The Jeff Pulver Blog: IP Communications: Part of the Fabric of our Lives

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April 13, 2007

IP Communications: Part of the Fabric of our Lives

Ten years ago, VoIP was a rising star in the technology world, challenging and full of opportunities to change the way we thought about communications. It was discounted by some as a novelty, and touted by others as the future of communications. In subsequent years, many VoIP innovations "just happened" and became embedded in products and services we use, and maybe we take some of it for granted.

For example, over the past 10 years, the world phone companies have been investing millions and cumulatively billions of dollars in upgrading their PPE (Property, plant and equipment) to leverage VoIP. The day will some come when all TDM switches are phased out and the only way to wire a central office will be by using IP Communication enabled equipment.

Since the late 90s, almost all of the consumer "long distance" calls placed over the PSTN have been outsourced to companies like ITXC and iBasis for call termination. Long before "consumer voip" happened, the technology was being used on a daily basis by consumers.

And then we have the classic "push-to-talk" functionality, which has been popularized by the wireless industry. This functionality was made possibly because of VoIP led innovations.

Gaming is another example. During my vacation, I.ve been spending time at Pulveria in Second Life and enjoying the embedded VoIP services that Vivox offers (disclosure: I'm Chairman). VoIP is a core technology for many game developers and having a voice experience is just a natural extension for many people involved in the world of massive multiplayer online games.

VoIP has improved over the years, and as with the examples above, I look forward to seeing how companies will embed VoIP technology elsewhere into our lives to improve the quality of communication. Ten years later, it feels like this is only the beginning.

font size=1>Tags: voip, IP Communications, von, Jeff Pulver