VoIP News

You are currently browsing the articles from the VoIP Digest matching the category VoIP News.

Flat Planet Phone To Present at Etel Launchpad

Learn How to Start Your Own ITSP In an Hour at Etel Pal Moshe Maeir of Flat Planet Phone, has informed me that he and his company have been selected to present at the Etel launchpad. Flat Planet Phone, allows entrepreneurs around the globe to start their own ITSP in under an hour . With the Flat Phone Phone System beta, qualified resellers gain access to advanced phone services such as Hosted PBX, Mobile to VoIP connectivity, Disposable Numbers, Virtual IVR, billing and customer management system, and is the system is even integrated with the iotum relevance engine. Flat Planet partners also receive their own branded web site and all the tools to market the Flat Planet services under their own brand name.Congrats on the selection!

Discover Trade - Sponsored Link

Written by Smith On VoIP - Garrett Smith's Insights on VoIP P on February 20th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on Uncategorized and VoIP News.

Heres Why Polycom Acquired Spectralink

Polycom Has Acquired Spectralink Polycom, Inc. , the worlds leading provider of unified collaborative communications solutions, and SpectraLink Corp. , the leader in workplace wireless telephony, today announced that they have signed a definitive agreement under which Polycom will acquire SpectraLink. Wireless IP Phones Are Hot And the market for them will be getting even hotter in 2007. Polycom, unlike rivals Cisco and Linksys , does not yet have a wireless IP Phone offering. The acquisition of Spectralink instantly gets them into the wireless IP Phone market, without the need to develop the technology in house. Expect a new shell (the current Spectralink product design is ugly) and some savvy marketing to be put together on the current Spectralink product line before re-launching under the Polycom name.

Discover Trade - Sponsored Link

Written by Smith On VoIP - Garrett Smith's Insights on VoIP P on February 8th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on Uncategorized and VoIP News.

Your Ad Here

UNH Labs to Pre-Test VoIP Hardware For Vonage

Hey Kid Test This Adaptor Whud Ya? The University of New Hampshire InterOperability Laboratory (UNH-IOL) has been approved as the first external testing facility to pre-screen Internet telephony devices for compatibility with the services of Vonage. Vendors looking to get their product certified for use with the Vonage network will have to make it through analysis at the UNH-IOL prior to getting into Vonages in-house lab. It will be interesting to see if this move increases the number of devices available for use with Vonage or if it is simply a move to lower the amount of inquires and products they receive directly.

Discover Trade - Sponsored Link

Written by Smith On VoIP - Garrett Smith's Insights on VoIP P on February 7th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on Uncategorized and VoIP News.

Fonality trixbox Open Communication Certification

Fonality trixbox to host workshop for telephony professionals and system integrators As I reported earlier last week , Fonality a leading open source Asterisk based IP PBX provider, has announced the Fonality trixbox Open Communications Certification (FtOCC) workshop. The workshop is a first in a series that looks to train telephony professionals and systems integrators on the trixbox application platform and established a recognized certification for trixbox professionals. The course will focus on a myriad of subjects including, but not limited to: VoIP, PBX deployment, network assessment, telephony troubleshooting, T1/PRI training, and IP handset education. The goal of the FtOCC is to arm data VARs, system integrators and telephony professionals with the knowledge needed to deploy and manage PBX installations for businesses from 1 to 1,000 employees. For more information on the FtOCC program, please visit the Learntrixbox.com .

Discover Trade - Sponsored Link

Written by Smith On VoIP - Garrett Smith's Insights on VoIP P on February 7th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on Uncategorized and VoIP News.

VoIP Supply VoIP Hardware Affiliate Program

VoIP Supply has launched a VoIP Hardware Affiliate Program! The VoIP Supply affiliate program , which has been in a private beta stage since the beginning of November, is now open to any affiliate looking to capitalize on the growing VoIP hardware marketplace. From now until the end of February, any affiliate that signs-up for the VoIP Supply affiliate program will receive a $20 sign-up bonus to be paid once the affiliate earns $100 in affiliate commission. About the VoIP Hardware Affiliate Program With commissions ranging from 3% to 10% based on your monthly generated revenues, the VoIP Supply Affiliate Program is a perfect fit for sites that are looking to profit from the booming Voice over IP industry. VoIP Hardware Affiliate Program Commission Tiers: 3% up to $15,500 in sales revenue per month 5% up to $45,000 in sales revenue per month 10% for over $45,000 in sales revenue per month What the VoIP Supply VoIP Affiliate Program Offer Your Customers Largest Online Catalog of VoIP Products VoIP Supply has Everything you need for VoIP! Aggressive Pricing, High Levels of Customer Service No Hassle 30 Day Return Policy Why Choose the VoIP Supply Affiliate Program? Great conversion rates! VoIP Supply offers some of the highest commissions in our industry.v VoIP Supply is very actively involved with our Affiliate Program so if you have any questions or would like to run a new idea by us we are here to listen. For more information about the VoIP Supply affiliate program, please visit http://www.voipsupply.com/affiliate or call 800.398.8647.

Discover Trade - Sponsored Link

Written by Smith On VoIP - Garrett Smith's Insights on VoIP P on February 3rd, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on Uncategorized and VoIP News.

Danny Windham to Replace Marc Spencer as Digium CEO

Danny Windham is Currently Adtrans President and COO According to Alec Saunders , Mark Spencer the Founder of Digium and creator of Asterisk, has stepped down as CEO of Digium. Adtrans Danny Windham will be assuming the reins at Digium in Mid-February. According to Nufones Jeremy McNamara , Mark Spencer will remain Chairman of the Digium Board, and also take on the role of CTO. This is interesting news and further signs that Digium and Asterisk is positioning itself to take on the enterprise PBX space. For months they have been filling out their executive management team, and with Danny coming on board, it looks like this has been completed. This is excellent news for everyone involved. It is scary to think what will come out of Digium now that Marc Spencer has been freed-up to focus on the development of Asterisk and other ancillary technology.

GIS Consultation Services - Sponsored Link

Written by Smith On VoIP - Garrett Smith's Insights on VoIP P on January 30th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on Uncategorized and VoIP News.

NEC to Fight IP Phone SPAM

NEC Has Announced VoIP SEAL(TM) VoIP SEAL is a new technology for the prevention of Spam over Internet Telephony or SPIT. The main features of VoIP SEAL(TM) are as follows: (1) Calls arising from spam-generating-software and calls from real individuals are separated by a Turing test. Before connecting the call, VoIP SEAL(TM) detects and blocks the unauthorized access based on the communication pattern observed during a call. This enables the detection and blocking of SPIT and prevents the users phone from ringing unnecessarily. (2) By adopting a module structure, VoIP SEAL(TM) enables rapid response to new kinds of SPIT attacks, without adjusting the system, by adding and updating modules to respond to new and different kinds of SPIT. (3) The adoption of a module structure also realizes response to a broad range of applications by enabling flexible and easy customization of systems to meet the needs of a variety of hardware, such as SIP servers, SBC[2], home network equipment and terminal equipment. With the rapid adoption of VoIP worldwide it is only a matter of time before SPIT becomes a real problem. It is exciting to see manistream players like NEC taking a proactive approach to fighting what will be an emerging menance to all VoIP users.

Discover Trade - Sponsored Link

Written by Smith On VoIP - Garrett Smith's Insights on VoIP P on January 27th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on Uncategorized and VoIP News.

