from
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008)
Voice over IP
VoIP
<communications> (VoIP) Any technology providing {voice
telephony} services over {IP}, including {CODECs}, {streaming}
{protocols} and {session control}. The major advantage of
VoIP is lower cost, by avoiding dedicated voice circuits.
Currently VoIP is being deployed on internal corporate
networks, and, via the {Internet}, for low cost (and low
quality) international calls. It is also used for telephony
applications such as voice and fax mail.
The {ITU} standard is {H.323}, which is a whole suite of
protocols, while the {IETF} has developed the much simpler
{SIP} to solve the session control problem and {MGCP}/{Megaco}
to solve the gateway problem.
(2003-11-30)