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  • Virtual PBX And Gizmo5 Announce Business Voip Service


    Virtual PBX and Gizmo5 have announced a new collaboration that they claim offers a business phone solution with the industry’s deepest feature set at a price level well below current standards.

    Built on an open-system VoIP peering platform, the new service combines the products of both companies.

    As part of the announcement, Virtual PBX has launched iVPBX, a new product that provides customers with unlimited inbound calling and no per-minute fees at a price of just under USD $10 per seat.

    The company estimates this is about one-fourth to one-fifth the cost of most competing plans.

    Gizmo5 clients who use the new iVPBX product can send calls by IP directly to their Gizmo phones at no cost.

    Virtual PBX’s deeper relationship with Gizmo5 follows on from its open VoIP peering technology announced last November.

    Virtual PBX client companies using the service typically have one main business number for clients to call.

    Virtual PBX takes those calls, answers them with a "virtual" attendant, and then delivers them to employees using any kind of phone, in any location.

    The solution enables small firms and those with distributed employees to portray a professional phone image and get top-end features – without the expense or maintenance hassles of purchasing their own telecommunications hardware.

    Traditional Virtual PBX pricing plans include a varying number of free minutes with a price of 4.4 to 6.5 cents per minute for additional usage, according to a statement from Virtual PBX.

    It said with the new iVPBX product, available now, calls coming in on a local number and sent to a Gizmo5 phone will have no per-minute fee for unlimited use.

    By adding the Virtual PBX service, business users of Gizmo5 gain all the advantages of a high-end PBX, such as an auto-attendant, transferring calls between users, and routing calls to departments though ACD queues.

    Paul Hammond, CEO of Virtual PBX, said the new iVPBX product gives users a very low-cost plan with unlimited usage.

    "And the combination of Virtual PBX and Gizmo5 delivers the best of both worlds at a fraction of the cost of typical hosted IP-PBX offerings," he said.

  • Is Netflix Price Rise A Set-Back For Blu-ray?


    The price for Netflix’s Blu-ray subscribers is going up again on April 27th.

    The increase translates into an extra USD $4 a month for BD users opting for standard three-at-a-time plans.

    While Netflix is arguably justified in charging more to finance its rapidly expanded – and more costly to buy – Blu-ray stock of over 1,300 titles, it doesn’t help the high-def format’s image.

    Already seen as an expensive option compared to DVDs and other media, its goal of mainstream adoption is still bumping along.

    Around 10 per cent of Netflix’s renters currently opt for Blu-ray, so the appetite is there.

    Whether those consumers – and future ones too – will be put off by the price rises of around 20 per cent by the movies-by-mail company remains to be seen.

  • HD-Capable Device Shipments To Triple by 2012


    As HD becomes the global video standard shipments of high-definition set-top boxes (STBs), camcorders, DVD players and video-game consoles are expected to triple from 2008 to 2012, according to iSuppli.

    Shipments of HD-capable equipment in these categories will rise to 202 million units by 2012, up from 68.9 million in 2008.

    The researchers forecast that by 2012, 52.9 per cent of STBs, camcorders, DVD players and game consoles shipped will be HD-capable, up from 21.6 per cent in 2008.

    Randy Lawson, senior analyst for DTV and display electronics at iSuppli, said that for the last 20 years, HD video has been the holy grail for consumer electronics OEMs, as well as for avid home theater fans around the world.

    "The high-tech industry’s efforts to provide HD service to every home now are finally coming to fruition," he said.

    "This has resulted in an explosion of shipments of consumer-electronics devices that support HD video, from new Blu-ray DVD players to ultra-thin LCD HDTVs, and even some portable media players."

    This is reflected in a surge in the availability of HD content.

    In some mature television markets this has reached the stage where hundreds of high-definition channels now are being offered by the entire spectrum of television service providers – from cable, to satellite, to terrestrial and to even to telecom – due to the rollout of Internet protocol television (IPTV) services.

    iSuppli points to the rapidly growing list of HD content suppliers, along with the fast-rising adoption rates seen for HDTVs and STBs, as a clear indication that HD video transmission and delivery are becoming major motivators for consumer adoption of newer technology television displays and playback/recording equipment.

