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A private company with direct links to the NHS in the UK has implemented a business voice over internet protocol (VoIP) system across its national network of surgeries and walk-in centres.

The Practice, which has an exclusive agreement with the NHS to provide contracted patient services to UK citizens, has adopted its new business VoIP system as part of a more general programme of IT restructuring across its network of 60 community-based centres.

A new survey by industry IT publication, Computerworld, has revealed that internet protocol (IP) telephony expertise will be among the most sought after IT-related skills required by enterprises in 2012.

The survey could be said to provide further evidence of the growing importance of IP telephony in the commercial sphere; a view shared on many occasions by other industry commentators.

International computing and technology group, Oracle, has revealed that full adoption of business VoIP (voice over internet protocol) has been one of the key factors in helping to expand its business further.

The organisation says that giving all business phone systems throughout the organisation over to business VoIP was one of several successful strategies introduced to help make the group both more productive and more efficient.

Asterisk, the open-source software behind many hi-tech web-based services such as internet protocol (IP) telephony and business VoIP (voice over internet protocol), is to benefit from a significant upgrade which will include the capacity to handle high definition (HD) visual and audio transmissions.

The new version of Asterisk, called Asterisk10, is currently being put through its paces by owner Digium in a series of late beta stage test runs.

Multi-media giant Sky has announced a significant upgrade to its broadband infrastructure in the UK which may hold out the possibility of many more firms benefitting from added value internet services such as internet protocol (IP) telephony, and business VoIP (voice over internet protocol) in particular.

Sky’s upgrade has involved the laying of a superfast fibre-optic network connecting London and Birmingham; and its implementation follows hard on the heels of a successful broadband trial recently carried out by the organisation.

Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, has announced large-scale investment in superfast broadband across ten UK cities.

The announcement, made during the Chancellor’s recent autumn budget statement, confirmed the investment would total £100 million.

It is understood that the new investment will lead to broadband speeds within the selected cities of up to 100 Mbps.

A recent survey has revealed that the relatively low cost of adopting business VoIP (voice over internet protocol) is one of the main reasons why many companies decide to go down the business VoIP route.

The survey, by US technology advisory company, WhichVoIP, based its findings on feedback from its own business customers, regarding why they had eventually decided to adopt business VoIP over more traditional telephone line-based business phone systems.

IP telephony and business VoIP are scheduled to play a vital part in linking up the various 2012 Olympics sites across London.

All of the 94 Olympics sites in the capital will each be provided with business VoIP handsets that will enable staff to communicate effectively using such methods as traditional voice calling and telephone conferencing. The Olympics system will in fact be supporting 16,500 such business VoIP handsets.

Multimedia giant, Virgin Media, has said that its high speed broadband service is available now and could be taken up by a potential one-third of all businesses and homes across the UK.

Areas where the service can currently be accessed include Lincoln, Birmingham, Seven Kings and Solihull; and Virgin says that it fully intends rolling out the service to more areas in the near future.

A detailed analysis of the current use of internet-enabled communications, including internet protocol (IP) telephony and business VoIP (voice over internet protocol), is to be undertaken in Northern Ireland.

The survey, to be carried out by the University of Ulster, will not only look closely at the degree to which such technologies are used, but will also seek to find out how these technologies are rated in terms of function and application by those who use them on a regular basis.