By Jodi Mardesich, Inc. Magazine - Technology

Many small and mid-sized businesses are starting to realize the benefits of VoIP, but it is important to understand the types of procurement and deployment options and their relative strengths and weaknesses.

As businesses recognize the benefits of delivering voice services using Internet telephony, they need to understand their options for procuring and deploying voice over Internet protocol (VoIP), including each method’s relative strengths and weaknesses.

“IP Telephony technology is not only changing the way in which voice is transported across a network, but also the means by which is it purchased, delivered to, and accessed by end users,” says Rich Costello, an analyst with Gartner. Companies have three options involving a private branch exchange (PBX), which connect a business' phones internally and also with the public switched telephone network:

• Purchased IP PBX, which involves buying all the equipment and software and managing the system on its own.
• Managed IP PBX, where the company purchases the equipment but hires an outside firm to manage it for them.
• And hosted IP PBX, where the company pays an outside firm to host and manage the system.

More than half of companies will opt for an outside firm to at least manage their VoIP systems, according to Gartner. By 2011, Gartner believes that 40 percent of companies will purchase and manage their own VoIP systems, while 40 percent will purchase their own but hire someone else to manage the system for them.  The remaining 20 percent of companies will hire an outside firm to host -- and manage --their IP telephony services...

Read the full article online here: Tips for Choosing VoIP and Messaging Systems by Jodi Mardesich