Alec Saunders SquawkBox

Over the last couple of weeks there seems to have been a minor explosion in the VoIP market.  I’ve personally been using the Packet8 service for a while.  The blogosphere is waking up to VoIP now.  Witness:

• Tong: Peer to peer voip.
• Ludwig: Nats and VoIP
• Allaire: VoIP, Vonage, Getting Real

My sense is that big things are happening here.  Over the past few days I’ve spoken with more companies doing new things in VoIP than I have in a while.  In the telcos, the VoIP transition is already well in hand in the network.  The big problem has always been what to do about the Class 5 infrastructure which connects every home to the voice network.  Broadband and "route-around" schemes like Vonage, Packet8, and Skype are solving that by packetizing the voice and shipping it out on the residential data feed.

From this morning’s Globe: Martin vows to cut taxes, debt load.  Martin’s going to make life really tough for the conservative leadership in this country.  He can credibly assert his conservative credentials on the economy, while wearing the mantle of Liberalism.  As his coronation date nears, he’s stepping out to distance himself from the Chretien liberals. This guy will garner votes at election time.