Internet Telephony

Abstract

During the mid 90s, data and voice began to merge, propelled by advances in compression technology. The ubiquity of routed Internet Protocol (IP) networks, and the desire to trim telephony costs are the major driving forces of the deployment of Voice over IP (VoIP). One advantage of VoIP technologies is that they leverage existing network resources and dramatically reduce, or major eliminate telephone costs. If there is an existing Wide Area Network (WAN) then VoIP could be employed over the WAN. However, a WAN link may not be available at each node location. Then only local point of presence (POP) for router based Internet connectivity would be required for VoIP over the Internet. The Internet could be the part of the backbone for the routing of the voice packets. The advantages of deployment of VoIP are evident. The issue of whether or not to deploy VoIP is more concerned with technical implementation and Quality of Service (QoS) that with a cost benefit analysis. This thesis analysis some of the technical issues surrounding the use of Internet Telephony. Specifically, the Internet Architecture and required QoS for reliable voice, and issues that arise from a dynamic network such as the Internet, and both software and hardware approaches to workstation solution to Internet Telephony.