IP Telephony

IP Telephony
IP Telephony enables voice communication over Internet
Protocol (IP) networks. It unites an organization’s many
locations—including mobile workers—into a single converged
network. It promises cost savings by combining voice and
data on one network that can be centrally maintained. But
more importantly, it brings advanced features and applications
that enhance productivity throughout the organization.
A large percentage of calling patterns within corporations
indicates that many calls will never leave the LAN. An IP
Telephony call to a coworker at the same location would never
leave the LAN. Similarly, a call to another department in your
building would never leave the LAN. In these examples, the
packets remain simply packets that travel over the LAN to the
called person. These packets do not need to include other
vital data inside them to direct the packet over longer distances
to other locations. As a result, IP Telephony calls result
in shorter-sized packets when compared to VoIP calling packets
that would need to go off the LAN.
IP Telephony works a lot like the computer works on the LAN.
But all users do not necessarily need an IP-enabled telephone.
Avaya implements IP Telephony in a manner that can protect
your investment in preexisting telephone equipment (for
example, enabling IP to digital and even IP to analog telephone
stations).
You can acquire IP telephones in several different styles. But
they all have one important thing in common: The IP telephone
has a network interface card (NIC) built into it just like
a computer must have a NIC inside of it to connect to the LAN.
The NIC is the single most important component for any LAN
device because it provides the device with its physical address
on the LAN. This address is simply called the MAC address.
MAC means media access control. The MAC address uses a
standardized 6-OCTET address and is usually represented in