techfocus

Peering Under The Hood

Of VoIP Technology
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) has been growing steadily in popularity over the past
years. Instant messenger clients with voice chat features have given way to P2P (peer-to-
peer) VoIP clients like Skype. We take a closer look at VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol)
technology, and the challenges and innovations associated with it.

i
P.A. Monteiro f you have been on the Internet
The author is a freelance writer living in Bangalore.
He advocates the user’s point of view on his blog at
long enough, there is a good
http://allaboutusers.wordpress.com chance that you have spoken
to someone over the Internet,
either using a traditional chat
client (like Yahoo!), or P2P software
like Skype.
VoIP, or Voice over Internet
Protocol, is the technology used to
transmit voice over the Internet. Also
known as ‘Internet telephony’, it
involves breaking up analogue voice
data into digital packets, and then
transmitting these packets using the

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CMYK CMYK
 Internet Protocol (IP).
techfocus
Factoid: A common misconception
about VoIP is that it refers to the
transmission of voice over only the
Internet. Using VoIP, voice can be
transmitted over any network that uses
the Internet Protocol.
How VoIP works
To make VoIP calls, you need
an Internet connection with 56
kbps or higher speeds (broadband is
recommended). You also need a VoIP
device that breaks your voice into
digital packets and sends the packets
across to the intended recipient.
The VoIP device could be an ATA
(analogue telephone adapter) and
a regular phone, an IP phone, or a
softphone with a microphone and a
headset. (A softphone is a software
client (e.g., Skype), installed on your
computer, that allows you to make
VoIP calls.)
Depending on the type of calls
you intend to make, you may need a
service provider (like AT&T, Verizon
or Skype).
For a detailed explanation of how
VoIP works, check out:
http://communication.howstuffworks.
com/ip-telephony.htm
The role of codecs
An important component of VoIP
technology is a codec, short for coder-
decoder. A codec is an algorithm
that codes and decodes human voice,
and compresses the digital data for
transmission (so that the bandwidth
to carry the data is reduced). A codec
could be in software or hardware form.
Traditional telephony uses the G.711
codec, while VoIP uses codecs like
G.729, G.722.1, etc.
We asked Anil Kumar, manager—
Video Telephony and Communication,
Ittiam Systems, about the speech
codecs used in VoIP. He says, “There
are primarily five aspects of a speech
codec that determine how useful it is in
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a particular VoIP scenario. These are:
quality, processing power, delay, error
resilience and compression.”
He adds, “G.711 has the best
quality, processing power and the least
delay and processing power. However,
it lacks concealment and in-built error-
resilience, and does not offer high
compression. G.723 requires higher
processing power, is high in delay and
low in quality, but performs quite well
in terms of compression, and error
resilience and concealment.
“G.729 has the best balance of all
To make VoIP calls, you need a bradband Internet connection and a VoIP device that breaks your voice into digital packets
and sends the packets across to the intended recipient
these aspects, but does not scale for
higher frequency bands. The codecs
that may emerge in the future are the
iLBC and G.722.2+ codecs. However,
both these codecs require higher
processing power.”
Protocols in VoIP
In VoIP, the Internet Protocol (IP)
layer is used to route voice data packets
between locations. Another protocol
called UDP (User Datagram Protocol)
is used on top of IP to send (transport)
the packets. The data is carried using
a protocol called RTP, the Real-time
Transport Protocol, which is used for
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the transport of real-time data like
audio and video.
RTP is used in tandem with
another protocol called RTCP (Real-
time Control Protocol), which is
used to provide information about
the Quality of Service (QoS) being
provided by RTP. The signalling
between the applications is handled
by protocols like H.323 or SIP, SIP
being specifically created for telephony
(VoIP) applications.