IP PBX Sales Expected To Grow, Hybrid PBX Sales To Decline

DellOro Group Forecasts PBX Market to Exceed $7.5 Billion in 2011 It is always nice to hear that the industry is still poised for enormous growth : According to the forecast report, PBX market revenues will continue to grow over the next five years primarily on strong sales of IP PBXs. Other PBX segments are not expected to fare so well by 2011. Hybrid IP/TDM PBX revenues are predicted to decline starting in 2010, and by 2011, traditional PBXs are projected to make up less than 5 percent of the total market revenues a steep decline from 2002 when the traditional PBX segments accounted for more than 85 percent of market revenues. It is a given that traditional PBX sales will continue to plumet, but it is intriguing to see that Hybrid IP/TDM PBX revenues will start to decline in 2010. You would think that Hybrid IP/TDM PBX revenues would decline much sooner. One of the growing trends among businesses is to purchase an IP PBX and IP Phones and leverage IP on the LAN side and use the PSTN for inbound/outbound calling. I guess this report simply goes to show the power that companies like Avaya have in the PBX marketplace. At least for the next few years

Find Your Right Online School - Sponsored Link

Written by Smith On VoIP - Garrett Smith's Insights on VoIP P on January 27th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on Uncategorized and VoIP News.

More Information About the Digium Polycom Partnership

I think Tom Keating Works For Digium Always the first with the Asterisk/Digium scoops, pal Tom Keating have some more information about yesterdays Digium Polycom Partnership . According to Tom, Make no mistake, Digium and Fonality are competitors. With the new BuyNOW feature which I gave a heads-up on a few weeks ago and which launched officially at ITEXPO, Digium and Fonality are even more competitive with each other. The reason? The BuyNOW feature allows an AsteriskNOW user to purchase a Polycom IP phone specially designed to work with AsteriskNOW with a simple click of the mouse. Digium gets a cut of the revenue from the sale of this Polycom phone which goes through an exclusive partnership with NETXUSA, a VoIP distributor. Fonality also supports Polycom phone and they too have special firmware they load onto their Polycom phones, but they charge $40 to provision it where as Asterisk doesnt charge to provision the phone. This extra cost helps favor Asterisk/Digium in the battle with Fonality. Tom definitely has some excellent insight into this partnership and the always heated Digium/Fonality competition. View Toms entire post here . Not to be Outdone Alec Saunders caught an exclusive interview with Digium VP Bill Miller about Digiums recent announcements and their new partnership. This is an excellent interview. Click here to read the interview .

GIS Consultation Services - Sponsored Link

Written by Smith On VoIP - Garrett Smith's Insights on VoIP P on January 26th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on Uncategorized and VoIP News.

Daily VoIP Round-Up

Daily News From Around the VoIP Blogosphere Arlyn Pifer of The VoIP Insider comments on the lag in Governmental VoIP Adoption . Paul Kapustka of GigaOm reveales Avaya has sold over 1 Million IP lines . Robins Consulting Group and J Arnold and Associates have joined forces to deliver in depth industry analysis and information. These Jon and Marc are two of the most respected voices in the IP communications space. It will be interesting to see where this venture goes! The Internet Telephony Conference and Expo began today. Make sure to check Rich , Greg , and Toms blog for up-to-the-minute news from the IT Conference and Expo.

Find Your Right Online School - Sponsored Link

Written by Smith On VoIP - Garrett Smith's Insights on VoIP P on January 24th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on Uncategorized and VoIP News.

Vonages New V-Access

Vonage continues to push towards adding increase value to its service The V-access service, which is available in the United States, Canada, France, Italy, Mexico, Spain, and the UK provides an access number to make calls to any Vonage phone number (or an 800-number) without paying long distance or international fees. With V-Access, callers do not need to have a Vonage line to call a Vonage number (or an 800-number) for the price of a local call. The feature is available to anyone. How V-Access Works Vonage subscribers (or anyone else) can take advantage of V-Access by visiting the Features section at http://www.vonage.com/ and clicking V-Access. With a couple of clicks in the Find an Access Number box, anyone can obtain an available access number that will enable them to avoid long distance and international calling charges. Then make a call with a V-Access number by following these steps: 1. Dial the Local access number. > 2. Dial the Vonage phone number or 800-number. > 3. The call is connected without incurring long distance or international > charges. I have to give them an A for effort. This does not add a ton of value to their service, but it might expose a new crop of potential customers to the service. For more information on the service, check out Vonage.com .

Discover Trade - Sponsored Link

Written by Smith On VoIP - Garrett Smith's Insights on VoIP P on January 24th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on Uncategorized and VoIP News.

Unlimited SkypeOut for $14.95 Ends in Only 8 Days!

Only 8 Days Left to Take Advantage of $14.95 SkypeOut > Thats right, in 8 days the $14.99 Skype Unlimited Calling Plan will cost you $30 per year. The Skype Unlimited Calling Plan gives you a full year of unlimited calls to anyone, on any phone, within the US and Canada for just $14.95 ($29.95 after January 31st 2007). Also include in the $14.95 Skype Unlimited Plan: 12 months of unlimited calls to any phone in the US and Canada - right from your computer. More than an hour of international calls. Over $50 in coupons to get a Motorola headset, Netgear WiFi phone, and a Polycom speakerphone. This is an awesome deal. Think about it, for just $14.99, you get unlimted US and Canada calling, $50 towards Skype Hardware, and 100 minutes of free International calls. This is a total value of over $300, for just $14.99! Other might not think this is such an awesome deal because Skype calling is currently free in the US and Canada, but hey, all great things come to an end (especially when they are free). Take advantage of the $14.99 Skype Unlimited Calling Promotion Now !

Find Your Right Online School - Sponsored Link

Written by Smith On VoIP - Garrett Smith's Insights on VoIP P on January 23rd, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on Uncategorized and VoIP News.

Mark Spencer Video On AsteriskNow

Mark Spencer Shows You How to Install Asterisk Now I was browsing around YouTube today and found this great little video below from Digium , that has Mark Spencer the creator of Asterisk , walking you through the installation of AsteriskNow and a general overview of many of the basic configuration screens. This video truly captures how easy it is to install AsteriskNow , and from using the GUI myself, how much easier it is to configure then, well Asterisk by itself. Check it out, it is well worth the five minutes! >

PLM Software - Sponsored Link

Written by Smith On VoIP - Garrett Smith's Insights on VoIP P on January 19th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on Uncategorized and VoIP News.

Iotum Talk-Now Preview

Iotums Talk-Now Is Getting a Ton of Buzz Check out the video below that Jeff Pulver pointed me to. Talk-Now might just be one of the most helpful applications to come out of the Voice 2.0 era. Kudos to Alec Saunders and the Iotum crew. Now If I could only have my Blackberry back. > > If you are a Blackberry user and interested in checking out Talk-Now, Click Here .

Discover Trade - Sponsored Link

Written by Smith On VoIP - Garrett Smith's Insights on VoIP P on January 17th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on Uncategorized and VoIP News.

VoIP Allowing Disabled Veterans to Work From Home

Rich Tehrani has a heart warming story about the work Ken Smith is doing as Program Manager at the Military Order of the Purple Heart (MOPH). Stories like these, and the one I told about my own family, truly makes you realize that VoIP has the power to do more then just save you or your business money. While advances in all technologies are typically done for commercial reasons, for a specific market, it is always interesting to see how technology affects those on the fringe. Read: VoIP Changes the Lives of Disabled Veterans

Get A Free Gift Of Your Choice! - Sponsored Link

Written by Smith On VoIP - Garrett Smith's Insights on VoIP P on January 7th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on Uncategorized and VoIP News.

