Try It, You’ll Like It

Arbitrage is at the root of VoIP, but VoIP suppliers have been consistent for years in pushing the idea that the move to IP is really about a more feature-rich calling experience for users. That, most suppliers tell us, will translate into more revenue and stickiness for service providers.

Of course, that brings about the question as to whether — and to what extent — end users really want more bells and whistles, or whether they’re perfectly content with what’s available via their “black phones” today and are not only not demanding new features, but actually are resistant to them.

A discussion last night at a post-VON Connect2 PR dinner including a panel of executives from Acme Packet, Cognio, Hatteras Networks Inc., MetaSwitch and NewStep Networks yielded a lively discussion of this issue.

Although folks in the communications community, particularly frequent travels, may use technology in cutting-edge ways, Martin Taylor, vice president of product management and technology strategy for MetaSwitch, says we need to be careful not to assume everybody uses and views communications as we do. A majority of users just want new things (read VoIP services) to work the same way the old (read TDM-based services) things did, so there’s no learning curve, he says. That’s why the VoIP community has focused much of its time up until now mirroring the feature functionality of PSTN networks as opposed to creating entirely new value-added services.

Andre Moskal, chief technology officer of NewStep, agrees, noting that despite the trend of wireline replacement, the majority of users like the comfort of their wireline desk phones. And wireline offers a level of reliability not found on cellular.

But Andy Ory, president and CEO of Acme Packet, says while many people may seem resistant to new services and communications possibilities, people will embrace new things if they hold the right appeal. As an example, he mentioned that wireless handset manufacturer Nokia is now the largest supplier (or one of them) of digital cameras, which are integrated into its cellular handsets.

That’s just one example, but it could apply whether we’re talking about wireless-related capabilities or wireline ones, potentially enabled by IP. And while it can be a lot harder to get people to try something new than keeping things status quo, service providers are going to have to try to do just that if they want to stay competitive and expand their margins. After all, how can you gauge demand for something that doesn’t yet exist?

Despite cellular services’ clear inferiority to wireline in terms of reliability, Ory says he believes most people would give up their wireline over their wireless phone if forced to choose just one.

Of course, the clean line separating wireline and wireless services soon could begin to blur given the expected move to fixed/mobile convergence, which promises to allow us move from the outside world and cellular networks into our homes and offices, and onto Wi-Fi-connected wireline networks, with a single handset and seamless handoff.

Because Jeff Pulver, founder and owner of the VON show, which is taking place this week in San Jose, Calif., is pushing the idea of video at his show, I also was interested in hearing how the panel sees VoIP (the traditional focus of VON) intersecting with video. The answer: so far, not so much.

Moskal says video calling is still a few years away, although Cisco Systems Inc. is focused on driving good-quality video via its telepresence effort. Again, Moskal says it’s a question of demand, adding that while video is nice in some circumstances, it’s hard to convince folks to use it regularly. As for video streaming, Moskal says that’s seeing more promise. In addition to streaming for entertainment (for which business plans still are coalescing), Moskal says there’s a good business in video streaming for security purposes, such as in fleet management applications.

However, users don’t seem to be banging down any doors to get video. Says Taylor of MetaSwitch: “We’ve never had a customer ask us to put video into production.”

Acme Packet www.acmepacket.com
Cognio www.cognio.com
Hatteras Networks Inc. www.hatterasnetworks.com
MetaSwitch www.metaswitch.com
NewStep Networks Inc. www.newstep.com

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