Voice over Internet Protocol, commonly known as VoIP, is changing the face of telecommunications as we know it.  The legacy PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) is slowly going the way of the dinosaur, as homes and businesses around the work embrace VoIP, attracted by the cost savings and productivity enhancing features that VoIP has to offer. To understand where this new and exciting communications technology is headed, let’s put things in perspective by taking a look at where it’s been.

VoIP is not a new technology.  In 1995 a small company called Vocaltec released the first publicly available internet phone software.   “Internet Phone� could be installed on a home PC, enabling voice communications using modems, microphones, speakers and sound cards.  Vocaltec’s software used H.323 software, a precursor to SIP, and packetized voice signals for transport over the Internet.  This allowed users to talk via the internet, provided both parties in the conversation were running the Internet Phone software.  Building on the initial success of their software, Vocaltec had a successful IPO in 1996.  In the mid 90’s, broadband internet access was not as prevalent as it is today, and since Internet Phone users were conversing over dial-up connections, the quality of service (QOS) was poor due to bandwidth limitations.  Vocaltec’s Internet Phone was, however, a major milestone in the evolution of VoIP communications technology as we know it today.

Up until the year 2000, VoIP traffic still represented less than 5% of all voice traffic in the United States.  Hardware manufacturers began to see the opportunity in this new market, and created devices which enable PC to Phone and Phone to Phone communications over Internet Protocol.  Leading technology firms including Lucent and Cisco Systems released equipment capable of routing and switching VoIP traffic, and VoIP technology continued to gather momentum.

Today, many of the technical hurdles which plagued VoIP in its infancy have been overcome.  Systems are now in place which effectively prioritize VoIP traffic over Data traffic, resulting in dramatic improvements in call quality and less dropped calls.  Voip equipment sales in the US market are forecast to be nearly $10 billion by 2008, and companies such as Vonage and Packet8 have successfully launched consumer targeted, unlimited VoIP calling plans used by millions of consumers.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 15th, 2007 at 5:53 pm and is filed under News & Events. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.