UCStrategies.com’s expert UC panel discussed Google Voice and what the carriers might be doing to counteract this new “threat.” Jim Burton, CXO of UCStrategies.com led the discussion by delving into some background information with the Carterphone Decision of 1968 where it was decided that endpoints other that telephones could be plugged into the network. Google Voice brings up a similar issue with hand held devices. AT&T recently filed charges against Google for essentially “not playing fair.”

Michael Finnernan continued the discussion with the statement that carriers will always fight change and Google is changing the nature of the game by providing a sort of “Uber” service on top of the carrier’s services that link applications together under one blanket but do not necessarily compete with the carriers. Art Rosenberg adds to this by saying that Google Voice will complement the enterprise services by enabling an exchange of information, dealing with it in a timely manner, in a cost efficient way.

David Yedwab discusses the point that with Google Voice, the application will become the driver and that the regulatory issues will follow. David Michels noted the regulatory model was based on copper wire and it will take a while for this to catch up.

This discussion panel included UC experts Jim Burton, Michael Finnernan, Pam Avila, Jay Brandstadter, Blair Pleasant, David Yedwab, David Michels, and Art Rosenberg.