Is 2008 the year VoIP becomes mainstream?

At this time of the year, many of us industry analysts and consultants put forward predictions where the telecommunications and technology industry is headed for the next year ahead. Some put forward broad stroke predictions of technology revenue growth, market share changes or event percentages of increase or goodness gracious….decrease in revenue and market share!

We thought we would take a different approach (as we are generally known to do), and provide our readers with comments on the adoption and acceptance of VoIP.

First things first….if I had a dollar for every time in 2007 someone asked us to explain what VoIP is, I think it would cover all of the costs for a weekend for two for a first class spa/theatre weekend at one of the downtown Toronto hotels.

So let’s put us all on the same wavelength….we define VoIP as the various types of voice and data hardware, software and network elements that allow a person or organization to communicate voice transmissions over different data network technologies.

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1. Ability to start gradually with VoIP – Many of our clients are now deploying and using IP hard sets (i.e. phones) on newer parts of their LAN, while other parts of the company are still using their TDM digital or analogue phone sets.

This of course depends on which manufacturer you are using, as you cannot ‘mix and match’ legacy TDM voice equipment across all types of data networks or voice equipment. The challenge is that it depends on which manufacturer you are using and their cross-compatibility (if there is any at all).

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2. Cross demographic segment adoption – We also believe that VoIP is now mainstream as it is being used across various demographic segments within consumer, small and medium business and large organizations, some of which are outlined below.

Please note that list below is only a partial representation of the companies providing VoIP technology solutions (contact us for further details).

Youth market – via peer to peer tools such as Google Talk, Microsoft Live Messenger and Skype.

Consumer solutions such as Bell Digital Light, Google Talk, Rogers Home Phone, Primus, Vonage, etc.

Small and medium business hosted VoIP solutions from companies such as Bell Canada, Primus and TELUS.

Small and medium business solutions for companies that want to own their own equipment provided from companies such as Avaya, Cisco, Mitel, Nortel, NEC, Panasonic, Toshiba, 3Com, etc.

Enterprise-class solutions for large corporations that want to own their own equipment provided from companies such as Avaya, Cisco, Mitel, Nortel, NEC.

VoIP awareness – During a recent VoIP planning session with one of our clients, we were commenting that the level of awareness of VoIP, but not necessarily understanding of, has expanded, up, down and across various business and technical groups within most companies. This is probably primarily due to the extensive investments in marketing and advertising that consumer oriented VoIP providers have spent over the last two to three years.

Farmer Jack smell test – last, but certainly not least, is the very un-scientific point of my seventy nine year old father asking me if I can ‘Get him some VoIP for Christmas’. This is the same man that took 9 years of coaching and cajoling to try tele-banking. This obviously proves that VoIP is now mainstream in Canada.

All kidding aside, we do believe that VoIP or more accurately ToIP (telephony over IP), is now mainstream and can provide reliable and cost effective alternatives for all types of businesses.

I hope you have found our thoughts of value, educational, enlightening or at least humorous, and feel free me at Roberta J. Fox at [email protected] or 905.473.3369 x 1001 to discuss further.

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Jim Love, Chief Content Officer, IT World Canada

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