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Category: voip

  • Nortel Patent Auction Benefits LTE Market

    The decision by Nortel to sell its Long Term Evolution (LTE) patent portfolio could serve as a launch pad for companies planning to cash in on a market expected to undergo explosive growth in the coming years, according to iSuppli.

    iSuppli forecasts that LTE subscribers will reach 274.4 million by 2014, managing a whopping CAGR of 276.9 percent, up from just 1.4 million subscribers in 2010 and virtually no subscribers in 2009.

    “With Nortel’s decision to open its LTE patent portfolio to bidders, the market for LTE just became a lot more interesting. The acquisition of Nortel’s Intellectual Property (IP) could represent a coup for any company, as it could significantly reduce time to market, development costs and royalty exposure. It also potentially could yield a new serious competitor in the market, depending on who acquires the IP,” said Francis Sideco, iSuppli analyst.

    Currently, among the major suppliers in the chipset landscape for LTE, only Qualcomm and ST-Ericsson are known to have sampled LTE chipsets. Meanwhile, Samsung Electronics and LG are known to be working on solutions for their captive handset businesses.

    Who could benefit?

    “Proven experience with licensing and royalties in 3G shows that having a strong IP position is essential to any company wishing to compete effectively and profitably in the wireless wide area networking market. This is true regardless of whether a company is an equipment manufacturer, a chipset supplier or even a mobile network operator,” said Sideco.

    According to him, with Nortel holding more than 4,000 patents in its portfolio, including those that are essential to the LTE standard, acquiring this IP might be a launch pad for companies that could be planning to get into the LTE market, expanding their portfolio or reducing royalty exposure on future products.

    iSuppli believes a number of companies could benefit from acquiring Nortel’s IP—whether or not they are actually bidding on the holdings. Broadcom, Intel, Infineon Technologies, Huawei, LG and Samsung are just a few companies that might be interested in the technology.

    The research group also believes that Nortel at present is testing the waters to gauge if there is enough interest going around in the market for a buyer to snap up the company’s patents, or whether Nortel could achieve greater revenues by turning its portfolio into a licensing business.

    “The real question here is whether interest in the auction exists—and if Nortel will be able to get as much as, or even more than, it obtained in 2009 for its CDMA patents, which yielded $1.1 billion,” concluded Sideco.

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  • IPsmarx Wants to Revolutionize the Calling Card Industry

    IPsmarx released their newest innovation for the prepaid phone card industry that is said to allow Calling Card and Pinless Service Providers to expand their network of sales agents, increase their customer base, and reduce operating costs.

    The development came about when IPsmarx discovered, through internal client surveys, that there are two unmet needs in the prepaid calling card industry:

    1. The ability for end users to recharge pinless accounts in person, without using internet or a credit card.
    2. The ability for an agent at a retail location to recharge an end user’s pinless account over the phone.

    “Traditionally, the prepaid calling card market has consisted of consumers who pay cash in person for printed cards,” said Carrie Fedders, Account Manager with IPsmarx.

    "This segment of the market typically doesn’t have access to the Internet, may not feel comfortable using a credit card or simply do not own a credit card. However, with the growing trend of pinless dialing, which is much more convenient for consumers, we decided to develop a solution so cash paying customers can still take advantage of the convenience of having a pinless calling account, without having to pay online with a credit card,” he said.

    With the new Retail Store Recharge feature, service providers can now enable their retail store agents to recharge customers’ PINless calling accounts in person. Agents also have the ability to recharge customers’ accounts over the phone through IVR (Interactive Voice Response,) allowing service providers to sign up agents that may not have access to a computer or internet at their retail locations.

    Since only a phone is needed to complete the transaction, this new system enables service providers open up a non-traditional network of PINless agents such as ethnic grocers, restaurants, and small convenience stores.

    “The release of this unique feature, furthers our mission to help our existing client base of Calling Card Service Providers expand their businesses,” says IPsmarx CEO, Arash Vahidnia, “The calling card market is changing rapidly and with the development of cutting edge features such as this, we can be certain that our clients are in the forefront of the competitive marketplace.”

