VoIP Technology: The Next Frontier in Telecommunications

Beginning with the initial protocols (c. early 1970s) that would later evolve into voice over IP applications (c. early 1990s), this infantile communications system faced many problems. Essentially, though the ability to record then transmit voice into computer data certainly existed, the speed and efficiency of the Internet was not conducive to VoIP technology. Simply put, until the advent of Broadband Internet, the latency and jitter factors (delayed or disorderly arrival of data packets) of VoIP yielded poor quality communications.

These days some consumers continue to associate voice over IP technologies with lousy call quality, and this skepticism is not unwarranted. However, thanks to continual technological advancements and improved call quality, VoIP is growing at an unprecedented rate. According to the Federal Communications Commission, from December 2008 to December 2010, residential and business VoIP subscriptions increased 46 percent, or from 21,477,000 to 31,674,000. In the same time period, legacy residential and business telephone lines decreased 17 percent, or from 141, 019,000 to 116,898,000.

In an article on fcw.com (Federal Computer Week), Brian Robinson—in collaboration with market researcher, In-stat—reported that the Census Bureau, Social Security Administration, General Services Administration, and Department of Defense are all “moving to widespread use of VoIP.”

“The biggest user is the military, which decided over a decade ago to move to an IP infrastructure to support a ‘net centric’ approach to fighting war,” Robinson reports. “An early example of what that might entail is Defense Connect Online (DCO), a secure system that combines VoIP with web conferencing, video and instant messaging along with presence and awareness…It’s used for collaboration and to improve situational awareness.”

The DOD’s transition to unified IP communications post 9/11 is an understandable and logical move. But the government is also deploying VoIP technologies in the civilian sector. According to the Federal Times, in 2010, President Obama signed the Telework Enhancement Act. This legislation gave government agencies six months to develop policies designed to allow their employees to work from home, if they so desired.

The U.S. Government is not the only American institution to transition to VoIP. In fact, over half of all Fortune 500 companies utilize voice over IP to economize their communications.

But the swift evolution to VoIP is not constrained to the United States. At a 2006 Internet Telephony Conference and Expo hosted by TMCnet, 89 countries were represented, including Bangladesh, Guyana, and Slovenia (to name a few).

A 2008 article entitled “Consumer VoIP Trends,” by Richard “Zippy” Grigonis (published by TMCnet.com) illustrated several international IP communications trends. Namely, one in 12 Canadians have turned to VoIP and–in 2006–deregulation and a subsequent digital network conversion crumbled France’s state-owned, antiquated monopoly on communications. As a result, French consumers are turning to more efficient IP communications.

Fast-forward to February 2012. Acme Packet, a U.S. company and leader in session delivery networks, announced its collaboration with Digital China, the country’s behemoth IT services provider. Together, they will provide Chinese customers with “secure, high-quality interactive communications over IP, including cloud solutions, basic voice over IP, and unified communications and collaboration,” according to techzone360.com.

Phew! Now that was a deluge of statistics. So, I’m sure you get the point.

As countries across the world (and the corporations/ governments therein) transition to VoIP technology—and according to Moore’s law, computer technology (and thus the foundational technology for VoIP) doubles every 18 months by most predictions—the pertinent question is: What are you waiting for?