January 1st, 1970
You are currently browsing the articles from the VoIP Digest written on January 1st, 1970.
-- By Pushpa Sathish, Staff Writer
Is it possible to take part in a video conference where the person inside the TV set is actually sitting opposite you? Yes, it is, if Cisco’s latest technology is deployed. The networking giant has come out with the “Cisco TelePresence” system, an application that generates holograph-like images of people who are not physically present in the room, to make it appear as if they are.
The system uses hi-definition displays, extremely sensitive audio equipment, integrated networking tools, and a very high speed, robust connection with at least 10 megabits per second of bandwidth, to create life-like images during a teleconference, thus simulating the feeling that all participants are in the same room. For the perfect illusion, the video streaming has to be smooth, and the audio synced to the lip movements of the speakers.
The system, which Cisco hopes to roll out in a month, comes at a very high price – $299,000 for a 12-man conference, with three 65-inch plasma displays, three high-definition cameras, and the table and lighting, and $79,000 for a 4-man, single-screen version. Having been designed to work seamlessly with an organization’s existing network, Cisco is hoping the system will find takers among its most prominent customers.
Follow this link for more details.
Written by pushpa27 on January 1st, 1970 with no comments.
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You've probably already heard about dual mode Wi-Fi
cellular phones, which can operate either over a Wi-Fi network using
VoIP, or over a cellular network. But if IP telephony is really going
to have an impact, it might be through IPV6,
or Internet Protocol Version 6. With IPV6, all sorts of electronic
devices can be organized into an "Internet of things". Because IPV6
allows for longer IP addresses, billions more "objects" can be part of
a global network. As Wikipedia puts it, IPV6 allows for about 5x10**28
IP addresses for each of the 6.5B people on earth
or the possibility of assigning an address to each atom in the average person's body.
Overstating the obvious, that's a lot of (possible) networked devices. VoIP and IPV6 is expected to affect the Asia Pacific market.
Fast forward into the future, when municipal Wi-Fi
is ubquitous, and you essentially can turn any device with Wi-Fi into
its own Internet web server of sorts - but dedicated and not necesarily
publicly-known. Provided it has the appropriate functionality and an IP
address, it can be queried for status, etc.
Not only would
people be able to VoIP via phones but pretty much with any IPV6 device
enabled for IP telephony. And, of course, the devices would be able to
talk to each other. If each device had a function and was aware of it,
it would turn into an SED (Service-Enabled Device). If each device also had RFID sensors, all of this would go a long way towards realizing crowdsensing. With a new low-energy wireless protocol such as Wibree, all of this possible.
Written by ewriter on January 1st, 1970 with no comments.
Read more articles on Wireless and Networks and Phones.
The VoIP Service blog shows a snap of a GoogleTrends comparison of the search terms Packet8 and SunRocket. Searches for Packet8 have had a gradual decline since mid-2004. Searches for SunRocket
didn't even register until about the same time (mid-2004) as Packet8's
search decline. From there, though, searches for SunRocket have
"zoomed" over Packet8.
So not content with just two companies, I also added Vonage. In comparison to the Vonage graph, SunRocket and Packet8 barely registered. Throw in Skype
(which of course doesn't belong in this group) and the other graphs are
flat by comparison. Interest in Skype, as witnessed by searches in the
Google search engine, shows a steady ascent since before 2004 with very
little dip - at least on a moving average basis. Not surprisingly, if
you add the term VoIP, you get a relatively flat curve in Google Trends
for VoIP in comparison to Skype. For some people, "Skype" IS "VoIP". Or
is that the other way around. None of the others even come close - at
least on the Google search engine.
Written by ewriter on January 1st, 1970 with no comments.
Read more articles on Vonage and Skype.
The future of VoIP technology continues to point to integrating mass appeal mobile phone technology which already has a global user-base, with some of the technological advantages of the more niche technology, VoIP. A recent article titled "Pimp My Mobile: 33 ways to sex up your cell phone" at MobalRental.com alludes to the growing integration of these two technologies as they point to the numerous options currently available to purchase mobile VoIP off the shelf.
Check out #6 'Get mobile VoIP service' where they discuss incorporating technologies like jSkoot, SoonR and Skype.
Written by Peter Poffenberger on January 1st, 1970 with no comments.
Read more articles on Wireless.
Are you in Australia and searching for a quality IP Network service? Are you aware of the latest service provided by ISPhone Inc. and Equinix? Read on to know the details!
As per the reports from Voipnews, Equinix, Sydney and ISPhone, Australia have decided to work together by deploying ISPhone’s current offerings at the Internet Business Exchange (IBX) centers of Equinix. This service bundle is expected to enhance the services provided by the IBX of Equinix while paving way to uninterrupted service lines to ISPhone’s clients.
With this joint venture, ISPhone expects to get a good number of SME clients from particular geographic regions in Australia, while Equinix gets the advantage of maximum utilization of its IBX across Australia!
Click here to read one of my previous post to know the innovative billing integration solution from Orange Group!
Written by Priya Venkatesh on January 1st, 1970 with no comments.
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Would you like to get a single bill for your mobile VoIP line and conventional landline telephone calls? Are you put up in UK? Then here is a solution for you. Read on to know the details.
Voip-news has published the news about the French Telecom’s Orange group plans to offer this VoIP service, which helps you to make calls from your mobile when you are at home and will hold you with the standard Orange Group network, when you are in travel away from home!
Voip-news reports that the handsets expected for the integration of this service are Motorola A910, Nokia 6136 and Samsung P200!
If you are really interested in this offer, just visit this site and register yourself to try out the initial releases from Orange Group!
Written by Priya Venkatesh on January 1st, 1970 with no comments.
Read more articles on Business VoIP and Networks and Residential VoIP.
Over 30 private investors have collected together US$10M in investment
funds for Pannaway Technologies, Inc., a maker of converged IP
broadband systems. [via Lightwave] Earlier this month Acme Packet, a maker of session border controllers, went public with their IPO. As I've noted, VoIP providers may fall like flies between now and 2010 (except maybe for those that consolidate),
but companies that have anything to do with the infrastructure aspects
of IP communications are probably going to do very well. And that makes
them hot properties. I expect we'll see a combination of more funding
and IPOs for such companies.
Written by ewriter on January 1st, 1970 with no comments.
