March 6th, 2006
You are currently browsing the articles from the VoIP Digest written on March 6th, 2006.
As I posted last week, more than a few Vonage customers are suspicious that Comcast is crimping the quality of their voice calls. Vonage denies the charge, but the subject is still a red-hot issue on the Vonage Forum. But now we have concrete proof of another strategy broadband cable is taking to discourage their [...]
Written by Russell Shaw on March 6th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Vonage and News and General and Regulatory and Providers and trends and Shaw Communications.
Something strange is going on at Bit Torrent, the San Francisco-based p2p company that changed the rules of the digital distribution. Apparently, Ross Cohen, the chief technology officer with the company has left the building. What I heard was that there was some nudging by brother and Bit Torrent founder, Bram Cohen.
I popped an email to the company’s director of communications, Lily Lin, and she replied. “Yes, Ross is not at BitTorrent anymore. The position was no longer a good fit.” Well, when you take $8.75 million in VC funding it means you get some careful monitoring … right. 
I wonder how thanksgiving dinner will be this year?
Written by Om Malik on March 6th, 2006 with no comments.
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If my memory serves me well, wasn't Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation Portable (PSP), the two most desired holiday gifts of the 2005 season?
Having moved up through the various Nintendo home and portable boxes (GameBoy, GameBoy Color, GameBoy SP, Nintendo, Nintendo 64) and shut out of the Xbox frenzy a few months ago, we opted for the PSP over the weekend.
At first blush, all I can say is wow! -- from the large, brilliant screen to the features -- music, photos, video, Internet and (of course) games, this is an incredible product that may cost a bit ($250 retail), but packs a wallop! The only thing missing from this gadget is a cell phone ...
We'll get more into this at a later date ...
www.http://www.us.playstation.com/psp.aspx
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Written by randy@strategypluscommunications.com on March 6th, 2006 with no comments.
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Rich Tehrani was quoted today in a New York Times article. Nicely done Rich!
"There's no limit to what they could charge for this high-speed lane and they could make the slow-speed lane as slow as they want," said Rich Tehrani, president of Technology Marketing Corporation, a media company that promotes Internet phone service. "There's no way to know today what the prices might be, but it could be anything, and that's the fear."
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Written by randy@strategypluscommunications.com on March 6th, 2006 with no comments.
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Foreboding article in today's New York Times about "The High-Speed Money Line" and where the Internet may be heading -- consumers paying to get online and then paying again.
Seems content providers (Yahoo, Amazon, eBay, etc.) may have to pay the Internet "utility companies" (cable and phone companies) to have their content delivered faster to consumers. Why should we care? Those costs will have to be covered by somebody -- and that somebody is always us. (Nice quote from our own Rich Tehrani on the consumer mindset.)
Read it and weep ...
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Written by randy@strategypluscommunications.com on March 6th, 2006 with no comments.
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Skype has been served with a subpoena by AMD as part of the chipmaker's ongoing antitrust lawsuit against Intel.
Written by VoIP Magazine Featured Stories on March 6th, 2006 with no comments.
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First we had Skype doing a deal with Intel to optimize Skype for Intel processors and now we have Counterpath, formerly XTen, doing a deal with Intel to optimize their softphone client for the Intel processors. I wonder if AMD will file an antitrust lawsuit against Counterpath like they have done as a result of the Skype/Intel relationship? AMD is basing their lawsuit on a feature in Skype 2.0 that enables the ability to make 10-person conference calls only with Intel dual-core processors.
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Written by randy@strategypluscommunications.com on March 6th, 2006 with no comments.
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It is true that making phone calls over the Internet is cheap. Most people who tried to take advantage of the cheap calling rates of Internet telephony have experienced problems. These quality issues included dropping of calls or speech delays. However, there are some steps that could be taken to improve the quality and consistency of Internet telephony. In the last one year, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) has become the buzzword in the communications industry. It has replaced the regular/traditional telephone service. There are several VoIP service providers who are trying to lead the VoIP revolution.
