Nology, a local supplier of broadband, networking and communication solutions, has introduced VoIPex's ViBE technology to the SA market. ViBE technology enhances Quality of Service (QoS) of VoIP communication.

 

According to Willem Venter, technical director at Nology, QoS is important on any converged network that carries both voice and data, since no matter how much bandwidth a company or home user has, if the flow is not governed by QoS to assign higher priority to voice traffic, the quality on this voice traffic can never be guaranteed. 

 

"To handle both voice and data efficiently on a network, QoS is needed to assign higher priority to the voice packets to ensure consistent high quality of the voice signal," says Venter.

 

ViBE offers ultra fine grained QoS to deliver clear, error free, conversational quality voice over any broadband connection, while ensuring that the number of active voice calls will never be more than the bandwidth will allow, without degrading the quality of the calls. 

 

At the same time, by reducing protocol header overheads ViBE reduces the amount of bandwidth needed for VoIP, opening up the market to areas where VoIP telephony was previously not possible. ViBE technology makes VoIP work in the real world by reducing infrastructure costs, improving call quality, improving data throughput and reducing latency, managing voice networks effectively and removing points of failure.

 

"There are several innovative features of VoIPex's ViBE technology, such as the ability to bond various WAN links across carriers and bandwidth types including ADSL, 3G, WiMax, leased lines and so on.  This increases bandwidth capacity available for VoIP and adds resilience by allowing for link failover to ensure that connectivity remains stable.  Packets are guaranteed to be received in order, ensuring efficient transmission, and built-in security features such as VPN and Tunnel Encryption provide a secure connection," Venter says.

 

VoIPex ViBE technology consists of a number of different server products for different markets and applications.  The rack mounted ViBE server appliance supports 3000 simultaneous voice calls and is aimed at ISPs and Voice ISPs (VISPs). For these service providers the technology can be deployed on a network to reduce the bandwidth required to carry voice traffic. Smaller appliances that can carry up to 200 simultaneous calls are also available and are aimed at enterprises.

 

In addition to the server appliances, licenses must be obtained and Customer Premises Units, or CPEs, need to be installed. These devices remove the redundant VoIP packet overheads on the common route (such as between the IP PBX and softswitch or broadband gateway or hosted PBX) freeing up bandwidth. In a point-to-point or end user scenario a CPE device is installed at each location or for multi-site networks, a server device can be installed at the central site to service the remote CPE units. 

 

While ViBE technology is suitable for all markets, from a local perspective the VoIPex products offer substantial benefits to the ISP and VISP market. The licenses can be purchased in bulk and then repackaged to the end user, making the deployment of VoIP through a ViBE-enabled service provider a more cost effective option. Using ViBE technology these service providers can save costs while providing high quality voice calls to the market while at the same time stimulating voice penetration in the country.

 

"By allowing voice to truly work at optimal efficiency over a data network and dramatically reducing bandwidth requirements for this technology, VoIP can now be rolled out into areas where this traditionally was not possible.

This, in combination with the increased amount and quality of available bandwidth in South Africa, will allow users in the country to finally take advantage of the benefits of converged communications," Venter concludes.

 

For further information, visit www.nology.co.za or email info@nology.co.za