O'Reilly Media

The current voice over IP landscape resembles the early days of the internet, according to PhoneGnome's David Beckemeyer. Consumers are spoiled for choice, but the choices leave a lot to be desired, as most service provider are walled gardens locking users in to their services while limiting options and innovation. Beckemeyer puts forth a call to arms for voice over IP providers and consumers alike to imagine what VoIP 2.0 could be like.

Open source code bases, like the Mozilla engine, have been the drivers of innovation in the software development world. Erik van Eykelen of Voipster BV describes a tool which could be the new Mozilla for the realm of voice over IP. OpenZoep is an open source code base for VoIP that developers can use in their own projects to create new VoIP solutions or add VoIP to other applications, such as browsers, games, or desktop applications.

William Quigley, managing director of Clearstone Venture Partners, believes that the incumbent RBOCs will remain strong as they continue to reinvent and reinvest in infrastructure. Where are the emerging opportunities in telephony? Mr. Quigley identifies two areas for telephony entrepeneurs. First, focus on areas in which the big RBOCs are not as strong - applications and managed services. Second, with projections that two-thirds of all network connections will be mobile by 2009, pay close attention to new trends in wireless and mobile VOIP.

Jeff Bonforte, senior director of Voice Product Management at Yahoo!, discusses the company's vision for integrating voice with the core assets it has built up over the past eleven years. He describes the transition in voice communications currently being led by the PSTN replacement players. But Yahoo! is looking do more than become just another voice provider. It wants to fundamentally change the concept of what a call is and integrate voice with the information and services available on the Internet.

At the 2006 O'Reilly Media Emerging Telephony Conference, David Isenberg recited a hilarious Dr. Seuss-style poem, a call to arms against a proposed U.S. telecom bill. The new law would create a tiered, prioritized telecommunications industry, where ISPs would have the right to provide preferential access to their own VOIP and IPTV services for customers on their networks. [Due to language, this program is not family/work safe.]

As a major driver of global wealth, the advance of technology is paced by various forces including new discovery and human inertia. In this keynote, Peter Cochrane, the highly esteemed and engaging techno-futurist, delivers a fascinating analysis of change in our increasingly smart, networked world.