sundance-communications.com/forum Forums VOIP Phones & IP PBX VoIP & Cloud Phones, Hosted PBX, General IP Phones To IP or not to IP

I recall talking to my oldest son a few years ago, when he was 18, about his future. He's quite good with the computer. So I suggest computer telephony to him. (He has since joined the Navy so he can work on their computers. One down, three to go). How many kids are getting into CT? Not many. My point was, and I bang on my four kids all the time about it, supply and demand. Capitalism. How much is something worth? My second son, Joshua, when he was 8, knew the answer was, whatever someone is willing to pay for it. Back to Charlie, the 20 year old. I was telling Chuck that there will be a lot more VoIP down the road and as I see it the supply of qualified techs to manage these systems might well be in short supply, thus driving up the salaries. Am I wrong?
Should I be worried? I cut my teeth on a Northern Telecom SL1 (Meridian Ready). Now I work on an Avaya Definity G3r7. It works fine and I can use jumper wire. I’m comfortable with that. I have for years resisted IP telephony saying that a (traditional) phone makes a pretty good phone system. It has been, and in most cases, continues to be the most stable platform at any company. Why trade that in for something as flaky as the typical LAN. I could also be heard to say that it’s like trying to force a square peg into a round hole. I may be wrong.
It looks inevitable that our current extremely stable platform will fall by the wayside, pressure from the vendors and IT geeks will see to it. I have a theory that what makes most LAN’s and PCs unstable is the myriad of disparate applications. This is not a problem on a PBX. Maybe the IP phones systems are also stable…? Do I have to become a data geek to get with the program? Please don’t take my punch down tool away…..

* richard clutches his butt-set and snips like a woobie *

I am also on the fence here, Richard. I have a long-term customer that pays us nicely for annual maintenance on their PBX, but it's getting old and outdated. They know that they are going to have to replace it soon.

What makes it difficult is that their IT guys are sharp, I mean REALLY sharp. They help us out a lot in instances where we really should be getting our butts out there to do the work they are paying us for. 99% of what we do is remote maintenance for name changes and extension swaps. They, being IT guys are obviously interested in the IP phenomenon, but they also have reservations about it. They are not stupid; they know the limitations of current LANs and WANs, so they are somewhat resistant to jump ship to 100% IP.

Still, they have to answer to their management. It's the management people, specifically those associated with finance, that are asking the proverbial question: If IP telephony is available, why aren't we using our existing infrastructure to support (and use) it?

These IT guys (we have three on our side here) are firmly with the mindset that IP has it's place with regard to remote offices, remote workers, etc., but they are just as leary about putting all of their eggs in one basket.