VoIP News: March 2007

A new survey has revealed that uptake of VoIP services by UK small businesses will double over the next 12 months and indeed it is small businesses that are driving the market. The study by Vanson Bourne predicts that 48 per cent of small businesses will be using VoIP services this time next year, up from a current figure of 25 per cent. Other results of the survey include the findings that 57 per cent of companies with between two to ten employees and 48 per cent of sole traders are planning to use VoIP in the next 12 months, compared to 20 per cent of companies with 31 to 50 employees.

The enterprise VoIP over Wi-Fi equipment market is to reach $15 billion by 2012, new research reveals. A new report by Juniper Research, claims the total market for enterprise VoIP access points and VoIP WLAN switch/mobility controllers will be worth around $2 billion this year growing to $15 billion in five years. VoIP access points for enterprises are expected to reach over $5 billion in revenues by 2012, growing from $930 million this year.

Microsoft is reportedly developing a system of virtual headsets that will beam VoIP calls directly to the vicinity of users' heads without the sound spreading to nearby areas. In an interview with Ivan Tashev, a software architect at Microsoft, MIT's Technology Review reports that the algorithm will theoretically allow for "direct sound from a set of speakers--ideally embedded in a computer monitor--into a person's ears, effectively creating virtual headphones; just a few inches outside the focal point of the sound waves, the volume dramatically fades away".

A new report has revealed that organisations "adept" at deploying mobile VoIP report saving over $150 per user per year and an average return on investment (ROI) of 49 per cent. The research by AberdeenGroup found best-in-class organisations leverage mobile VoIP for productivity and cost savings. It found that 69 per cent of organisations surveyed look to mobile VoIP as a way to enhance productivity, while 60 per cent also expect to reduce their mobile phone costs.

A new test solution for VoIP and IMS systems has been launched by Ixia. The company says the IxVoice test solution enables equipment manufacturers and operators to qualify IMS infrastructure as well as allow more extensive VoIP interoperability testing. Additions to this 4.