Channeling IP solutions

18 October 2006

From family-owned stores to hospitals to middle schools, today''s small and medium-sized business organisations face myriad challenges. They must improve operational efficiency, lower costs, and increase revenue despite budget and staffing constraints; compete in an increasingly global market against larger companies with greater resources; and still keep up with the rapid pace of change in available technologies and in their own businesses.

Networking solutions are designed to help companies manage the challenges, but many small and medium-sized organisations with disparate networks have found that while a new solution might resolve one issue, it can also create another.

For example, if a new application on the data network does not function smoothly with existing applications on the voice and video networks, it can be expensive and time — consuming — particularly for a company with limited funds or staff-to discover the source of the problem and then resolve it on each network. To streamline operations and improve efficiency, many businesses are migrating to IP-based networks.

With an IP infrastructure, all data, voice, and video applications can be integrated onto a single, secure network. New applications work reliably with existing applications because they are all based on the same protocol. Features that were unavailable or too expensive with traditional systems — high-quality video at every desktop and phone, for example — can be deployed relatively easily.

The compatibility of IP with existing technologies allows a company to eliminate its traditional phone system at its own pace. Plus, with just one network to manage and maintain, a company is better able to scale its network to meet changing business needs and user requirements. Furthermore, having an IP network enables a small or medium-sized business to use the same IP applications as a large enterprise, which improves its competitive advantage.

Yet for all the ways in which small and medium-sized businesses can profit from a converged network infrastructure, some might be hesitant to make the migration because they are unfamiliar with what an IPC solution can do for their business or they are concerned about the speed with which employees will learn to use IPC.