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Do you have VoIP connection at home or your workplace? Are you hesitant to move to this promising technology? What brings in this hesitation when VoIP seems to be innovative and promising?
As per the news from technewsworld.com,
- The major impediment which has caused this dead slow shift to VoIP technology is attributed to the inability of VoIP lines to connect to the office PBX system.
- The second major reason is the necessity to use the headset with a PC for VOIP calls. Employees at office feel irritated to switch between their PBX lines and VOIP calls frequently.
But technewsworld reports that a gateway can be used to connect to the PBX system. Installation of VoIP software like Skype can be done at the gateway which enables PBX lines to handle 8 parallel VoIP calls.
Switching over to Skype not only keeps employees at different geographical locations connected but also brings down the ever mounting conventional telephone bills.
Click here to read one of my previous post to know the call quality issues that are still prevalent with VoIP lines!
Written by Priya Venkatesh on January 1st, 1970 with no comments.
Read more articles on Business VoIP and Networks and Residential VoIP.
Andy Abramson points to Om Malik's reflection
about pre-eBay Skype employees that have been leaving recent - some of
them highly placed. Not to be a cynic or rain on anyone's parade, but
when a huge company takes over another company that wasn't as
profit-driven, shakeouts are normal.
Having worked or consulted
for many large companies since the early 1990s - including a large
telecom- I've seen this happen over and over. There are always people
who liked things the way they were and either cannot or do not want to
be part of the change. There's nothing wrong with that. Doesn't anyone
remember that Skype's
URL used to be skype.org - a TLD often but not always associated with
"no profit". At least, I don't remember the .com before eBay took over,
but I could be wrong.
Now eBay paid a lot of money for Skype - what was it, US$2.6B? And eBay wants Skype to pay off.
Well, I've worked in companies that had 20 employees and left after
they a hundred. The atmosphere always changes. And telephony and pure
Internet companies end up being quite competitive in atmosphere.
Written by ewriter on January 1st, 1970 with no comments.
Read more articles on Skype and Business.
What TalkPlus Offers
Ken Camp gives an indepth explanation of why TalkPlus is important. They're the mobile VoIP company that just received over US$5M in venture capital. They offer the ability to have multiple phone numbers
You Lose Some, You Win Some
Last year in Q3, Qwest Communications bore a loss in their revenue. This year in Q3, they showed a profit. Earnings were just under US$200M. Verizon Communications also showed a Q3 profit of over 10 times that of Qwest, coming in at US$2B.
Belize: More Skype Blocking
Phil at Skype Journal reports that Belize Telecommunications in Belize (Central America) is interfering with Skype. They have not implemented a full-out block, but some users have witnessed Skype being blocked once in a while.
Written by ewriter on January 1st, 1970 with no comments.
Read more articles on Skype and Services and Phones.
If you don't know what RSS is you're not alone. Instead of giving you a discourse on it, you can go read about RSS
at Wikipedia. Some people call them "web feeds" or "news feeds". If you
do know RSS/ Atom web feeds, well anothr.com let's you read them from Skype.
I tried it out last week, before Jaanus mentioned it
on the Skype blogs. While it functions fine, it rings you up as an
incoming call whenever there's a new headline and associated story text
to display. This is fine for web feeds that don't have a lot of
articles posted, but it could be a disruptive for busier websites. As
Jaanus points out, this method isn't for the professional blog reader,
who would subscribe to multiple feeds (I read/ browse/ scan the web
feeds of over 900 web sites each week or so).
By the way, Asterisk, the open source IP PBX software, has an RSS add-on that reads you one minute headlines/ summaries over Asterisk-based VoIP phone.
Written by ewriter on January 1st, 1970 with no comments.
Read more articles on Skype and Software.
Cost is the factor, which has driven VoIP to emerge as the hot technology in the communication industry. People prefer VoIP to the traditional telephony for its cost-effectiveness and advanced features. When you browse the Internet with your cell phone or use Mobile VoIP, it is likely that you will incur high cost. Surely, you will be looking for an option that would give you similar or higher quality at a lower price.
A recent article titled "Pimp My Mobile: 33 ways to sex up your cell phone" at MobalRental.com gives some hindsight on this. Check out #9 'Unlimited cellular data plan', which may serve your purpose. It will help you to know more about getting an 'unlimited monthly bandwidth account'.
Written by Jimmy Atkinson on January 1st, 1970 with no comments.
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Avaya Opens Irish R&D Center
Avaya, an American IP telephony company, has set up a research and development "centre of excellence" [Fin Facts]
near Dublin, Ireland, at its headquarters there. The "centre" will
employ over 50 new software engineers, bringing the total number of
employees in Ireland to 170. The engineers will be working on IP
telephony business applications.
Vonage Adds Another Service
Recently, Vonage offered a new 511 service whereby its subscribers could local traffic reports. Now they're offering an 811 service that customers can call if they plan to break ground in their yard, to find out whether its safe to dig.
Cox Communications Extends Digital Phone Markets
Cox Communications has rolled out its digital telephone service to 35 major metropolitan areas. [Teleclick] Nearly 30% of Cox's existing cable subscribers also subscribe to their digital phone offering.
Written by ewriter on January 1st, 1970 with no comments.
Read more articles on Vonage and Software and Business VoIP.
CRN has an article recommending
Digium and Allworx as two VoIP vendors to consider if you are an SMB
(small or medium business) and do not have the budget for larger
vendors' systems. Digium is the creator and main developer of the open source Asterisk IP PBX software. They plan to offer a hardware appliance in 2007. Allworx
focuses on telephony systems for small businesses and is a division of
InSciTek Microsystems. Their solutions support both VoIP and
traditional systems, thus allowing a gradual migration, if necessary.
Allworx is currently offering their 24x system for 100 users or less.
Written by ewriter on January 1st, 1970 with no comments.
Read more articles on Software and Business VoIP and Hardware.
While some call centers are still considering the use of VoIP, others
are already on it. CampusUSA Credit Union installed their VoIP call
center system five years ago, and did it in a single weekend. [SearchCRM] The key thing to rapid VoIP deployment
is having a plan, of course - knowing what quirks to expect. While
companies that have no phone system at all have an easier time of a
switch over to VoIP, a relatively quick install can be done.
