July 26th, 2006
You are currently browsing the articles from the VoIP Digest written on July 26th, 2006.
Live from Mountain View – This morning I got an email invitation welcoming me to try out Google’s Mountain View WiFi network as one of the trusted testers. I’m not sure if it was a random invite or not, after writing a bit about Google’s Mountain View plans, but I felt like a lucky golden ticket winner with a trip to the chocolate factory–OK, so I have no life!
So I’m posting this from Rengstorff Park in Mountain View and the connection is pretty good: between 2 and 3 bars out of 4 on my Mac. Works well enough from here. I might drive around a bit and follow the nifty map that Google set up and update this post later. I won’t divulge how to get onto the network, but trust me it’s a no-brainer, even though right now trusted testers can’t see the SSID number.
The connection isn’t secure at the moment because I haven’t downloaded Google’s VPN client, like the email suggests I do so soon. The email says “Simply visit https://wifi.google.com/download.html to download Google Secure Access and use it with Google WiFi. Note that you will only be able to download the Google Secure Access VPN client when associated with the Google WiFi network–the download page will not work from any other Internet connection.” But that link doesn’t seem to be working for now.
The trusted tester email also addresses indoor coverage of the network: “The best way to pull Google WiFi indoors is to get a high power WiFi Modem. These modems work best when placed by a window facing the closest Google WiFi radio and typically have an Ethernet interface where you can connect a home wired/wireless router just as you would connect to a DSL or Cable Modem.”
“The best publicly-available WiFi Modem for our network we have seen so far is the PePLink Surf 200BG. This unit has one of the highest power levels, helping it stay connected to the network. There are several other (cheaper) modems which may work fine in your situation, though power is very important. There are a couple local vendors who have PePLink WiFi modems in stock and can help to answer your questions.”
Well, looks like the network is running well enough for now, but Google’s keeping the trusted tester population small to work out all the bugs. Mountain View residents, you’re almost there!
Written by Katie Fehrenbacher on July 26th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Google.
On this week's podcast, I interviewed Tom Flak, SVP of Marketing and Product Strategy with Soma Networks.
Soma is a hybrid U.S./Canadian company, with HQ in San Francisco, but development centers here in Toronto and Ottawa. I've visited their Toronto facility a couple of times, and Soma has a good story that's largely untold.
They're a leading light in the WiMax space, and Tom provided a good perspective about the state of WiMax and some comparisons/contrasts with WiFi. All indicators points to 2007 being the year when WiMax becomes real, and Soma looks to figure in this in a nice way.
You can download the podcast here as well as learn more about Tom and the company.
FYI - no podcast next week - family vacation! We'll be going our Great White North road trip, and I'll be totally offline until early August.
Technorati tags: podcasts, Jon Arnold, Soma Networks
Written by Jon Arnold's Blog on July 26th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Podcasts.
Not all that surprised to hear that moms are increasingly becoming gadget savvy.
(I like "gadget groovy" better.)
This according to a report from The NPD Group that tracked electronics sales for the week leading up to Mother's Day, which were up nearly 10% as compared to a year earlier, whcih was a larger increase than the one posted duing the week leading up to Father's Day.
(Will gadgets eventually replace diamonds?)
Check out the full story at www.rtoonline.com
TrackBack (0)
| Comments (0) | Tag with del.icio.us | VoIP & Gadget Blog | Permalink: Mom Goes Gadget Groovy
Tags:
father's day,
mother's day,
the npd group,
www.rtoonline.com
Copyright
VoIP & Gadgets Blog
Written by VoIP & Gadgets Blog on July 26th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Gadgets and mother's day and father's day and the npd group and www.rtoonline.com.
This is really cool!
Wild Planet's Water Talkies is an underwater talking toy that makes it possible to chat up your friends underwater.
Haven't tested the "unique design projects your voice clearly up to 15 feet" claim, but this is really cool.
Wild Planet has lots of other really cool water and pool toys and gadgets for those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer -- enjoy them while you can!
Price: $11.96
www.shopwildplanet.com
TrackBack (0)
| Comments (0) | Tag with del.icio.us | VoIP & Gadget Blog | Permalink: Water Talkies: Say What?
Tags:
water talkies,
wild planet
Copyright
VoIP & Gadgets Blog
Written by VoIP & Gadgets Blog on July 26th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Sports/Outdoor Technology and water talkies and wild planet.
Not satisfied with the Skype WiFi VoIP phones already announced by four
companies (SMC, Belkin, Netgear, Edge-Core), Skype is working with
other manufacturers to produce dual-mode phones for later this year.
Current
parnters for these GSM/ WiFi dual-mode phones include Nokia and
Motorola. Surprisingly, I didn't see this announced on Skype's website.
One of the issues still to be worked out is whether the dual-mode
phones will be released SIM-free, or whether they'll be able to work
out deals with cellular providers. I hope it's the latter, as this sort
of Skype experience would be more seamless than some of the current
efforts to run Skype on smart phones, including PDAs such as Palm.
While
GSM isn't going to be to everyone's liking, this is the kind of step
forward that is likely to catapult Skype to the top of the VoIP market share, regardless of service category, and help them earn their keep. (Remember that eBay purchased Skype for US$2.6 billion.) Hopefully they'll be following up with similar announcements for other types of cellular networks.
