Jonathan Christensen

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A Brief History of VoIP

• Jonathan Christensen
• GM Audio Video

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A long time ago..
1996-2001
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The Pioneers

• Vocaltecs Internet Phone
• Gateways Clarent, NetSpeak, Nuera, Vocaltec,
  Sonus Cisco
• The Carriers DeltaThree, ITXC, Level3
• New breed of internet Codecs - wideband
• The use cases gel
• End users PC-PC Ham radio scenarios
• Carriers site to site tandem trunking
• Some mainstream apps emerge
• NetMeeting (last updated in 1999 and still in
  action)
• 2 Stage dialing 1 800 CALL-ATT

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Class 5 Switch
Class 5 Switch
Tandem Switch
Tandem Switch
TDM
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Class 5 Switch
Class 5 Switch
VoIP
TDM-IP Gateway
TDM-IP Gateway
Death of Distance
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Tandem Trunking

• Bandwidth efficiency (more compression,
  statistical multiplexing)
• LEC - Avoid the expensive long haul lines
• Incumbent LD providers could avoid termination
  fees at the local off-ramp because the trunk is
  IP..
• Its an unregulated information service..
• Arbitrage, arbitrage, arbitrage
• Oh yeah.. And inferior service..
• Sometimes offered under alternative brands..

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Moving on.. 2001 Pulver, Vonage, and Consumer
VoIP
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Consumer VoIP

• Pulvers early inspiration
• Min-X, the IP voice minute exchange
• Free World Dialup (one port gateway)
• Komodo and the first ATA
• Turns any perfectly good phone into an inferior
  IP handset
• Cisco acquires Komodo and validates the market
• Vonage is born
• Voice over Broadband begins

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VoBB Changes the Players / Power Structure.

• Independent Vonage sets the pace early (with lots
  of cash)
• Long distance players enter local service
  markets
• The MSOs respond -- with more Buzzwords and
  TLAs
• Triple Play NGN IMS and the dreaded
  Quadruple Play

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What Do Consumers Get?
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Great Savings? Really? And New Features?
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Another Foot in the Grave

• Beginning of the end?
• Incumbents match prices and features on TDM
• Land line telephony is cheap.. Still... Losing to
  mobile..
• Commoditization is complete
• VoIP export networks are the biggest innovation
  
• Send your ATA to India..
• Location independent (death of distance again)
• Smashing the geocentric numbering plan
• Further deteriorating the old voice business

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The Summer Revolution - 2003
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IM (therefore IP)
Visual Sharing
Video
VoIP
Rich Communications
IM
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The Summer of Skype

• The stage was set.. The solution was 99
  complete
• Robust IP audio stack
• Multimedia PCs
• Broadband penetration
• P2P file sharing networks running at internet
  scale
• NAT traversal techniques
• IM networks..
• Skype simply closed the loop..
• One application with the right formula
• Users loved it.. Industry was confounded..
• By fall VoN there were 500K downloads

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276 Million Users Cant Be Wrong

• Global appeal / reach
• Reliable PSTN interconnect
• Multitude of device options (PSP, N800,
  Cordless..)
• Profitable..
• Enter the era of rich PC based Internet
  communications
• Multi-modal communications (original SIP vision)
• Real time video, Data, Presence, Text, Wideband
  Audio
• Smart endpoints, open platform
• Application innovation..

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Whats Next?
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Sorting the Mobile Mess

• Mobility is the last anchor to the old way
• Fastest growth telecom service today
• Spectrum scarcity makes it a perfect walled
  garden
• The good old days again
• Closed networks.. Device lock-in.. Phone numbers
  with geographic bias.. Contracts.. YUCK !!
• Finally.. The Internet goes mobile
• First successful auction - 22 MHz of 700 band
  spectrum
• Open Platform conditions apply
• A new game begins..

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The next 10 years

• The Era of Rich Mobile Internet Communications
• Multi-modal communications (original SIP vision)
• Real time HD video, Data, Presence, Text,
  Wideband Audio
• Smart endpoints, open platform Application
  innovation..
• Fixed / Mobile Convergence for real
• Mash ups of web based communications
• Freedom with mobility
• Natural segmentation of competencies
• Network infrastructure (pipes)
• Application innovation (developers)

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Questions?
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An eComm 2008 presentation http//eCommMedia.co
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