King of All VoIP Sites Gets a New Crown

TMCNet.com , the King of all VoIP sites, has been given a face lift. According to Rich Tehrani, So while our site is not only successful it continues to shine, we knew it also was a busy site. But the site has done so well for us and the industry we serve we were careful not to change it too much. Eventually though we decided we should streamline TMCnet making it more customizable while allowing easier access to information depending on your specific needs. It is for this reason I am happy to unveil phase one of our redesign. We expect further streamlining to take place soon as well as a slew of other enhancements which have been in the works for many months. I have to say, as a daily visitor I am extremely happy to see this re-design. Although, the site is jammed-packed with great information, previously it was almost too jam packed, leading to a less than desirable experience. This slick re-design, is subtle enough not to shock or scare daily visitors, making it easier to take it all in. Kudos to the TMCNet Team!

Discover Trade - Sponsored Link

Written by Smith On VoIP - Garrett Smith's Insights on VoIP P on January 4th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on Uncategorized and VoIP News.

Skype Lowers Security Threat to Blue

It turns out that what was first thought to be a worm using the Skype client ealier this week, is actually just a Trojan horse . It seems that security firm, Websense revisied their initial claim that the security threat was a Skype worm, reclassifying the security threat as a Trojan horse. After discussions with the very helpful Skype security team, the behavior of this Trojan using the Skype API (application programming interface) is as per the specifications of the API, Websense stated in its revised advisory. The end user who is running Skype does get notified that a program is attempting to access it and must acknowledge itthere is no vulnerability in Skype at this time that has been uncovered. I guess all of us Skypers can rest a little easier tonight

GIS Consultation Services - Sponsored Link

Written by Smith On VoIP - Garrett Smith's Insights on VoIP P on December 21st, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Uncategorized and VoIP News.

Yahoo Inks VoIP Peering and Termination Deal

If Yahoo is getting out of the Voice game , then why are they inking deals with VoIP Peering and Termination providers? Yahoo! and VSNL announced today a deal that according to Michel Guyot, President of Global Voice Services, VSNL International is a Voice over IP peering agreement with Yahoo; that is voice-linked services. It makes our reciprocal network - Yahoo network and VSNL Teleglobe network - inter-operable with a diverse list of voice equipment. From the looks of this, the recent re-organization at Yahoo! has not yet effected the Yahoo! voice group. If anything, I think we are going to see even more from Yahoo! on the voice front in the very near future.

Discover Trade - Sponsored Link

Written by Smith On VoIP - Insights on VoIP Products and Serv on December 8th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Uncategorized and VoIP News.

Nokia and SIPphone Partner to Provide VoIP Services

>Nokia offically announced today (I believe Andy broke the news earlier this month.) that the Nokia N80 Internet Edition will have easy access to low-cost calls over the Internet with SIPphones Gizmo Voice over IP (VoIP) services. The Nokia N80 Internet Edition is optimized for SIP-based Internet calls, and now Nokia and SIPphone have worked together to create an easy way to configure and make calls using Gizmo VoIP directly from your multimedia computer. This announcement signals another move towards the dual mode technology going main-stream. Given some of the UI problems with Gizmo Project, as highlighted by Martin Geddes , I am curious to see what others are going to say about ease of us of this combination. Andy Abramson, who has been using the N80 with Gizmo, remarked that, My experience with it has been nothing less than spectacular. Fully integrated VoIP on a very high quality mobile phone is a dream come true. Has anyone else used the Nokia N80 with Gizmo?

GIS Consultation Services - Sponsored Link

Written by Smith On VoIP - Insights on VoIP Products and Serv on November 30th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Uncategorized and VoIP News.

Get AsteriskNow, Not Later

Digium , the creators of Asterisk , have released AsteriskNow , their response to TrixBox. AsteriskNOW V1.4.0 is a Software Appliance; a GUI implementation with the open source Asterisk distribution. AsteriskNOW includes all the Linux components necessary to run, debug and build Asterisk, and only those components, so installation is easy. You no longer have to worry about kernel versions and package dependencies. Unlike other Linux distributions used to deploy Asterisk, no unnecessary components that might compromise security or performance are included. So what does this mean? Digium is driving Asterisk towards the non-technical. One of the things that makes a solution like TrixBox so appealing is that it makes it easier for those without a rich technical or linux background the ability to use the software. There are positives and negatives to making technology easier for the mass market to use, but in the case of AsteriskNow, it is a move in the right direction for Digium. Just as Fonality has TrixBox to build their commercial product from (and hopefully convert TrixBox users to), Digium has AsteriskNOW, which should form as the software basis of the Asterisk Developer Kit appliance. The battle continues!

GIS Consultation Services - Sponsored Link

Written by Smith On VoIP - Insights on VoIP Products and Serv on November 23rd, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Uncategorized and VoIP News.

Skype Making Huge End of Year Affiliate Push

> > In what is undoubtedly a last ditch effort to hook more users before free SkypeOut/SkypeIn goes away at the end of this year, Skype is offering all of the Skype affiliates 5xs the amount of commission on paid services. Previously Skype was offering Skype affiliates 5% of the monthly paid services revenues they generated. With this latest promotion, Skype affiliates will now earn 25% of the monthly paid services revenues they generate. Skype is paying and incredible 25% commission on the following services: SkypeOut > SkypeIn > Skype Voicemail > In addition, Skype is also paying out a $15 commission on the SMC Wi-Fi Skype phone and Fon Wi-Fi router available through the Skype hardware store >. This hardware bundle offers the best in peer-to-peer voice and wireless communications! Want to take advantage of this offer, but not yet a Skype affiliate? Check out the Skype Affiliate program for more details on how to join the program.

GIS Consultation Services - Sponsored Link

Written by Smith On VoIP - Insights on VoIP Products and Serv on November 22nd, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Uncategorized and VoIP News.

TalkPlus Public Beta Launches

TalkPlus, a service that works with your existing mobile telephone as an application on your mobile that gives you a virtual number so you can dial out from any of your numbers, and all numbers will ring on your single mobile phone as launched their public beta.

The Sneak Peak beta program offers 250 minutes of free use for 30 days, as well as 250 minutes of free service after the Sneak Peek program is over if you become a subscriber. This offer is for a limited time only and for a limited number of participants. This Sneak Peek beta is TalkPlus’ first public test of their additional number service.

Unfortunately for me, TalkPlus does not support BlackBerry smartphones. In addition, TalkPlus currently does not support Treo Palm or Windows Mobile smartphones. While I am excited about this Voice 2.0 application, it is disappointing that a service pitched towards businesses, doctors, lawyers, and other service professionals, does not at first beta support the phones that these potential customers are most likely to have. In speaking with the TalkPlus PR team, these devices are in the roadmap for 2007, although not specific dates were given.

If you are one of the lucky ones who do not use one of the smartphones above, check out the TalkPlus beta here.

Written by Garrett Smith on November 17th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Uncategorized and VoIP News.