Sources: [via Silicon.com]
Written by ewriter on July 26th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Skype and Wireless and Phones.
Despite the beating that Vonage (NYSE: VG) has taken in the stock market, they are still #1 in terms of pure VoIP service popularity, according to a survey by Telephia.
The survey
(PDF, 3 pgs) shows that of all US households subscribing to "pure-play"
VoIP services, Vonage currently has nearly 54% of the market. They're
followed by Verizon VoiceWing and AT&T CallVantage, each with a
distant 5.5%. The remaining providers in the top nine each hold between
0.9-4% of the market share, with tenth place being an aggregate of
providers holding 20%. (Given that Vonage supposedly spends $20 million per month in advertising, it's only fitting that they're in first place.)
These
numbers only include services categorized as Internet telephony
providers, and thus excludes "digital phone" services offered by some
cable and telecom companies. Soft VoIP services such as Skype are also
excluded. Still, with Vonage so far ahead of at least a dozen
companies, there's enough motive to want to bring them down. (What me?
Sound like a conspiracy theorist?) I still maintain that Vonage needs
to ally themselves with some big player, to save themselves, at least
in terms of market valuation.
Telephia
conducts performance measurements of both the converging communications
and mobile industries. Their survey shows that of the reasons that
customers might switch VoIP providers, call quality ranked highest
(27.4%), followed by customer service (14.7%) and then plan price
(13.4%).
A survey earlier this year by Telephia showed that residential VoIP increased to 3.1% of households compared to June 2005. That number is now 4.1% for Q2 2006.
via PC World, VoIP News
Written by ewriter on July 26th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Vonage and Services and Residential.
This is a roundup of recent VoIP-related news from various sources.
Skype
has just released V1.5 for the Mac OS X platform. New features include
a new interface and ability to import addresses. Video support requires
a plugin, and call recording is still non-native. [via Pocket Lint, Tech Crunch] Unfortunately, great VoIP recording tools like HotRecorder only run on Windows, at present.
Not
sure if they'll be as hot as other cute monster novelties, but Verballs
double as a USB-enabled hands-free Skype phones. [via Engadget] Apparently they wave their arms and move their lips. Scary.
The previously announced WiFi Skype phone from SMC is now available for US$199. It'll work over any WiFi connection that does not require browser authentication. [via Market News] SMC is one of four companies that recently announced WiFi Skype phones. Others companies include Belkin, Netgear, and Edge-Core.
A report by Telephia says that pure-play VoIP subscriptions are up but network call quality still needs improvement.
Newsday reports that there are over 1100 providers in the US that offer Internet-based phone services, but other than that, Internet phone service could be the future. Which is what I said the other day - all the more reason for softVoIP network compatibility.
Written by ewriter on July 26th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Networks and Services and Hardware and Phones.
We just chatted with Meebo co-founder Seth Sternberg and he told us that he just closed a deal with Netvibes to create a Meebo module for fully integrated IM access within the Netvibes site. The Netvibes blog has some screen shot here and more info on the functions. Seth had no comment on the financials of the deal, but its a significant partnership for the IM startup. And the Meebo team figured out sometimes tricky cross-scripting so the Meebo module tab lights up when an IM is received. Cool!
Written by Katie Fehrenbacher on July 26th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Uncategorized.
Qualcomm’s (QCOM) cell phone tax has been clashing with carriers in developing markets recently. The San Diego giant has a patent portfolio that lets it take a percentage of every CDMA handset sold, including patents for 3G.
Over the past few weeks, three carriers with large CDMA networks — China Unicom in China, Reliance in India, and Vivo in Brazil — have been reported to be investing in GSM networks in part to avoid the Qualcomm toll system.
While the carriers and cell phone makers will all upgrade to 3G eventually, delivering Qualcomm their payoffs soon enough, in the short term, possible losses on CDMA in developing markets could be a real concern to the San Diego giant–those carriers are estimated to make up as much as 5% of Qualcomm’s sales for 2006!
Qualcomm’s senior director of corporate communications Jeremy James had a pretty strong statement on the situtation. He said that the companies that are making the most money off of GSM, like Nokia (NOK), and Ericsson (ERICY) are creating “fear, uncertainty, and doubt” over a “false notion” of how Qualcomm’s royalties effect the availability of low-cost handsets.
He also said that GSM network companies like Ericsson are making CDMA carriers in developing markets “very attractive” offers to build and run GSM networks as “a last ditch effort” to try to maintain their traditional GSM shares as long as possible before the 3G future.
There might be some truth to Qualcomm’s complaint, but with a grain of salt. Analysts like Aman Kapoor from Packetology say that Reliance is probably building a GSM network just to better negotiate with Qualcomm over current royalties for CDMA when it expands that network. Since Qualcomm doesn’t disclose its fees beyond a range, it’s hard to tell exactly how much the royalty fee affects the total cost of the handset.
Nokia’s VP of external affairs, Bill Plummer, responded to Qualcomm’s statement by saying “that is certainly one way to look at the evolution of the wireless market. Another way would be to acknowledge that this is a highly competitive market where operators recognize the inherent benefits associated with open, non-proprietary, globally scalable networks like GSM.”
The real truth is that as all the carriers move to 3G, Qualcomm can quadruple its addressable market in the long term. As 3G handsets start to become more popular, Qualcomm is already growing sales and profits — last week the company reported $1.95 billion in revenues, with $643 million in net income for the third quarter, up 44% and 15% respetively.
