I had just found out about a Web site called Midomi.com, which supposedly can identify any song you sing – that’s right, sing – using a headset with a microphone. So, risking my standing with my peers, I started singing into my headset the first song that popped into my head – the Canadian National Anthem.

So I tried it, and it correctly identified the song. I then tried, “Science Fiction Double Feature” from the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Midomi.com thought I was singing Van Morrison’s “Moondance.”

Well, 1 out of 2 isn’t bad.

Okay – getting to the point. Midomi, despite its silly purpose and its inaccurate results, represents one of those “next big things.” Data analysis of voice traffic. Midomi takes what you say, analyzes it based on content and then presents you with matching data.

As people continue to move towards VoIP in business and for personal applications, there is one thing that people need to keep in mind. If it can be digitized, it can be copied, and it can be analyzed. This can be useful – say the words “Baker Report” over the phone and your computer could automatically bring up the file.

The dystopian applications need not be discussed here. (I’m sure that we can all imagine Big Brother using your words against you, or having targeted advertisements based on the words you say served up to you while you chat.)

Put another way, this dinky little Web app, this toy… represents a potential for combining voice with information, and that’s one of the reasons why VoIP is important in business – because VoIP can potentially organize voice conversations the same way an Exchange server organizes voice e-mails.

Already the hardware tools are in place to make this a reality – an appliance such as GigaStor can be used to copy all the VoIP data that travels across the network, and store it – so the hardware is already there. The analysis software is what needs to be created and that’s likely to come soon – if it hasn’t already been invented by two guys in a garage somewhere.

It just goes to show you – in an information-based world, today’s toys become tomorrow’s tools.