by David Byrd, VP of Product Management, Broadvox
Most people know VoIP stands for Voice over Internet Protocol and think it simply means using the Internet to place a telephone call. It is more than that because VoIP offers services and features that traditional phone services do not. It has influenced the way we exchange information, changing the format, devices and speed of communication. Technology this powerful deserves a closer look at its history, how we got where we are today and where we expect to go from here.
In 1876 the first telephones enabled transmission and reception of human voice from room to room. Less than forty years later, in 1915, those simple devices managed to transmit and receive a phone call spanning the continental United States. By 1973, Network Voice Protocol enabled translation of voice data to digitally-encrypted signals sent over packet-switched computer communications networks. Vocal communication through equipment and wires started slowly but within a hundred years it had radically changed, and from then progress accelerated.
The word Internet emerged in 1982 followed by the term VoIP in the mid-1990s. The service was faulty but it worked. Successful transmission and receipt of voice through a PC using a modem, microphone, sound card and speakers generated global interest in communication with VoIP and the Internet. In 1995, hobbyists in Israel recognized the potential of sending voice over the Internet as data packets and developed the first Internet phone software. By 1998 about 1% of the total voice communication in the United States was VoIP traffic. It still had problems, but technology experts were determined to provide clear and reliable connections between PCs and phones and from one phone to another using it.
By 2000, industry analysts knew sales of legacy CPE would begin to erode because VoIP traffic was already 3% of the total voice traffic in the United States. During 2006, VoIP equipment sales revenue was approximately $2.2 billion, up about 24% from 2005, likely because of improved ROI and available features. In the same year IP-PBX sales grew 52% while IP phone sales increased 38%. VoIP was changing how we communicate and proving that industry analysts were correct, because businesses began replacing or augmenting legacy PBX systems with IP-capable equipment. In 2007, 80% of the PBX systems sold were VoIP-enabled, positioning companies for the future of convergence, Unified Communications.
A study by Infotech reported that in 80% of installations, the quality and reliability of IP communications met or exceeded client expectations. As a result, during 2007 businesses and contact centers continued to accelerate deployment.
This year VoIP equipment sales will likely exceed $8.5 billion, not including SIP-supported services. When those hobbyists in 1995 sent voice packets over the Internet, it is doubtful they imagined how quickly communication would change around the world. The number of VoIP users increased to a total of nearly 80 million in 2007, with Microsoft now estimating more than 100 million business users globally in 2010.
More at broadvox.com.
© 2008 Telecom Reseller. All Rights Reserved.