Not all architectures are created equal. In order to develop a business case for VoIP, an architecture for the proposed deployment has to be developed. The architecture is a high-level design that identifies the business requirements that are being addressed, the major technical and operational components to address these requirements, and the vendors that can provide the products and services.
INS recommends that you consider the following issues when developing a VoIP architecture.
- Will the VoIP deployments be 'green-field'?
- Will there be shared resources such as unified messaging, music-on-hold, attendant operators, and PSTN trunks?
- What will be the impact on the WAN of centralizing vs. de-centralizing shared resources?
- How important is fault-tolerance?
- What kind of user interfaces will be supported: legacy analog/digital phones, IP phones, soft-phones?
- How will the VoIP system be administered and managed in tandem with the legacy PBX systems?
- What vendors provide the network elements that best meet our needs?
Each enterprise is different and has unique needs that cannot be met by every vendor. Developing a complete architecture is necessary to guide your interaction with the vendors to determine what products best fit your situation.
