Living with Voice-Grade Cable

Twelve years after VoIP was widely adopted, many businesses and organizations still had to make do with Cat 3 cable or traditional station wire for VoIP/data communications. However, Cat 3 or voice-grade cabling associated with legacy wiring is unsuitable for Ethernet, thus limiting the potential reach of businesses that could exploit modern IP voice and data network capabilities. The major problem is that running data-grade Cat 5 cable to enable VoIP communications can cost up to hundreds of dollars per drop, making any cabling upgrade a significantly expensive undertaking for many companies.

Phybridge’s UniPhyer

To handle the high cost of infrastructure investment that comes with IP networking over data cable, the go-to vendor, for some time, has been Phybridge, a Canadian-based IP phone deployment infrastructure provider, and partner with several UC platform vendors.

UniPhyer, Phybridge’s VoIP enabler, allows businesses to run IP telephony without performing expensive LAN upgrades. Pre-existing IP PBX systems by providers such as Avaya, Cisco, Mitel, ShoreTel, Siemens, and the like are converted by Phybridge’s UniPhyer into a relatively simple plug-and-play installation that comes with a much lower cost than traditional IP deployment.

Phybridge has been actively servicing the requirements of enterprise VoIP communications. But that can change soon because ADTRAN and Mitel recently released new products to accommodate VoIP and even Ethernet over voice-grade cabling.

Adtran’s ActivReach

Relying on the use of multiple cable pairs to create Ethernet, Adtran’s ActivReach technology is touted by the company to enable businesses to add up to 100Mbps of data to existing voice-grade wiring.

Made available in October, Adtran’s NetVanta 1535P Gigabit Ethernet switch consists of 24 copper ports and 4 fiber ports intended for uplinks and stacking. A statement from ADTRAN detailed that every “copper port can be configured for speeds of 10/100 Mbps in ActivReach mode at distances up to 365 meters (1,200 ft.) or standard IEEE 10/100/1000Base-T Ethernet at distances up to 100 meters (328 ft.).” This, in turn, makes incremental cabling infrastructure upgrades possible while providing power over Ethernet (PoE) within voice-grade lines. The switch port running on ActivReach mode can also be reconfigured to allow Gigabit networking speeds once new cabling is set in place. ADTRAN listed a price of $4,695 for the NetVanta 1535P.   

Mitel’s StreamLine

Mitel announced Streamline, which is a unique product, but Phybridge is the OEM. The data sheet of Mitel’s StreamLine markets it as an Ethernet LAN switch that uses legacy wiring to deliver IP telephony.

StreamLine is said to be readily “plug compatible” with existing voice-grade cabling infrastructures. It is likened to an IP router serving as a switch between the LAN and the IP phones. With Mitel’s setup, however, each IP phone requires a StreamLine adapter at every endpoint to deliver power and to configure voice-grade cable’s two-wire system to Ethernet signaling.

This StreamLine and Mitel’s previously announced UC360 Collaboration Point (a Mitel multimedia conferencing appliance) are not specifically designed or optimized for Mitel-specific implementations. It is possible that Mitel intends to make these products available for general distribution instead of exclusively through its own dealers.

Voice-Grade Cable Solutions: Not Going Away Soon

Data-grade cabling is the future of enterprise communications but traditional Cat 3 does not seem to be going away as many had expected. These technologies make excellent use of sunk infrastructure, and many are now considering wireless a better option than rewiring with Cat-5/6. Adtran and Mitel have wireless options, too. Adtran has its NetVanta access points and BlueSocket cloud managed wireless service and Mitel has its wireless gateway.

Thanks to these options, 20th century cable can be useful in the 21st century. All three vendors sell through channel partners. (KOM)