    According to IPsmarx, Calling Card Service Providers who implement this new feature benefit from reduced operating costs – namely calling card printing and marketing costs. Further, they are able to expand their existing network of sales agents and increase their recurring business, thus increasing market share, and, lastly, by offering a singularly unique feature in the competitive calling card landscape, “they are leaps and bounds ahead of their competition.”

    The company claims that customers who depend on calling cards to stay in touch with friends and family living in foreign countries will be the biggest winner of this new technology. “They’re able to experience greater convenience by retaining one primary calling card carrier instead of buying single use cards each time they need to make a phone call.”

    Watch a video on the new Retail Store Recharge Over the Phone system.

     

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    IPsmarx SIP Based Calling Card Platform has been named our “Product of the Year Award” in 2008 and 2009.

    Related articles
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    IPsmarx SIP-Based Calling Card Platform Wins “Best VoIP Product of the Year”

  • Broadvox Announces SMB IP Multimedia Communications

    Broadvox has announced that Grandstream Networks‘ new GXV3140 is the first IP Multimedia CPE device to deploy with Broadvox GO! SIP Trunking.

    According to the company, the solution enables businesses to save up to 70% a month over their previous TDM systems. Along with that, they also receive the added benefit of using and exploring additional features and functions available with SIP.

    Broadvox SIP Trunking solutions are delivered on a private network designed with state-of-the art-equipment, enabling customers to benefit from SIP regardless of their existing infrastructure.

    Broadvox GO! SIP Trunking offers unlimited local calling, discounted long distance, and Toll-free calling. Additional DIDs, Local Number Portability, and other options are also available. The network is monitored 24×7 and delivers service to the United States (excluding Alaska), Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands, and Canada.

    The first multimedia CPE endpoint used with Broadvox GO! SIP Trunking and the GXV3140 enable video and voice calling upon installation. With a 4.3" digital color LCD screen, the "always-on" GXV3140 has an integrated web browser which gives convenient, one-touch access to personalized RSS feeds of real-time online information services (news updates, stock updates, weather forecasts, directory searches, etc.), and thousands of Internet radio stations.

    This device also lets the user IM with Yahoo, MSN, and Google, and gives access Yahoo Flicker web photo albums. It comes equipped with an alarm clock, calendar, games, and music ringtones. Broadvox claims that full duplex speakerphone and voice codec support deliver “best-in-class telephony features.”

    "Grandstream has developed a true multimedia product to enhance enterprise communications, reduce costs, and strengthen our customers’ network return on investment," said Sergey Galchenko, Chief Technology Officer at Broadvox.

    David Li, CEO of Grandstream Networks, stated: "Broadvox enhances visual communications offered with Grandstream’s IP Multimedia Phone by assuring premium quality video and voice IP calls that are reliably delivered to every customer, every time."

    Related articles
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  • VOIPFUTURE Receives Emerging Company of the Year Award from Frost & Sullivan

    Leading market research and consulting firm recognizes VOIPFUTURE’s degree of technological innovation and excellent growth strategy in the voice service assurance market

    Hamburg, Germany – 30th June 2010 – VOIPFUTURE, the leading provider of RTP monitoring solutions, today announced that it has received the 2010 Emerging Company of the Year Award in Global VoIP Service Assurance from Frost & Sullivan, a renowned global research and consulting firm. The Emerging Company of the Year Award is a prestigious recognition of VOIPFUTURE’s accomplishments in the area of VoIP service assurance.

    The award was presented to VOIPFUTURE as a significant mark of distinction within its industry for its innovative technology, exemplary management, superior market growth, and successful strategic initiatives. The award is based on the CEO’s 360 Degree Perspective Model and the findings of Frost & Sullivan’s Best Practices research including extensive secondary and technology research as well as interviews with market participants, customers, and suppliers.

    ”We are honored to receive this prestigious award by Frost & Sullivan for our High Tech company.” said Jan Bastian, CEO of VOIPFUTURE. “Moreover we are delighted to see that our unique RTP monitoring technology with its superior capabilities is getting such outstanding feedback from the voice service assurance market.”

