Like a black thundercloud approaching, the growing popularity of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) portends great problems for the electronic security dealer with digitally monitored accounts. VoIP is a nascent technology that is growing in popularity with homeowners and businesses wishing to reduce their costs for local and long distance voice telephone calls. If alarm monitoring subscribers convert their telephone service to this IP network technology they may disconnect or disrupt their alarm panel’s connection to the central station. And VoIP technology is supplanting switched telecom communications between telco central offices, possibly preventing the transmission of certain popular digital communicator formats.
VoIP is a “clear and present danger†to traditional alarm communications, and may signal the future demise of the industry’s communication workhorse, the digital communicator. Mark Hillenburg, marketing manager for DMP, Springfield, Mo., says that the potential and growth of VoIP indicates that “the phone line is going away†as the primary platform for alarm monitoring communications.