Call it more than just the latest technology trend: A growing number of school systems nationwide are tapping into voice-over-internet-protocol (VoIP) technology to reap what could add up to substantial long-term savings on their telecommunications systems.

Providing each teacher with a traditional phone line from a telecommunications company is costly--about $30 a month per line, per teacher. But many school districts have successfully reduced this extra cost by operating their telephone system in house over their high-speed data networks.

The Appleton Area School District in Wisconsin--which is still in the process of deploying a VoIP system from Mitel Corp.--will downsize its phone network from 900 analog phone lines to 300.

"That's a cost savings right there of over $300,000 a year," said Jim Hawbaker, Appleton's director of information technology. He figures these savings will pay back the system's $1.3 million installation cost within four years.

With VoIP in place, the district can affordably provide a telephone in each classroom, voice mail for each teacher, caller ID, an emergency speaker in each classroom, conference calling, three-way conference calling, and more. "Those are things that we did not have previously," Hawbaker said.

VoIP technology is not appealing to every school district, however. Even with the promised cost savings, some say its reliability and regulations are still too immature to warrant a switch.

"I have a voice system that works very well and works everyday, and I'm just not willing to change," said Andrew Berning, chief technology officer of the Carrollton Farmers Branch Independent School District in Texas, who has been monitoring the developments of VoIP closely.

Before considering a VoIP system, "I would like the technology to become ripe and the standards to become better," Berning said.

So what should you make of VoIP? Is it ready for deployment? Is it right for your schools? Those are questions this article is about to address.

Reliability

One concern about VoIP systems is that if the data network fails, the entire phone system goes with it.

"If your data network goes down or just bogs down, you'll basically loose your phone service," said Gary Collins, director of public sectors for Avaya Inc., who recommends that school districts avoid switching 100 percent to VoIP phone systems.

"If you have a good-quality network ... VoIP will work. But still, a traditional phone system is going to be more reliable than a voice network," Collins said. "We can do pure VoIP if that's what a customer wants to do, but I would never recommend it to a customer."

Like any computer network, VoIP systems also are susceptible to viruses. "The majority of VoIP servers are Windows-based, and if a virus gets in your network and your IP server is on your network, then it'll take out your phone system as well," Collins said.