Dozens of Voice over Internet Protocol companies that target business customers have launched in the past two years, but no major brand has emerged.

Consolidation will create a market leader for the business space, like Vonage is for residential customers, industry observers say.

Vonage, based in New Jersey, has roughly 2 million customers nationwide. Business customers have been slower to adopt the technology. That's expected to change.

There are about 200 VoIP companies across the country that provide services to small to medium-sized businesses, including about a dozen in Colorado, according to estimates by Franklin Court Partners, a Littleton-based business consulting firm.

"A lot of companies have sprouted out around the country," said Scott Chandler, managing partner of Franklin Court Partners. "You'll see that stopping (this) year as the consolidation happens."

With VoIP technology, sound is converted into digital packets of data that travel through broadband Internet connections and are reassembled into sound at the other end of the phone call. VoIP service is typically cheaper than traditional wireline phone service.

The VoIP industry for small to medium-sized businesses - companies with roughly five to 100 employees - is forecast to grow from just less than $200 million in 2006 to nearly $1.3 billion in 2009, according to the Yankee Group market-research firm.

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