JANET Voice Advisory Service
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About VAS
Voice Advisory Service (VAS) provides free advice and guidance to organisations on all aspects of Voice over IP (VoIP) and IP Telephony. Typical areas in which the service is able to provide independent technical support to institutions are; interconnecting traditional PBX equipment over network links using IP, implement IP telephony, utilising VoIP in the form of MSN, AOL, GoogleTalk, Skype etc., connecting to an ISP PSTN gateway service. The service is free of charge for JANET customers, however a charegable consultancy brokering service is also available.
A wide range of information is published on this web site, including:
- technology guides and links to technical information
- detailed 'non-glossy' case studies detailing the technical aspects and the experiences of real implementations of a large range of technologies
- telecommunications provider and implementer data
Follow the menu links at the top of this page for further reading.
Background
In 2005 JANET(UK) undertook a requirements gathering exercise to understand how JANET connected organisations are using IP networks to support voice services and to determine what JANET(UK) can do to support this. The results of the JANET Voice Survey were presented at the JANET Voice Event in November 2005. Following on from the requirements gathering exercise JANET(UK) produced the JANET Voice Service Strategy.
Some of the key findings of the exercise were that the use of IP networks to carry voice traffic is becoming more commonplace. Some JANET connected organisations occupying multiple sites have already interconnected traditional PBXs using IP and many have deployed full IP Telephony systems. There is also a significant interest in the use of the Internet to carry voice traffic due to the emergence of MSN, GoogleTalk, AOL and Skype products.
Voice over IP and IP telephony are strategically important areas that JANET connected organisations cannot ignore. The provision of high quality independent advice is however hard to come by as vendors invariably have a vested interest and often limited knowledge beyond their own product set and technology domain.
To address this situation, at the June 2006 meeting, the JCN endorsed JANET(UK)'s proposal to provide a voice advisory service for the community to provide an independent and impartial source of expert advice.
Purpose
The purpose of the JANET Voice Service is thus to provide a means for the JISC community, to obtain free expert advice on a wide range of aspects of voice over IP topics.
Aims
JANET(UK) proposed to establish an advisory service modelled on the successful videoconferencing, multi-site connectivity and bandwidth management advisory services it already provides. The service will commission reports and case studies, conduct product reviews and provide a help-desk facility supported by voice services and technology experts. It is planned to launch this service by the end of 2006.
In anticipation of this, JANET(UK) has already commissioned a number of reports in areas that have been identified via the requirements gathering exercise. These reports will be completed and published later this year. A report on Skype and JANET has already been published and is available on the technology area of this web site.
- Glossary of VoIP related terms
- VoIP: What is it and Why?
- Voice and VoIP Regulatory Issues
- Addressing, Numbering and Directories
- VoIP Deployments within the Campus
- Interconnecting Traditional Telephony Systems and VoIP
- Interconnecting IP Telephony Systems
- VoIP on Network Operating Systems
Any problems, comments or suggestions regarding this page, please e-mail the VAS service manager.