Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is one of the benefits of the convergence between data transfer and telecommunications technologies. Companies today achieve significant service and infrastructure cost savings by transporting voice over IP networks. In addition, they set the stage for advanced multimedia applications and services such as unified messaging.

The IT-services department of the Canton Thurgau and their only private customer, the Spital Thurgau AG (an association of hospitals) are striving to reduce costs by increasing the efficiency of the telecommunication infrastructure. In regard to finding a low-cost solution, VoIP has become an interesting option for the Spital Thurgau AG. The potential of a VoIP solution is briefly examined in this survey aswell.

The main objective is to provide a technical, financial and economic basis for decision making by the relevant cantonal authorities. The focus of the survey lies mainly in the technology currently applied, the assessment of how much added value VoIP can offer and future possibilities of a VoIP-migration strategy.

Next to technological quality, resilience and scalability of VoIP implementations, financial and political aspects also play a fundamental role in the decision making process. One of the conclusions drawn in the report is that benefits of converged networks are not yet compelling enough to justify the investments necessary to employ the new system. A reduction of costs can easily be achieved by trunking leased telephone lines in between the PBX?s over IP. In addition, the Spital Thurgau AG does not envisage to make use of new applications which traditional PBX?s cannot deliver. The major concern of the customer is that former investments (in traditional PBX technology) need to be fully depreciated before new investments can be made. The solution to this problem is to invest in a PXB extension and indeed, most manufacturers have added such product packages to their portfolio.