mer, the vast majority will come from rapid growth in market penetration," says Christine Hartman, a Probe analyst. A combination of more widely dispersed organizations and shrinking travel/relocation budgets will help grow the VoIP market. Improved software and related technologies will also help boost the technology's acceptance. Additionally, vendors of hosted IP voice equipment have been refining and improving the reliability of their products, leading to an array of reliable solu- tions. Hosted solutions are particularly attractive in the present economic climate because businesses are able to access advanced features without the necessary investment in premise equipment. Large carriers have addressed the market by providing managed services directed toward major enterprise customers. Yet smaller carriers are also developing hosted solutions, focusing on wholesale services and retail strate- gies that concentrate on specific geographic areas. The combined worldwide revenues for hosted VoIP services, including IP-PBX, videoconferencing, contact center, and unified communications, are expected to grow from $46 million in 2001 to $36.5 billion in 2008, according to research from ABI, a tech- nology research firm based in Oyster Bay, New York. "In 2003, we saw continued growth from emerging services providers who, after quietly launching their offers during 2001 and 2002, have been gradually building their customer base," says Julia Mermelstein, an ABI analyst. "While these providers gain customer traction in focused vertical or geographic markets, we will also see several incumbent telecom providers, who have been slow to engage in the hosted VoIP services market, convert trial activities into large-scale product launches." Enhanced technologies and growing enterprise interest in VoIP are also renewing hope that the technology may finally achieve success in the consumer market. The key to any future consumer growth will be the enhanced quality THE INTERNET RULES-IP TECHNOLOGIES provided by broadband Internet co