A lot of communication equipment have become IP based. The days of using an ancient PBX intercom system are over. Assuming you have an office space, and the usual office space has an intercom system, security surveillance and internet connectivity, the equipment not running on IP will require separate cabling for all three systems. It will be a huge headache to manage them independently and the cost of cabling each of them will also add up. Instead of having independently running systems, we now have the option to run a single IP network and plug all these devices onto it. With proper planning and network design, you can have voice and data running together on a single IP based network.

The problem arises when there are too many users on the network. The leased line interconnecting the outside world will naturally have a limited bandwidth. It is important to configure routers and switches to prioritize voice traffic in order to deliver good QoS to the users. An internal network will have plenty of bandwidth. Running Cat 6 cables across your entire office building will be more affordable than rolling out copper lines for each telephone. Cabling is not the only cost here, if you are rolling out an all IP based network, you need good quality routers and switches and they do not come cheap. Depending on the number of users, you will be looking at one sturdy router acting as a gateway and a backup router incase the first one fails. Along with that, you are looking at one layer 3 switch if there are just too many users to serve in the office, if not, you are better off buying layer 2 switches with GbE ports. You can do routing functions on a L3 switch, which can help achieve better control on data flow.

MPLS or Multiprotocol Label Switching has been becoming quite popular due to the efficient routing of packets across the entire network. This is particularly good for real-time audio and video streams. If you have a large office space separated into a lot of sections and all of them converging at one point, you can use MPLS as a router node for efficiently switching traffic and also prioritizing voice packets.

When it comes to setting up voice services on your network, you are left with choosing two options. One is setting up an IP PBX hardware solution and the other is running an IP PBX service on a windows or linux machine. The latter option will be much cheaper, but having an IP PBX hardware solution will ensure a seamless rollout to a larger number of people it can handle. With software PBX on one of your computers, you do not really know its saturation point. Remember that your IP PBX will sit behind your gateway or router and you will most likely have to assign it an IP by using NAT just like you will assign to all other devices. If you do not want the headache of hosting your own PBX, you can choose to take service from third party IP PBX hosters such as the Canadian BroadConnect or VirtualPBX.

By migrating to integrated voice and data circuits over same pipe, you will very well be saving a lot on cabling and unused resources and you will find your network being at 50 to 60% utilization on average, which was once under-utilized. A well managed network will easily sustain 85 to 90% load with no disruptions to voice service. The network upgrade will indeed seem like a costly jump, but the savings will definitely be apparent in the upcoming future.

By the help of the PBX phone system the employees of a specific company can communication within the workplace. Either way, it is most important to choose the right PBX phone system for your business.

By Kar

Dr. Kar works in the interface of digital transformation and data science. Professionally a professor in one of the top B-Schools of Asia and an alumni of XLRI, he has extensive experience in teaching, training, consultancy and research in reputed institutes. He is a regular contributor of Business Fundas and a frequent author in research platforms. He is widely cited as a researcher. Note: The articles authored in this blog are his personal views and does not reflect that of his affiliations.