Is Your Data Network Ready for Video?

[Kimberly Kelley (kimberly)]

As organizations begin to consider video- or voice-enabling their UC solutions, they sometimes don’t consider the impact on their existing data network. Data traffic is quite tolerant of latency, jitter, lost packets and other typical network conditions. If data packets are lost, they are simply resent. If a few milliseconds of latency occur, most users won’t even notice. Drop too many packets in a voice or video call, however, or have insufficient bandwidth, and the quality of the call and the overall user experience degrades pretty quickly. In fact, network issues can create poor enough experiences that users will abandon their attempts at using the cool new video technologies in favor of the tried and true plain-old-telephone service (aka POTS).

Deploying high definition video or voice conferencing creates new and different challenges for the IP-network team. A successful deployment requires careful attention to the requirements of real-time traffic. A recently updated Polycom white paper outlines some areas that should be addressed and then incorporated into the daily operations of the network to enable organizations to have a successful deployment and also maintain a high quality service over the IP-network through the inevitable changes in applications, locations, and the network itself.

For organizations needing additional assistance, network services are available to help address both the challenge of delivering compelling video conferencing experiences, and breaking down the communication barriers between video and network teams. Polycom and our partners offer a range of services from network readiness to ongoing network monitoring assistance and tools.

A video-ready network can make the difference between great user experiences with high adoption rates and poor call experiences resulting in low utilization. Make sure your network is prepared for the demands of video.