Small
companies have an advantage. But larger companies and/or those with
existing phone systems can reduce deployment time - whether for a call
center or just a business IP telephony system. If you treat a VoIP
system install as a software project, then planning and design should
be 50-80% of the time spent. Do you know what network capacity
you will need? Peak support hours? Backup systems? Call recording
requirements? Start with a list of your required functionality and go
from there.
Written by ewriter on January 1st, 1970 with no comments.
Read more articles on Software and Business and Solutions and Hardware.
New research from IDC suggests [CertCities]
that the VoIP support services market will reach nearly US$1.3B by
2010. The growth will come partly from the use of non-proprietary VoIP
software, which a single company will not have a stranglehold on in
terms of services.
This would suggest that OSS (open source software) IP PBXes such as Asterisk will have a huge role
to play in the coming years. Since the cost of startup is so much lower
for IP telephony, there is likely to be a boom in the number of
companies offering plug-and-play add-ons for Asterisk and other OSS
VoIP solutions, as well as support. And since the support can be
conducted using the solutions themselves (voice calling, video calling), support costs are lowered as well. Look into the future, and voice-recognition -activated animated avatars might be handling the support calls.
Written by ewriter on January 1st, 1970 with no comments.
Read more articles on Software and Services and Business and Solutions.
Nortel has been selected by the New York Times
to outfit their new headquarters in Times Square for Spring 2007.
Nortel will be setting up the IP communications system and VoIP phones
for use by reporters and editors for collaboration through audio
conferencing sessions. Services include unified messaging and audio
conferencing. [via TMC Net]
The Times recently ran a piece on Wi-Fi VoIP phones, with the most prominent conclusion being that most of them were hard to configure.
No indication is given of whether NY Times staff will be using such
Wi-Fi handsets. Of course, if the new system supports video calling -
something like SightSpeed
- to allow reporters to interview people remotely, that might up the
ante. The NY Times website already uses some video content. With the
web levelling the playing field between TV broadcasters and print
newspapers, video content such as the way MTV uses it would be interesting to see on a newspaper's website.
Written by ewriter on January 1st, 1970 with no comments.
Read more articles on Business and Hardware.
A while back, I gave 8 reasons to use VoIP and VoIM in teaching. Tutors Without Limits (TWL) is an organization that uses Skype
to let tutors from around the world teach others anywhere in the world.
They also offer a fairly detailed way to keep accounts and set
schedules. You can set your tutoring for either sessions or questions
for each topic, then set a price. Because Skype lets you audio
conference for free, the TWL system also lets you set the maximum
number of people that can join in on a session. Each student will pay a
fee, but you can set different fees based on whether they live in the
same country as you or not.
There are loads more features,
including the ability to send progress reports to the student and/or
guardian, a free lesson board, and so on. But they have nothing to do
with VoIP or Skype, so I suggest you visit the Tutors Without Limits
site if you are tutor or a student looking for one. Warning: As of this
writing, they only support sending payment to USA, Pakistan, and India
only but plan to expand. I don't understand this setup, as Skype is
owned by the same company (eBay) as Paypal, so this makes no sense. And
why they don't make this clear up front, I don't understand.
I'd really like to see SightSpeed offering the same sort of add-on ability as Skype. The Jyve addon for Skype,
for example, lets you bill people prior to a call, or switch to a paid
call in mid-conversation. Addons for SightSpeed could improve its
cachet, especially with video calling.
This
Tutors Without Limits service means that I don't have to set up my own
system for my group of tutors (who were going to get 100% of their fee
in return for bringing in traffic). While there are some limitations,
this site is a great example of how (some) VoIP soft clients can be integrated
in a way that empowers people, allowing them to feasibly offer services
that would have been costly otherwise, not to mention difficult, in
some cases.
Written by ewriter on January 1st, 1970 with no comments.
Read more articles on Skype and Software and Business VoIP and video and conferencing.
Last weekend, Phone Boy asked whether Vonage was innovating or not, agreeing with Andy Abramson and not with Rich Tehrani. Sorry Rich, I agree. I'll be kind to Vonage and just say, so what? about their 811 and 511
services. It's not like you can't get that same info elsewhere. Do
something really cool. Though the fact that Vonage has rolled out
reliable e911 is cool, in my books. I can't admit I know how they've
done it (because I didn't bother to look into it), but it's a valuable
service in the VoIP domain or otherwise.
But the plain and
simple fact is that many people want their phone plain and simple. They
don't need or want all the extra features that VoIP affords. So a plug-and-play adapter
is sufficient for them. So 2 million (Vonage) users aren't necessarily
wrong. They are either satisifed or misinformed. Still, Vonage needs to
kickstart their services, maybe introduce quality Vonage-branded Wi-Fi
VoIP phones. Or a wireless communicator badge. Or whatever. But yeah,
Vonage needs some real innovation, and I think it'll come from
innovative hardware.
Written by ewriter on January 1st, 1970 with no comments.
Read more articles on Vonage and Residential VoIP.
-- By Pushpa Sathish, Staff Writer
The New York Times Company has placed its trust in technology from Nortel for its new office in Times Square. Nortel will be responsible for providing the newspaper publishing group with the entire gamut of telecommunications services and products such as VoIP telephony, IP phones, unified messaging, and a contact center. The new solution will enable audio conferencing and real-time collaboration between editors and writers. Contact Center, the call center software from Nortel, will allow The Times’ customer care personnel to handle complaints and queries from the main office, any of the branch offices, and from home, through the phone, email or Web applications. The new office is set for a grand opening next spring. VoIP for the Enterprise reports:
Specifically, The Times' deployment will include the Nortel CallPilot Unified Messaging, the Nortel Contact Center, the Nortel Communication Server 1000, Nortel's IP phones, the Nortel EthernetRouting Switch 8600, and Nortel's Power over Ethernet Switch 5520.
Written by pushpa27 on January 1st, 1970 with no comments.
Read more articles on Business VoIP.
– By Pushpa Sathish, Staff Writer
As part of its initiative to launch “Unplugged”, a combination of voice, broadband and mobile communications, in the city of Tauranga in New Zealand, TelstraClear is hooking up with RADCOM to boost the quality of its VoIP services. The subsidiary of the Australian telecom company Telstra will leverage the Omni-Q voice service quality monitoring system across five locations in New Zealand to monitor and troubleshoot its services. IP Communications reports:
RADCOM’s Omni-Q VoIP monitoring system allows service providers, ILECs and cable/MSOs to be able to detect irregularities in their VoIP service when it’s running over the network. This enables the network administrator to troubleshoot, therefore leading to a quicker and easier fault resolution.