But when it comes to its relationships with competitors and vendors the company seems to have few friends out there. Jupiter analyst Sharon Armbrust points out some of the data behind the complaints by the Nokia camp. But with complaints in various countries about its aggressive practices, the company can’t afford to alienate the world’s fastest growing markets India, China and Brazil.
Written by Katie Fehrenbacher on July 26th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Unwired and India Telecom and qualcomm and nokia.
Connect One, announced the release of iChipSec CO711AG, a secure Internet protocol (IP) coprocessor chip that easily adds encrypted WiFi connectivity to price-sensitive machine-to-machine (M2M) applications. The iChipSec coprocessor encrypts and decrypts data and acts as a controller that enables a host processor to use 802.11b/g wireless networks for sending and receiving secure data via a wide range of Internet protocols.
CO711AG also supports switchable access to cellular, dial-up, 10/100BaseT Ethernet networks. Typically requiring only one man-month of development time, CO711AG speeds the introduction of secure communication for privacy-sensitive non-PC products such as point-of-sale (POS) terminals and medical devices.
iChipSec is a new branch within the iChip family of IP coprocessors. It is a drop-in system-on-a-chip (SoC) that frees up processing time on the host processor by offloading cryptography, network security and TCP/IP tasks. CO711AG uses the SSL3/TLS1 protocol to support one secure client socket session or one secure FTP session. It supports digital signatures using RSA public and private keys and hash algorithms to sign and verify data. Cipher suites used for encryption include 3DES, AES-128, AES-256, ARC4, MD5 and SHA-1. For WiFi applications, CO711AG also supports WEP and WPA encryption.
The CO711AG offers unprecedented ease of adding security to an embedded design. Only one command is needed to open the SS3/TLS1 socket and an additional command opens a secure FTP session. Just four commands are needed to set the parameters used to define the cipher suite, the certificate authority, the iChipSec certificate, and the iChipSec private key. iChipSec uses X.509 client and server certificate authentication to perform both client and server authentication and to manage a chain of server certificates. It stores and manages up to four certificate authority certificates, plus the private key for client certificate authentication.
“iChipSec enables us to secure the real-time transmission of pulse rate, electrocardiogram and blood oxygen saturation level over the Internet from the embedded wireless modem in our MDKeeper™ wrist-based vital sign monitor,” notes Avner Amir, general manager of Tadiran LifeCare. “People’s health, safety, and quality of life are paramount to us as a medical device manufacturer. Connect One’s iChipSec is a drop-in solution that is field-proven, updateable and meets our need to combine secure wireless communications with biomedical sensors.”
“We are proud that Tadiran LifeCare selected iChipSec for their MDKeeper medical device,” says Alan Singer, Connect One vice president of sales and marketing. “Security of medical information is as vital as security of financial data. With iChipSec, customers such as Tadiran LifeCare can meet security and time-to-market goals on-time and on-budget.”
The CO711AG TCP/IP, security and crypto offload engine provides the manufacturer many benefits. It eliminates the need to use a more powerful processor for encryption, since iChipSec works with any host processor. Because it works with any or no host RTOS, iChipSec eliminates the complicated, time-consuming task of porting and shrinking the WiFi drivers and WPA supplicant from large Windows CE or Linux libraries to an embedded RTOS. It eliminates the need for additional memory to store the WiFi drivers and WPA supplicant in the application memory.
The logical interface between the host device processor and iChipSec is Connect One’s AT+i™ Protocol, a high-level API that enables fast and easy implementation and maintenance of the security and Internet protocols. AT+i requires no Internet programming expertise on the part of the designer and minimum modification of the host application. AT+i’s SerialNET™ plug-and-play operating mode does not require any change to the host application and enables CO711AG to act as a serial-to-WiFi bridge.
CO711AG supports up to 10 simultaneous TCP and UDP sockets for multi-tasking Internet sessions and two TCP listening sockets for acting as servers. It also includes upper layer Internet protocols like SMTP, POP3, MIME, and HTTP, FTP and Telnet clients, and a Web server. It includes two Web sites, one for configuring iChipSec and one for use by the application, that can serve up to three browsers simultaneously. iChipSec firmware is remotely updateable via sockets, FTP, or a Web browser, ensuring that devices deployed in the field will be able to keep up-to-date with new protocol standards.
The chip includes 1MB of remotely updateable flash memory for storing the Internet and security protocols, device configuration parameters, and the application Website. It also includes large SRAM buffers to help streamline data packet transmission between the host device and the Internet. The core and I/Os operate at 3.3 volts and at speeds up to 66 MHz. CO711AG is packaged in an RoHS-compliant 121-ball uBGA form factor.
Pricing and Availability
iChipSec CO711AG is available now for $13.75 for over 50,000 units. The II-EVB-330 evaluation board for secure LAN, cellular or dial-up access costs $450.00. The II-EVB-331 evaluation board for secure WiFi access costs $725.00. WPA2 encryption will be available during Q3. Support for secure SMTP (SMTPS) and HTTP (HTTPS) will be available during Q4. For more information about iChipSec CO711AG, please visit www.connectone.com.
Source: Connect One
Written by Dal on July 26th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on WiFi / Wireless.
