VoIP Industry Struggles to Deliver More than Transport
Paula Bernier
06/01/2002
It's more than three years later, but the story remains the same.
IP telephony needs to go beyond basic long-distance arbitrage and move into the local arena to deliver not just TDM copycat enhanced voice services, but to bring added value to justify carrier investment in voice over IP and rally customer spending on new, high-margin en- hanced services.
"Please take a chance," VoIP evangelist Jeff Pulver, who runs the VON trade show, pleaded to the audience at his recent event in Seattle. "I do think it's the purple minutes that will help make things happen." In Pulver parlance, "purple minutes" refers to IP traffic that is more than just plain old telephone traffic (or "black and white" traffic); it's traffic with a value-added component. As an example of what is meant by purple minutes, Pulver invited Microsoft Corp.'s Jawad Khaki to demonstrate a real-life application called Doctor Goodwell that allows patients to visit their doctors via IP connections. Doctor and patient are able to view diagrams jointly of the body, review health histories and send messages. But that application didn't appear to be all that different from today's videoconferencing applications in place over circuit-switched networks.
"Everyone is waiting for [VoIP] applications," says Nancy Lambros, lead member technical staff at SBC Technology Resources Inc. "Unified messaging is really the only one we've seen."
Right. So xchange asked sources at the VON show what needs to happen to spark the creation of these purple minutes. Here's what we came up with.
Cisco System Inc.'s senior director of product marketing Alistair Woodman points to a lack of a widespread local broadband infrastructure. "Developing broadband access is a huge issue for the VoIP industry," he says. "Improving metro fiber is imperative. It's all about the last mile." Woodman notes that new technology is coming available to allow for less expensive installation of new fiber in local environs. As an example, he cites a Siemens A.G. process that works a shallow groove into pavement and pushes fiber down into the groove, so messy and expensive digs are not required for new cable to be installed.
The president and CEO of vendor net.com Hubert Whyte notes that the tight tariff rules under which the Bells must operate are a barrier to new enhanced applications. Whyte proposes the tariffs for the Bells be relaxed, so they can charge as needed for new services and create partnerships with other software or application providers on the fly. "People talk so much about the technology and where are the applications," he says. "I'm saying 'What is the business case?'"
The senior vice president of technology at component provider NMS Communications R. Brough Turner says, "My complaint is the VoIP industry in the last seven years has been going head on against the telcos." Turner suggests a better strategy would be to nip at the fringes. He notes 8-inch disk drives were prominent in the early '80s. Then someone introduced a 51Ž4 disk drive -- it wasn't as reliable, but it was targeted at PCs rather than larger computers. But the smaller disk drive eventually caught up in capabilities and caught on in the marketplace, replacing its 8-inch precursor. That's what the VoIP industry needs to do, he says, start small with targeted applications, and build from there. Turner says wideband audio conferencing; multi-user games; and a Star Trek-type communicator whereby an ever-present natural voice device listens to the user talk and automatically picks up cues to initiate calls or other communications potentially could be the basis for exciting new IP-based applications. That could start with small work groups or other closed user groups and eventually could be expanded to the masses. Speech recognition and wireless are two key tenets to the new NMS strategy. (See related chart on speech recognition.)
Webley Systems Inc.'s senior vice president of sales and marketing Darius Reneau says it's not so much that interesting VoIP applications don't exist that has delayed the widespread delivery of enhanced services. It's just that service providers have been slow in their uptake. Webley sells a SIP-based switching platform that does natural speech recognition, IP Centrex, voicemail and offers ties into other applications. It recently signed WorldCom Corp. as a customer, but the service provider has elected to use the system only for what will look to users like standard voicemail. "Unified messaging is not a need have, it's a nice to have," says Reneau. "Voicemail is a must." As WorldCom establishes a comfort level with the product, the carrier may add more bells and whistles, he says. "Service providers are being conservative. They want sure things. We're showing them it's a sure thing."
It's more than three years later, but the story remains the same. 
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