Back in the early days of my industry experience, 8x8 was a company I was familiar with only insofar as I knew they had a Check Point firewall and I worked for the company that provided support for them. Nowadays, I know them as a VoIP company, both in terms of providing service through their residential Packet 8 service, many of their business offerings, and of course their patent portfolio, which totals 73.

Carolyn Schuk does an excellent piece on her VoIP Princess blog about 8x8, their history, and how they compare to the competition. What I did not know was that they started a residential VoIP offering well before Vonage did-back in 2002!

While 8x8 still maintains the Packet 8 service, they make more money on less price-sensitive business customers. Their product portfolio is quite impressive. Unlike Vonage, they are profitable, yet somehow their stock price is lower than Vonage's. Go figure.