Current Analysis senior analyst Joel Conover says Cisco had been lagging in the CRM space, where competitor Avaya (nyse: AV - news - people ) already released software to connect its IP telephone systems to Microsoft's CRM.

FORBES: Cisco Reaches High And Low

Their conclusion is that the switching and transmission costs for IP-based telephone networks are much lower than for switched circuit telephone networks.

CNN: IP telephony is the "in" thing these days, but should it be?

The two areas in which the most hand waving has been done are the ability to provide a quality telephone product over the best-effort Internet and the possibility that providing telephone service over IP might be economically feasible.

CNN: IP telephony is the "in" thing these days, but should it be?

Cox Communications is a broadband communications and entertainment company, providing advanced digital video, Internet and telephone services over its own nationwide IP network.

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Cox Communications is a broadband communications and entertainment company, providing advanced digital video, Internet, telephone and wireless services over its own nationwide IP network.

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Finding a concrete, believable economic analysis that shows that an IP-based telephony company might have lower costs than a traditional telephone company has been very hard indeed.

CNN: IP telephony is the "in" thing these days, but should it be?