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Cloud Computing Versus SaaS

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As our world becomes more and more connected, the terms used to describe online services blur into abstraction. In this article, I’ll clarify the terms “cloud computing” versus “software as a service,” often referred to as SaaS. In some ways, it’s like describing two sides of the same coin. However, there are some clear distinctions, along with risks and rewards to keep in mind.

The Internet is increasingly being referred to as the cloud. One of the earliest mentions of cloud computing is in the paper The Self-governing Internet: Coordination by Design published by MIT Professors Sharon Eisner Gillett and Mitchell Kapor in 1996. Readers of a certain age will remember one of Kapor’s other ideas, a product called Lotus 1-2-3. Regardless, historically the central computers that run the nation’s telephone network were often diagrammed on flowcharts as a cloud. The intricacies of networked computers that comprise the Internet are so complex that the term has been co-opted for use in our modern society.

In the early days of computers, users rented time on a mainframe computer. A few decades later, we all became accustomed to having our own personal computers on our desk, upon which we installed shrink-wrapped software. We became responsible for upgrading our computers, software, and backing up our data. As often happens in life, though, things are going full circle where we’re returning to the days of renting time on someone else’s computer. Instead of a single mainframe computer though, today we may utilize a bank of computers residing in a data center in an undisclosed location. Instead of being relegated to working only at our desk, today we often use mobile devices to carry out tasks unimaginable just a few years ago.

In general, cloud computing can be thought of as any instance where you’re using a computer that resides outside of your physical location. Most users encounter cloud computing in the form of software as a service. You might pay a fee for the service, such as QuickBooks Online, Salesforce.com, or Microsoft’s Office 365, or you may pay in a nonmonetary fashion through an advertising-supported and/or information-gathering models, such as Gmail, Mint, or Facebook.

With all of these applications, you’re relying on software installed and maintained on remote computers. Most often SaaS is delivered via your web browser, so long as you have a connection to the Internet, you’re able to carry out tasks that may be business or personal in nature. With this background in mind, I can provide some distinctions between cloud computing and software as a service:

  • Cloud computing gives you access to an environment that you can customize or build out to suit your needs. With SaaS, you’re limited to the features and capabilities written into the software, but cloud computing offers the ability to increase server capacity or storage space on demand.
  • Cloud computing offers elasticity, meaning your resources and costs can increase or decrease with your demands. SaaS typically involves a set fee per user, per month, so costs and the functionality offered tend to be fixed.
  • In short, cloud computing is highly customizable, whereas SaaS offers more of one-size-fits-all approach.

Some examples of what may be considered pure cloud computing include:

  • Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) – This service allows you to store and retrieve an unlimited amount of data, at anytime of day, from any computer connected to the Internet.
  • Microsoft’s Windows Azure – This service provides virtual servers that can be used for application development and delivery.
  • Rackspace.com — Similar to Windows Azure, Rackspace.com provides servers for hire, but with a wider array of operating systems to choose from.

A primary benefit to cloud computing is that users outsource the care and maintenance of servers to firms that specialize in that capability. When demand warrants, new servers can be brought online in minutes, rather than the days required when a company maintains its own data center. Any sort of computer-based application can be hosted on cloud-based computers, from a website or shopping cart to custom programs for internal use. Thus, with cloud computing, the user is generally responsible for maintaining the applications on the server, while the hosting companies maintain the underlying physical equipment and operating system.

For SaaS, end users are removed from maintaining both the application and the server equipment. Benefits of SaaS versus desktop programs include:

  • Applications, such as QuickBooks Online, allow you to access accounting records from anywhere in the world, instead of from specific computers within your office.
  • New features appear in the software automatically, so there’s no need to purchase a software upgrade to be physically installed on each of your computers.
  • Your data is backed up automatically, so a local hard drive crash won’t affect your data.

