Understand Voip Solution And Related Technologies

By Author: Harold Vance
Total Articles: 113
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Voice over Internet Protocol or Voice Over IP is commonly known as VoIP. Basically VoIP converts the analog signal [means simple audio signal] into the digital signal [means on/off pulses, bits 0 & 1], transmit over the transmission line and convert the digital signal into the analog signal at the receiving end. The VoIP solution can be used as the replacement of a traditional telephony system. There are a number of solutions which can be developed using VoIP. Some of them are listed below:

Interactive Voice Response System
Conference Call Solution
Click To Call Solution
Voice Broadcasting Solution
PBX Solution
Polling Solution
Billing Solution
Calling Solution
Virtual/Soft Fax Server Solution
Many More
There are various technologies available to develop a VoIP solution. Let's explore those in brief.

Asterisk is a PBX [Private Branch Exchange] Software which can be used to develop various feature rich VoIP solutions. Asterisk was developed by "Mark Spencer" of Digium in 1999. It was originally designed for Linux but now it can run on various operating ...
... systems. It is an open source. It has the General Public License (GLU). Asterisk is the one of the early invented VoIP technology.

FreeSWITCH is an open source VoIP Software (Softswitch) invented by Anthony Minessale. Asterisk had a limitation in the number of concurrent calls and quality of conference calling, So one of the Asterisk developer Anthony who was working on a Conferencing Module developed new VoIP development platform, known as "FreeSWITCH". It offers all the features of Asterisk with more concurrent call capacity and quality conferencing. It has Mozilla Public License (MPL).

Web Real Time Communication aka WebRTC is a VoIP platform which provides remarkable quality in conferencing solution development. WebRTC can be used to create a web based conferencing solution which can be accessible by any client without any extra hardware or plugin installation. As the WebRTC based conferencing solution is using the web based interface it can provide many fascinating features including online presentations, demo, hangouts, chats, file & document sharing, etc.

OpenSIPs & Kamailio are other VoIP software development platforms. These technologies are most widely used for wholesale and retail VoIP traffic handling and more effective call routing. These two technologies are proxy SIPs and not PBXs like Asterisk, FreeSWITCH. So these two technologies can only be used for call routing and load balancing. For other features of VoIP solutions, developers can hybrid the software by using more than one VoIP development platforms.

There are many advantages of VoIP. Some of them are listed below:
It uses digital lines for transmission so it is more cost effective because the client doesn't need to pay extra toll charges which he has to pay in the traditional telephony system.
It provides more quality as digital signals are traversed instead of analog which are less penetrated to noise and other distortions.
Addition of new extensions is easier and hassle free.
It doesn't require bulky hardware switches and wires so implementation is quite easier.
It provides HD sound quality without frequent signal amplifications which might be required in analog signal transmission of traditional phone lines. It makes it more qualitative and cost effective.
It can be used during traveling as well because you don't need to attach the traditional hardware or wires.

There are few Disadvantages of VoIP [which can be easily overcome] are listed below:
It relies on the internet. So it cannot perform up to the mark in low bandwidth internet connection. This can be overcome with good internet lines.
During power outages, the VoIP system can be down as it needs a power supply. It can be overcome by using UPS and similar devices
It doesn't support the emergency numbers. Emergency numbers like 100 in India & 911 in US can't find in VoIP Solution by default. But it can be programmed easily and offered by VoIP developers on demand.

VoIP is a revolutionary invention which provides all the features of traditional telephone systems with many more advanced features with much more quality at comparatively low rates.