Sunday, February 13, 2011

How VoIP and the Internet Fit the CSI Picture

To understand how the  Internet relates to the  five CSIs, it helps to first recog- nize what  the  Internet is. No doubt Bell would  be captivated by the enormity of what  we call the  Internet. By definition, it is a network of networks. But just  like VoIP can run on any of the  five CSIs in varying  degrees of quality, the  Internet can also  be accessed from any of the  five CSIs in varying degrees of quality and  security.

VoIP over Internet

Yes, the  Internet is a network of networks, and  the  Web is one of its largest applications. But the  Internet is also  a network that is accessible through all five CSIs.

Since the  Web emerged into the  private sector in the  early  1990s, the entire Internet has  been converted to a tiered infrastructure that predetermines broadly what  kind of quality you can expect over  your Internet connection. What tier your  Internet provider operates at is a major factor that controls your  bandwidth throughput and  therefore the quality of your  VoIP services. Several  new terms surfacing in light of VoIP are VSP, for VoIP service provider, as well as VoIP provider and  VoIP hosting provider.


VoIP in the corporate sector

Technically, the  Internet is a network (a transport) and  VoIP is a network transport service. Both the  transport and  the  transport service are provided in varying  degrees of quality on all five CSIs. All five CSIs can provide access to the  Internet, just  as all five CSIs can support VoIP services.

Keep in mind  that if you run VoIP on the  Internet, at least one CSI is involved. The Internet is not  a CSI: It is a network (global though it may be) that results from all five CSIs providing access to it.

Even though VoIP was developed in 1995, the  corporate world did not  con- sider adopting it in a big way until 2001. Issues pertaining to quality and secu- rity complicated VoIP’s adoption. These issues have  been largely addressed, and  the  corporate sector is rapidly adopting VoIP. The transports available
on the  DS and  OC CSIs are being  used most often  by companies to set up their VoIP networks to run over  private, dedicated network transports.

VoIP in the consumer sector
Another point in common between the  Internet and  VoIP is that they  use the  same group of protocols. When some people hear the  “IP” portion of “VoIP,” they  incorrectly assume that because VoIP uses the  TCP/IP protocols used on the  Internet, VoIP itself can run only on the  Internet. From a consumer’s perspective, however, such confusion is easy  to under- stand. To implement VoIP, consumers require broadband access to the  Internet. Internet access and  VoIP go hand-in-hand.

Note that broadband Internet access for VoIP is an artifact of only consumer implementation of VoIP. It is often  not  a consideration in corporate VoIP, which most often  relies on dedicated lines  that provide no Internet access.

Do not  confuse the  use of the  IP protocols with the  use of the  Internet; keep  their distinction separate. TCP/IP protocols can run on any network in any CSI. VoIP’s service quality varies, but  it can run on any of the  five CSIs. It can run on all dedicated and  wireless transports.

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