Even if a person does not have a broadband connection, he can still save a fortune by using VoIP service for long distance calls. A broadband connection will provide the user more consistent and reliable call quality. However, similar results can be obtained using a dial up account if some guidelines are followed. All VoIP service providers are different. All of them do not support dial-up users. Companies such as Vonage do not opt for dial up connections. The providers that do not support dial up usually support high-speed connections.
Closing the programs that are running in the background will ensure higher call quality. If the user is using windows, he can right click and close all open non-essential applications that are shown in the taskbar. If the user is using Windows XP and there are other users logged on, he needs to log off before trying to make a call. It is necessary for the user to be aware of what he is doing while making a call. If he overloads the limited data capability, the call quality may suffer. Other activities that will compete for bandwidth are Instant Messaging, email checking, web camera, surfing the Internet or downloading any software or files.
It is very essential to scan the system frequently for Viruses and Spyware. These programs can tie up the browser and Internet connection. It may also slow down the system and affect the call quality. It is preferable to scan the system every month to ensure that the anti-virus software remains updated. There are several companies who provide anti-viruses and spywares.
Written by Sagar on March 6th, 2006 with no comments.
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The merger of BellSouth and AT&T would create a near facsimile of the old Ma Bell, and it will have tremendous powers. And that may not be such good news for some start-ups, and equipment suppliers.
“It is ironic that market forces are putting back together what the Justice Department broke up with the Judge Greene consent decree (in 1984),” says Sanjay Subhedar, a telecom veteran and now a general partner with Palo Alto-based (and telecom focused) venture capital firm, Storm Ventures.
“This enhanced ability to drive a hard bargain would affect pretty much any company that AT&T-BellSouth does business with, particularly hardware and technology suppliers,” says Cynthia Brumfield of Emerging Media Dynamics. While the consolidation of customers means more buying power, it also means more spending and bigger budgets for new technology architectures. Industry experts believe that the suppliers of new-fangled metro-ethernet gear will come out ahead as a result of this merger.
To read my full story, visit CNN Money. Read all about the possible impact on how the industry will shakeout in months to come, and how Verizon is going to react.
Also, AT&T To Buy BellSouth
Written by Om Malik on March 6th, 2006 with no comments.
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Haven't seen this nugget of info anywhere else, but that hasn't stopped me before.Assuming the AT&T purchase of BellSouth goes thru within a year, the BellSouth name will disappear by early 2007.With that disappearance, the surname of the man widely (but not universally) believed to have invented the telephone in 1876 will forever disappear from [...]
Written by Russell Shaw on March 6th, 2006 with no comments.
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Much hubbub yesterday and of course this morning about the AT&T deal to buy BellSouth.
And while these deals are great for the deal brokers and company executives, they have mixed results when it comes to making the winning company any better (let's take HP and Compaq deal, for example).
At the bottom of the pile is the lowly customer, left to wonder if this is going to cost him or her more or less. Or how about making life easier? In fact, wasn't the original breakup of Ma Bell supposed to do both?
Anyway, let's see how this deal pans out, but can they at least get better coverage for their Cingular Wireless network? In my house, through extensive testing, Sprint and Verizon are in a dead heat for consistent, all-the time cell phone coverage. In third place (waaaay behind), is -- can you guess? -- Cingular, with coverage that is spotty at best.
Like I said, let's see what the future will bring ...
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Written by randy@strategypluscommunications.com on March 6th, 2006 with no comments.
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AGN Networks, today launched their OnDemand SIP trunking service that enables you to connect your communications system (PBX, IP-PBX) to the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) using SIP trunks instead of analog, PRI, or E1/T1 trunk lines. Hopefully, AGN Networks will fair better than Level 3's 3Tone SIP trunking service which was discontinued. Perhaps now the market is ready for SIP trunking?
"Businesses are increasingly adopting Internet protocol (IP) telephony, but to date the powerful new capabilities the technology enables have started and ended with their own private network," said Michael Hartley, AGN Networks spokesperson. "Most organizations still use a fixed land line to connect to a carrier network, just as they did decades ago. With OnDemandSIP, AGN Networks helps businesses break through that hurdle and get more out of their IP PBX by connecting to the PSTN over SIP Trunks instead."