Written by pushpa27 on January 1st, 1970 with no comments.
Read more articles on Software.
-- By Pushpa Sathish, Staff Writer
The international version of the PPPhone VoIP Software Development Kit (SDK) was launched by the International Systems Research Co. (ISR), a developer of next-gen mobile VoIP technology based in Tokyo. The toolkit is meant for application developers who are looking to merge IP telephony capabilities with Internet-ready products. PC and mobile Softphone clients, VoIP adapters, enterprise communication systems, voice-enabled remote monitoring systems, car navigation systems, and FMC and IMS solutions for service providers and hardware vendors – these are just a few of the applications that can be put together with the PPPhone SDK. These applications can be run on smartphones that use Windows Mobile 5, such as handsets from HTC, Symbol, i-mate and HP. IP Communications reports:
PPPhone SDK incorporates the most up-to-date IETF SIP standards to deliver feature-rich telephony applications that interoperate seamlessly with a wide range of SIP servers and platforms. Its flexible, modular architecture provides high extensibility and customization potential. Advanced features include WiFi access point roaming, dual WiFi/PHS telephony, multicast, presence, and various IP-PBX and IP-Centrex business functions.
Written by pushpa27 on January 1st, 1970 with no comments.
Read more articles on Hardware.
-- By Pushpa Sathish, Staff Writer
VoIP application software vendor Broadsoft and VoIP technology provider AudioCodes have announced a partnership dedicated to streamlining the deployment of hosted VoIP services in enterprises. According to the deal inked by the two companies, they will leverage the hardware and expertise of other customer premises equipment (CPE) and access equipment manufacturers to provide pre-integrated access solutions for hosted VoIP applications. The BroadWorks VoIP application platform and AudioCodes media gateway platforms will be jointly developed, marketed, sold, and supported by both firms. As a result, service providers are expected to face an easy task when they implement new services. VoIP Services reports:
AudioCodes provides the ability to connect the BroadSoft application to existing enterprisePBX and/or analog phones and faxes, offering a high level of voice quality gateways.
Written by pushpa27 on January 1st, 1970 with no comments.
Read more articles on Networks.
VoIP services have been blocked in the recent past in a number of countries in the Middle East. One of them, Jordan, recently reversed their decision and will unblock Skype in particular. The UAE (United Arab Emirates), however, have held to their ban.
Word is that this ban may
be lifted by the TRA (Telecommunications Regulatory Authority). The UAE
is blocking Skype and other VoIP services in some of the Emirates,
including Dubai and Oman. On the other hand, other reports indicate
that the TRA has claimed they are not ready to lift the ban just yet.
They may be working with Etislalat and Du to license VoIP, but other
services, including Skype, would probably remained blocked. That is,
mostly legacy/ incumbent telecom providers would be allowed.
Seems
to me like the status quo just found a way to remain the status quo -
at least in small countries where the powers that be can gain something
by blocking and selectively unblocking VoIP. The question is, are they
doing this to gain monetarily or so that all calls can be monitored
discreetly somewhere in a warehouse? Not to say that larger countries
don't do they very same thing, but they don't block VoIP for the entire
nation. The interesting thing, if I've understood correctly, is that a
very large percentage of the UAE populace is made of foreigners (to
them). So having affordable long distance rates to call friends and
family is of high importance.
In short, for most people, especially fans of VoIP and VoIM clients such as Skype, AIM, MSN Messenger or Yahoo Messenger, there's no hope for their unblocking in the near future in the UAE.
[sources: Gulf News, TradeArabia, 7Days, VoIP News AU]
Written by ewriter on January 1st, 1970 with no comments.
Read more articles on Skype and Services and Regulation and Privacy.
Palo Alto, California, is the home of the new Nokia Research Center.
Nokia has a three-agreement with Stanford University to jointly work on
research projects for "collaborative mobile computing and
applications". The four areas that their research will focus on are:
- Context-aware content and communities.
- Wireless grids.
- Advanced user interfaces and visual media.
- Innovation radio and sensor networks.
Nokia
recently bought an RFID company, and with research into wireless grids
and sensor networks, it's possible that they will work on crowdsensing applications.
In such apps, each mobile phone would have an RFID chip capable of
sensing some environmental condition, such as moisture or heat. Each
handset would be a node on a wide grid. If such apps are feasible they
could revolutionize local/ regional weather reporting, possibly even
traffic reporting.
The research center will initially employ 35
researchers, with plans to expand to 100 or more. Nokia recently
introduced a new wireless protocol called Wibree,
which is a low-power connectivity protocol designed for small objects
and possibly mobile phones. Whether Wibree will play a role in the Palo
Alto research center is unclear. They have also been planning VoIP on their line of mobile phones for quite some time.
[additional sources: Press.XTVWorld]
Written by ewriter on January 1st, 1970 with no comments.
Read more articles on Wireless and Networks and Solutions and Phones.
VoIP Telephony Service blog has a list of six ways to block Skype
using a variety of products and methods, plus a reference from another
blog about a seventh. Most of the methods detect and block P2P
(Peer-to-Peer) traffic, so it wouldn't be just Skype that's being blocked,
but also torrents and other related applications. It appears that part
of the fear regarding Skype is that customers are not sure what Skype
is doing because its streams are encrypted. (At least, that's what the VoIP Planet article that is quoted is saying. Tom Keating also has an article from last year with some more indepth info about blocking Skype.
This is sort of what I was trying to get at when when I said that Skype was ruffling feathers.
I love Skype just as much as the next Skype lover (and SightSpeed and a
few other apps as well). But their lack of an open standard, as well as
their relative popularity, is going to ruffle feathers. Phil Wolff gave
a good explanation of why there are feathers being ruffled.
Written by ewriter on January 1st, 1970 with no comments.
Read more articles on Skype and Security.
Belated Baby Blogger Birth Breakdown
VoIP blogger Luca Filigheddu late last week became the proud father of a bouncing baby boip, Simone. Congrats.
