It's about to kick off in voice-land

It hasn't started properly yet but we are about to see some interesting things happen in the area of voice communications and the cloud. There are some providers doing good business from the emerging sweet spots where internet-based voice services fit today, but we are about to see some real changes in the heartland of conventional landline phone calls.

Generally, customers remain sceptical about the reliability of IP voice communications and don't yet have the necessary incentives to go there, but, as the rate of innovation, reliability and the cost of entry lowers, customers will reach a tipping point and the fun will begin. ISPs are already planning for this event, as are the telcos, but the channel has the most exciting opportunity.

We will see the rapid migration of traditional voice resellers into the area of cloud-based PBX systems, then being dragged into the neighbouring realm of email, messaging and so on. Conversely, we'll see data resellers exposed to new terminology such as trunking, pilot numbers and dial plans - this is going to be a brave new world for them.

But at the end of it, after it all shakes down, we are left without a clear distinction between voice and data resellers and, similarly, ISPs and telcos. Exciting times.

Mark Herbert (pictured) is business development director at intY

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