Manufacturers will try to tell you their solution is a true Voice over IP system even if it's only partially true. The fact is, lots of vendors claim to have a VoIP system because they have added an IP gateway to an old technology PBX system. They are not true end to end VoIP solutions. A VoIP gateway takes an analog or digital signal from a traditional PBX and converts it to IP packets so that it can be sent out over a LAN or WAN. There isn't significant value in that buying that process. VoIP systems were designed to provide data integration capability, unified messaging features, centralized management and application aware capabilities inherent in the system. That's a huge difference than just changing a telephone signal to IP packets after it gets outside of the telephone switch. There are only a few true networking companies that really have the capabilities to deliver a fully network integrated VoIP solution. They can be counted on one hand.

We would be glad to share our expertise about the only real options that you should be considering when selecting a VoIP system.