Brief History of VOIP

Filed under: VOIP

VOIP

VOIP stand for Voice-over-Internet protocol. At a very basic level it is the idea of using a data network to transfer voice between two points. Although voip has become a buzz word in recent years has it origins as far back as the early 1970s. The pioneering work of Danny Cohen at the University of Southern California first tested the Network Voice Protocol (NVP) in December 1973.

Although voip seems to imply that it can only carry voice across the network the reality is that voip can be used to communicate voice, data and video across the network if the software and hardware is in place.

Voip works by taking the voice and sampling it. Most of us have recorded our voice to a digital device be it a computer, a mobile phone or a digital dictaphone. You can even get applications for iPODs to record your voice. The voice samples are converted into data and then stored on the device to be played back at a later date. VIOP works in the same way, taking the voice, sampling it and converting it into binary data. The different is that data isn’t stored locally but the samples are transferred them via the network to the recipient at the other end.

In order for the data to flow smoothly from one point to the other the samples are compressed with a CODEC and sliced into packets or smaller samples. These packets are then pulsed across the network and reassembled at the other end, decompressed and played backed. The whole process is so quick that the users do not notice the process taking place. If the process does become slowed down then jitter can take place. The voice or video then becomes choppy or glitch ridden. In order to over come the problem a fast Ethernet network dedicated to voip improves the flow of data.

There are two major types of equipment used for voip transmissions. The first is the soft phone, this is a system that utilizes a computer with the addition of a microphone and either headphones or speakers. The computer has software installed that acts as the gateway to the network providing the sampling, CODECS and the steaming of the data.

The vast majority of Skype customers use the soft phone route when accessing the service. Although Skype does provide handsets these are still pseudo soft phones as Skype cannot be used with voip analogue telephone adapters (ATAs) and therefore they are restricted to the Skype network.

The other devices for using a voip network are unsurprisingly called hard phones. These are stand alone devices that look like a regular phone but instead of a phone jack they have an internet cable that can be plugged directly into the network.

The advantages for a business in installing a converged voip network are that by using a single network for all communication the maintenance and deployment costs are keep controlled. In order to set up a voip network you will need to find a secure voip provider who will be able to install and run a fast Ethernet network.

There are various Ethernet solutions and Ethernet connections in the market place. Interoute have the largest single pan-European network for voip provision and work for a variety of European governments in providing their voip services.

Antony Heywood (C)

Managed Hosting What You Need To Know

Filed under: Managed Hosting

Managed Hosting

As a small business owner I have been looking into the different types of host packages and services available. I have decided to go for a managed hosting service. Managed Hosting what you need to know.Managed hosting refers to a hosting solution for a website where the site is housed and managed on a dedicated secure server. The customer leases a server for their own use and therefore they do not have to share the server with other clients. Having your server has a number of advantages in terms of security and management. Below I have listed the five main areas I feel you need to consider before deciding on your managed hosting provider.

Operating System

One of the major advantages of having a dedicated server is that you can chose which operating system is used to manage and run the server. The operating system depends on personal preference, its worth talking to you web development team and asking them which one is the best for your website. Linux operating systems are often bundled in free with the hosting plan, Microsoft SPLA or other Red Hat systems may require extra payment. You need to ask the hosting provider if the package includes updates to the OS, service packs, patches and software upgrades.

Management

Managed hosting as the name suggests will include a degree of management but there is no industry wide standard to clarify what the management element will contain. For some providers it is having a full team of service engineers waiting to sort out any issues that arise for other it is simply having a control panel that you can access yourself. Depending on your own experience and skills in website hosting you need to ensure that the service level won´t leave you in a blind panic if something goes wrong. Managed hosting is normally set at three different service levels:

Self Managed – This is the basic or bronze level package that would include some maintenance and updating but customers manage most of the services themselves.

Managed – The next level up, the silver level package would normally contain monitoring, updates and limited levels of support.

Fully Managed – The gold standard of management hosting. A fully managed service should be like having your own IT department. You should get monitoring, reboots, security, OS upgrades, customer support and software updates.

Security

Dealing with issues of security and keeping all the software and operating systems patched and updated is one of the great advantages of managed hosting. You shouldn´t have to worry about the security of your site as the security measures provided by your hosting provider should be the most current. You need to check that security updates are included in the service level you have signed up to.

Software

Much like the choice of Operating System you can also chose the software that will run on your managed server. You can pick and mix your database software and other applications that might be required to run video and audio on your website. The choice of control panel software is important as these can be as simple of complex as you require them to be. They can be configured to allow you to control all aspects of the server remotely via a web based interface.

Bandwidth

You will also need to set and pay for the amount of bandwidth you think you are going to use. Purchasing bandwidth via a managed server provider often works out cheaper than attempting to purchase the service in isolation. Economies of scale allow managed hosting providers to get discounts on the base cost of bandwidth. There is no industry benchmark or pricing structure for bandwidth. It can be sold as part of the package or as add on depending on projected usage. It is worth setting the bandwidth limit higher than you think you will use as most providers will pile on the cost if you go over your allotted usage.

Once you have addressed these issue you can then think about making a choice about which managed hosting service provider best fits your requirements. You need to make sure you have sorted out which OS and software is running, how secure the server is, the level of management involved and the provision of adequate bandwidth. Take you time and make sure you are completely comfortable with the service. Don´t be afraid to ask questions and get clarification on technical issues.