Voice Over Internet Protocol
Content
SIMARPREET SINGH SAHNI/ VOIP/ E.C.E.
1
SIMARPREET SINGH SAHNI/ VOIP/ E.C.E.
ABSTRACT
Today, Internet is becoming increasingly popular in usage. It is used not only for text based data communication only, but also for multimedia communication, for example, audio, video and graphics. This seminar deals with the audio communication over internet: Voice over IP. VoIP is the ability to make telephone calls and send faxes over IP-based data networks with a suitable quality of service (QoS) and superior cost/benefit. Everyone is talking about VoIP and everyone wants a piece of the pie. Voice over IP (VoIP) enables user to make calls in real time between any combination of phones and PCs. VoIP converts voice traffic into data packets and transports them over the Internet. This report first discusses the basic of VoIP including its motivations and working. Then it focuses on Quality of Services in VoIP. The protocols and standards that exist today are also examined. Finally the key problems of present VoIP technology are discussed followed by its expected future.
2
SIMARPREET SINGH SAHNI/ VOIP/ E.C.E.
INTRODUCTION
Voice over IP is mainly concerned with the realization of telephone service over IP-based networks such as the Internet and Intranet. IP telephony is currently breaking through to become one of the most important services on the net. The actual breakthrough was made possible by the high bandwidth available in an intranet and, increasingly, on the internet. Another fundamental reason is the cost associated with the various implementations. The public telephone network and the equipment makes it possible are taken for granted in most parts of the world. Availability of a telephone and access to low-cost, high quality worldwide network is considered to be essential in modern society (telephone are even expected to work when the power off).There is, however, a paradigm shift beginning to occur since more and more communication is in digital form and transported via packet networks such as IP, ATM cells, and Frame Relay frames. Since data traffic, there has been considerable interest in transporting voice over data networks. Support for voice communications using the Internet Protocol(IP), which is usually just called “Voice over IP” or VOIP, has become especially attractive given the low-cost, flat-rate pricing of the public Internet. In fact, toll quality telephony over IP has now become one of the key steps leading to the convergence of the voice, video, and data communications industries. The feasibility of carrying voice and signaling message over the internet has already been demonstrated but delivering high-quality commercial products, establishing public services, and convincing users to buy into the vision are just beginning. VOIP can be defined as the ability to make telephone calls (i.e. to do everything we can do today with the PSTN) and to send facsimiles over IP- based data networks with a suitable quality of service (QoS) and a much superior cost/benefit. Equipment producers see VOIP as a new opportunity to innovate and compete. The challenge for then is turning this vision into reality by quickly developing new VOIP-enabled equipment. For Internet service providers, the possibility of introducing usage-based pricing and increasing their traffic volumes is very attractive. Users are seeking new types of integrated voice/data applications as well as cost benefits. Successfully delivering voice over packet networks presents a tremendous opportunity; however, implementing the products is not as straightforward a task as it may first appear. This document examines the technologies, infrastructures, software, and systems that will be necessary to realize VOIP on a large scale. The types of applications that will both drive the market and benefit the most from the convergence of voice and data networks will be identified. Voice over IP (VOIP) owes its existence to the difference in price between long-distance connections and the use of data networks. This technology uses data networks such as the Internet to transmit voice information from a simple PC. A telephone conversation is conducted via microphone and loudspeaker connected to the sound card. Microsoft NetMeeting is the most common Internet telephony program. Its features also include Internet video communication (image telephony). Or, a special adapter can be used to hook standard telephones up to the data network. All devices that support the same standard can be connected over one data network. Gateways are also available for connecting these devices to telephones in the normal telephone network. These possibilities have led to the creation of IP-based telephone systems using VOIP.
3
SIMARPREET SINGH SAHNI/ VOIP/ E.C.E.
