Voice Mobility powered by Wi-Fi Telephony
Wi-Fi telephony is the upcoming technology that can be set up on existing enterprise Wi-Fi network and empowers enterprises with voice mobility benefits in an easy, scalable and cost-effective way.
Increased deployment of superior Wi-Fi networks to achieve wireless data access and increased adoption of VoIP technologies to make cost-effective calls has led the concept of Wi-Fi telephony to emerge in the recent years.
With Wi-Fi telephony in place, voice mobility can be achieved in an easy to use and inexpensive way. Voice mobility in general refers to flexibility for users to make telephone calls from any place within a premise. Enterprise premises empowered with voice mobility have more productive employees, increased employee convenience and improved business process resulting in faster decision making, increased responsiveness and greater overall productivity and efficiency.
Many enterprises are presently using conventional fixed desk based separate telephone network for voice communication which remains incapable in providing voice mobility.
Voice mobility can be achieved though cellular means or by deploying separate radio infrastructure for cordless telephony. But, these means are expensive and some times not even feasible.
With increased awareness of Wi-Fi telephony, many companies are now evaluating the options for its deployment in their premises to achieve voice mobility from the already installed Wi-Fi network and remain competitive in today’s dynamic market conditions.
An overview:
Conventional enterprise voice solutions mostly comprise of fixed desk based phones connected to a traditional PBX (TDM based) box through separate network of wires. These solutions do not provide flexibility to staff to make calls from any place inside the enterprise premises.
This flexibility, also called as voice mobility, is most sought for large establishments in retail, hospitality, healthcare and manufacturing plants etc where employees move frequently within the premises and are needed to communicate while they are at various places. Most of these enterprise establishments currently use cordless telephony based on DECT (Digital Enhanced Cordless Communication) technology which requires a dedicated radio infrastructure to install and maintain.
Also, Voice mobility can be easily achieved using cellular carrier services and cellular phones. This does not require any type of infrastructure set up as compared to cordless and fixed desk based telephony. But, this means is expensive, have limited data capacity and there can be problems with carrier service availability within the enterprises premises. Hence, this mode of obtaining voice mobility within the enterprise is avoided by almost all.
However, with increased deployment of enterprise Wi-Fi networks to provide staff with seamless data access and availability of VoIP technology, a whole new direction, popularly know as Wi-Fi telephony, has emerged to achieve voice mobility in a cost-effective and convenient way.
In order to achieve voice mobility, Wi-Fi telephony uses existing enterprise Wi-Fi infrastructure (deployed for wireless data access) and hence avoids the installation and maintenance of separate infrastructure as was the case of cordless telephony.
Wi-Fi telephony requires certain Quality of Service, in short QoS, characteristics for voice traffic such as low latency, low packet loss and low jitter. These were absent in the earlier Wi-Fi networks and hence these networks were incapable of carrying voice traffic reliably. However, with the arrival of WMM (Wireless Multi Media) certified Wi-Fi products in last two years, Wi-Fi networks are now fully capable of delivering voice packets reliably with required QoS and hence provide voice mobility in their coverage area.
With Wi-Fi telephony as a means of voice mobility, employees within an enterprise are provided with Wi-Fi handsets with built in Wi-Fi client and VoIP software. These handsets can be easily carried by staff at various places inside the enterprise premises and they can use them to place calls as and when required.
One can find many vendors today to procure these Wi-Fi handsets. Some of the prominent names are Siemens, Polycom and Avaya.
Setting up Wi-Fi telephony: Here is a basic checklist to set up enterprise wide communication using Wi-Fi telephony:
Wi-Fi infrastructure set up: Enterprise Wi-Fi infrastructure should ensure full Wi-Fi coverage in all those areas of premises where voice mobility is required. This can be accomplished by using RF planning/coverage tools provided by companies such as AirTight Networks, etc. Also, the set up should be configured to enable QoS support, which is important for Voice traffic delivery. Administrators can get the satisfaction of presence of QoS support if their Wi-Fi Infrastructure product is WMM (Wireless Multi Media) certified. WMM is a QoS certification for Wi-Fi infrastructure products and is based on IEEE 802.1e standard.
QoS Enabled Wired backbone: Routers, Switches and other components of wired backbone of enterprise should also be configured to support QoS, with IEEE 802.1p standard or DSCP.
IP PBX: While a traditions PBX (Private business exchange) manages traditional fixed desk based enterprise telephone network and has a gateway to PSTN, an IP PBX is an enterprise premises business phone system that manage all the calls made/received by enterprise VoIP handsets (Mobile/Fixed).
• It basically runs as software on server residing on enterprise wired backbone, can be controlled by web based GUI and have gateway to internet along with optional gateway to PSTN.
• For all local VoIP calls, IP PBX uses enterprise data network, while long distance and international calls are routed either to enterprise VoIP service provider through internet gateway, enterprise VPN through internet gateway or PSTN though PSTN gateway.
• Along with management of calls, IP PBX provides services such as call forwarding, call conferencing, voice mail, call recording, auto attendant etc.
• IP PBX comes in many capacities to cater needs of Small, Medium and Large enterprises. Also, an enterprise can rent a hosted IP PBX services if it wishes not to manage and own one.
