To cope with the volatile communications system DSL Packaging (DSL) has moved to IP telephony to better exploit its global WAN.

The company was using a Panasonic TDM phone system, and then dabbled with ISDN, but the system linking its operations was unstable and susceptible to disruption.

The company uses a Telstra IP WAN to link its Perth head office, factory and data center with its Melbourne and Brisbane operations. DSL's other centers - including New South Wales and New Zealand - run on an Internet VPN, as do its offices in Malaysia and Indonesia.

DSL's impetus for moving voice calls to its IP infrastructure was to leverage its investment in the IP WAN, to share the production facility's telephone system over a fiber connection and for the company's offices and remote workers throughout the region to make intra-office calls toll-free.

DSL's group administration manager Angelika Reinhardt said the company evaluated systems from Cisco, Panasonic, Toshiba, Avaya and even the open source Asterisk, but in the end start-up Zultys was chosen to supply the equipment.