Wideband Audio Technology Featured Article
April 03, 2008
IP5280 Communications Teams with Polycom to Deliver HD Voice
By Tim GrayIP5280 Communications, a provider of enterprise hosted IP
communications services, recently announced it has added high definition voice service to its product portfolio.
The Englewood Colo.-based company targets small and medium-sized businesses, such as overseas call centers, insurance offices, product manufacturers, and industrial offices, and offers a variety of IP communications services such as hosted VoIP, SIP trunking, Voicemail to E-mail among others.
“IP5280’s VoIP service has improved the number of phone features for business users and reduced the costs compared to the old phone company, and now IP5280 is the first to bring high definition phone service to Colorado small and medium-sized businesses,” said Jeffrey Pearl, managing partner and co-founder of IP5280. “The increased intelligibility of IP5280 HD Voice enables more natural conversations, which boosts recognition and can help enhance productivity.”
The IP5280 HD Voice service uses phones developed by IP-phone maker Polycom (News - Alert). These phones contain a technology unique to Polycom called Polycom HD Voice that when combined with IP5280’s high definition phone service, enables a new level of call clarity, particularly when calling from an HD phone to another HD phone, said Pearl.
HD phones reproduce the subtle inflections and nuances of speech that people use everyday to communicate meaning and emotion in their conversations.
William Stofega (News - Alert), a research manager with IDC’s Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) Services Program, said the continued evolution of HD voice technology such as Polycom’s service is moving businesses past the model that provided for cheaper calls but not necessarily quality ones.
“Of course it’s important to reduce costs, but at what cost?” Stofega asked TMCnet. “In the past, the savings came somewhat at the cost of quality. But with HD Voice from Polycom, we are now seeing value beyond the price point.”
Stofega noted that Polycom was adding a usability factor and eliminated “fatigue” often associated with poor sound quality.
By utilizing Polycom’s high definition voice technology, IP5280 customers are now able to experience this new level of sound quality that goes beyond the quality implicit in the famous Sprint (News - Alert) pin drop commercials and is roughly akin to switching from analog to HD television.
IP5280’s High Definition voice service is its latest addition to its service offering portfolio.
Although PSTN "toll quality" call is often cited as the gold standard in terms of call quality, the label is not reflective of the highest quality available, according to Stofega/
Instead, "toll quality" represents the 3.3kHz slice of bandwidth allocated for voice in TDM networks and does not constitute a high–quality experience.
In fact, only 20 percent of the frequencies utilized by human voice are transmitted in the 300 Hz to 3.3 kHz range. The real power of VoIP HD voice lies in its ability to capture and transmit up to 7 kHz or greater, which is over twice the amount available via the traditional telephony network adding a new level of clarity to telephony, according to IDG.
“From a business perspective, the benefits of HD technology are tangible on a number of different levels including conversational clarity that can help reduce the costs associated with misunderstandings,” said Stofega. “This is especially crucial in businesses that deal with customers and partners who are not native speakers.”
Although other approaches are used, thus far IP-based communications has been marketed to businesses on the basis of cost reduction. However, businesses are beginning to look at utilizing IP as a competitive differentiator and are looking for something beyond cost savings to help further extend the utility of their investment.
IDC (News - Alert) believes that in order for IP communications services to evolve beyond cost reduction, service providers must also create value for their customers allowing them easier and more productive work environments, said Stofega.
Tim Gray is a Web Editor for TMCnet, covering news in the IP communications, call center and customer relationship management industries. To see more of his articles, please visit Tim Gray’s columnist page.
communications services, recently announced it has added high definition voice service to its product portfolio.
The Englewood Colo.-based company targets small and medium-sized businesses, such as overseas call centers, insurance offices, product manufacturers, and industrial offices, and offers a variety of IP communications services such as hosted VoIP, SIP
trunking, Voicemail to E-mail among others.“IP5280’s VoIP service has improved the number of phone features for business users and reduced the costs compared to the old phone company, and now IP5280 is the first to bring high definition phone service to Colorado small and medium-sized businesses,” said Jeffrey Pearl, managing partner and co-founder of IP5280. “The increased intelligibility of IP5280 HD Voice enables more natural conversations, which boosts recognition and can help enhance productivity.”
The IP5280 HD Voice service uses phones developed by IP-phone maker Polycom (News - Alert). These phones contain a technology unique to Polycom called Polycom HD Voice that when combined with IP5280’s high definition phone service, enables a new level of call clarity, particularly when calling from an HD phone to another HD phone, said Pearl.
HD phones reproduce the subtle inflections and nuances of speech that people use everyday to communicate meaning and emotion in their conversations.
William Stofega (News - Alert), a research manager with IDC’s Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP
) Services Program, said the continued evolution of HD voice technology such as Polycom’s service is moving businesses past the model that provided for cheaper calls but not necessarily quality ones.“Of course it’s important to reduce costs, but at what cost?” Stofega asked TMCnet. “In the past, the savings came somewhat at the cost of quality. But with HD Voice from Polycom, we are now seeing value beyond the price point.”
Stofega noted that Polycom was adding a usability factor and eliminated “fatigue” often associated with poor sound quality.
By utilizing Polycom’s high definition voice technology, IP5280 customers are now able to experience this new level of sound quality that goes beyond the quality implicit in the famous Sprint (News - Alert) pin drop commercials and is roughly akin to switching from analog to HD television.
IP5280’s High Definition voice service is its latest addition to its service offering portfolio.
Although PSTN
"toll quality" call is often cited as the gold standard in terms of call quality, the label is not reflective of the highest quality available, according to Stofega/Instead, "toll quality" represents the 3.3kHz slice of bandwidth allocated for voice in TDM
networks and does not constitute a high–quality experience.In fact, only 20 percent of the frequencies utilized by human voice are transmitted in the 300 Hz to 3.3 kHz range. The real power of VoIP HD voice lies in its ability to capture and transmit up to 7 kHz or greater, which is over twice the amount available via the traditional telephony network adding a new level of clarity to telephony, according to IDG.
“From a business perspective, the benefits of HD technology are tangible on a number of different levels including conversational clarity that can help reduce the costs associated with misunderstandings,” said Stofega. “This is especially crucial in businesses that deal with customers and partners who are not native speakers.”
Although other approaches are used, thus far IP-based communications has been marketed to businesses on the basis of cost reduction. However, businesses are beginning to look at utilizing IP as a competitive differentiator and are looking for something beyond cost savings to help further extend the utility of their investment.
IDC (News - Alert) believes that in order for IP communications services to evolve beyond cost reduction, service providers must also create value for their customers allowing them easier and more productive work environments, said Stofega.
Tim Gray is a Web Editor for TMCnet, covering news in the IP communications, call center and customer relationship management industries. To see more of his articles, please visit Tim Gray’s columnist page.