TalkPlus Public Beta Launches

TalkPlus , a service that works with your existing mobile telephone as an application on your mobile that gives you a virtual number so you can dial out from any of your numbers, and all numbers will ring on your single mobile phone as launched their public beta. The Sneak Peak beta program offers 250 minutes of free use for 30 days, as well as 250 minutes of free service after the Sneak Peek program is over if you become a subscriber. This offer is for a limited time only and for a limited number of participants. This Sneak Peek beta is TalkPlus first public test of their additional number service. Unfortunately for me, TalkPlus does not support BlackBerry smartphones. In addition, TalkPlus currently does not support Treo Palm or Windows Mobile smartphones. While I am excited about this Voice 2.0 application, it is disappointing that a service pitched towards businesses, doctors, lawyers, and other service professionals, does not at first beta support the phones that these potential customers are most likely to have. In speaking with the TalkPlus PR team, these devices are in the roadmap for 2007, although not specific dates were given. If you are one of the lucky ones who do not use one of the smartphones above, check out the TalkPlus beta here .

PointOfSaleGuys.com - POS Solutions - Sponsored Link

Written by Smith On VoIP - Insights on VoIP Products and Serv on November 17th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Uncategorized and VoIP News.

Canadian Government Makes the Right Choice

The Canadian Government has decided to overturn a rulling by the Canadian Radio Telecommunications Commission and de-regulate the Candian VoIP market. The Candian Government stated that low barriers to entry will create enough competition for the industry to regulate itself. Minister of Industry Maxime Bernier announced at an Economic Club of Toronto luncheon yesterday that,

“Barriers to entry in this market are low; there is no reason to regulate it,” he said. “In a competitive sector, there is no reason to regulate some companies while others can offer the services they want at the prices they want.”

This ruling is a win for the Canadian consumer. Under previous restrictions, incumbent phone carriers such as Bell Canada Enterprises Inc. were limited to how low they could price their own VoIP services to compete with specialized providers such as Vonage Canada Inc. With the deregulation, watch as the prices for VoIP service race towards zero in a frantic attempt by service providers to gain market share.

While this is great news for the Candian consumer, it is not so great news for incumbents such as Bell Canada and SaskTel as they will now be forced to aggressive market a service that competes with their PSTN offerings. A service that will be considerably cheaper and over time will substantially impact their revenues. The Canadian VoIP market will certainly be worth keeping an eye on over the next few months as the offerings and competition heats up!

Written by Garrett Smith on November 16th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Uncategorized and VoIP News.

Canadian Government Makes the Right Choice

The Canadian Government has decided to overturn a rulling by the Canadian Radio Telecommunications Commission and de-regulate the Candian VoIP market. The Candian Government stated that low barriers to entry will create enough competition for the industry to regulate itself. Minister of Industry Maxime Bernier announced at an Economic Club of Toronto luncheon yesterday that, Barriers to entry in this market are low; there is no reason to regulate it, he said. In a competitive sector, there is no reason to regulate some companies while others can offer the services they want at the prices they want. This ruling is a win for the Canadian consumer. Under previous restrictions, incumbent phone carriers such as Bell Canada Enterprises Inc. were limited to how low they could price their own VoIP services to compete with specialized providers such as Vonage Canada Inc. With the deregulation, watch as the prices for VoIP service race towards zero in a frantic attempt by service providers to gain market share. While this is great news for the Candian consumer, it is not so great news for incumbents such as Bell Canada and SaskTel as they will now be forced to aggressive market a service that competes with their PSTN offerings. A service that will be considerably cheaper and over time will substantially impact their revenues. The Canadian VoIP market will certainly be worth keeping an eye on over the next few months as the offerings and competition heats up!

GIS Consultation Services - Sponsored Link

Written by Smith On VoIP - Insights on VoIP Products and Serv on November 16th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Uncategorized and VoIP News.

I’m One of the 50 Most Influential People in VoIP?

I have to admit that I was more then a bit shocked when I read VoIP News’ “50 Most Influencial People in VoIP” piece on their site (thanks Andy). Why was I shocked?

Because I made the list.

To be on the same list as Om Malik, Jeff Pulver, Rich Tehrani, Andy Abramson, Alec Saunders, Jon Arnold, Tom Keating, Greg Gatlizine, Russell Shaw, the Skype Journal Crew, not to mention names like Mark Spencer, Chris Lyman, and Jeff Citron is truly humbling. I do not consider myself to be in the same league as any of the people on that list. To think that, in such a sort time writing Smith On VoIP, my peers have found enough value in what I do to consider me worthy of such an accolade is un-real.

Maybe it is a case of my perception of what I do vs. the reality of what I have done that I am missing. A big thanks goes to those who did nominate me and to VoIP News for choosing me. This is the sort of thing that adds to the motivation to provide the best VoIP insights, commentary, reviews, news, and education possible to the Smith On VoIP readers.

Written by Garrett Smith on November 14th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Uncategorized and Announcements and VoIP News.

VoIP Supply Adds VoIP Paging Line

One of the most in-demand, but least addressed VoIP hardware products are VoIP Paging solutions. With the increase demand for IP PBX solutions by the Small-Medium and Enterprise business, it is interesting that until very recently there were virtually no VoIP Paging solutions. The best most companies could hope is their FXS media gateway would interface with their analog over-head paging system.

But Cyberdata Corp, a leading OEM design and manufacturing firm and VoIP Supply have partnered to deliver VoIP Paging solutions to the North American marketplace. The partnership will focus on the sale of CyberData’s VoIP Ceiling Speaker, VoIP Paging Gateway, and their VoIP Loudspeaker Amplifiers through VoIP Supply’s Internet Retail and Reseller channels in North America.

“CyberData’s suite of VoIP Paging product’s answer the paging needs of businesses making the switch to VoIP,” said Benjamin P. Sayers, President and CEO of VoIP Supply. “VoIP Paging is an underserved sector of the VoIP equipment market and with the recent growth in the popularity of IP PBX systems in North America, VoIP Supply and CyberData are in an outstanding position to meet the growing demand for VoIP Paging solutions in the market place.”

At this fall’s Internet Telephony Expo, Cyberdata was in our booth (the VoIP Supply booth) and did an number of demo’s for perspective customers. I was impressed by the quality of the solution, and the ease at which the Cyberdata solutions can be integrated with your existing Voice and or Data networks. So if you are looking for a VoIP Paging solution to replace your existing analog paging system, look no further then Cyberdata’s VoIP Paging solutions.

Written by Garrett Smith on November 14th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Uncategorized and VoIP News.

VoIP Supply Adds VoIP Paging Line

One of the most in-demand, but least addressed VoIP hardware products are VoIP Paging solutions. With the increase demand for IP PBX solutions by the Small-Medium and Enterprise business, it is interesting that until very recently there were virtually no VoIP Paging solutions. The best most companies could hope is their FXS media gateway would interface with their analog over-head paging system. But Cyberdata Corp , a leading OEM design and manufacturing firm and VoIP Supply have partnered to deliver VoIP Paging solutions to the North American marketplace. The partnership will focus on the sale of CyberDatas VoIP Ceiling Speaker , VoIP Paging Gateway , and their VoIP Loudspeaker Amplifiers through VoIP Supplys Internet Retail and Reseller channels in North America. CyberDatas suite of VoIP Paging products answer the paging needs of businesses making the switch to VoIP, said Benjamin P. Sayers, President and CEO of VoIP Supply. VoIP Paging is an underserved sector of the VoIP equipment market and with the recent growth in the popularity of IP PBX systems in North America, VoIP Supply and CyberData are in an outstanding position to meet the growing demand for VoIP Paging solutions in the market place. At this falls Internet Telephony Expo, Cyberdata was in our booth (the VoIP Supply booth) and did an number of demos for perspective customers. I was impressed by the quality of the solution, and the ease at which the Cyberdata solutions can be integrated with your existing Voice and or Data networks. So if you are looking for a VoIP Paging solution to replace your existing analog paging system, look no further then Cyberdatas VoIP Paging solutions.

