Internet telephony: Services, technical challenges, and products

The rapid proliferation of the Internet in the Last few years has given ris e to a strong interest in carrying telephony over the Internet. Because the Internet supports data communications, a range of other services can be bu ndled together with Internet telephony. The Internet, however, was designed for non-real-time data communications, and hence it poses several technica l challenges that must be overcome before the Internet can be successfully used for carrying telephone services. This article discusses new services w e can expect from Internet telephony, the technical challenges and solution s, and the emerging products that promise to support Internet telephony.