IBM gets into IP telephony

NEWS IBM has announced it is partnering with Avaya and Cisco to sell and manage telephone systems that use the internet instead of traditional phone lines. The partnership offers customers a choice of IP (internet protocol) telephone gear from Cisco and Avaya, which will be installed and managed by Big Blue. The companies have already begun jointly selling the services and equipment. The deal marks IBM's first move into the corporate market for so-called IP telephony, where Electronic Data Systems, Hewlett-Packard and other companies have already staked their claims. Yves Lozach, director of networking services at IBM, said the partnership's gear and services are targeted at medium-to-large businesses. Lozach said: "Voice is becoming an application on a data network. And applications on a data network is our core business." IP telephones use the internet instead of traditional phone lines to exchange voice calls, faxes or pager messages. A dialler avoids paying long-distance charges, because the calls don't travel along a phone company's network of copper wires. But the equipment is still in its earliest generations, so it is expensive and prone to bugs, says Norm Bogen, a networking industry analyst at Cahners In-Stat Group. So far, two markets have developed for the services: consumers who buy monthly airtime and corporations merging their phone and office computer networks. Bogen said IBM can use its nearly 20 per cent share of the office network installation and management services market to take on incumbent IP telephony providers. Ben Charny writes for News.com