A Web portal allows systems administrators to set up new toll-free and DID numbers in minutes, add new locations on the fly, route inbound numbers, and access call detail records and accounting information. AGN Networks claims businesses can realize a savings of 50 to 70 percent on inbound toll-free calls, international dialing and other voice services.
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Written by randy@strategypluscommunications.com on March 6th, 2006 with no comments.
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Holy moly! AOL is opening up their AIM client! Wow... It's about frickin' time is alll I have to say. While they are enabling developers to tie into their AIM client, it's unclear if this will enable interoperability with other third-party IM clients such as MSN Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, GAIM, etc. I think this is merely to enable developers to add IM support to their webpages to enable social networking capabilities. In any event, the release follows
AOL today announced the creation of a new Open AIM initiative designed to make it easier than ever to connect with anyone and everyone on the Web. For the first time in the company's history, AOL is inviting developers, online communities and sites and services of every kind to build new plugins and custom communications clients based on the popular AIM platform (http://www.aim.com).
The Open AIM® initiative empowers companies, communities and independent developers alike to build customized plugins, stand-alone communications clients and popular application 'mash-ups' that access AOL's global instant messaging network and reach more than 63 million active users across the AOL®, AIM®, ICQ® and Apple® iChat(TM) services.
The program gives developers unprecedented freedom to unleash their creativity with an AIM® Software Development Kit (SDK) that lets them build new tools that deliver real time text, voice and video communications without compromising the security of the AOL instant messaging network. The AIM SDK features support for AOL's proprietary protocols and is available today at http://developer.aim.com/.
"The Open AIM program will provide online businesses, Web sites and third-party developers everywhere with direct access to one of the largest and most active online communities in the world," said Kevin Conroy, Executive Vice President, AOL Media Networks. "We are extremely excited to see the creative new ideas that developers will bring to the table. Together, we will usher in a new era in real time communications services, offering consumers increased choice and making it easier than ever to connect and communicate online."
The premier custom communications client being built in part on the AIM SDK is a new professional version of the AIM service codenamed 'AIM® Pro'. As announced on Tuesday, February 21, 2006, 'AIM Pro' is being co-developed by AOL and WebEx Communications, Inc. through a far-reaching expansion of the companies' proven partnership. It will be the industry's first on-demand instant messaging service designed to meet today's advanced business collaboration needs and help people be more productive at work.
Expected in Q2 of this year, 'AIM Pro' will leverage both AOL's global instant messaging network and the global WebEx MediaTone Network. It will provide at-work users with a customized and secure version of the AIM service that features WebEx's advanced real-time collaboration, desktop sharing and voice and video conferencing capabilities. The companies will work together to bring the new on-demand service to market in two editions: a professional edition for individuals and small to mid-size businesses, and an enterprise (EIM) edition with centralized administrative controls for larger corporations.
Pricing and availability: Enrollment in the Open AIM program and use of the AIM SDK for the development of new plugins and clients is free. The Open AIM program enables companies, communities and developers to sell advertising and access, and to facilitate up to 250,000 log-ins per day or two million log-ins per month, without additional licensing requirements. Parties interested in using the AIM SDK for enterprise uses should contact AIMCommercial@aol.com.
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Written by tkeating@tmcnet.com on March 6th, 2006 with no comments.
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Sylantro's CEO talks about Microsoft's ability to deliver tier one customers, enabling developers, and why hosted systems will allow the carriers to stay competitive.
Written by VoIP Magazine Featured Stories on March 6th, 2006 with no comments.
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Today as expected, Cisco announced they have finally embraced SIP (Session Initiation Protocol). The platform for doing so will be Cisco Unified CallManager5.0, the call-processing component of the Cisco Unified Communications system.As the last major IP systems and equipment vendor to accept SIP, it does kind of seem that Cisco was dragged kicking and screaming [...]
Written by Russell Shaw on March 6th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on News and General and Software and trends and Products and Cisco and BlackBerry and SIP.
TidbitMedia has unveiled a new site which would give readers a new source for a wide variety of in depth news and info related to VoIP. The site is called TopVoipSource.com and would be updated daily with the newest and most interesting pieces of VoIP news and updates. The article would be put up with headlines and a concise statement about what the article is related to. It would offer convenience for those who want to learn further about VoIP or get information regarding services and industry information in an easy to read format.
via [NewsWireToday]
Written by gautam.chabbra on March 6th, 2006 with no comments.