SPEECH QUALITY AND CHARACTERISTICS
The quality of sound reproduction over a telephone network is fundamentally subjective, although standardized measures have been developed by the ITU. It has been found that there are three facts can profoundly impact the quality of the service Delay: The two problems that result from high end-to-end delay in a voice are echo and talker overlap. Echo becomes a problem when the roundtrip delay is more than 50 milliseconds. Since echo is perceived as a significant quality problem, VoIP systems must address the need for echo control and implement some means of echo cancellation. Talker overlap (the problem of one caller stepping on the talker’s speech ) becomes significant if the one-way delay becomes greater than 250 milliseconds. The end-to-end delay budget is therefore the major constrain and driving requirement for reducing delay through a packet network. Jitter (Delay Variability): Jitter is the variation in inter-packet arrival time as introduced by the variable transmission delay over the network. Removing jitter requires collecting packets and holding them long enough to allow the slowest packets to arrive in time to be played in the correct sequence, which causes additional delay. The jitter buffers add delay, which is used to remove the packet delay variation that each packet is subjected to as it transits the packet network.
Figure 1: controlling delay and jitter
4
SIMARPREET SINGH SAHNI/ VOIP/ E.C.E.
IP NETWORK SUPPORT FOR VOICE
A key requirement for successful VoIP deployment is the availability of an underlying IP-based network that is capable of real-time telephone and facsimile. As was noted above, voice quality is affected by delay, jitter, and unreliable packet delivery – all of which are typical characteristics of the basic IP network service. Most of today’s data network equipment – routers, LAN switches, ATM switches, networks interface cards, PBXs, etc. – will need to be able to support voice traffic. Furthermore, VoIP-specific equipment will either have to be integrated into these devices or work compatibly with them. VoIP equipment must also accommodate environments ranging from private, wellplanned corporate Intranets to the less predictable Internet. Three different technique are used (separately or in combination) to improve network quality of service. 1. Providing a conrolled networking environment in which capacity can be pre-planned and adequate performance can be assumed (at least most of the time). This would generally be the case with a private IP network (an Intranet) that is owned and operated by a single organization. 2. Using management tools to configure the network nodes, monitor performance, and manage capacity and flow on a dynamic basis. Most internetworking devices (routers, switches, etc.) include a variety of mechanisms that can be useful in supporting voice. For example, traffic can be prioritized by location, by protocol, or by application type, thereby allowing real-time traffic to be given precedence over non-critical traffic. Queuing mechanisms can also be manipulated to minimize delays for realtime data flows. More recent developments, such as tag switching and flow switching, can also improve overall performance and reduce delays. 3. Adding control protocols and mechanisms that help avoid or alleviate the problems inherent in IP networks. Protocols such as RTP (real-time protocol) and RSVP (Resources Reservation Protocol) are also being used to provide greater assurances of controlled QoS within the network. Other mechanisms such as admission controls and traffic shaping may also be used to avoid overloading a network (this would be comparable to getting a network busy signal on the telephone at peak periods such as Christmas). VoIP equipment, which can be categorized into client, access/gateway, and carrier class/infrastructure segments, should be configurable to capitalize on these different techniques but must also be sufficiently flexible to add new techniques as they become available. Producers that make use of embedded software should focus on how to best utilize the functions instead of focusing on the problems associated with implementing and testing the objects themselves. Real time voice traffic can be carried over IP networks in three different ways.
5
SIMARPREET SINGH SAHNI/ VOIP/ E.C.E. • Voice trunks can replace the analog or digital circuits that are serving as voice trunks (such as private links between company-owned PBXs) or PSTN access trunks (links between a PBX and the carrier). Voice packets are transferred between pre-defines IP addresses, thereby eliminating the need for phone number to IP address conversions. Fallback to the PSTN (or the private voice circuits) is always option in this scenario. PC-to-PC voice can be provided for multimedia PCs (i.e. PCs with a microphone and sound system) operating over an IP-based network without connecting to the PSTN. PC application and IP-enabled telephones can communicate using point-to-point or multipoint sessions (a form of Internet ham radio). This type of system may emulate a CB radio or an Internet chat group and could be combined with shared data systems such as whiteboards (i.e. multimedia solutions). Telephony (any phone-to-any other phone) communications (as is illustrated in Fig.1) appears like a normal telephone to the caller but may actually consist of various forms of voice over packet network, all interconnected to the PSTN. Gateway functionality is required when interconnecting to the PSTN or when interfacing the standard telephones to a data network. In the future, IPenabled telephones will connect directly. For true universality, standards for VoIP (and voice over frame relay or ATM) must be adopted and applied.