HSDPA: New High Speed Cellular Wireless Internet
Canadians
in the Toronto, Ontario, area will have access to HSDPA (High Speed
Downlink Packet Access) wireless Internet access service from Rogers
Wireless. The service, which is also being rolled out by other
providers in the US market, will potentially reach data transfer speeds
of 14.4 mbps (megabits per second), with a current rate of 1 mbps.
HSDPA is compatible with GSM which supposedly serves 80% of cell phone users worldwide, but not with CDMA. [via Globe and Mail]
Must-Read Articles: Why VoIP Needs Crypto
Back in April, Wired News ran an article by Bruce Schneier about Why VoIP needs crypto.
In the article, he outlines four basic ways that regular telephone
calls can be eavesdropped on, then explains why VoIP services need
cryptographic security: all sorts of extra potential for criminal eavesdropping on IP packets that isn’t possible with regular telephony.
Written by ewriter on January 1st, 1970 with no comments.
Read more articles on Security and Wireless and Networks.
There's talk lately about futuristic applications, called crowdsensing,
where cell phones with sensors are collectively used to predict weather
or even the need for extra transit vehicles, etc. But the fact is,
mobile handsets are already used in similar applications such as
detecting traffic gridlock. This is what IntelliOne and AirSage are
doing, starting in Atlanta, Georgia, with plans to expand to other
locations in the US and Canada, including some unspecified location in
the province of Ontario - which I assume must be Toronto.
Considering
that Atlanta and Toronto are reputed to be the two absolute worst
traffic hotspots in North America, that wouldn't be surprising. I've
lived, driven, and worked in both Atlanta and Toronto metro areas, and
that assessment is probably 100% accurate. I've literally been stuck in
traffic 2 hrs going in and 3 hrs going out on particularly bad days.
Transit isn't always any better, especially for those who live outside
of either metro area. Privacy issues about being track notwithstanding,
drivers in both metropolitan areas might be grateful for a solution
that lets them bypass problem areas, even if they have to pay a monthly
fee. Just don't tell your boss you were stuck in traffic if you weren't.
[sources: Globe and Mail]
Written by ewriter on January 1st, 1970 with no comments.
Read more articles on Networks and Phones and Privacy.
One thing that could certainly push VoIP to a much wider audience is
easier availability and visual presence. It's been noted on many VoIP
blogs and other websites that SMB (small and medium business) owners,
for example, are interested in VoIP for saving on telecommunication
costs but often do not know where to start.
So 8x8/ Packet8's recent move to sell its "Virtual Office" VoIP product at Office Depot stores in the United States (and probably Canada) is brilliant. I know little about Virtual Office other than what what this press release says, but it's aimed at SMBs and includes "complete" IP PBX functionality and various calling plans for Canada and the US. All you need is a broadband Internet connection. Functionality includes
...
auto attendants, conference bridges, extension-to-extension dialing,
business class voicemail and ring groups, in addition to a rich variety
of other business class PBX features.
If Virtual
Office is as easy to set up as suggested, and the product is properly
promoted (and if it works), this could be the beginning of a big shift
towards VoIP use for small businesses.
Since Office Depot has stores in other countries, it's quite likely
they'll be rolling this out outside of the US at some point. Expect
other VoIP providers to follow suit, if they haven't already, to
approch other large retailers.
Written by ewriter on January 1st, 1970 with no comments.
Read more articles on Business VoIP and Hardware.
One of VoIP's biggest drawbacks is the widespread lack of e-911 emergency calling because EMS departments won't know how to trace your call. Vonage is one company that has come up with a solution
to this. This is an applaudable effort. But what about the providers
that let you choose a number with an area code representing somewhere
other than where you live?
Skype, for example, allows you to
pick a number completely out of country. As they have written somewhere
on their website (I think), you could live in Chicago and yet have a UK
phone number. This allows your British friends and family to call you
at their local rates. A brilliant and desirable idea. But what happens
when you dial 911 from a VoIP soft phone? If you can even get through
(which you probably cannot, though I'm not willing to test it), your
number will probably display as the UK number you registered. Which
would no doubt cause great confusion.
It's something to consider
if you are thinking of switching to VoIP at home. If you have a family
with children, or ill or elderly family members, you may want to
seriously consider a VoIP solution that at least maintains your old
phone line. Or have a cell phone as a backup, since its location can be
determined via triangulation of signals. (Which may be a good reason to
have dual-mode Wi-Fi/ cellular VoIP phone.)
Written by ewriter on January 1st, 1970 with no comments.
Read more articles on Vonage and Skype and Networks and Residential VoIP.
Nick Wilson over at Performancing.com asks
about "the quickest, cheapest way to do high quality multiple stream
podcasts." Meaning, in this case, recording a VoIP conference call and
publishing it to a website as a podcast.
There are hosted services and even some that let you initiate a conference call from their website. For example, Gabcast offers free podcast creation and hosting,
but there are some limitations. There are toll-free numbers for the US,
but in other places, you might have to pay for a long-distance call.
But
in my opinion, the quickest, cheapest way to pull off a multi-person
podcast is, arguably, with Skype. For a free solution, a Skype
conference call will work fine provided a few factors are satisfied:
- Everyone is using Skype. I.e., not landlines or mobile phones in use.
- You shut down any unnecessary apps on each participating computer. (For best call quality.)
- You
all have a broadband connection and are not talking during a busy
period locally (late afternoon, mid evening, before midnight).
There are a few other tips for better VoIP call quality.
For recording the calls, there's HotRecorder (HotRecorder.com, US$14.95) which is even geared for podcasters. There's a search function
based on the text that you attach to each recording. HotRecorder, if
it's running on your PC (Windows XP, 2003, only for now), will
automatically start recording when a call comes in on Skype, or you
activate it. HotRecorder works on Skype conference calls as well.
For a completely free solution, use the Audacity (audacity.sourceforge.net)
audio editor (with support for Cubase VST plugins) to record the call.
Audacity has to be manually started, but it's easy to edit your audio
track afterwards - something HotRecorder does not feature. Audacity
runs on Windows, Mac OS X and GNU/Linux.
Also see VoIPcasting: recording VoIP and Podcasting.
Written by ewriter on January 1st, 1970 with no comments.
Read more articles on Skype and Software and Services and Solutions.
