VOIP4

= = toc

=__-Skype__=

One of the major breakthroughs for VOIP is [|Skype]. Skype is a software that is used for voice calls,video calls and also if needed you can chat. Ever since the launch of skype it was rated to be the best product of its catogory because of its good service and amazing quality. Skype inspired many other companies to make similar softwares, those companies tried to cpmpete with skype but were unable to due to skypes exceptional service and quality. The audio compression of skype was better then anyone else at the time of when it came out. That is one of the biggest reasons why they are famous, and even dial up users are able to use skype. Skype still maintains its name because as time goes on their quality is getting better, and they still have the best audio compression around.

[|MSN] messenger and [|Yahoo] messenger have decided to intergrate VOIP in their instant messaging softwares. This enables them to compete with skype as skype was rising very fast trying to catch up with [|MSN] and [|Yahoo]. Both [|Yahoo] and [|MSN] have done an exceptional job of intergrading their messengers with VOIP. Their video and voice calls are just as good as skype and still improving to cope with softwares like skype. When compared [|MSN] Messenger and [|Yahoo] Messenger is still used more than Skype which is why the two of these messengers are working so hard to get their VOIP as good as skype, or they might start losing their users to skype as VOIP is the new generation of communication.



www.talkswitch.com/ images/sp/voip_drawing.gif


 * - Businesses connect remote PABX systems to Central office PABX Systems.**

Large corporations with multiple office in remote locations where land communications are either not easily accessible. An example would be a main office in the city connecting to its remote offices and home office as the picture above. Once they have a connection then they can make phone calls between their own factories and offices for free since it is like an[| intercom] call. And because of this the remote locations and branches can dial a number to gain access to a local line which is in the city and make calls to local places at a much cheaper rate. But if they were to have a phone line outside the city it would cost them much more to make a local call to the city. Interconnectivity between offices and factories saves a lot of money since staff can communicate with each other for free as well.

=__- How VOIP affects businesses and employment.__=

The use of VOIP is almost all essential nowdays in all major companies and in some cases smaller companies. VOIP is in businesses and employment is used for communication from one part of the company to the other for a cost of almost nothing and at times nothing at all. This affects the business and employment in a good way because it saves the money from using VOIP and use it as another investment which can earn the company more money in the long run. Nowdays businesses can be outsourced to other countries where it is cheaper to get employes, this can be done because VOIP enables people to comunicate all over the world in a matter of a slip second for a price of nearly nothing. However it is sometimes bad for employes in certain countries because they have less jobs as all jobs get outsourced to less developed countries.

The best example of such companies are call centers. Companies from America have set up hundreds of call centers in India to call people in america to sell many different types of things. They have done this because the salery in India is not even half as much as it is in America, and in this way the company has a greater profit.VOIP has gone to such an extent that companies like [|McDonald's] are thinking of outsourcing their Drive Thru orders to other countries. If things like this continue jobs will have such a shortage in all developed countries. To conclude it all we can say that VOIP has had a positive affect in our world.

=__- Social Issues__=

The Voip system is a reliable method for the business as it can always block unwanted people from a particular conversation. Besides that staff can be invited and blocked which can be decided on the basis of their rankings. Putting it the other way the level of security can be increased using the technology. Thus we can have all converstions confidential and everything is kept within the company directors As a whole we can call it a reliable method of communication.

It all started in the 1990s when call rates were a concern for many people. Thus a solution to this was the introduction of the Voip. The vedors were not trying to convince every business and consumer that their services are best for every purpose, but instead are focusing on select groups, such as international customers and calling-card users, to gain market traction. Lower pricing and more features have been lures that VoIP vendors have used to [|entice] customers to try and then buy their services. The stakeholeders in this case would be the business that actually uses Voip for communication.

