Event

Taking VoIP to the next level

From left to right: Darayus Mehta, Head, Broadband applications, Reliance World; Amlan Bhattacharya, Head, Voice Solutions Practice, Wipro India and Jasjit Sawhney, Chairman and CEO, Net4India, discussing integrating telephony into the business mainstream, challenges vs. benefits, at the Voice Over IP 2008 conference, organized by Trade Fairs and Conferences International (TFCI)

Satya N Gupta, Chief Regulatory and Government Affairs, India and SAARC, BT Global Services, inaugurating Voice Over IP 2008, organized by TFCI. Others from left: Sudhir Nithiyanantham, Regional Sales Manager, Wipro 3D Networks; JB Singh, National Manager/ GM, Voice, Sify Technologies; Amit Mehta, Director, Unified Communication, Microsoft India; Rahul Saxena, Area Sales Manager Enterprise Sales, Net4 India and Venkatachari Krishnamachari, Business Development Manager, South Asia, Interactive Intelligence

Trade Fairs and Conferences International (TFCI) recently organized a VoIP conference in Mumbai. The likes of Nortel, Sify Technologies, Net4 India, Microsoft India, Tonse Telecom, Wipro India, Reliance Webstore, etc participated sharing their knowledge and experience of the latest VoIP technologies. It was a platform for vendors and users alike to discuss the adoption of VoIP, the trends in this space and the developments that are likely to take place.

There are multiple media for communication—mobile phones, desk phones, e-mail, voice messaging, Web conferencing, voice mail, instant messengers, voice-enabled Web sites, IP phones, etc. VoIP enables consolidating the varied means for easy and immediate access. This saves time and cost, reduces bandwidth, enables fast and better communication, enhances decision making, leads to better productivity, provides a collaborative work environment, leads to greater flexibility and functionality.

Reiterating the growing importance of VoIP, Sukhvinder Ahuja, Director, Unified Communications and Channels, Nortel, said that companies and individuals worldwide are set to create over 40 exabytes of data in 2008. The amount of data produced in a year in 1990 is what the world produces in a day in 2008. Nortel and Microsoft are working for contact centre technology, giving an opportunity to move towards unified communications. This will allow them to deliver highest levels of customer satisfaction. He also felt that VoIP would change to becoming VVIP—Video Voice IP, the next generation technology.

The Internet is the true example of virtualization, felt JB Singh, General Manager, Voice, Sify Technologies. In his presentation, Singh quoted a survey done by Sage Research wherein on an everyday basis, 52% of people have to use multiple methods to reach their co-workers, 36% are unable to reach co-workers in the first attempt, and of which amounts to delays and missed deadlines, amounting to 22% every month. With employees increasingly traveling, being available instantly even while being mobile, anywhere and anytime, is of prime importance.

As per Orange Business Services, by 2010, 40% of companies will have completed the convergence of their entire voice and data networks onto a single network, and more than 95% of large and mid-sized companies will have started the process (0.6 probability). By 2009, 56% of the enterprise telephony lines shipped will have an IP endpoint, asserted Shrenik Bhayani, Senior Manager, Product Management, Orange Business Services.

Dipesh Mohile, Senior Telecom Analyst, Tonse Telecom, said that the unified communications platform not only provides VoIP but also integrates IM, presence, collaboration, conferencing, etc. It can integrate with other SaaS/ application service providers to enhance productivity. SMBs and enterprises have different set of issues and expectations from their communication systems; one solution might not fit all, he opined.