Government Computer News
Despite the buzz, VOIP still has hurdles to overcome
CHICAGO—The movement of voice traffic onto data networks is seen almost as inevitable, and administrators are readying their networks for voice over IP.
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In an April survey of federal, state and local IT officials by Network General Corp., 57 percent of respondents named VOIP as the most important network initiative they face for the coming year.
Jim Vale, product manager for the San Jose, Calif., company’s Sniffer Voice performance analysis tool, said organizations are planning now for investments needed in the next budget cycle to support VOIP.
“That is a healthy sign,” Vale said. “It is an indication that the technology has matured to the point that it merits large investment.”
But moving VOIP from test beds onto production networks requires ironing out some wrinkles remaining in the new technology, including security, protocol selection and support for services such as 911 emergency calls.
VOIP is a hot topic on the floor of this week’s SuperComm trade show, with vendors offering answers and options for these questions.
Network General has been offering Sniffer Voice since 2001 to analyze the performance of voice applications on networks. “We’ve watched the willingness to invest in the technology show a steady growth pattern,” Vale said. “2004 appears to be an inflection point in the adoption” of VOIP.”
He said most customers now are in the piloting and testing phase of VOIP, but added they are moving with caution toward rollout of production applications. “They know it to be a high-risk application,” because telecommunications is mission critical in every enterprise.
Only a handful of government organizations are moving beyond the pilot phase. “In particular, Defense,” Vale said. “That is an area where we have seen sizeable and creative implementations.”
Regardless of the momentum VOIP achieves, coexistence will be the watchword for a long time, said Chris Thompson, product manager for Adtran Inc. of Huntsville, Ala.
“Analog phones will probably have to be supported for the foreseeable future,” Thompson said.
Adtran announced its new line of VOIP gateways, the Total Access 900 series of integrated access devices. The 900 series supports legacy analog systems with multiple analog interfaces as well as PBX handoff and Ethernet LAN and T1 WAN connections. The new series also supports the Session Initiation Protocol.
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