What needs to done and what sort of assessments should be made on the LAN (local area network) and WAN (wide area network) to know if VoIP is feasible? What has to be done to prepare for it?
Most companies will say that their network will support VoIP, but few of them are actually capable of running it as it sits today. Even though they have built it for VoIP, there has been no voice traffic on it, so most companies should run a network-analysis to determine the MOS (mean opinion score), or other tests that measure the amount of data traffic can be handled, in order to ensure successful implementation. The LAN infrastructure may need upgrading from standard data hubs to more sophisticated L2SW (Layer 2 switch) technology. The network must include end to end QoS (quality of service) which ensures voice traffic has priority over data traffic. Special consideration must be given when deploying VOIP over a WAN to ensure that all network hops provide QoS.
