When we talk about VoIP businesses that are worth keeping an eye on, we are almost always talking about providers of VoIP services. Consumers want to know which businesses are able to provide the best business VoIP at the lowest cost. They also want to know which VoIP providers have business models that are compatible with their own business approaches. But what we don?t normally worry about is what?s happening at the behind-the-scenes companies that provide parts for VoIP products. We care about the end result, not the bits and pieces. Except that every once and while there is a product manufacturer that steals the scene and deserves the spotlight for a moment. Right now, that manufacturer is Broadcom.
Broadcom is a leading supplier of semiconductors for both wired and wireless communications. As VoIP helps to merge the wired and wireless worlds, Broadcom?s role expands to include the technology used to provide VoIP services. They currently supply phone chips for IP products made by some of the biggest names in the business (including Nortel and Toshiba). They offer multiple types of high-performance VoIP chips which can be adopted by different manufacturers to create an array of products to meet customer needs.
The most recent VoIP business announcement to come from Broadcom was an announcement last week that they are partnering up with Trolltech (a software design company) to create a high-performance multi-media VoIP platform that will be compatible with Linux devices. This offers businesses using Linux the opportunity to maximize their VoIP and unified communications options, allowing them to streamline the communications of their businesses. A smaller partnership that was also announced recently was that Broadcom is teaming up with Boingo.
These partnerships point to additional steps forward in the development of VoIP products. Although there are many suppliers of the parts needed to create these products, Broadcom is a leader that stands out and warrants some mention. Businesses that are interested in staying abreast of the latest trends in VoIP technology will make sure to keep an eye out for new Broadcom press releases that apply to VoIP communications.
Question of the Day: How does knowledge about VoIP parts suppliers assist you in making better decisions for your business?