If you're using a VoIP soft client such as Skype or SightSpeed,
you probably already know that both have a video calling mode. Either
party on such a call can view and/or transmit video, assuming that both
have cameras. The video mode can also be one directional. So if you're
not up to showing yourself on call, you don't have to, but you can
still see the other party if they enable video from their end. As Peter
Csathy, CEO of SightSpeed, points out,
keeping video mode turned off can serve multiple purposes, including
allowing you to do other work while participating in a voice call. So
there are suitable times for non-video, so you don't have to worry
about things such as video calling etiquette.
Written by ewriter on January 1st, 1970 with no comments.
Read more articles on Skype and Software and Services.
FierceVoIP Declares Top 15 VoIP Companies 2006
FierceVoIP (love that name) website’s editor Dan Rosenbaum has declared his picks for the top 15 VoIP companies for 2006. The list is presented in alphabetical order and notably missing are Skype, SightSpeed, and Vonage
- though I’m not saying I’d necessarily put all of them in my own list.
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.
NTP Lawyers At It Again
Possibly buoyed by the hundreds of millions they grabbed from RIM, make of BlackBerry mobile devices, NTP is now after Palm, claiming patent violation for a mobile email product used by Palm Treos
using the PalmOS platform. Palm already suffered lower than expected
profits last quarter (Q3 2006) and obviously, this is the last thing
they need. [sources: The Wireless Report]
Verizon Business VoIP
Verizon Business
is targeting the international business market with their full offering
of VoIP related products and services, which includes a Managed IP PBX,
local languages, local ringtones and more. The current focus is on the
European market. [via Press XTWorld]
Written by ewriter on January 1st, 1970 with no comments.
Read more articles on Business and PDAs.
Pending FTC Ruling To Hamper Phone 2.0?
Moshe Yudkowsky discusses how a pending FTC (US Federal Trade Commision) ruling about pre-recorded outbound calls might actually kill many legitimate Phone 2.0 services.
One More IP-Related Weblog
The
prolific technoblogger Om Malik and veteran IP blogger Russell Shaw
have teamed up to launch another weblog dealing with many (but not all)
things IP-related: IP Networked. Good luck to both.
Skype 3.0 Debuts New Features
An
improved user interface, a Call Transfer API, click-to-call ability
from web pages, desktop sharing, and browsable, moderatable public
chats are just some of the features that Skype 3.0 Beta for Windows is offering those interested in downloading. Though if you rely on your Skype
regularly, be forewarned that some older add-ons may not function
properly. As interesting as the features sound, I'm going to wait until
it's out of Beta, then I'll try to remember to review it here.
Orkut Meets Google Talk
Orkut, the social networking site that you have to be invited into, now has Google Talk functionality integrated into it. This will save Orkut members from having to use a separate IM (Instant Messaging) client.
Written by ewriter on January 1st, 1970 with no comments.
Read more articles on Skype and Software and Regulation.
Gizmodo has pictures
of FIC's FIC-GTA001 Linux-based smartphone. It's probably one of the
most unusual cell phone shapes I've seen, looking like some sort of
large lozenge, and sporting a 2.8 inch VGA screen, 128Mb of RAM. Such
phones are obviously going to be of more interest to geeks like me and
those might want to play around with the operating system and come up
with some interesting Linux mobile applications. New Palm PDAs are reputed to soon have a Linux OS as well. Trolltech released a Linux platform, Qtopia, for VoIP phones late last year. In fact, the Greenphone, which came out in October, is based on the Qtopia.
Written by ewriter on January 1st, 1970 with no comments.
Read more articles on Phones.
Nerd Vittles always has great information regarding open source IP PBXes, in particular TrixBox and Asterisk.
Now Ward Mundy has put together a list of 100 projects relating to
both, some on the Nerd Vittles site, and some elsewhere. (The links are
not all projects; some are links to IP communications- related
websites.) Categories are:
- Installing a free TrixBox server
- Installing the free Asterisk@Home PBX
- Customizing Asterisk@Home
- Asterisk server hardware
- Additional Asterisk hardware and software
- VoIP provider reviews and configuration tips for Asterisk@Home
- Securing Asterisk
- Additional Asterisk applications
- Where to turn when you need some help
Probably everything a DIY (do-it-yourself) VoIPr can think of. Great
job, Ward. I wish I had the time to try some of these. They look like a
heck of a lot of fun.
Written by ewriter on January 1st, 1970 with no comments.
Read more articles on Software and Solutions.
Skype just released their 3.0 Beta for Windows. Wow. From 2.5 to 3.0 in
only a couple of months. What’s this one got that’s new? Supposedly
Skypecasts and Public Chats, which I thought were already part of
Skype. Click-to-call from websites through Skype browser extensions
(for IE and Firefox web browsers). Again, this functionality already
exists for Skype through other means. A more powerful user interface:
new tabbing arrangements, wall paper. Skype Extras, for playing games, sharing desktops,
and a whiteboard for notes during Skype calls. (Extras aren’t new, but
they have been integrated more tightly with the interface.) Enterprise
compatibility? This should be interesting.
But to clarify, the
Skypecasts are now browsable. Search for a Skypecast then join in. The
Public Chat host can moderate conversation and reject or ban users.
Public chats are promotable as links in email, web pages or Skype mood
messages.
What’d be really cool, though, is built-in recording, with aim to satisfy podcasters. That means searchable meta tags on recordings (a la HotRecorder). Plus the ability to post the podcast to a weblog on the all of the popular blog platforms. There is Skype Recorder v1.2, which is free and activates automatically, but it doesn’t have those extra features that would be great for podcasters.
Suggestion
to eBay/Skype: buy HotRecorder and hire a team to do weblog posting
integration work as well. At that point, I would actually pay for the
Skype soft client (provided I can use Paypal, your sister company, to
do so).
So, St. Niklas (Zennstrom), all I want for Xmas is a super Skype that does all of the above. Oh yeah. And the ability to mobile Skype from my PalmOS-based Palm Treo 650 running on CDMA EV-DO cellular wireless Internet access. I’m not asking much, am I?
Written by ewriter on January 1st, 1970 with no comments.
Read more articles on Skype and Software and Solutions.
