High Definition (HD) VoIP will be BIG in 2009

During my recent trip to Israel, I had a chance to sit down and catch up with my friend, Shabtai Adlersberg, Chairman and CEO of Audiocodes. I have known Shabtai for more than a decade and I appreciated the support Audiocodes gave the VON events over the years. One of the things we spoke about was my list of trends / predictions for 2009 and we both agreed that high definition (HD) VoIP would be big in 2009. We believe the time has come for HD VoIP to become part of our everyday lives and we are both looking forward to this becoming our reality. We believe the time has come to eliminate the limitations that the PSTN enforces on traditional analog and digital telephones and the "3.4 kHz sound barrier". The adoption of VoIP and broadband networks have given us the opportunity to break through this barrier with a whole new range of wideband and high-quality voice coding algorithms that make communications more efficient, more effective and more natural. The adoption of HD VoIP will empower carriers to differentiate their services with a much improved audio experience, which will increase customer loyalty and affinity. After all these years, HD VoIP will change the communications infrastructure with a platform that supports presenting sound the way it was meant to be heard. Shabtai wasn't the first person I spoke to about the promise of HD VoIP. In fact, this is a conversation I've had with quite a number of number of people in the past. But speaking with Shabati was refreshing for me and reminded me of the the promise of VoIP to have a positive affect in our everyday lives. With the advent of the broadband internet, I believe the time is NOW for HD VoIP to finally happen. I fully expect HD VoIP to become the default method of communication regardless of the device being used. The technology platforms exist today to support HD VoIP across mobile phones, consumer VoIP and enterprise VoIP platforms. 2009 is a great time for the VoIP industry to work together and support this. I believe the widespread adoption of HD VoIP will mark the start of a renaissance in the VoIP industry and this is one of the things on my to-do list for 2009. I look forward to watching HD VoIP become BIG in 2009.   (Shabtai Adlersberg, Chairman and CEO of Audiocodes.)