Voice over Packets

If you hear strange blips and squawks in the night sky this

year, don’t worry, it’s probably just the telcos and their multibillion

dollar struggling to shift gears–from voice to data, and from circuits to

packets.

Most phone conversations on this planet are

circuit-switched–they block off dedicated circuits for the duration of each

call. That will change rapidly, as voice and data both converge on to IP

circuits. Carrying voice over IP and other packet protocols is flexible, cheaper

and inevitable. This is a fundamental change, and a power shift from the

conventional telcos to the Ciscos of the world–or to the AT&Ts who can

change fast enough. It’s also a shift to a new wave of applications and

hardware development. (AT&T stopped all work on circuit-switched development

a year ago.)

The easiest place to carry voice over packets is the

enterprise. It’s simply cheaper to install and manage a common IP network for

voice and data, especially in a country not restricted by an 1885 telegraph act.

So, imagine the savings for a campus, city, country or the globe. As voice over

packet technology is deployed along with new-generation billing and call

management software, it will bring powerful capabilities and services to

telephony, while dropping costs. India will first see the impact of VoIP on

enterprises and then on software development in 2001, then on private basic

operators and perhaps MTNL in 2002, and probably not for ten years on the DoT,

BSNL and co.