Voice over internet protocol (VoIP) has graduated from being a new, unknown technology to being accepted by businesses, it has been suggested. A Research and Markets report highlighted that multinational corporations are showing keen interest in unified communications, while smaller firms are now being driven towards VoIP by the promises of cost savings and added flexibility.

"VoIP has become mainstream and customers of all kinds are deploying hosted and managed VoIP services to make their voice networks more flexible and solve their business communications problems," said Margaret Hopkins, principal analyst with Exegesys and the author of the Research and Markets study.

However, the report also noted that smaller firms, while enthusiastic, may require more educating about the benefits of the technology to their business than larger companies which have followed the development of VoIP more closely. Although unified communications bring together voice, email, web conferencing and other business applications into a seamless system which can further boost productivity, it seems cost restrictions are keeping this cutting edge technology among the richest multinationals.