GIS Consultation Services - Sponsored Link

Written by Smith On VoIP - Insights on VoIP Products and Serv on November 14th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Uncategorized and VoIP News.

Vonage to GetConnected

Hat tip to Andy Abramson for pointing me to the partnership announcement between Vonage and GetConnected a transactional marketing, retail kiosk provider. In a nutshell, GetConnected provides a platform for real-time in-store activations. These are the same kiosk’s that are presently seen in BestBuy that are used to activate cell phones. The GetConnected kiosks are a far cry from the inline kioks that are presently found in malls across the “states” and what Packet 8 attempted previously. While this partnership will stream-line the in store activation process, they do little to solve the VoIP education portion of the sale. Vonage will still have to rely on high-schoolers, part-timers, and other associates to sell their service. Not exactly who I would want selling my service.

Written by Garrett Smith on November 10th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Uncategorized and VoIP News.

Vonage to GetConnected

Hat tip to Andy Abramson for pointing me to the partnership announcement between Vonage and GetConnected a transactional marketing, retail kiosk provider. In a nutshell, GetConnected provides a platform for real-time in-store activations. These are the same kiosks that are presently seen in BestBuy that are used to activate cell phones. The GetConnected kiosks are a far cry from the inline kioks that are presently found in malls across the states and what Packet 8 attempted previously. While this partnership will stream-line the in store activation process, they do little to solve the VoIP education portion of the sale. Vonage will still have to rely on high-schoolers, part-timers, and other associates to sell their service. Not exactly who I would want selling my service.

GIS Consultation Services - Sponsored Link

Written by Smith On VoIP - Insights on VoIP Products and Serv on November 10th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Uncategorized and VoIP News.

VoIP Supply, RNKVoIP Team to Deliver VoIP Solution

RNKVoIP and my employer, VoIP Supply, a leading provider of VoIP hardware, software, and services, have partnered to provide a complete IP PBX package that includes equipment, telephone service and configuration for small businesses positioned to benefit from the Linksys LVS Program. VoIP Supply will also distribute RNKs ReVoS (www.revos.com) Internet Voice Service products and services to consumers worldwide.

RNKs offerings and customer-centric approach aligned perfectly with what our perspective Linksys LVS IP PBX users are looking for, stated Garrett Smith, Director of Business Development at VoIP Supply. As more small to medium businesses consider the switch to IP PBX systems like the Linksys LVS, RNKs flexible and affordable offerings will allow these businesses to realize greater cost savings, increased productivity, and painless user management. This, along with VoIP Supplys industry leading customer service and technical support, forms a small to medium business IP PBX solution few can match.

The Linksys LVS 9000 system includes the Linksys SPA-9000 IP PBX, SPA-400 Analog Gateway, the Linksys SPA-941/SPA-942 IP Phones, in addition to other ancillary solutions. RNK’s SIP Trunking service features:

This small business IP PBX solution is not just a win for RNKVoIP and VoIP Supply, but for the small business. The Linksys LVS 9000 with RNKVoIP SIP Trunking is an ideal solution for the 5 to 15 seat business who wants a feature-rich, cost effective solution, with high quality service and support for both their VoIP service and VoIP hardware.

For more information on the VoIP Supply - RNKVoIP Linksys LVS 9000 small business IP PBX solution call 1.800.398.8647.

Written by Garrett Smith on November 8th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Uncategorized and VoIP News.

Microsoft to Expand VoIP Offerings

While many are touting “Microsoft to Enter VoIP Market” in reality, Microsoft is expanding their VoIP offerings. Microsoft, who is already dabbling with VoIP (through product such as XBox Live and Windows Live Messenger) is not late to the game, in fact, their timing is perfect. Based on the statements I have read by Microsoft CEO Steve Balmer, I make the following predictions:

  1. The server software that Balmer spoke to will take the form of a Microsoft PBX. With all of the buzz surrounding software such as trixbox (which mashes a PBX, with CRM capabilities), Microsoft will finally release the missing item to a complete business communications suite.
  2. The Microsoft PBX will not utilize an open SIP architecture. Why? Because historically, Microsoft does not do “open”. Microsoft likes licenses and upgrade fees. It is easy money. Using an open SIP architecture limits their ability to do this.
  3. Microsoft will continue to develop and refine their live messenger, adding more “business class” features.
  4. Microsoft will utilize SIP endpoints from vendors such as Polycom, Cisco, and Linksys. They are not in the hardware business, and most business users are not ready to give up a hardphone on their desk in favor of a softphone. These three are the mid-market leaders. Since Microsoft will not utilize an open SIP architecture, expect the end-points to be enabled and locked by licenses and keys.
  5. The solution will be pricey, but the opportunity to have all of your communications software from a single vendor/var that interoperates seemlessly out of the box, will win Microsoft a large piece of the marketshare. Not to mention their install base for other products.

Today’s announcements by Microsoft are exciting, even if all of the details are not yet known. It will be interesting to see what further developments occur surrounding this news. If Microsoft gets this entry into the VoIP marketplace right they stand to position themselves as a true leader in the VoIP marketplace for 2007 and beyond.

Written by Garrett Smith on November 7th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Uncategorized and VoIP News.

Get Your Groceries and Your Dual Mode Phones

Tesco, one of the UK’s largest grocery store chain’s turned VoIP reseller, has partnered with Mobiboo Mobile to offer two Wi-Fi VoIP offerings to their customers. Mobiboo Mobile, the UK’s first Wi-Fi VoIP company, has launched the tovo t450g PocketFone and the tovo t1000 HomeFone Plus. Mobiboo Mobile estimates that consumers utilizing their service with save up to 30% on their current mobile charges and up to 50% on their home phone charges. The offer will initially launch at 19 of Tesco’s UK stores and online at www.tovo.com.

The tovo t1000 Wi-Fi mobile has striking resemblance to the UTStarcom F1000G (in fact I would bet it is a re-badged F1000G). The tovo t1000 is a standard “brick” Wi-Fi phone. The t1000 features three-way calling/call waiting, call rejection/redial/mute, call transfer/call forward, call hold/call resume, repeat dial on busy, and caller id blocking. It has up to four hours of talk time and a stand-by of 80-100 hours. This phone is ideal for those who frequent the abundant hotspot locations in the uK. The tovo t1000 retails for 99 GBP.

The tovo t450g is a Dual-Mode Wi-Fi phone that allows for both traditional mobile calls and VoIP calls. The t450g features tri-band (900/1800/1900) GSM, 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, polyphonic ringtones, built in camera, and the same call functionality as the t1000. The tovo t450 has a 1.5 inch 128×128, 64k color screen for pleasureable viewing of the phones various functions. The phone retails for 169 GBP.

Mobiboo Mobile is offering both of these phones with may-as-you-go and monthly plans with no restrictive contracts.

Written by Garrett Smith on November 7th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Uncategorized and VoIP News.