•
•
APPLICATIONS AND BENEFITS OF VoIP
Voice communication will certainly remain a basic from of interaction for all of us. The PSTN simply cannot be replaced, or even dramatically changed, in the short term (this may not apply to provide voice networks, however). The immediate goal for VoIP service providers is to reproduce existing telephone capabilities at a significantly lower “total cost of operation “and to offer a technically competitive alternative to the PSTN. It is the combination of VoIP with point-of-service applications that shows great promise for the longer term. The first measure of success for VoIP will be cost saving for long distance calls as long as there are no additional constraints imposed on the end user. For example, callers should not be required to use a microphone on a PC. VoIP provides a competitive threat to the providers of traditional telephone service that, at the very least, will stimulate improvements in cost and function throughout the industry.
6
SIMARPREET SINGH SAHNI/ VOIP/ E.C.E.
Figure 2: VOIP infrastructure
Some example of VoIP applications that are likely to be useful would be: a) PSTN gateways: Interconnection of the Internet to the PSTN can be accomplished using a gateway, either integrated into a PBX (the iPBX) or provided as a separate device. A PC-based telephone, for example, would have access to the public network by calling a gateway at a point close to the destination (thereby minimizing long distance charges). b) Internet-aware telephones: Ordinary telephones (wired or wireless ) can be enhanced to serve as an Internet access device as well as providing normal telephony. Directory services, for example, could be accessed over the Internet by submitting a name and receiving a voice (or text ) reply. c) Internet-office trunking over the corporate intranet: Replacement of tie trunks between company-owned PBXs using an Intranet link would provide economies of scale and help to consolidate network facilities. d) Remote access from a branch (or home) office: A small office (or a home office) could gain access to corporate voice, data, and facsimile services using the company’s Intranet (emulating a remote extension for a PBX, for example). This may be useful for home-based agents working in a call center, for example. e) Voice calls from a mobile PC via the Internet: One example would be using the Internet to call from a hotel instead of using expensive hotel telephones. This could be ideal for submitting or retrieving voice messages. f) Internet call center access : Access to call center facilities via the Internet is emerging as a valuable enable adjunct to electronic commerce applications. Internet call center access would enable a customer who has questions about a product being offered over the Internet to access customer service agents online. Another VoIP application for call centers is the interconnection of multiple call centers. Widespread deployment of a new
7
SIMARPREET SINGH SAHNI/ VOIP/ E.C.E. technology seldom occurs without a clear and sustainable justification, and this is also the case with VoIP. Demonstrable benefits to end users are also needed if VoIP products (and services ) are to be a long-term success. Generally, the benefits of technology can be divided into the following four categories: 1. Cost Reduction. Although reducing long distance telephone costs is always a popular topic and would provide a good reason for introducing VoIP, the actual saving over the long term are still a subject of debate in the industry. Flat rate pricing is available with the Internet and can result in considerable savings for both voice and facsimile (at least currently). It has been estimated that up to 70% of all calls to Asia are to send faxes, most of which could be replaced by FoIP. These lower prices, however, are based on avoiding telephony access charges and settlement fees rather than being a fundamental reduction in resources costs. The sharing of equipment and operations costs across both data and voice users can also improve network efficiency since excess bandwidth on one network can be used by the other, thereby creating economies of scale for voice (especially given the rapid growth in data traffic ). 2. Simplification. An integrated infrastructure that supports all forms of communication allows more standardization and reduce all forms of communication allows more standardization and reduces the total equipment complement. This combined infrastructure can support dynamic bandwidth optimization and a fault tolerant design. The difference between the traffic patterns of voice and data offer further opportunities for significant efficiency improvements. 