VON SHOWCASES VoIP APPS; MICROSOFT ENTERS THE SPACE

Those looking for a good read on the state of the voice-over-IP market last week at the VON show in Boston needed to look no further than the booth of tekVision, a Richardson, Texas, systems integrator that had a series of applications running as part of its exhibit.

“We're really trying to spur carrier imaginations,” said Tracy Venters, vice president of solutions engineering for tekVision. “It's more just to show our capability to create new applications.”

In fact, many vendors on the show floor seemed intent on answering the question that has dogged VoIP since its evolution from the early computer/telephony integration days — what can users do in addition to making phone calls? Initially, at least, the answer to the question lies in the ability to blend VoIP service with either a desktop application or a wireless technology.

Among the applications tekVision was touting on the floor included a digital retail kiosk that helps shoppers locate items in a hardware story or make video calls to experts who can provide free advice. The company also had the requisite residential set-up, which included a home portal that would allow parents to control childrens' access to voice, data and video services.

“One of the things we're seeing is that some service providers may just give this away for free because it makes the service very sticky,” Venters said.

Tekelec, which has acquired Taqua and Steleus since the last VON show closed and recently pledged to buy VocalData, is leaning toward adding signaling elements as part of the overall solution, said Fred Lax, CEO of Tekelec.

“It's important to see that these can be network applications,” he said. “I think of it as a network of applications.”

The company is likely better positioned than most other vendors because of its heritage in traditional signaling. This asset can be combined with its newly acquired softswitching and application development expertise.

“We also think we've got pretty good credibility with RBOCs because of our signaling experience,” Lax said.

At the same time, a slew of new entrants, notably Microsoft, is moving quickly into the market. The software giant announced several application-related enhancements last week at VON including a deal with BroadSoft to integrate its Microsoft Live Communications Server 2005 and soon- to-be-released client software with BroadSoft's BroadWorks platform.

When deployed next year, the combination will allow service providers to offer a hosted VoIP solution that lets users launch secure multimedia conferences for virtually any Windows application. However, a more important shift is coming for the service provider market as a result of the new application development, said Scott Wharton, vice president of marketing for BroadSoft.

“One of the epiphanies that comes out of this is you don't have the conflict of Centrex versus PBXs where it's all or nothing for enterprises,” he said. “You can mix and match if you want.”

Perhaps just as important is the ability to blend multiple wireline and wireless devices with Microsoft's client into a single system.

“The client will look just like another device to the platform,” Wharton said.