The vendor says this is partly due to perceived issues such as quality of service, reliability and “use-ability”. However, there are interim stages that maintain existing infrastructure and still deliver all the advantages that VoIP offers.
Adam O’Hare, Business Director at Dataflex says, “This is something that the Dataflex product range targets. Their “ViNE” portfolio of VoIP access solutions connect a customer site to the converged voice and data world. Various access variants include ADSL, SHDSL, POTS, BRI, PRI to suit a wide range of customer requirements. They are fully integrated units with IP gateway, router, DSL modem, firewall, Ethernet and NAT in the one box. This integration ensures that the necessary Quality of Service levels are achieved.”
Dataflex say a typical company has analogue or ISDN lines connected to a PBX for their voice connection and a separate connection for data services. Converging both over one Ethernet or DSL connection presents substantial savings and enables access to a range of services previously unavailable.
O’Hare, “Options do exist for a full migration to VoIP but if the company does not want to replace their PBX for reasons such as familiarity, features, risk and capital investment, the simple installation of an Integrated Access Device between the VoIP world and the PBX ensures equivalency of service with all the benefits of a converged VoIP service. This is a true alternative to expensive leased lines with a rapid return on investment. Alternatively the same unit can also provide direct access to a fully hosted VoIP service.
There are also key benefits for the Reseller. It retains the traditional core competency of hardware sales coupled with installation services. But it also provides increased experience of VoIP, greater awareness of actual customer requirements and a reason to provide updates to the customer as services develop. This is something we have already seen in other European countries such as France.
VoIP technology and the Access Devices will continue to evolve with the introduction of new features and services. But the benefits are already available if companies chose to embrace them.”