SMBs moving to converged networks.

Small and mid-sized businesses in the United States plan to increase their use of converged voice and data communications solutions over the next 18 months, according to research commissioned by the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA).

The survey of about 300 U.S. businesses

with 20-500 employees found that 40% are currently evaluating new communications solutions that deliver voice and data applications over a common network, or intend to do so within the next 18 months. Another 18% of these businesses are currently deploying a converged solution, or will do so in the next 18 months.

"These plans for deployment and evaluation are even more impressive when you consider that nearly two-thirds of these companies said they are generally satisfied with their existing communications systems," says John Venator, president and chief executive officer, CompTIA. "Small and medium-sized businesses clearly believe converged voice and data networks and applications have real business value, whether it is through reducing the cost of internal and external communications systems; streamlining management of voice and data networks; or improving productivity throughout their operations."

Examples of converged migrations abound. Fortune 200 insurance provider UnumProvident, for example, has selected Broadwing to design, build and manage a custom data and voiceover-IP (VoIP) private network that interconnects four main corporate locations and more than 40 remote locations. The Broadwing solution enables UnumProvident to run internal voice over IP, video and data applications between all of its locations.

Broadwing designed a solution that provides Gigabit Ethernet connectivity across the Broadwing core network between UnumProvident's various locations and its data center in Columbia, S.C. rib support UnumProvident's VoIP implementation, Broadwing connected UnumProvident's remote sites to the data center.

In another example, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Huntington, W.Va., district has installed an IP telephony system from ShoreTel. The district's Huntington headquarters, 49 remote sites and floating repair fleet are being unified under a single distributed ShoreTel system that delivers advanced voice services even to rural outposts, and can be managed remotely from anywhere. The district is replacing a Centrex system that was costing $30,000 per month for the headquarters office alone.

"The ShoreTel VoIP system is the most painless upgrade we've ever done, and we make changes on the fly all the time," says Robert Hall, coordinator of voice and data communications for Huntington District. "The biggest installation problem is tracing the old lines, pulling the legacy systems and doing the paperwork required to cancel the old ISDN lines."

About 850 of the district's 1,000 employees have now been migrated to ShoreTel, and most of them continue to use inexpensive analog phones while enjoying the benefits of IP telephony. The repair fleet vessels are equipped with their own IP addresses and routers, and wireless access points at each lock and dam site provide an 802.llb-based ship-to-shore link when the ships dock.

At Dartmouth College this fall, faculty, staff and students were greeted by a campus-wide VoIP telephone system, courtesy of Networked Information Systems (NIS) of Woburn, Mass. The 7,000-phone system one of the largest deployed by a private, four-year college--will enable Dartmouth to reduce its telecommunications costs while increasing the flexibility and productivity of faculty, staff and students.

Dartmouth College administrators decided to undertake the project two years ago. "Our old TDM PBX was nearing the end of its useful life," says Robert Johnson, director of voice and data converged systems. "We decided that voice traffic could be provided more strategically and cost-effectively by converging our voice and data networks."

The VoIP installation on the already-in-place Cisco Systems data network included nearly 200 Cisco switches with power over Ethernet to ensure voice availability during a power outage. In addition, a 7,000-user voice mail system was installed, supported by five Microsoft Exchange Servers and a high-end Cisco Unity Server.

"Initially, we had some concerns about the quality of service and reliability we could expect from a VoIP network," says Johnson. "So we ran some production pilots with NIS to ensure that our network could support a 'five-nines' application like voice, and then deployed the system in stages over a two-year period."

MARKET PULSE

Q: What is your satisfaction level with the type
of VAR(s) you use for technology purchases?

% responding "somewhat" or "very" satisfied

Local voice VAR           54%
Local data VAR            52%
National data VAR         51%
Local software VAR        49%
National software VAR     49%
National voice VAR        41%

Population: 133 IT decision makers from US businesses with 1,000 or
fewer employees

Note: Table made from bar graph.