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The Importance of VoIP
This year, as information technology integrates further into our lives and companies continue to expand their global presence, the importance of VoIP will increase dramatically. VoIP–Voice over Internet Protocol–is a protocol optimized for the transmission of voice through the Internet or other packet switched networks. Over the past few years, the term has come to refer more to the transmission of voice than the protocol implementing it. VoIP is already the primary communication platform for many companies, especially those with offices spread across the Americas, Asia, and Europe. And their number will increase as new commercial and consumer applications become available. VoIP integration will rise for the simple, but powerful fact that it combines our most ubiquitous network platform, the Internet, with what is still our most-effective communication tool, the human voice. Clearly, the adoption of VoIP is becoming a question of "when" not "if." 73% of enterprises with a thousand employess or more reported either "using or in the beginning stages of VoIP." (January 2008 - IP-based Communications Services in the Enterprise: A Qualitative Review of Survey Findings - 1.03MB pdf)
This increase is due to the fact that VoIP provides an alternative to the regulated and artificially high-priced service of traditional telcos who have been using digital audio and compressing voice for international calls for decades. The bottom line is that for geographically dispersed companies, it can save hundreds of thousands of dollars in phone bills. Some savings result from utilizing a single network to carry voice and data, especially where there's underutilized network capacity that can carry VoIP at no additional cost. In fact, many VoIP to VoIP calls are free, while VoIP to public switched telephone networks, PSTN, may have a cost carried by the VoIP user, but still relatively minor compared to traditional alternatives.
VoIP isn't just for enterprise organizations with a global footprint. It can be effective for companies with less than fifty people working in remote and home offices. In many cases, it's the additional capabilities of collaboration or enhanced mobility that provide the rationale for adoption. As is often the case with smaller implementations, the ROI can take a bit longer but, compared to traditional PBX solutions, hardware costs are likely to be similar and, frankly, following the path of service providers and large enterprises is usually the safest path to future proofing. In the first of last year, 80% of the lines shipped were VoIP which means the phone companies are embracing it. Eventually, it will cost them too much to support the old TDM infrastructure. (Janauary 14, 2008 - IP voice dominates new line market - FierceVoIP)
Like a black hole, innovation can be detected by watching how major forces react to it and a lot of companies are quickly moving toward VoIP. That legacy switch manufacturers like Alcatel-Lucent and Nortel are embracing it is, to me, validation of its rising dominance. And with Exchange 2007 as a primary application platform, Microsoft is giving VoIP serious energy, resources, and attention. So are we. This year, Groupware is backing a number of VoIP initiatives that we see as strategically important to the future of IT.
I believe 2008 will continue the advancement of technologies and introduction of applications that are making VoIP even more relevant. As bandwidth continues to expand between corporate and home offices around the world, innovative solutions are being developed that will further combine and optimize wi-fi, broadband, data, and mobile technologies. As voice integrates further with the capabilities of Web 2.0, desktop apps, workforce automation, workflow, IM, video, CRM, ERP, etc., the emerging power of Unified Communication will make VoIP even more pervasive, flexible, secure, and, most of all, useful.
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