Hosted VoIP

J Arnold & Associates is an independent industry analyst and marketing consultancy with a focus on IP communications. The firm’s core expertise is VoIP, enterprise IP telephony, IPTV, cable telephony, peer-to-peer, carrier infrastructure, Web 2.0, Open Source, VoIP Security, VoIP Peering and WiFi (News - Alert)/WiMAX.

 

Jon Arnold, Principal of J Arnold & Associates is a frequent speaker at TMC (News - Alert) events and a contributor to TMCnet. I caught up with Arnold and asked him what trends were driving the market and how he views the continuing evolution of the IP communications market.

 

JA: Four big ones for me are social networking, mobility — especially mobile VoIP offerings/applications, the growing adoption of live video, and industry consolidation. Social networking is finding its way now into the business market, and I think this trend will be big in 2008. Mobility continues to be a huge driver for end users — both voice and data/video — and the mobile VoIP upstarts are shaking up the market. Video is growing in many areas — both live and streaming/stored content. Will see lots of both big screen and PC-based video offerings in the business market in 2008.

 

JA: Prior to eBay, a lot — but since then not very much. Free PC calling is incredibly popular, but even for Skype, it’s been difficult to monetize. I don’t think it’s really changing the telecom market much now. They may be diverting lots of voice traffic away from carrier networks, but they’re not really hurting them financially. Furthermore, as Skype has moved into paid services, they’ve run into the same problems as telcos, but haven’t performed as well. Voice quality and customer support have both been problematic and are keeping them from becoming more impactful.

 

JA: Apple and Google are industry outsiders and are bringing a lot of disruption and innovation to telecom. Some is working and some isn’t, but they have the resources to adapt, and their presence will be very strong in 2008. Apple is challenging the status quo in terms of the balance of power between mobile operators and handset vendors. This is very disruptive, but Apple knows how to drive consumer demand and will eventually have success. Google is going to become a major wireless player once they acquire spectrum and get behind Android. Microsoft will definitely change telecom if they can do voice as well as they do everything else. This remains to be seen, and this has huge implications for the telecom vendors, who can’t decide if MSFT is friend or foe.

 

JA: I’m moderating three sessions — hosted SMB VoIP, peering, and IPTV. All are in different spaces and are hot markets. For each of these, conferees will learn what’s working, what’s not working and why these topics are important to their success.

JA: As an independent analyst, my views are objective and I try to present the big picture in a strategic manner that’s easy for everyone to understand. The other unique thing will be my involvement with the Government of Ontario, who is running a pavilion to showcase leading Ontario-based companies in the telecom sector. I will be hosting their reception on Thursday at 5pm, and for anyone interested in what’s coming out of Canada, you’ll want to hear my thoughts and meet these companies.

 

JA: Video — everywhere. Telepresence (News - Alert), PC screens, cell phones, smart phones, digital signage, and of course, flat screen TVs, IPTV and HDTV. IP technologies have improved to the point where they can serve as a very economical, reliable, scalable and carrier-grade platform for video of all kind.

 

JA: How about two? Google buys Skype. Cisco (News - Alert) becomes a major player in digital media/video.