Prof Henning Schulzrinne of
Columbia University is the co-author
of RTP and SIP, and numerous other
RFCs. On the possible problems with
the RTP protocol and developments
for the future, Prof Schulzrinne
says, “RTP is meant to be a stable
foundation for media transmission, and
is largely complete. The major current
efforts that are likely to impact product
design include improved QoS feedback
and the addition of more media types.”
Innovations in VoIP
With VoIP, data and voice can
be transmitted over a single network,
which reduces hardware and operating
expenses. The convergence of voice
and data provides opportunities for
companies to innovate solutions. For
example, one company allows you to
receive your voice messages as MP3
files that are sent as attachments to your
e-mail address. We also look at some
other innovations in the VoIP space.
Click to call: You may have
already seen websites that allow you to
click on a button and chat with ‘live’
support personnel. Similarly, a VoIP
technology called click-to-call allows
you to call people by clicking a banner
or a button on a website. Click-to-call
is already being offered by companies
like Ifbyphone, Yellow Pages and
Esqube Communication Solutions.
VQube, India’s own P2P
VoIP tool: Esqube Communication
Solutions Pvt Ltd, a Bangalore-based
company, recently released a product
called VQube, which the company
calls, “…a peer to peer Voice over IP
interactive communication tool that
offers voice, video, text chat and voice
mail.”
On the subject of how the Esqube
team designed the product to address
technical challenges in the Indian
market, Dr K V S Hari, CEO,
Esqube Communication Solutions
Pvt Ltd, says, “The main technical
challenges we face in India are in
the areas of hardware limitations,
network constraints, and bandwidth
limitations.”
He reveals, “VQube uses a
lightweight voice codec that needs
lower CPU time (compared to other
codecs), thus keeping the CPU and
memory requirements to a minimum.
This means that VQube works
satisfactorily on older machines and on
older versions of operating systems, as
well as on set-top boxes installed with
Linux and Windows mobile phones.”
“Since bandwidth in India is still
at a premium, VQube uses a secure,
lightweight protocol for transporting
voice packets, which reduces the
overhead and contributes to bandwidth
reduction. Bandwidth usage (for voice
and video calls) was also minimised
using techniques like dynamic voice-
codec switching, video frame rate
selection, and so on,” he says.
About the network-related
challenges, Dr Hari says, “In many
networks, the desktop is in a private
IP behind a NAT (network address
translation), with the same Internet
connection shared by all users.
Sometimes the Internet connection is
in a tight firewall (only standard ports
are open to the outside world), and can
only be accessed via a proxy.”
“VQube’s network discovery
protocol detects the type of network,
the type of proxy, and the ports
that are open for voice packets to go
through, and automatically routes
the packet without reconfiguring the
The convergence
of voice and
data provides
opportunities
for companies
to innovate
solutions.
network. Also, in most conditions,
packets travel P2P, thus minimising the
delay,” he adds.
IP video: If you can transmit voice
and data using IP, then the next step
would be to add video. Companies are
already working on products like IP
video phones, and video conferencing
systems.
About IP video phones, Kumar
says, “Ittiam’s technology has been
licensed and taken to market by
multiple vendors, and is currently
under a trial run by an Asian major.
Although the IP video phone is still
an emerging market, there is a clear
sign of increasing interest and intent of
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adoption by major OEMs around the
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world.
The future of video telephony is
bright, and it will come into our lives
in multiple forms, like video phones on
desktops, video phones on IPSTBs (IP
Set Top Boxes), video communication
embedded in ATMs, etc.”
Private networks: Since the
Internet is a public network, there are
inherent pitfalls (e.g., security, voice
vs data traffic priority) associated
with transmitting voice calls over the
Internet. Some VoIP service providers
use dedicated private networks that
enable secure and faster transmission
of voice calls. Using private networks
also allows service providers to tweak
parameters for better performance (for
example, prioritise voice traffic over
data traffic).
One example of a private network
is the Multi-protocol Label Switching
(MPLS) network that is used by VoIP
service providers.
