Interesting ZDNet article w/links. Sorting Out Internet Telephony
[Frank, I recently found this thread, have been following the fascinating discussions, and want to thank you and the other thread participants for their posts. I'm mostly an ASND investor and have limited tech abilities (although my Silicon Valley tech heads keep me clued in).]
Jesse Berst, Editorial Director
ZDNet AnchorDesk, WEDNESDAY, MAY 20, 1998
zdnet.com
If you've ever tried to watch a prime-time
drama, you know how hard it is to follow along if you
come in late. Unless you've been watching for a long
time, it's tough to keep up with all the characters.
Internet telephony is the same way. It's in the news all
the time, but you can't make sense of it unless you
understand the different characters.
Maybe this will help. There are really three separate
issues that get jammed together under the telephony
umbrella:
IP-based public phone networks. Slowly but surely,
today's switch-based phone networks will shift to
IP-based networks instead. In other words, the same
protocols that drive the Internet will run the phone
networks too. Research organization Killen &
Associates estimates 35% of all calls will be made
using IP networks by 2002, a potential $60-billion
market. Companies to watch are Cisco and Lucent.
Cisco showed off its newest single data/voice
multiservice network products earlier this year Click for
full story. And Lucent is integrating Internet technology
with current telephone systems. Click for full story.
IP-based private networks. The idea here is to
replace high-priced, proprietary PBXes with
computer-based telephony that runs over IP-based
local area networks. Spending on CTI solutions rose 49
percent to $1.3 billion in 1997, according to PC Week.
Click for full story.
Voice calls over today's Internet. This involves using
the Internet to carry voice calls (instead of the standard
voice network). The savings can be considerable, since
Internet service providers don't have to pay the same
access fees as phone companies. Click for full story.
The quality is still quite low, but the technology is
slowly improving. IDT inked a deal this week with IBM
to package IDT's Net2Phone software with IBM's Net
access kit. IDT made a similar pact with Yahoo! last
month. Click for full story.
Of the three aspects mentioned above, the last one
gets the most press -- yet it's not something I can
really recommend to most users. The second one --
the use of LAN-based phone systems -- is where many
mid- to large-sized companies really stand to save
some money.
For more information on this continuing drama, check
the links in the sidebar at left. And keep an eye out for
news coming out of the CTI Expo in Baltimore this
week.
What's your take on telephony? Are you willing to
make the leap -- or have you already? Use the
Talkback button below to send me a message for
possible posting under this story. Or jump over to my
Berst Alerts forum where a discussion is underway.
TALKBACK:
Speakfree's reliable and cheap - Judy Ladd
I have tried FreeTel and Netmeeting with marginal
results - R.T. Fitch
READ MORE:
Internet Telephony Still
Has Hurdles - ZDNet
AnchorDesk
Keeping Tabs On The
Two-Headed Elephant -
Inter@ctive Week
IP Telephony Companies
Find Strength In Peers -
Inter@ctive Week
AT&T Dials Up Net With
Excite, Lycos Alliances -
Inter@ctive Week
COMPANIES:
Cisco Systems, Inc.
IDT Corp.
Lucent Technologies
PRODUCTS:
Net2Phone
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