TOP 5 MYTHS ABOUT IP COMMUNICATIONS (cont.)

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MYTH #5:

Deploying IP-based communications means throwing away your investment in traditional voice solutions. Since all companies already have a voice communications system of some kind, many people think that a movement to IP Communications means throwing away all the money they've spent over the past 10 or 20 years building that voice infrastructure. The feeling is that you have to forklift out your old voice system to put in an IP Communications solution-making the move to adopt this technology a relatively big commitment.

THE REALITY:

IP Communications solutions offer migration at your organization's preferred pace.

This is an example of applying the old way of thinking to an entirely new paradigm. In the past, telephony was thought of as a series of boxes that were located in each building in the company. Each box had a certain number of shelves, each shelf had a certain number of line cards, and each line card had a certain number of ports.

In the IP Communications world, think of telephony as a service in the network. The service is available from anywhere in the network, independent of location. For example, a multi-site business may deploy the call control software only at the central site, then enable the remote sites to access the service remotely over the network.

In the end, every supplier in the industry agrees that the piece of sheet metal called a PBX that is bolted down in the basement today will disappear eventually-no boxes, no shelves, no line cards, no ports.

By integrating with most major legacy PBXs and voice-mail systems, as well as mission-critical business applications, IP Communications solutions, such as Cisco’s, empower customers to migrate based on not business needs, instead of technology limitations.

Additionally, the idea of location-independent services in the network means that your company can use a building-block approach for migrating your communications to IP on a site-by-site, group-by-group, or application-by-application basis. In fact, according to Cisco, 99 percent of their customers migrate their networks to IP Communications using this approach.

For example, your company may decide to start by upgrading a “greenfield” site to IP Communications. Perhaps you’re moving a regional office, or the PBX in the remote site has recently come off lease. In this scenario, your company can deploy Cisco CallManager call processing software in the regional office, install IP phones or “soft phones”, and then voice-enable the data router to connect the regional office to the traditional voice system.

The next step might be deploying IP call control at the headquarters, and moving some of the users from the old PBX over to the new system with IP phones.

Then, over an appropriate time frame, the company can move users over to the IP Communications system. Some Cisco customers do this one floor or one building at a time, over a period of weeks or months.

Once that centralized call control infrastructure is in place, you can extend telephony service out to other remote sites. The process is simple-download a new image to the remote data router to support Cisco Survivable Remote Site Telephony (SRST), which will provide fallback support for the Cisco IP phones in the event of a WAN failure. Then, put some IP phones in a box, and send them to your remote site! As long as the appropriate data infrastructure is in place, the phones simply boot up when they are plugged into the Ethernet, and a dial tone will immediately be available.

For other voice applications, like voice mail, you can migrate the applications next-or in some cases, can start with the applications first! Products like Cisco Unity voice mail and unified messaging software, Cisco IPCC customer contact software, and Cisco MeetingPlace voice and Web conferencing applications support both IP Communications and TDM voice.

Successful migration to IP Communications is as much about process as it is about technology. Understanding this, EveryNetwork has developed detailed plans and processes that can make migration smoother, faster, and easier for companies like yours. Using these proven migration methodologies, EveryNetwork and Cisco can deliver superior customer success and satisfaction. At the end of the process, you have a converged voice, video, and data network. You decide whether it takes a week, a month, a year, or more, and no forklift is required.

SUMMARY

THE MYTHS

Customers should wait to deploy IP Communications until the standards are more mature. 2. An IP-based communications implementation is more expensive than implementing a traditional TDM communications system. 3. There is no single compelling application ("killer application") for IP-based business communications today. 4. IP-based business communications systems are less secure than hybrid systems with a mix of IP-based and traditional communications. 5. Deploying IP-based business communications means throwing away your investment in traditional voice solutions.

THE REALITY

• Fundamental standards for IP Communications are already in place; new standards will continue to emerge.
  IP Communications solutions are proven to offer lower TCO and high ROI.

• There are many applications available today that cut costs, increase productivity, and improve customer satisfaction..

• IP Communications solutions are secure and reliable.

• IP Communications solutions offer migration at an organization's preferred pace.

Let EveryNetwork and Cisco show you the value of a converged network and Cisco IP Communications solutions-a complete enterprise-class system that securely integrates voice, video, and other collaborative applications into this intelligent information network architecture. This system-including IP telephony; unified messaging and voice mail; IP-based audio-, Web, and videoconferencing; and customer contact solutions-takes full advantage of the power, resilience, and flexibility of your organization’s IP networks and boasts an inherent intelligence that enables organizations to solve problems, conduct transactions, and complete tasks more automatically. The result is a highly effective and collaborative business environment that significantly improves the way companies interact with their employees, partners, and customers, enabling organizations to set themselves apart from their competitors, while achieving a measurable ROI.

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