    Frost & Sullivan Industry Analyst/Program Leader Olga Yashkova explains, "the company has talented engineers that are in tune with the dynamic nature of the service assurance market. Its growing customer base and an increasing global footprint proves that VOIPFUTURE’s solution is a ‘must have.’”

    The complete Frost & Sullivan report, “2010 Global VoIP Service Assurance Emerging Company of the Year Award,” is available at www.voipfuture.com.

    About VOIPFUTURE

    VOIPFUTURE delivers carrier-grade leading edge technology to monitor and analyze voice quality in IP networks. Target customers include carriers, large enterprises, managed service providers and NGN vendors. VOIPFUTURE’s innovative RTP Monitoring solution is characterized by high performance, precision and vendor independence. Flexible deployment options and open interfaces provide for various applications including VoIP troubleshooting, network optimization, inter-provider peering and customer SLA monitoring. VOIPFUTURE was founded as a Siemens spin-off in early 2007 in Hamburg, Germany and major investors are Hasso Plattner Ventures and KfW Bank.

  • Yealink Release New Firmware for SIP-T2x Series IP phone

    Yealink network, a manufacturer of IP voice and video phone, announced that it has released the latest firmware for its award winning IP phone series–SIP-T2x. They provide high quality audio, a broad range of voice codecs, security protection for privacy, and rich telephony features.

    According to the company, the new firmware enhancement, available for downloading from Yealink’s website, will include a number of features such as security protection, performance improvement as well as bug fixes.

    Specially, the added XML-support enables customization and integration, connecting business processes and people to critical information by providing display-based access to services and applications. "Users can easily access information and perform tasks, for example, use the displays on the IP Phones in hotel rooms to make dining reservations, set up wake-up calls, purchase attraction tickets, get directions, and check on flight status and so on," as Yealink said in the press release.

    The other new features:

    XML Screen/Browser — XML browser is a simple sip-phone-custom browser function based on XML. With XML browser, customers can personalize their features，Such as weather forecast inquiry, stock information, date inquiry, access to address book, and other functions.

    Hot Desking     — Hot Desking allows users to login their personal accounts on different phones anywhere. It is used in office where staffs are shifting to work especially like call center to maximize the resource.

    Open VPN    —Open VPN allows for remote and secure access to your network and application resources. So you can register the phone to your local office while you are on business.

    There are some other features like 802.1x, call completion, call recording and BLF support for linekey.

    The SIP-T2x was honored with Technology Marketing Community (TMC) 2009 Innovation award and was selected as the Best VoIP Hardware Finalists by United Kingdom Internet Telephony Service Association (ITSPA).

  • ip.access & Kineto Complete Femtocell Interoperability Testing

    ip.access and Kineto Wireless have announced successful interoperability testing between ip.access’ Oyster 3G femtocell Access Point and Kineto’s Multi-Service Access Gateway (MSA-GW).

    The testing was based on 3GPP’s Release 8 Iuh specification, which defines the standard interface between femtocell Access Points and the femtocell gateway. The Iuh standard makes it easier for mobile network operators to deploy femtocells in multi-vendor environments, ultimately giving them a wider choice of suppliers.

    According to the companies, they have separately deployed femtocell solutions successfully for mobile network operators. The two companies have taken a leading role in the development of the Iuh standard through their involvement in the Femto Forum and 3GPP, and both companies participated in the world’s first femtocell plugfest organized by the Femto Forum and ETSI in March 2010.

    "The femtocell industry’s progress in defining and implementing open standards has been impressive, and we see this is an important step in proving and improving those standards. Kineto and ip.access are two companies distinguished by having their technology live in production networks. This step marks another important milestone in our lengthening technical leadership,” said Dr. Nick Johnson, CTO of ip.access.

    According to Ken Kolderup, vice president and general manager of Kineto’s Infrastructure Business Unit, delivery of standards-based femtocell systems are crucial to supporting the next phase of operator deployments. "The relative ease with which we were able to confirm interoperability with ip.access is a testament to both the completeness of the Iu h specification and the market-readiness of our respective products,” he said.

