"Internet protocol" technology replacing conventional phones

This interesting article was written by Graham Norris and published by the Taiwan Journal on August 26, 2005. It features "VoIP", the technology that drives the latest communications revolution in Taiwan. According to this article:

"[With 'Voice over Internet protocol' (VoIP),] an Internet protocol (IP) is the way in which digital data is compressed and converted into packets for transmission over the Internet. The packets are separated and travel independently over the Internet, each finding the best route to their destination at any given moment and turning up at different times and in the wrong order. The Internet server at the receiving end uses a buffer to delay transmission for however long it takes to collect the data packets, splice them in proper order and decompress them."

Taiwan's fixed-line telephone service providers are forced to radically change their business models. Meanwhile, Taiwanese manufacturers are busy turning out "a dizzying array of devices, including IP phones, routers, terminal adapters, integrated access devices and so on".

The Market Intelligence Center under Taiwan's Institute for Information Technology (III) estimates that up to 80 percent of VoIP devices in the world are made by Taiwanese companies, mostly on a contract basis for companies such as Thomson and Siemens. In 2004, total VoIP-device shipments by Taiwanese companies were worth US$585 million.