Power of Internet Protocol
The most important information which I have changed about this post is its Heading. From now on, you will be seeing it as Power of Internet. I have chosen this heading, as in future, I will be posting about all the major applications used in internet world.
I hope every body found my previous post useful, if you are visiting this blog for the first time, I recommend you to visit my previous post to get the details of this topic, you can also find the answer to why did I chose this topic, in my previous post. As I have mentioned to write about technical details of IP telephony in next post, so doing the same in this post.
Let me brief out, what I am going to write in this blog. I will be starting with the most used protocol in IP telephony that is SIP, then we will see a software review, in which I will be reviewing few softwares used in IP communication. We will also see Microsoft's strategy for Ip telephony.
Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)
SIP is a protocol used to Initiate or terminate sessions with one or multiple participants.Companies like Vonage and Packet8 have adopted SIP as the foundation for the services they offer to consumers.PortSIP softPhone is a powerful and unique Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) software phone capable of voice over IP communications. The PortSIP softphone delivers SIP-based communications and services in a software-based phone for PC-to-Phone, Phone-to-PC and PC-to-PC services. As a SIP phone, PortSIP can be used on Voice over IP networks to interact with traditional Public Switching Telecommunication Networks (PSTNs) and future IP-based telecommunication devices. But SIP is not majorly used now, this is because of its only disadvantage which is the change over of device if we change the service provider.
Other Protocols used
The codes and commands used to establish and terminate a phone call over an IP network. The protocol supports such features as conference calling, call waiting and call transfer. The primary IP telephony signaling protocols are H.323, SIP and MGCP/MEGACO. There are also proprietary protocols; for example, Cisco's Skinny is widely used.H.323* is a multimedia conferencing protocol, which includes voice, video, and data conferencing, for use over packet-switched networks
Some Models of IP Phone
This is Avaya's 2420 Model IP phone.
These are not most popular, you can see them in few Contact Centres.
The above two IP phones are most widely used, you can see them in almost every Contact Centre and It firm. These phones works same way as our normal PC, to get the IP address. They get the IP address from the DHCP server as the PC does. Through DHCP server, they can be centrally managed. Even the IP Firmware can be upgraded from the server itself rather then installing on each and every instrument.
Market Leader CISCO's Strategy
Cisco has released a voice gateway appliance designed to aid in the phased migration from time-division multiplexing (TDM) private branch exchange (PBX) networks to fully converged Cisco IP telephony and IP communications solutions. The Cisco EGW 2200 gateway supports the interworking of voice signaling protocols, Digital Private Network Signaling System (DPNSS) and Q.SIG, with Cisco CallManager call-processing software and Cisco Unity voice mail and unified messaging solutions. The Cisco EGW 2200 gateway supports the interworking of voice signaling protocols, Digital Private Network Signaling System (DPNSS) and Q.SIG, with Cisco CallManager call-processing software and Cisco Unity voice mail and unified messaging solutions.
The gateway supports commonly used DPNSS features, such as call-back, extension status, route optimization, and centralized attendant console, as well as other centralized operator functions. In addition, the Cisco EGW 2200 helps enable the interoperation of IP telephony voice mail features with legacy voice mail systems
Microsoft's PBX Strategy
Even Microsoft have entered into designing different softwares to communicate over internet. One of then which was in new last year is “Microsoft Office Communication Server 2007”. This software will integrated with other microsoft's communication products like outlook etc. Microsoft's ambition is to integrate this server software with every thing else in office suite. This product allows its user to initiate the call or conference with any person on a IP network. As far as the security is concerned, Microsoft Office Communication Server provides, single application infrastructure, a single administrator and a configuration and a single directory for IT professionals.
Find the review of it here
Software Review
The only software which I could review was SKYPE, probably the most used IP based software in the internet world. If you want to make a call on internet using free softwares, skype is the best option to go for. But the only disadvantage lies in the connection speed. Skype requires a broadband connection for reliable communication.
I tried with 128kbps, this effected the clarity of the voice and the call was getting disconnected after some time.Download Skype
Even yahoo, Google and MSN provides such kind of services through its softwares.
Integration of IP and PSTN Phone
Sphere’s VG3 media gateways deliver PSTN connectivity as well as support for legacy analog and digital phones ensuring you have a migration path and enabling you to protect your existing investments.
The figure shows the integration of IP and PSTN lines, the VOIP gateway is used to create addition lines for the PBX system. As VOIP can produce the standard telephone or T1/E1 lines, they can be terminated to a PBX line card.
I hope every body found my previous post useful, if you are visiting this blog for the first time, I recommend you to visit my previous post to get the details of this topic, you can also find the answer to why did I chose this topic, in my previous post. As I have mentioned to write about technical details of IP telephony in next post, so doing the same in this post.