Despite all of the benefits that cloud computing and SaaS provide, there are still risks to consider and manage:

  • Consider the recent situation with megaupload.com, where certain purported illegal actions by a subset of users caused everyone using the service to lose access to data. Think about a toddler having a certain bodily function in a public swimming pool – everyone has to suddenly get out of the water. Similarly, actions by one or more rogue users can cause unexpected and dramatic disruptions for everyone else sharing a cloud-based resource.
  • Both cloud computing and SaaS involve trust, in that you’re trusting an organization to hold up its end of the bargain. Intuit, maker of QuickBooks, last year experienced a spate of outages that caused business interruptions for users of their myriad online services.
  • A service you trust and rely on could suddenly change hands, such as Facebook’s recent acquisition of Instagram. You may then be forced to find a new service provider if you have philosophical differences with the new owner of a tool that you’ve relied on or if customer service levels start to slip to unacceptable levels.
  • If you stop paying for the service, access to your data can be immediately terminated. However, many providers offer a grace period. For instance, if you cancel your QuickBooks Online account, your data is maintained for a year, should you decide to resubscribe to the service.

Author: David H. Ringstrom, CPA
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Wish Upon A Cloud

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It seems that every networking event this year, every tech magazine issue, and every vendor worth its salt is talking about “the cloud.” The cloud, in one of its many forms – public, private, or mixed – has become ubiquitous! I’ll confess: I started off my cloud gazing with little interest and several doubts, but I’ve learned a lot over the past year about the potential benefits of obtaining software, platform, and infrastructure as cloud services. I’m not quite ready to “drink the kool aid” yet, but it’s starting to look pretty tasty. Still, I have five wishes that need to be granted before I can consider a major move into the cloud.

Wish #1: Service Comparable to What I Provide Now.
When our CEO says jump, well . . . you get the picture. As CIO, I have to provide the level of service that our senior management and board expect from the IT team. So, how do I create SLAs that really ensure that a cloud provider will meet these demanding standards? When a cloud provider doesn’t meet the SLA, the reimbursement is generally a partial rebate of the provider’s fee. When the internal IT staff doesn’t meet the SLA, the “price” can be much higher. So, for example, if I want to have “bursting” support for high levels of availability at peak times, how do I know I can rely on the cloud to provide it? If my cloud provider doesn’t provide the support for the load at the time I need it, I will be compensated with a portion of my hosting fee, whereas if the internal IT team were to fail in this example, we’d be accountable for the lost revenue. That high internal price results in a great motivation to deliver service. Then there are the service issues that are, frankly, out of the control of most cloud providers. The last mile connectivity from premises to data center can be fraught with latency. When users are accustomed to running heavy applications over a private network, accessing them over commodity Internet lines can really impact their perception of system performance.

Wish #2:The Ability to Customize.
We’re all unique, right? Every organization has its – dare I say? – “secret sauce” – the customized software applications and systems that are a major part of the value we bring to our customers. Being able to establish and support a custom implementation in the cloud is still a challenge. For example, we are implementing Microsoft Dynamics CRM. But we need a special search capability that has to be either developed or added as a bolted-on application from a third-party provider. We need such ability to customize standard applications in order to make them effective for us, and that means in the cloud as well as on premises. I’d like to have applications delivered for us to customize and then be maintained in the cloud.

Wish #3: High Security.
Our data is an “attractive nuisance” – people are interested in it because we have personal information on very public figures. Controlling access to that data is critical. No matter what security promises are in our agreement with a cloud provide, and regardless of the amount of SAS 70-2 control in place, we will be loathe to release control over our member data to an outside firm. Although security can be a selling point for Microsoft’s products, abdicating our control over this information poses a significant risk that must be addressed. In addition, the cloud providers I have investigated do not encrypt data in motion or at rest, requirements that have begun to crop up in data security and privacy legislation. Bottom line – I need to be able to affirmatively state that my cloud provider is better and more knowledgeable about data security than I am.

Wish #4: Easy Integration.
Not only are our systems highly customized, they are extensively integrated. I need an end-to-end integration of solutions; in particular, hybrid solutions that support only certain user groups and are integrated via web services with locally hosted options. I haven’t yet seen a hybrid solution that provides easy manageability between on-premises and hosted solutions. And I want to manage performance, access, and the like seamlessly, whether that data or application or user resides in the cloud or on premises. And by the way, which cloud? Just as there are many clouds in the sky, there are many cloud providers. Will information in Oracle On-Demand play easily with enterprise applications developed in Azure?