-- By Pushpa Sathish, Staff Writer
An IP PBX developed using open standards hit the news earlier this week. Fonality announced the PBXtra, a new IP PBX for SMBs, created using a modified version of the Asterisk code. The system, which is in direct competition with similar offerings from Cisco, is being offered at the price of $1,995 for 500 users. The basic system supports web-based management and a 24-hour helpline, while the Professional version comes with unified voice mail, email, softphones and click-to-call capabilities. Fonality is also offering customers a VoIP application development platform, the trixbox 2.0, and an application that aids the management of contacts with built-in enterprise chat and presence awareness. (an Instant Messenger, in other words). Information Week reports:
Fonality's Lyman says the examples of his company, Digium, and Pingtel show that there's a support model out there that works for enterprises and raises examples like Apache Web servers to show where open source is being used today in other critical applications.
Written by pushpa27 on January 1st, 1970 with no comments.
Read more articles on Standards.
– By Pushpa Sathish, Staff Writer
A cordless landline and VoIP phone rolled into one – that’s the new CIT310 for you. From the stables of Linksys, the dual-mode phone is built leveraging a European standard that allows cordless phones to support both data and regular voice traffic, the DECT (Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications). The handset supports Yahoo Messenger with Voice and can be used to make free PC-to-PC calls and calls to regular phones at low rates. Yahoo Search results are displayed on the small screen. A base station allows the device to be plugged to a traditional telephone line or to the USB port on a computer. Priced at $99.99, the phone is available at Amazon.com. Other online retailers and regular stores will be able to offer the device from January 2007. PC World reports:
Leaving out Wi-Fi helped Linksys keep the price of the device down, according to Linksys spokeswoman Karen Sohl. DECT operates in a separate unlicensed band from Wi-Fi, around 1.8GHz and 1.9GHz. Built-in encryption and authentication secures DECT phone calls, she said. Wi-Fi can’t carry conventional phone calls.
Written by pushpa27 on January 1st, 1970 with no comments.
Read more articles on Hardware.
Cisco Partner Education Programs
Unified communications (i.e., convergence of voice, video and data over IP) is hot, and Cisco wants its partners to be prepared. So, they're offering a "Master Specializations" certification in this niche. [via Extreme VoIP]
Google Talk Adds Offline Messages
Google Talk
has a new feature to help deliver messages if one member of a chat
(text) conversation in progress disconnects: offline messages. When the
disconnected party signs back in, whenever that is, they will receive
the rest of your message. This will also work with other open clients. [via Google Talkabout]
Alcatel Gains Huge Communications Contract
The
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) has awarded Alcatel a
contract of US$300M over several years, starting next year. The
contract work includes "the upgrade of UPMC's wired and wireless data
infrastructure, enterprise telephony system, and contact platforms and
applications to a converged IP infrastructure." The UPMC awarded this
contract on several factors including Alcatel's previous installations.
[via Lightwave] Earlier this year, Alcatel was awarded a Euros 70M contract by Telekom Malaysia.
Written by ewriter on January 1st, 1970 with no comments.
Read more articles on Google and Business.
-- By Pushpa Sathish, Staff Writer
Spending money now to save money in the future – this seems to be China’s MO as it embarks on a VoIP hardware buying spree. Research organization In-Stat predicts that corporate users in the Asian country will spend $478.5 million on IP PBX hardware, a significant increase from the current $164.1 million. Another study from Juniper Research forecasts that the global sale of both business VoIP hardware and software will touch $5.5 billion next year, as companies scramble to cut communications costs. The IP PBX share in this figure is expected to be $1.6 billion, with China emerging as one of the biggest single markets.
As concerns over security and call quality give way to the reliability of emerging technologies, China is expected to become an important hub for the growth of corporate VoIP usage. A word of caution for vendors though, and it comes from Kevin Li, a China-based research analyst with In-Stat. He asks them to offer training services to channel partners as the existing data and voice network channels may not be suitable to host VoIP services.
Written by pushpa27 on January 1st, 1970 with no comments.
Read more articles on Business VoIP.
-- By Pushpa Sathish, Staff Writer
Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer used the Microsoft conference in Tokyo to announce that the software giant will step into the VoIP industry with an integrated offering that can be packed into desktops, servers, and the eagerly awaited Vista operating system. Email, voice, video and instant messaging features will be bundled into a single communications tool that is expected to be a part of Microsoft Outlook in Office 2007. IT World reports:
Suppliers such as VocalScape have already integrated Outlook contact information into their VoIP products. It seems likely that Microsoft is reacting to the growing VoIP trend by this last-minute addition of VoIP to Vista. As recently as August its Vista partner presentations said nothing about VoIP.
Written by pushpa27 on January 1st, 1970 with no comments.
Read more articles on Software.
-- By Pushpa Sathish, Staff Writer
Vonage Canada has extended the reach of its network and services to 14 new communities in the Ontario region straddling the Niagara and the north of Toronto. The company claims that more than 750,000 homes in Aurora, Campbellford, Fort Erie, Galt, King City, Maple, Milton, Newmarket, Niagara Falls, Oak Ridges, Peterborough, Port Colborne, Waterdown and Welland are set to benefit of this initiative. VoIP Services reports:
“We know many Canadians are annoyed with the current choices available for home phone service, said Vonage Canada's president Bill Rainey in a statement released this week. Vonage Canada provides consumers with a reliable and cost-effective alternative to high priced home phone service.”
Written by pushpa27 on January 1st, 1970 with no comments.
Read more articles on Vonage.
WiBro sounds like something Kramer from the Seinfeld TV comedy series
might have invented (though I'm thinking of ManBro), but it's the
Korean version of WiMax. It's bigger and faster than WiMax - so Texas might have invented it. But that's the problem:
WiBro chipsets are currently too big to fit in most Wi-Fi phones, and
they're power guzzlers. And, apparently WiBro base stations don't
handoff conversations when users move about. Then again, the forecast
for WiMax isn't that great either, as only a few select companies will
be allowed to offer it. So what hope is there for most of the world in
terms of fast Wi-Fi wireless coverage? No idea, to be honest. But fast
access is a necessary ingredient for widespread adoption of VoIP over Wi-Fi.
Written by ewriter on January 1st, 1970 with no comments.
Read more articles on Wireless.
