VPN-VoIP: More Than a Network

Telecommunication has tremendously changed now from Internet using
voice-line (analog )connectivity to analog-voice that is based on Net
connectivity. In the Indian scenario, the potential of this migrated voice
service model is tremendous because of its low expense investment for
price-sensitive customers.

ISPs can at last heave a sigh of relief after the legalization of Internet
telephony. Value-added solutions for the enterprise as well as the retail market
have already been getting responses from international markets even before the
legalization of Internet telephony in India. These services are currently being
introduced in the Indian market by various ISPs. International carriers like
Net2phone, Caltiger and Delta Three are pushing services like private-voice
network (PVN) and voice-line services over basic Internet telephony through
local ISPs in the Indian market. And these types of different service options
take an important space in the mind of the ISP apart from the pricing model in
negotiating the international carrier partner for the Internet telephony
service.

Using
PVN, an enterprise can make intra-office calls as per the local ISP
pricing-scheme and subsequently, use the same VoIP gateway to make ILD calls. In
a typical scenario, if the enterprise customer has multinational locations and
makes frequent international calls, the PVN server can be located in a
centralized head office and other PVN clients distributed in other locations can
communicate through the PVN server. For making a international call, it will
pass though the PVN server at the centralized location as well. The automatic
billing server (ABS) along with the PVN server can be located at a centralized
location to make the customized billing as per the utilization by the different
locations. PVN and ABS are the least-expensive solutions from the international
carriers provided by local ISPs to enterprise customers for making national as
well as international VoIP calls. A combination of these will be a good business
model for a wholesale service provider of both VPN-VoIP and Internet telephony.

Above all, the service that allows small business or residential customers to
receive inbound calls and place outbound calls using a high-speed Internet
connection. Voice-line allows customers outside of the United States to
establish a US presence by setting up a US-based local or toll-free telephone
number that can be used by customers, co-workers, friends and family within the
US to call them. Voice-line customers can also use the service to place outbound
calls to the US and other international destinations for the same billing
account, providing a flexible, powerful, and cost-effective telecommunications
tool.

The voice-line service can again open the market for call center customers as
well in which case the inbound calls will be charged to the call center rather
to customer by mapping the toll free number of the customer location with the
account. So, the voice-line service over Internet telephony can fully explore
the potential as a replacement of IPLC for call center BPOs. Most importantly,
it will have an advantage of saving the 20—40 percent expenses that incurred
through the deployment one time and operational expenses of the IPLC. That’s
one reason why leading ITSP providers are trying to tap the call center market
through partnerships with international carriers.

QoS in Internet Telephony that is targeted at the enterprise market is not
such a big issue as was earlier. The enterprise customer for an ISP looks for an
Internet telephony service served by the 17 kbps PVN from end to end through the
international carrier partner. So even though as a tradition its called as an
Internet telephony, but practically it’s a service provided by the local ISP
with the support from the international carrier that carries voice end to end in
a controllable emulated private network.

Benefits of virtual private network-Internet telephony service (VPN-ITS) are:

• Least expensive international calls and better QoS
• Inter-location intra-office calls possible without PSTN integration
• Can accept the inbound calls on the same phone
• VPN-ITS customers can make use of voice-line in providing free outbound
  call for their customers
• Wholesale service providers can provide the services to retail market by
  using the flexi-billing plan
• Can access the corporate VoIP network from anywhere for making less
  expensive international calls

VoIP is no more a buzzword anymore after its legalization and
is losing its importance because of significant price cuts through competitive
development in the cellular service and basic service domain. VoIP service
providers like ISPs are now trying to keep this candle glowing. Through the
partnership with international carriers and with their own VoIP network, they
are trying to bring various packages that will not only drive the enterprise and
retail markets, but also explore the potential in the near future when WLAN and
other convergence technologies come into play in the Indian market.

Kalpamadhav Biswal

HCL
Infinet