Wish #5: Clarification of Legal Issues.
Our data is part of our intellectual property. Access to that data creates a risk that it will be used in ways that negatively impact our organization. For example, we control access to determining who is eligible to work under a SAG contract. Providing access to work history data could enable other entities to try to make such decisions about our members. E-discovery is another big issue, both in terms of our own need to provide access to electronic assets as well as concerns about allowing inadvertent or unauthorized access to our data in the cloud. If a subpoena is served for access to our data, how will our cloud provider respond? Will we be notified of what data was delivered? Further, what is our obligation to report the remote storage of customer data? As laws surrounding electronic data continue to change, I want to be certain that I’m in compliance and that our organization continues to be served by operating in the cloud.

Despite the fact that my wishes aren’t yet a reality, I’ve decided it’s prudent to assess what steps we can take, and when, to avail ourselves of cloud computing’s potential to save on infrastructure costs and to increase computing capabilities. I’m looking forward to putting together my cloud computing roadmap, and I encourage other CIOs to create their own cloudy forecast.

Author: Erin Griffin
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Cloud Computing In The Contact Center

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Companies are looking for cloud solutions that satisfy the requirements of the IT manager in terms of reliability, security and rapid access to data, while still receiving everything they need such as service, flexibility and user-friendliness. By consolidating resources into secure, redundant and hardened data centres, providers of cloud solutions can offer a considerably higher degree of reliability and increased network security than before. Yet many companies are still sceptical about these claims and doubt whether a cloud-based communication solution can be successfully implemented within their organisation.

However, these reservations are unjustified. The advantages of cloud-based solutions for contact centres are significant, and many companies globally are showing greater interest and adoption. So, what are the main advantages of cloud computing?

Lower capital expenditure and lower costs

Cloud-based services save companies the high capital expenditure normally required for a communication platform and its associated applications. Companies no longer have to worry about configuration modifications, system maintenance, security and disaster recovery or software upgrades and updates.

Communication services are transformed into single, predictable cost items summarised on a monthly invoice where only the resources that are actually used are paid for (pay-as-you-go). Large server farms can be reduced or removed, significantly lowering not only cost but also energy consumption.

Rapid adaptation to growth and change

The contact centre infrastructure must quickly adapt to meet business requirements. Additional cloud services can be requested and provided at any time. New users, new sites and new functions are easily added or removed without having to invest in a new on-site system. Cloud services give companies the ability to combine new or additional services with existing on-site solutions for agents.

Keeps up-to-date with innovative technology

Given the rapid pace of technological advance, setting up a contact centre solution is not a one-off exercise. The requirements of customers and agents call for further investments and upgrades in order to keep pace with developments. Cloud-based services allow companies to keep up to date effortlessly with the latest developments. New applications or versions can be used as soon as they are released. Software is automatically updated at no additional cost and the system itself does not require any updates or overhauls.

Cloud computing provides the highest levels of security

Security is a sensitive topic and is still the key factor for many companies in the decision for or against a hosted solution. In-built software security measures and compliance with current international security standards must undoubtedly form the basis of any such solution. Risk audits must be able to be carried out at any time so the location of the data centre becomes an important factor. In general, both providers and users of cloud services should treat data security as a sensitive subject.

Availability to customers

The contact centre is important for the success of a business and the subject of availability should be given high priority. Customers want to be able to talk to someone at any time. Poor or limited accessibility is not only bad for business, it usually results in dissatisfied customers. The technology employed by cloud service providers, such as distributed or grid computing, guarantees an extremely high degree of availability.

Self-administration and management

The ability to intervene and make important changes yourself is vital, even for hosted solutions. As there are no devices or software to physically or virtually install or configure, all interactions with the contact centre solution take place in real-time via a web browser, whether it be for agents, supervisors or managers. This enables specialists to carry out and adapt critical and required tasks, such as routing changes or generation of reports and evaluations, as and when required.

Author: Kathryn Penn
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4 Myths of Cloud Computing

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With all the talk about cloud computing and its impact on business it’s important to understand what the cloud is — and what it isn’t.