TeleWare, the leading provider of both hosted and on-premise intelligent communication solutions for businesses and Service Providers, today announced the launch of TeleWare intelligent Presence Manager (iPM), a presence and availability solution for the corporate environment that enables presence information without PBX type, network protocol or handset model dependency.
“Presence awareness is rapidly becoming a much sought after feature. The level of interest is likely to increase further as the PBX hardware vendors and desktop vendors develop solutions with much tighter integration between voice and instant messaging” comments Lesley Hansen, TeleWare Group Marketing Director. “As a solely telephony software and service provider, we have no vested interest in promoting any particular hardware platform or technology path, so the development of our intelligent Presence Manager is hardware agnostic in terms of connected PBXs and their networks and, of course, the handsets,” added Hansen.
Two features of the TeleWare iPM application make it unique. Firstly, iPM is a software only solution allowing a hardware independent deployment. The second is the ability to represent IP and traditional PBX hardware based extensions as virtual extensions through the TeleWare personal numbering solution. These virtual extensions provided by intelligent
Number are enabled for presence information by iPM, bringing presence management to traditional DPNSS and Q-Sig based networks as well as the newer SIP IP Phones. This solution enhances the use of presence within the many mixed PBX networks and accommodates the many mixed vendor corporate telephony networks that exist in the market today and will continue to do so while companies protect their investment in existing hardware.
iPM provides a visual indication of the on-/off-call status and registered availability of each listed contact. As part of TeleWare’s commitment to open standards and increased customer choice, iPM with intelligent eXchange (the next generation TeleWare IP-PBX application) can be connected to and is compatible with PBX hardware and SIP compliant handsets from every major vendor.
TeleWare supports the strategy purported by companies such as IBM (Lotus Notes) and Microsoft to integrate telephony presence alongside instant messaging and the user desktop. Integration with both Microsoft’s LCS and IBM’s Sametime is included in the iPM roadmap for 2006 delivery, once beta trials have been completed.
Presence management for intelligent Number and intelligent Assistant users is immediately available, and is available for IP Centrex users on the TeleWare Hosted Service platforms.
Written by Dal on July 26th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on VoIP Software.
IR Data Corporation today announced the SWAP900, a Solar Wireless Access Point. The solar powered system makes it possible to deploy large wireless networks with total independence from external power sources and data cables. Typical uses include Internet connections for construction, agri-business, private networks, sporting events, security monitoring, emergency networks, and wireless local data storage.
The system features a 2.4GHz, 802.11/g access point and a 913MHz radio mesh network, providing data connectivity between access points. Additionally, the integrated storage capacity of each unit can be utilized to remotely and securely store local data files. The low latency, broadband mesh network provides an ideal solution for demanding data intensive real-time applications. The encryption protocols and web-based authentication ensures that only authorized users are permitted to access the network.
ABOUT THE SWAP900
SWAP900 is a solar powered 802.11g access point providing secure Internet access and interoperability with WiFi enabled computers. The 913MHz broadband radio provides the long range mesh network connectivity, while the 2.4GHz radio provides the local network access for WiFi enabled computer users. The mesh network utilizes a Radio Optimized Routing Protocol (RORP) to interconnect each unit. The SWAP900 system controller automatically configures the system, before securely joining an existing network of other units.
The rugged aluminum weatherproof enclosure, solar module and batteries are capable of operation twenty four hours a day. The unit mounts easily on poles, towers, or rooftops that face the sun. Where there are trees and dense foliage the 913MHz signals will provide much longer range connections compared to WiFi based systems. Additionally, this long range capability reduces the total number of units required per installation and therefore the total deployment costs.
SWAP900 typical applications:
-- Internet WiFi Hot Spots
-- Construction and Agriculture broadband wireless networks
-- Remote private local data storage
-- Sports and Recreational events
-- Emergency and disaster deployments
-- RV Park and Boat Marina WiFi Internet service
-- Private research and telemetry networks
Source: IR Data
Written by Dal on July 26th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on WiFi / Wireless.
Wow. If you live in the vicinity of Mountain View then Google's got you not so much covered as
smothered with WiFi.
The page also notes that "The map also shows the areas of the city where we are not yet able to provide coverage ... If you live in an area without coverage and you are interested in the possibility of hosting a Google WiFi node on your property, please email us at mvwifi-support@google.com."
Google's also being very generous in actually advising users how to get Internet access for their homes using the Google WiFi and plan to provide a VPN client in the near future (see the Google WiFi FAQ).
So, when will this initiative expand beyond Mountain View? According to the FAQ "Google is working to provide a wireless network for the city of San Francisco. Currently, there is no set date regarding when this service will be available to residents of San Francisco, nor are there current plans to provide a wireless network to any other cities. Please refer back to this FAQ for future updates."
Could I suggest Ventura, California, as an early target? I'll host a Wifi node ...
Source: NetworkWorld
Written by Dal on July 26th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on WiFi / Wireless.
Advanced LAN Solutions, an Orange County IT service company for over 13 years has merged with Tech Data Pros to form Orange County's premier IT and Telephony service provider. Tech Data Pros will now be offering a wider selection of services from standardized server and workstation support plans to the virtual office system developed by Advanced LAN solutions.
