From left, ValueNet sales and marketing general manager Jim Mather with ExpressApps managing director Mark Harrigan and Interlloy finance director Russell Bon, and a Voice over Internet Protocol handset. A DANDENONG South steel distributor plans to cut communication costs by installing a network of phones that are powered by Internet technology.
The new wave in telephony is called Voice over Internet Protocol, or VOIP for short.
A seminar held by Keysborough computer network service company ExpressApps in conjunction with VOIP provider ValueNet was aimed at educating local businesses on the benefits they could gain by switching from regular copper phone services to VOIP.
The seminar was held at the premises of steel distributor Interlloy in Dandenong South, and the company is already embracing the technology.
Interlloy finance director Russell Bon said there were several practical benefits to using VOIP, including the ability to make extremely cheap interstate calls.
He said another benefit was the ability to virtually transfer a phone, including number, to another handset without the need for an operator transfer or diversion technique, making it easier for employees to work from home.
“As a steel distributor there are cost benefits between our interstate branches,” he said.
“It virtually costs nothing to call from Perth to Sydney to Brisbane and so on.”
ValueNet sales and marketing general manager Jim Mather said his company offered VOIP as a service without the need for businesses to install the hardware usually required.
But he made the clear distinction between VOIP and public Internet, saying that the phone network was private and only ran off the same protocols, or technology.
He said there were over 130 VOIP providers in Australia, with a majority of the uptake from residential areas.