James Staten, vice president and principal analyst at Forrester Research, provided his company’s take on the subject this week at the Autodesk University, where cloud computing was Topic A for the annual users conference that drew more than 8,000 people.

The main advantages cloud computing provides — connectivity, mobility, flexibility and the power of infinite computing — are easy to grasp. But less well understood is the definition of clouding computing and its key attributes.

Staten sought to bring clarity to the matter in a talk about for four common myths of cloud computing.

Myth 1: The cloud is just another name for outsourcing.

No, it isn’t, said Staten, who offered this definition:

What makes a cloud a cloud: A standardized technology capability (services, software or infrastructure) delivered in a pay-per-use, self-service way.

The three characteristics — standardized technology capability, pay-per-use and self-service — need to be present, said Staten, who warned of “cloudwashing” by vendors and others who mistakenly or deliberately say they have a cloud product, when in fact they don’t.

Staten added it’s important to keep in mind the business model of the cloud. “You never own the cloud,” he said. “You always just rent from the cloud.”

Myth 2: The cloud is the future for everything.

While cloud computing is reshaping the way business is done and how people connect, it will not replace traditional computing even though it may greatly inform it.

“Not everything is [or will become] cloud and shouldn’t be,” said Staten. He and various Autodesk execs pointed out that there are things cloud computing does very well and others best left to traditional computing.

“I would submit to you that cloud is inherently good for four things,” said Amar Hanspal, Autodesk’s senior vice president for platform solutions and emerging business, in another discussion session:

  1. Connecting people to each other and connecting devices.
  2. Connecting people to information and fresh data in real time.
  3. Delivering the power of infinite computing.
  4. Making it possible for everyone to have access to design technology, so that in effect everyone can be a designer or participate in the process.

Traditional computing typically involves fixed costs and items, enables varied deployments by a single tenant, is more manual and affords a high degree of control and customization, Staten said.

In contrast, cloud computing is characterized by variable costs and items, standardized deployments, multi-tenancy, a high degree of automation, lower levels of customer control and limited customization, he said.

The most likely scenario for IT as well as business solutions going forward is a blend of the two, said Staten, pointing to Autodesk’s approach for some of its new offerings.

Myth 3: The cloud saves you money.

A couple of qualifiers need to be added to make that sentence true, according to Staten. “The cloud can be cheaper, if you use it right,” he said.

He offered car rental as an analogy: Renting a car is a pay-per-use proposition that is cost effective for certain situations but not for those requiring extended or permanent 24/7 use.

“For the cloud, you want to put things out there that a) have elasticity and b) transiency,” Staten said, “Go up there for a little while and then go back down.”

Myth 4: The cloud is not secure.

“The cloud is more secure than you are,” Staten said.

He noted that companies offering cloud services are focused on that deliverable. They are acutely aware they have a high degree of exposure and “invest heavily in the best security minds out there.” They are in a constant cycle of validation with customers. And they take into account that multi-tenancy requires a higher degree of security.

“If you’re Coke and in the cloud, Pepsi can be right next door,” said Staten, which is why cloud services entail more encryption to keep data secure.

He stressed, however, that businesses using the cloud, as well as the vendors that provide cloud services, have responsibilities.

“Secure cloud computing is an uneven handshake,” Staten said. “You have a responsibility as a user.”

That includes carefully managing how points of access are given to internal and external work partners and when that access is lifted.

Staten was among several presenters who helped frame the discussion during Autodesk U. As the conference came to a close yesterday, business and tech consulting firm Microdesk, a participant and exhibitor at the gathering, offered a forecast of cloud computing’s impact on the architecture, engineering, construction and operations industry.

Here are Microdesk’s five predictions:

  1. Firms will push the envelope of what’s possible in the cloud.
  2. More companies will embrace building information modeling, a transformational technology. Building information modeling, better known as BIM, enables people to visualize how design elements, materials and other choices affect projects and their performance.
  3. AECO professionals take full advantage of mobility and bring data, designs and work documents with them in the field, and wherever else they are needed.
  4. The industry will adopt technology faster in order to streamline processes, reduce costs and improve ROI.
  5. Collaboration will occur on a larger scale than ever.

