Telephone systems are becoming more and more complicated. After all, your telephone isn't just a tool for talking. Now, it's part of a digital network that can include voice communications, faxes, e-mail, data exchange and computer hookups. No business can afford to ignore the improved performance that comes with a modern telephone system.

AHC knows you have work to do. That probably means you don't have the time to become a telecommunications system expert. Let us take care of that. Our experience is one key to our outstanding service, and our knowledge of this rapidly changing industry and equipment is the other. We minimize the pain and maximize the gain of acquiring a new system designed specifically for your company and its individual needs.

The number of large U.S. companies -- those with more than 100 employees -- with networks that integrate voice and data services will grow from 27% today to 48% in the next 12 months [International Data Corp. (IDC) analyst].

The demand for these "single-pipe" networks is being fueled by the convenience of managing both voice and data traffic on a single network. The rise in voice/data integration, however, will be more modest in Europe, where the number of large companies with integrated voice and data networks is expected to grow from 21% now to 27% within 12 months. The priority of European companies is not so much to integrate voice and data but, rather, to increase their WAN's bandwidth, the analyst said.

The European countries with the highest percentage of integrated networks are Switzerland and Italy, he added.

These figures come from a recently completed survey of WAN managers in companies with more than 100 employees and from a variety of vertical markets, such as finance, manufacturing, retail and government. IDC surveyed 400 WAN managers in the U.S., 650 WAN managers in 10 European countries and 760 WAN managers in eight Asian countries.

AHC's vendor partner's totally integrated offering for carrier/ISP-provided voice and data networks are called MultiVoice. It has the ability to build a backbone infrastructure that offers the same reliability and cost efficiency for data as for voice; it has interoperability between switched and packet networks

MultiVoice solutions deliver voice, data, and fax services over a single, unified network infrastructure. This is the only solution on the market to offer "Absolute" Quality of Service across the complete connection—from the access area through the core to the public network—providing toll-quality voice, video, and real-time data.

MultiVoice is unique to the industry because of its ability to utilize the vast array of technology in the Ascend portfolio including powerful backbone switches, access products, IP Navigator software, and the Navis family of management applications. MultiVoice applications address Voice-over-IP, Voice-over-Frame, Voice-over-ATM, and voice interoperability between IP, Frame Relay, ATM, and SS7 Carrier Signaling Services.

The MultiVoice for the MAX enables voice traffic to be sent and received over IP-based networks such as the Internet, private intranets, and extranets. It offers an integrated Voice-over-IP solution that is high quality, high performance, cost justifiable, scalable, and based on international standards.

MCI WorldCom On-Net Voice Services

MCI WorldCom On-Net Voice Services is a revolutionary communications offering, leveraging the virtually unparalleled network strength and extensive local-reach of MCI WorldCom. By offering facilities-based local service, MCI WorldCom has the unique capability of transporting customers' traffic entirely over the MCI WorldCom network, from point of origination to termination in many locations worldwide.

MCI WorldCom On-Net Voice Services provide a host of new local, outbound long distance, outbound international long distance, toll free, international toll free, calling card, and access features designed to assist you in achieving all of your business objectives. MCI WorldCom continues to put the needs of our customers first, offering the services and advanced features that you have come to rely on in the successful operation of your business.

To Ease Voice-Data Integration on WAN Links

Information technology managers looking for a way to save money on long-distance calls between sites can use several new products from AHC's vendor partner to put that traffic on their data networks.

The devices take voice traffic from private branch exchanges and pass it to high-end routers or access concentrators, which in turn send it over frame-relay, Asynchronous Transfer Mode or IP links to their often far-flung sites, eliminating the need for separate voice networks.

But this is likely only a hit for users with heavy internal — but limited external — calling, especially if some of those external calls are running over very expensive international telephone networks.

Most users have outsourced internal and some external calls to large telephone companies, and some users are fearful of packetized voice for reliability reasons. Most voice isn't intracompany to begin with, and only 20% to 25% of companies have multiple sites.

However, if managers are looking to add more traffic to their router-based data networks, adding voice could be a rational strategy.

AHCs vendor partners's products include a high-density T1 voice card that lets its 7200 and 7500 series routers handle 24 channels, as opposed to the original four voice interfaces to its popular 2600 and 3600 branch office access concentrators and the 3660 — a high-end addition to the line.

Use of them to support calls between our domestic and international sites over leased lines and in some cases frame-relay connections is a quite reasonable utilization. We think this is more cost-effective for most international calls.

Thes products can provide a more scalable and flexible alternative to upgrading or replacing widely used but aging T1 multiplexers for combining voice and data over a single wide-area network line. That's because users need only to add the voice modules to their existing routers and branch office concentrators.