Furthermore, in recent months, Skype has begun to market itself even more aggressively, with outreach programs at major retailers such as Radio Shack, and Skype conversion kits that allow you to use your normal phone for Skype calls.
So the billion-dollar question is this: Given Skype's head start and market dominance, can anyone beat it? To find an answer to this question, I investigated and tested two high-profile VoIP upstarts: Gizmo Project and PeerMe. Each group has Skype targeted squarely in its sights. Each has a singular offering that it hopes will set it apart from the competition.
(If you're already signed up with Skype, or plan to try another VoIP service, you may want to check out our evalution of several different USB headsets and an interesting array microphone.)
Gizmo Project
Launched in July 2005, Gizmo Project stakes its dreams of VoIP superiority around one key concept: That users should have convenient, easy-to-configure access not just within their network, but also across multiple VoIP networks and SIP-based PBX systems.
  Gizmo offers the ability to generate conference calls involving more than 10 people. (Click to enlarge image) |
This isn't a big surprise, given that the development team behind Gizmo Project is made up of members of the development team responsible for building the open-standard SIPphone VoIP platform. Because Skype and all other VoIP platforms use proprietary VoIP systems, their subscribers can only connect with other members of the same platform when using conventional peer-to-peer VoIP services. By adhering to the SIPphone platform, Gizmo Project allows its users to contact anyone with a SIP number, including users of Vonage and other VoIP networks.
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