Reaching out with VoIP
From the individual mobile end-user and small single-site LAN
to the sophisticated, multi-location WAN that supports domestic
and international connectivity, Avaya is a world leader in
secure and reliable IP Telephony systems, communications
software applications, and full life-cycle services.
Each LAN in a multi-location enterprise network is connected
to the larger WAN. If you are located at the headquarters in
Pittsburgh, and you call a coworker located at the office in
Los Angeles, your call begins as an IP Telephony call on your
LAN. It then travels from your LAN through an edge device.
Edge devices include products such as the Extreme Networks’
Unified Access enabled switch. The edge device is programmed
to re-packetize your call and encode the larger VoIP packet
with the additional necessary information such as the address
for the destination LAN or the mobile end-user. For a singlelocation
company, other options for the edge include using
the Avaya G650 Media Gateway which connects directly to
the PSTN.
The process of packetization is referred to as encapsulation
by the network gurus. A good analogy for this fancy techno
term is like when you put a letter into an envelope for mailing.
The difference is that these encapsulated packets contain the
content of the telephone conversation in digitized form. You
would not be wrong to call it Voice Signals Inside IP Packets.
In order for the LAN to participate in the company’s VoIP WAN,
each LAN needs at least one edge device such as a router,