The growing trend in the US for enterprises and local government authorities to switch their business phone systems to those which exploit the technology of internet protocol (IP) telephony has found one of its latest manifestations in plans by Jackson Township, New Jersey, USA, for a new business VoIP (voice over internet protocol) phone system.
The proposed new business VoIP system is planned to link all of the local authority’s municipal buildings, as well as its police headquarters, and is intended to make use of 46 lines for incoming calls, together with an added emergency back-up facility for the police department. 176 business VoIP handsets are expected to be provided to staff at the local authority sites.
Commenting on the improved efficiency of the planned new phone service, Joe Fiero, one of the township’s Information Technology Committee representatives, said:
“Under the proposed system design there is an unlimited number of connections to the outside world…every phone in the system can make or receive calls at the same time.”
Fiero also said that the new system would allow for increased mobility among staff, with the possibility of extensions being used outside the main office for key employees. As an example, Fiero suggested that people such as the mayor could have:
“…. a fully functioning township extension in his home for after-hours response.”
The new business VoIP system will in addition, said Fiero, be less expensive to run than the township’s current system.
Many small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in the US, Europe, and the UK, have also demonstrated an eagerness to take advantage of the increased business phone systems manageability afforded by business VoIP, as well as its potential for lower phone costs.
The take-up of business VoIP has been particularly accelerated by the option now available of using the host services of a business VoIP provider or VoIP reseller, rather than installing expensive in-house IP telephony equipment.
