Is This Voice or Is It Data?

While it's arguably true that VOIP is just another application on your network, it has very different requirements than typical data applications, and it's still telephony. If you have separate voice and data network departments, chances are that your data people don't have a lot of familiarity with telephony. This is a problem. In order to successfully migrate to IP telephony, your data people must understand voice technology. Taking the road to VOIP without a solid understanding of telephony by your data network staff is fraught with peril, and as Winnie the Pooh's friend Tigger says, "You just can't argue with a word like fraught."

The converse is also true: Your voice network staff must learn about the data world. Packetizing voice and transporting those packets over a data network introduces a lot of factors that they're probably not used to dealing with. They already know what you're trying to accomplish (telephony), but they may not know enough about how to do it over an IP network to be successful.

You're trying to marry two different technologies and two different sets of staff who have historically had different philosophies regarding network design and implementation. Talk to both groups. Get their comments, their questions and their worries. Really try to understand where both sides are coming from. Your success depends on it. Both groups must be working toward the same goal. They both must be onboard with the decision to move toward VOIP, and they must play well together. Read that again -- it's important.

Why Not Converge More Than The Network?