Europe to have 88 Million VoIP Subscribers by 2012
According to research group InfoCom, VoIP subscriptions in Western Europe will reach 88 million by the year 2012. This is a
roughly 240% growth from the 25 million VoIP subscribers in 2007. Currently, the VoIP market in Europe is roughly double that
of the US market, and is likely to stay that way. The difference is in part due to stronger competition in the European market,
compared with monopolies and higher prices in the United States—although this is slowly changing.
InfoCom also predicts broadband penetration of 68 percent, which in 2012 will translate to 121 homes. Three quarters of these are
estimated to be VoIP capable, which is where the 88 million figure is derived from.
By contrast, the United States is projected to have 40 million VoIP enabled households by 2012. The Boston research firm Yankee
Group
reported that consumer VoIP use increased by 125 percent in 2006 to more than 9 million subscribers last year.
Friday, March 14. 2008
Can your company benefit from hosted IP PBX service
The implementation of an IP PBX system requires specific expertise, and the up-front costs can be prohibitive. One alternative is to
use a
hosted IP PBX service. Deb Shinder explores the advantages of this solution, discusses how it works, and offers a list of options.
Once your company grows past the small business stage, you'll probably provide telephone services to the office through a private
branch
exchange (PBX) system of some kind—also known as a switchboard. This lets you share a number of incoming phone lines among a
larger
number of extensions, so it's not necessary to pay for a separate line for every office employee or workstation, which saves money.
However, you can save even more money by using VoIP instead of traditional public switched telephone network (PSTN) lines.
There are
many IP PBX solutions available, including popular open source products such as Asterisk.
But the implementation and ongoing maintenance of an IP PBX system requires a type of expertise that your IT staff may not
have. And if
you go with a commercial product, the up-front costs for the hardware and software may be high.
One alternative is to use a hosted IP PBX service. Just as some organizations prefer to use a Web hosting service rather than run
their own
Web servers, some find it easier and/or more cost-effective to have their IP PBX services hosted offsite—a solution sometimes
referred to
as IP Centrex. Let's look at some of the benefits of hosted IP PBX for organizations.
The Centrex concept
The concept of centralized PBX services (Centrex) came about in the 1960s in regard to traditional phone service; the telephone
company
hosted the PBX service at its central offices (COs). In early systems, an attendant handled operations, controlling the switching
via a
complex console.
Centrex service never became as popular as on-site PBX systems, and its primary use was at enterprise-level companies and
government
agencies. However, the combination of Centrex-type service with IP delivery makes this concept very attractive to many
businesses today,
especially those in the midsize category.
Advantages of hosted services
A big advantage of using hosted services such is that you don't have to make the initial capital investment in expensive
equipment. Further,
you don't need anyone on staff to maintain and troubleshoot it—all of the equipment resides at the provider's site. These can be
important
factors for a growing business on a tight budget.
This makes for a scalable solution as well, since the provider usually has the means to upgrade your service easily as you add
more users or
need more sophisticated features. The number of users is almost unlimited with a hosted service, whereas when you use an on-site
IP PBX,
the hardware and/or software can limit the number of phones that can connect to the system.
Can your company benefit from hosted IP PBX services
Deb Shinder | Feb 09, 2007
Broadband Phone Technology - Top 5 Reasons You Should Take Notice
For the uninitiated, the term broadband phone is loosely used to describe the technology currently available where one can
make telephone calls from a telephone system that sends the voice signal over your internet connection. The call may
terminate at a regular phone line or another broadband phone.
Until recently, the technology was not being used widely because of its perceived limitations, including lack of features
available. The primary issue however has been that of poor call quality.
Now, continuing improvements in the industry and increased competition pushing the development of the technology have
resulted in significant progress, to the extent that some analysts now predict that broadband phones (really Voice over Internet
Protocol technologies) will dominate the long distance calling market by 2010 - maybe sooner.
Here are some specific reasons why you may find broadband phones a good fit at this stage.
Reason #5: Portability and Ease of Use
The equipment provided by the broadband phone companies can be used wherever you have access to a high speed connection.
Most broadband service companies do not restrict you from traveling with your phone. As long as the network that you are
plugging into will "automagically" assign your broadband device an internet address (IP address) - and most will - you are up
and running.
This means that you can be in a hotel in Japan and still be accessible at the same phone number - your kids or staff don't need
to know the hotel's number.
Reason #4: Long Distance Savings
Broadband services typically come with lower long distance rates than you can get from most traditional carriers. This
calculates into immediate cost savings. Some services allow you to add one or more virtual numbers to your main phone
number. This means that your phone may be able to receive calls from 2 or more different area codes. This virtually
eliminates long-distance phoning charges for anyone calling within those numbers' area codes.
Reason #3: Freedom from Tariffs
For the time being, calls made over the internet are not subject to a lot of the tariffs that afflict your regular phone bill. How
long will this persist? There are different opinions on this in the industry, but right now it's a nice advantage that makes for an
even lower phone bill.
Reason #2: Availability of High Speed Internet
All the cost saving and convenience reasons already mentioned would not do much to propel the growth of the broadband
phone market if consumers did not have access to high speed connections at their homes. Broadband phones perform the best
when using cable or DSL highspeed internet connections.
Reason #1: Clarity of Sound
The top reason why broadband phone services are currently making swift inroads is that the call quality has significantly
improved. All of the major players now offer services that work satisfactorily for residential use and some can consistently
meet the most stringent business requirements for clarity.
Finally, considering the initial small investment that may be required to get a broadband phone account up and running, the
volume of savings you are likely to experience within a short period is very significant. The flexibility, ease of use (technical
know-how not needed) combined with improvement in quality definitely makes this bandwagon a good ride.