Is the future 3G?
With one of the world's biggest banks, Capital One, the latest organisation to report improved efficiency following the adoption of Voice Over IP (VOIP) systems, the benefits of the technology to businesses of all sizes can no longer be in any doubt.
Indeed, as a result of one of the biggest VoIP roll-outs ever carried out over a period of less than a year, around 84 per cent of Capital One employees have stated that they are "highly satisfied" with the new initiative, which includes providing them with a single phone number and a portable phone and notebook PC.
However, the industry is much less in agreement over the likely success of VoIP-over-3G technology, particularly over the short-to-medium term, with the issue dividing expert opinion and providing the source for fevered debate on IT blogs and at various IT conferences over recent weeks.
According to a report from research firm Disruptive Analysis, over the coming years VoIP providers and users will begin to shun Wi-Fi connections in favour of 3G technology, a development which would go against current industry trends.
One major factor behind this predicted drive is that mobile VoIP, as offered by 3G networks, has the advantage of allowing carriers to fit more phone calls into their currently limited spectrum allocations, which is likely to endear them to larger businesses.
Furthermore, operators will be better equipped to launch new services at a much faster rate, the report - based "on a massive research effort spanning hundreds of meetings and interviews among a wide cross-spectrum of operators"; - also stated.
In addition, the voice-over Wi-Fi market is likely to be hindered by the complexity of the software required, for example to ensure that an organisation's network remains secure.
Given this, the number of worldwide'VoIPo3G' users could boom from being virtually negligible today to more than 250 million by 2012.
In comparison, just 100 million VoIP users would remain on Wi-Fi connections as businesses see that the potential savings offered by the technology are rendered obsolete if a device is out of range.
Dean Bubley, author of the report and founder of Disruptive Analysis, explained: "3G networks are increasingly capable of supporting VoIP, for both traditional mobile operators and independent internet-based VoIP challengers."
However, challenges to this prediction were quick to emerge, with experts pointing out that such a development is rather unlikely, especially in the timescale mentioned in the report.
Russell Shaw, a technology analyst at ZDNet, issued a simple reply to Mr Bubley, stating : "I'm sorry…but I don't see the scenario you describe happening too soon", at least in North America.
"Based on behaviour patterns that significantly precede VoIP, entrenched cell carriers will go to all marketing, regulatory, legal, lobbying and statutory costs to protect the current business models they believe are necessary to protect their investments in networks as they are now," he argued in his blog.
However, the original prediction was based on the expectation of smaller, independent VoIP operators leading the way before the larger providers 'jump on the bandwagon'.
Given that smaller firms tend to be more innovative and the fact that, so far, much of the progress made has been from the independent sector, it still remains a possibility that the voice-over-3G revolution could come from the bottom-up. 
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