IP Telephony
Less than 10 years old, IP Telephony has quickly become the industry standard for telephone solutions for businesses, schools and other organizations.
IP Telephony converges voice, video and data onto a single network infrastructure that utilizes industry-standard servers running Microsoft and Linux operating systems.
Not to be confused with Voice over IP (VoIP) –which refers to using the Internet to transmit phone conversation in a digitized format –the IP Telephony solution offers more choices and better quality. IP Telephony is part of an end-to-end solution that completely controls the quality of voice traffic to ensure the best possible experience with inbound and outbound calls. Further, it fully enables voicemail and email integration for unified messaging. Now voicemail, email, calendars, fax and data can be incorporated into a single “inbox,” accessible any time from anywhere.
While Voice over IP (VoIP) provides consumers an alternative for residential phone service, it is dependent solely on the Internet. So when the Internet goes down or becomes over- crowded, the phone connection may decrease in quality or become non-existent. Businesses, government and other organizations require reliable and consistent quality of service. When someone picks up the phone they need it to “just work.”
IP Telephony does use Internet Protocol (IP) as a universal and open-source communications protocol to digitally transmit the phone call, but it does so only on local and wide-area networks. The conversation does not pass directly through the Internet but rather via a Virtual Private Network (VPN). IP Telephony uses QoS (Quality of Service) to ensure calls go through and sound great.
Businesses and other organizations have discovered many key benefits from utilizing IP Telephony:
- Administrative costs decrease with only one network to maintain.
- Standard network routers, switches, other industry standard appliances and software are used competitively to provide these capabilities eliminating reliance solely on proprietary equipment.
- Service and maintenance (wiring, circuits etc.) costs are reduced.
- Customer “touch” is greatly enhanced, improving the customer’s perception of the organization.
- Employee efficiency is improved, sometimes remarkably.
- Small to medium size businesses with multiple locations project a “big company” look and feel to customers with seamless communication between locations.
- Video conferencing improves employee communications, inclusiveness and morale, while reducing travel and training expenses.
- Affordability is very real, even for small businesses. Substantial Return on Investment (ROI) is often seen –sometimes immediately.
- IP Telephony is scalable so it grows incrementally with your organization without the need for replacement.
The IP Telephony phone is not “just a phone,” but rather a small intranet computer with many expanded capabilities. This tool can increase productivity, extend business into new revenue streams and help solve unique business problems.
IP Telephony is so reliable and secure that businesses, schools, emergency services, local governments, health care, military installations and a myriad of other organizations are embracing this technology.
PNC has been deploying IP Telephony for over seven years –longer than most of our competitors have been in business. Our goal of utmost reliability and maximum flexibility has been fine-tuned. Our processes ensure your expectations are met and our products are second to none.
PNC is pleased to offer two distinctly different IP Telephony solutions, each with a unique application. One is ideal for Small to Medium Businesses (SMB) and organizations in need of higher communication flexibility while working with limited resources. The other is ideal for Large-Scale businesses, offering more advanced features and is the perfect fit for businesses and organizations seeking strong growth.