    Added to this is the fact that the broadcast TV market is rapidly shifting to all-digital television formats, further raising the incentive for the inclusion of HD support in consumer-electronics devices.

  • 3D Heading For Home Screens – Likely To Be Games First


    More than 10 per cent of TVs sold worldwide could have 3D capability by 2011, rising to 16 per cent or 2.8bn sets by 2015.

    That’s the prediction of research by Screen Digest, which suggests that technological advances mean today’s 3D cinema viewing experience will soon be possible at home.

    The researchers’ forecasts are, however, dependent on a unifying standard emerging that works across all technologies.

    If that fails to materialise, Display Search downgrades its estimates to 3D-capable sets accounting for just three per cent of sales by 2015 – or 500m units.

    At present the most reliable technology will require consumers to invest in a new TV and wear special 3D glasses.

    But Screen Digest believes that autostereoscopic technology will eventually become most popular as it has one major advantage: no glasses.

    Stressing that the 3D market is in its infancy and that mass uptake is a long way off, the report says that 3D requires twice the broadcast bandwidth of today’s two-dimensional viewing experience.

    For this reason, Screen Digest expects Blu-ray Disc to provide the main method of distribution, as its hi-def content capacity bypasses the bandwidth issue altogether.

    Since Screen 3D films attract a premium of up to 50 per cent on cinema tickets, the researchers note that Hollywood Studios have a vested interest in getting 3D entertainment into homes.

    Marie Bloomfield, analyst at Screen Digest, said since no-one wants a costly replay of the hi-def disc format war, industry associations are already working together to establish a viable roadmap to make that happen.

    She said that due to higher bandwidth and incremental production costs, when it does come to the small screen, 3D TV programming will be the reserve of paying customers only.

    "What 3D offers the Studios and pay TV operators is an opportunity to charge a premium for content – perhaps even more so than high definition," she said.

    "But as it is emerging in the middle of a recession, the home 3D market is in a Catch 22 situation.

    "Consumers will not be persuaded to invest in new equipment to experience 3D until there is enough content; and content production will not ramp up until there is a significant audience.

    "3D in the home will therefore be a slow burn, remaining a niche business for the foreseeable future."

    3D movie production has increased rapidly.

    In 2008, there were seven films; in 2009 there will be 17 and a further 28 are due to be released in 2010.

    Compared with live action, animated films are much easier to adapt to 3D and Disney and DreamWorks Animation have been quick to grasp the opportunity.

    Together they account for more than half of the 3D film release slate.

    It is more challenging to produce 3D TV programming on broadcasting budgets, yet nonetheless several broadcasters have launched trials around sporting events.

    In conclusion, Screen Digest predicts that it may be 3D games and not movies or TV that arrives in the home first.

    Gaming is an early adopter market, consoles and software could be upgraded relatively painlessly and gamers are more willing to adopt peripherals such as glasses, all of which make it an ideal home entry point for 3D technology.

  • Skype Announces iPhone App,Video Calling Coming Soon?


    STORY UPDATED: see below

    Skype is now available for the iPhone – and will be coming to BlackBerry in May.

    The VoIP app on the iPhone will only work over Wi-Fi and not 3G.

    It will allow iPhone subscribers to use phone numbers in their existing iPhone address book – without the need for duplicate lists.

    As always, it allows free calls between Skype users and charges for calls to landlines or mobiles.

    The free application began appearing in the app store early on Tuesday.

    UPDATE: Since being released on Tuesday it has emerged that Skype on iPhone does works over 3G, despite being intended only for use with WiFi.

    Users report it working over the 3G data connection if the beta 3.0 firmware is being run.

    Since VoIP over the 3G cellular is clearly forbidden in the SDK rules, it’s obviously due to a bug on 3.0 that it works.

    This raises the question of how long it will be before Apple closes the hole?

    But also, how did was the app "approved" and certified by for the App Store without first "testing" if Skype would work on the 3G connection?

