Features

Small and mid-sized businesses in the United States plan to increase their use of converged voice and data communications solutions over the next 18 months, according to research commissioned by the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA).

The survey of about 300 U.S. businesses with 20-500 employees found that 40% are currently evaluating new communications solutions that deliver voice and data applications over a common network, or intend to do so within the next 18 months. Another 18% of these businesses are currently deploying a converged solution, or will do so in the next 18 months.

“These plans for deployment and evaluation are even more impressive when you consider that nearly two-thirds of these companies said they are generally satisfied with their existing communications systems,” says John Venator, president and chief executive officer, CompTIA. “Small and medium-sized businesses clearly believe converged voice and data networks and applications have real business value, whether it is through reducing the cost of internal and external communications systems; streamlining management of voice and data networks; or improving productivity throughout their operations.”

Examples of converged migrations abound.

Fortune 200 insurance provider UnumProvident, for example, has selected Broadwing to design, build and manage a custom data and voice-over-IP (VoIP) private network that interconnects four main corporate locations and more than 40 remote locations. The Broadwing solution enables UnumProvident to run internal voice over IP, video and data applications between all of its locations.

Broadwing designed a solution that provides Gigabit Ethernet connectivity across the Broadwing core network between UnumProvident’s various locations and its data center in Columbia, S.C. To support UnumProvident’s VoIP implementation, Broadwing connected UnumProvident’s remote sites to the data center.

In another example, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Huntington, W.Va., district has installed an IP telephony system from ShoreTel. The district’s Huntington headquarters, 49 remote sites and floating repair fleet are being unified under a single distributed ShoreTel system that delivers advanced voice services even to rural outposts, and can be managed remotely from anywhere. The district is replacing a Centrex system that was costing $30,000 per month for the headquarters office alone.

“The ShoreTel VoIP system is the most painless upgrade we’ve ever done, and we make changes on the fly all the time,” says Robert Hall, coordinator of voice and data communications for Huntington District. “The biggest installation problem is tracing the old lines, pulling the legacy systems and doing the paperwork required to cancel the old ISDN lines.”

About 850 of the district’s 1,000 employees have now been migrated to ShoreTel, and most of them continue to use inexpensive analog phones while enjoying the benefits of IP telephony. The repair fleet vessels are equipped with their own IP addresses and routers, and wireless access points at each lock and dam site provide an 802.11b-based ship-to-shore link when the ships dock.

At Dartmouth College this fall, faculty, staff and students were greeted by a campus-wide VoIP telephone system, courtesy of Networked Information Systems (NIS) of Woburn, Mass. The 7,000-phone system–one of the largest deployed by a private, four-year college–will enable Dartmouth to reduce its telecommunications costs while increasing the flexibility and productivity of faculty, staff and students.

Dartmouth College administrators decided to undertake the project two years ago. “Our old TDM PBX was nearing the end of its useful life,” says Robert Johnson, director of voice and data converged systems. “We decided that voice traffic could be provided more strategically and cost-effectively by converging our voice and data networks.”

The VoIP installation on the already-in-place Cisco Systems data network included nearly 200 Cisco switches with power over Ethernet to ensure voice availability during a power outage. In addition, a 7,000-user voice mail system was installed, supported by five Microsoft Exchange Servers and a high-end Cisco Unity Server.

“Initially, we had some concerns about the quality of service and reliability we could expect from a VoIP network,” says Johnson. “So we ran some production pilots with NIS to ensure that our network could support a ‘five-nines’ application like voice, and then deployed the system in stages over a two-year period.”

Seventy percent of North American IT managers are currently using power over Ethernet (PoE) and an additional 13% will add PoE in 2006, according to a report from NetLink Research, “802.3af Power over Ethernet: VoIP, Wireless and Other PoE Implementation Trends.”

Enterprise IT managers report that growth of PoE-enabled ports will be much greater than growth in non-PoE ports. The future of PoE, however, is dependent on two factors: what applications are driving PoE and whether vendors can resolve current PoE implementation problems.

Among the serious PoE implementation problems reported by enterprise IT managers:

• lack of compatibility with existing equipment;

• changing industry standards;

• cost of PoE equipment; and

• PoE safety issues.

The majority of IT managers interviewed by NLR plan to increase PoE deployments in the next year. IT managers specifically identified network design flexibility and long-term cost savings as the key benefits of PoE.

Municipalities are continuing their push to provide high-speed wireless services to government and citizens. Lenexa, Kan., and Cedar Rapids, Iowa, are two of the most recent cities to join the push.

Lenexa has selected Alvarion and its systems integration partner, Electronic Technologies, to deploy a citywide mobile and fixed wireless broadband network. Designed to connect government buildings, municipal vehicles, traffic signals and video cameras throughout the city, the network is expected to improve city operations and efficiency, while reducing monthly expenditures on telecommunications. In addition, improved traffic flows from networked traffic lights are expected to help reduce local air pollution.

“We are using Alvarion’s BreezeACCESS VL to connect buildings, cameras and traffic system locations that would be cost prohibitive to connect with fiber,” says Michael Lawrence, Lenexa’s CTO. “In addition, we will use the BreezeACCESS 900 platform to broadband to our municipal vehicles. We expect that this combined fixed and mobile, point-to-multipoint network should yield the city tremendous cost savings, while increasing the productivity of city workers to the equivalent of two hours a day by having broadband data speeds while out in the field.”

Using Alvarion’s BreezeACCESS VL, a high-capacity broadband platform with non-line-of-sight capability, combined with BreezeACCESS 900, the system offers real-time broadband connectivity in the vehicle.

Cedar Rapids has implemented new mobile broadband solutions from Motorola and Trapeze Networks that are expected to enhance the security and enjoyment of riders on the city’s buses, as part of a citywide revitalization project. Using Motorola’s mobile mesh networking technology, the city bus lines can wirelessly connect to the Internet and city data network. Transit authorities can now remotely monitor video surveillance cameras on city buses to enhance the safety and security of passengers, drivers and vehicles. Streaming digital video entertainment will also be provided to passengers, and riders will be able to wirelessly connect to the Internet via Motorola’s mesh networking technology.