Voice-based communication: a V*IP architecture and its revolutionary implications for business

A promising application on the next-generation Internet is packet voice and packet video. While experiments on packet voice and video performed in the early seventies satisfied the curiosity of researchers it is only recently that technology has progressed to make this a commercial viability thereby creating in entirely new industry with very promising applications. As users spend more time on the Internet for browsing and shopping, it is natural for them to want the desktop personal computer and portable devices to be their primary communications vehicle for all media including voice, video and data. While Voice over IP (VoIP) is a strong market driver today, we speculate that over time, virtually any useful information media will traverse over IP-based networks, hence the name V*IP. In this paper, we address the basic issues of how, why, when and what of V*IP. We describe the essential elements of such a V*IP architecture, its operation, standards and policy related issues and discuss the future and business implications of this promising communications technology.