I was reading Slashdot.org this morning and I discovered this article regarding Google's latest initiative named Google Voice:

"Google has reserved 1 million phone numbers with Level 3, signaling that it may finally be ready to roll out its long-anticipated Google Voice service. The free service, announced in March, lets users unify their phone numbers, allowing them to have a single number through Google Voice that rings a call through to all their phones. Sources could not say when the 1 million numbers may be assigned. Level 3 has been supplying Google with phone numbers since the introduction of Google Voice, so the 1 million numbers are an indication Google is close to adding a significant number of users. A public launch has been anticipated since Google said in March the service would be 'open to new users soon.' One early user said: 'I've only been using Google Voice for a few months, but it's completely changed the way I use voicemail and communicate... When it goes public, I think the rush to grab Google Voice numbers is going to be stunning. I know some of my friends check the Google Voice page almost every day to see when they can grab a number and get started using it.'"

Can you imagine having to initiate a project where you were required to reserve 1 million phone numbers? Anyway, the concept of Google voice is very cool. Most people nowadays have at least 3 phone numbers (office, home, work). Having the ability to tie them all to a single number is extremely convenient. Currently, the service is not publically available but you can request an invitation to the service online by filling out a form:

https://services.google.com/fb/forms/googlevoiceinvite/