Let me brief out, what I am going to write in this blog. I will be starting with the most used protocol in IP telephony that is SIP, then we will see a software review, in which I will be reviewing few softwares used in IP communication. We will also see Microsoft's strategy for Ip telephony.
Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)
SIP is a protocol used to Initiate or terminate sessions with one or multiple participants.Companies like Vonage and Packet8 have adopted SIP as the foundation for the services they offer to consumers.PortSIP softPhone is a powerful and unique Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) software phone capable of voice over IP communications. The PortSIP softphone delivers SIP-based communications and services in a software-based phone for PC-to-Phone, Phone-to-PC and PC-to-PC services. As a SIP phone, PortSIP can be used on Voice over IP networks to interact with traditional Public Switching Telecommunication Networks (PSTNs) and future IP-based telecommunication devices. But SIP is not majorly used now, this is because of its only disadvantage which is the change over of device if we change the service provider.
Other Protocols used
The codes and commands used to establish and terminate a phone call over an IP network. The protocol supports such features as conference calling, call waiting and call transfer. The primary IP telephony signaling protocols are H.323, SIP and MGCP/MEGACO. There are also proprietary protocols; for example, Cisco's Skinny is widely used.H.323* is a multimedia conferencing protocol, which includes voice, video, and data conferencing, for use over packet-switched networks
Some Models of IP Phone
This is Avaya's 2420 Model IP phone.
These are not most popular, you can see them in few Contact Centres.
The above two IP phones are most widely used, you can see them in almost every Contact Centre and It firm. These phones works same way as our normal PC, to get the IP address. They get the IP address from the DHCP server as the PC does. Through DHCP server, they can be centrally managed. Even the IP Firmware can be upgraded from the server itself rather then installing on each and every instrument.
Market Leader CISCO's Strategy
Cisco has released a voice gateway appliance designed to aid in the phased migration from time-division multiplexing (TDM) private branch exchange (PBX) networks to fully converged Cisco IP telephony and IP communications solutions. The Cisco EGW 2200 gateway supports the interworking of voice signaling protocols, Digital Private Network Signaling System (DPNSS) and Q.SIG, with Cisco CallManager call-processing software and Cisco Unity voice mail and unified messaging solutions. The Cisco EGW 2200 gateway supports the interworking of voice signaling protocols, Digital Private Network Signaling System (DPNSS) and Q.SIG, with Cisco CallManager call-processing software and Cisco Unity voice mail and unified messaging solutions.
The gateway supports commonly used DPNSS features, such as call-back, extension status, route optimization, and centralized attendant console, as well as other centralized operator functions. In addition, the Cisco EGW 2200 helps enable the interoperation of IP telephony voice mail features with legacy voice mail systems
Microsoft's PBX Strategy
Even Microsoft have entered into designing different softwares to communicate over internet. One of then which was in new last year is “Microsoft Office Communication Server 2007”. This software will integrated with other microsoft's communication products like outlook etc. Microsoft's ambition is to integrate this server software with every thing else in office suite. This product allows its user to initiate the call or conference with any person on a IP network. As far as the security is concerned, Microsoft Office Communication Server provides, single application infrastructure, a single administrator and a configuration and a single directory for IT professionals.
Find the review of it here
Software Review
The only software which I could review was SKYPE, probably the most used IP based software in the internet world. If you want to make a call on internet using free softwares, skype is the best option to go for. But the only disadvantage lies in the connection speed. Skype requires a broadband connection for reliable communication.
I tried with 128kbps, this effected the clarity of the voice and the call was getting disconnected after some time.Download Skype
Even yahoo, Google and MSN provides such kind of services through its softwares.
Integration of IP and PSTN Phone
Sphere’s VG3 media gateways deliver PSTN connectivity as well as support for legacy analog and digital phones ensuring you have a migration path and enabling you to protect your existing investments.
The figure shows the integration of IP and PSTN lines, the VOIP gateway is used to create addition lines for the PBX system. As VOIP can produce the standard telephone or T1/E1 lines, they can be terminated to a PBX line card.
Future of Internet Telephony
The Ip based communication is growing a very fastly. As it grows, so the competition in this industry. Free PC based VOIP is dominated by skype software. If you are opting for this service, keep in mind that even the smaller ISP's will offer VOIP service. But it depends on you to chose the best third party tool which would work the best. Study reviels free services like Yahoo!, Skype, and MSN are broadly used.
So if these third party tools offer free service then what would ISP do. They would opt for a firmware which would offer PC based programs. Here lies the brutality, now the customer should opt only for the paid service of the ISP rather than the third party free tools. Visit Brutal Future of VOIP for more details.
But how long will this persist, broadband will not be able to keep their charges high. There will be time when they will be forced to reduce the prices.