Recognising that conventional PBX systems are gradually becoming redundant, the Chemical Services group - Chemserve - has moved to an IP telephony-based network at its new offices in Bryanston, in a R2 million project with Dimension Data.
Due to its expertise in both IP telephony and Cisco, Dimension Data undertook the design, deployment and maintenance of the solution. IP telephony technology allows for data, voice and video to be transmitted over a single, IP-based network infrastructure.
According to Gartner, an estimated 10% of all new telephony business in Europe is voice over IP, with IP telephony expected to be mainstream by 2006. This trend is mirrored in SA with BMI-TechKnowledge saying that voice over IP (VOIP) spending is predicted to grow from R8 million in 1999 to R240 million in 2004 (BMI TechKnowledge December 2000).
Chemserve employs approximately 2 000 people and is the largest specialised chemical operation in Southern Africa. The group has sales, distribution, production and laboratory facilities throughout the country, all in the chemical and raw material industries.
"As we were due for a network and PBX upgrade, we decided to go the IP telephony route," says Chris Kotze, IT manager at Chemserve, "as IP telephony features far more advanced capabilities than PBX. We believe these will be an asset to our operation."
"We recommended the Cisco IP telephony-based network to Chemserve as it enables services that break apart the traditional telephony structure," says Michael Abendanon, account manager for Chemserve at Dimension Data. "The system results in reduced administrative costs, more flexibility in application deployment to the desktop, increased personal productivity and improved customer care capabilities."
"The functionality of the corporate IP voice, video and data solutions can be extended to remote locations, with remote offices also having access to the same functions as the main branch without having to invest in their own infrastructure and software," says Kotze. "Central office also then enjoys a greater degree of control over what is added to the network, ensuring better systems integration and security.
"The Cisco IP telephony-based network provides the company with flexibility through ease of adding or moving extensions, reliability and scalability," Kotze adds.
"Chemserve will see a reduction in the total cost of ownership (TCO)," says Abendanon. "The IP telephony system costing is fairly similar to the LAN and PBX pricing, but by only having to manage a single cabling infrastructure with a speedy and inexpensive roll-out of installations or changes, the benefits bring long-term rewards.
"We believe Cisco IP telephony is the VOIP enterprise architecture of the future providing an intelligent network infrastructure for corporate offices and campuses," concludes Abendanon.
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