In addition to cloud computing, other themes threaded through the Autodesk conference included:

  • The impact of cloud and advanced technology on sustainable design of products as well as buildings and communities.
  • The rise of the makers’ movement as a result of technology that enables the “democratization of design,” which is one of Autodesk’s aims.

The developments have fueled what Hanspal and his Autodesk colleagues described as a post-Industrial Revolution revolution. “Design and manufacturing are moving back into the hands of people,” Hanspal said.

 

Author: Leslie Guevarra
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Verizon To Offer Virtualised Android Phones

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Telefonica and Verizon will become the first operators to offer Android phones running VMware’s mobile hypervisor, the companies announced on Wednesday at the VMworld 2011 Europe conference in Copenhagen.

VMware has previously said that Verizon would offer the service, without disclosing details about timing, but this is the first time Telefonica has said it plans to offer phones with the hypervisor.

Users of phones with the VMware product will find two profiles on their devices: one for personal use and one for business use. The setup allows for the isolation of enterprise apps from apps available on the open Android Market that could be malicious.

The operators will be making slightly different offerings, said Steve Herrod, chief technology officer for VMware.

Dual subscription

Telefonica will make its offering available initially on the Samsung Galaxy SII. Unlike Verizon, Telefonica will allow users to have two phone numbers, one for business and one for personal use. That means a user will be able to have two voice and data subscriptions on one phone.

Telefonica is able to make that offering using dual-SIM cards. Such a setup would be more difficult for Verizon, which will only allow one phone number on its service, because of its network technology.

IT managers will be able to remotely control the business side of the phone using software from VMware. That software lets administrators remotely wipe just the corporate applications and data, push applications to the phones and set policies for the corporate profile. Telefonica will offer the IT management features as a hosted service.

Verizon will instead offer that software to enterprises to run from inside their firewalls, Herrod said.

Toggle interest growing

Verizon’s offer will initially be available on LG phones. Phone makers must build part of the necessary software into the phones before they hit shelves, meaning the selection of compatible phones initially is likely to be small. LG and Samsung are the only two manufacturers to have announced their support of VMware’s technology.

Neither operator is announcing specific launch dates or pricing but say the service will be available in the coming months.

VMware first started talking about its mobile hypervisor late last year. Interest in the concept of separating business applications from personal, particularly for Android phones, appears to be growing.

Last week, AT&T launched a service called Toggle that allows users to separate work applications from personal applications on Android phones. It’s based on technology from Enterproid, which is different from VMware’s in that applications must be built using Enterproid’s technology in order to be separated from the rest of the phone.

OK Labs is pushing a similar concept for isolating certain applications. Last week, Red Bend started talking about its own virtualisation technology, which would work similarly to VMware’s, but it hasn’t announced phone or operator partners yet.

Author: Nancy Gohring
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Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About The Cloud (But Were Afraid To Ask)

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Cloud computing is certainly attracting headlines in the media. You might have noticed Microsoft’s Cloud Power advertising blitz, or seen Apple’s Steve Jobs talking excitedly about iCloud. The trouble is that, for most companies, it’s hard to work out whether any of this hype is relevant to their business.

So is the cloud an option for you? As it happens, it is likely that your company already uses a cloud-based solution. If you subscribe to Hosted Exchange for your email, Online Backup for your critical files or a website hosting company, you already do so.

What’s new – for small and mid-sized companies at least – is the concept of replacing your old server (which often sits in a darkened corner of your offices) with a fully hosted alternative.

So what does that mean? Simply put, all of your software – from Microsoft Office to Sage to CRM – plus your files and data are stored in a data centre. No more servers at your offices. No more costly server upgrades every four of five years. No more Microsoft licence purchases for servers or PCs. Instead, you simply pay a fixed monthly fee per person, with zero set-up costs. You then just need a fast internet connection (plus a backup line in case the first one goes down).

Why are businesses considering this as an option? For many it comes down to money. During the downturn, most businesses reduced IT spending, often by deferring the replacement of their servers. Many of those servers are now suffering frequent failures or running slowly, affecting the ability of staff to work. Rather than simply replacing those ageing servers, companies are looking at whether a cloud alternative makes financial sense.

