Deploying VoIP in Existing IP Networks

Many network managers find it attractive and cost effective to merge and unify voice and data networks. A unified network is easier to run, manage, and maintain. However, the majority of today's existing data networks is Ethernet-based using IP protocols. Such networks are best effort networks and were not designed to support real-time applications such as VoIP. VoIP requires timely packet delivery with low latency, jitter, packet loss, and sufficient bandwidth. To achieve this goal, an efficient deployment of VoIP must ensure these real-time traffic requirements can be guaranteed over new or existing IP networks.