Allied Irish Bank plans VoIP upgrade

A major upgrade to the communications systems of Allied Irish Bank (AIB) will see the firm move to a VoIP telecoms network, according to reports.

By March next year, the bank is planning to conduct all its voice communication over IP telephony provided by Eircom.

Some 5,000 IP phones will provide an infrastructure for the firm across its two major sites in Ireland, while the next phase of the project will spread the IP contact centre functions to all AIB agents dealing with customers.

Other features planned for the future include call recording, improved routing capability and a system of alerts.

The IP telephony infrastructure created for AIB is reportedly the largest and close to being the most advanced in Ireland, as it also features links to traditional analogue phone networks and line monitoring technology to allow for the best use of the broadband bandwidth available.