Upgrade local networks to get most out of VoIP

Companies seeking to deploy a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service should first consider upgrading their local area network (LAN) to gain maximum benefit, an expert claims.

Patrick Barnard, TMCnet.com senior web editor, has claimed that most company's existing LANs are "woefully inadequate" in terms of coping with VoIP traffic.

"Although a company network may seem to have enough capacity, when looking at average daily traffic, one has to bear in mind that multimedia applications like VoIP are extremely bandwidth intensive," he explained.

Mr Barnard pointed out that in the absence of significant improvements to their LAN, firms deploying VoIP may only experience a lower quality service.

Moreover, their IT departments may subsequently be forced to "make adjustments on an ongoing basis to keep data and voice balanced".

In other news, research by Gartner recently suggested that half of mobile voice traffic will be carried end-to-end by VoIP in the next ten years.