Tech Data Pros has also made a name for itself lately with the Tech Data Pros IP PBX system that offers a phone system with Fortune 500 type features at a small business price. With clients ranging from 2 stations to over 100, the TDP IP PBX system is well suited for any business, and as companies like eHobbies.com and Genius Products can attest to, the system really delivers on its features.
Tech Data Pros has aquired a new office to handle this growth in Tustin, Ca in order to be centrally located within the Orange County area.
"I am very excited about this merger," said James Luna, founder of Advanced LAN Solution, "Our two companies brought a lot to Orange County and with us working together as one team, our customers will receive the best possible service available."
Tech Data Pros can be reached at (949) 502-7819.
Written by Dal on July 26th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on PBX / iPBX.
Strix Systems has announced that Kenya Data Networks (KDN) has selected Strix's Access/One Network Outdoor Wireless Systems (OWS) and Indoor Wireless Systems (IWS) to create its Wi-Fi service.
KDN, which is East Africa's largest public data network operator, employs Strix's solution for KDN's Butterfly service, which provides broadband wireless connectivity to the Internet and local network. Initially available in the cities of Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, and Eldoret -- which have a combined population of over 4 million -- Butterfly will ultimately provide seamless connectivity throughout Kenya.
KDN deployed the Strix solution to meet the needs of many of its clients for an affordable, easily accessible Internet solution. The company also wanted to create a platform that would enable it to offer localized content, without necessarily paying for high-cost international capacity.
The operator chose Strix's multi-radio, multi-channel, multi-RF solution based on its architecture, Strix's ability to provide professional services and support, and the company's roadmap for future product developments, including WiMAX. Strix has announced its WiMAX strategy, and its planned WiMAX module, which will be a simple plug-in upgrade to existing nodes, will enable KDN to provide additional WiMAX backhaul and high-speed services.
In addition, the multi-radio design offers seamless high-performance broadband coverage in the areas where the Strix nodes are deployed, allowing users to move around without losing connectivity. KDN found that Strix's architecture provides coverage far superior to all other solutions it evaluated.
Written by Dal on July 26th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on WiFi / Wireless.
Our India correspondent Shai Neelakantan sent over this look at Qualcomm’s moves in India. More about Qualcomm later this afternoon!
Qualcomm has denied reports that it is negotiating with Indian CDMA players, including Reliance Communications, on lowering royalty charges or chipset costs, The Hindu reports quoting the Press Trust of India news agency. “Qualcomm is committed to help the industry drive handset prices down and it involves multiple players and has nothing to do with negotiations on royalties with operators as they do not pay it,” the company is quoted as saying. The company said royalties on devices sold in India as well prices of the devices in the country are the lowest in the world. “Qualcomm is working aggressively to enable even lower-cost devices,” the company said.
Last month Qualcomm Chief Executive Paul Jacobs’s talks with Reliance Communications officials in India broke down on the former’s refusal to negotiate on the royalties issue. After that meeting Reliance Communications said it might migrate to GSM technology.
CDMA subscribers’ share in the Indian market will fall to seven per cent by 2010 while GSM subscribers’ share will grow from the current 75 per cent to 93 per cent, according to consultant Credit Suisse. Nokia, the world’s largest handset maker, has already shelved its CDMA handset manufacturing plants.
Written by Katie Fehrenbacher on July 26th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Uncategorized and qualcomm.
MTC Group, the Middle Eastern telecom company, is an interesting operator to watch — the company recently launched several SMS-donation campaigns for the people of Lebanon. The PR strategy/philanthropy is a typical move of CEO Saad Al-Barrak, a passionate telecom wild-catter running networks in the Middle East, and Africa, and even Iraq. A few months ago I got a chance to talk to Dr. Al-Barrak on the phone about his plan to be the biggest operator in the Middle East and beyond. At the time he was getting ready for a trip to Chicago to meet with infrastructure partner Motorola.
The company took a big risk on building an Iraq network and spent $430 million on the effort, including $20 million alone on security. Those funds are to help combat things like daily bombings, kidnappings and the horrors of running telecom services in warzones. In Iraq, Motorola’s contract with MTC is estimated to be worth $170 million, and MTC is already seeing suprisingly high growth and earnings from Iraq. For the first half of 2006 the company reported it already has 2.09 million subscribers in Iraq, up 263% from the year before.
Given U.S. bombs wiped out much of Iraq’s landline infrastructure, cell phones are the best means of communications. There’s been a lot of problems with transparency and telecom contracts in the country, and there’ll be even more problems as the country tries to issue new cellular licenses. But companies like MTC, that already have a toe-hold in, could make even more money if/when the country stabilizes.
Written by Katie Fehrenbacher on July 26th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Uncategorized and Cellular.
According to an
Infonetics report due out later today, "VoIP service revenue doubled in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific in 2005 and is expected to continue booming at least over the next 5 years." This is an amazing growth rate for any industry. A combined $120 billion will be spent on VoIP services between 2005 and 2009 in the 3 regions.
"Businesses around the world are migrating to IP for increased functionality, greater flexibility, improved productivity, and the potential of growing revenue through better customer service," said Stéphane Téral, principal analyst at Infonetics Research.
"VoIP services continue to pick up fast in North America and in many parts of Europe, particularly in central and Eastern Europe, where small businesses have a strong appetite for business trunking, IP Centrex, and VoIP VPN services," Téral continued. "In Asia Pacific, VoIP service revenue about doubled that of North America and Europe in 2004, and continues at a blazing pace. China will likely emerge as a major VoIP business market in the coming years because the Chinese government is encouraging carriers to accelerate the migration to IP Centrex and IP PBX from their existing TDM Centrex."
