Consolidating different types of traffic on one link minimises the total bandwidth required—that’s the most tangible benefit of doing so according to Roger Geerts, director of systems engineering at Juniper Networks.

If you migrate telephony to IP, conventional tie lines are eliminated, but it is possible to get this benefit without switching from analogue telephony. Devices such as RAD’s Data Communications’ IPmux (for transparent LAN services such as Uecomm’s Ethernet over fibre) can be used to carry traditional TDM telephony across IP data links, connecting PABXs at different sites.  “It’s completely transparent to the signalling of the PABXs,” says managing director Udi Furman.

The IPmux costs about $1000 per end, so larger organisations can quickly recoup the cost, he says, adding that similar devices are available for DSL, point-to-point wireless and campus fibre links.

“The big savings are in the topology of the network,” says Craig Neil, managing director of the NSC Group. A converged network allows the installation of one set of servers to provide PABX, voicemail and other communications services to multiple sites. Disaster recovery is handled by duplicating the servers but that’s still cheaper than a distributed approach. “The centralised approach is the biggest driver. Customers are heading down that path, it’s just a matter of how quickly.”

There is room for improvement in planning converged networks, Geerts says, especially with regard to security—if an exploit effectively takes down your network you lose your phones and computers.

While telephony is generally regarded as critical for many organisations it is less important than email or specific key applications. NetStar Networks Australia’s marketing director Oliver Descoeudres says, pointing out that this can actually help the convergence process as networks used for business-critical applications are normally already quality of service (QoS) enabled so the cost of adding VoIP is lowered.

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