The information in the following documents is presented to help businesses
take full advantage of rapidly evolving technologies and technology trends.
3Com's goal is to provide the resources organizations require to deploy Secure
Converged Networks now.
3Com Solutions: Assessing Your Network for Voice Readiness
While most organizations are ready to experience the benefits of Voice over IP technology, their networks may not be ready to deliver its advantages. Read about the critical role quality, security and simplicity play in designing an effective converged communications infrastructure[em dash]one that can ensure the performance, Quality of Service, survivability and network access control needed for high-quality IP telephony and other advanced converged applications.
What’s SIP Got To Do With It?
Enterprises are rapidly recognizing the value of world-wide IP communications integrated with simple, secure, standards-based, applications-rich—IP messaging, IP conferencing, IP contact centers, and IP mobility solutions—implementations and services. This paper offers five compelling reasons that these organizations are looking to Session Initiation Protocol as the standard on which to build their productivity enhancing and cost reducing converged networks.
IP Telephony Security—A Double-edged Sword?
Read how well-informed enterprises can gain the benefits of standards-based IP telephony implementations and protect themselves from the operations and cost impact of exploited IP-based networking vulnerabilities.
Taking the Guesswork Out of Deploying IP Telephony
Assessment services take the guesswork out of IP telephony deployments. Understand the various approaches to deploying IP telephony, how voice traffic differs from data, and the tests that are available to prevent unexpected costs and post-installation issues.
IP Mobility: Raising the Bar for Convergence Networks
Enterprises are now recognizing the importance of mobile devices and enhanced mobility within and beyond their premises. Public and private sector organizations with sizable campuses and large populations of mobile workers are proactively deploying managed wireless enterprise infrastructures comprising wireless access points and wireless switching that permit roaming. They are also deploying IP-based convergence applications at an accelerated pace to gain the productivity and cost-savings of sophisticated services such as unified messaging, conferencing, instant messaging, and presence delivered by standards-based end-user clients such as IP phones.
This white paper clearly and comprehensively reviews the requirements and challenges of IP-based mobility and convergence solutions.
Architecture for Convergence
This white paper first appeared in the "Transforming Telephony" supplement to the Business Communications Review, October 2004, and is offered here with permission. Its author, Gary Audin, President of Delphi, Inc. consultancy and an independent communications and security consultant for 25 years, discusses three architectures for IP telephony from the perspective of eight specific attributes: flexibility, longevity, availability, disaster recovery, common services, management, load balancing, and expansion. His analysis emphasizes the need to implement an applications and user interface architecture that enhances the business mission, requiring more than a focus only on the network. The paper closes with these words: "Choose the next architecture for convergence wisely. You will have it for most of your career."
A Roadmap for Convergence
This white paper first appeared in the "Transforming Telephony" supplement to the Business Communications Review, October 2004, and is offered here with permission. Its author, Gary Audin, President of Delphi, Inc. consultancy and an independent communications and security consultant for 25 years, highlights the flexibility of convergence applications architecture as he reviews related technical issues, standards, and opportunities for interoperability.
The Payoff: Killer Applications
This white paper first appeared in the "Transforming Telephony" supplement to the Business Communications Review (BCR), October 2004, and is offered here with permission. Its author, Eric Krapf, editor of BCR, asks the question, "Why does convergence matter?" His answer-because it will transform the way enterprise end users do their jobs. Read the proof points he offers that point to the substantial impact convergence applications can have and are already having on business activities.
Making The Business Case for IP Telephony
This white paper first appeared in the "Transforming Telephony" supplement to the Business Communications Review (BCR), October 2004, and is offered here with permission. Its author, Eric Krapf, editor of BCR, observes that "The guys who are really pushing the envelope on voice over IP and taking it to the enterprise are the ones who are looking at it from a financial standpoint, and then within the context of a financial opportunity. They're saying this architecture change will enable us to reap significant financial savings."
Strategies for Successful IP Telephony Deployment
Dial tone is probably the most critical enterprise service of all IT services. As important as payroll service, dial tone or the lack of it can inspire a thousand times more passion than poor PC availability, e-mail spam, or elevator power outages. That's because people have grown accustomed to high quality audio in their personal and professional lives, and they continue to demand it from the technology their company might employ.
As the advantages of IP telephony become a business requirement, organizations face strategic decisions. They should understand the tradeoffs of each IP telephony deployment option. Through the careful review of alternative strategies, communications systems architects can more closely match the pace, style, and objectives of any investments with the needs and tolerances of the business.
The Five Critical Considerations for Successful IP Telephony Deployment
Based on its experience of deploying IP telephony systems around the world, 3Com can point to three areas of business activities on which technology can have significant impact:
- Cost control-network convergence reduces cabling costs; use of the "pass-thru" port of 3Com IP phones can minimize Ethernet port counts at the LAN switch. Users handle their own moves, adds, and changes, reducing the expense of service provider visits
- User productivity-workers at home, in branch offices, and at remote operations can fully participate in business activities with four or five-digit extensions and centralized voicemail services
- Customer interactions-customer call completions can increase with advanced IP telephony applications capable of delivering services such as voice mail as e-mail, find me/follow me, interactive voice response, and call announcement-not to mention support over the IP wide area network (WAN) for call center agents distributed across the business 2005 will be a watershed year for the IP telephony industry.
This paper presents five key factors to consider when evaluating, selecting, and implementing an IP telephony solution. Companies considering these factors in their decision cycles are better positioned to create a competitive advantage from the way their employees interact with each other and with customers.
IP Telephony in Branch Networks: The Case for Voice Boundary Routing
Enterprises in banking, insurance, real estate, and retailing have a basic business topology of dozens, hundreds, or thousands of small branch offices that are chartered to service their local communities. Communications-wise, these branches need both local telephony services to connect with customers and business applications such as e-mail, workflow, command and control, or technology support services to support hierarchical corporate infrastructures. The ability to deliver low cost and feature-rich performance has historically been a big challenge.
Until now.
Convergence—the bringing together of voice and data networks for directories, authentication, call control, and the integration of business workflow and processes-is the cornerstone of a new set of requirements for the next generation branch office that will change business significantly. IP telephony and an emerging suite of convergence applications can uniquely deliver outstanding reliability, productivity, and lower costs. These technologies and capabilities are at the heart of the business case to justify a new approach to the branch network.
Deploying Video over IP Network Cameras
Property and individual security can now be protected by IP network and digital imaging technologies. Today, the possibility of using low-cost, highly flexible video monitoring is becoming an option for an ever-increasing number of private and public organizations.
Power over Ethernet Solutions
The IEEE Power over Ethernet (PoE) standard provides a centralized, reliable source of power that lets network devices such as IP phones, wireless access points, and IntelliJack™ switches operate without additional power adapters, cords, or AC outlets.