Last month, during the East Indian festival of Diwali (which is similar to All Hallows Eve), Yahoo offered free calling to India from North America through their Yahoo Messenger VoIM soft client. Now, by permission of the Indian government, Yahoo is beating AOL to the punch in offeringIP
telephony services in India. This will be, of course, from within Yahoo
Messenger, which has an open add-on architecture and at least one 3rd
party plugin that allows users to type in Indic alphabets.
Could this be the signs of a potential future move to offer free calls to India - like Russell Shaw pondered
- something no other VoIP provider has done to date? There’s room to
monetize such calls from Yahoo Messenger with targeted ads.
Written by ewriter on January 1st, 1970 with no comments.
Read more articles on Software and Residential VoIP and Regulation.
You've heard of eBay's auction services and you've heard of Skype VoIP services. Skype of course is owned by eBay, and some of the auction categories on the latter's site have Skype click-to-call
functionality integrated into the pages. Click the call button, and you
can connect with the merchant in question. A great idea. But Luvoo.com
is pushing the model a step further and conducting auctions over VoIP. using voice and video functionality (via webcam).
While
this, too, sounds like a great idea, any type of digital conferencing,
audio or video, requires moderation. How exactly do you moderate a
vVoIP video-based auction? In a live auction, the auctioneer watches
for visual signals - rarely is a word spoken. I'd hate to be the
auctioneer on these online video auctions; how do you visually monitor
dozens of video streams and not miss someone? An interesting concept,
to be sure, but not one easy to implement, I suspect.
The really weird part about all this is that Luvoo.com is an online dating site - though the auctions are at Luvoo Auctions.
Written by ewriter on January 1st, 1970 with no comments.
Read more articles on Software and Business VoIP and video and conferencing.
Possibly in answer to all the Skype-certified phones coming out this year, includng one from Linksys, Yahoo has partnered up with Linksys for the dual-mode CIT310 VoIP phone. Which means that you can use the preloaded Yahoo Messenger application to make calls to other Yahoo members or to regular phone lines. A hundred free minutes are part of the deal.
Here's
the unusual part: it's a cordless phone, not a Wi-Fi dual mode phone,
courtesy of DECT (Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications)
technology, which is an European standard. However, DECT was approved
for the North American market, and this phone is only being marketed in
the US and Canada. The impact on pure play VoIP providers such as Vonage and SunRocket could be large.
I'm
just speculating, but since Yahoo is behind in the search engine race
with Google, maybe they've decided to put some effort behind their lead
in the VoIP/ VoIM soft phone race. There are already more Yahoo
Messenger users than Google Talk, and Messenger can actually call out
to phone lines. Google Talk needs the free Talqer
to do that, and Google hasn't show too many signs of a serious
commitment to VoIP/ VoIM, beyond their click-to-call compatibility
project with Skype.
[additional sources: Top Tech News, PC World]
Written by ewriter on January 1st, 1970 with no comments.
Read more articles on Software and Phones.
I don't get the freebie gadgets that some of the other VoIP bloggers
do, so if I want to test some phone or mobile device, I have to shell
out my own cash. Interested in the VoIP capabilities of the Sony Mylo,
I walked into my neighborhood Sony Style store late last week and asked
the two young male clerks if they were selling it. They looked at each
other, then one looked back at me with a bit a of sneer and said, "Sony
what? It's replacing the Clio, right?" Uh, pardon me, but you work
here, not me. (This is the second gadget store in the same mall with a
rude young male clerk. And business owners wonder why some customers
would rather buy online.) Diatribe over.
Then again, Luca says the Mylo's not for him. Andy likes
the audio and quality and the fact that it has Yahoo Messenger. It also
has Skype, which interests me. But he concludes that the novelty of the
Mylo wore off for him. (Though some Mylo reviewer did use the Skype file transfer over Wi-Fi because the USB cable was missing.)
So
maybe those two rude young idiots saved me some money. Fact is, I
stopped buying Sony products since my cassette Walkman in the 1980s.
The way I look at it, if I have to shell out a few bucks myself, I
think I'm going to wait to see if Apple comes up with an "iPhone".
There have been rumours about Apple's VoIP plans for a while, but it's questionable whether any new iPod this year will have VoIP.
Written by ewriter on January 1st, 1970 with no comments.
Read more articles on Skype and Software and Wireless and Phones.
Since eBay bought Skype not so long ago, the story goes that much of the old guard management has left. The International Herald Tribute (and others) wrote about this and Andy Abramson weighed in
on the goings on. His conclusion (hope I’m not misquoting) is that eBay
has enough smarts to make Skype profitable, but they need someone to
run the show, to be a proper disruptive force. That is, to continue
being the disruptive force that Skype was before the purchase and can
hopefully still be.
Well, I agree with that assessment, but the company I’m gunning for as the up and coming disruptive force is SightSpeed. Their video calling quality arguably tops Skype’s. Sure, they don’t have the addon architecture that Skype has recently moved up to with Skype 3.0 for Windows
Beta, but maybe that’s coming - assuming I haven’t somehow missed
something on SightSpeed’s website. Otherwise, if the ability to develop
addons for Sightspeed appears in the next few releases, I think that
they will become the primary disruptive force in the soft VoIP niche.
(I vaguely recall something that one of the support staff told me a few
months back about the existence of an SDK or API or some such, but I
think it’s only available on a selective basis.)
Written by ewriter on January 1st, 1970 with no comments.
Read more articles on Skype and Software.
BlackBerry As Crisis Management Tool
The BlackBerry
as a mass messaging tool is an application that Send Word Now and
Wallace Wireless have come up with. The software they've developed
jointly is to be used for crisis management, and the activity is called
"PIN blasting". Asterisk VoIP News has more details.
Wireless Energy Transfer
21Talks discusses
a new technique devised by researchers from MIT called wireless energy
transfer. What it means is that energy is transferred between two
objects that resonate with the same frequency. So phones could possibly
recharge themselves from a distance.
IPTV Investments To Increase
Surveys suggest that in 2007, spending will increase for the IPTV,
or Internet Protocol TV, market in the UK and the US. IPTV and it's
close cousin mobile TV are drumming up lots of support from vendors at
least, who seem to be jumping to offer such services. Even big VoIP
players like the founders of Skype have an offering, The Venice Project (TVP), in the works.
Written by ewriter on January 1st, 1970 with no comments.
Read more articles on Phones and video.
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