The business has great advantages of using Voip. The first thing is the cost. Using voip is cheaper (or almost the same and free in some cases) as using local government run phones. This means the money spent on paying bills can now be used for some more prof it-oriented work. I would like to give the call costs for Bangladesh if [|Skype] a voip software is used so that a brief idea of the call rates can be understood:

[|source]
 * __**Location**__ || __**Destination**__ || __**Rates**__ ||
 * Bangladesh || Bangladesh || € 0.110 (per minute) ||
 * Bangladesh || Mobile || € 0.110 (per minute) ||
 * Bangladesh || Chittagong || € 0.060 (per minute) ||
 * Bangladesh || Dhaka || € 0.050 (per minute) ||
 * Bangladesh || Sylhet || € 0.103 (per minute) ||
 * Skype || Skype || Free ||

Besides the cheap costing online conversations and company meetings will stay private and more confidential if they take place using Voip. The company directors would no longer need to travel from one place to another to attend meetings as they can simply do that staying at home. Thus travelling expenses is reduced. Despite such advantages the company must also understand the disadvantages it will have. One such issue is the issue of security. It might be possible for a rival of the company to have a hacker hack into the confidential meeting and get all sorts of private information. Besides that internet telephone calls have their own downsides, such as poor call quality in some cases and lack of coverage in certain places.But then these problems can be solved by the company and thus the advantages to consider are more. Another example of a Voip software would be [|Jajah.] A comparison between Jajah and a few others is available [|here.]

=__- Ethical Issues__=

The ethical issues that need to be seen are that it must be made sure that company business using Voip is not using any pirated copy of the Voip software. The directors of the company or the business using the Voip software will be held liable if they are caught using a pirated copy of the software. To prevent them from using a pirated copy of the Copy Right Act is there. Yet we must be sure of the fact that the law is actually there and is working fine, as it is a for many developing countries like Bangladesh the laws are there but are not properly followed. Besides that it must also be ensured that the law actually complies with the [|Business Software Alliance (BSA)]. Other than that I think that the anonymity of talking about business secrets and confidential is often lost if there is a video call going on. So these are some ethical issues that must be considered.

=__- Example of a business using VOIP in their company__=

An example of a business corporation in Bangladesh would be a company which produces goods and is located far away in remote locations. Since Bangladesh is an under-developed country they sometimes cannot provide telephones in remote areas where required. So a company could actually have a few offices and factories all with internal [|PABX] systems. And with the help of the internet or a network they can connect the PABX systems together. Since they would then all become one PABX it would not cost any money to make a phone call to the remote offices or factories. A factory far away could also be using the outside line in a city. The images below shows a demonstration of this.



Image source: www.opsec.com/images/ diagrams/diagram-voip.jpg

The image above on the left shows how an office with 3 locations such as the main headquarters, a large office and a branch can connect their PABX systems together. So calling an extension from one of the three locations would call another location without any call costs. The voip [|gateway] connects the PABX to regular phones via network or internet connections. This allows interconnectivity between the systems.

=__- Video__=

media type="youtube" key="Y2k_1m3Rt4E"


 * __This video above talks about VOIP and how it helps people communicate, and facts about the amount of people in the world using voip and what features it has comparitively to regular phones.__**

media type="google" key="7162135956567957110&pr=goog-sl"

__**The animation above shows how we can use Jajah, another Voip software like Skype.**__

=__**- RSS FEED**__=

http://www.voipaction.com/

rss url="http://www.fiercevoip.com/rss.xml" title="Fierce Voip" number="5" description="true" date="true" length="90" rss url="http://andyabramson.blogs.com/voipwatch/rss.xml" title="Voip Watch" number="5" description="true" date="true" length="90"

= = =__**- RESOURCES**__=

http://www.fiercevoip.com/ -** **Blog about recent voip developments
 * http://www.voipaction.com/ - Blog about recent voip developments

http://www.oecd.org/LongAbstract/0,2546,en_2649_34223_35955833_1_1_1_1,00.html

This website above is about Voip developments in the market and how internet connections of different types and various services are being used for VOIP

http://www.gii.co.jp/english/pd33491-voip.html

This website is about VoIP Developments & Implications for Wireless Operators.

http://www.health-infosys-dir.com/voip_trends.htm

This website explains how enterprises will save big money, how voip works and internet phones.

[|http://searchvoip.techtarget.com/loginMembersOnly/1,289498,sid66_gci1163943,00.html] [|NextURL=http%3A//searchvoip.techtarget.com/expert/KnowledgebaseAnswer/0%2C289625%2Csid66_gci1163943%2C00.html]

This website is about the trends and challenges for 2006 for VOIP technology. It also talks about the new wireless standard 802.11i, which provides a lot more bandwidth, reliability and security.

http://www.kennisportal.com/main.asp?ChapterID=1075

This website talks about the worldwide VOIP traffic online per year and how it is gradually rising.**


 * Done By**: **Atif, Salmaan and Sabbab**

BACK TO VOIP BACK TO GRADE 11 BACK TO ITGS HOME PAGE