Voice over IP in the German research network
In 2000 we started to deploy a first voice over IP network at the University of
Erlangen-Nuremberg. The primary goal of this testbed was to allow studies of the
available VoIP components. The research focus was to measure the
required transmission quality in the network as well as to test the interoperability of
the different VoIP devices.
We installed a Cisco Callmanager (starting with version 2.4, currently we use 3.2) and a
number of Cisco hard-phones and some hard-phones from Siemens. Additionally, software based
telephony applications from Microsoft and from Cisco have been deployed.
It became obvious that the telephony applications can be used over the standard IP campus network
and even over the German research network. Nevertheless, there is no guaranteed transmission quality
and therefore no benefit over the standard telephone system. If QoS mechanisms are deployed in the
network such as prioritization of the VoIP traffic, the quality of the voice over IP applications
is comparable to the standard telephone system.
As the result of some talks in Dresden, a first cooperation was initiated between the University
of Erlangen-Nuremberg (Falko Dressler) and the Saarland University (Edgar Scherer).
A working group was established in 2001.
Until the end of 2002, about 20 universities, research instituts, and leading manufacturers of
VoIP hardware joined the group.
In the end of 2002, the focus of the working group shifted from a research project to questions about the operating of single VoIP clouds.