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VoIP/IPT Defined

Voice over Internet Protocol and Internet Protocol Telephony (IPT) are two evolving solutions that are switching phone transmissions from analog to digital. Compiling and transporting a voice conversation digitally offers organizations many new benefits, saving them money and introducing new and more advanced features.

• Voice over Internet Protocol calls originate in analog form but are later digitized and separated into digital packets (via    a "vocoder") for transport over Internet Protocol (IP)
• Internet Phone Telephony is a technology in which calls originate in digital form (vocoder function is housed in either an    IP Phone or a PC-Based IP Phone) for transport over Internet Protocol.

For the purposes of this whitepaper, VoIP and IPT are used interchangeably and together are referred to as VoIP.

These two technologies have been around for several years. Their recent popularity is due to their role in defining and driving the concept of a "converged network".

The Converged Network

"Converged networks" -- bringing disparate applications onto a unified framework -- have already found their way to a number of organizations. The idea behind converging related but distinctly deployed applications or services is driven by cost efficiencies and process improvements. By porting voice transmission responsibilities to the IP-based data network, organizations can begin to achieve significant cost improvements by utilizing the efficient switching, routing and transport capabilities inherent in an IP-based data network for the purpose of routing and terminating voice transmissions.

The IP-based structure of the data network also allows for more feature-rich communication applications at a lower cost of deployment. Organizations that utilize, rely on and deploy a significant amount of telecommunications infrastructure, such as call centers, large inside sales and telemarketing operations, can significantly enhance their customer relationship execution by introducing more IP-based, featurerich communications services.