Communicoms have experience across all networking solutions, including VOIP, VPN, WAN, LAN and wireless.

We will pick the best solution for your requirements taking into account existing physical architecture, software application requirements and budgetary constraints.

Our experience in implementing networks means that the installation process is smooth and works first time with minimal disruption.

Office moves, new setups, re-arranging within existing premises all may require IT networking work.

Why use a VoIP phone system ?

Whether you are a residential or business user, the VoIP service allows you to unleash the power of the Internet to make high-quality low price calls to anywhere in the world. Once your VoIP telephone system is set-up, calls to other phones internally (on your network) are free and so are calls to all other VoIP phones around the world. In other words, if every one had a VoIP phone there would be no telephone companies (just larger Internet Service Providers). This does not mean that standard PSTN telephones (normal land lines and mobiles) can't contact you: you can also have a 0870 or 0845 number routed to your telephone!

VoIP phones are extremely portable. If for example you wanted to move to another office or work from home one day, simply plug your VoIP phone into your home network or broadband modem and your phone will still work using the same telephone. The call is  automatically routed to your new location. No reprogramming of the phone system required, you don't even need a land line, just an internet connection!

In most cases where a network is already in place there is no need for additional cabling systems. Our VoIP phones use standard CAT5 cabling (generally the same cabling that most internal data networks use).

What is SIP ?

The Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) is a signalling protocol used for establishing sessions in an IP network. A session could be a simple two-way telephone call or it could be a collaborative multi-media conference session. The ability to establish these sessions means that a host of innovative services become possible, such as voice-enriched e-commerce, web page click-to-dial, Instant Messaging with buddy lists, and IP Centrex services.

Over the last couple of years, the Voice over IP community has adopted SIP as its protocol of choice for signalling. SIP is an RFC standard (RFC 3261) from the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), the body responsible for administering and developing the mechanisms that comprise the Internet. SIP is still evolving and being extended as technology matures and SIP products are socialised in the marketplace.

The IETF's philosophy is one of simplicity: specify only what you need to specify. SIP is very much of this mould; having been developed purely as a mechanism to establish sessions, it does not know about the details of a session, it just initiates, terminates and modifies sessions. This simplicity means that SIP scales, it is extensible, and it sits comfortably in different architectures and deployment scenarios.

SIP is a request-response protocol that closely resembles two other Internet protocols, HTTP and SMTP (the protocols that power the world wide web and email); consequently, SIP sits comfortably alongside Internet applications. Using SIP, telephony becomes another web application and integrates easily into other Internet services. SIP is a simple toolkit that service providers can use to build converged voice and multimedia services.

In order to provide telephony services there is a need for a number of different standards and protocols to come together - specifically to ensure transport (RTP), to authenticate users (RADIUS, DIAMETER), to provide directories (LDAP), to be able to guarantee voice quality (RSVP, YESSIR) and to inter-work with today's telephone network.
Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN)

This relatively recent addition to the network family means that there is no installation or moving of existing wiring. It is flexible and easy to use, thereby creating greater accuracy in the execution of everyday tasks.

Other benefits are the freedom of wireless working, with the inherent increase in productivity, as well as mobility. In addition it is a feasible answer for the hot desk environment and can be used as a solution or to augment a traditional wired network.

Furthermore, it is ideal where frequent changes are required in LAN wiring or where a LAN cannot be used, such as in older buildings, temporary sites or leased space.

What are VPN's?

VPN's are private, secure connections across a public network—usually the Internet—that extend corporate networks to remote offices, mobile users, telecommuters, and extranet partners. To establish VPN tunnels, companies and their remote sites must set up connections to local points of presence (POP's) through Internet service providers (ISP's) and then the ISP's handle the transmission of the data via their networks and the Internet  infrastructure. Unlike other connectivity options, VPN's do not require permanent links between sites.

VPN tunnels are secured through encryption technology. Encryption uses advanced mathematical algorithms to “scramble” messages and their attachments, ensuring that messages travelling across a VPN cannot be intercepted or read by anyone other than the authorized recipient. In addition, various methods of authentication can be employed, with VPN, to verify that transmitted data actually originated from its specified source.

» The Benefits of VPN Include:

Cost Savings - VPN's enable organizations to utilize cost-effective third-party Internet transport to connect remote offices and remote users to the main corporate site, thus eliminating expensive dedicated WAN links and modem banks. Furthermore, the advent of cost-effective, high-bandwidth technologies like DSL, organizations can use VPN's to reduce their connectivity costs while simultaneously increasing remote connection bandwidth.

Security - VPN's provide the highest level of security using advanced encryption and authentication protocols that protect data from unauthorized access.

Scalability - VPN's enable corporations to utilize easy to provision Internet infrastructure within ISPs and devices that allow for the easy addition of new users. Therefore, corporations are able to add large amounts of capacity without adding significant infrastructure.

Compatibility with Broadband Technology - VPN's allow mobile workers, telecommuters and day extenders to take advantage of high-speed, broadband connectivity, such as DSL and Cable, when gaining access to their corporate networks, providing workers significant flexibility and efficiency. Furthermore, high-speed broadband connections provide a cost-effective solution for connection remote offices.