Now that the year 2005 comes to an end, predictions from all quarters are coming in about what the coming year is likely to be for VoIP. Let’s check what the highlights of two VoIP pundits Jeff Pulver and Rupert Galliers-Pratt predictions for the coming year very briefly.



Jeff Pulver:



1. Broadband penetration will continue to snowball in the US, but not at a pace fast enough to raise America’s mediocre global standing in broadband penetration.

2. Lobbyists and Policymakers in the US will continue to try to apply legacy rules and regulations on Internet based applications, be it voice, television or radio.

3. There will be at least two major acquisitions in the billion-dollar-plus price range, matching or exceeding eBay’s purchase price to acquire Skype. Major media and Internet companies will announce blended, transformational IP-based communications plays.

4. Hurricanes such as Katrina and other natural disasters in the U.S. and around the world will compel the U.S. and other governments to look to the Internet and IP-based communications as the vehicle to improve emergency response and post-catastrophe communications.

5. The RIM patent challenge will become a boon for integrated IP Communication enabled devices.



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Rupert Galliers-Pratt:



1. Competitive Practices: The onset of VoIP “walled gardens” by Internet Access Providers, who may start to block VoIP calls from major VoIP providers and only open channels for their own services in an attempt to regain and build revenues from voice services.

2. SIP will likely become the standard delivery mechanism for VoIP calls, threatening the position of traditional PBX manufacturers, as SIP enables Internet Access Providers a standard upon which to offer even more cost effective, hosted, and feature-rich services.

3. Video/Multimedia: VoIP, which is capable of being more than simply telephone technology, may become effectively capable of providing an even greater set of feature-rich multimedia services that provide audio, full-motion video and other multimedia communications services such as video conferencing.



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In some of the above predictions, I would like to add my voice on a few things.



On Jeff’s predictions:



On first point: The pace of broadband penetration is definitely going to increase with innovations by developers and the increase in popularity.



On third point: Yes, I agree totally. However, if not two, there would be at least one acquisition - Vonage! We predicted in our analysis a few days back.



On fourth point: I am not really convinced how the present government is going to go on about it really. It is too slow. I see it happening in a couple of years from now, but not as early as next year.



On fifth point: This one takes the cake! I can’t agree more with you on this Jeff.



On Rupert’s predictions:



On first point: I don’t think that ‘walled gardens’ would be a big idea in the long term. Why would anyone use an IAP that blocked a popular service like Yahoo!? Just imagine it for a moment. It would be suicidal as subscribers would feel shortchanged and migrate. Not only that, the very idea is against the notion of Voice 2.0 building communities. I am not convinced at all.



On second point: Yes, SIP is the future. I agree completely