Media outfits just love lists. Readers devour them. Advertisers eagerly sponsor them. Somehow, then, it doesn't seem so surprising that blogs have discovered "Best of" lists too. Case in point: FierceVoIP has a list of the "Top 15 VoIP companies of 2006." And, in true media fashion, the list is full of surprises: You won't see Internet telephony giants Skype or Vonage. Since the former is owned by eBay and the latter is now publicly-traded, they don't meet the blog's up-and-comer qualifying rule. Instead you'll find obscure names like Iotum and Airvana, startups that promise to let you do things with VoIP that you didn't know you needed. Like keep a single phone number for life, or consolidate all your voicemail accounts.

The Browser hadn't heard of most winners so don't be embarrassed if you don't recognize many either (one we did know about, Jajah, was featured in Business 2.0 in September). Even specialty blog VoIP Now cops to some ignorance: "I'll be honest - I've only heard of about half of the companies on Dan's list. I guess I have some reading to do." On the other hand, there are others who seem to think the list is painfully short. "I'm sure narrowing it down to just 15 was tough and as a result some good VoIP players will inevitably be left out in the cold," writes the VoIP and Gadgets Blog.

OK, here's the simple takeaway (think Ross Perot as you read this): You don't need to know what these companies do, you just need to know that there's enough of them to make a Top 15 list worthwhile! Not to mention a whole ecosystem of VoIP blogs (did we mention TheVoIPGirl.com?) Don't let anyone tell you different: VoIP is coming on strong.