Challenges facing
VoIP
Since VoIP is a relatively new
technology, challenges are to be
expected as the technology matures.
We look at some of the challenges in
this domain.
Security: The one challenge that
seems to come up in every discussion of
VoIP, is security. Addressing this point,
Minhaj Zia, business development
manager, Cisco India & SAARC says,
“One of the most common threats is a
denial of service (DoS) attack, which
shuts down applications or servers.
These attacks are often made against
routers or Web servers, but they can
also be used to target call-processing
servers in IP telephony networks.
“Call tampering, which involves
tampering with a phone call in
progress, is also emerging as a threat.
For example, the attacker can spoil
the quality of the call by injecting
noise packets in the communication
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 stream. Or the attacker could withhold
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the delivery of packets, so that the
communication becomes spotty and
the participants encounter long periods
of silence during a call.”
Shawn Conroy, vice president -
voice networking, AT&T Inc says, “A
secure VoIP deployment must include
a combination of existing IP security
mechanisms and VoIP-specific security
mechanisms. Ultimately, the security
of a customer’s VoIP services depends
not only on the security measures that
the vendor deploys in its network and
services, but also on the security that
the enterprise customer implements at
its own locations.”
He adds, “Many of the security
measures taken by vendors such as
AT&T, to secure VoIP, must also be
deployed by an enterprise on its own
devices to be fully effective. Security
at the customer’s premises is a critical
component of end-to-end VoIP
security.”
Prof Schulzrinne expresses his views
on security saying, “In my opinion,
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most of the problems can be traced
back to implementations —either
sloppy implementations that fall prey
to buffer overflow and call-state attacks,
or lazy implementers who do not
implement well-documented security
techniques, such as TLS (Transport
Layer Security) for signalling. The
one major protocol deficiency is
probably the lack of a standardised key
agreement protocol for media security.”
Spam calls: Because VoIP calls
are sometimes routed through public
networks (like the Internet), there is a
possibility of spam. Prof Schulzrinne
says, “I have not heard about any
real incidents of SIP-based spam,
presumably because most SIP-based
systems are still closed. SIP Identity is
a precondition for many of the other
spam-fighting techniques, such as white
and blacklists, or more sophisticated
versions, such as whitelists based on
social networks.”
He adds, “Several other kinds
of techniques have been proposed,
such as detecting spam calls based on
frequency or duration, or using the fact
that callers start speaking immediately
rather than waiting for a “Hello”
greeting. Most of the techniques in the
Experts believe that a secure VoIP deployment
must include a combination of existing IP security
mechanisms and VoIP-specific security mechanisms
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latter group have the disadvantage that
they are likely to suffer from high false-
positive rates, i.e., non-spam calls that
are falsely labelled as spam. (For example,
automated phone alerts or airline
departure delay notifications are likely to
be labelled spam.)”
Codecs: About the challenges in
implementing codecs for VoIP-related
technologies, Kumar says, “For VoIP-
related technologies, several aspects
of codecs and components need to be
examined. The most important ones are
implementation optimisation, system-
friendly implementation and testing.
Since VoIP is a low-delay real-
time system, the algorithms should be
optimally implemented so that they
introduce the least amount of processing
delay. In addition to implementation
optimisation, the components must be
usable, and implemented so that the
system has maximum flexibility in using
them.”
He adds, “A core component like
a codec must then be put through
stringent and exhaustive tests. Examples
of such tests are, a speech decoder’s
behaviour if the data is corrupted, or an
echo canceller’s performance when put
through a non-linear path.”
Issues specific to India: On the
challenges faced by VoIP in India,
Zia opines, “In India, the biggest
challenges were the regulatory restrictions
imposed by the Indian government
and interoperability issues that resulted
from a lack of standardisation. Until
recently, a single infrastructure for public
switched telephone network (PSTN)
and Closed User Group (CUG) was not
allowed in India. However, the TRAI’s
(Telecom Regulatory Authority of
India) notification on the approval for
“logical partitioning” of PSTN and CUG
networks means that companies can
reduce their investment expenses. This is
because they would not have to manage
the expense of two separate (PSTN and
CUG) networks.”