750,000 VoIP Subscribers

That’s the number Fusion Telecommunication is reporting for the first three month’s of their Efonica VoIP service. What peaked my interest about this announcement was not the 750,000 subscribers, but the number of paid subscribers. Out of a massive 750,000 subscribers only 1.33% (10,000) of them are paid subscribers. That is a pretty low conversion rate, but it is not that surprising. Most websites operate on the same sort conversion rates and do just fine.

This Efonica data directed my attention to other services, such as Skype, and got me wondering what their “conversion rate” is. It would be interesting to compare the conversion rates of all of the “free” VoIP services offering premium services.

Does anyone out there have data on any of the other free VoIP services we can use?

Written by Garrett Smith on November 2nd, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Uncategorized and VoIP News.

TalkPlus - The Latest in Voice 2.0

GigaOm broke the news Monday morning on the $5.5Million in captial raised by TalkPlus, a Voice 2.0 applications company. TalkPlus is a service that works with your existing mobile telephone as an application on your mobile that gives you a virtual number.

TalkPlus works like this:

The real benefit of TalkPlus is in the ability for one’s virtual number to be anywhere in the world. You can add international and domestic long distance numbers that will all ring your mobile. Since TalkPlus leverages VoIP termination, one can also make domestic long distance and internationational calls at bottom-barrel VoIP rates.

TalkPlus also allows for a bit of anonymous calling. With TalkPlus, users can give out their virtual number freely, without the fear of giving their “real” mobile number. Ideal uses for this include dating (TalkPlus has signed an agreement with a large online dating site to utilize the service) and for those that do not like to pay their bills, giving out to creditors.

For more information on TalkPlus visit their website or check-out some of the excellent write-ups from the some of the Top VoIP Blogs:

Written by Garrett Smith on November 1st, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Uncategorized and VoIP News.

VoIP Equipment Revenues to Hit $11.9 Billion in 2010

In a report released by iSuppli, an electronics industry research firm, VoIP Equipment revenues are set to hit $11.9 Billion by 2010. Fueled by the growth of consumer and enterprise VoIP adoption, and the growth of the VoIP service provider sector, VoIP Equipment revenues are expected to see a compound annual growth rate of 24.7%. iSuppli estimated the VoIP Equipment revenues for 2005 at $3.95 Billion.

What is of most interest in this report is the growth rates of the individual VoIP Equipment market segments and what percentage of the overall revenue each of these segments account for. The enterprise/PBX market accounted for 46% of the total VoIP Equipment revenues in 2005, with residential accounting for 27%, and service provider infrastructure equipment accounting for another 27%. With revenues expecting to hit $5.6 Billion by 2010, it looks like IP PBX vendors and resellers are in the right position to ride a tremendous wave over the next five years.

P.S. You can purchase the full report here.

Written by Garrett Smith on October 28th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Uncategorized and VoIP News.

Skype’s Grows 30% in US

Skype Journal’s Jim Courtney has presented some interesting information from eBay’s recent Q3 report. The report unveils some interesting information about the growth rate of Skype, both internationally and domestically, in addition to revenue figures generated by Skype. In this past quarter, Skype saw it is biggest growth in US subscribes this year, with a 37% percent increase. This is up 8% from last quarter. Skype’s US growth even outpaced its international growth by approximately 17% last quarter.

While all of this seems promising, revenues did drop (due to lack of revenues from SkypeOut in the US as Jim noted) and Skype is still not living up to their big price tag. Obviously, Skype is hoping that it’s free calling promotion for US users will hook enough users on the value of Skype that when calls are no longer free, they will pay for Skype calls and revenues will not only increase, but do so substantially.

Jim believes there are additional revenues for Skype in royalties from Skype products and through the Skype SMS service. While I agree with him that those opportunities are present, unless hardware manufacturers start creating Skype products that people will actually use, or an increase in teenage “Skypers” I do not think these avenues will be able to generate the sort of revenues Skype is looking for.

A better route, from my personal experience with Skype, would be to begin to educate businesses and business users on the value and benefit of using Skype as their communications tool of choice. The business user and small-medium business are in my opinion the ideal Skype user, yet Skype has done little to attract these folks to Skype. If they truly want to drive serious revenues the business user is where they should be focusing their time.

Written by Garrett Smith on October 25th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Uncategorized and VoIP News.

Sangoma Lands Three Major Customers

Sangoma, a leading manufacturer of IP Telephony hardware and software products announced today three new prominent customers in the world of Asterisk and Open Source Telephony. Wildix, Signate, and Core Telecom Innovations have all standardized on Sangoma PCI and PCI-Express hardware for their PSTN access. Sangoma, who despite having been in business for over 20 years, has been playing second fiddle to the folks at Digium in the IP Telephony PCI hadware market. The IP Telephony PCI hardware market has been red hot lately, stoked by the emergence of Asterisk as a viable small medium business and entreprise IP PBX solution.

The Asterisk community, and the companies that have emerged from it, have to date been extremely loyal to Digium and the hardware the company manufacturers. But with many of the recent advancements in Sangoma’s hardware and much of the chatter that is going around the Asterisk and Open Source community, it seems that these companies may just be the first of many to make the switch to Sangoma PCI and PCI-Express hardware.

Written by Garrett Smith on October 19th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Uncategorized and VoIP News.

David Mandelstam to address Internet Telephony Conference & Expo West 2006

Internet Telephony Conference & Expo West 2006, has announced that Sangoma Technologies' President/CEO David Mandelstam, will address delegates on Extending OpenPBX Architecture for Scalable Enterprise Media Gateways.

 

To be held Tuesday, October 10 at 1:15 pm, David discusses the real trends that SMBs and enterprises are now beginning to follow such as the rising adoption of PC-based/open source PBX solutions.

“There exists a new breed of Open PBXs/Switches such as Asterisk, FreeSwitch, and Yate that are pushing the boundaries of Open Source telephony,” says Mandelstam. “My presentation will discuss the main trends behind the migration from TDM to IP in the enterprise, and how this impacts voice solutions. I will also explore the transition that's occurring from hardware-based to software-based and what's behind it.”

Mandelstam's address is open to all registered attendees.

“Sangoma is widely recognized and respected as an industry leader and I am confident that our attendees will appreciate and value the opportunity to hear his perspective on Open Source PBXs,” adds TMC president and conference chairman, Rich Tehrani. “Widespread deployment of IP services has reinforced that this exciting technology is a viable, cost-effective communications solution. We look forward to educating senior-level executives about its long-term benefits at the show.”

“Being invited to speak at this prestigious conference is proof positive that our open source PCI solutions are now being recognized by the voice market worldwide,” adds Mandelstam. “I look forward to telling delegates about the real trends that SMBs and enterprises are now beginning to follow en-route to adopting a PC-based/open source PBX solution.”

Source: Sangoma 

 

Written by Dal on October 5th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on VoIP News.

MetaSwitch, Minerva Networks Team to Demonstrate Combined Video and Voice Services over IP

 
 
MetaSwitch, a leading vendor of next-generation carrier switching and application solutions, and Minerva Networks, the leading provider of carrier-class solutions for delivering video services over IP networks, will demonstrate this week how carriers can deliver an integrated video and voice service to subscribers over broadband networks, simultaneously delivering full-featured video and phone service over a single connection.

 

"Carriers are seeking to both increase revenue and to retain their customer base from encroachment by cable operators," said Matt Cuson, vice president of marketing for Minerva. "Converged solutions such as what we are presenting with MetaSwitch will provide new financial opportunities for the operators and at the same time revolutionize the way their customers purchase and enjoy television programming."

