Vivox isn't the only player in this arena. Aylus Networks provides a similar platform for voice/video/text chat, and companies such as Oovoo and WeTalk target video-chat capabilities. And those are just the start-ups. There's also , which threatens to rewrite the rules of collaboration.

A big problem for consumers is that the voice/video/text chat space is highly fragmented. Some applications only work with certain platforms (for instance, ). Some work only with tablets (take Polycom's for iPads and Android tablets). Some are targeting group video, such as ). That doesn't even begin to factor in the gaming community.

In fact, the whole market is in a state of flux. "Video chat has always been a PC-to-PC solution, which has kept it from being as automatic as a phone call," said IDC Senior Reseach Analyst Irene Berlinsky in a last summer. "But now it's going to mobile phones and to tablets." It's also going to TV, she said, citing a Skype-Comcast partnership that would "offer remote workers the opportunity to collaborate over video on a large screen that's much cheaper even than scaled-down telepresence options.

There's also a question of where it will work. Berlinsky said that because video chat over mobile networks will eat up a lot of data, it's more likely to be used over Wi-Fi. But that's where Seaver says Droplet's video optimization capability will help Vivox compete, because it can "cap the bandwidth use at a level that's appropriate for conditions on the network and still provide a great quality image."

He insisted that having a platform, rather than just an application, will boost Vivox's differentiation and its ability to survive any forthcoming consolidation. "The secret is not just having a range of ways to communicate," Seaver says. "The secret is having a communications platform that will help users talk to who they want, when they want, in the mode they want on any device."