from taking over from fixed cabling these new technologies could in fact complement the installed infrastructure and provide a more flexible solution for today's office
environments.

Also, if you are in the cabling business then knowledge in these areas could be very lucrative over the next few years, and it will be an added service to offer your customers.

IT managers and anyone studying computing and networking, should also be aware of these emerging technologies. An understanding of the options available will help you to make informed decisions when upgrading your network.

I hope you find this issue interesting and please email us if there are any subjects that you would like us to cover in future editions.


CONTENTS:

1. Bluetooth Overview

2. IP Telephony - one cable less!

3. Network Cabling Help hit count continues to rise!

The Bluetooth SIG, Inc. is the special interest group that manages the development of the specification and qualification programs. Member companies include leaders in the telecommunications, computing, and network industries. The Bluetooth SIG provides a forum for companies to work together using short-range wireless technologies to solve customer problems.

The Bluetooth SIG, except for its General Manager Tom Siep, is a volunteer organization run by employees from the member companies. They support a number of working groups that focus on specific areas, such as engineering and marketing. Today over 2500 companies are working to build and qualify products (over 350 to date) as members of the Group. Interoperability is maintained by strict qualification procedures and regular testing of products with each other at "Unplugfest" events.


Bluetooth Developers Conference

The Bluetooth Developers Conference brought together a variety of users, including software developers, hardware engineers, product designers and corporate, aerospace, automotive and consumer electronics professionals with one common purpose: the creation of a world without wires. Attendees got an in-depth insight into the most critical issues facing the Bluetooth wireless technology community today: coexistence, security, market expectations and technological challenges. The Bluetooth Developers Conference, which took place last December at San Francisco's Moscone Centre, was created to satisfy this complex demand for information, and was the only educational event of its kind - a technical Conference entirely devoted to the practical exchange of knowledge and instruction on Bluetooth
wireless technology.


This article was reproduced by kind permission of the Bluetooth SIG
For further information please visit their website at: http://www.bluetooth.com/

Astronaut Marsha Irvins made history in 2001 when she made the first-ever phone call in space. Using a Cisco IP SoftPhone, Irvins spoke to lead flight director, Bob Castle, of NASA for a few minutes. The Cisco IP SoftPhone uses Internet technology called Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), which transforms a computer into a telephone by enabling it to send voice over the same network that transports e-mails.

To combat persistent on-board background noise, the Space Shuttle SoftPhone experiment also included Bose electronic noise cancelling headsets. The SoftPhone/Bose combination delivered a significantly improved audio experience for the shuttle crew. But the transition to IP telephony had its challenges. One particular problem was the 144,800km signal path from the shuttle to the space centre. This distance can create time delays that exceed one second, which in a normal phone will keep the call from connecting. Cisco reconfigured the Cisco IP Softphone parameter to allow for a time-out of between four and eight seconds, ensuring that the delays from space can be accommodated.

VoIP is the broad arena of voice communication over the Internet. One of the many aspects which fall under the general umbrella of VoIP - IP Telephony - is a technology, which will affect the cabling industry in significant ways.

Traditionally, voice and data are sent through two different systems. Data is dealt with over the network, while voice is dealt with on a PABX system, using the PSTN service through the telecoms provider. With the PSTN service, every time the handset of the telephone is lifted, a 64KB time slot (in time division multiplexing terms) is cemented to the destination number being dialled. This system was designed for an average call length of 3 minutes. However, with the advent of the Internet, which also runs over the PSTN, the average call is now 30 minutes. This places great strain on the traditional phone networks.

There are two possible solutions to this problem. First, the PSTN can be expanded into a larger and larger system. Or, voice transmission can be made more efficient - using VoIP. "IP Telephony converts voice into packets of data which are transferred across the networks and servers," says Cisco's technical manager, Carlos Marques. "Bandwidth can be prioritised to enable voice data packets to pass smoothly and quickly through the network, while less important applications - like e-mail - can wait," he says.

IP Telephony technology allows users to connect from IP phone to IP phone, or from an IP phone to a traditional phone line. There are many implications for users. VoIP technology enables users to utilise IP Telephony wherever there is an Internet Protocol (IP) connection. There is also no longer a need to break an Internet connection when a voice call needs to be made, using methods such as click to dial through the browser. It also enables mirroring of sites, so if a user encounters a problem on an Internet site, they can phone the call centre - while still connected - and the call centre agent can view the same site as the caller.


Quality of Service

"As QoS is vital when dealing with IP Telephony, there are several initiatives in place to establish standards," says Comztek product manager, Anton van Bers. "Integrated Service Architecture (Int-Serv) includes a specification for the level of network resources an application needs, in terms of bandwidth and performance. It also enables routers to allocate resources accordingly. "Diff-Serv is a simpler framework than Int-Serv. Diff-Serve relies on the Differentiated Service byte in an IP header, rather than on signalling mechanisms. This lets switches at the network edge identify telephony applications as more urgent than data traffic and mark the packets as high priority," he says.


