Glossary of Terms

A voice over internet protocol phone is a desk phone that is specifically designed to use the internet as a bridge to the public telephone network and allows free calls to any other phone located on the same network.
Most VOIP phones receive their power and connect to the local network via the same Ethernet cable, this is also known as power over Ethernet or POE. VOIP phones can either be connected directly to a switch or router, or they can connect to a computer which then passes network data to the phone, however if the computer fails then the phone will lose connectivity too.
Modern VOIP phones have a selection of advanced features such as conferencing, call logs, forwarding, web connectivity and integration with internal communication systems.

Virtualisation refers to technologies designed to provide a layer of abstraction between computer hardware systems and the software running on them. With virtualisation, an entire server (including processor and storage) runs as a software image, meaning multiple virtual machines can be run on one physical machine.

VPN provides secure connections between private Networks linked through private Networks or public Networks such as the Internet. It allows remote computers to act as though they were on the same secure, local Network – ideal for linking multiple sites, home-based or remote workers. The main benefit of a VPN is the lower cost needed to support this technology compared to alternatives like traditional leased lines or remote access servers.