3. Consolidation. Since people are among the most significant cost elements in a network, any opportunity to combine operations, to eliminate points of failure, and to consolidate accounting systems would be beneficial. In the enterprise, SNMP based management can be provided for both voice and data services using VoIP. Universal use of the IP protocols for all applications holds out the promise of both services and security services may be more easily shared. Even though basic telephony and facsimile are the initial applications for VoIP, the longer term benefits are expected to be derived from multimedia and multi service applications. For example, Internet commerce solution can combine WWW access to a call center agent from the PC. Needless to say, voice is an integral part of conferencing systems that may also include shared screens, whiteboarding, etc. Combining voice and data features into new application will provide the greatest returns over the longer term. Although the use of voice over packet networks is relatively limited at present, there is considerable user interest and trials are beginning. End user demand is to grow rapidly the next five years. Frost & Sullivan and other research firms have estimated that the compound annual growth rate for IP-enabled telephone equipment will be 132% over the period from 1997 to 2002 (from $47.3 M in 1997 to $3.16B by 2002). It is expected that VoIP will be deployed by 70% of the Fortune 1000 companies by the year 2000. Industry analysts have also estimated that the annual revenues for the IP fax gateway market will increase from less than $20M in 1996 to over $100M by the
8
SIMARPREET SINGH SAHNI/ VOIP/ E.C.E. year 2000. It is clear that a market has already been established and there exists a window of opportunity for developers to bring their products to market.
VoIP PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT CHALLENGES
The goal for developers is relatively simple: add telephone calling capabilities ( both voice transfer and signaling) to IP-based networks and interconnect these to the public telephone network and to private voice networks in such as way as to maintain current voice quality standards and preserve the features everyone expects from the telephone. Fig illustrates an overall architecture for VoIP and Suggests that the challenges for the product developer arise in five specific areas: 1. Voice quality should be comparable to what is available using the PSTN, even over networks having variable levels of QoS. 2. The underlying IP network must meet strict performance criteria including minimizing call refusals, network latency, packet loss and disconnects. This is required even during congestion condition or when multiple users must share network resources. 3. Call control (signaling) must make the telephone calling process transparent so that the callers need not know what technology is actually implementing the service. 4. PSTN/VoIP service interworking (and equipment interoperability) involves gateways between the voice and data network environments. 5. System management, security, addressing (directories, dial plans) and accounting must be provided, preferably consolidated with the PSTN operation support systems (OSSs).
SUMMARY
Data traffic has traditionally been forced to fit onto the voice network (using modems, for example). The Internet has created an opportunity to reverse this integration strategy – voice and facsimile can now be carried over IP networks, with the integration of video and other multimedia applications close behind. The Internet and its underlying TCP/IP protocol suite have become the driving force for new technologies, with the unique challenges of real-time voice being the latest in a series of developments. Telephony over the Internet cannot make compromise in voice quality, reliability, scalability, and manageability. Future extensions will include innovative new solutions including conference bridging, voice/data synchronization, combined real-time and message-based services, text-to- speech conversion and voice response systems. The market for VoIP products is established and is beginning its rapid growth phase. 9
SIMARPREET SINGH SAHNI/ VOIP/ E.C.E. Producers in this market must look for ways to improve their time-to market if they wish to be market leaders. Buying and integrating predefined and pre-tested software (instead of custom building everything) is one of the options. Significant benefits of the “buy vs. build “ approach include reduced development time, simplified product integration, lower costs, off-loading of standard compliance issues, and fewer risks. Software that is known to conform to standards, has built-in accommodation for difference in national telephone systems, has already been optimized for performance and reliability, and has “plug and play” capabilities can eliminate many very time-consuming development tasks.
REFERENCES
[1] ISDN am computer, Torsten Schulz, Springer Verlag Berlin, 1998 [2] Delivering Voice over IP Networks, Daniel Emma Minoli, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1998 [3] LANline –Telecommunication Spezial, Awi Verlag, V/1998 [4] PC Professionell – Telefonieren im IP-Netz, ZIFF-DAVIS Verlag, November 1998 [5] Voice over IP(VOIP) Technology Review, Brendan Murphy, May 1999
10
1
SIMARPREET SINGH SAHNI/ VOIP/ E.C.E.
