How would you like a small slice? Rather nice you could be saying. The opportunity to get that slice has introduced itself over the last 2-3 years. There are plenty of ?wanabe' new companies nibbling away for a ?slice of the pie'.

For years the communications market was dominated by large corporations with worldwide networks. However, these were expensive to use. Not that many years ago you would be looking at a hefty charge to call that cousin over in Australia. So what is happening so that a whole host of small companies are getting a ?slice of the pie'?

The simple answer is VoIP. Although VoIP has been around for quite some years it was seen as a second grade, unreliable, poor quality, poor mans communications on the cheap. However, even so, a number of companies such as Skype, Verizon, MSN, and others slowly built a following.

About 2 years ago there was an awakening to the real future of VoIP as a major contender in the communications field. This was fuelled by new attempts to advance the technology that VoIP is based on. So we saw Skype being bought out by eBay/Paypal. There has been a lot of positioning in the marketplace as the indications began to increasingly point to a real surge towards VoIP taking over the traditional fixed lane communications systems. It's a bit like the change from manual exchanges to digital many years ago. This time though it's not all happening ? ?in house'.

Small companies have truly stretched their new technology in this field in a battle to triumph over others, spending small fortunes on gaining advantage over competitors. Even those who are fairly established in the VoIP sector cannot sit back and continue using what is a still old and unreliable VoIP system.

Many of the leading companies are patenting new ideas and systems to protect their advanced VoIP in this hugely growing industry. They intend to have a rather large slice of the ?pie'. Who can blame them?

The biggest problem facing these companies is the need to have their VoIP compatible with all the varying servers owned by other companies around the world. This means long and tedious negotiations, ?tinkering' etc of systems to have them work. What works fine in one country can be a nightmare scenario in another country. There is no doubt that to have a system up and running globally is a huge challenge for any company to take on.

What indeed is the ?carrot' is in fact that slice of the trillion dollar piece of ?cake'. We just have to look at the statistics. Worldwide fixed line systems decline year on year. VoIP use is literally now doubling year on year. The small and medium business VoIP market is set to grow by more than 500 per cent by 2009. One of the reasons for these businesses taking up VoIP is that they already have and pay for broadband so the cost of a VoIP service is minimal. Additionally, add the fact that a huge saving can be made over what was being paid for the old landline phone services.

Once we begin to add all the ?extras' such as conference facilities with combined email and voice mail messaging this business is moving fast into the future.

So what is the question we have to ask ourselves. Is there any way we can get a slice, just a little slice of this ?pie'? Dream on many might say. You would need to invest small fortunes to get into such a position. Well they would be wrong. That is not the case. We are looking at companies that are very forward, even ?lateral' thinking. Out have gone much of the stuffy stocks and shares, shareholder type companies. In have come some companies willing to use old tried and tested networking methods. Yes, it is not a new idea. Networking is as old idea. This means that individuals by there own involvement in marketing can have a share in the profits made from sales. Ah. That slice of the ?pie' looms nearer!

To take advantage we have to be sure that we invest out time and energies into the right company, with the right technology, and with the right compensation payment plan. There is no doubt that this is the marketplace to be in. It is just placing your self in the right place, at the right time, with the right company.

Here is where we may flag a bit. How are we to find such a great place to be. Just where do we begin to look. It's like trying to find a tree in a forest, the right tree. Here is where we need to seek top advice and trust in the guidance given. This advice can be found. There are a lot of knowledgeble people who have researched these companies. For more information check out the resources box below