Doug, M Allen and all his compatriots that offer so much and talk about how all our conjecture is frivilous, should read this.
And when you hear what Vic had to say about the Voice Server's status, think hard about whether a few more months will realize a profit or a loss.
Now I don't make this up, this is an excerpt from Mercury Mail that just came across the wire, but the timing couldn't be better.
The people on this thread can listen to the "diciples of gloom" spin, or they can take stock in the following:
Internet the future for phone calls - experts say
By Chris Johnson
SINGAPORE, June 10 (Reuter) - Telephone calls via the
Internet are now so cheap and efficient they will soon dominate
the global telecomunications industry, electronics industry
executives said on Tuesday.
``The Internet is already seen as a big part of
telecommunications. We can anticipate one day telecommunications
may be seen as part of the Internet,'' Seppo Rantakokko of Nokia
Telecomunications in Singapore told an industry conference.
``Telephone carriers will have to react in order to maintain
market share and revenue,'' said Bjorn Christensen, director of
Siemens Public Communications Networks.
Christensen said the largely unregulated worldwide network
of computers would revolutionise the telecomunications industry,
making much existing technology obsolete and forcing costs down
radically.
But he said existing telephone firms could survive -- if
they acted swiftly.
``For a long time, the Internet will not completely replace
traditional technology. Rather we see a convergence,'' he said.
Industry analysts say the Internet challenges the status quo
for telephone companies because it removes international
barriers and allows users to make international calls at local
rates.
The Internet is also far more efficient, with very high
traffic volume making use of the cheapest routes between
destinations, they say.
In a recent study by the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, the average cost a long-distance call across the
United States was found to be approximately 22 U.S. cents a
minute. Via the Internet it cost just 1.5 cents a minute,
Christensen said.
In another study, the cost of faxing a 42-page document to
Tokyo from New York through the Internet was less than one cent,
against more about US$28 faxed via the telephone system.
Rantakokko told the conference telephone companies could
adopt some of the Internet systems to bring down costs, such as
improving computer switching technology.
They could also use the Internet to offer new products, such
as multi-media services like on-line video and audio programmes
and become Internet service providers.
``If telecom operators want to avoid the risk of losing
touch with their main revenue generators, they will need to
adopt the Internet,'' Rantokokko said.
One way for telephone companies to exploit demand for the
Internet would be for them to offer an efficient method of using
it, such as via satellite.
Stuart Browne, managing director of the Asia Pacific
division of SATTEC Global Networks Inc of the United States,
said telephone networks were aleady being exhausted by Internet
usage.
International telephone networks were designed for two to
three minute calls. But Internet ``surfing'' and intra-company
messaging had stretched average call times to up to half an hour
in some cases, he said.
``Typically, anywhere you go on the Internet requires 16
routers with several seconds delay for each stage,'' he said.
``The solution is to go through the sky.'' |