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Hitachi Display Products Group has introduced a 89 cm vga tft display module called the TX09. It has a 240(w) by 320(h) resolution. TX09 provides 262,000 colors and is for telephone handset which includes VoIP, bespoke data loggers, measurement devices and multi function printers. The measurement is 64.0 mm wide by 86.0 mm high and 4.0 mm deep. The active matrix unit makes use of chip on glass technology and a white LED backlight. Its transmissive model is available with touch screen functionality. This model gives customers a 22% increase in brightness over previous models.
via [CIE]
Written by gautam.chabbra on March 6th, 2006 with no comments.
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Centillium Communications has introduced Palladia 400 family of chipsets which can deliver up to 50Mbps downstream and 5.5Mbps upstream. It permits service providers to deploy premium services such as VoIP, video on demand, virtual private networks and streaming media with lower overall costs and faster time to market.
Palladi 400-2P includes two voice channels and has been created for home gateway applications whereas Palladia 400- 4P with four channels has been optimized for high end enterprises. The company’s architecture combines an ADSL2/2+/2 modem, a 200MHz dedicated voice dsp, high performance 200MHz network processor, USB port and a PCI interface which supports all of the new wireless technologies.
via [CIE]
Written by gautam.chabbra on March 6th, 2006 with no comments.
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TRENDnet Clearsky, a Bluetooth enabled internet phone for Skype users would be hitting the markets in U.K. by April. The phone manufactured by Elite Devices would support Skype’s features and could be connected to a PC via an advanced Bluetooth dongle using a USB port. Users would be able to make free calls over the internet to anywhere worldwide within a radius of 100 meters of the PC. The phone also provides the facility of displaying the names of listed friends who are online at any particular moment of time. The phone is expected to cost around hundred pounds.
via [ABC]
Written by gautam.chabbra on March 6th, 2006 with no comments.
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Ed Whitacre is CEO of AT&T- which intends to buy BellSouth and hopes to charge high-bandwidth content providers like Vonage and Google carriage over their pipes.But that photo is one of dark fiber, of which Google has lots. If Google plays it right, those fiber strands could strand the broadband access monopolists. In this post, [...]
Written by Russell Shaw on March 6th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Vonage and General and trends and Google and BellSouth and WiMAX and WiFi and SBC-AT&T.
Venture dollars continue to flow into the Voice-over-IP start-ups. The latest company to raise big dollars is Blue Note Networks of Tewksbury, Massachussets. The VoIP software company snagged $15 million in series B funding from Commonwealth Capital and existing investors Fidelity Ventures and North Bridge Venture Partners.
Las week, TelTel, a Santa Clara-based start-up that hopes to become the SIP-based Skype-type service provider raised $8.8 million in Series A venture capital from no-name investors such as Purple Communications, Acorn Angels and Parawin Venture Capital. With over 1.5 million registered users and partnerships with service providers worldwide, TelTel claims it is the world’s largest SIP-based Internet telephony user community.
A few days ago I wrote about Tello, a company co-founded by Jeff Pulver, which had raised $5.5 million from the likes of Craig McCaw and former Apple CEO John Sculley. Michael Robertson, the founder of MP3.com recently snagged $6 million in funding from Dawntreader Ventures.
The murky regulatory scenario, and the ultra-crowded landscape makes investing in VoIP start-ups clearly risky. Sure Skype managed to get $4.1 billion from eBay, but that’s a one-off deal, much like Yahoo buying Broadcast.com. Barring the Skype-sale, the exits in the VoIP sector have been few and far between. For instance, the only VoIP IPO, CBeyond is trading below its offering price of $12 a share.
Many industry insiders believe that the Vonage IPO and its after-offering performance will determine the future of VoIP, at least from a financial perspective. A bad IPO could chill the new investments in the entire segment. Nevertheless, the immense potential of VoIP as a transformative technology, continues to lure the VC investors.
Written by Om Malik on March 6th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Vonage and VoIP (the New Phone) and Skype and Start-Ups.