Have you heard all the buzz about VOIP?

VoIP stands for ‘Voice Over Internet Protocol’ and is an innovative technology that allows you communicate with friends and colleagues over the Internet basically by turning analog signals (basically sound you generate) into digital signals and then transmitting via the Internet to the intended recipient.

VoIP has revolutionized the entire telecommunication industry in that individuals and industry players are now able to make calls over long distance at a cheaper price, because VoIP in essence, bypasses telephone companies and solely uses the Internet.

With that being said, let us now take a look at the most innovative technologies happening with VoIP at present and how they impact on organizations.

Innovative Technology Trends in the VoIP Industry

 

1. Mobile VoIP

Mobile phone adoption in the world has continued to increase over the year, and with introduction of Smartphones, the possibilities are limitless.

Mobile VoIP is a fast emerging technology where companies are constantly pushing the envelope to develop both hardware and software that will turn your smartphone into a device capable of making and receiving calls over the Internet free of charge.

Companies like Skype (through Microsoft) have been able to pull this off successfully and with messaging companies like Whatsapp looking to enter into the free calls market, this will be a technology trend that will be the future of VoIP.

2. Cloud VoIP

Normally, for businesses to use VoIP, they would need to install hardware and software at their premises…. Not anymore!

The current trending technology now is Cloud hosting where VoIP applications are located in secure far away data centers and the Cloud services are provided by VoIP vendors at a lower manageable cost. Businesses and Individuals are able to connect to these applications/services through the Internet.

Cloud VoIP offers unlimited capacity, expansion, flexibility and reliability and thus is increasingly being adopted by companies around the world.

3. Peer to Peer VoIP

Peer-to-Peer VoIP is one of the recent technologies to rock the VoIP world.

Basically it allows for direct IP-to-IP (or Computer-Computer) connections thereby eliminating the need for vendors/service providers and this will further reduce VoIP costs.

No centers or cloud serves are needed for this type of VoIP. This is great because by having a direct connection, security is not a concern anymore and there is a possibility for easy addition of other services beyond which the basic VoIP can offer.

For this type of connection, one only needs to have a special type of application on his computer/phone such as Skype and KNCTR that enables you to call for free.

 4. Unification of Mobile and Internet Networks

This is the seamless integration of real time communication services (IM, IP telephony, video conferencing) with non real time communication services (voicemail, email, sms).

Unified communication allows one to send a message using one medium and receive the same communication in another medium with seamless integration.

Improvements Unified communication has greatly enhanced VoIP communication for the important reason that communication can easily happen between various parties regardless of the mediums used.

In the long run, this will greatly improve the VoIP Industry.

 

Conclusion

Over time, as Internet adoption across the world continues to increase, all traditional telephone networks will eventually be replaced by VoIP technology.

With VoIP, individuals and industry alike are able to cut on telephone bills while still retaining all call features such as call waiting, call forwarding and much more.

Additionally, VoIP offers other several advantages such as flexibility since one is not restricted on location or distance, Call clarity and integrated email functions.

Have you adopted VoIP yet? Please let us know about your experience or questions in the comment section below. Thank you

(Photographs courtesy of www.freedigitalphotos.net )