VoIP Voice-over Internet Protocol (VoIP), or Internet telephony, uses IP to transmit voice communications (or, to be precise, digitized audio in packet form) over intranets, extranets and the Internet. VoIP is an attractive alternative to standard telephone communication, especially for individuals and companies with always-on, fixed-price Internet access, because users can dial virtually anywhere in the world at very low cost, and yet still receive superb quality of service (QoS) thanks to Internet telephony technologies. VoIP realizes a number of benefits, including: *Cost reduction — Many businesses and individuals have switched to VoIP for voice calls. As the VoIP market grows, the resulting ubiquity of IP nodes and the increasing availability of sophisticated IP-based switches and routers are lowering the cost of IP infrastructure. Coupled with the inherent low cost of VoIP telephony itself, this represents a further savings over conventional voice telephony. *Simplification — Integrated infrastructure helps companies standardize and reduce total equipment needs. *Consolidation — Eliminating points of failure, consolidating accounting systems and combining operations promotes greater efficiency. *Advanced applications — In addition to basic voice and facsimile, currently the main applications of VoIP, additional benefits are expected to be realized with multimedia and multi-service applications over the longer term. NTT Communications Clearinghouse, the first IP telephony clearinghouse in Asia, is now supporting the operations of Internet telephony service providers (ITSPs) with a variety of services, including for payments, routing and customer-tailored solutions, such as connection to NTT Com global networks, housing, system integration and operation support systems.