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VoIP: Where Are We Now? Where Are We Going?

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February 08, 2006

VoIP: Where Are We Now? Where Are We Going?

Erik Linask, Associate Editor



By Erik Linask
Associate Editor, INTERNET TELEPHONY
 
A capacity crowd at turned out Wednesday afternoon at INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference and EXPO to hear TMC President Rich Tehrani ask three members of the VoIP community to assess the state of the market now and where they see Internet telephony going. The three panelists — Michael Matthews of Aculab, Iwatsu’s Michael Marchioni, and Todd Landry from Sphere Communcations — offered their insight.

 
There is no question that VoIP adoption rates are high and that each day, more and more individuals, SMBs, and enterprises are replacing, or at least complementing, their existing phone systems with new IP-based communications platforms. There is, however, continued debate over why they are doing so.
 
Matthews attributes the high rate of adoption to the fact that traditional boundaries are being overcome by today’s advanced communications technologies. While there are some companies that insist on seven-year rollouts of new systems, technologies like the SIP protocol allow much faster and much more efficient incorporation of new systems.
 
Marchioni says the single greatest reason is enhanced connectivity. Once, we had to use public telephones to make calls; then it became commonplace to have telephones in homes; and now, thanks to mobile devices, we find ourselves accessible at nearly all times.
 
Landry suggests not wasting time or money if accessibility is all you are after. Most people have cell phones with which we can both make calls and receive them. For that, we hardly need a new IP communications system. The biggest reason for adopting VoIP, he says, is to be able to do something beyond the capabilities of a traditional PBX system, to be able to something better for your business.
 
As for VoIP and the “killer app,” the panelists, in general, agreed that there may not be a killer app. Matthews said that VoIP is not really about the applications at all. Rather, it about the marketing proposition and whether you can market yourself as having something no one else does.
 
But Marchioni argued there really is no such thing, that if someone is trying to sell you “the killer app,” he really is only selling you a line. Landry said that the real killer apps are any applications that will benefit from a simplification of the communications process— but that has the potential to include nearly any application. It seems to be equally realistic to agree that there is no killer app.
 
Tehrani concluded that, given its tremendous adoption rate, VoIP is not about enabling the killer app, but is, in fact, the killer app itself.
 
As for wireless handsets, certainly many people would love to be able to have one wireless device they could use in the office, in the car, and at home. But for now, the only products out there are, at best, cost prohibitive — there are a few out there, but they’ll cost you somewhere in the $7,500 range to own. The fact remains, though, that the demand is there, which means companies are working feverishly to develop a less pricey all-in-one handset.
 
The conversation took several quick turns, from Matthews’ assessment that Microsoft is well placed in the arena, to Marchioni’s suggestion that VoIP is now nearly as reliable as TDM, to an assessment that people probably are not investing much time or capital in fax over IP technology because it is really a niche requirement.
 
To conclude, Tehrani asked each panelist to dust off his crystal ball and offer insight as to where the VoIP market will be in five years.
 
Matthews predicted that because there are so many new players coming onto the scene that he expects we will see some new big name come in and “rip the market to pieces.”
 
Marchioni thinks that every device will have a unique static IP address, making it very easy to communicate over open networks. He also thinks the term “telephony” might become outdated, because it implies strictly telephone communication.
 
Landry says that initiatives behind the mobile arena will significantly change — personal devices will become our standard points of communication, even more than they are today.  What’s more, it will be more than just voice.
 
Though the panelists have disparate ideas on where VoIP is and where it is headed, and they cannot come to agreement on why people are signing up with VoIP providers, the one thing of which there is little doubt is that VoIP is here, and it is here to stay.



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