Reliability

"The IP Telephony infrastructure has to match the 99.999% uptime level achieved by traditional telephony, before IP-based networks can be considered viable alternatives to circuit-switched infrastructures," van Bers says. To ensure investment protection, and enable centralised management and control, the components of the IP telephony solution should be standards-based and interoperable.

Best-of-breed security features should be included in the solution. This includes telephony class-of-service and authorisation codes; and data-networking security features such as firewalls, encryption, intrusion detection, and authentication.

Central management should manage both voice and data products from a single standard-based, centralised server. "Scalability is an issue," van Bers says. "How many ports are needed for the amount of traffic expected over the IP network? Can ports be added simply, or is there a point at which potentially implementation scales to your network?

"Hidden costs must be evaluated to determine the total costs of ownership. Can the solution be managed and maintained by existing staff? Is maintenance covered in existing agreements? Are change-outs or updates required elsewhere in the network to support the solution being considered?

"Investment protection is a necessity. Can existing PABXs be upgraded to support IP trunks and line side devices? Can existing routers be upgraded to support VoIP? What is the impact on the performance of these devices if they are upgraded and the call server is run on the existing processors? What is the cost of upgrade versus the cost of migration?"


Applications

Unified messaging applications integrate voice mail, e-mail, and fax. All messages can be accessed through one mailbox, with a single user interface. In addition, the messages can be managed using voice commands through a speech recognition interface or with an intuitive visual interface in Microsoft Exchange, Outlook Express, or Lotus Notes. Web-enabled call centre applications add another dimension to customer service.

As the public Internet evolves to support high quality, real-time voice communications, on-screen voice buttons can be added that enable real-time voice interaction with call centre agent. Speech activated applications use Interactive Voice Response (IVR) technology to distinguish between dial tone, data messages, and the human voice.

Collaborative applications help geographically dispersed employees work together more productively. Team members can create virtual meeting rooms on an Intranet using voice, chat, and document sharing; logging is as easy as visiting a Web page.

Mobility applications enable teleworkers to receive and make calls at home as if they were in the office. When users are on the road, they can extend their office desktop to the airport or hotel room, with a single dial-up connection.Users can access all the usual data services - e-mail and PABX services, such as voicemail and conference calling. The application automatically forwards calls made to the telecommuter's office number, to the remote location, without delay to the caller.

When an enterprise wants to establish a new call centre at a remote site, seamless telephony operation with the central site is important. "IP networks and the Internet are evolving from today's primary applications of data and Web access, to support a richer environment of applications and personal communications," van Bers says.


Implications

According to Frost and Sullivan (2001) VoIP will account for 75% of world voice services by 2007, and the International Telecommunications Union forecasts a VoIP increase of 50% in 2002. Thus, the cabling industry is confronted with some serious challenges.

"An immediate consequence of IP Telephony to the cabling industry is the reduction in the amount of cable that need to be laid," says Marques. "There is no longer a need for both voice and data cabling - or even power cabling for the voice devices - as some Cisco IP phones are powered through the data cable."

In buildings where both data and voice systems already exist, both may remain, and a slow and steady conversion will be made towards utilising the data network. The voice cabling may, or may not, become unused in these 'converted' buildings.

Buildings, which are being built from the ground up, will only require data cabling (if the VoIP route is taken). Cabling companies will find themselves cabling only one cable instead of the two or three which they used to.

"Yet another implication, which will arise from VoIP technology, is the need for cabling companies to become more involved in the technologies implemented after the cabling has been installed," he says. "They will need to be able to offer added value on top of the data cabling that is being laid."

Welcome to the world of Voice of IP.


Reproduced by kind permission of Cable Talk magazine.

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3. Network Cabling Help hit count continues to rise!

Over the last year the average number of visitors to the Network Cabling Help website has risen from around 6,000 unique sessions per month viewing over 10,000 pages, to more than 10,000 visitors viewing over 20,000 pages per month.

Although the active marketing at the beginning of this year accounts for some of the increase in traffic, the numbers have still continued to rise without any advertising. The reasons for this are mainly attributable to the number of incoming links from other technical sites (now over 160), and good old fashioned word of mouth.

If the subscribers to this newsletter are indicative of the type of traffic that the Network Cabling Help website receives, then the statistics are as follows:

Cabling Industry - 28%
IT managers - 21%
IT students - 39%
Others - 12%

If you would like to advertise on the site or in this news letter please email sales@datacottage.com

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