  • iPhone: Not A Top 20 Handset For Browsing And Buying On The Mobile Web


    The iPhone sits outside the top 20 when it comes to the most popular phones for browsing and buying content on the mobile web worldwide.

    Nokia’s 3110c is the top handset, followed by the Samsung M800 and then Nokia’s 6300, according to statistics released today by Bango. The iPhone appears as 24th on the list.

    The data represents the activities of major brands and businesses as their consumers browse to mobile websites and buy mobile content and services.

    Ray Anderson, CEO of Bango, said the stats will be of interest to businesses that monetize their mobile content and services across a wide demographic as spending by iPhone users is restricted to the Apple App Store.

    Bango detected a total of 1,811 different types of handsets accessing the mobile Internet in just one month (February).

    The Bango Top 20 Handset chart shows that smartphones account for 30 per cent of handsets in the Top 20.

    "The iPhone has done a lot to encourage people to browse the internet on their phones," said Anderson.

    "But to get the most out of their mobile marketing spend, companies who are riding the iPhone wave, attracted by its excellent features and user demographics, need to optimize their mobile websites for all phones.

    "Without this, they will be missing out on the mass market."

    Anderson said marketers need to choose their best channel to market and consider sales projections from the leading manufacturers.

    Based on the number of handsets projected to be sold by the end of 2009, outside of Japan and Korea, he said Nokia is the leader with sales of the S60 likely to reach 300m, followed by Windows Mobile and iPhone at 40m, RIM at around 25m and Google around 5m.

    "What is clear is that mobile marketers need to better understand their users," he said.

  • ADVERTORIAL: Record-breaking Attendance Expected At East Africa Com


    More than 600 telco leaders are due to attend East Africa’s premier learning and networking event which gets underway on Wednesday.

    East Africa Com is a two-day, multi-streamed conference with a 40+ stand networking exhibition.

    The conference is the only event to represent the East African region and evolved from the highly successful GSM>3G World Series.

    Any biz-news subscribers taking the opportunity to reserve last-minute tickets will receive a 25 per cent discount (details below).

    Among the speaker panel of 37 are 19 operator CxOs and ministers, including:

    • Raed Haddidin, Commercial Director, East Africa Region, Zain Group
    • Michael Joseph, CEO, Safaricom, Kenya Peter Reinartz, Deputy-CEO,
    • Orange Telkom Kenya Tushar Maheshwari, CCO, Warid Telecom Uganda Ali
    • Bin Jarsh, CEO, Canar Telecom Sudan Noel Herrity, Director General,
    • Zantel, Tanzania Nkateko Nyoka, Chief Officer: Regulatory and
    • Government Relations, Vodacom Group Shiletsi Makhofane, Acting Chief
    • Executive Officer, Africa Online Holdings Deng Malok, Managing
    • Director, Bilpam Telecommunications Co. Ltd, Sudan Charles J.K
    • Njoroge, Director-General, Communications Commission of Kenya Joe
    • Kimani, CEO, Flashcom, Kenya

    Part of the Com World Series, the conference reflects the changing mobile communications market, where previously well defined boundaries between wireless and fixed technologies and providers are becoming increasingly blurred.

    The organisers, Informa Telecoms & Media, say that broadening the remit allowed attendees to benefit from a more all-encompassing prospective whilst still delivering focused, actionable and incisive intelligence.

    "Moreover, our technology agnostic stance embraces the global nature of the changes the market is experiencing but is careful to apply it specifically to our markets to allow a 360 degree view of the future landscape within the distinct territories in which we operate," according to the organisers.

    Among the innovations this year are:

    • New Keynote sessions, by popular demand, extra plenary speakers on the
    • morning and closing afternoon – your chance to hear directly from even more C-
    • level speakers
    • More interactive sessions: more engaging panels, Q+A and industry debate to
    • ensure the most productive use of your time
    • New topics: convergence, broadband strategies, value-added services backed
    • by our in-depth analysis
    • More of the region’s telecommunications ecosystem represented; more ISPs,
    • more fixed and wireless operators, more CxOs, all under one roof for you to
    • meet and do business with

    To take advantage of the biz-news subscriber discount, email [email protected] and quote "Biz News" for your 25 per cent discount off the ticket price.

