By CINDY WAXER
TMCnet Contributing Editor

Softroute Corp. may be a small company nestled in the suburbs of Toronto but that hasn't stopped the VoIP provider from challenging the proprietary protocol many VoIP companies are using, claiming that it leaves users vulnerable to security holes, virus attacks, memory leaks, abnormal port activities and inferior quality. Softroute, a developer of Vbuzzer Voice over Internet software, is appealing to every VoIP provider to employ an open standard protocol.

"It's absolutely ridiculous when companies like Skype use their own proprietary protocols and then have to convert to SIP when user's call out. There's a lot of lost quality," says Mike Mu, president of Softroute Corp.

According to Mu, VoIP will inevitably become a service similar to today's web mail. You go to a provider's website such as Vbuzzer.com and sign up for a free basic service. Vbuzzer offers free calls between users, voicemail, caller I.D. and ring tones. Premium service to Buzzout includes one cent a minute rates to twenty countries and Buzzout Canada/US unlimited for less than $10 a month.

Security has long been a hot-button issue for VoIP users, especially small businesses that often lack the IT resources needed to ensure ongoing network protection. In fact, a recent study conducted by Framingham, Mass.-based research firm IDC for the Computing Technology Industry Association found that less than half of small and midsized businesses (SMBs) in the U.S. trust the security of VoIP systems. The study suggests that 60 percent of SMBs had encountered disruptions of voice or data communications and 70 percent indicated that the disruptions resulted in material loss. Conversely, a mere 8 percent said the disruptions put the viability of the business in jeopardy.

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Cindy Waxer is a Toronto-based freelance journalist specializing in business and technology. She has written for publications including TIME, Fortune Small Business, Business 2.0, Computerworld, Canadian Business, and Workforce Management. To see more of her articles, please visit Cindy Waxer’s columnist page.