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Yesterday, Toshiba announced that it has added SIP Trunking capabilities to its Strata(R) CIX(TM) family of IP business communication systems.

Toshiba begins its nationwide rollout of SIP Trunking capabilities with SIP carriers Cbeyond of Atlanta, Ga., and American Broadband Services (ABS) of Fresno, Calif., and will expand to additional carriers during 2008.

Coupling the product's IP Trunking capabilities with the two carriers is a smart move by Toshiba since potential customers will know that they can deploy a SIP Trunking-based solution nationally. In addition, it removes any concerns around interoperability and related support issues. 

Key product features and benefits include:

• Offers ISDN-like features over a data connection
• Eliminates the need to buy separate circuit cards for voice
• and data
• Potentially eliminates the need and cost of a separate service
• Eliminates "wasted bandwidth" of unused PRI channels
• Allows bandwidth to be used for data when no calls are active
• Offers ability to host other services in addition to SIP Trunking, including IP Stations, SIP Stations, Toshiba's Strata Net IP, Voice Mail and ACD resources
• In addition to SIP Trunks, Toshiba's MIPU cards also support IP stations, SIP stations, Strata Net channels, and applications.

Other benefits related to SIP Trunking, and not mentioned in the press release, is that IP Telephony solutions can be deployed with enhanced redundancy and are much easier to scale. For a list of SIP Trunking benefits please see my previous article on the subject SIP Trunking Will Displace PRI..

Rick McCharles
Unified Communications Consultant, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

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As we transition into the New Year, it is interesting to read about all of the predictions related to technology. As a consultant in the communications industry, it is vital that I recognize the trends and events that will shape the industry and potentially affect my customers. Here are a few of my thoughts on what we can expect in IP Communications during 2008.

TelePresence / Video Conferencing

Expect to see a decrease in the capital expense required to implement TelePresence systems. Operational expenses will however, remain a significant factor in the TelePresence business justification. For many organizations, the high cost of the high-bandwidth and the predictable / low-delay characteristics of the network circuits required to support TelePresence will continue to negate the business justification. A service provider, focused on providing the appropriate network connectivity with a pay-per-use / on-demand business model, could accelerate the adoption of TelePresence in some smaller enterprise but I don't expect to see that in 2008.

Net Neutrality

Expect to see more controversy related to Net Neutrality as service providers continue to test the waters with respect to public opinion and the scrutiny of regulators. My expectation is that Canadian providers are more likely to experiment with various control mechanisms than their US counterparts.

Margin pressures, increased competition and accelerating bandwidth demands by competing applications and services will motivate providers to find ways of tipping the scales in their favour. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out. Public opinion and potential apathy are likely to be the most significant influencer's.

Mobility Industry

I expect many changes in the mobility market in 2008. Canadian mobility rates have had a reputation for being among the highest in the world and in the last several years, mobility has been very profitable for Canadian service providers. The downward trend in both service pricing and associated profits will accelerate in 2008. Contributors to the trend include:

• Innovative and new devices like the iPhone
• New spectrum allocation and associated competitors both in the US and Canada
• The trend towards openness will result in the Incumbents' infrastructure being leveraged by competing applications and services with no associated increased revenue
• Increased competition among existing providers as they compete for a larger piece of the shrinking revenue pie
• New competitors unencumbered by existing technology and supporting systems or the need to defend existing revenue models
  

Hosted Voice Services

With very few exceptions the availability and the adoption of Hosted IP Telephony services in Canada has been dismal. I have witnessed overly optimistic and incredibly inaccurate projections for the growth of this market since the year 2000. In 2008, I expect the most (albeit still modest)growth for hosted voice services to date. New entrants will appear in both the SMB and large enterprise markets. So, why should 2008 be different from what we have seen so far? Several factors will influence the change:

• A general trend by enterprise towards acceptance of outsourced and hosted services.
• General market acceptance that IP Telephony is ready for prime time and that the transition from TDM to IP-based communications in inevitable.
• Service providers will consider the errors of previous service launches. Expect services that are targeted at very specific verticals and horizontals.
• Service offerings, where voice is simply one component of a rich service that will include other services such as a-la-carte on-demand software products.
• Services that hold the promise of reducing the complexity of Unified Communication services, and include integration services.
• Increased focused by Cisco and Microsoft on the hosted space.
  

IP Trunking

By the end of 2008, everyone in the industry will acknowledge the unstoppable trend towards IP Trunking and away from analogue and ISDN circuits. As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, there are huge advantages to IP Trunks relative to PRI. Expect new IP Trunking services with aggressive marketing and national service delivery capabilities.

Residential Voice Services

The Canadian Incumbents will see continued erosion of their share of residential voice services. Led primarily by the cable companies and to some extent other providers such as Vonage, the impact to Bell and Telus' revenue streams is significant with the loss of over 1,000,000 subscribers and growing. I doubt that anything will emerge in 2008 to slow or reverse this trend. In my view, the Incumbents have been slow in acknowledging the threat and have been conflicted in how to address it effectively.

Vonage will likely experience a significant reorganization, buyout or will simply go out of business. I'm convinced that the standalone, best-effort voice delivery business model is not sustainable. Couple that with the seemingly never-ending lawsuits brought on mostly by their large competitors, and something has to give! Vonage can probably be transformed by enhancing the existing voice service with other innovative and complementary services. However, as it is, it cannot survive.

Unified Communications

Expect continued hype and an intensification and a more public battle between Cisco and Microsoft. Business awareness of the benefits and strategic importance of UC will grow and we are likely to see some large organizations invest significantly.

In addition, we will see related acquisitions and investments by service providers and system integrators as they ramp up their capabilities to address the increased complexity of communication services as they strive to move up the value chain. Credible and quantifiable benefits necessary for a compelling business justification of the required investment for UC will continue to be a challenge.

Commoditization and reduced margins will continue to challenge the operations of IP Telephony product resellers and implementers. Those who don't make the complex transition up the value chain and acquire the skills necessary to assist their customers with integrating UC into their operations, business processes and applications will be relegated to the very thin margins of the UC plumbing.

Rick McCharles
IP Communications and Telecom Consultant
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

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