VoIP Equipment Essentials for the Enterprise and Small Businesses
To be able to place or receive calls using VoIP, you need a hardware setup that will allow you to speak and listen. Depending on the service you choose, you might need simply a headset with your PC or a complete set of network equipment including routers and phone adapters.
Read on to find out more about essential enterprise and small business VoIP hardware from the industry's two frontrunners, and their products that are available through Hardwyre.
For the Enterprise: Cisco Unified Communications
Cisco Unified Call Manager
From Cisco: Cisco® Unified Communications improves operational efficiency and contributes to a consistent and superior customer experience by making communications more effective, secure, mobile, and personal. More than just a voice solution, Cisco Unified Communications is a strategic business investment that integrates voice, data, video, security, and mobility into a single, smart solution that works with existing business applications to make the organization more competitive. It transforms the business with advanced messaging; virtual contact centers; integrated voice, video, and Web conferencing; mobile IP soft phones; and voicemail. Employees can communicate how they want and when they want - from one easy-to-use interface.
Cisco Unified Communications Manager (formerly Cisco Unified CallManager) is the powerful call-processing component of the Cisco Unified Communications solution. It provides voice, video, mobility, and presence services for businesses with up to 60,000 users, Unified Communications Manager is a scalable, distributable, and highly available enterprise-class IP telephony call-processing system.
Cisco Unified Communications Manager creates a unified workspace that extends enterprise telephony features and capabilities to packet telephony network devices such as IP phones, media processing devices, voice over IP (VoIP) gateways, mobile devices, and multimedia applications. Additional services, such as unified messaging, multimedia conferencing, presence, collaborative contact centers, and interactive multimedia response systems, are made possible through open telephony APIs.
Cisco Unified Communications Manager hincludes the following features:
- Highly scalable, supporting up to 60,000 lines per server cluster
- Able to support a full range of communications features and applications, including SIP-based applications
- Highly available for business continuity, supporting multiple levels of server redundancy and survivability
- Support for a broad range of phones to suit varying user requirements
- Choice of operating system environments: Windows server-based implementation or Linux-based appliance model implementation
- Available in an easy-to-manage single-server solution, Cisco Unified Communications Manager Business Edition, that combines call processing and unified messaging
Cisco® Unified Communications is a comprehensive IP communications system of voice, video, data, and mobility products and applications. It enables more effective, more secure, more personal communications that directly affect both sales and profitability. It brings people together by enabling a new way of communicating-where your business moves with you, security is everywhere, and information is always available...whenever and wherever it is needed. Cisco Unified Communications is part of an integrated solution that includes network infrastructure, security, mobility, network management products, lifecycle services, flexible deployment and outsourced management options, end-user and partner financing packages, and third-party communications applications.
Cisco Unified Communications Manager (formerly known as Cisco Unified CallManager) is the powerful call-processing component of the Cisco Unified Communications system. It is a scalable, distributable, and highly available enterprise IP telephony call-processing solution. Customer needs are continually evolving, and Cisco Unified Communications Manager evolves to meet those needs. Version 6.0 of Cisco Unified Communications Manager includes features that will benefit enterprise-sized business customers as well as smaller businesses.
Cisco Unified IP Phones
From Cisco: Take full advantage of converged voice and data networks, while retaining the convenience and user-friendliness you expect from a business phone. Cisco Unified IP Phones can help improve productivity by meeting the needs of different users throughout your organization. The new suite of evolutionary Cisco Unified IP Phones, Cisco Unified IP Phone 7975G, 7965G, 7945G, 7962G, and 7942G models, have Advanced Media endpoints, which create an even better end-user experience.
The Cisco Unified IP Phone portfolio provides:
- IP phones with color LCD displays, including dynamic soft keys for call features and functions
- Support for information services, including Extensible Markup Language (XML) capabilities to extend IP phone systems
- The ability to customize XML-based services to give IP phone users access to a variety of information, such as stock quotes, employee directories, and Web-based content
For Small Businesses: Linksys VoIP Solutions
Linksys offers complete, affordable, easy-to-install communications solutions that deliver voice services, data networking, specialized applications, and the Internet through one high-speed connection from a single provider. Business class communications services are delivered by a Linksys One Services Router, which requires only one Internet connection for all services including low-cost phone service. The PHM1200 is the premier wired IP telephone that provides quality voice services in conjunction with the Linksys One services router. The services router is the core of your network, and must be present to facilitate all Linksys One solution configurations.
Linksys One PHM1200 Manager Phone
From Linksys: The Linksys One PHM1200 IP telephone works like a desktop business phone, but it operates over Ethernet that makes it very easy and cost-effective to deploy. Linksys One technology is automatic and self-configuring simply plug in a Linksys One phone to the Linksys One Services Router switch port and you'll be ready to make and receive quality calls using Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). The Linksys One PHM1200 IP telephone delivers traditional telephony services to the small business user such as call forwarding, transfer, busy lamp field and shared line appearances on a next-generation IP phone platform.
This platform contains a high-resolution (320 X 240) color, backlit display; 24 programmable buttons with integrated status indication, 4 softkeys, 3 fixed function keys and a 5-position navigation key. A full-duplex speakerphone, handset and headset port offer superlative audio quality, volume control and muting control. An integrated quality of service enabled 10/100 switch provides wired network access for the phone plus an attached PC. The upstream port accepts IEEE power over Ethernet (802.3af) and fully powers the phone and connected media devices. An integrated voice mail application provides cost-effective, high-quality voice messaging service with both local and remote access to stored messages. Automated attendant, call history, directory, are additional examples of the integrated feature set of the PHM1200.
Software running on the PHM1200 phone interacts with provisioning, management, and security software on the site's services router and interacts further upstream to the service provider. This interaction provides a simple, one-step installation and access to web-administered features for the administrator and users. Upcoming application interaction will allow third party applications to be driven by the phones. These applications can either be local to the business site or delivered as a component of a hosted service. But there's no need to wait – today's Linksys One IP phones have all useful features of most popular key sets and can save you money, starting now. Simple, affordable network operations throughout the network's lifetime are the result.
- Simple, automated installation with Linksys One Services Routers
- High-resolution, graphical color backlit display, 24 feature buttons, full-duplex speakerphone
- Two port 10/100 QoS Ethernet switch, IEEE 802.3af PoE powered by upstream switch (SVR3000)
- Integrated call processing features with voice mail, automated attendant, and phone applications
Linksys One Analog Voice Gateway
From Linksys: Linksys One technology is automatic and self-configuring. Plug in a Linksys One voice gateway to a Linksys One Ethernet switch port and your business is ready to communicate. The Linksys One VGA2100 analog voice gateway provides three FXO ports to connect public telephone network lines to the Linksys One solution. When more than three simultaneous calls are required additional VGA2100 analog voice gateways can be added to the solution. The 10/100 Ethernet port connects the VGA2100 to the site and enables Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) calls. This port also accepts IEEE power over Ethernet (802.3af) and fully powers the voice gateway and additionally provides quality of service for each call (DSCP).
Software running on the VGA2100 analog voice gateway interacts with provisioning, management, and security software on the site's services router and interacts further upstream to the service provider. This interaction provides a simple, one-step installation and access to web-administered features for the administrator and users. Simple, affordable network operations throughout the network's lifetime are the result.
- Simple, automated installation with Linksys One Services Routers
- Provides three simultaneous analog connections to the public telephone network
- Accepts IEEE 802.3af PoE from connected Linksys One switch port
- Integrated call processing features with security, management, QoS