VoIP crusader recants

As the end of year observations come in, Ken Champ at Real Time Conversation has a thoughtful blog about the transition from VoIP to voice services, declaring that 2007 was the year VoIP became "plumbing."

Champ writes: "For many years, VoIP was viewed as a major disruptive technology. People expected it would completely change the face of telecommunications. I know I believed that. But I don't believe that today. I've often, in the past, referred to circuit switching, for either voice or data, as nothing more than plumbing. It's base infrastructure. It's a foundation."

"VoIP has proven that it's really just another foundation element. The hot technology area is voice as a service. It's how and where we can use voice services. How we deliver them is irrelevant to customers and users. VoIP truly is just another delivery mechanism. It's a great delivery mechanism. It lets us maximize the value of IP networks. Cost savings and operational efficiencies can be huge, but at the root of things, VoIP is simply a service delivery mechanism for a service."

Don't know if I would call all those edge controllers, QoS monitoring, security systems and media gateways mere plumbing, but I do agree that selling voice as a service rather than a technology is where the market is heading.

For more:
- VoIP is plumbing blog 

Related articles:
- U.K. agency rings one million daily VoIP calls Report
- VoIP growth still strong Report