Interview: VoIP set to transform communications in the enterprise

Voice over IP (VoIP) is set to transform telecommunications in the next five to 10 years. And with telecom companies moving their telephone calls from circuit-switched telephone networks to packet-based data, there have been calls for U.S. telecom regulatory policy to change as well. Neal Shact, CEO of CommuniTech, a telecommunications equipment vendor specializing in headsets, video, and audio teleconferencing equipment, spoke to InfoWorld Senior Analyst Wayne Rash about the FCC's hearings and what VoIP solutions in the enterprise are going to look like.

InfoWorld: The FCC has been conducting hearings involving the VoIP industry. What effect are these hearings going to have on the industry?

Shact: I think it's going to encourage the industry. One of the potential clouds on the horizon was what kind of an action would the government take? It appears that the government is going to be taking a relaxed approach to VoIP, and allowing it to grow a little bit more and flourish before they firmly decide what to do. Overall, they've been quite supportive of the industry.

InfoWorld: What effect is this going to have on traditional circuit switch telephony?

Shact: There are a lot of factors contributing to the circuit switch world adopting and embracing IP telephony. Part of it has been the rise of new companies entering the industry. One potential obstacle was government action. It now looks like that won't be the case at the early stages, and therefore the people with large investments in circuit switch are looking to embrace VoIP and to figure out how to make it part of their business plan and their business future.

InfoWorld: Is IP telephony the wave of the future?

Shact: There's no question about that. I think the research and development on switched circuit is all but dead, and it's a question of IP-enabling the old or going to a fully IP-deployable solution. … Not only do we have the current players that have been involved, there are many signs of people like Microsoft planning a very large and active presence in this market. There's going to be some very powerful new entrants as well.

InfoWorld: What are the manufacturers of traditional switching equipment doing to help make that transition happen?

Shact: If you look at people like Nortel, Siemens, and Avaya -- and Alcatel to a certain extent as well -- they've introduced pure IP products but, more importantly, they've also come up with ways to IP-enable their current products and platforms. That's created, for both corporations and for carriers, the ability to evolve instead of having to pull out the old and plug in the new.  The strategy that these companies have taken allows people to adopt IP at a pace that they feel comfortable [with].

InfoWorld: What is that solution going to look like for the average enterprise?

Shact: The average enterprise is going to have a variety of choices. I think the benefits of IP and converged communications is you're going to see businesses having the ability to both make and receive information requests. I'm trying to avoid using the word "phone calls" because it's going to be a combination of text messaging, phone calls, and video inquiries, and it's going to be according to what customers want and how people respond to those. But it's going to go way beyond a simple phone call and an answer.