With its long history and deployment to every corner of the globe, Internet Protocol (IP) is increasingly viewed as more than just a way to transport data, but also as a tool that simplifies and streamlines a wide range of business applications. Telephony is the most obvious example, with voice over IP (VoIP) and IP telephony becoming increasingly popular with large corporations to consumers alike. However, VoIP is also the foundation for more advanced unified communications applications that can have an increasingly transformative effect on the way organizations do business.

Understanding the terms is a first step toward learning the potential of this technology: