If you aren't ready to pay the pay the price of the upgrade, then it's probably better to put off the VoIP migration, at least for now. "Costs can spiral out of control," Levy says. "This is an immensely high-bandwidth application, you could be talking about a whole infrastructure replacement."
Bad Timing: This might not be a big problem if your network is due for an upgrade anyway. And Levy says a good percentage of enterprise local area networks (LANs) probably are. "Timing is everything," he says. "If you time the migration to the roadmap you've already planned, then you're not incurring any unexpected expenses."
The problem, however, is that VoIP holds out such promise that many organizations are willing to throw out their long-term planning to implement it. Levy's advice is simple: don't do it.
"If you installed a new phone system a year and a half ago, then it's just wrong to jump on VoIP just because it's the hot new technology," he says. "If it's off your roadmap, then you're just not ready."
The Skills Gap: The important thing to remember is that VoIP is not an evolutionary change to traditional telephony, it's a whole new and revolutionary technology. With that in mind, it's entirely possible that no one in your organization has the skill set to see a VoIP implementation through to completion. The telecom department knows voice, but not IP networks, and it's quite possible that, despite their eagerness, your IT staff might not have the skills to do voice.
"That's where a lot of the real problems lie," Levy says. "It costs a lot of money to bring your staff up to speed on this technology, and if you're not able to do that, then you're not ready to implement it."
Subsea cable alternatives can provide a level of comfort for those concerned about disruptions. Realistically, they will continue to play a small, but critical role in the short term.
Maintaining existing network infrastructures often incurs huge technical debt before newer technologies are adopted over time.
Amid ongoing regional uncertainties, telecom infrastructure in the Middle East has expand to include terrestrial low-latency network infrastructure, which offers resilience and agility in navigating political complexities without relying solely on undersea networks.
