Preface
“Allow your customers to do what they do best, communicate.” ™
Thank you for purchasing LanScape’s Voice over IP (VOIP) telephony development resources.
This edition of LanScape’s VOIP Media Engine™ is designed for the Microsoft Windows
family of operating systems.
Note:
Support for Microsoft Windows 9X and Windows NT 4.x operating systems has been discontinued.
This means we have stopped development and testing for all versions of Windows 95,
98, Me and all Windows NT 4.x. Please contact LanScape support for further details
if required. Please develop and deploy your VOIP solutions using Windows 2000 or higher.
Voice over IP is an exciting and new technology that is easy to apply and simple
to use. However, let us assure you, the task of developing an implementation of SIP
and RTP protocol stacks in addition to creating a robust telephony engine around
these technologies is laden with idiosyncrasies and traps.
We here at LanScape have performed research and testing of many of the most current
telephony “engines” and stack technologies available. We have determined what has
been successful and what has not. We have also performed studies that show what IP
telephony functions and features are demanded the most and which features are very
rarely used.
Like all new software technologies, the use and application of VOIP by end users
and by the developers of product oriented companies can be a risky business. All
of you who are reading this preface and are involved in the sales, marketing and
development of software for your companies know how difficult “getting it right”
is. Most often, developing a supporting technology needed by your end product ends
up detracting you from the real task at hand. We have been there, we know.
In the ideal world, you would be able to design your product around off the shelf
technologies in addition to your own internal software intellectual property. For
most companies, the goal would be to minimize the time of the development and test
cycles so as to deploy the end product/solution to the market as fast as possible.
In most cases, this fast deployment allows quick feedback from the field relative
to how well your team has met requirements. In this scenario, your company has the
added advantage of realizing a revenue stream faster and minimizing risks associated
with unfamiliar technologies. As time progresses over the life cycle of your product,
your development team has the ability to “design out” any or all procured hardware
and/or software technologies thus allowing you to achieve a pure, “wholly owned”
product based completely on your hardware and software solutions.
That’s the ideal world. In reality, what most companies do is to identify technologies
that work for them and their customers and stick with it. Typically, once a hardware
or software solution is integrated into the final version of a product, it often
remains until the product has reached the end of its life cycle and is retired.
This is where LanScape’s VOIP technologies enters the picture. You have the immediate
ability to plunge into the VOIP product sector with much reduced risk and diminished
time requirements. You have the ability to enhance your products and end user experience
using VOIP right now. You can view the entire packetized voice telephony “function
block” as a turnkey solution. If this is the first deployment of VOIP by your company,
you will gain immediate positive results with a fraction of the effort. We cannot
stress this enough. You will be able to remain true to your original task and remain
focused on your end results.
Internet/packetized voice capability is a very interesting technology. VOIP can assist
you in propelling your products into application spaces you might not have previously
thought possible. As mentioned earlier, we here at LanScape have conducted studies
over the past few years. To us it is clear and evident. Its not a question of “if”
VOIP will be widely adopted, it is a matter of “when”. The “when” clause in most
cases has already morphed into “now”.
For individuals new to voice over IP technology, the question most often asked is:
“What minimum network infrastructure must I have to deploy VOIP?”. The answer is:
“What you have right now”.
There are the VOIP “purists”, who claim you must have special quality of service
monitoring and control in addition to a changeover of current equipment to support
voice traffic. For most cases this is not true and is not a factor. Most residential
and corporate networks are sitting there most of the time doing nothing. However,
if you are in a network environment where you are already hitting the limit of your
network resources, then yes, the network will have to be “built out” to support additional
data carrying capacity.
Typical VOIP applications can be hosted on 10 or 100 Mbps Ethernet, 802.11 wireless
LAN/access points, broadband, DSL, or other modest network connections having a minimum
full duplex average throughput of 64kbps. If you have never experienced low latency
VOIP telephony using 802.11 wireless Ethernet, then you are in for a pleasant surprise.
The LanScape VOIP Media Engine™ was designed to directly address the needs of the
above mentioned network infrastructures, especially the wireless network topologies.
The application of VOIP are indeed only limited to the extent of your imagination.
If you are completely new to VOIP or telephony in general, sit back, read and absorb.
Also, be prepared to receive the sense of accomplishment you will soon be experiencing
as your new product allows your customers to do what they do best, communicate.
LanScape, Inc
