VOIP aside IP continues growing

VOIP will generate little revenue for phone companies and other telecommunications carriers in the years ahead, but six other Internet-enabled communications services geared to the needs of consumers are expected to generate more than $700 billion for cellular and land line phone companies worldwide over the next five years, according to a new research from The Insight Research, states Wireless Design and Development.

These new Internet-enabled services include residential video telephony; fixed-mobile convergence; file sharing and download services; streaming services; location-based services; and presence-based services.

Insight Research notes that with free PC-based VOIP services offered by Skype, Yahoo!, Google, and others, even carrier-class VOIP is likely to be heavily discounted when it is part of a bundle and that, for all intents and purposes, it will be given away.

Broadcom Corporation, a provider of semiconductors for wired and wireless communications, has unveiled its VOIP digital signal processor (DSP) that targets next generation OEM designs of multi-service access nodes, IP digital subscriber line access multiplexers (DSLAMs), and deep fibre multi-dwelling units, reports Market Watch.

The new Broadcom VOIP DSP simplifies equipment design and enables IP service convergence, with integrated or unified network management.

At present, the architecture and design of broadband access equipment are evolving into IP-based next generation network implementations that support multiple revenue-generating services instead of traditional DSLAMs and plain old telephone systems in central offices and remote digital loop carrier locations.

Expanding the use of the digital picture frame, Motorola has come up with a prototype frame that also functions as a VOIP phone, complete with speaker, built-in video camera, and Bluetooth headset, says Cnet.

The wireless frame, which can be programmed via touch screen, disguises a CDMA femtocell, a small cellular base station typically designed for use in home or small-business environments.

Consumers could use the photo frame as a Wi-Fi base station, as well as a network, whose radius could be programmed via cell phone, through which other devices could communicate.