VOIP gateways are devices that serve as translators for VOIP networks. They assist in converting voice or fax calls into digital data packets that are compatible with the firm’s VOIP system from a normal telephone. The primary function of VOIP gateways include voice and fax compression, call routing and call signaling.

VOIP gateways are also used to direct calls to individuals with the help of in built routing tables. They also act as a mediator between VOIP protocols like SIP to facilitate compatibility between different VOIP devices and systems. These gateways play a very vital role in the telecommunication industry.

They are an essential part of any VOIP system since they play a vital role in VOIP call translation and many more facilities. When VOIP was first developed, the systems made use of VOIP enables switches and routes that facilitated all the gateway tasks. After a few years, as technology began to progress, many VOIP network designers started developing individual gateways for their systems. As the demand for these individual gateways grew, more reliable and quality services were introduced by the VOIP service providers.

With the progress in VOIP technology, users also saw variations in VOIP gateways which also lead to the expansion of the suppliers who assisted in meeting the growing demands of the customers. Some of the popular suppliers include Nortel, WellTech, Cisco and many more. VOIP gateways come in two forms namely software based gateways and hardware based gateways.

The hardware based gateways consist mainly of modules, chassis cards or standalone boxes. These are more widely used by people since they are more efficient and offer an in built interface that minimizes the computer processing power. There are many different configurations for these gateways like offer several different capabilities. The most popular ones are PSTN, PBX fax machine as wells as different provisions made for numerous phones that are best suited for the enterprise markets.

Bigger enterprises have also adopted Best VOIP gateways for their operations since they have to communicate with different clients or business partners all over the world. This has been the most popular medium throughout America because of its effectiveness to distribute and provide voice communication to its users.

VOIP gateways are designed and programmed to serve a variety of business needs of a firm. These are also available for small scale business enterprises or home businesses. The basic form of gateways comes with a normal phone jack, Ethernet router and a firewall, which fits well into the budget of the small firms.

VOIP is gaining a lot of hype in today’s world. With the needs of the customers changing everyday, more and more business houses are using enterprise VOIP networks for their communication services. There is a growing demand for this software. The market for this software depends on the size of the company and the capability of its current system to adapt to solutions.

The enterprise VOIP system includes a lot of features like the auto attendant, voicemail to email facilities, outlook integration and much more. Unlimited amounts of addition can also be made to make VOIP systems compatible with individual businesses. It is a great tool to save money by using the internet to make business calls.

The enterprise VOIP system can help companies to improve their productivity. This system can combine the desk phones with the address book and the VOIP system can also communicate the presence of the information about the employee’s availability on the VOIP system. One of the most important features of this system is the voicemail message that can be accessed through the internet.

This feature is ideal for businessmen who travel a lot or for people who work from different locations. It also includes a demand recording function and advanced technology function such as paging.  Many of the VOIP services also come with additional features that allow a user to make a call to a cell phone. Some of the VOIP systems make it possible to make calls both to an office phone and a cell phone simultaneously. Additional services like Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) can be added to the enterprise VOIP package which makes it possible to choose different providers.

In today’s world of heavy competition, it is very necessary to be updated with the latest technology. A lot of corporations have moved away from the traditional forms of communication and have adopted VOIP services. By adopting these services, it saves companies a lot of time and money. Things which were complicated previously can be easily solved due to the invention and advancement of the enterprise VOIP services.

The enterprise VOIP is definitely a worthwhile investment for companies and it also makes life so much easier for people to communicate over the internet. In the coming years many additional features will be added to this system, that will lead to the rapid increase in the telecommunication services of the companies.

The future of telecommunication is bright with VOIP. Traditional phones are slowly being replaced by VOIP technology as businesses and households around the world embrace the benefits and feature that VOIP has to offer. This article will discuss about how VOIP came into existence.

This technology was discovered way back in 1995, when an Israeli company VocalTec released its first internet phone software. This software was built and designed to run on a home PC with the help of utilized cards, microphones and speakers. This software made use of the H.323 protocol which became very popular in the coming years.

The VOIP software enabled internet files to be broken down into small packets before transferring them over the internet. When these packets were received, they were then re ordered in their appropriate form by the receiving software. The only drawback to this software was that during transmission some packets got lost along the way since each packet took different routes to arrive at the receiving computer. During those days broadband connections were not available and this software made use of modems which resulted in poor voice quality when compared to a standard phone.