    Conference details:
    East Africa Com
    1 – 2 April 2009
    Nairobi, Kenya
    www.comworldseries.com/eafrica

    View the very latest agenda

    Join our group on Linked-In

    —————————
    Other dates for your diary:
    —————————

    West & Central Africa Com 17-18 June 2009 – Abuja, Nigeria

    North Africa Com 27-28 October 2009 – Cairo, Egypt

    Africa Com – 18-19 November 2009 – Cape Town, South Africa

    View all ComWorldSeries 2008 events

  • Skype Announces iPhone App,Video Calling Coming Soon?


    STORY UPDATED: see below

    Skype is now available for the iPhone – and will be coming to BlackBerry in May.

    The VoIP app on the iPhone is intended to only work over Wi-Fi and not 3G. It will allow iPhone subscribers to use phone numbers in their existing iPhone address book – without the need for duplicate lists.

    As always, it allows free calls between Skype users and charges for calls to landlines or mobiles.

    The VoIP app allows iPhone subscribers to use the phone numbers in their existing iPhone address book – without the need for duplicate lists.

    News of the VoIP client coming to the iPhone and Blackberry was first reported by Gigaom ahead of this week’s mobile-centric CTIA conference in Las Vegas.

    The application for the BlackBerry platform will work in a similar fashion to that for the iPhone.

    The iPhone and Blackberry apps are being seen as part of Skype’s efforts to expand beyond its PC stronghold.

    Skype Chief Operating Officer Scott Durchslag said getting the app onto the iPhone was the top request from customers.

    He said there was "pent-up demand" for the service on the Apple handset.

    Skype has already been announced for Nokia and Android phones, as wel as handset operating Windows Mobile.

    The service will also work on later versions of Apple’s latest iPod Touch device, which has Wi-Fi links but no cellular connection.

    While Skype video is very popular with desktop customers, Durchslag said that the company is still considering whether it will offer video for the iPhone or other phones.

    "We’re considering video carefully but we have a really high bar on the quality," and how the user interaction will work with other applications on iPhone, he said. "If we do it we will have to do it incredibly well."

    Some other pieces of functionality are missing.

    While Skype is certain its native client will provide superior audio quality – there is no need to route through another server and transcode audio – the app is missing text messaging, file transfers and integrated voice mail.

    This will undoubtedly help multi-function apps like Fring and NimBuzz maintain a healthy presence on the iPhone, which famously doesn’t allow for multiple programs running concurrently.

    UPDATE: Since being released on Tuesday it has emerged that Skype on iPhone does works over 3G, despite being intended only for use with WiFi.

    Users report it working over the 3G data connection if the beta 3.0 firmware is being run.

    Since VoIP over the 3G cellular is clearly forbidden in the SDK rules, it’s obviously due to a bug on 3.0 that it works.

    This raises the question of how long it will be before Apple closes the hole?

    But also, how did was the app "approved" and certified by for the App Store without first "testing" if Skype would work on the 3G connection?

  • ADVERTORIAL: Record-breaking Attendance Expected At East Africa Com


    More than 600 telco leaders are due to attend East Africa’s premier learning and networking event which gets underway on Wednesday.

    East Africa Com is a two-day, multi-streamed conference with a 40+ stand networking exhibition.

    The conference is the only event to represent the East African region and evolved from the highly successful GSM>3G World Series.

    Any biz-news subscribers taking the opportunity to reserve last-minute tickets will receive a 25 per cent discount (details below).

