What is the ISDN shutdown?

We all know that technology has the scope to make companies more profitable and help employees work more flexibly. However, sometimes, when we are completely engulfed with the business of ‘doing business’ it can be hard to find the time to start a new programme.

Take, for example, shifting to cloud telephony. The benefits are clear – goodbye legacy systems and hello to simpler automated management, deployment and provisioning. But when should you start?

Well time is of the essence. In 2015 BT announced its intention to switch off its PSTN and ISDN networks by 2025. Sounds technical – so what does it mean? ISDN stands for the telecoms term "Integrated Services Digital Network" and refers to a digital standard for telephone networks.

BT introduced ISDN lines nationwide in 1986 but technology has evolved greatly since then. In fact, BT have not installed any new ISDN lines in central London since 2014 but it wanted to give businesses lots of notice to make the switch. As connectivity is now so much better, IP based solutions such as VoIP and SIP are the top alternatives for UK businesses as they offer better functionality and reduced costs

As the clocks tick down we are already seeing industry abandonment of legacy technology, with large PBX vendors withdrawing support for on-premise hardware product lines, and bigger organisations are already reaping the significant benefits of commencing their ISDN to IP conversion strategies.

Cloud computing has changed the world of technology forever – gone is the hardware heavy business; we are now living in a software world where only few of us can remember the pain of back-up tapes and floppy disks to transfer and store information. Just as cloud computing has changed the world of data, it is now doing the same with voice.

With the impending ISDN switch-off, the adoption of cloud telephony becomes very much of a case of “when, not if” –  and it’s not just the UK! Swisscom and Deutsche Telekom have already started to phase out their ISDN networks Orange ceasing its ISDN entirely in 2020!

If you would like to talk about your solution options please get in touch on 020 3740 6740 to speak to one of our experts.