Accommodating Voice Traffic on Campus Switches
Voice traffic on a Cisco infrastructure

Cisco’s converged end-to-end network solution offers the strengths of the Cisco data networking components such as routers, switches and firewalls which have infrastructure security and reliability as a foundation. An IP Telephony solution can be then be implemented over that network.

The power of this approach is that each new application such as video, Web, or telephony represents just another media type over the same infrastructure medium rather than creating a different communication medium for each media type. Intelligent devices are automatically given rights and priorities and the applications themselves can intelligently communicate with the infrastructure to meet the constantly changing needs of the system as specified by the organization. As the figure indicates, this unity of infrastructure and applications is what distinguishes Cisco IP Telephony solutions from those of its competitors.

Benefits of IP Telephony on a Cisco Infrastructure
Cisco IP phones are able to use the Ethernet switches in the network as the "voice call switch matrix." Calls are managed differently, and the inherent time slot and bandwidth limitations of traditional TDM architectures are removed. Switching of a call is done only between the devices required to switch the call: the IP phones, voice gateways and Ethernet switches. Calls do not have to be routed back to a traditional TDM switching matrix to complete the call.

Cisco IP phones are also able to receive call-processing capability directly from the Cisco IOS® Software running on the access router for remote or small office locations. The tight integration with the IP network infrastructure provides customers with the flexibility to design their IP networks to meet their individual voice and data needs.

Beyond network efficiency and scalability, the tight integration of IP telephony and Cisco infrastructure also delivers other benefits including:

  • Speedier, lower-cost moves, adds, and changes
  • Automatically updated E911 System
  • Quicker deployment of quality of service (QoS) settings
  • Security common to all network devices
  • Built-in resiliency
  • Power over Ethernet and intelligent power management to reduce power costs
  • New planning and management tools to ensure voice quality
  • A full range of IP Communications solutions
  • Revenue-generating and productivity-enhancing Extensible Markup Language (XML) applications