Report Highlights
- Between 2005 and 2009, VoIP service revenue will grow from:
o $2.6 billion to $13.3 billion in North America
o $2.3 billion to $12.7 billion in Europe
o $4.2 billion to $12.9 billion in Asia Pacific
- Percent of VoIP service revenue coming from residential vs. business customers:
o 51% in North America
o 72% in Europe
o 83% in Asia Pacific
- The number of worldwide VoIP subscribers is expected to almost double 2005 to 2006, when it will top 47 million
-
Vonage leads in North American residential/SOHO VoIP subscriber market share, but is down from 34% in 2004 to 27% in 2005, resulting from fierce competition from cable MSOs, traditional telcos, and low-cost new entrants
- Cable companies continue pushing to increase VoIP subscriber share: Cablevision and Time Warner Cable each have double-digit share and combined have 39% of all North American residential VoIP subscribers
- AT&T, Comcast, and Cox are the only other providers with North American VoIP subscriber share greater than 3%
Infonetics' VoIP Services report presents market size and forecasts for hosted VoIP and managed IP PBX VoIP services, including a hosted VoIP split for residential/SOHO, business, and wholesale in Asia Pacific, Europe, and North America split by US vs. Canada. The report includes a residential/SOHO VoIP subscriber forecast for all 3 regions.
TrackBack (0)
| Comments (0) | Tag with del.icio.us | VoIP & Gadget Blog | Permalink: VoIP Revenue Doubled in 2005
Tags:
infonetics,
report,
revenue,
voip
Copyright
VoIP & Gadgets Blog
Written by VoIP & Gadgets Blog on July 26th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on VoIP and infonetics and report and revenue.
Communication is taking new routes and changing directions every now and then. For that a constant built-in-support has become inevitably desirable for up gradation in quality IP-related solutions. Voice Peering Forum – MERA Systems is a forefront supplier of VoIP softswitches and session controllers has joined the efforts with Stealth Communications’ Voice Peering Fabric (VPF) to deliver an effective routing solution with integrated ENUM lookup capabilities. MERA Systems's New Softswitch will support Voice Peering Fabric's ENUM registry lookup. The next generation of MERA VoIP Transit Softswitch with built-in support to Stealth's Voice Peering Fabric ENUM will thus enable end-to-end IP calls.
VPF functions as an exchange or meet-point and is designed as a private voice Internet, allowing its members to establish peer-to-peer connections and exchange VoIP traffic and telephony related services in a secure, quality-of-service environment. VPF ENUM Registry will make it possible for participating carriers to route VoIP calls end-to-end through IP networks, thus avoiding PSTN charges.
MERA Systems with its next generation transit IP operations is looking forward to support sophisticated routing capabilities. This will include various options for a carrier to send requests to ENUM registries, to analyze the responses and use information so received. This according to MERA System will be possible with advanced traffic handling capabilities and support of ENUM to turn the network into a highly sensitive profit-generating instrument. Stealth has even shared valuable ideas with MERA for providing the test medium to prove full compatibility of its services. Hope that turns beneficial for Stealth and many others in the same square…
Written by Peter Poffenberger on July 26th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Networks.
The marriage of the web and voice is slowly but surely happening. As two worlds come together you have voice showing up in all sorts of places. Andy Abramson has the scoop on a pending deal between Six Apart’s Live Journal and The Gizmo Project.
Live Journal which recently launched a Jabber-based IM network, is going to soon talk to Gizmo users. It was briefly mentioned in the comments on the previous Live Journal post. Andy adds that there will be voice talking between two networks as well.
Meanwhile boys from 37Signals have launched pointed out voice notes for Backpack. You get a phone number, where you can dial in (from one of the three numbers you can sign-up with: cell number, home phone and work phone) and leave voice notes. There is some kind of VoIP magic at the back it seems. (Jason, dude shoot me the details? Are you using Asterisk at the backend?)
Elsewhere, everyone is talking about SightSpeed. Okay, I did that, so no point repeating myself.
Update: 37Signal’s Jason Fried says voice notes for Backpack was actually built by a Backpack customer. Nice work!
Written by Om Malik on July 26th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Uncategorized and Gizmo Project and VoIP Apps.
Last week Digital Chocolate was reported to have raised a new round of funding. When I talked to CEO Trip Hawkins last week he said that the reports were slightly inaccurate and that the company would announce the news this week. So today the company said it has raised $22.5 million (not the previously reported $18.3 million) led by Bridgescale Partners, bringing the company’s total funding raised to $43.8 million.
“D-Choc,” as Digital Chocolate employees call the company, is ranked #9 in the top ten mobile game publishers according to M:Metrics, with 2.3% of the share of mobile game downloads. Electronic Art’s mobile arm is far and away the leader with 28.8% of downloads. Digital Chocolates other new investors include Outlook Ventures, Montagu Newhall, DN Capital, Glynn Capital Management and CHI Capital, and previous investors include Sequoia Capital, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Sutter Hill Ventures and Chengwei Ventures.
Written by Katie Fehrenbacher on July 26th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Start-Ups.
Company meets downward adjusted forecast; faces order delays from wireless providers.
