Unfettered by traditional network paradigms, potentially disruptive forces — third-party software development, open platforms, cloud-based services, IP voice/video/audio, and so on — are reshaping today’s telecom landscape. Increasingly, forward-thinking service providers are integrating these untamed elements to create innovative “Voice 2.0” applications. Traditional telcos, meanwhile, are scrambling to keep up.
Enabling Voice 2.0 — the combination of VoIP and Web 2.0-style applications for innovative mash-ups — is the goal of companies like Ribbit, which is targeting new entrants and incumbents alike. British Telecom plc acquired the Silicon Valley-based company for $105 million last summer, and in November the two officially debuted a plan to allow carriers and service providers around the world to tap Ribbit’s softswitch platform, which has been opened to thousands of developers to create voice-enabled Web applications using standard APIs. In other words, Ribbit’s providing an open way for anyone to add voice to other applications, and for any service provider to access them for use within their own portfolios.
“Voice is just a feature in the same way that Google Maps is a feature,” Ribbit CEO Ted Griggs told VON. “Developers are gaining the ability to essentially provide telecom services in the cloud. As a developer I can go onto a Web site, download the API and build a voice-enabled app.”
Also enabling this type of open development flexibility is VoIP platform provider BroadSoft, with its Xtended ecosystem, which since launching this summer has attracted more than 1,200 registered developers that are actively building applications. At the forefront, according to Wendell Keuneman, director of technical product management at Broadsoft, are voice mash-ups within popular business and consumer applications, like Salesforce.com and Facebook. Essentially, developers create applications that combine carrier-grade voice and video calling features with Web-based apps, which can then be leveraged by service providers via Broadsoft’s Xtended Marketplace.
One such “Voice 2.0” application is the Disaster Dispatcher, which integrates Twitter, BroadSoft’s BroadWorks VoIP platform and RSS feeds to provide a one-window communications tool for emergency first responders. By keeping all data in one window, emergency personnel can analyze the collection of information after the emergency to optimize response procedures.
“Voice has a better value proposition as a feature rather than as a standalone service,” explained David Gilbert, founder and president of business VoIP provider SimpleSignal. Because voice is now a commodity in terms of per-minute rates mashing it up with other things leverages the one capability that everyone needs — voice — into a premium service that differentiates the provider while bolstering ARPU.
Reach the mass market
For instance, SimpleSignal offers the SimplyMobile solution, which combines hosted PBX functionality with hosted Microsoft Exchange to allow mobile workers to manage their e-mail and calendars using voice commands. “We continue to win market share by adding value for SMBs by providing more feature-rich services than traditional telcos,” Gilbert added.