Parliament to switch to VOIP after 140 years

Parliamentary authorities made the decision to switch to a “voice over internet protocol (VOIP)” system after being told by officials that the Palace of Westminster’s copper wire network was “at the end of its supported life”.

MPs and peers had been planning to make a decision about whether to move Parliament onto the internet-based system as part of preparations for a major refurbishment project.

The new system, which is due to be rolled out by March 2019 and would see handsets connected to computers rather directly to a telephone network.

Neil McManus of GHM Communications says: “Our IP phone systems and VOIP telephone systems offer significant advantages over traditional analog (legacy) systems. They cost less and offer a wide range of features simply not available on traditional systems. IP phone systems are much easier to install and configure than traditional phone systems and they don’t limit your company to a certain number of phones or users. This scalable and flexible infrastructure makes it easier for companies to easily grow (or scale back) and reduces various operational costs.”