But there are other significant benefits too.

The amount of downtime when your employees cannot work because of a server failure is likely to be significantly reduced. Your company’s vital data will be more secure as it is stored at Tier 4 data centers. If you have staff that work regularly at home, at client sites or on the move, they can access everything they need to work without interruption or delay. Similarly, any business with multiple offices will avoid spending thousands on ensuring everyone can access the same files.

What about the downsides? Well, the cloud is definitely not right for every business. Design agencies, architects and video production companies are probably a non-starter. Likewise, if your internet line is chronically slow and a faster line is unavailable, the cloud is not for you.

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Hosted Voice Expands Communications And Productivity

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Businesses can finally replace their old phone systems and get a far more flexible phone solution for a fraction of the cost. But it’s not just replacing one phone system for another.

With Hosted voice, you get the benefits of a fully managed phone system, which means you’ll need fewer resident experts to handle things. What’s more, Hosted voice expands communications and productivity by providing a range of advanced features and functionality. And it does so without straining your budget.

1. Lower Total Cost of Ownership

Business is more unpredictable than ever––growth one year, contraction the next. Ideally, you’d be able to secure the most advanced technologies without having to spend significant money upfront on hardware. Hosted voice makes this possible.

2. Minimal IT resource

Unlike the complex traditional phone systems that sit in a closet, Hosted Voice requires very little IT support or training to administer. You can quickly add users, delete users, enable additional features––all without additional support or staff. The reason? A simple web interface. In fact, a Hosted Voice solution is so simple and intuitive, users can manage their own features right from their computers.

3. Operating expenditure vs. capital expenditure

The last thing you want to do in this economy, or any economic climate for that matter, is spend tens of thousands of pounds on a phone system. With Hosted Voice, there are no large servers or systems to purchase. Other than phones, there are no capital expenditures to depreciate over time. Which means it comes off your books. All you have is an affordable monthly service fee that connects your business and employees to a host of capabilities that dramatically improve productivity.

4. Business continuity

Let’s assume some worst case scenarios: Your building is flooded, the erratic weather wreaks havoc, or a fire knocks out power for miles around. Now, let’s assume you have Hosted Voice. Want to know how things would be? Business would go on uninterrupted.

Since no physical box resides on your premises – it resides in redundant and secure data centres – customers can still connect with your business because employees can work from anywhere. The reason? A web-based portal that allows you to quickly forward calls to cell phones or other phones in unaffected locations.

5. Scale up/scale down

Five year projections? Ten year projections? Frankly, for most businesses, it has become nearly impossible to make accurate predictions. It’s why you need a highly-flexible technology like Hosted Voice.

Hosted Voice is a sure way to give you the peace of mind that comes from not being constrained by a phone system that only supports a fixed number of employees and can be costly and complicated to expand. If resources become squeezed, you can quickly scale back.

On the other hand, if you open a new branch office, or need to provide remote communications, or just need to prepare for a spike in demand around the holidays, it’s quick and easy to scale up without any disruption to your business. Total flexibility. Easy to manage. Quick to deploy. Hosted Voice is a decision with only upside.

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The Future of VoIP

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Back in 1995, the first Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) calls were made between two PCs. At first, it was just a technological novelty but by 1998, VoIP had begun to establish itself as a means of providing low-cost long distance calls, carrying an estimated 1% of US phone traffic.

Jump forward ten years to 2008 and VoIP has revolutionised the way that residential and business communications are delivered. According to Infonetics, around 30% of all international telephone traffic is now carried as VoIP.

In the business world, VoIP has been the driving force behind a range of new options for business communications. Businesses looking to replace their existing telephone system will almost certainly examine a range of VoIP-capable PABXs. But for businesses of all sizes, there is now another option – hosted IP communications from a service provider.

At Nortel, we call this IP Powered Business, and it enables a consistent, fully-featured voice service to be delivered to end-users regardless of where they are; at a corporate headquarters or branch office, working at a customer site or at home. Because the service is delivered from high-availability, network-based softswitches, businesses have huge flexibility to add new users and new locations, to move users between locations and rapidly implement business continuity plans, which may require an entire workforce to relocate to temporary premises in the space of a few hours.

