Hi, I'm Andy Abramson, Editor of VoIP Watch, and today we'regoing to talk about extending Voice over IP beyond the enterprise. What do wemean when we talk about the word "beyond?" Well, we're talking aboutfive main areas in our minds. First is a satellite office. Second is the homeoffice. Third is the hotel room. Fourth is a coffee shop. And fifth, myfavorite, the beach.
Now, what are we going to do and how are we going to getthere? First voiceover IP has gone very mainstream. That's right, mainstream inthe enterprise, and it's gotten that way because almost everybody in corporateAmerica and around the world is using Voice over IP inside the enterprise. Butwhat happens when that sales executive goes out on the road, or that techengineer has to go service a client somewhere. Or the executive has to go onthe road to make another deal. Well, we have to extend the enterprise so thesefolks can easily stay in touch and collaborate and converge with everybody backat the home office.
So what do they need to be able to do when they're away fromhome base? I call it VVD: Voice, Video and Data. That means taking advantage ofweb based and two-way interactive communication tools in real time.
Now, how do they go about doing it? We have to very firstlook at our operations overall and figure out what our needs are really goingto be. We have to identify those needs all the way down to every person whomight be affected inside and outside the corporation. We have to determine theassets-the hardware, the software, the applications and the licenses-to makesure that all of those things will work wherever we want to be anywhere in theworld.
Of course we have to figure in the dollars and the budget.We have to make sure that we're not biting off more than we can chew or morethan we can afford. We have to make sure that we innovate but don't reinvent orplay Albert Einstein and invent new things. This is not about setting the worldon fire. This is making sure it works wherever you are. Most of all, we have tomake sure it really, really works. It has to be able to work wherever you areall the time everyday. Lastly, it has to be secure. So if you can get all ofthis right, it becomes rather easy to extend Voice over IP beyond theenterprise.
