VOIP
This acronym stands for Voice over Internet Protocol. VOIP converts analogue speech into an IP data stream, which allows it to be transported over a data network.
Business Phone Systems using VOIP
VoIP is a general term for the transportation of voice over a data network. IP Telephony is the conversion of analogue voice into a data stream using IP data conventions - and relies on an IP device(s) for switching and call processing.
The major advantages of this approach to business telephony are two fold; you can save money by halving the number of cables required on every employee's desktop, while greatly increasing efficiency through tighter integration between your phone system and any line of business applications you may be running, or planning to implement, on your PC network. Running an IP hard phone to your desktop means a single LAN cable, your desktop PC connects to the built-in switch on the phone, reducing the amount of copper plant, LAN cables and LAN infrastructure switch ports required by 50% - a great saving whatever your size of company.
For an IP soft phone the same is true, there's only one cable to your PC, which handles phone calls and network traffic. Due to the distributed and flexible nature of the maximiser architecture, even the continued use of traditional analogue phones means less cabling, with up to 30 twisted pair copper cables being replaced with a single LAN cable. In some cases, through the deployment of a wireless LAN, there may be no cables at all! As your PC LAN network runs a protocol called IP (Internet Protocol) and your telephone system now utilises the very same protocol for transporting voice calls, it becomes much easier to integrate information relating to phone calls into LAN based applications.