The Jeff Pulver Blog: Are we at the Crossroads of the Internet Communications Revolution?

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October 03, 2005

Are we at the Crossroads of the Internet Communications Revolution?

Shortly after Fall VON 2005, a friend wrote me the following: "I was struck by the amount of border (Session Border Controllers) and IMS stuff at VON. There's something worrisome when the old guard think that SIP and VoIP are just for them."

Over the years, the team that produces our VON events does everything it can to ensure that VON provides the "big tent" that accurately reflects the IP Communications industry market realities both in our conference sessions and on our exhibit floor. At VON, we whole-heartedly promote the integrity of the Internet and its architecture, while providing an expo and platform for speakers that reflect the industry "as is." The VON conferences have been the home for innovation and have also provided an opportunity for the "old guard" companies to come to see the reality of the Internet on its home turf, and to get an accurate glimpse of the current and evolving state of telephony. At Fall 2005 VON, we also started to see the real-time transformation of the communications industry and the computing industry into a new, emerging space.

One of my own take-aways from Fall 2005 VON was that the members of the "old guard" have decided to rebuild their "walled gardens" using the technologies developed by the IETF. While it is great to see the mainstream adoption of IP based technologies, I can't help to also feel concerned about this growing trend of building IP based "walled gardens."

The fact that the "old guard" also seems to have the ear of telecom regulators was not ignored at Fall 2005 VON either.

When I look at the future of IP Communications, I've been fairly consistent over the past ten years that I believe in "true open Internet Communications" and "End User Empowerment." These are virtues I still believe in today.

The session at Fall 2005 VON on Emergency Services for Internet Communications shared a vision of what we can expect in the future by leveraging the power of IP technology from recognized leaders in the Internet community from North America, Europe and Japan. Nothing could have been further from the present focus of regulators’ imposition upon IP-based communications providers of innovation-stifling, backward-looking, cookie-cutter PSTN-based, narrowband, E-911 obligations. (I have yet to see a smoking gun indicating the old guards support is actually encouraging regulators to stymie IP-based communications from independent providers, but I would not be surprised to discover that the old guard has given tacit approval of regulatory efforts to slow-roll potential competition from unaffiliated IP-based communications providers.)

Now, I'm not too surprised that the "old guard" has decided to adopt IP communication technologies as it turns out that members of the "old guard" have been actively funding some of the ongoing work in the IETF. A number of people making the contributions at the IETF are also working for old guard companies. While I would like to believe that these are people who are dedicated to promoting the Internet, and that they are the Internet champions within their old guard companies, the companies for whom they are working may have a different purpose for the work being done.

Today we may be sitting at the crossroads of the Internet Communications Revolution. My hope is that the market will decide not to embrace "walled gardens", but, rather, embrace a future where the effects of Moore's Law and Metcalf's Law enable people to communicate with people with a freedom never before experienced and where the innovations enabled by Internet Communications are given the chance to truly shine.

To quote the Clash: "The Future is Unwritten." With this, lies my hope that we will be making the right decisions on the communication road map for our future.

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Posted by jeff on October 3, 2005 07:12 AM | Permalink

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Posted by: kol at April 1, 2006 01:32 PM

I want to know abaout Latest Telecomunication Technology

Posted by: Amat Riyanto at November 15, 2005 04:23 AM

The bottom line is that large corporations are, essentially, accounting companies. They have a revenue source, and their job is to maximise revenue flow from that source. Anything which threatens that revenue flow is going to be fought.

They are, in the end, billing system operators, not computer manufacturers or network providers; they are driven by an engine room of invoice generators, which will fight to keep the machine turning.

In that fight, delay is as good as victory. Good generals have known this since long before Cunctator turned it into a mantra to live by!

Truly, I doubt there is anything particularly new or horrible about delaying tactics by industry incumbents. What is frustrating is to have a vision of where we could go if they didn't oppose us. But against that, is the thought of what would happen to society if they collapsed overnight. Might not be pretty...

Posted by: Guy Kewney at November 1, 2005 12:28 PM

The Internet has shown that connectivity is its own reward and as a consequence walled gardens will just be bypassed by users. IP technology alone will not compensate for the lack of global connectivity.

The damage to the telecom industry from building IP walled gardens will probably equal or surpass other telecom attempts to revive itself and emulate Internet technologies: OSI, X.500 e-mail, ISDN, BISDN, ATM and now MPLS and IMS. The last two are crass examples of "on-net" services only. A long list of failures.

The old guard should better take Internet classes to really understand its principles (instead of denial) and join the Internet revolution rather than trying to fight it by fencing off their customers.

Posted by: Henry Sinnreich at October 3, 2005 02:14 PM

October 03, 2005

Are we at the Crossroads of the Internet Communications Revolution?

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