About the non-technical challenges
 faced in India, Rajasekharan N K,
executive vice-president—Business
Development, Esqube says, “One
challenge is the reluctance of Indian
ISPs to adopt Esqube’s home-
grown technology in spite of the
threat of revenue loss from (foreign)
service providers like Skype. The
other challenge is the government’s
regulatory framework related to the
restriction of VoIP to PSTN gateway
termination within India.”
The future of VoIP
We asked people from the industry
about the future of VoIP in India.
Shawn Conroy observes: “Business
VoIP is picking up speed as more
companies are turning to VoIP to
improve functionality and increase
cost efficiencies. There is a sizable
growth market, particularly in India,
as corporations are leveraging VoIP
solutions and services.”
Believe IT or Not
PowerPoint Gets Unpopular in the US Military?
m icrosoft’s PowerPoint
might be the
most powerful
presentation tool
in the world,
but it seems to have run afoul of the
US military. In his best-selling work
on the ongoing war in Iraq, ‘Fiasco’,
journalist Thomas E Ricks points out
that many members of the US military
were extremely irritated with some
officers’ penchant for using PowerPoint
presentations to get their point across.
Ricks quotes Lieutenant General
David McKiernan as saying: “In lieu of
an order, or a frag (fragmentary) order, or
plan, you get a set of PowerPoint slides...
That is frustrating because nobody wants
Rajasekharan shares a similar
opinion: “The future of VoIP in India
looks positive. Products like VQube,
which support secure multimedia
communication, in addition to
VoIP, will find traction due to multi-
location enterprises that are looking
at improving efficiency and reducing
cost. Students travelling abroad
for higher education will drive the
residential VoIP markets, since families
and friends will want to keep in
“Clearly,
the future of
communications
is VoIP.”
K.L. Narayanan, head—Business Unit, Convergence,
Avaya GlobalConnect
touch at low costs. In addition, social
networking sites like marriage portals
will find a need to adopt VoIP to
to plan against PowerPoint slides.”
Retired Colonel Andrew Bacevich
is quoted as being equally scathing
in his criticism: “Here may be the
clearest manifestation of ... the
assumption among forward thinkers
that technology—above all, information
technology—has rendered obsolete the
conventions traditionally governing
the conduct of war. To imagine that
PowerPoint slides can substitute for
such means is really the height of
recklessness.”
The extent of the military’s
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attract more memberships.”
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K L Narayanan, head—Business
Unit, Convergence, Avaya
GlobalConnect adds, “Clearly, the
future of communications is VoIP.
Businesses and consumers are already
taking advantage of the cost savings
and new features of making calls over a
converged voice-data network.
“The logical next step is to take
those advantages to the wireless world.
The potential impact of wireless VoIP
on the communications market is
enormous.
“Wireless VoIP offers potential
savings by allowing companies to
change the way they manage their
phone systems. On the lines of Web
2.0, there could be something like VoIP
2.0, which will facilitate more flexibility,
customisation and powerful features. It
will be the next phase of VoIP.”
The future is clearly bright for
VoIP.
Nimish Dubey
nimishdubey@gmail.com
annoyance with PowerPoint became
evident when the person in command
of the third ACR in Iraq, Colonel H
R McMaster, decided to challenge
the current military culture – in
Ricks’ words: “…all but banning the
use of PowerPoint briefings by his
officers. The army loves these bulleted
briefings, but McMaster had come to
believe that the ubiquitous software
inhibits clarity in thinking, expression
and planning.”
Well, it seems that Microsoft will
need to beef up its sales pitch to the
US military in the coming days, if
Ricks’ claims are true. Or maybe just
train the officers to use PowerPoint
more effectively.
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