Not all will survive, says William Stofega, a senior analyst at IDC. "There are going to be some that just aren't going to be around, even by next year," he says. "It takes money and expertise to do VoIP well. And it is difficult to compete against the large carriers that have network assets and a lot of technical expertise."
Large national and regional service providers offer a full menu of VoIP services, including hosted and managed services. Newer and smaller competitors tend to compete on price. "The big boys can provide just about everything, but you pay for that," Stofega says. He cautions business-technology managers to choose their service providers carefully and to resist jumping for the cheapest price. "When people tell you that you only have to pay pennies for telecom services, it just ain't so."
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