In the early days of local area networking, network designers used hubs to connect servers, workstations, and routers to split the network into manageable sub-networks. Because of the high cost of router interfaces and the inherent limitations of shared-media hubs, network design was fairly simple. In recent years, with the rise of switches to split networks, a network with minimal faults was still able to provide good performance. As a result, network design was often less than optimal. IP Telephony places new demands on the network. Suboptimal design cannot cope with these demands. With the installation of switches, a company must also follow industry best practices to have a properly functioning voice network. Therefore, for better voice quality, administrators must implement a well-designed network before beginning IP Telephony deployments.