According to Infonetics Research, service provider spent $1.73-billion on next-generation voice equipment last year. The market is expected to more than triple to $5.8-billion by 2008. Infonetics analyst Kevin Mitchell said the investment is being driven by carriers looking for new services to differentiate themselves from rivals. "Carriers in North America and Asia continue down the modernization path, and Western Europe is awakening," he said. "We expect 2005 to be much like 2004 was for North America: a year when many more major carriers get behind VoIP and begin the long investment cycle and service rollout."