For an increasing numbers of enterprises, VPN carries both data and voice communications. Though voice communication over IP networks (IP telephony) creates new quality of service (QoS) and other challenges for network managers, there are compelling reasons for moving forward with convergence over maintaining a traditional voice and data infrastructure:
A converged infrastructure makes it easier to deploy eBusiness applications such as customer care applications that integrate voice, data, and video.
Enterprises can reduce network costs by combining disparate network infrastructures and eliminating duplicate facilities.
A converged infrastructure can increase the efficiencies of the IT organization.
Long distance charges can be reduced by sending voice over IP networks.
Voice over IP VPN is emerging as a viable way to achieve these advantages. The emergence of public and virtual private IP services promises to make it easier for customers, suppliers, and businesses to use data networks to carry voice services. As with any powerful new technology, however, VPNs require skilled management to achieve top performance. The highest network performance becomes imperative when the VPN network must deliver high-quality voice communication. Not all IP networks can meet these quality requirements today. For instance, the public Internet is a transport option for voice communication only when reduced voice performance is acceptable and global reach has the highest priority. When high voice quality is a requirement, ISPs and Network Service Providers (NSPs) can provide other VPN connections that meet the required Service Level Agreements (SLAs).
