SIP’s popularity has grown enormously over the past few years. A big boost in support came in November 2000, with the acceptance of SIP by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). 3GPP is composed of standards organizations in China, Europe, Japan, North America and South Korea, and is dedicated to the proliferation of a third-generation wireless global standard. More specifically, this organization focuses on the development of standards for the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS). Furthermore, the 3GPP developed the IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem), which defines the way VoIP services will be implemented over General Packet Radio Services (GPRS) and UMTS cellular networks | Global Knowledge Expert Reference Series ofWhite Papers Voice over IP Open-Source Platforms and the Session Initiation Protocol 1-800-COURSES Voice over IP Open-Source Platforms and the Session Initiation Protocol Donald Hill Global Knowledge Course Developer and Instructor Introduction Voice over IP VoIP communications can be separated into two categories business and residential. The early growth of VoIP was primarily in the residential space fueled mostly by PC enthusiasts. Businesses need practical and reliable phone service early VoIP technology proved unreliable. At first the business community didn t pay much attention to VoIP because the early versions of the technology had very poor quality much of the time. However over the last 10 years the world of voice communications has made dramatic changes. Businesses usually purchase their phone systems from a particular voice equipment manufacturer or reseller. In many cases they also rely on the same source for the installation and maintenance of these systems. They usually decide on a particular product based on system features that map well to their business needs. Today voice equipment vendors scramble to get their latest VoIP products and or upgrades to market. In some instances vendors have lost major market share due to poor products or by being a late entrant into the VoIP market. Some vendors with an early lead have lost out to traditional phone equipment manufacturers that have developed superior VoIP system designs and strateies. While competition is intense among equipment vendors the emergence of open source VoIP software platforms adds a new threat to the voice equipment suppliers that serve small-to-medium size businesses SMBs . If this trend continues it is only be a matter of time before the steady improvement of these software platforms will threaten the equipment vendor s market share of large businesses. The Impact ofVoice over IP VoIP in Telecom VoIP the Early Years .
