The 2008 VoIP Fierce 15 arrive November 5

Barring unforeseen difficulties I plan to release the Fierce 15 on Nov. 5, 2008. I realize this is the day after the elections, but I figure people will be so OD'd on Red/Blue coverage and polling that they'll come running to www.fiercevoip.com to clear their palates.

It is a little later than I had planned, but I want to make sure we have plenty of time to thoughtfully evaluate all companies submitted for consideration in one form or another, as well as to have our staff review and debate the merits of each company on the Fierce 15 list. I solicited public nominations of companies for 2008, and I appreciate all the effort that went into the submissions I received - Thank you.

Just so we're all on the same page, the Fierce 15 represents the top privately-held companies in the VoIP industry. Following precedent from the 2006 list, the Fierce 15 will be presented in alphabetic order. Also following previous VoIP Fierce 15 precedent, a company listed in previous years may also be on this year's list.

You can find a list of the 2006 VoIP Fierce 15 companies here. Of the 15, a number have gone through significant transformations. Some have been bought: Brix Networks, FirstHand Technologies, GrandCentral and NexTone. One lived up to its brand and went down in flames - SunRocket. One went public - Airvana. The rest - Convergin, Digium, Emprix, Ingate Systems, Iotum, Jajah, Nominum, Psytechnics, and SIPPhone - have continued onward as private companies with varying degrees of success.

What might you see on November 5? It is fair to say that this year's Fierce 15 will have a big applications and software story baked into it. No cellular or wireless end-node hardware this year, but definitely some FMC/mobile UC firms represented. A debate upon hardware is ongoing; there are two firms that have been very Fierce over the past twelve to eighteen months.

Needless to say, discussions continue because nothing is written in stone. Given the current environment, I wouldn't be surprised to see at least one or two nominees under consideration get snapped up before November 5. And I'll take short odds on one of the 15 getting snapped up on November 5.

- Doug