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How important is Internet access to you? Whether we’re on our smartphones or sitting at a desk, we want instant access to the Information Highway, our applications, the network and communication tools. Thanks to the development of the hosted softswitch, we can leverage streamlined communication through the Internet and extend it to all devices we need to fulfill the activities of the day.

So powerful is the demand for solutions that reside in the cloud, like the hosted softswitch, that IDC (News - Alert) predicts that revenue from cloud-managed infrastructure and managed services for Wi-Fi around the world will hit $653 million this year. While this sounds like a nice big number, this revenue is expected to skyrocket to $2.5 billion by 2018. This growth will continue to be fueled by our need to be connected at all times.

For consumers, including professionals who need access on the job, freedom and mobility seem to be driving not only Wi-Fi deployments, but also the demand for VoIP. The VoIP market, and the hosted softswitch especially, continues to expand as access is no longer a novelty. In many business telecommunications deployments, it’s no longer a matter of whether or not the business wants VoIP, it’s whether they want it in-house or provided through the cloud.

As the VoIP services market continues to grow, expect revenue in this space to reach $88 billion by 2018, according to Infonetics (News - Alert) Research. What was once a market entry with low quality appeal has now leveraged the capabilities of the bandwidth ready networks to ensure voice over Wi-Fi matches the expectations of the user. While carriers once blocked the use of such technology on mobile devices, the demand and usage of mobile VoIP and the hosted softswitch have gain considerable momentum thanks to the use of apps that allow for free calls over Wi-Fi.

Still, there are skeptical users who believe quality is degraded when using this technology. In fact, not all carriers are ready to support the high bandwidth demands of voice and even video over their networks due to enhanced devices and the increased number of users straining capacity. For those who have made the necessary investments, quality or quantity will win over the customer as the service is now being viewed as more of a commodity.

Regardless, communications are still rapidly moving toward the cloud. The extended benefits, support, lower cost and accessibility provided through the hosted softswitch are proven and measurable. Everything else in contrast is starting to fall very short.