With the global recession beginning to bite, business users are also attracted by the commercial advantages of using a hosted IP communications service. They no longer need to buy, manage, maintain and upgrade their own PABX. Instead, a service provider can offer a range of service packages for a per-user, per month fee. Those packages will certainly include all the traditional business telephony features, such as call diversion and voice mail, but are also growing to include multimedia features such as presence, instant-messaging, click-to-call, video calling, video conferencing and collaboration.

End-users can choose to access the service via traditional telephone or via a PC client – or both. And with Fixed Mobile Convergence, end-users can move seamlessly between fixed and mobile phones, and between cellular and WiFi networks while maintaining the ability to access their complete range of services and content.

All this is available today – but coming in the near future will be a new level of integration between web-based applications and VoIP services. One example of this could be a lone-worker application, which displays the location and safety status of employees working alone, and which allows a supervisor to contact each employee on their mobile phone simply by clicking on that employee’s icon on a map screen.

Innovations in VoIP have not been limited to the business market. Home users have also participated in a phenomenal explosion of VoIP usage. As well as dedicated VoIP service providers such as Skype, we have also seen VoIP being embedded into Instant Messaging applications from Yahoo, Google and Microsoft as well as games consoles, enabling multi-player gamers to chat while playing over the broadband network. We’ve also seen the emergence of triple and quad-play service providers, such as Neuf-Cegetel in France, who have successfully won business from millions of homes by packaging broadband access, VoIP, TV and mobile services. At Nortel, we’ve termed this the IP Powered Home and it’s about to get even more exciting.

Coming soon will be new features, such as the ability to add telephony functions to IPTV. When you receive an incoming call at home, the TV will automatically pause the live broadcast you are watching, show details of the caller and allow you to accept the call or send it to voicemail simply by pressing a button on the remote control.

VoIP has come a long way, from its earliest incarnation as a technical curiosity for PC enthusiasts to the underlying technology for almost all new voice telephony networks today. As we begin to explore the opportunities for further integration between fixed, mobile and web-based services, we can expect to see a great deal more VoIP-oriented innovation in the months and years ahead.

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Choosing The Right VoIP Service For Your Business

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The telephone switchboard and landline desk phone may not be dead, but they are becoming relics of the past along with office ashtrays and typewriters.

Businesses are increasingly turning away from PBX (private branch exchange) phone systems and toward VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) telephony, which enables conversations to travel as data across the Internet. By 2013 more than 80 percent of businesses will use VoIP, according to research by In-Stat.

Is VoIP Right for You?

VoIP can be ideal if your company handles many calls among multiple people, has mobile employees, or juggles satellite offices. Implementing the technology can help to shrink or eliminate the cost of long-distance and conference calls.

In addition, VoIP provides the flexibility to manage calls as you would other data. For example, a caller’s contact information may pop up on a Web-based dashboard or on a smartphone with a VoIP app when they ring your number. Depending on the service, voice calls can be translated to text that you read via e-mail or on a smartphone. Many VoIP services extend beyond voice to encompass instant messaging, virtual meetings, and videoconferencing. VoIP is key to unified communications efforts to integrate all of your correspondence into a single, digital hub.

If you already have a local or wide-area network, then you’ve already laid much of the groundwork. Make sure that your organization has enough bandwidth–a T1 line or better–before trying to cram your calls through a sluggish data pipeline.

VoIP Options

What kind of VoIP system you need depends on the size of your business and the number of locations. One person working at home probably doesn’t need much more than a consumer service such as Skype, ViaTalk, or Vonage. Just sign up, download the app, don a headset, and you’re good to go. Skype even offers encryption to keep calls private. Mobile VoIP apps can help you rein in cell phone bills.

But that’s not enough if you need individual phone lines for your employees. In this case, the many VoIP options essentially break down to either a hosted or on-site VoIP service. Hybrid services can blend the two, letting you combine old and new equipment.