The combined solution seamlessly blends VoIP, legacy TDM and next generation telephony services, while adding video content. This application of converged IP telephony and video services offers service providers a significant additional revenue opportunity from existing customers as well as a clear competitive advantage in the increasingly competitive subscriber markets to new customers. Through this service offering, subscribers have access to caller ID information, high definition TV broadcasts, pay-per-view, video on demand and personal video recorder features, enabling service providers to deliver a full suite of interactive IP communications and entertainment services.

"This partnership enables our customers to actively participate today in the video over IP market, which is expected to grow ten-fold by the end of the decade, both in terms of revenue and number of subscribers," said Andrew Randall, vice president of marketing at MetaSwitch. "With competition for last mile subscribers heating up and technology rapidly moving forward, traditional telephony providers must deploy new applications, such as video, to participate in this growing opportunity."

The combined MetaSwitch and Minerva demonstration can be seen at the Fall VON Conference and Expo in the MetaSwitch booth, number 855, at the Boston Convention Center. The Expo floor is open to show attendees Tuesday, Sept. 12 through Thursday, Sept. 14.

 

Written by Dal on September 11th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on VoIP News.

Intrado Tests VoIP E911 Fix

Editor's Note:  There are few companies that are working on this.  E911 on VoIP needs to be worked out with a stable solution for VoIP to really go mainstream.  Of anything dialing 911 is the one constant we need to have and feel confident that we will get the emergency service needed when dialed.  Glad to hear about this progress. 
 
Intrado, a vendor of emergency dialing technology, has conducted a successful trial of using E911 emergency dialing capabilities with mobile voice-over-IP (VoIP) phones, the company said.  Intrado’s trial in New York in August was aimed at solving one of the major problems with location-based E911, or enhanced 911, service with VoIP phones, said Stephen Meer, Intrado’s chief technology officer. E911 relays the location of a caller to the emergency dispatch center, but many VoIP phones are not tied to one physical address. Users can connect the phones to any broadband network to make calls.

 

The Intrado auto-locate trial used back-end 911 system technology from the company in combination with several location-finding technologies, Meer said. Included in the test were GPS technology, which triangulates high-definition television signals, and one that surveys local Wi-Fi access points, he said.

Combined with Intrado technology, the location-finding technologies were able to route VoIP 911 calls to emergency dispatch centers, using the dispatch equipment already installed, Meer said. No location-finding technology works in every situation—GPS, for example, can have problems in densely packed tall buildings—but a combination of location-finding technology can work, he said.

"The real solution here is going to be a bundling of technologies," Meer said.

Many large VoIP providers have been slow to provide E911 service to all their customers, with the mobility of VoIP phones being one of the problems. Because VoIP services route 911 calls through IP networks instead of the traditional telephone network, some VoIP phones have phone numbers that can follow the phone wherever it’s plugged in.

The Intrado test shows this problem has solutions, Meer said, although none of the newer location-finding technologies works as well as a traditional wireline phone tied to one address. The Intrado trial generally provided dispatchers with locations based on latitude and longitude, similar to current wireless phone 911 calls, but not as useful as street addresses, he said.

Although the U.S. Federal Communications Commission has required VoIP providers to offer E911 service, more public discussion is needed about how precise a location the E911 call should provide, Meer said.

"If the national public policy turns out to be, ‘We’re sort of going to tell you within a mile or so where you are,’ there are going to be no little girls calling for help when their mommy’s fallen down the steps," Meer said. "We have to have some interesting discussions about what’s the right level for public safety."

The Intrado trial doesn’t attack a second problem with VoIP phones and E911. Providers such as Vonage Holdings and AT&T have allowed customers to pick phone numbers not normally assigned to their local area. This "nomadic" service allows customers to choose a phone number that would not be a long-distance call to family or friends living halfway across the country, but the nonlocal phone numbers make it difficult to implement E911’s location pinpointing feature, Vonage and other VoIP providers have said.

Source: IDG News Service (Washington Bureau)

 

Written by Dal on September 7th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on VoIP News.

Brekeke Software announces partnership with Solegy

Brekeke Software, Inc., provider of voice and data communications technology, today announced a partnership with Solegy, a provider of managed service deployment and back office systems for VoIP, wireless and cable networks. For Solegy, Brekeke will provide SIP-based IP-PBX and SIP Server software for the creation of VoIP telephony solutions.

 

Brekeke's SIP software is managed through a web-based administration tool with scalable and flexible PBX features for basic to advanced telephony configurations. The use of Brekeke's IP-PBX integrated with Solegy's ServicePDQ platform will enable Solegy to offer a managed PBX service. "Brekeke's IP-PBX features are perfect for combining with Solegy's ServicePDQ platform," said Shin Yamade, CEO of Brekeke Software, Inc.

"Combining Brekeke's products and Solegy's managed service to develop next generation VoIP services and products can give businesses an advantage over competitors by drastically reducing the upfront costs and manpower needed to roll out a competitive service." Solegy's managed ServicePDQ platform is a multi-service software system that offers a single point from which to develop, deploy, manage and bill for network services across heterogeneous networks.

At the center of ServicePDQ is the Real Time Billing Engine (RTBE), an efficient and customizable web-based IP billing solution which helps service providers to manage all their customer accounts and billing information. ServicePDQ is a high performance, fault-tolerant software platform for developing and deploying revenue-generating network services. "Brekeke's IP-PBX was the best solution to interact with our managed VoIP back office.

We explored many IP-PBX vendors in our search to find a product that fits the needs of our customers wanting an on-premises solution," said Stu Sleppin, president of Solegy. "With its many features, ease of use and technical support, selecting Brekeke's OnDo PBX was an easy decision." 

Written by Dal on September 5th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on VoIP News.

IP telephony market continues growth (duh)

Note: Sorry to say it but I am not surprised in the increased usage.  Telecom's have been using forms of VoIP or IP to connect calls for some time.  Finally it is getting to the business market and consumers.  How long am I going to have to wait until I can get a T1/PRI priced at the rate that give me the savings from all the technology?  In Seattle they delivery T1's via HDSL but I still pay the price it was 5 years ago. /endrant
 
Two reports published by Infonetics Research show gains in both the service provider VoIP/IMS market and the enterprise telephony market in the second quarter of 2006. According to "Service Provider Next Gen Voice and IMS Equipment," worldwide service provider next-generation voice and IMS equipment revenue is expected to more than double between 2005 and 2009, from $2.5 billion to $5.8 billion. The market is up 6% to $772.3 million in the second quarter of 2006, following a 6% decline in the first quarter. 

 

"It was a good quarter for carrier next-gen voice, with all segments showing gains except session border controllers (SBCs), which were down a bit for the quarter, but up significantly year-over-year," said Stephane Teral, principal analyst for service provider VoIP at Infonetics Research. "SBCs have become a strategic component of any next-gen voice equipment offering these days, and they are reshuffling the vendor ecosystem. Many vendors will likely shift from a standalone to an integrated SBC architecture, including Cisco, Juniper, and AudioCodes due to its acquisition of Nuera and Netrake."

Infonetics' Enterprise Telephony report shows Cisco had a record quarter in the worldwide PBX/KTS market, which grew 3% sequentially to $2.2 billion (10% higher than a year ago).