Wi-Fi handsets: These are basically WMM certified Wi-Fi clients with built in VoIP capability. The wi-fi client inside the handset is configured to associate itself to the enterprise Wi-Fi network to establish IP level connectivity. With IP level connectivity in place, handset becomes ready to
• Place and receive calls in conjunction with IP PBX (enterprise or hosted one) over VoIP.
• Access data services such as browsing, file transfer, video streaming etc.
Benefits available to enterprises: Here is the broad list of benefits available to enterprises, deploying voice mobility powered by Wi-Fi telephony:
• Increased productivity: With the freedom to call from any place inside the premises, enterprise communication is improved to a major extent leading to faster information travel, faster decision making, and increased responsiveness etc which finally can show up as a large upswing in enterprise productivity.
• Increased convenience: Presence of voice mobility inside enterprises adds to employee convenience for sure as they will not have to search for nearest desk phone to make a phone call.
• Easy Installation/Maintenance: Wi-Fi telephony is installed on existing enterprise Wi-Fi network and does not require separate voice infrastructure as was the case with fixed desk based and cordless telephony. Also, Wi-Fi telephony configuration/maintenance can be easily done by enterprise administrator and doest not require technical phone experts as compared to conventional enterprise telephony.
• Easily Scalable: Addition of new handset to existing Wi-Fi telephony requires only an addition in enterprise IP PBX making it easily scalable technology as compared to traditional telephony which requires additional wiring (can be cumbersome at times) for the new handset.
• Reduction in Costs: Wi-Fi telephony uses existing Wi-Fi infrastructure set up, thus no new voice network installation is required and hence cost of installation and maintenance of same adds to enterprise savings. Also, it provides greater ROI on installed enterprise Wi-Fi network.
• Voice Data convergence: As Wi-Fi telephony is built on data network, staff can have seamless access to data services such as browsing, file transfer, video conferencing etc. on their handset itself while moving in the premises which further adds to staff productivity and convenience. This is not possible with conventional telephony approaches.
• Location awareness: Wi-Fi telephony will enable enterprise establishments to track their employees carrying Wi-Fi handsets within the premises using Wi-Fi tracking technologies developed by companies such as AirTight Networks. This location awareness can be of importance for large establishments in retail, hospitality, healthcare and manufacturing.
Challenges in using Wi-Fi telephony: Although Wi-Fi telephony is an easy and inexpensive means to achieve enterprise voice mobility, here are certain challenges to look upon:
Wi-Fi security: As Wi-Fi telephony is based on enterprise Wi-Fi network, it is also exposed to Wi-Fi security issues and concerns. These issues if remain unaddressed can allow an intruder to hack an enterprise Wi-Fi handset or gain unauthorized access to enterprise Wi-Fi telephony. Further, the same can be addressed if latest Wi-Fi security standards such as WPA2 are being used and WIPS is deployed to monitor enterprise Wi-Fi network 24×7.
Power breakdowns: Wi-Fi telephony is based on enterprise data network which runs on power. Thus, power breakdowns will lead to shut down of enterprise Wi-Fi telephony. Cordless telephony set up also suffers with power breakdowns. In contrast, traditional fixed desk based enterprise voice network remains functional in time of power failures also. However, with increased use of private enterprise generator sets, power breakdown is hardly as issue now days.
Coverage Problems: There can be coverage related issues with the Wi-Fi network within premises. If unaddressed, these issues will not allow Wi-Fi handsets to function properly at places where theses are present. However if Wi-Fi networks are deployed with proper coverage planning using sophisticated tools, Wi-Fi telephony will function properly at all required places.
Trends with Wi-Fi telephony:
• With 802.11n technology, upcoming Wi-Fi networks deliver high speed, are more reliable and deliver more coverage range. This has resulted in faster deployment of Wi-Fi networks across enterprises, which in turn, is fuelling the growth of Wi-Fi telephony to achieve superior voice mobility without much effort.
• Increased growth of Wi-Fi telephony has also resulted in many companies to step in to the manufacturing business of Wi-Fi handsets. This has increased the competition and in turn is benefiting enterprises with availability of feature rich and low prices Wi-Fi handsets for Wi-Fi telephony set up.
• Also, many cellular handset and PDA manufacturers such as Nokia, Motorola and BlackBerry etc are adding VoIP and Wi-Fi client in their upcoming cellular handsets. Such handsets have dual operation modes, in one mode calls can be made using cellular services available at a location, in other mode calls can be made using Wi-Fi telephone facility available at a location. These dual mode handsets will add to staff convenience and company savings as employees can fulfill their daily company communication needs with their personal handsets only.
Summary:
Every Enterprise is realizing the benefits of mobility in present dynamic and competitive market conditions. However, most of them still have fixed desk based phone network which is incapable of delivering voice mobility.
Wi-Fi telephony has made voice mobility easier and cost-effective for all companies, but small and medium enterprises are adopting it at a much faster rate as they run on tight budgets and hence can’t afford cordless telephony infrastructure or cellular services to cash upon voice mobility advantages.
Large enterprises are keenly waiting for Wi-Fi telephony to mature for some more time before arriving on decision to deploy it in their premises as a preferred means of voice mobility.
