If you buy into the latest wave of hype, the Web is all about communities. It's about hockey teams using Wikis to put up schedules, Brownie troops sharing online calendars, and the oh-so-lucrative 15-to-25-year-old demographic sharing ideas, communicating and seeking entertainment on social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook. This movement represents a huge opportunity for high-tech companies that can take advantage of communities by giving them value-added tools. A potential supplier is Vancouver-based EQO Communications, which is developing communications tools that provides wireless users with ways to know when you're buddies are online and then call them. So far, EQO has tapped into Skype's API to offer this service to Skype users but CEO Bill Tam said the real prize is tapping into social networks such as MySpace and Facebook by extending the identify and presence of its users from PCs to wireless devices. The company, which struck a chord at DEMO earlier this year, will probably to raise $7.5-million to $10-million later this year.

Despite VoIP's inroads with consumers, I've long believed a major adoption roadblock has been the need to have an ATA (clarification: an adaptor that plugs into your high-speed modem) within the home. It adds a barrier to entry for consumers thinking about abandoning the PSTN  their traditional phone system for the feature-rich world of Internet telephony. There are, however, some encouraging signs this problem may disappear soon. During a panel this morning at VON Canada, executives from Bell Canada and Primus Canada both talked about what I like to describe as Easy VoIP, or EV. With Bell Digital Voice and Primus Home Phone service, there are no ATAs involved. All the consumers has to do is sign up for the service and - voila - Easy VoIP with all the online bells and whistles you'd ever want. Bell Digital Voice, which was launched last year, is carried over Bell's IP network with the ATA located within the central office. Primus' Home Phone service, which was quietly unveiled recently, strikes me as a bit of a hybrid because it combines the circuit-switch world with all the cool VoIP features. It complements Primus' Talk Broadband service that uses an ATA. If VoIP is going to become a widely-accepted consumers service, the ATA needs to disappear. Of course, the cablecos are still installing ATAs, which involve a truck-roll, but you have to believe that over time, they'll figure out how to eliminate the need for in-house equipment.
Tags: VoIP, Bell, VON, Primus