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Technology Stocks : iBasis, Inc. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Luce Wildebeest who wrote (139)	3/12/2002 12:12:18 PM
From: Jim Oravetz	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 211

IP telephony networks search for their voice By George Leopold, EE Times Mar 1, 2002 (7:41 AM) URL: eetimes.com WASHINGTON — The unsettled Internet Protocol (IP) telephony industry gathered this week at the VoiceCon conference to assess its progress after a disastrous year for telecommunications companies. The industry also aimed to convince skeptics that data-networking technology can be leveraged to develop reliable voice-over-IP networks. Progress was reported on IP telephony standards, and several large enterprises like Dow Chemical and the Naval Sea Systems Command are deploying VoIP networks. But analysts said they remain unconvinced that IP telephony is anything more than a neat technology that might take off sometime in the future. "VoIP is gaining key converts, but the uptake has been slow among service providers concerned over poaching existing services," said Counse Broders, an Internet services analyst with market researchers Current Analysis. Two camps in the IP telephony debate surfaced at this year's VoiceCon conference: established network infrastructure vendors like Cisco Systems Inc. and IP phone makers like Avaya Inc. (Basking Ridge, N.J.). Avaya unveiled its IP phone here along with software, servers and gateways. The company also announced it was shifting to the Linux operating system. Steven Markham, Avaya's chief product officer, said success in the emerging IP telephony market is "all about voice, and the things that can support voice applications." He added that network infrastructure vendors like Cisco supply "plumbing" and don't fully understand voice applications. Cisco, which is helping build Dow Chemical's IP telephony network, countered that applications don't matter if the network infrastructure isn't reliable. Marthin DeBeer, vice president and general manager of Cisco's voice and video business unit, said the company has so far shipped 750,000 IP phones around the world. IP telephony vendors had a "chasm-crossing year" in 2001, DeBeer said, that brought expanded adoption of IP-based technologies. Industry observers agreed that the technology is improving, but heavy investment in the existing switched network means that incumbent carriers would dictate the pace of VoIP deployment. Protocol progress One area of progress has been in protocol standards, a sure sign, observers noted, of a maturing industry. IP phone vendors are starting to embrace the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP). Phone makers at the conference said soft-switch architectures evolving around the emerging protocol could help boost the VoIP market. Others said however, that the protocol still lacks some capabilities. Cisco's DeBeer said the company would continue to use a proprietary protocol until SIP matures. "We have just not felt that SIP is ready for the enterprise," he said "We've got to start thinking differently about how we design and operate" IP-based voice systems, DeBeer said. Industry executives said the market for voice applications requires custom solutions like wireless roaming that may lead some to use networks other than IP-based architectures. "I expect there are going to be multiple networks," Avaya's Markham said. IP telephony companies at VoiceCon said their strategy is to differentiate their products from current wired and wireless carriers. One way is by developing new apps that offer features current networks can't. The other is by duplicating features offered by a traditional switched network, but at a lower cost. Copyright 2002 © CMP Media, LLC Didn't know about the 30K purchase. Reverses a trend of sell, sell and more selling over the last yr or two. Jim