Written by VoIP Magazine Featured Stories on July 26th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Uncategorized.
Limelight, the CDN darling for hot content startups, announced a monster round of $130 million in funding from Goldman Sachs Capital Partners, which we heard was in the works earlier this month. Limelight said it will spend the money on building out it’s infrastructure. The Tempe, Arizona-based company has been hit by a patent infringement lawsuit from old rival Akamai.
Limelight has been on a tear recently, signing up key customers like YouTube, much to the dismay of Akamai, and reported second quarter revenues of $14 million, up 40% from the first quarter of 2006, and over 200% from the second quarter in 2005.
Limelight’s massive fundraising doesn’t come as a suprise, and as Limelight grows rapidly, it needs significant cash to continue moving at that pace. With investors and venture firms debating over the business models for startups running video content over the web, both Akamai and Limelight have been the infrastructure companies that are already seeing the benefits.
Written by Katie Fehrenbacher on July 26th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Start-Ups and Venture News and Limelight.
Garageband.com, a San Francisco-based music community, holdover from Internet 1.0, has raised $2.5 million from Vinod Khosla’s Khosla Ventures and Bob “Daily Candy” Pitman, co-founder of MTV and former head of AOL. Other investors include Herbert Allen III of Allen & Company. Khosla and Bob Pittman will join the company’s Advisory Board alongside Talking Head Jerry Harrison, legendary producer Sir George Martin, and David Goldberg, head of Yahoo! Music.
The company is preparing to launch “iLike,” a new social music discovery service. The new iLike service will expand the company’s existing services by including mainstream artists, incorporating links among friends, and offering tools targeted at the iPod and MySpace generation. These new services, to be offered at iLike , will include a companion app for iTunes that allows consumers to organize their digital music libraries and discover new artists based on their listening habits. iLike will help consumers discover music based on what they and their friends like.
Written by Om Malik on July 26th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Digital Music and Start-Ups and Venture News.
The rise in demand for various converged technologies has long been visible. According to a recent survey undertaken by Interop it became clear that implementation of VoIP, video and unified communications has seen an escalation. Going by the results of the Interop 2006 pre-show survey, the indication are pointing towards a significant rise in the percentage of IT professionals implementing or have plans to implement VoIP, video and unified communications, along with wireless networks. This directly impacts the market of converged technologies for the better.
The buying pattern identified goes like this: wireless technologies with 65%, followed by security (63%) and management (55%). For those who have already integrated or are planning for VoIP together with an 802.11 wireless network shows a 47%, whereas 67% are going for VoIP implementation only. The research further revealed that 79% of enterprises are using video for conferencing purposes or meetings, and 58% are either using or plan to use unified communications.
Another survey will be conduct as a follow-up to figure out the direction of the technology wave. The reasons for movement towards converged network have been identified as - improved access to people and information. The survey also confirmed that Interop attendees are leading the charge in implementing the next generation of IP communications to help them achieve business success. With network convergence now taking center stage as the key enabler of the latest technology innovations, Interop will continue to show how all of the pieces fit together to help IT organizations overcome their business challenges. But speculation lingers on with surveys only taking account of a section of people and thereby results cannot be concluded as trends outright.
Written by Peter Poffenberger on July 26th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Security and Wireless and Networks.
The way to progress for IP networks is to increase the area of coverage and thereby adding on to customer base. M5 Networks in this regard is showing its activeness. The Northeast's leading outsourced IP phone system provider recently made it public that M5 Network service to geographic markets outside New York metropolitan area will be available . The increase in the coverage are would now allow companies headquartered in New York area to connect their multiple satellite offices across the country.
M5 thus extends outsourced IP phone system offering to New York metropolitan area businesses with locations throughout the United States and that is a big benefit for the New Yorkers.
Prince Minerals and TOTAL Lubricants USA are the two companies that implemented M5's solution in its main administrative offices among others, which marked M5's successful entrance into serving SMB clients in markets across the United States.
Now companies that are geographically diverse and conducting operations in various locations, M5’s phone system will have a considerable impact on these organizations. From running entire customer service center out of a single office, to the phone system becoming the primary mean for support. It also helps in real-time interaction with clients, providing a secure, dependable and identifiable solution.
Also, companies like the centralized nature of M5's Outsourced IP Phone System that allows support to the end-users virtually anywhere in the country. Only concern lies in how long this can be sustained as the burden on the existing IP network increases with time.
For the time being M5 is initiating no wastage of internal resources in managing complicated phone system equipment in offices by providing expertise and serving hundreds of businesses with its outsourced solution.
Written by Peter Poffenberger on July 26th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Networks.
MIPS Technologies joined the SPIRIT Consortium, which is a global organization focused on establishing multi-faceted IP/tool integration standards that drive sustainable growth in electronic design. MIPS is a leading provider of industry-standard processor architectures and cores for digital consumer and business applications. It joined the SPIRIT Consortium for its proven and accepted IP specifications required for SoC design which is MIPS would employ to help its customers simplify their design process, lower costs and deliver superior designs to market in minimum time. For SoC designers it is important to integrate IP from multiple sources quickly and efficiently for achieving high standards of quality.