ABSTRACT
Today, Internet is becoming increasingly popular in usage. It is used not only for text based data communication only, but also for multimedia communication, for example, audio, video and graphics. This seminar deals with the audio communication over internet: Voice over IP. VoIP is the ability to make telephone calls and send faxes over IP-based data networks with a suitable quality of service (QoS) and superior cost/benefit. Everyone is talking about VoIP and everyone wants a piece of the pie. Voice over IP (VoIP) enables user to make calls in real time between any combination of phones and PCs. VoIP converts voice traffic into data packets and transports them over the Internet. This report first discusses the basic of VoIP including its motivations and working. Then it focuses on Quality of Services in VoIP. The protocols and standards that exist today are also examined. Finally the key problems of present VoIP technology are discussed followed by its expected future.
2
SIMARPREET SINGH SAHNI/ VOIP/ E.C.E.
INTRODUCTION
Voice over IP is mainly concerned with the realization of telephone service over IP-based networks such as the Internet and Intranet. IP telephony is currently breaking through to become one of the most important services on the net. The actual breakthrough was made possible by the high bandwidth available in an intranet and, increasingly, on the internet. Another fundamental reason is the cost associated with the various implementations. The public telephone network and the equipment makes it possible are taken for granted in most parts of the world. Availability of a telephone and access to low-cost, high quality worldwide network is considered to be essential in modern society (telephone are even expected to work when the power off).There is, however, a paradigm shift beginning to occur since more and more communication is in digital form and transported via packet networks such as IP, ATM cells, and Frame Relay frames. Since data traffic, there has been considerable interest in transporting voice over data networks. Support for voice communications using the Internet Protocol(IP), which is usually just called “Voice over IP” or VOIP, has become especially attractive given the low-cost, flat-rate pricing of the public Internet. In fact, toll quality telephony over IP has now become one of the key steps leading to the convergence of the voice, video, and data communications industries. The feasibility of carrying voice and signaling message over the internet has already been demonstrated but delivering high-quality commercial products, establishing public services, and convincing users to buy into the vision are just beginning. VOIP can be defined as the ability to make telephone calls (i.e. to do everything we can do today with the PSTN) and to send facsimiles over IP- based data networks with a suitable quality of service (QoS) and a much superior cost/benefit. Equipment producers see VOIP as a new opportunity to innovate and compete. The challenge for then is turning this vision into reality by quickly developing new VOIP-enabled equipment. For Internet service providers, the possibility of introducing usage-based pricing and increasing their traffic volumes is very attractive. Users are seeking new types of integrated voice/data applications as well as cost benefits. Successfully delivering voice over packet networks presents a tremendous opportunity; however, implementing the products is not as straightforward a task as it may first appear. This document examines the technologies, infrastructures, software, and systems that will be necessary to realize VOIP on a large scale. The types of applications that will both drive the market and benefit the most from the convergence of voice and data networks will be identified. Voice over IP (VOIP) owes its existence to the difference in price between long-distance connections and the use of data networks. This technology uses data networks such as the Internet to transmit voice information from a simple PC. A telephone conversation is conducted via microphone and loudspeaker connected to the sound card. Microsoft NetMeeting is the most common Internet telephony program. Its features also include Internet video communication (image telephony). Or, a special adapter can be used to hook standard telephones up to the data network. All devices that support the same standard can be connected over one data network. Gateways are also available for connecting these devices to telephones in the normal telephone network. These possibilities have led to the creation of IP-based telephone systems using VOIP.
3
SIMARPREET SINGH SAHNI/ VOIP/ E.C.E.
