WHAT IS CONVERGENCE?
The word derives from the Telecoms and IT worlds colliding and merging (or converging) into one platform and infrastructure, known as Internet Protocol (IP).
IT infrastructure has mainly worked on IP from the early days of networking and it really wasn’t until around 2008, that IP was used in ‘VOICE’ telephony – hence ‘Voice over IP’ or more commonly known as VoIP.
IT professionals have always steered clear of Telephone Systems as they were the domain of Telecoms engineers trained to work on a particular manufacturers hardware.
Names like Avaya, Lucent, Siemens, Panasonic, Toshiba, Samsung, NEC, Philips and last but not least, currently the world’s number one, Mitel, all made their name producing the humble ‘Private Branch Exchange’ / the ‘Private Branch Automatic Exchange’ – ‘PBX’ / ‘PABX’.
You may remember clunky large boxes know as Central Processing Units (CPUs) with 100s of wires going in and coming out to all the handsets on the desk through a separate ‘voice’ / telephony wiring system known as 1308. The handsets were all powered by the CPU and the PBX was never connected to the networks in most cases as no access was required.
PROGRESS IS MADE AS TIME GOES BY
As time has gone by, functionality has become easier too.
For example, voicemail can be converted to an email with an audio (WAV) file and you are notified so there is no dial-in required either. This is where the convergence comes in as the CPU was connected to the IT network and email server to perform this function. The term ‘unified communications’ (UC) also emerged in the plethora of new terms and acronyms due to these types of features.
IT Managers and Directors were getting ‘comfortable’ and also took some extra interest in Telephony when new ‘IP’ handsets came into the mainstream and could be used on IT networks and the ‘structured’ cabling systems (Cat5e / Cat6 wiring infrastructure), which was the beginning of ‘centralised’ office wiring systems first developed in the late 1990s. And boy, was it expensive at the time (I used to place the orders in those days!).
FAST FORWARD TO 2024
So, here we are in 2024 and more and more of the old generation ‘digital’ phone systems are being replaced with VoIP and this is where you really need to choose the right specialist for that all-important transition.
Just because the CPU hardware is ‘cloud-based’ and there are ‘portals’ to access the programming software, the on-site handsets use IP and DHCP, this does not mean that Telephony is fully understood in terms how it operates within a business.
Whilst IT equipment is purchased on specification of hardware, any telephony system need to be purchased solely based on whether or not the functions can do exactly what the business requires.
For example, insurance companies use ‘auto-diallers’ for automated outbound dialling and the integration with VoIP systems has determined before just choosing a system based on incoming call routing functionality.
Telephony is still a complex technology and although hardware and connectivity types may have changed, understanding business requirements hasn’t so getting the right technical person who understands both is a key in choosing the right, modern Telecoms solution.
MAXIMUM NETWORKS
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