    Related articles
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  • CounterPath Brings Enterprise-Class VoIP Softphone to the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch

    CounterPath has released the Bria iPhone Edition for Apple’s iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. Bria iPhone Edition is a VoIP softphone that works over both 3G and Wi-Fi networks.

    Bria iPhone Edition integrates with other CounterPath desktop and convergence solutions, as well as with enterprise and carrier infrastructure equipment from vendors such as Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, BroadSoft, Metaswitch, Avaya, Cisco and NEC. Bria iPhone Edition also supports Asterisk-based telephony systems.

    It is the latest CounterPath solution for mobile platforms and its first standalone mobile SIP application. Earlier this year, the company launched Linux, Mac and Windows versions of Bria. In addition to the Bria-branded version, CounterPath will also be developing customized white-label versions of Bria iPhone Edition for carriers, OEMs and enterprise customers worldwide.

    “Bria iPhone Edition leverages the iPhone’s native address book and its embedded Bluetooth technology to provide “a seamless calling experience while on the move,” as the company claims.

    Apple currently ranks third in smartphone shipments, with 16 percent of all units in the category in Q1 2010, according to several analyst firms. For all handset types – smartphones and feature phones – Apple is No. 6, with more than 8.7 million shipped worldwide in Q1.

    According to CounterPath, Bria iPhone Edition’s key features include:

    • Full SIP compliance, enabling use with any SIP-compliant server and hundreds of ITSPs that currently offer CounterPath-based services.
    o Bria iPhone Edition appears as another endpoint to service providers or PBX equipment, enabling fast, cost-effective deployments.
    • Call quality that’s superior to circuit-switched wireline and wireless voice, and based on the G.711, G.729 and GSM codecs.
    • An intuitive user interface that provides one-touch access to voicemail, call history, speakerphone and other frequently used telephony features such as 4-digit dialing.
    • Support for DTMF, which lets users enter numbers to access an auto attendant.
    • Bluetooth support, enabling hands-free calling for convenience, as well as safety while driving.
    • Multi-call management options, including the ability to switch between, merge and split calls, all in ways that are already familiar to iPhone users so they can start using these features immediately.
    • Signaling and call encryption via TLS and SRTP, enabling enterprise-class security.
    • Optional customized branding available for enterprises and telephony providers.

    Related articles
    Juniper Research: Mobile VoIP Users to Exceed 100 Million by 2012
    Skype 2.0 Brings 3G Calling to the iPhone
    Mobile VoIP Becomes a Threat to Tradicional Voice Revenues
    CounterPath Releases Network-Based Mobile Mashup Application

  • Xbox LIVE Video Kinect Brings Video Chat to Your Living Room

    Along with the announcement of Kinect for Xbox 360 (formally known as ‘Project Natal’), Microsoft yesterday unveiled Xbox LIVE Video Kinect that lets you chat with other Xbox 360 users.

    But the next year, Microsoft is going to link Video Kinect with Windows Live Messenger, allowing the Xbox LIVE community to have real-time video conversations with hundreds of millions of PC users around the world. The new service will also integrate custom news feeds, weather and videos from Bing.

    The Natal camera’s "Autozoom Focus" instantly finds and follows you when you move so you always stay in frame; no headset is required.

    No more details have been given except those given by Piero Sierra, Group Program Manager, Windows Live Messenger & Mail at Microsoft in his blog post: “When we told you earlier about what’s coming in the next version of Messenger, one of the things we discussed was how we’re improving the core instant messaging experience, and making big improvements to video chat and media sharing with built-in features like HD support, full-screen video chat, and more engaging ways to share photos and videos,” he wrote.

    And added: “If you’ve been following the E3 conference, you know that today Microsoft unveiled new details about the controller-free Kinect for Xbox 360, including how it enables Xbox LIVE users to have real-time video conversations with Windows Live Messenger users.

    This functionality will release in the next year, and we’re excited about how it helps make your communication experience even richer by bringing Messenger and your friends directly into your living room.”

