Cindi Williamson

"It's new, it works, it's simple -- it's a no-brainer," says enthusiastic network administrator Cindi Williamson, who admits she took a flyer on IP-telephony technology when it was still "vaporware."

But the voice quality with the Micom system is just as good as the local PSTN, Williamson insists.And network-bandwidth utilization is 7 Kbps or less per voice channel.The Micom V/IP units, a PC card, and software cost $1,750 for a two-channel system.The servers are non-dedicated standard PCs, including even 486s.Texas Bank saves $2,400 a month in long-distance charges associated with the IVR system alone, and can also use IP voice for internal branch-to-branch calling.

Williamson calculates that the investment in IP telephony will pay for itself in eight months."My CFO loves the fact that it's cheaper," says Williamson.

To bypass training and other issues, Cindi Williamson, network administrator at TexasBank in Weatherford, Texas, works with two managers who run the data and voice networks separately, but they cooperate on joint services.The bank uses a MICOM Communications Corp.V/IP phone/fax IP gateway for its interactivevoice response (IVR) phone bankingsystem.

Williamson, who has a background in data networks, says that by having her telecommunications manager work with Southwestern Bell, the local phone company, many potential communications problems are eliminated.

The bank profits two ways, said network administrator Cindy Williamson.It saves $2,400 a month on incoming 800-number calls by using excess capacity on its data network to handle them.And by using local numbers, it makes customers "feel like they are calling Joe at their local branch" instead of a distant call center.