    Among the speaker panel of 37 are 19 operator CxOs and ministers, including:

    • Raed Haddidin, Commercial Director, East Africa Region, Zain Group
    • Michael Joseph, CEO, Safaricom, Kenya Peter Reinartz, Deputy-CEO,
    • Orange Telkom Kenya Tushar Maheshwari, CCO, Warid Telecom Uganda Ali
    • Bin Jarsh, CEO, Canar Telecom Sudan Noel Herrity, Director General,
    • Zantel, Tanzania Nkateko Nyoka, Chief Officer: Regulatory and
    • Government Relations, Vodacom Group Shiletsi Makhofane, Acting Chief
    • Executive Officer, Africa Online Holdings Deng Malok, Managing
    • Director, Bilpam Telecommunications Co. Ltd, Sudan Charles J.K
    • Njoroge, Director-General, Communications Commission of Kenya Joe
    • Kimani, CEO, Flashcom, Kenya

    Part of the Com World Series, the conference reflects the changing mobile communications market, where previously well defined boundaries between wireless and fixed technologies and providers are becoming increasingly blurred.

    The organisers, Informa Telecoms & Media, say that broadening the remit allowed attendees to benefit from a more all-encompassing prospective whilst still delivering focused, actionable and incisive intelligence.

    "Moreover, our technology agnostic stance embraces the global nature of the changes the market is experiencing but is careful to apply it specifically to our markets to allow a 360 degree view of the future landscape within the distinct territories in which we operate," according to the organisers.

    Among the innovations this year are:

    • New Keynote sessions, by popular demand, extra plenary speakers on the
    • morning and closing afternoon – your chance to hear directly from even more C-
    • level speakers
    • More interactive sessions: more engaging panels, Q+A and industry debate to
    • ensure the most productive use of your time
    • New topics: convergence, broadband strategies, value-added services backed
    • by our in-depth analysis
    • More of the region’s telecommunications ecosystem represented; more ISPs,
    • more fixed and wireless operators, more CxOs, all under one roof for you to
    • meet and do business with

    To take advantage of the biz-news subscriber discount, email [email protected] and quote "Biz News" for your 25 per cent discount off the ticket price.

    Conference details:
    East Africa Com
    1 – 2 April 2009
    Nairobi, Kenya
    www.comworldseries.com/eafrica

    View the very latest agenda

    Join our group on Linked-In

    —————————
    Other dates for your diary:
    —————————

    West & Central Africa Com 17-18 June 2009 – Abuja, Nigeria

    North Africa Com 27-28 October 2009 – Cairo, Egypt

    Africa Com – 18-19 November 2009 – Cape Town, South Africa

    View all ComWorldSeries 2008 events

  • Avaya Announces SIP Architecture That Connects Users, Applications and Systems


    Avaya today announced the launch of a new SIP-based architecture that integrates communications across multi-vendor, multi-location and multi-modal businesses.

    Called Aura, the company said it is centered on the new open standards Aura Session Manager, which centralizes communications control and application integration.

    Session Manager orchestrates a wide array of communications applications and systems by decoupling applications from the network.

    The software simplifies complex communications networks, reduces infrastructure costs and delivers voice, video, messaging, presence, Web applications to employees anywhere.

    Kevin Kennedy, CEO and president Avaya

    Kevin Kennedy, president and CEO of Avaya, said that as a result, services can be deployed to users depending on what they need rather than by where they work or the capabilities of the system to which they are connected.

    He said Session Manager instantly reduces complexity and provides the foundation for broader unified communications strategies.

    "With Avaya Aura, organizations can achieve rapid returns on their business communications investment, while simplifying the development and deployment of applications that improve operational performance," he said.

    "We’ve seen some organizations use SIP routing to reduce trunking costs by 20 to 60 per cent.

    "With this new architecture, for the first time, the way we communicate is defined by the applications and the user, not the network."

    Avaya Aura will be available globally in May 2009.

    The company said Avaya Aura offers the following benefits:

    • Ability to create new applications and quickly extend them to users anywhere
    • Map applications to individual employee profiles, making the appropriate features globally available regardless of the location, system or device to which they are connected
    • Reduce costs through centrally managed, enterprisewide dial plans and on-net calling, global least-cost routing and PSTN access from the most cost-effective location.
    • Eliminate local application servers and optimize software licensing across the full breadth of the enterprise rather than for a single location
    • Massively scale to 250,000 business users and 25,000 locations.