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Welcome to the VoIP Week in Review on TMCnet, your one-stop resource for all (well most) of the important VoIP-related news of the week.

Well, it appears that the VoIP industry is continuing to have a hard time sorting itself out, as it searches endlessly for the “silver bullet” application(s) which will lure in consumers and generate better profit margins. VoIP still holds the promise of delivering much more than just phone calls - but for now, plain old phone calls will just have to do. And at the super low rates which are being offered - which are mostly being driven by competition - VoIP hasn’t exactly turned out to be the cash cow that some expected a few years back. The equipment makers continue to be the clear winners – as evidenced by the quarterly profits recently posted by Cisco, Nortel and Avaya. But let’s face it, when comes to technologies such as IP Multimedia Subsystem (News - Alert) (IMS), unified communications and the dreaded Service Oriented Architecture, we’ve barely even scratched the surface. Obviously, you’ve got to build the road before you can have the cars come through, so the emphasis is primarily still on upgrading the networks so that they can deliver new services (hence why the equipment makers are faring fairly well). It kind of reminds me of the early days of television, when people in the Midwest were buying TV sets, even though the signals weren’t yet strong enough to reach them (and no, I wasn’t around back then).

Yes, I know I’m being overly-simplistic - perhaps even a bit naive - and I’m sure there are many who disagree - but just read Rich Tehrani’s recent article about a forum he moderated at the VPF in Miami, where he asked panelists from 8x8 and SunRocket (News - Alert) about “voice 3.0 … when we will get there and what it would entail.” It’s interesting to read about the lack of ideas out there. It’s also interesting to hear someone such as Andrew Newton, the development manager of the VoIP Platform Group at SunRocket, say that consumers “don’t really want advanced applications.”

“A concern among panelists seems to be finding the latest killer application which gets customers to open their pocketbooks,” Tehrani wrote. “Neither panelist seemed to have the answer about what that app would be.”

Adding further gloom to VoIP’s immediate future was yesterday’s federal court decision in the Verizon (News - Alert) vs. Vonage patent infringement case. Verizon, which brought suit against VoIP provider Vonage for infringing on several of its patents related to VoIP, came out the winner in this one. The eight-member jury found that Vonage must pay Verizon $58 million in past damages - and also declared that Vonage must pay a 5.5 percent royalty rate on any sales going forward.

“While still a far cry from the $197 million in damages sought by Verizon, Vonage shareholders saw the stock price drop slip nearly 4 percent,” TMCnet’s Greg Galitzine write in his article covering the outcome of the trial.

The outcome of this case could cause some real damage to the VoIP industry, because you can be sure there are dozens and dozens of other VoIP providers out there which will also be found liable. Many of these service providers will likely have to raise their prices to compensate for the “Verizon tax,” and that does not bode well for a technology that practically everyone – especially those in the younger generations – thinks should be completely free in the first place.

But not all of news this week was doom and gloom. On a very positive note, Microsoft announced on Wednesday that it is ready to start distributing the beta-test version of Office Communications Server 2007, its VoIP and Unified Communications server, and Office Communicator 2007, its unified communications client for mobiles and desktops, to millions of testers at the month’s end. Users can register to download the beta versions of both programs on the company’s website.

“The announcement clearly shows that Voice over IP technology has gone beyond the realm of leading-edge startup companies into the mainstream, as an industry giant moves to make the technology available to potentially a far greater number of customers than previously possible,” wrote TMCnet’s Spencer Chin in his article covering the announcement.

In his keynote at VoiceCon, Microsoft Business Division President Jeff Raikes said he expects the average VoIP solution for business to cost half of what it does today, as VoIP moves from hardware to software. He predicted that 100 million people - twice the number of current business users - will be able to make phone calls from Microsoft Office applications.

Indeed, enabling company employees and personal users of Microsoft’s Office suite to make VoIP calls simply by clicking on a button in Outlook or Communicator will give them a huge advantage in terms of being able to instantly reach out and contact someone. I’m sure that it will make VoIP even more valuable as a communication and collaboration tool. But there is one thing I’m still a little concerned about: If this new capability really takes off with users, and the new Microsoft Office suite continues along the same track towards complete ubiquity, what will be the effect of all those VoIP calls on corporate and public networks? Could this – in the words of State Sen. Ted Stevens – contribute to the clogging of the Internet’s tubes? Hmmmmm … I wonder … net neutrality anyone?

In other VoIP-related news this week, Lenovo and Avaya (News - Alert) have announced plans to collaborate on IP and UC (unified communications) solutions blending the expertise either party brings to the table. The two companies plan to put a strong emphasis on best-in-class security, ease of use and QoS.

“Lenovo makes the ThinkPad series of notebooks that were previously part of the IBM (News - Alert) product line,” wrote TMCnet’s Erik Linask in his article. “Avaya is a global provider of business communications applications, software, and services. Together, the two seek to provide an enhanced mobile IP communications experience. For instance, to ease softphone verification, Lenovo’s combined fingerprint reader and password manager will support Avaya’s IP Softphone, so users will be able to authenticate their identity with a single action. While it makes the identification process easier, it also provides greater security and prevents unauthorized use of the softphone.”

Also making a splash was an announcement on Thursday that a group of companies, working together with the IPv6 Forum, had successfully completed of a series of VoIP) network.”

What? You’re still not satisfied? OK then - I’ve done my part - now you’re going to have to do some “reviewing” yourself. Here are links to some of the more interesting VoIP related articles from this past week:

Study Highlights Reduced Spend with VoIP

Tune again next week!

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Patrick Barnard is Assignment Editor for TMCnet and a columnist covering the telecom industry. To see more of his articles, please visit Patrick Barnard’s columnist page.