VOIP Requires Up To Par WLANs
Health-IT World explains how voice over IP (VoIP) over a WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network) reveals potential performance weaknesses more acutely than data applications. Wireless VOIP can reduce phone bills and make personnel easier to reach. However, to deliver proper voice quality, WLANs must not only offer proper coverage, but also low latency, adequate roaming for people who talk on the move, and enough capacity.
Unfortunately, most WLAN vendors and deployment service providers are experienced mainly in business offices or warehouses. Hospitals prove to be a much more challenging environment; with a wider variety of building materials and potential roadblocks from carts full of patient meals. Requirements need to be gathered to assess who is going to use the wireless network and where they are going to work. Once that’s done, a thorough site survey is necessary to make sure enough access points (APs) will be deployed in the right places. Some vendors use software tools that take into account a building’s topography and its building materials to account for signal attenuation. Finally, once the network is set up, actual performance can be measured with other tools to make sure coverage is adequate.
March 8, 2006 Related topics: Wireless, IT & software