VoIP is Dead - Long Live Voice

Ken Camp hits the nail on the head in his end of year round-up (great post - recommended reading) summary:-

Quote:

In 2007, we saw solution providers begin to understand this and start shifting their attention away from technology sales toward solutions. Today, the thought leaders, the real leaders, aren't selling VoIP. They're focusing on solving business problems. I think we'll see a huge shift in this direction next year.

I couldn't agree with this more. In fact, I've been meaning to write something similar this month but I couldn't think of a way to summarise it appropriately. Ken does this with:-

Quote:

VoIP is just plumbing

Quite right too. If you go and buy a central heating boiler, would you be swayed by the model that markets itself as using "round pipes to distribute the water"? No you wouldn't, because you don't actually care. All you really care about is how well the boiler gets the job done and what it's going to cost you in terms of capital outlay and ongoing payments.

Voice sits in the same box. You don't really care whether the phone company uses packet-switching, circuit-switching or voodoo-switching. You have the same objectives you do when looking at boilers - functionality (applications) and not getting ripped off by the plumber.

I personally think that we'll see VoIP companies starting to drop the acronym "VoIP" from all their marketing materials in 2008. It's no longer a buzzword or a marketing tool, it's just a technology.

Reply from tangle on Dec 12, 2007 - 08:17 AM

<yawn>

No-one but industry jerk-offs ever thought any different.

I get really bored watching technogroupies ramp something then un-hype it 12 months later when they 'discover' what all sane people have known all along.

They need the headline I suppose.

When was the last time you called a phone call TDM? Did anyone ever say 'I need to Strowger the office?'

Reply from tangle on Dec 12, 2007 - 08:32 AM

Having now also read the link, I see that he has totally missed the point.

What made and still makes VoIP different than all previous telco plumbing is the fact that it arrived at a time of telecommunications and technology liberation.

When I first started in the telco business not only was it illegal for anyone but a national government to sell a telephone call, it was also technically impossible for anyone that didn't own the wires to do it.

Now anyone with tiny amount of cash, knowledge and equipment can do it - that's a massively democratising and innovating change - a staggering develeopment in the industry.

Sure VoIP is plumbing - but JUST plumbing; no way.

Reply from dean on Dec 13, 2007 - 03:44 PM

I think he nails the point on the nose. He's talking about a consumer perspective remember, not tech or early adopter.

The consumer doesn't care about the technology. 99.9% of them wouldn't even know. Consumers care about outcomes and use cases, not the enabling technology.

Reply from ianplain on Dec 13, 2007 - 04:37 PM

Hi

Quote:

The consumer doesn't care about the technology. 99.9% of them wouldn't even know. Consumers care about outcomes and use cases, not the enabling technology.

I have been saying this for a long time. and until you can go down the road pick up an IP handset, Plug it and it works, VOIP will have a hard job to take off in the consumer arena.

A problem here is that all hardware suppliers use their own format of provisioning template for what are a few standard settings. It does supprise me that IEEE havent ried to tie them down to a standard. or at least a system so that a standard file could be part of the download.

for example aastra use at the moment a

aastra.cfg : standard settings
<mac>.cfg : extension specific
directory : phone directory file (multiple ones are used)

so it wouldnt be hard to add another called std.cfg at the begining for example. that wa the privisioning platform would nt need to try and determin what type of handset it is, ad just set the settings as required. then the user is asked for their number, that is entered and the set is matched to their extension. its not hard and means no manual interventio would be required.

Ian

Reply from tangle on Dec 13, 2007 - 04:46 PM

Quote:

The consumer doesn't care about the technology. 99.9% of them wouldn't even know. Consumers care about outcomes and use cases, not the enabling technology.

Yes, Dean, I know

I'm trying to say that anyone with a GCSE (failed) in marketing will tell you that - it's barely worth saying at all; except to expose yourself as a geek.

This is what I'm disagreeing over

Quote:

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.

The bigger point that I think he's just plain missed, is that VoIP lets anyone (almost literally) become a Telco.

That's a structural change to a global industry in anyone's terms - plumbing or otherwise.[/quote]

Reply from dean on Dec 13, 2007 - 05:45 PM

Quote:

VoIP lets anyone (almost literally) become a Telco.

Doing what, exactly?

What are the outcomes?

What exists today on VoIP that cannot be done on the PSTN?

Reply from tangle on Dec 13, 2007 - 08:37 PM

Quote:

Doing what, exactly? What are the outcomes? What exists today on VoIP that cannot be done on the PSTN?

Well there are two answers to that.

The first is that no-one mentioned the need to do anything new.

The telecoms industry is built on physical network ownership by enormous blue chip companies with near national monopolies. Circuit switched telephony made that almost inevitable because the 'intelligence' is in the network and can barely be accessed by the customer let alone a third party.

VoIP puts intelligence at the edges and allow tiny little third part outfits to get hold of it for the first time and we've barely started to see what will come of that. (The network - the wires and duct - become utility.)

What VoIP is doing first is simply what the PSTN did before -but at a tint end user cost. If you wanted a PBX (or just some of it's functions) before VoIP, you had to be a corporate or be able to buy a Panasonic box for £10,000 plus ISDN circuits - now you can have it for 99p per seat and it does more. So anyone can have a call Q or an IVR system if they want - for a few £ per month - the price of a beer.

The second answer is that VoIP is already doing stuff the PSTN couldn't do like IM, UM, properly free calls, calls from your PC, ringing multiple phones simultaneously (no need for rubbish hunt groups) and loads of things that the so called 'Intelligent Network' could have done but never actually got round to.

Of course VoIP is plumbing and of course talking about technology to end users is stupid but it genuinley is changing an industry.

Reply from dean on Dec 14, 2007 - 09:51 PM

Fair enough, I hear you.

The industry has a long way to go in order to move away from marketing "VoIP" as a sales term and move on to an application-centric marketing model.

I think (hope) that 2008 brings us a change in this direction.

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