By David Sims, TMCnet Contributing Editor

Interesting recent blog entry posted on www.phone.com, pointing out that since 2006, VoIP service providers have seen a steady increase in customer recognition and have enjoyed tremendous success in B2B sales.

"They have, however, also seen a great deal of startup companies pop up in the wake of their success," as is to be expected. This trend - "at least the growth of the industry and the customer recognition portions," as the blogger notes, is "sure to continue as collaboration with other communication giants leads to mass media attention, mobility capabilities, and the brand names of players in the VoIP industry making their way to large platforms, such as Facebook (News - Alert)."

Ah yes. It all comes back to Facebook, doesn't it?

And as far as mobility goes, "VoIP providers have recognized the importance of this and joined forces with some of the big names in mobile communication to create the beginning of a new trend in 2010 - mobile VoIP - which will equate to inexpensive calling and messaging on the go," the blog writes.

Might this be a herald of the death of the PBX (News - Alert), as Bill Gates predicted back in 2007?

An article in TechWorld in 2007 wrote that "the cold-war between Microsoft and Cisco (News - Alert) for the much coveted unified communications market has escalated to all out war, with Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates predicting 'the death of the PBX'.'

Microsoft (News - Alert) entered the market with much gusto with the release of Office Communication Server 2007 in October, the article said, adding that "The oft-hyped Office Communication Server is essentially the PBX destroyer. Equipped out of the box with 'presence," something you need to buy as a separate server from Cisco, and integrated with existing address books and corporate directories, OCS acts as the PBX of old."

In this battle "Microsoft fights on the land, in the sea and in the air," the article notes, saying to get the equivalent functionality in Ciscoland "you would need four separate products -- Cisco Call Manager, Presence, Unity and Meeting Place, respectively."

The Phone.com (News - Alert) blog concludes with what is surely an accurate prediction: "With a good amount of competition driving providers to continue to improve upon what is already great service, VoIP is sure to continue its impressive levels of growth well into the future."