VoIP Inc is taking a $24 million hit, and laying off staff as it regroups by closing down it's network and call termination business to focus on it's patented click-to-call advertising system. It was inevitable, as small companies that built termination networks in the early heady days of VoIP failed to evolve fast enough to stay out of the way of larger businesses like Level3 and XO. VoIP Inc is one of the smart ones that was able to developed a protectable value added business.
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So Vonage has dodged the bullet. In what has to be a very bitter pill to swallow, they've cut a deal with VoIP Inc to provide network services. VoIP Inc claims to own all of their own IP, providing Vonage with a way to step around the Verizon injunction.
It begs the question, however. How many more of these are out there lurking in the wings? IETF members have pledged to license, on reasonable and non-discriminatory terms, all IP required to implement the SIP standards, but what of non-IETF members, and non-essential IP? As the computer industry learned years ago, sometimes the best defense is a good offense. Look for someone to start consolidating VoIP IP now that the technology seems to have finally arrived.
UPDATE: I was contacted by a Vonage spokesperson this evening who stated that the VoIP Inc deal was simply a termination deal just like any other, and unrelated to the patent issue.
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