I realize I have been saying this for years, but the following article indicates that we are 12 months early on DLGC's momentum from VoIP..
<Picture: Feeling dirty? Come clean with Netscape!>
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October 9, 1997 6:00 PM ET
Is voice and video convergence imminent?
By Stephanie LaPolla, PC Week Online
ÿATLANTA -- Several influential executives convened here earlier this week at NetWorld+Interop's CommUnity conference for a roundtable discussion on the likelihood of voice, data and video convergence within the next five years.
The discussion, hosted by C-T Link Inc. founder Jim Burton, included executives from Cisco Systems Inc., Lucent Technologies Inc., Microsoft Corp., venture capitalist Battery Ventures, consulting firm Decisys Inc. and Prudential Insurance Co. of America.
Panelists were asked to rate and react to forward-looking statements about the adoption of CTI (computer-telephony integration). One of the questions that elicited the strongest debate involved the death of the PBX.
Meanwhile, panelists agreed that the industry won't easily overcome videoconferencing obstacles and came to the unanimous conclusion that new standards-based IP phone sets will replace the proprietary handset.
Cisco and Lucent officials stood squarely on opposing sides regarding the future of the PBX.
"Companies should start planning migration today," said Jayshree Ullal, vice president of Cisco's enterprise line in San Jose, Calif., who believes the demise of the PBX is near.
Karyn Mashima, vice president of advanced multimedia communications systems at Lucent, in Murray Hill, N.J., agreed that migration is important, but said the PBX is flexible enough to evolve with the times.
"The [Lucent] Definity PBX already drives LAN-based end points with IP," said Mashima. "Many applications will move to open servers ... [but] the PBX will be far more standardized."
In the move toward standards, the panel pointed to Microsoft to design call-control options into Windows NT to manage IP phones.
"Within NT 5, there will be H.323 available," said Lloyd Spencer, Microsoft's group Windows communications product manager in Redmond, Wash. Telephony-based communications is an important part of Microsoft's future. "Customers look to us to offer this capability," he said.
And where will voice on the Internet play a role in corporations? Probably not in a lot of places until quality and support issues are resolved, agreed the panelists.
"It would be neat to be able to do ... [but before it can happen] there is a need for help-desk support [that covers] the Internet, PC and applications," said William Friel, senior vice president and CIO of Prudential Insurance Co. of America.
Voice, video and data convergence is an important part of the future, but not in the next six months, despite the ballyhoo surrounding CTI this week, said panelists. CTI application adoption is likely by 1999, they said.<Picture: Feeling dirty? Come clean with Netscape!>
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In the meantime, 25%+ growth ain't bad.....
Jay |
