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Key VoIP Trends to Watch in 2005
The full-force arrival of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology was perhaps the biggest telecom story of 2004. Heading into 2005, VoIP will continue to grab headlines as it revolutionizes the world's telephone infrastructure.
Here are the key trends to follow:
1. Consolidation -- It's highly likely that ILECs and MSOs, with their immense telecom infrastructure and financial resources, will eventually begin swallowing up small VoIP service providers. All that's up in the air is how long this process will take and how many companies will be left standing after consolidation runs its course.
2.
Here are the key trends to follow:
1. Consolidation -- It's highly likely that ILECs and MSOs, with their immense telecom infrastructure and financial resources, will eventually begin swallowing up small VoIP service providers. All that's up in the air is how long this process will take and how many companies will be left standing after consolidation runs its course.
2.
Convergence -- VoIP is beginning to transition from a mere telephone technology into a multimedia service that provides CD-quality audio, full-motion video and other multimedia communications services.
3. Voice over WLAN -- VoIP's next frontier will be the mobile market, placing the technology's players in direct conflict with cellular carriers.
4. Security -- This is VoIP's biggest weakness. Although there have been not yet been any major security meltdowns, the potential for disaster exists and will likely cast a shadow over the VoIP industry this year and for many years to come.
5. Spam over Internet Telephony (SPIT) -- This isn't yet a major problem, but VoIP companies are looking in horror at what spam did to e-mail.
6. 911 Service -- Remedies to the lack of VoIP 911 service exist, but VoIP service providers need to do a better job of working with solutions providers and national and local 911 authorities.
7. VoIP in Call Centers -- A potentially major market for VoIP service providers that's just beginning to take off.
8. VoIP Regulation -- Although the FCC is promising to rule the VoIP market with a light hand, it has yet to present a firm strategy for regulating the technology.
9. Open Source PBX -- This promises to be a big year for the Linux-driven Asterisk PBX, which brings open source IP telephony to enterprises.
10. Pricing -- How low can VoIP prices go? After a year of price-cutting, the consensus is that we haven't yet reached bottom.
11. Broadband Access -- Although it's projected that 50 percent of U.S. households will subscribe to broadband access by 2006, the nation's broadband penetration rate still lags behind countries such as Japan and Korea. This poses an immense challenge to VoIP service providers that rely on broadband access availability to offer residential service.
VoIP Companies to Watch:
1. Skype -- The world's largest VoIP service provider.
2. Vonage -- The world's largest VoIP service provider in terms of paying customers.
3. AT&T -- With its CallVantage service and various marketing alliances, AT&T is pushing hard to transition to VoIP technology.
4. Cablevision -- The cable company with perhaps the most aggressive VoIP rollout strategy.
5. Cisco Systems -- A major VoIP hardware provider.
6. Nortel Networks -- Another big VoIP hardware provider
7. Lucent Technologies -- Late to the VoIP hardware market, but working hard to catch up with the competition.
8. Juniper Networks -- A major VoIP hardware provider.
9. IBM -- Big Blue is aggressively helping major enterprises design and implement VoIP technology.
10. Microsoft -- The software giant could make quite a splash in the VoIP pond, if and when it decides to jump.
11. SunRocket -- A VoIP service provider start-up, launched by ex-MCI executives, that offers an innovative flat-fee pricing strategy.
3. Voice over WLAN -- VoIP's next frontier will be the mobile market, placing the technology's players in direct conflict with cellular carriers.
4. Security -- This is VoIP's biggest weakness. Although there have been not yet been any major security meltdowns, the potential for disaster exists and will likely cast a shadow over the VoIP industry this year and for many years to come.
5. Spam over Internet Telephony (SPIT) -- This isn't yet a major problem, but VoIP companies are looking in horror at what spam did to e-mail.
6. 911 Service -- Remedies to the lack of VoIP 911 service exist, but VoIP service providers need to do a better job of working with solutions providers and national and local 911 authorities.
7. VoIP in Call Centers -- A potentially major market for VoIP service providers that's just beginning to take off.
8. VoIP Regulation -- Although the FCC is promising to rule the VoIP market with a light hand, it has yet to present a firm strategy for regulating the technology.
9. Open Source PBX -- This promises to be a big year for the Linux-driven Asterisk PBX, which brings open source IP telephony to enterprises.
10. Pricing -- How low can VoIP prices go? After a year of price-cutting, the consensus is that we haven't yet reached bottom.
11. Broadband Access -- Although it's projected that 50 percent of U.S. households will subscribe to broadband access by 2006, the nation's broadband penetration rate still lags behind countries such as Japan and Korea. This poses an immense challenge to VoIP service providers that rely on broadband access availability to offer residential service.
VoIP Companies to Watch:
1. Skype -- The world's largest VoIP service provider.
2. Vonage -- The world's largest VoIP service provider in terms of paying customers.
3. AT&T -- With its CallVantage service and various marketing alliances, AT&T is pushing hard to transition to VoIP technology.
4. Cablevision -- The cable company with perhaps the most aggressive VoIP rollout strategy.
5. Cisco Systems -- A major VoIP hardware provider.
6. Nortel Networks -- Another big VoIP hardware provider
7. Lucent Technologies -- Late to the VoIP hardware market, but working hard to catch up with the competition.
8. Juniper Networks -- A major VoIP hardware provider.
9. IBM -- Big Blue is aggressively helping major enterprises design and implement VoIP technology.
10. Microsoft -- The software giant could make quite a splash in the VoIP pond, if and when it decides to jump.
11. SunRocket -- A VoIP service provider start-up, launched by ex-MCI executives, that offers an innovative flat-fee pricing strategy.
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