ideo conferencing and contact center services with remote offices is less complex than it was in older systems. IP Telephony Manufacturers Makers of voice telephone systems such as Avaya, Inc. and Mitel Networks Corporation once dominated the market for telephone systems. However, the advent of IP telephony, wherein voice and data are carried on the same network, presented an opportunity to companies such as Cisco Systems and Microsoft that previously sold only data equipment and software. Microsoft's VoIP product Microsoft Teams replaces Skype for Business. Teams is a cloud based suite of applications such as voice, email, and collaboration between staff. Teams also includes integration with Office 365, a package of software for spread sheets, word processing and presentations. Microsoft has stated its intention to continue its Skype service for consumers and small businesses. Manufacturers and software developers of IP-based telephone systems include the following: Avaya Communications (part of Nokia) Cisco Systems, Inc. www.TechnicalPDF.com Microsoft Mitel Networks Nexmo (part of Vonage) Polycom RingCentral Mitel Tropo Twillio Vertical IP TELEPHONY-CONVERTING VOICE SIGNALS TO DIGITAL Converged phone systems convert analog voice signals to digital bits, compress that data, and then bundle the compressed, digitized bits into packets, essentially transmitting voice as data packets. Data, voice, and video packets often share the same LAN infrastructure (cabling and switches) as that used for normal data traffic. However, voice and video require special treatment. They need to be sent in real time. Impairments such as delay and packet loss caused by network congestion are often not noticeable with data traffic. However, these problems noticeably degrade voice and video quality. Thus, network capacity is critical for sustaining voice quality. Greater LAN capacity and faster Digital Signal Processors (DSPs) as well as protocols for Quality of Service (QoS) enable local data networks to carry high- quality voice and v