Involving industry leaders in the IP supply chain, the SPIRIT Consortium includes major EDA tool vendors, IP providers and integrated device manufacturers among its members along with a number of innovative small and medium-sized supply-chain companies. Even last year, MIPS Technologies became a charter member of the system Register Description Language (RDL) alliance, a standards organization established and chaired by Denali Software to promote standardized usage of RDL in the development and delivery of select intellectual property (IP) products used in system-on-chip (SoC) designs. These steps on part of MIPS is showing too much of desperation in its act. Now, together with RDL description language and the SPIRIT Consortium environment-neutral exchange formats MIPS would provide efficient mechanisms for creating SoC design descriptions, and integrating complex design flows.
The SPIRIT Consortium is looking forward to participation from MIPS in helping to implement the specifications that will help accelerate the SoC design process and enable the timely delivery of more flexible and efficient solutions.
Written by Peter Poffenberger on July 26th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Business VoIP.
For all the talk about the impact of the Internet on journalism and how news is collected, packaged and delivered,
NewAssignment.Net is attempting to put a new and fascinating spin on things. Simply put, it aims to get the public more active into the news process with money, ideas and reporting (sounds a lot like crowdsourcing). Here's
Jeff Jarvis' description:
"The public will come to NewAssignment.net with story ideas and will collaborate on honing them there. Once assigned by NewAssignment’s editors, the public will contribute both money and reporting to the work that reporters are paid to do. The process is open and the public will have a strong voice and role in the journalism NewAssignment does. Editors will supervise the assignments and the reporting and will edit the stories, assuring that NewAssignment produces quality journalism and also that it is not overtaken by a pressure groups."
It sounds lofty, idealistic and ambitious, fascinating and, frankly, difficult, for a journalist to really get his around how it will actually work. The project, which is being funded in part by Craigslist's Craig Newmark, comes across as, well, interesting on paper but we'll see how it really works in practice given it's an entirely new way of doing journalism. For one, how can the public contribute money and not expect to have their interests reflected in the final product? Will the editors be that pure and objective that can resist the reality their work si being financed by the people submitting their assignments? I'll have some more thoughts later some more "perculation" time.
Update: Frank Barnako has his doubts about whether NewAssignment will fly, while
Mathew Ingram (a print hack like me) is intrigued but not sure it's going to work.
Written by Mark Evans on July 26th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Main Page and Media.
Is the Canadian
online advertising market finally showing signs of dynamic growth? According to the Interactive Advertising Bureau of Canada, the market grew 54% last year to C$562-million from
$519-million $364-million in 2004. Before anyone gets too excited, it is important to remember the
U.S. online advertising market last year was $12.5-billion so Canada is nowhere close at the traditional 10:1 ratio used when comparing the two markets and their respective populations.
Written by Mark Evans on July 26th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Uncategorized and Main Page.
For consumer electronics industry, digital home is the next big pot of gold, a pot so big that it has everyone from Apple (AAPL) to Microsoft (MSFT) to Intel (INTC) licking their chops. But it is Linux could emerge as one of the biggest winners in this bonanza.
The demand for networked CE devices is going to increase in tandem with the availability of faster in-home networks that can shunt data at blazingly fast speeds. Technologies such as MOCA, HPNA 2.0 and 802.11n will allow us to move content from one device to another.
As a result of that, we should expect the demand for the Home Media Servers and Entertainment Hubs could grow to be a $44 billion business in 2011, according to ABI Research. (Well, don’t pay much attention to the mega-billion number, but instead focus on the trends!) ABI says that the digital media server market is made up of four main categories: PCs, set-top boxes, consumer electronics devices such as gaming consoles or PVRs, and Network Attached Storage (NAS) hardware.
“Linux as embedded OS should take up a substantial part of the set-top box and CE market, but not the PC,” says Michael Wolf, principal analyst with ABI and author of the study. Who wants their PC to be their media center? Okay, at least not us. The logic is simple – the other two players – Apple and Microsoft will have their own proprietary systems. Apple will not share them with anyone else, of course! Microsoft would as long as you play ball with their DRM system or some other lock-in. (And they are not to be taken lightly.)
This leaves CE makers, and start-ups with one option – Linux. The embedded Linux has already been adapted and widely deployed in everything from Sharp PDAs to Motorola Mobile Phones to set-top boxes. Many of the newer digital music systems such as Sonos are powered by the little Penguin. TiVo, for example is based on a version of Linux. So is DirecTV’s set-top box! Moxi, is another set-top box maker that uses Linux. AT&T HomeZone is powered by Linux as well.
Scores of other start-ups are experimenting with Linux-based home entertainment systems, music players and digital video recorders. IntAct, a spinout from set-top box maker, Amino has just started selling a Linux-based software stack that runs on any kind of chip, and can also run Opera browser. And there are many more similar packages out there, or under development.
The signs are pointing to a Linux-powered living room. Do you agree? (Take our poll.)
Written by Om Malik on July 26th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Connected Home and Microsoft and Apple and intel.
OK, what's that?Internet marketing research firm Nielsen/NetRatings has begun to calculate what it terms "Top 25 Companies By Top Three Search Terms." Let me defog this confusing terminology for you.This list is an extension of Nielsen/NetRatings "Top 25 Companies By Sponsored Link Impressions." N/NR says: "text-based ads that often appear as a result of a keyword [...]
Written by Russell Shaw on July 26th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Vonage and Skype and General and Verizon VoiceWing and SBC-AT&T.