VoIP: The state of play

In an emailed response from Federal IT minister Senator Helen Coonan, she acknowledged, “VoIP brings with it some thorny issues for policy makers. The fundamental question [is] should VoIP services be regulated, and if so, should this regulation be the same as applies to the traditional voice service or something different”.

Uncertainty about the level of regulation is not unique to Australia. Regulators the world over are pondering this very thing -- not only how to get it right in their own country, but how to cope with cross-pollination of VoIP breeds in a borderless communications world. In the meantime, adopting a “wait and see” attitude is commonplace -- even government departments are not immune.

A spokesperson for Stephen Conroy, Federal shadow (Labor) minister for Communications and IT, says: “We’re interested in exploring what sort of effect the introduction of VoIP technology will have on the competitive environment but we’re still very much in our early stages at the moment. It’s really a question of taking the opportunity of upcoming Estimates Hearings to explore what the thinking is of the policy makers and of Telstra”.

Carew says the discussion paper “has highlighted the fact that most parties are unsure of exactly where the industry is”.

Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) is starting to drive the market a bit harder. The big IP equipment vendors last year started to introduce SIP-enabled IP PBXs. IDC’s Fevre says SIP is a much cheaper standard to develop products around and therefore should help bring prices down.

Craig Neil, chairman and founder of solution provider NSC Group, agrees. “We’re implementing SIP now. What I like about SIP is that it really opens up third party product.”

“It will bring the price of IP telephones down and there will be IP faxes, IP modems; it really opens up that market and removes all those analogue devices. SIP will make it a lot more competitive.”

NSC's Neil: SIP opens up third party product

With Microsoft now starting to use SIP inside its desktop, the desktop can really start to be used as an interactive tool, says Nortel’s chief convergence architect, Mick Regan.

“It will be more of a multimedia-type device, an audio-output device. You can incorporate the video component and the application-sharing component because you’ve got the SIP capabilities within the applications,” Regan says. Avaya’s Kruger cautions that it is not all good.

“One issue we see in the SIP environment -- and this only comes with people who have very lax security -- is that we’re seeing the uptake of spam. If you don’t regulate SIP, you can actually start to get spam mail in your voice environment,” he says. Avaya has filtering mechanisms to stop that spam.

As more companies move towards VoIP, it requires a new way of thinking about telephone security. “The phone system is a really critical part of the network and people are just used to it always working,” says SonicWall’s Tim Dickinson. “It’s always been such a closed network but now the network is opening up, moving voice packets over the internet.” It is very important to make a full assessment of the whole network while installing VoIP.

Nortel's Regan: Desktop can be used as an interactive tool

“Don’t think of it as just the phone system but as an extension of the actual computer network. You really have to put in place the same kind of protection and the same security as you would afford your servers and mail,” Dickinson says.

SonicWall says it has technology that is ideal for companies with a number of branch offices. “Our deep packet inspection technology enables high volumes of data to be scanned for malicious code on the fly, instantaneously. It does not affect network performance,” Dickinson says.

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