Google invests in VoIP phones

Internet giant Google has announced a new investment in VoIP phones technology, highlighting the continued growth of the sector.

The search engine and internationally-recognised brand has confirmed its acquisition of VoIP specialists Gizmo5, sparking speculation that the organisatiopn is set to integrate such technology into its existing Google Voice services.

Writing for eweek, Google executive Bradley Horowitz said: "Voicemail transcription, inbox integration and threaded SMS are fantastic features, but we're really just scratching the surface.

"Gizmo5 gives us talent and talent technology. They have specific tech and skills in further integrating telephony with devices and desktop and Web-based computing."

He added that the company plans to incorporate VoIP solutions into the Google Voice facility by the end of 2010, which will allow users to make phone calls to all online voice communications users, regardless of data connections.

Google is host to the world's largest archive of Usenet messages, with more than one billion posts dating back to 1981.