Sip to hit the mainstream by 2010

Session Initiation Protocol (Sip) services will be a common feature in companies and telecoms systems after 2010, experts have predicted.

A report from ABI Research said use of the internet-based networks will have spread to almost half of telecoms customers by 2012 as it will rapidly become the dominant technology.

And by that time Sip services will have generated £75 million in revenues, the analyst firm suggests.

"Using Sip, telephony becomes another web application which can be integrated into other internet services," said ABI analyst Ian Cox.

"It allows service providers to build converged voice and multimedia services."

However, Mr Cox cautioned that "migrating existing services onto IP networks, while retaining resources until they can be taken out of service, is not a straightforward process".

Other predictions from the ABI report include the expectation that there will be almost 1.2 billion active VoIP users by 2012, who will make use of services like click-to-dial, buddy lists and integrated email and web access.