Author: Arjun Roychowdhury
 Technologies
come and go. Some make it big and some don't. Out of those
that make it big, there are a some that reach through to the
common man - whether it is understood or not is a different
matter - but just mention it and you see the "Ah…
I heard about that one" written on everyone's face including
your next door grocer.
"Internet" is one such global buzzword. As a computer
professional, I've come across hoards of people who ask me
the same question: "Are you working on the internet ?".
Its difficult to explain to them how vast the scope of their
question is - but what is really amazing is to see the reach
of this "technology".
Recently, there has been another very exciting technology
that seems to have made its way into the dictionary of almost
all people I come across - and that is the technology of speaking
over the Internet.
Nicked VoIP, (short for Voice Over IP) this new kid on the
block promises to the customer two important points, which
immediately makes it an end-user darling and a surefire killer
technology, and they are:
- Unbelievably low cost
- Unbelievably powerful features
Hmm.. sounds like an "Unbelievable" promise. I
mean, aren't most of us vary about "low cost, high performance"
promises ?Well, believe it or not, that is precisely what
VoIP not only promises, but is already delivering as of this
date.
But of course, lets start at the very beginning.
Without discussing the "What" and "Why",
it is senseless for me to ramble ahead about the features
of VoIP. Some basic questions that would naturally come to
mind and logically follow one another
- What is VoIP ?
- Ok. I got that. Why VoIP ?
- Hmm… interesting ! But what about the phone I already
have in my house ?
- Wow ! sounds great - But hold on ! if its so great, why
don't I see everyone using it ?
And so on and so forth.
There are a lot of VoIP tutorial thrown across the net - however,
like most other resources, it takes a veteran miner to find
the diamonds in the coal.VoIP is very much in the news and
unfortunately, very much misunderstood by a large many people
- sadly and surprisingly, including people who are working
in this field.
What I intend to do in this little space of mine, is to explain
VoIP to whoever wishes to know more about it in as simple
a way (at the same time explaining the relevant technologies
as I go along).
I do not promise that whatever I say here is the Bible truth
- like many others, I too am in the constant process of learning
new things. Id love to learn and discuss with you, foremost,
hear of your opinions that you may want to share with me.
But what I do promise is that this space will not be used
as a propaganda column for my company. Most articles on the
net that I've found are centered around a particular companies
products and the explanation often seems biased. My intention
here is not to tell you about the VoIP solutions that HSS
offers - check it else where on this page. Instead, my intention
is to present VoIP to you as it is now, as a technology ,
its potentials and pitfalls, in as unbiased a way as I can,
so that you can finally decide when and why to embrace it.
Because trust me, the wonders of VoIP will be knocking on
your doors sooner than you could possibly imagine - that is
, if its not there already! So keep yourself tuned to this
space - and watch VoIP unfold itself to you
As always, please do send your suggestions/criticisms.
Please send all feedback to whitepaper@flextronicssoftware.com
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Last updated :
August 8, 2006
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