The migration to IP networks demonstrates the evolving needs of conference users and is often driven by the following data points:

• Quality of existing video infrastructure
• Shifting IT trends and obsolescence issues with traditional ISDN systems and hardware
• Reliability and availability of ISDN
• Increasing convergence of media applications and network
• Support for remote and mobile workers

Cost often plays a defining role in the decision to migrate the network. Users can anticipate significant cost savings when using IP-based transport facilities. Many of the newer conferencing endpoints require additional equipment to connect through an ISDN network, adding significant cost to the hardware investment. Additionally, each ISDN line typically incurs a per-minute usage charge that can greatly affect the system's return on investment. Combined with a near continuous increase in the volume of video calls, the overall density of video traffic, and a trend toward international traffic, these trends define the need to migrate away from the traditional ISDN-based networks for video conferencing.

Moving to a new conferencing network can be time and resource intensive, pulling focus away from a company's core business. In most cases, companies considering a move to an IP-based network will seek a partner to assist them through the transition. There are a myriad of service providers in the market and several different approaches to migration. A successful ISDN-to-IP Migration service provider will take a consultative approach; taking time to understand their customers' historic conferencing usage. This knowledge will lead to expected usage patterns and growth objectives, culminating in the development of the best migration and network requirements plan for each user. Further, transitioning from an ISDN to IP network will cause a fundamental shift in the management and administration of the whole network infrastructure. The best solution providers will educate system administrators and users on the new environment based on knowledge gained from the discovery phase and from experience with the systems and platforms used. The ultimate goal of the solution provider should be to get the new network system up and running with minimal impact to productivity and instill a high level of comfort with both the users and administrators.

Network trends are changing. ISDN is no longer viable as a long-term transport solution for video conferencing. Bandwidth limitations and cost considerations are driving more and more users to IP-based systems. This transition, however, can be costly and will consume valuable company resources. For those users making the transition to IP, choosing the right service provider can greatly minimize the overall impact to their business.

Chris Cheadle is Product Manager at Wire One Communications, Inc., 937-259-5834; email: cheadle@wireone.com; web: www.wireone.com.