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VoIP Mobility
In the last issue of Groupware CommunITy, I discussed the increasing importance of VoIP. Now, I'd like to look at what, in my opinion, is the most compelling aspect of this exciting technology and one that's making a real difference in our clients' IT strategy: mobility.
Before VoIP, the value of mobility was defined around portability and the ability to take information with you. Now, with the industry migrating from digital PBX's based on TDM technology to IP-based systems, mobility is more about dynamic information access and connecting to anything, anywhere, and anytime on your preferred device. The mobility enabled by VoIP isn't about convenience as much as achieving new levels of integrated accessibility and productivity.
Manufacturers are releasing a steady stream of new products that are taking mobility communications to new levels. Mobile workers closely tied with IP-based messaging, conferencing, and call-control servers can now activate any phone as a fully capable office extension. They can enable specific callers to reach them at up to four different phone numbers and, best of all, can seamlessly transfer, intercom, and conference when out of the office.
VoIP mobility essentially recreates their office wherever they go, on the fly. If they have a wi-fi device on a corporate campus, it not only detects where they are, it can redirect communications to the closest port without being instructed. For example, If the campus has telepresence capability—an online video conference technology that uses multiple elements to create a powerful, "live" face-to-face meeting experience—and a meeting in Building 9 is changed at the last minute to Building 2, VoIP can automatically re-route the video conference to their nearest usable location. If their desk phone is their primary device and they're out of the office, it can be programmed to route incoming calls to their cell phone, then their home phone, and, finally, a second office line. After going down the list, it will automatically route to voice-mail.
New applications are not only making information more mobile, but also more functional depending on the device. Mobile technology not only lets mobile workers receive email on their cell phone, it can also turn voice mail into text. If their cell phone can't play wma files, the phone will automatically convert audio file to written language.
Wi-fi phones enable a whole host of practical productivity applications. If a mobile worker is on a call in the parking lot on their cell phone and goes inside, the call is automatically picked up by the wi-fi network and seamlessly transferred to their desk phone or vice-versa. If they're on an important call on their desk phone and have to run to a meeting or catch a flight, the call is switched to their cell phone. Video conferencing from PDAs will soon be commonplace.
Historically, users dealt with incoming information or calls in the medium in which they were delivered and not necessarily when it was convenient. VoIP unifies the systems and networks that carry voice and data and allows new applications to advantage the fact they "know" each other. Presence applications—Outlook contacts, calendar items, widgets, and web pages—can now facilitate voice communications and vise-versa. More importantly, these applications present the information in the medium users want, drastically improving efficiency and accelerating business.
The same convergence of landline-based voice and data is currently happening with mobile networks. This means collaboration tools that can go anywhere and allow people to be available and informed more of the time. With users deciding their own availability (who rings through and who goes to voice-mail) and in what medium (text, voice, or video) and accessing data around the clock, the "network" now truly works for them, integrating into their life instead of the other way around.
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