IP telephony is a method of revising voice signals into digital IP packets and sending it through cyberspace to the final destination. Bandwidth partitioning for digital packets can be done dynamically. As users get active in traffic class, sub-partitions are created on the fly.

Everything has been changing in the Telecommunications industry in the past few years except one – Innovation. It has enforced conceptualization and implementation of ideas, one after the other. Successful implementation of one idea has led to the advantageous enforcement of another. The trend continues and who knows what we are going to see in future.

IP Telephony is one of the big ideas that have left a huge imprint in the industry. Popularly known as VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), it is a method of revising voice signals into digital IP packets and sending it through cyberspace to the final destination. A cost effective method of communication, VoIP technology is fast advancing. As it runs on server, it can be integrated with other applications, bringing in a host of other lucrative benefits.

Digital VoIP packets, sent via the Internet, require a certain amount of bandwidth in order for the transmission quality to be acceptable. Traffic partition for the VoIP class manages the aggregate traffic and the concurrent flows for the class. The partition is combined with a rate policy which defines a minimum rate for each flow. This ensures that VoIP always has enough bandwidth to support the multiple flows during a session. In absence of this reserved chunk of bandwidth, the conversation would be choppy.

Bandwidth can be assigned to digital packets dynamically. As users get active in traffic class, sub-partitions are created on the fly. This technology allows service providers the ensure for users a minimum amount of bandwidth at all times. This strategy is efficient when a small number of users will be active in any given time period. For instance, a service provider has 30,000 customers with a couple of thousand users logged on at a given time. With dynamic partition technology, subpartitions are automatically created for users as they log on. To accommodate new users when the upper limit is reached, the older non-active subpartition is removed releasing the bandwidth for active users.

You can also create static partitions. This kind of partition allows an aggregate traffic class to use a defined amount of bandwidth. Static partition ensures a specific amount of bandwidth for every digital packet and limits traffic to the same level. There is one more option called a burstable partition. It allows an aggregate traffic class to use a defined amount of bandwidth, and to access additional unused bandwidth, if required.

All partitions are hierarchical, which means that partitions can contain subpartitions. The approach enables application management for multiple groups, which can be controlled as a whole. For instance, a service provider can allocate different amounts of bandwidth for a particular application to various user groups. The basic concept for hierarchical partitions is that child partition minimums are limited to the parent partition. When the sum of the child partitions exceeds the minimum size of the parent partition, the child partitions are scaled proportionately.

For information regarding how to switch partitions, it is advisable to consult a VoIP technology expert. They have expertise in Hosted / Partitioned Softswitch technology, well versed with VoIP interconnection of gateways and switching.