// My Telecom Predictions For 2007
//
// by natas
//
// http://www.oldskoolphreak.com

Where is telephony headed in 2007? Well, here are my predictions! I thought
this would be a fun little text file to write up every year from now on. I
think it'll be interesting to look back in a year from now and see how
right or wrong I was!


Asterisk will become much more widely used and supported with the release
of version 1.4. The official GUI from Digium will also help bring Asterisk
to the masses by easing first time users into using the application. A lot
more Asterisk focused "niche" services and service providers will launch in
2007. What WON'T Asterisk be compatible with by the end of 2007?! However,
I think that with Asterisk's new mass appeal, people will start to pour
through Asterisk's code looking for serious flaws to exploit. Look out for
some major vulnerability announcements in 2007.

The IAX2 protocol will be published as an official RFC in 2007.

Hackers overseas will attempt to copy Edwin Penas illegal VoIP reselling
scheme and will get away with it because of their location.

Presence and Follow Me services gained a lot of momentum in 2006 and it's 
not going to slow down in 2007 as more service providers offer follow me
type services powered by products by Iotum, which will start to become the
industry standard relevance engine. I already noticed NuFone offering
DIDs powered by Iotum's Revelance Engine.

Disposable phone numbers will become very popular throughout 2007 with the
social networking crowd (think MySpace and bloggers). There will be a big
push for telephony applications to tie into social networking applications
and sites. Instead of standard text comments people will be leaving voice
comments through disposable numbers which can be easily published to the
internet. I know PrivatePhone is putting a lot of money into getting into
this space.

Real telecom junkies will continue to look for revenue sharing DIDs.
Revenue sharing telecom services, earning money from high origination fees
and 800 termination fees, will be a highly sought after DID service next
year. Podcasts by phone ("phone casting" as I like to call it), voicemail,
and conferencing services will be some of the main applications to generate
revenue with these services. Service providers will pop up offering these
revenue sharing services, but will they be able to survive a whole year?
The most popular revenue sharing service barely lasted 6 months in 2006
before having their numbers blocked and being forced to shut down and set
up shop elsewhere.

We'll start to see Skype preinstalled on new mobile handsets as a means for
cheap international calls from mobile phones and as a way for consumers
to utilize EVDO and EDGE, even though the carriers hate the idea.

Apple's phone will bring the best of the iPod to the mobile industry. But
what will Apple's iPhone be called now that people know Linksys owns the
trademarks and has its own iPhone product? Whatever it ends up being called
will be huge in 2007 despite a steep price tag. The theory here is that
people won't want to carry two devices if one device can do it all.

Caller ID spoofing will continue to become even more controversial and
eventually will be banned by legislation before 2008. Text message spoofing
is next.

Vonage will continue to add customers but will lose ground to cable
companies offering "triple play" television, internet, and phone service
packages. To attempt to gain more users, Vonage will FINALLY begin to open
up their SIP credentials for more BYOD users and Asterisk users. Also,
Vonage will acquire someone in 2007. My guess is Broadvoice or Sun Rocket.

Video, video, video! Video calls are going to pushed all over the internet
next year. We will still lack a true 3G network throughout 2007, but its
coming, so video calls from your cell phone will be here soon. Also, more
and more laptops are getting web cams built in and the price on stand alone
web cams have dropped, so more people are ready to begin testing video
calls over services, like Skype. 2007 will prove that video is here, and
it's not going anywhere! Video is definitely the future and there's going
to be more and more focus on it for years to come as the "pipes" or "tubes"
as some like to call it, continue to get bigger and bigger, thanks to fiber
to the premises.