Unified Communications and the Cloud

When you think about how the traditional phone system (PSTN) or public switched telephone network really relied upon hardware to work, and now you think about merging the Internet and Phone networks, things get interesting.  Major parts of the Internet are software based, think about Virtualization, how much now or 5 years from now of things we use on the Internet will be vituralized or in the Cloud. I think it's higher than you think and will continue to rise.

Well then take into consideration Unified Communications. The Microsoft Solution for Voice is mainly software. Since it is software, a good case can be made to Virtualize this software.  Or could this be put in the Cloud in the Future?

I was reading this article on sys-con.com about this exact subject.  The article goes on to talk about time stamping things like inbound faxes that could be a real plus to courts and other places that have to time stamp every inbound object like a fax.  The article also points to some reference materials about cost savings of doing this in the cloud verse specialized on-site solutions.   The article is a good read, it discussing issues about bandwidth for voice quality and stablization issue you need to think about before virtualizing something like UC.  But as the world move closer to cloud computing, it really makes you think about software that support voice applications and how they might work in the cloud in the future.

What are your thoughts about this issue?  Are you planning to deploy OCS or UC Vituralized, or possibly in the Cloud?