Spring VON 2006

The SMB buzz was thick at this year's VON (Voice on the Net) show in San Jose – although the crowds were a bit thin on the 16th. Not only did we overhear companies pushing their SMB VoIP strategies, but after speaking with numerous press and analysts (including Marc Robins, Jay McCall, Matthias Machowinski and Wil Stofega), it truly appeared as if the the show trend was SMB. Apparently everyone wants a piece of this $60 billion market. And why not!! At this point the SMB VoIP market is truly up for grabs - ADVANTAGE HOSTED PROVIDERS. While smaller providers with hosted solutions are making headway, larger providers are feverishly working to cultivate hosted offers or attempting to make on-prem equipment offers compelling. The real question is, what is the end-user adoption rate for VoIP in SMB and will it live up to all the hype. If the show is any indication, vendors and service providers think it will. Last year according to IDC, it was around 6% - lower than expected. However, a new end-user VoIP deployment research report is due out soon from IDC.

-posted by Justin