SPEECH QUALITY AND CHARACTERISTICS
The quality of sound reproduction over a telephone network is fundamentally subjective, although standardized measures have been developed by the ITU. It has been found that there are three facts can profoundly impact the quality of the service Delay: The two problems that result from high end-to-end delay in a voice are echo and talker overlap. Echo becomes a problem when the roundtrip delay is more than 50 milliseconds. Since echo is perceived as a significant quality problem, VoIP systems must address the need for echo control and implement some means of echo cancellation. Talker overlap (the problem of one caller stepping on the talker’s speech ) becomes significant if the one-way delay becomes greater than 250 milliseconds. The end-to-end delay budget is therefore the major constrain and driving requirement for reducing delay through a packet network. Jitter (Delay Variability): Jitter is the variation in inter-packet arrival time as introduced by the variable transmission delay over the network. Removing jitter requires collecting packets and holding them long enough to allow the slowest packets to arrive in time to be played in the correct sequence, which causes additional delay. The jitter buffers add delay, which is used to remove the packet delay variation that each packet is subjected to as it transits the packet network.
Figure 1: controlling delay and jitter
4
SIMARPREET SINGH SAHNI/ VOIP/ E.C.E.
IP NETWORK SUPPORT FOR VOICE
A key requirement for successful VoIP deployment is the availability of an underlying IP-based network that is capable of real-time telephone and facsimile. As was noted above, voice quality is affected by delay, jitter, and unreliable packet delivery – all of which are typical characteristics of the basic IP network service. Most of today’s data network equipment – routers, LAN switches, ATM switches, networks interface cards, PBXs, etc. – will need to be able to support voice traffic. Furthermore, VoIP-specific equipment will either have to be integrated into these devices or work compatibly with them. VoIP equipment must also accommodate environments ranging from private, wellplanned corporate Intranets to the less predictable Internet. Three different technique are used (separately or in combination) to improve network quality of service. 1. Providing a conrolled networking environment in which capacity can be pre-planned and adequate performance can be assumed (at least most of the time). This would generally be the case with a private IP network (an Intranet) that is owned and operated by a single organization. 2. Using management tools to configure the network nodes, monitor performance, and manage capacity and flow on a dynamic basis. Most internetworking devices (routers, switches, etc.) include a variety of mechanisms that can be useful in supporting voice. For example, traffic can be prioritized by location, by protocol, or by application type, thereby allowing real-time traffic to be given precedence over non-critical traffic. Queuing mechanisms can also be manipulated to minimize delays for realtime data flows. More recent developments, such as tag switching and flow switching, can also improve overall performance and reduce delays. 3. Adding control protocols and mechanisms that help avoid or alleviate the problems inherent in IP networks. Protocols such as RTP (real-time protocol) and RSVP (Resources Reservation Protocol) are also being used to provide greater assurances of controlled QoS within the network. Other mechanisms such as admission controls and traffic shaping may also be used to avoid overloading a network (this would be comparable to getting a network busy signal on the telephone at peak periods such as Christmas). VoIP equipment, which can be categorized into client, access/gateway, and carrier class/infrastructure segments, should be configurable to capitalize on these different techniques but must also be sufficiently flexible to add new techniques as they become available. Producers that make use of embedded software should focus on how to best utilize the functions instead of focusing on the problems associated with implementing and testing the objects themselves. Real time voice traffic can be carried over IP networks in three different ways.
5
SIMARPREET SINGH SAHNI/ VOIP/ E.C.E. • Voice trunks can replace the analog or digital circuits that are serving as voice trunks (such as private links between company-owned PBXs) or PSTN access trunks (links between a PBX and the carrier). Voice packets are transferred between pre-defines IP addresses, thereby eliminating the need for phone number to IP address conversions. Fallback to the PSTN (or the private voice circuits) is always option in this scenario. PC-to-PC voice can be provided for multimedia PCs (i.e. PCs with a microphone and sound system) operating over an IP-based network without connecting to the PSTN. PC application and IP-enabled telephones can communicate using point-to-point or multipoint sessions (a form of Internet ham radio). This type of system may emulate a CB radio or an Internet chat group and could be combined with shared data systems such as whiteboards (i.e. multimedia solutions). Telephony (any phone-to-any other phone) communications (as is illustrated in Fig.1) appears like a normal telephone to the caller but may actually consist of various forms of voice over packet network, all interconnected to the PSTN. Gateway functionality is required when interconnecting to the PSTN or when interfacing the standard telephones to a data network. In the future, IPenabled telephones will connect directly. For true universality, standards for VoIP (and voice over frame relay or ATM) must be adopted and applied.