Hosted VoIP leaves the heavy technology lifting to another company. It can help a small business appear bigger by offering PBX-style features, such as individual phone numbers for employees and call transfers, even to workers away from their desks. It can include toll-free numbers and integration with e-mail and faxing software. You basically download software and buy or lease IP phones for each user. There’s little need to invest in expensive equipment or to pay an IT pro for ongoing support. 8×8 and Speakeasy are among the many companies offering hosted VoIP. Your Internet service provider may offer options for VoIP service, as well.

By contrast, on-premise VoIP will offer all the features of a hosted service, with the option for fine-tuning. Avaya and Cisco are among the vendors to consider. For this VoIP PBX option, however, you’ll have to handle all the hardware and the calls, so it’s time to call an IT pro. If you’re upgrading from a pure PBX system, a VoIP gateway device on your network can make the transition. Once you have VoIP going on your network, you should optimize your router and your network to prioritize traffic to ensure high call quality.

Before You Leap

As for the drawbacks, a hosted service may lack the customization you crave, or charge you extra fees for adding features or new users; it could leave you high and dry if the company goes belly-up, too. With on-premise VoIP, you may suffer the obvious headaches and costs of managing any tech equipment in-house, including a large up-front investment.

Before you make the big VoIP switch-over, look closely at the numbers. Compare what you currently spend per user on phone service with what you project to pay a VoIP provider. Read the fine print of any service to determine any hidden fees. Figure in hardware and ongoing maintenance, and don’t forget to add the cost of a faster Internet connection, if you need one.

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VoIP Migration Leads to Savings

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Small businesses looking to ditch old PBX landline phones can save big and increase staff productivity by migrating to Internet-based phone systems.

The telephone switchboard and landline desk phone may not be dead, but they are becoming relics of the past along with office ashtrays and typewriters.

Businesses are increasingly turning away from PBX (private branch exchange) phone systems and toward VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) telephony, which enables conversations to travel as data across the Internet. By 2013 more than 80 percent of businesses will use VoIP, according to research by In-Stat.

Is VoIP Right for You?

VoIP can be ideal if your company handles many calls among multiple people, has mobile employees, or juggles satellite offices. Implementing the technology can help to shrink or eliminate the cost of long-distance and conference calls.

In addition, VoIP provides the flexibility to manage calls as you would other data. For example, a caller’s contact information may pop up on a Web-based dashboard or on a smartphone with a VoIP app when they ring your number. Depending on the service, voice calls can be translated to text that you read via e-mail or on a smartphone. Many VoIP services extend beyond voice to encompass instant messaging, virtual meetings, and videoconferencing. VoIP is key to unified communications efforts to integrate all of your correspondence into a single, digital hub.

If you already have a local or wide-area network, then you’ve already laid much of the groundwork. Make sure that your organization has enough bandwidth–a T1 line or better–before trying to cram your calls through a sluggish data pipeline.

VoIP Options

What kind of VoIP system you need depends on the size of your business and the number of locations. One person working at home probably doesn’t need much more than a consumer service such as Skype, ViaTalk, or Vonage. Just sign up, download the app, don a headset, and you’re good to go. Skype even offers encryption to keep calls private. Mobile VoIP apps can help you rein in cell phone bills.

But that’s not enough if you need individual phone lines for your employees. In this case, the many VoIP options essentially break down to either a hosted or on-site VoIP service. Hybrid services can blend the two, letting you combine old and new equipment.

Research firm Frost & Sullivan projects that hosted VoIP will grow by 30 percent and on-premise by 12 percent over the next five years.

Hosted VoIP leaves the heavy technology lifting to another company. It can help a small business appear bigger by offering PBX-style features, such as individual phone numbers for employees and call transfers, even to workers away from their desks. It can include toll-free numbers and integration with e-mail and faxing software. You basically download software and buy or lease IP phones for each user. There’s little need to invest in expensive equipment or to pay an IT pro for ongoing support.

By contrast, on-premise VoIP will offer all the features of a hosted service, with the option for fine-tuning. Avaya and Cisco are among the vendors to consider. For this VoIP PBX option, however, you’ll have to handle all the hardware and the calls, so it’s time to call an IT pro. If you’re upgrading from a pure PBX system, a VoIP gateway device on your network can make the transition. Once you have VoIP going on your network, you should optimize your router and your network to prioritize traffic to ensure high call quality.

Source