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  • Cisco Introduces New Enterprise Collaboration Software Solutions

    Cisco announced that Cisco Quad, an enterprise collaboration platform, will be available later this year via native iPad and iPhone applications.

    Cisco also unveiled a new Cisco Prosumer Video solution which integrates Cisco FocalPoint, an online video workspace, with a business-class Cisco Flip MinoPRO camcorder.

    Finally, Cisco announced that Cisco WebEx Connect IM is now available on any supported browser.

    Cisco Quad is an immersive platform for enterprise collaboration that integrates voice, video and social networking into one workspace. It enables workers to search across all content within their organization, as well as locate people and expertise, accelerating the time it takes to connect, interact and find information.

    Quad integrates with content management systems such as Microsoft SharePoint and Documentum, as well as with voice and video business communications solutions including Cisco Unified Communications,Cisco WebEx conferencing, Cisco Unified Presence and Cisco Show and Share.

    According to Cisco, Mobile Quad applications optimized for the Apple iPad and iPhone, will enable "deskless" employees to remain connected and engaged in interactions with their colleagues “around the globe.”

    Quad will be available on a limited basis, beginning in Cisco’s first quarter of fiscal year 2011, in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia/New Zealand.
    The Cisco Prosumer Video solution provides organizations with a private and highly secure end-to-end solution for video capture and management. The solution uses a new online video workspace, FocalPoint, and a new business-class four-hour Flip MinoPRO camcorder.

    FocalPoint delivers cloud-based management, sharing and editing capabilities and provides an easy way for organizational teams to interact with their video content. Cisco FlipShare software, preloaded on the camcorder, allows users to easily edit, store and manage video content locally on their workstation before sharing it with the organizational team via FocalPoint.

    The software client uses an encrypted upload protocol to enable confidential content delivery, while FocalPoint adopts SSL (Secure Socket Layer) for secure Web sessions and data protection.

    The newest version of Cisco WebEx Connect IM lets users access their contact lists and send instant messages via a browser-based IM client, making the solution accessible from any computer, with any operating system, without the need for a client download.

    The Windows client for Cisco WebEx Connect IM is now localized for French, German, Spanish, Italian and Japanese, further expanding its ease of use for global organizations.

    Server-side IM logging allows organizations to capture logs of all IM traffic for more efficient regulatory compliance. Customers who are already archiving email can use their existing infrastructure.

    Building on Cisco’s acquisition of Jabber, customers looking to add presence and chat capabilities to their Web applications can do so much more easily with Cisco’s AJAX XMPP library, which gives developers a quick start to creating XMPP-enabled Web applications and portal integrations through source code, detailed documentation and code samples. These tools were used in building presence and chat capabilities into Cisco Quad.

    Cisco will showcase these software and hardware offerings during a keynote presentation and demonstration at 9:30 am on June 15th at Enterprise 2.0 in Boston.

  • Juniper Research: Mobile VoIP Users to Exceed 100 Million by 2012

    A new study from Juniper Research has found that Mobile VoIP services will develop significantly faster in developed markets due to the direct correlation between 3G roll outs and the take up of mobile VoIP.

    This is the case even though mVoIP traffic volumes may eventually be higher in developing markets due in part to the calling patterns of migrant workers, according to the study.

    “By 2012 we expect significant uptake of mobile VoIP in its various different flavours”, says Anthony Cox, Senior Analyst at Juniper Research.

    “By that date mobile VoIP will be available over both 3G and WiFi networks. We also anticipate that several more traditional operators will have joined 3UK and Verizon in the US and developed relationships with mobile VoIP players such as Skype,” he says.

    The report finds that alliances between mobile VoIP players and traditional operators may provide the best option for today’s incumbent operators to address the advent of mobile VoIP.

    Another finding says that revenues from the circuit switched voice market will continue to diminish over the next five years, although this will not accelerate.

    According to the analysts, a high percentage of Mobile VoIP carried over applications will be via WiFi networks, bypassing operators’ networks altogether. Such traffic will result in some lost revenues, amounting to around $5bn by 2015.

    The research firm also anticipate that by 2012 over half of mobile VoIP users will reside in North America and Europe.