IP-Based Intercom and Paging Solutions Philadelphia PA

Last year, Gartner Inc.'s research vice president Carl Claunch announced the top ten technologies to watch in 2007. Among them was network convergence. The Yankee Group reported the VoIP market could reach $3.3 billion in service revenue by 2010. Businesses, the report said, look to VoIP for measurable savings, an excellent converged platform for voice and data and improved ways to manage communications within the enterprise.

The use of VoIP to replace traditional POTS (plain old telephone service) or PBX phones has garnered the bulk of the visibility in this area. And for good reason—there is a telephone on practically every desk in the office, and at least one on the wall of every industrial building. But bubbling under the surface is another form of communication that is really starting to take off and leverage those same networks: IP-based intercom and paging systems.

This next-generation technology is proving to be more easily deployed, cost-effective and flexible in use and design than traditional hardwired systems. Switching to IP modernizes analog intercom and paging systems by capitalizing on the rising IP convergence trend that combines audio, video and data onto the local area and wide area networks. This enables companies, institutions and property managers to leverage existing networks and transform how they interact with customers, employees and suppliers.

Instead of retrofitting into the limited archaic wiring in a building, where you're essentially performing a one-for-one replacement of units that are already in place, IP intercoms can be placed anywhere you already have an existing IP network connection. They can instantly become campus or metropolitan communications devices connecting multiple buildings to a central command and control. They don't require a dedicated exchange or head-end and the signal does not have to report to a single cabinet within the building. Instead, software is all that's needed to manage the end-points. The result: a plug-and-play scenario that allows unlimited growth from a single intercom system to an IP network of intercoms across the campus or even the nation.

Why bother with them at all? It's simple: intercoms and paging solutions provide instant, location-based communication to another individual or distributed group for purposes ranging from informational to security and emergency notification. Whether it's a security office monitoring a courtroom, the main office contacting one or more locations on an office campus, or a student notifying a security office of potential problems, the communication is fast, simple and direct.

IPv6 on the way

Another consideration is that with the next generation of Internet protocol version 6 (IPv6) around the corner, IP is really the state-of-the-art platform for intercom technology. It is getting faster, and as the technology develops even further, the ability to increase the number of addressable end points is a necessity. Any fears or concerns about reaching a dead-end on the Internet highway are needless. IPv6 proves the Internet is limitless.

While moving to IP offers many advantages over sticking with dated analog technology, it's important to remember that using IP for point-to-point communication does require network planning. As with adding any other device to an IP network, bandwidth must be taken into consideration. You must also plan for security as any new endpoint also creates a potential entry point for hackers and others that mean to do your network harm.

Intercoms and paging systems are still a critical means of communication. With the explosion of IP-ready technology, deploying, using and managing those systems has become infinitely easier and more cost-effective. It's time to deliver targeted, informational messages across multiple access points with the touch of a button.

Chris Coffin is CEO and co-founder of Lake Forest, Ill., based Digital Acoustics (www.digitalacoustics.com).