IT staff must interact with the network and therefore, if the system is difficult to understand, the probability of error increases. You must reduce the number of protocols and services on any network segment and reduce the number of decisions the network must make. Simple, documentable, reproducible, and verifiable configurations are a must for IP telephony deployment. The IT staff responsible for the network must understand how the network works. New staff is easy to train on a simple network. A conscious choice to favor simplicity in design might be the single biggest factor in improving uptime due to its cascading effect on process, documentation and verification.