•
•
APPLICATIONS AND BENEFITS OF VoIP
Voice communication will certainly remain a basic from of interaction for all of us. The PSTN simply cannot be replaced, or even dramatically changed, in the short term (this may not apply to provide voice networks, however). The immediate goal for VoIP service providers is to reproduce existing telephone capabilities at a significantly lower “total cost of operation “and to offer a technically competitive alternative to the PSTN. It is the combination of VoIP with point-of-service applications that shows great promise for the longer term. The first measure of success for VoIP will be cost saving for long distance calls as long as there are no additional constraints imposed on the end user. For example, callers should not be required to use a microphone on a PC. VoIP provides a competitive threat to the providers of traditional telephone service that, at the very least, will stimulate improvements in cost and function throughout the industry.
6
SIMARPREET SINGH SAHNI/ VOIP/ E.C.E.
Figure 2: VOIP infrastructure
Some example of VoIP applications that are likely to be useful would be: a) PSTN gateways: Interconnection of the Internet to the PSTN can be accomplished using a gateway, either integrated into a PBX (the iPBX) or provided as a separate device. A PC-based telephone, for example, would have access to the public network by calling a gateway at a point close to the destination (thereby minimizing long distance charges). b) Internet-aware telephones: Ordinary telephones (wired or wireless ) can be enhanced to serve as an Internet access device as well as providing normal telephony. Directory services, for example, could be accessed over the Internet by submitting a name and receiving a voice (or text ) reply. c) Internet-office trunking over the corporate intranet: Replacement of tie trunks between company-owned PBXs using an Intranet link would provide economies of scale and help to consolidate network facilities. d) Remote access from a branch (or home) office: A small office (or a home office) could gain access to corporate voice, data, and facsimile services using the company’s Intranet (emulating a remote extension for a PBX, for example). This may be useful for home-based agents working in a call center, for example. e) Voice calls from a mobile PC via the Internet: One example would be using the Internet to call from a hotel instead of using expensive hotel telephones. This could be ideal for submitting or retrieving voice messages. f) Internet call center access : Access to call center facilities via the Internet is emerging as a valuable enable adjunct to electronic commerce applications. Internet call center access would enable a customer who has questions about a product being offered over the Internet to access customer service agents online. Another VoIP application for call centers is the interconnection of multiple call centers. Widespread deployment of a new
7
SIMARPREET SINGH SAHNI/ VOIP/ E.C.E. technology seldom occurs without a clear and sustainable justification, and this is also the case with VoIP. Demonstrable benefits to end users are also needed if VoIP products (and services ) are to be a long-term success. Generally, the benefits of technology can be divided into the following four categories: 1. Cost Reduction. Although reducing long distance telephone costs is always a popular topic and would provide a good reason for introducing VoIP, the actual saving over the long term are still a subject of debate in the industry. Flat rate pricing is available with the Internet and can result in considerable savings for both voice and facsimile (at least currently). It has been estimated that up to 70% of all calls to Asia are to send faxes, most of which could be replaced by FoIP. These lower prices, however, are based on avoiding telephony access charges and settlement fees rather than being a fundamental reduction in resources costs. The sharing of equipment and operations costs across both data and voice users can also improve network efficiency since excess bandwidth on one network can be used by the other, thereby creating economies of scale for voice (especially given the rapid growth in data traffic ). 2. Simplification. An integrated infrastructure that supports all forms of communication allows more standardization and reduce all forms of communication allows more standardization and reduces the total equipment complement. This combined infrastructure can support dynamic bandwidth optimization and a fault tolerant design. The difference between the traffic patterns of voice and data offer further opportunities for significant efficiency improvements. 