VoIP Turnkey Solution: A Cisco IP Communications system running on a converged network helped support critical business activities and opportunities. Read more about the basics of VoIP and how IP communications can help your business with Cisco's VoIP turnkey solutions.

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from Cisco Systems Inc.

A. Duda and Sons depends on its Cisco converged voice and data network to provide cost-effective, reliable communication between its headquarters and branch offices across the United States.

"Our Cisco IP telephony solution helped us reduce our network operating expenses by 20 percent while giving us the flexibility to customize our voice capabilities to help our employees be more productive," says Alan Newton, vice president of Information Services at DUDA.

Background
Established in 1926 by Slovokan-born Andrew Duda as a family produce business, today, DUDA is a leading grower, shipper, marketer and exporter of fresh fruits and vegetables in the United States. DUDA is a year-round supplier of celery, radishes, lettuce, onions and sweet corn grown in the U.S. and Mexico and also produces sugarcane, sod and beef. A DUDA subsidiary, The Viera Co., manages the company's non-agricultural land holdings. The company headquarters are located in Central Florida, and DUDA has an additional 19 business locations across the U.S.

The Challenge
Voice and data networks play a critical role at DUDA, supporting key business activities like order entry, shipping, payroll, and finance. As the company grew, extending its operations to Texas and California, it became more and more costly to operate and manage the two separate networks.

Management at DUDA determined that a converged network that combined voice and data traffic on the same IP infrastructure could reduce administrative costs, while providing an easier path for growth and new applications. DUDA began looking for a technology platform that could support converged voice and data networking at locations that ranged in size from just fifteen employees to several hundred. Because no two offices had exactly the same user equipment and systems, the platform DUDA selected would have to be flexible enough to support a wide variety of phone and software applications.

"Some of our offices focus on sales, while others include production and sales staff in the same location, so our network has to meet a variety of needs," explains John Kane, director of Networking and Communications Services at DUDA.

The Solution
After evaluating a number of options, DUDA decided to deploy a Cisco Systems IP telephony solution. Cisco was the only vendor with products that provided both the scalability and full range of features the company needed.

"Other products we looked at included low-end systems that were designed for small satellite offices, which wouldn't scale well," Kane says. "Most vendors either didn't have a fully functional solution immediately available, or they offered combinations of traditional and IP telephony that were too expensive."

Working closely with Veytec, an authorized Cisco reseller, which provided highly effective end-user training, DUDA installed a standardized system based on Cisco multiservice routers at each of its offices, including the Cisco 3810, 1700, and 3600 Series routers. The Cisco 3600 Series router provides a high-performance, modular architecture that delivers support for IP telephony and multiprotocol data routing at larger sites, while the Cisco 3810 and 1700 Series routers provide these features for smaller branch offices.

To provide user access, segment traffic, and to help maximize available bandwidth, DUDA has also deployed Cisco Catalyst® 2950, Catalyst 3524-PWR XL, and Catalyst 6000 Series switches. The Catalyst switches provide the following features to enhance the performance of an IP telephony solution:

• Voice virtual LANs (VLANs) to create a separate path for voice traffic, simplifying network administration and troubleshooting
• Advanced quality of service (QoS), so voice traffic can be prioritized over less delay-sensitive traffic
• Port security to isolate voice traffic and prevent eavesdropping

The Catalyst 3524-PWR XL also provides network-based inline power, which eliminates the need to connect each IP phone to a wall outlet or other power source.