"Vendor results in the PBX/KTS market were very mixed this quarter, with a net result of a small sequential gain," said Matthias Machowinski, directing analyst for enterprise telephony at Infonetics Research. "We expected Cisco to do well since it was the end of their fiscal year, but they blew right past our expectations, for the first time breaking 1 million lines per quarter. Nortel had a great quarter, too, while the other major players were more or less flat. As a consequence, worldwide market share positions were shuffled around this quarter, with Nortel shooting to the top for IP PBX line share (up from third last quarter), and Cisco jumping from fifth to second."

Click Here for more Statistics 

 

Written by Dal on August 31st, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on VoIP News.

Biggest Commercial Bank in China Goes VoIP

Note: This will be a major undertaking.  Looks like there are going to a redundant failover solutions and goes to PSTN lines if it detect the IP network is down.  There solution also has "less cost" routing also so that it will direct either through there internal network to reduce long distance charges to zero.  This company must have there deployment together, according to the article they did the first 100+ branches in only 30 days.

The Agricultural Bank of China (ABC), China's largest commercial bank, with revenues exceeding $250 billion, was looking to decrease its long-distance phone expenses between its more than 50,000 domestic and international branches and affiliate offices.

 

These locations were in all of China's major provinces, cities and counties. ABC's goal was to consolidate multiple regional call centers to one centralized call center through a Voice over IP (VoIP) network.

Of foremost concern to ABC among its many requirements to implementing VoIP was that it had to have minimum impact on the existing IP network and voice system performance. The bank did not want to have to upgrade the existing IP network, reprogram its PBX or purchase any PBX upgrades or interface cards.

Most importantly, it wanted assurances that there would be no degradation to voice quality compared to wire line calls.

The bank required that its voice network be compatible with international standards (i.e., H.323), and also needed to be scalable for nationwide deployment and growth, and interoperable with other vendors. ABC wanted to minimize the impact on its end-users so they did not have to change their dial plans or habits. Overall, ABC required high reliability, even under extreme and unusual circumstances.

Public Information Technology Co. (PiTech), a large Chinese distributor, recommended Quintum's Tenor VoIP multiPath switches. The switches had the technologies that ABC required, the diverse applications that ABC's environment necessitated and the customer support that put ABC at ease.

Click Here for the Full Article 

 

Written by Dal on August 31st, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on VoIP News.

Brekeke Software Announces Partnership With Solegy

Brekeke Software, Inc., an emerging provider in voice and data communications technology, today announced a partnership with Solegy LLC, creators of a managed platform that allows network operators, service providers, and content developers to achieve their business objectives more effectively. 

Brekeke Software offers SIP-based IP-PBX and SIP Server software for creating VoIP telephony solutions. Managed through a web-based administration tool, Brekeke PBX is scalable and flexible to meet basic to advanced telephony configurations.

 

 

Solegy's ServicePDQ platform is a multi-service software system that offers a single point from which to develop, deploy, manage and bill for network services across heterogeneous networks. At the center of ServicePDQ is the Real Time Billing Engine (RTBE), an efficient and customizable web-based IP billing solution which helps service providers to manage all their customer accounts and billing information. ServicePDQ is a high performance, fault-tolerant software platform for developing and deploying revenue-generating network services.

According to Stu Slepping, president of Solegy, "Brekeke software is everything it should be. We have explored many IP PBX vendors in our search to find a product that fits the needs of Solegy customers wanting an on-premises solution. With its many features, ease of use, and super technical support, selecting Brekeke PBX was an easy decision."

"Brekeke's IP-PBX features are perfect for combining with Solegy's ServicePDQ platform," said Shin Yamade, CEO of Brekeke Software, Inc. "Integrating Brekeke and Solegy products to develop next generation VoIP services like Billing Servers can give businesses an advantage over competitors."

 

Written by Dal on August 29th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on VoIP News.

AudioCodes and Brekeke Partner to Promote IP Telephony Solution

AudioCodes, a leading provider of Voice over Packet (VoP) technologies and voice network products, announced today that it has partnered with Brekeke Software, an emerging leader in voice and data communications technology, to promote IP Telephony solutions through AudioCodes Open Solutions Network partner program.

 

Interoperability validation of Brekeke's OnDO PBX and AudioCodes TP-260 PCI VoIP gateway board has been successfully completed, which will allow users and OSN partners to quickly develop scalable, high-quality VoIP telephony systems for small to medium businesses up to the enterprise level.

"Brekeke Software has a well-earned reputation for delivering high quality, intuitive VoIP products," said Shin Yamade, CEO, Brekeke Software, Inc. "Our relationship with AudioCodes presents a great opportunity for partners and resellers to receive the benefits of our experience and product knowledge. Combining the benefits of AudioCodes products and Brekeke IP-PBX create powerful tools for providing user-friendly and affordable telephony solutions."

"We are pleased to partner with Brekeke," said Ron Romanchik, Vice President of North American Sales for AudioCodes' Blade Business Line. "Our combined solutions create a significant opportunity for developers and empower businesses to implement advanced IP capabilities into their traditional systems."

Brekeke's OnDO PBX is a SIP-based telephony system well known for its easy installation and intuitive design. In addition to traditional PBX features, OnDO PBX includes advanced features such as call conference, call recording, Automatic Route Selection (ARS) failover, call forwarding, voicemail, and much more.

Fully scalable for the small to medium sized business owner up to the enterprise level, Brekeke's PBX provides multi-platform support and professional technical support to its users. AudioCodes TP-260 PCI board is an ideal solution for trunking gateways to the PSTN and integrated gateways for IP-PBXs and all-in-one communication servers. Combined AudioCodes and Brekeke solutions offer essential features of a legacy PBX on an IP-PBX, and provide a combination of telephony networking and data networking for the office. The TP-260 PCI gateway board allows Brekeke to offer a one-box solution, and enables Brekeke customers to utilize a T1 line connection for their VoIP telephony systems.

Source: Brekeke

 

Written by Dal on August 23rd, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on VoIP News.

Fusion and Chinese Community Services Site Jinti Enter into Strategic Partnership

Fusion Telecommunications International, Inc., a global VoIP service provider, today announced that it has entered into a strategic partnership with Jinti, a rapidly growing Chinese community services site that today attracts in excess of 3 Million unique visitors from mainland China each month.

 

As part of the agreement, Fusion will market its Efonica brand of VoIP services throughout the Jinti website. In addition to category exclusivity, the Efonica service offerings will be integrated into Jinti’s consumer registration process. As visitors register for Jinti services, they will be prompted to register for Efonica’s offering. “We are very pleased to enter into this relationship with Jinti, a key player in the burgeoning Chinese Internet marketplace.

Jinti’s unique community services website continues to experience dramatic growth through unique service offerings and the execution of a dynamic business model. With a growing Internet community, presently numbering over 120 Million people online, China represents a key market for Fusion in the Asian Region and a tremendous opportunity for the Company to continue to grow our worldwide community of users” said Matthew Rosen, President and CEO of Fusion.

“Fusion’s unique Efonica VoIP services are a very good complement to our community services website, giving our customers a chance to speak with one another and connect with friends and relatives for a significant savings. With over 400,000 subscribers registered in less than two months, Efonica represents a rapidly growing, cutting-edge service we are confident will appeal to the Chinese marketplace.

We also believe that Jinti’s 500,000 registered users with over 3 million unique visitors a month offers US firms like Fu