When vendors began selling IP-telephony systems a lew years ago, marketing and sales pitches focused on cost savings and productivity improvement. Reality eventually settled in when lew customers were able to derive either benefit. A tew years later, however, it has become apparent that there is an advantage to the new technology when compared with circuit switched PBXs: IP-telephony otters a higher degree of design redundancy and system resiliency in case of hardware, software or network failures that result from inherent quality issues or outside forces. In other words, IP-telephony both supports and enhances business continuity. (This will be the focus of a half-day workshop at this month's VoiceCon Fall 2006 conference. Aug. 21-24, 2006 in San Francisco, to be presented by this author.

Business Continuity And Communications

Business continuity encompasses a variety of processes related to preparing for, coping with and recovering from emergencies or disasters. Rarely a month goes by that some major disaster isn't on the evening news, e.g., Hurricane Katrina; meanwhile, less publicized incidents, such as building fires, occur every day with little notice by much of the public. Furthermore, isolated private network LAN/WAN failures are too numerous to estimate, yet can be costly to a company.