VoFR, VoIP and ATM Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

VoFR, VoIP and ATM - Essay Example This need of companies has resulted in the development of packet switching technologies. The integrated networks came to be known as 'Voice over Frame Relay' (VoFR), 'Voice over IP' (VoIP) and 'Voice over ATM' (VoATM). As the technology improves, it becomes cheaper. Due to this not only big corporates but small business houses and even schools and colleges will adopt these technologies in the near future. In 'Frame Relay' and IP the data is represented in the form of variable sized packets or frames. In ATM data is chopped into small cells which results in increased switching rate of data through the network. Unlike circuit switching where different time intervals are allocated to different links, the packet switching dynamically allots bandwidth to various links based on their transmission activity. ATM has been designed to reduce delays whereas the other two, FR and IP, have the disadvantage of having delays over circuit switching technologies. However the use of access devices such as routers that use sophisticated schemes enables to overcome this limitation. These schemes include 'Prioritization', 'Fragmentation', 'Silence Suppression' and 'Voice Compression'. The network developers of both service providers and en... Similarly for enterprise network developers the main attraction towards these technologies is the cost savings associated with toll bypass and tandem switching. Besides the cost of development, the maintenance cost is also les. Also, more efficient network control and management is achieved. 'Finally, packet based voice systems offer access to newly enhanced services such as unified messaging and application control. These, in turn, promise to increase the productivity of users and differentiate services' (cisco.com, 2005). The voice-data integration technologies have improved rapidly in recent years due to the eagerness shown by both developers and customers. The demand has increased as the customers are much more interested in investing in these technologies to enjoy integrated voice applications. The network developers have been fortunate enough in this case as there has been advancement in the areas such standards, technology and network performance. Overview of the technologies A general background of these technologies and the basic principles and features are given one by one in this section below:- Voice over Frame Relay (VoFR) Definition VoFR uses a router to carry voice traffic like telephone calls and faxes over a frame relay network. Deployment The most used packet voice technology in networks is VoFR generally used in corporates. Prioritization Frame relays use access devices which put 'Tags' on different applications setting priority to all of them depending on the sensitivity they show towards delay. The higher priority voice packets are allowed to move first and till that time the others are kept waiting. Fragmentation The data packets in this case are divided into small fragments which results