VoIP transition 'will take 20 years'

Voice-over-IP could take 20 years to see off the old steam telephone, according to HP networking chief John McHugh.

The 'slow retirement' of the old PBX phone shows how long network infrastructure takes to change, he told a Netevents forum in Garmisch, Germany.

'Every year for at least five years we have been told VoIP is about to happen. It isn't.

'It is going to be a slow erosion [of legacy telephony] over 15 to 20 years,' said McHugh, VP of HP's Pro-Curve networking.

He predicted that by 2010 10Gbits/sec links to the desktop over copper lines would be available to a privileged few, but 1Gbits/sec would be sufficient for most links between company premises and metropolitan trunk lines.

Mobile roaming will be 'transparent and robust' and video calling from handhelds will be widely available and largely unused. 'That's because people simply don't want it,' McHugh said.

See also:

Draytel Vigortalk

Hassle-free VoIP calls using a standard phone  16 Feb 2006

VoIPvoice Uconnect

Make VoIP calls from your home phone  10 Feb 2006

Vonage UTSarcom Wifi Phone

Wireless VoIP calls through a very dated handset  30 Jan 2006

Hawking Technologies HBB1

Minimise gaming lag and VoIP interference with this broadband booster  04 Jan 2006

Cordless VoIP/Dect Dualphone

Make calls over the Internet without being tied to your computer  28 Nov 2005

Wanadoo Heavy User

Broadband with a free wireless router and Internet telephony service  09 Dec 2005

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