WorldCom set for VoIP push

WorldCom is juicing up its voice-over-IP service to offer voice and data network convergence to the desktop, a move that could result in significant customer cost savings.

The service provider plans to provide support for native Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) to the desktop for its IP Communications service customers next month. The enhancement will let users plug Cisco or Pingtel SIP desktop telephones directly into their LANs, eliminating the need for separate voice and data networks. WorldCom also expects to extend the reach of its IP Communications service to managed IP VPN, dedicated Internet access and private IP frame relay customers this year.

When WorldCom launched the service last year, the carrier said it was using SIP for call set-up and termination, but was not ready to roll out SIP support to the desktop.

The University of Pennsylvania tested IP Communications and the SIP phones as part of an ongoing study of integrating existing telephony equipment into a voice-over-IP environment.

"We did test the Cisco 7960 and Pingtel xPressa phones. Both were well received by users, and there were no noticeable ergonomic differences or differences in call quality with either product," says Steve Blair, senior network engineer at the university.

Blair says he was "most impressed with the quality of the technical support" when he was testing IP Communications. While the beta test ended late last year, Blair still is weighing his voice-over-IP options.

"The key benefit of SIP is its interoperability with the [public switched telephone network (PSTN)]," says Lisa Pierce, an analyst at Giga Information Group. The signaling protocol efficiently hands off traffic between an IP network and the traditional telephone network, especially compared to other voice-over-IP protocols such as H.323. It's a positive development that WorldCom is moving ahead with native SIP support as more companies, such as AOL Time Warner and Microsoft, get behind the protocol, she says.

Although WorldCom is not the first service provider to offer users voice-over-IP support, it is believed to be the first in the U.S. to offer managed SIP-enabled voice-over-IP services to the desktop. AT&T also offers voice-over-IP support for its managed Internet access and frame relay customers, but AT&T uses H.323 signaling technology.

"Native SIP support will allow new sites to set up a traditional phone system, from a feature perspective, without investing in a PBX," says Barry Zipp, senior director of enhanced voice services at WorldCom. "This will lower the cost of new site implementation dramatically. New site setup [with native SIP support] is half what it would be with a PBX system."

Users can expect this type of savings when setting up an office with about 250 or more employees, Zipp says.

"To support native SIP you have to replicate and enhance the functions that are resident in a PBX or Centrex environment," which is what WorldCom is doing, he says. Business users can expect features such as call forwarding, call transfer and four-digit dialing.

WorldCom also plans to launch a number of SIP voice applications, including voice mail. The carrier is deploying SIP voice mail servers from Webley on its vBNS+ network, where all IP Communications call signaling and handoffs to the PSTN takes place.

Although WorldCom initially planned to move IP Communications support over to its commercial Internet backbone, Zipp says the carrier will continue supporting the service on the vBNS+ network for the near term. This network was developed for the academic community and supports advanced technologies such as IPv6.

"The vBNS+ network has interconnections into all our data networks. It might not be the most efficient setup, but right now it lets us get to the other networks and we're not seeing any delays," Zipp says. The question of efficiency comes into play when WorldCom rolls out IP Communications services to its Internet access and IP VPN customers.

WorldCom expects to announce in the second quarter IP Communications support for its managed dedicated Internet access customers. If IP Communications signaling and application support were deployed on WorldCom's legacy UUNET backbone, an Internet-access customer's traffic would not have to traverse a second network, the vBNS+ network, before it reaches the PSTN.

In the third quarter WorldCom also will roll out IP Communications support to its dedicated IP VPN and Private IP frame relay customers. This support will let customers integrate voice directly onto a VPN by using an existing PBX or by going for a complete overhaul and deploying SIP-enabled phones on each user's desktop.

Zipp says WorldCom is developing an IP Communications service for small and midsize businesses, although price considerations remain an obstacle there.

"The SIP phones are still fairly expensive. Some vendors are getting them down to the $100 range, but the phones from Cisco and Pingtel are significantly more expensive," Zipp says.

WorldCom hopes to get an IP Communications service that will run over DSL ready by year-end, he says.