One-Wire Wonder (OWW)

This is an umbrella term that covers even the most radical of business telecom systems, business phone systems that transmit voice and signaling over LAN or WAN. In theory such systems will simplify your wiring-plant, and they ll solve huge problems with maintenance, MACs, and management, and put your business in line to reap the benefits of IP telephony.

Some of these systems also pose the thought-provoking question: Can you take the computer out of computer telephony? since, in it s purest form, one-wire wonders treat the network as the PBX, with the functions of the phone system absorbed by the parts of the data network, the data hubs and switches taking on the voice switching functions. At the customer premises end are boxes that act as routers and drive phones connected to the networked PCs or the phones have Ethernet circuitry built into them and are connected to the LAN directly.

It s not too surprising that such technology would appear, since data switches and telephone switches are similar, often located in the same room, and perform similar functions. The data and voice worlds use similar connectors on cabling that can be used in either realm. The PBX after all, is a kind of voice intranet server, and connects to the PSTN, a kind of WAN. So it makes sense that both worlds would integrate.

The exact mechanism for engendering this telecom upheaval are devices that go by various names and vague descriptions. Many experts use the term...