3. Consolidation. Since people are among the most significant cost elements in a network, any opportunity to combine operations, to eliminate points of failure, and to consolidate accounting systems would be beneficial. In the enterprise, SNMP based management can be provided for both voice and data services using VoIP. Universal use of the IP protocols for all applications holds out the promise of both services and security services may be more easily shared. Even though basic telephony and facsimile are the initial applications for VoIP, the longer term benefits are expected to be derived from multimedia and multi service applications. For example, Internet commerce solution can combine WWW access to a call center agent from the PC. Needless to say, voice is an integral part of conferencing systems that may also include shared screens, whiteboarding, etc. Combining voice and data features into new application will provide the greatest returns over the longer term. Although the use of voice over packet networks is relatively limited at present, there is considerable user interest and trials are beginning. End user demand is to grow rapidly the next five years. Frost & Sullivan and other research firms have estimated that the compound annual growth rate for IP-enabled telephone equipment will be 132% over the period from 1997 to 2002 (from $47.3 M in 1997 to $3.16B by 2002). It is expected that VoIP will be deployed by 70% of the Fortune 1000 companies by the year 2000. Industry analysts have also estimated that the annual revenues for the IP fax gateway market will increase from less than $20M in 1996 to over $100M by the
8
SIMARPREET SINGH SAHNI/ VOIP/ E.C.E. year 2000. It is clear that a market has already been established and there exists a window of opportunity for developers to bring their products to market.
VoIP PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT CHALLENGES
The goal for developers is relatively simple: add telephone calling capabilities ( both voice transfer and signaling) to IP-based networks and interconnect these to the public telephone network and to private voice networks in such as way as to maintain current voice quality standards and preserve the features everyone expects from the telephone. Fig illustrates an overall architecture for VoIP and Suggests that the challenges for the product developer arise in five specific areas: 1. Voice quality should be comparable to what is available using the PSTN, even over networks having variable levels of QoS. 2. The underlying IP network must meet strict performance criteria including minimizing call refusals, network latency, packet loss and disconnects. This is required even during congestion condition or when multiple users must share network resources. 3. Call control (signaling) must make the telephone calling process transparent so that the callers need not know what technology is actually implementing the service. 4. PSTN/VoIP service interworking (and equipment interoperability) involves gateways between the voice and data network environments. 5. System management, security, addressing (directories, dial plans) and accounting must be provided, preferably consolidated with the PSTN operation support systems (OSSs).
SUMMARY
Data traffic has traditionally been forced to fit onto the voice network (using modems, for example). The Internet has created an opportunity to reverse this integration strategy – voice and facsimile can now be carried over IP networks, with the integration of video and other multimedia applications close behind. The Internet and its underlying TCP/IP protocol suite have become the driving force for new technologies, with the unique challenges of real-time voice being the latest in a series of developments. Telephony over the Internet cannot make compromise in voice quality, reliability, scalability, and manageability. Future extensions will include innovative new solutions including conference bridging, voice/data synchronization, combined real-time and message-based services, text-to- speech conversion and voice response systems. The market for VoIP products is established and is beginning its rapid growth phase. 9
SIMARPREET SINGH SAHNI/ VOIP/ E.C.E. Producers in this market must look for ways to improve their time-to market if they wish to be market leaders. Buying and integrating predefined and pre-tested software (instead of custom building everything) is one of the options. Significant benefits of the “buy vs. build “ approach include reduced development time, simplified product integration, lower costs, off-loading of standard compliance issues, and fewer risks. Software that is known to conform to standards, has built-in accommodation for difference in national telephone systems, has already been optimized for performance and reliability, and has “plug and play” capabilities can eliminate many very time-consuming development tasks.
REFERENCES
[1] ISDN am computer, Torsten Schulz, Springer Verlag Berlin, 1998 [2] Delivering Voice over IP Networks, Daniel Emma Minoli, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1998 [3] LANline –Telecommunication Spezial, Awi Verlag, V/1998 [4] PC Professionell – Telefonieren im IP-Netz, ZIFF-DAVIS Verlag, November 1998 [5] Voice over IP(VOIP) Technology Review, Brendan Murphy, May 1999
10
