Are there any "green" advantages (like power or cooling) to using VoIP versus a traditional PBX?

Digg This!     StumbleUpon     Del.icio.us

RELATED CONTENT Video and Web Conferencing Google Wave, Cisco WebEx fill demand for hosted unified communications Telepresence exchange could mean business-to-business connectivity Deploying and managing video conferencing from the desktop to telepresence Transforming healthcare with video conferencing Telepresence ROI: People just as important as technology Video technology and social software can cut employee training costs As streaming video use heats up, a solid business case is key Software-based video conferencing connects British hospitals Ensuring voice and video quality about more than watching packet flows Telepresence and video conferencing: Reaping the benefits IP Telephony with Jon Arnold How will VoIP impact the quality of phone calls on our network? What will change for our employees when they start using VoIP? What is the biggest hurdle in an efficient IP telephony migration? What is the future of VoIP in the remote emerging telecom markets? Are we too late for VoIP? VoIP in 2009? Configuring a cost-effective VoIP network for overseas calls Can I configure mobile VoIP on my company smartphone? Is VoIP beneficial to everyone or just large enterprises? Security concerns for enterprise Skype

RELATED GLOSSARY TERMS Terms from Whatis.com − the technology online dictionary real-time communications  (SearchUnifiedCommunications.com) RoundTable  (SearchUnifiedCommunications.com)

RELATED RESOURCES 2020software.com, trial software downloads for accounting software, ERP software, CRM software and business software systems Search Bitpipe.com for the latest white papers and business webcasts Whatis.com, the online computer dictionary

Everyone is trying to be green in the business world, but VoIP only offers limited advantages over a traditional PBX. In either case, voice consumes little in the way of resources, whether it be power or bandwidth. VoIP would be more efficient in the sense that a converged network that handles both voice and data is less resource-intensive than having separate networks for each, which is the norm with legacy telephony. However, when it comes to green IT, the real culprits are servers and the surrounding infrastructure to support data services. VoIP really has minimal impact on these requirements, and switching away from a PBX will not make an appreciable difference.

The story becomes slightly stronger if you think of VoIP in the broader context of IP communications. Telepresence and videoconferencing are the best examples of this, where the voice component is basically a VoIP call. In these cases, the green angle has become a key selling point in the sense that these solutions reduce the need for travel. Less travel means less flying on airplanes, which translates into reduced carbon emissions and usage of fossil fuels. These benefits have more to do with the environment than IT, but by association can be positioned as one the virtues of VoIP.