Four years ago, the Commerce Department was gradually sinking under the weight of unwieldy computer networks and outdated phone equipment. Like many other government agencies, it had accumulated numerous disparate systems over the years, and trying to keep costs down and service levels up was becoming more challenging by the day.

"We had phones that were so old they weren't modular, and we couldn't use features like Caller ID, call waiting, conference calling or a message-waiting indicator," says Karen Hogan, deputy CIO at Commerce.

Upgrading the private branch exchange (PBX) system would have left the agency with a big bill for a system that still lacked the advanced functionality it needed. Instead, the agency opted to consolidate voice, video and data into a single infrastructure running on an Internet Protocol (IP)-based network.

Today, Commerce has more than 9,000 employees using IP-based telephony in multiple departments and offices. "It was the only way to make network management practical and affordable," Hogan says.

In a world where technology is quickly going digital, communications is no exception. IP-based telephony, video and contact centers are helping federal agencies drastically cut costs and manage voice and data in ways that weren't possible only a few years ago. IP-based technologies let organizations consolidate and converge voice and data networks into a single, streamlined operation, while also gaining leading-edge functionality.

"The idea of converging electronic communications channels onto a single platform is an attractive concept," says Aaron Vance, a senior analyst at Synergy Research Group (SRG), a Phoenix-based market research firm. "It creates new possibilities and new opportunities."

Convergence also helps streamline communications for users: Employees can receive voice mail, e-mail and faxes in a single unified inbox, and they can plug their phones into any network outlet and automatically have calls routed to them.

IP-based telephony sends digitized packets of voice data across a network. Sometimes referred to as Voice over IP (VoIP), it can encompass two distinct but similar capabilities: a private network that routes calls over a closed environment such as a local area network; or a system in which calls travel across the Internet or to a gateway, which converts the signal to analog and allows users to interconnect with those using traditional phones.

IP-based communications can also support videoconferencing and contact centers, points out Arjun Mehra, an analyst at AMI Partners, a research and consulting firm based in New York.

Ringing in a New Era

At Commerce, IP-based telephony has ushered in a new era of efficiency and productivity. The agency's main office in Washington, D.C., and a large U.S. Census Bureau complex in Suitland, Md., switched over to IP-based telephony in 2002, and nearly one-quarter of the agency's workforce now relies on these phones to make calls.

Hogan says the switch has eliminated the need to reprogram a PBX system when workers change offices, since an IP-based phone carries a user's data with it and can be plugged in at the new office. IP-based telephony has also reduced administrative and training costs. "There is one integrated network to manage rather than separate voice and data networks," Hogan points out.

The technology offers other advantages as well. The agency has developed a phone interface that lets employees use their IP-based phone to search the Commerce Department's phone directory to dial a person without entering a string of numbers. The phones also have Caller ID, and the system can record the phone number or extension of missed calls.

Finally, Commerce utilizes IP-based telephony to support an emergency broadcast network that can multicast an emergency message in audio and text form, and repeat the message, if necessary. Employees can listen to and view the messages on their IP-based phones.

Incorporating Web browsing and database lookup into phones enables organizations to put important data in the hands of people when and where they need it, says Synergy's Vance. "There are many situations where it's inconvenient or impossible to access an application on a personal computer," he says. Employee directories are a natural fit for IP-based phones, but agencies can also use the phones to display news, performance metrics and other data.

Clear, Reliable Communications

Although IP-based communications technology has been around for years, it only recently has evolved from a leading-edge technology that's suitable for niche applications to a mainstream tool. Frost & Sullivan, a New York-based research and consulting firm, projects that VoIP traffic will account for about 75 percent of the world's voice traffic by 2007.

Research firm In-Stat/MDR in Scottsdale, Ariz., predicts that use of "live" IP-based video (two-way video for interactive communications and one-way video for information distribution) will jump from about 17 percent of the total video market in 2003 to 42 percent in 2007.

A growing number of federal agencies are turning to this technology to connect offices across vast geographical regions. Some, like the U.S. Forest Service, are also taking the technology into the field. Within the agency's Intermountain Region, headquartered in Ogden, Utah, IP-based networks transport two-way radio traffic providing first-response communications for wildland firefighters on nine of the Region's 13 national forests scattered across California, Idaho, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming.

Instead of using traditional channelized microwave circuits to carry two-way radio voice, the Forest Service relies on a digital IP-based voice technology and its wide-area networks. This technology integration point has improved voice quality and expanded the functionality of the Region's two-way analog radio systems. Upon completion, this move will have cost less than $3 million and saved the Intermountain Region up to $15 million in microwave system replacement costs, which is quite beneficial during this time of cutbacks and reduced budgets.

"There's a noted improvement in voice quality using the digital circuits," says Mike Field, director of Region 4 Information Systems and Technology. What's more, the radio IP-based system provides the Forest Service with greater interoperability, flexibility and enhanced tactical operations with its co-operators. "Because the system is standards based," says Field, "a person in a dispatch center in Atlanta can manage tactical operations in southern Idaho."

The Intermountain region is also migrating to IP-based phones in its offices.

A Galaxy of IP Possibilities

IP-based communications technology promises to change the way many federal agencies interact during the next decade. For example, IP-based video, which is already in use by agencies such as NASA and the Veterans Affairs Department, is helping people connect over vast geographical distances.

NASA uses IP-based telephony and video to connect astronauts stationed on the International Space Station with family and friends on Earth. Using a notebook PC, astronauts can dial out and reach someone on an ordinary phone via a digital satellite link. Families also can participate in videoconferencing sessions from private rooms at the Johnson Space Center in Houston or from their homes. In addition, the space agency is deploying IP-based telephony for earthbound communications at its regional space-flight centers.

Because IP-based videoconferencing runs over a digital network, it delivers a higher quality picture and has fewer jumpy images and dropped frames than would a system based on an analog network.

IP-based video also offers viewing on demand and enables agencies to connect with their employees at remote sites. This capability can be used for training, employee orientation and informational videos, as well as for sending radiological and other medical images.

But such uses are only the beginning. "IP-based video is an emerging application that will play a significant role in communication," Synergy's Vance predicts.

Advances in the technology, lower prices, and improved security and ease of use are putting IP-based communications on the radar screen for government agencies. These systems promise to streamline processes, reduce costs, improve service and boost performance.

"The technology is creating a new era of communications," Vance declares.