Internet telephony: services, technical challenges, and products

The rapid proliferation of the Internet has given rise to a strong interest in carrying telephony over the Internet. Because the Internet supports data communications, a range of other services can be bundled together with Internet telephony. The Internet, however, was designed for non-real-time data communications, and hence it poses several technical challenges that must be overcome before the Internet can be successfully used for carrying telephone services. This article discusses new services we can expect from Internet telephony, the technical challenges and solutions, and the emerging products that promise to support Internet telephony.