)

Another benefit that can speak to upper-level managers is that implementing a unified, integrated network brings the company together, and makes all employees reachable on a higher, horizontal plane of communication. It promotes collaboration, enhances productivity, and ultimately leads to an increase in revenue.

Last, you need to provide your management with a seamless plan for transitioning to the new system, as discussed in the following section.

A seamless transition

The good news is that introducing VoIP onto your computer network can be performed while keeping your conventional POTS/PSTN telephony systems operational. Because the two are physically separate networks, they can operate simultaneously.

If you work with a carrier company that supports VoIP-based telephony, and a hardware vendor that provides hardware to support both types of networks, you can enjoy your conversion to VoIP while still having the safety net provided by the older system.

Providers typically offer reduced costs to keep the old systems running while you install the new VoIP-based systems. When you are comfortable with your new converged and integrated network, you can plan for the removal of the old telephony systems and the termination of any non-used carrier services.

If your company has made a significant investment in telephony systems that were not IP-ready in the last few years and those systems are capable of being upgraded to handle IP telephony, your company can now plan the move to VoIP while still protecting the company’s investment in older systems. This is another less costly way to reap the full benefits of your original systems while positioning your company for the eventual full conversion to VoIP.

Whatever VoIP conversion option your company may choose, you will be running a single network that integrates computer data with voice. (Video conferencing can be added too.) The requirements for managing the company’s network become more unified versus divided. A single comprehensive network management system can be used to monitor and control everything traveling over the network. Fault-isolation can be more readily implemented because you don’t need to troubleshoot what network the problem may be on.

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Scalability, as needed

Scalability refers to the degree to which your company can make changes to support growth and increase access to and use of the network. On the data side of the network, Ethernet is highly scalable. New users, IP telephones, computers, and other devices can be connected to the network on a plug- and-play basis.

When an employee needs to move to a new location in the building, for example, his or her 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, so the devices are operational immediately. Consider the benefit of this capability: No one needs to go to the telecommunications closet and reprogram port numbers or change network addressing information.

VoIP protocols bring a certain degree of intelligence to the enterprise network that makes change a pleasure and a joy rather than a frustrating and time-consuming hassle.

Costs to move, add, and change

As a result of the high degree of scalability and the intuitive intelligence of VoIP networks, move, add, and change (MAC) costs are a thing of the past. In companies that still operate under one or more of the traditional telephony models, expensive MAC costs are incurred whenever an employee moves, they need to add new users, or they need to make changes in a user’s telephony profile.

In traditional telephony models, one of the major annual expenses is the maintenance of the telephone system. MAC costs are the single most expensive item on this budget line. In traditional networks, MAC costs average from 17 to 31 percent of the entire maintenance budget. Under a VoIP model, you have no need for a MAC cost item in your budget.

Older telephony system technicians that complete these MAC changes bill at $150 per hour. Imagine if the company had to make a major set of moves or changes. For example, if a company needs to move a department from the fifth floor to the twelfth floor, traditional MAC costs can run an average of $90 per employee. When new inside wiring is required or the telephony system needs to be reprogrammed, the costs are even higher. Under VoIP, everyone unplugs on the fifth floor, goes to their newly assigned space on the twelfth floor, and plugs back in — no outside intervention is needed! Under VoIP, MAC changes go away. Again, more cost savings and time savings to justify your move to VoIP.

172 Part III: Making the Move to VoIP

Chapter 12

Locations Galore

In This Chapter

Considering VoIP over multiple locations

Evaluating your current networks

Creating a plan

Implementing the plan

Reviewing the plan’s success

Savings and the bottom line

Businesses with multiple locations are prime candidates for benefiting from VoIP, but they also face challenges that never beset consumers or

single-location companies. If you are running a business with multiple locations, this chapter is for you. Here you find guidance and examples of how you can implement VoIP with a minimum of hassle.

Challenges of Multiple Locations

Companies that have worked with and mastered traditional networks (either telephony or data) often think that it’s just a small step to implement VoIP. Think again! If your business has multiple locations, don’t even consider implementing VoIP on your own. You’ll want to work with a qualified VoIP partner. Working with a partner well-versed in VoIP can help save you money, and the money you save from the conversion more than pays for the partner’s services. Your company can then gain the skills to gradually become experts in VoIP the same way they did with the KTS or PBX telephony systems — a little bit at a time.

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When you do your analysis, start with your monthly billings. The billings paint the picture of your costs.

To illustrate what I mean, consider the case of a medical practice I helped convert to VoIP. Bremer Healthcare (a fictitious name) has eleven sites in southwestern Pennsylvania and lots of local and intralata traffic. Each site has its own LAN. The WAN setup to connect them all was far from perfect. They initially called me to help them connect to their health insurance companies over the Web.

Bremer was told that they needed to start submitting their billing claims over the Web within six months, or they could lose a good part of their business. This led to completely reevaluating their entire telephony and computer network infrastructure. They didn’t even have a dedicated connection to the Internet — they were running slow dial-up connections into a popular ISP.

Figure 12-1 shows the results of my initial cost analysis of their telephony and computer network systems.

No doubt you were hit with some shock and awe when you saw the huge and unnecessary charges for Bremer’s intralata services. The number of POTS lines they used was also unnecessarily large. The results of the cost analysis and the fact that they have multiple locations made them primary candidates for VoIP.

Bremer Healthcare started their medical offices in outlying suburban areas. Because the sites were spread out across all regional toll areas, they were getting clobbered on charges, paying anywhere from $.10 to $.42 per minute. They paid their phone bills each month as a necessary cost of their business, not knowing that they could save huge amounts of money.

Bremer’s costs didn’t end with their traditional telephony charges; they also paid large fees for dedicated carrier services. The shame of the situation was that although Bremer had a dedicated computer data network, the only application running was e-mail. Four of the locations could not even connect to the e-mail server at the main site. They had no high-speed Internet access. Figure 12-2 shows the cost analysis for their dedicated services.

Bremer Healthcare was told by their carrier that because of the way their frame-relay network had to be designed, two T1 lines were needed at the main location. This proved to be false. I used one of the two T1 lines to give the new VoIP network a dedicated Internet gateway and recommended that they drop the other one as an unnecessary expense.

Developing a Plan

Because Bremer Healthcare’s existing telephone system was centered on the circuit-switched network and their existing dedicated network was not used for any critical applications, there was room to install VoIP without bringing down their day-to-day business functions. The analysis of their existing telephone and computer network infrastructure made it obvious that a hub- and-spoke design using VoIP would resolve most if not all of their problems.

Designing a VoIP solution

The VoIP plan for Bremer Healthcare required more use of dedicated lines, which they ironically had in place and were already paying for. Greater usage of the dedicated transports reduced the total number of POTS lines needed. The plan called for the use of a PSTN gateway at each site, providing connectivity to the PSTN. The PRI 23-channel transport line at each site was used to anchor each LAN to the PSTN gateway. This action consolidated offnet local calls through the PSTN and substantially reduced their need for POTS lines.