Business Case for VoIP Readiness Network Assessment

By Fluke Networks
Published 2009, Posted May 2009

Abstract:

Over the past several years as enterprises have been deploying voice over IP (VoIP) with more frequency, many have learned the hard way that the first step in the VoIP lifecycle process should be a complete assessment of network readiness. Too often, IT organizations fall into the stereotype of “let’s put it on the network and see what happens.”

As convergence grows, the “let’s see what happens” approach with VoIP will almost certainly not be successful. While it is a data application at the core, VoIP does not act like traditional data applications. In addition, for most enterprises, VoIP will be the highest profile application on the infrastructure, meaning – if the phones do not work, everyone will know.

With early VoIP deployments many enterprises had major issues with initial rollouts. One key reason was a lack of pre-deployment assessment. When there were initial problems, there was “finger-pointing” between the enterprise, VoIP equipment vendors and service providers.

Today, most VoIP equipment vendors, who took most of the blame for poor performance, are now requiring network assessments even before they will sell or service the IP PBX and phone systems. While this is a good first step, many enterprises still do not perform comprehensive assessments.

This white paper will reinforce why readiness assessments are key for successful VoIP deployments. Pre-deployment assessments are the first step in a successful VoIP deployment, which also must include monitoring, management and optimization.