By the late 90’s VOIP traffic started growing to represent approximately 1% of all the voice traffic in the US. More and more companies started manufacturing and developing devices which enabled PC to phone and phone to phone communications. The popular networking companies like Cisco and Lucent started introducing equipments that could route and switch VOIP traffic which accounted for more than 3% of all voice traffic by the year 2000.

In the year 2005, many changes were seen in the VOIP technology and services. Major voice quality issues had been addressed and Best VOIP traffic could be prioritized over data traffic to enable reliable, clear and unbroken telephone calls. The revenue from the sales made from VOIP equipment and devices was said to be about $3 billion which later shot up to $8.5 billion at the end of 2008.

Since then, VOIP has rapidly developed into a mainstream product and is been used by many corporates and households today. There have been many new and significant developments like the gateway interface between IP and PSTN, VOIP on mobile devices and many more. With more and more innovative technologies developing in the VOIP world, this has become a popular medium to large businesses since it provides an efficient and economical solution to their communication needs.

Sprint Nextel is a company that offers wireless and wire line communication services to customers, business and the government. This company is famous for developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies to millions of customers worldwide. At a recent press release Sprint announced integrated and enhanced VOIP services for cable companies.

The new services in Sprint include Caller ID to the TV and PC and new voicemail features including a SMS text alert that can be sent to any mobile phone, voicemail and email. The main advantage of Caller ID to the TV and PC is that it can be customized by adding pictures, nickname, fonts, colors and many more.  Apart from this the SMS text alert includes the telephone number of the calling party. A brief description of these features is as follows:

Caller ID to the TV: This service delivers notifications that display the incoming caller’s name and telephone numbers to the customer’s TV screen.

Caller ID to PC: This service delivers notifications that display the incoming caller’s name and telephone numbers to the customer’s PC screen.

Voice Mail Services: This feature helps in delivering enhanced voicemail features like Call Screening, Web Management, and Fax Capability to the customers.

SMS Notification: This feature allows the user to receive a SMS to their cell phone when somebody leaves a voice message on their home phone. The user can later decide whether to return the call or ignore the call.

VOIP plays a very vital role by assisting cable operators to move into wireless technologies. For cable operators, building their own wireless capabilities can be very tedious and time consuming, but Sprint makes this easy by providing CDMA roaming to cable operators. With the help of VOIP a connection can be established between cable and WiMax calls.

Sprint is giving cable operators more opportunities to stay ahead of their competitors and offer great services to their customers. These new services will help blend the users TV, broadband, standard telephones and their mobile phones experience in ways that will be more fun and exciting. The needs of the customers keep changing according to the latest trends and technologies and Sprint makes sure all the communication needs of the customers are met.

This service will enable customers to manage their in home communications more efficiently. These new services also portray Sprint’s commitment to deliver effective solutions that leverage and complement the core services and assets of the wholesale customers. These enhanced VOIP services of Sprint help cable operators to deliver fast and efficient services to their customers.

Enum is a VOIP registry service that allows businesses to use normal telephone numbers with their VOIP systems. This allows users to carry their calls solely over the Internet, rather than first getting routed over the traditional PSTN network. This system converts the dialed phones into domain names. With the help of this system, businesses can present their customers with contact numbers in a standard format.

Nominet, which is the national registry for .uk addresses, has introduced the concept of Enum in UK. Phil Kingsland, the organization’s marketing director states that Enum will assist businesses to reduce or eliminate costs on calls made to suppliers and clients by simply routing the calls between the parties over the internet. 

He later told ZDNet UK that the users for this service will be businesses that deal with large networks. For those in the customer service industry, they can easily advertise an Enum number so that their calls would go over the internet for free. This is an ideal option for industries looking for reducing their costs on calls using internet based calling. 

This service works by reversing a standard phone number, by putting dots between the digits and adding ‘e164.arpa’ at the end. This results in a domain name. This service then links the PSTN telephone network with the Domain Name System (DNS) resulting in a stable and cheap link between the telecommunications system and the internet.

The main feature of Enum is its ability to have numerous VOIP service providers to operate together. For instance if a user is using a VOIP system in a company and wants to connect with another company having a different system, then this technology enables those calls to be routed properly through the internet. This service also offers the ability to translate voice calls into email messages or fax and allows the user to choose how they would like to be contacted.

The delay on the introduction of Enum was because of attempts made to ensure the capability of running the appropriate registry on Nominet’s systems. Companies interested in converting their telephone numbers into Enum numbers can do so through the registrars listed on the company’s website. This is a great option available for firms already having IPBX since they would face minimal costs in their communication systems. The benefits that one can derive from this service depend on a firm’s business model.