A “mixed marriage” has occurred in the technology space.  Two parties long known for having many differences are now viewed from the perspective of natural co-habitation and common sharable traits.  Voice and data, traditionally very autonomous technologies have become forever intertwined as VoIP.  Now that VoIP has demonstrated such a union can successfully exist and do so while creating new market opportunity and providing new features that have the technology consumer’s blessing  -- what’s next?  Why offspring of the marriage of course!

 

The children of this voice/data marriage will be known as “unified communications”.  They will come in varied sizes, colors and appearances – some strong some weak but they will come.  So the question becomes which ancestral heritage will dominate – the voice part or the data part?  Which company(s) whom originally were aligned with only one technology, will rise to the honored position of being “most influential parent” over the every expanding family of “unified technology” offspring products?

 

Natural vs Designed Evolution

Every product and every market has a life cycle, to varying degree the speed of product evolution and the length of it’s life cycle are controlled by companies in that marketplace.  Yet there are some technologies that are uniquely different, often known as phenomenon or paradigm shifts. They seem to have a life of their own – defying central or absolute control by any given party or force.  The internet falls in this category.

 

Clearly the Internet was defined and established by specific people for a specific purpose, but no originator would claim to have identified what it would evolve into.   Chief among the internet’s unique attributes is it’s utilization of a truly 100% globally accepted standard of physical operation.  This is an extraordinarily rare attribute – yet its importance is as easy to overlook and take for granted as the consistency with which it operates across continents and between countries around the globe.

 

Microsoft admittedly is one of the most major forces in the world with respect to data technology – their Windows OS runs near 90% of installed PC’s. Yet Bill Gates himself in his 1999 book titled “Business at the Speed of Thought” clearly admits Microsoft was a late comer to the “internet phenomenon”, a technology that started and grew completely independent of Microsoft.  They did not plan or control the Internet phenomenon, but they ultimately became extremely successful in adapting to it value.

 

Like the Internet, VoIP is far more a phenomenon than a specific product or service.  It is actually a protocol, fundamentally a method for allowing voice based communi­cations to affectively be transported via a “digitally packet based” network (i.e. the Internet) versus a circuit based network (i.e. PSTN - Publicly Switched Telephone Network).  It will evolve at its own rate and become something that no one company can control.  Using the Internet, a true Global based service; VoIP eliminates classic metrics of the PSTN, such as pricing based solely on time and distance.  This presents totally new business model opportunities, placing VoIP in a whole different category than classic telephone service.  This characteristic will also carry over to unified communications.

 

Microsoft is “Talking” – VoIP Style

Digital could be considered Microsoft’s middle name so to speak.  Any form of content that’s in digital form – Microsoft products can touch, store, transport, manage, measure and control.  VoIP by definition is “digital based voice communications” everything from the content (the audio sound) to the control of the transport is digitally based.  This makes VoIP a nature for incorporation into many of Microsoft’s existing products as well as something around which to build new product.

 

One core difference is that unlike personal productivity applications (e.g. word processor, spreadsheet, graphics etc) voice based functions require the computer be “online”, that is to say, connected to a network.  The internet is a readily available “always on worldwide network” and thus presents an ideal environment for servicing the real-time aspect of telephone based communications.  Yet the change that is most significant is the fact that, voice (telephone) conversations are losing the identity of being a unique or autonomous type of communication.

 

Talking, faxing, emailing, IM’ing and video conferencing are all really the same exact thing from a communication point of view – the ultimate purpose is to exchange infor­mation.  It has been the “limitations of technology” that have forced shaping the business process around the form of communication used.  When the driving force behind communication is actually a business transaction or a need for decision / action, why should we concern ourselves or be limited by what communication method is used?  The goal is to exchange information, make decisions and then move to action.

 

Today Microsoft Server based product offerings control a huge amount of the digital based communication taking place.  Including voice communications (VoIP) is a logical and straight forward process for them, the only question becomes at what level and to what degree will they be involved.

 

The consumer is in control

VoIP utilization as a technology has exploded in the last few years.  Every major telephone carrier (Sprint, AT&T, Verizon, Bell South etc) has been working furiously to convert their core networks to IP architecture.  What AOL was to the home based internet user market, companies like VONAGE are to residential users of VoIP.  IP convergence, the act of placing voice and data signals on a single digital network has established a fertile environment for Unified communication applications.

 

From a technology perspective the solutions are in place, they need further fine tuning and over time will become more reliable and fault tolerant just as the original telephone network did.  However, all this can still only be considered “enabling” components because to the user (consumer) the basic result is the same - they have a voice conversation with a party at a distant location.

 

What must happen to speed up the evolution of these capabilities is the user’s adoption of a new interface experience, because that is what VoIP does – it changes the interface experience of telephone conversations.  It may be hard to believe, a mere 20 years ago the “mouse” was still considered a new, even foreign user experience.  Microsoft actually shipped software games with the OS just for the purpose of allowing people to learn and practice the use of the “mouse” interface.  Today children are virtually born with the capability.

 

The internet has eliminated the boundaries of countries and continents with respect to communication.  Today, Microsoft now has opportunity to eliminate the boundaries between voice and data devices.  So if we ask, “Does Microsoft have a chance for success in the classic world of the telephone? – we also have to ask “Does it really matter?”  Why? Because they sure have a huge opportunity in the world of “communication” and the telephone as we have known it is becoming an ever smaller player in the overall world of communication.

 

 

Thomas Smith - founder & Senior Principal of TechEn enterprises LLC, Littleton, CO. 

Tom’s work with network based software applications started as a developer and later, product manager for interactive online statistical analysis tools used by leading oil/gas companies in the 1970’s-80’s. In the 90’s specific recognition was awarded him for creation of a unique wired/wireless network solution servicing EDI needs between Detroit’s automotive manufacturers and remote Arizona copper mines. Tom formally entered the field of voice communications in 1998, an infancy period for VoIP technology, as reseller for the first commercially available IP-PBX system. He subsequently brought to market - HomeGATE, an IP enabled and voice driven internet portal wireless residential phone system .

 

Today he is founder and senior principal of TechEn enterprises LLC, applying over 25 years experience in technology management, product development, technology consulting and marketing to deployment of main-stream VoIP solutions and implementations. A native New Yorker, plus 30.year Colorado skier, he earned a Bachelor's degree in Information Systems from Colorado State University. He holds varied hi-tech related credentials and certifications in Systems Planning as well as IP Telephony and Wireless technology. -  He can be reached at 303-932-8146 or  tsmith@techen.net.

 

Copyright © 2006