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Category: voip

  • VoIP Helps HBBs Survive

    In the current economic environment, home-based businesses (HBBs) in the U.S. are increasingly turning to the web to boost business. According to a report from AMI-Partners, VoIP is playing an increasingly prominent role in the survival of the HBB.

    The implementation of VoIP communication system is among the areas that improve efficiency and reduces cost of HBBs. The report finds that the number of U.S. HBBs using VoIP technology has increased by 48% in 2009. The need for HBBs to cut costs thereby maintaining an adequate cash flow has directly hit the areas of telecommunications and business travel.

    “VoIP providers such as Time Warner, Optimum Lightpath, Verizon, to name a few, are offering very attractive bundled VoIP and broadband internet access packages. Current penetration of VoIP technology is still incipient, but strong interests by U.S. HBBs suggests a vast opportunity for VoIP providers in 2010,” said Yuki Uehara, Research Analyst at AMI-Partners.

    “On the business travel front, video capability over instant messaging (Skype, AOL’s AIM, and Yahoo’s Messenger) and web conferencing (MS Live Meeting, WebEx, etc.) will continue to help defray the cost of staying in contact with clients and vendors in the HBB market in 2010,” he added.

    According to analysts, HBBs are realizing the advantages of investing in technology that improves their business and brings tangible results in the short run. For IT vendors and service providers, it is vital to pin-point the needs of U.S. HBBs and target the HBBs that are proactively investing in those technologies.

    “In the past HBBs had focused on more improving internal efficiency such as IT security, data backup & management (back-office functions). Presently we are seeing a shift to reaching out to clients and prospects and communication (front-office functions) to keep baseline revenue and/or catching every possible sales opportunity,” said Uehara.

  • Combined VoIP and CRM for Small Businesses

    Ringio, a new company founded by a group of long-time SaaS and Telephony Executives, has launched a new service for small and mid-sized businesses that brings them a combination of CRM and telephony functionality that until now has been available only through call centers and enterprise-level telephony systems.

    Ringio’s Rich Calling service presents calls together with their contextual details, either through the service’s desktop client or through its mobile version (available for Android phones).

    The Ringio team developed Rich Calling as a SaaS with an emphasis on affordability and ease of setup. The company assures that it can be set up in minutes and works with users’ current phones, including mobile devices, with no additional hardware or software required.

    According to Ringio Co-founder and Chairman Michael Zirngibl, Ringio defines ‘rich calling’ as ‘bringing a telephone call and relevant information about the caller together at the same time to enrich communication and information sharing, and – most important — to accelerate speed-to-satisfaction.’

    “By tapping into the cloud for customer data, we bring everything that’s important about the caller to the top of your mind – in real time,” he said.

    “As you take or make a call, you can draw upon the collective notes of everyone in your organization who has dealt with this person. This helps you to connect with customers much more efficiently, professionally and meaningfully than SMBs typically are able to do.”

    Ringio’s call-routing technology, also part of the service, helps direct the caller to the right employee in the organization at the start. If he or she needs to transfer the caller to a colleague, the person handling the call can tell whether that co-worker is available at that moment.

    “This kind of real-time visibility also known as ‘presence’ resolves issues quickly, avoids dumping customers into what they call ‘voice mail jail,’ and produces well-informed, coordinated responses that close the sale or solve the caller’s problem,” Zirngibl added.

    Ringio is launching the service’s own integrated call-control and screen-pop client for the PC, Mac desktop or Linux. Through the client, users view and add to a company store of customer information about contacts as they handle calls. Ringio also automatically retrieves and synchronizes records built using Google’s Contacts database. They also plan to integrate Ringio with Salesforce.com.

    ‘Rich Calling’ details
    Users can accept or redirect incoming calls as they appear on the screen; Ringio then completes the call to the user’s desired 10-digit phone number or sends it to voice mail. If users are not logged into the system, they can still receive calls on the Ringio number; in that case, an audio caller ID gives them the same screening options.

  • TalkFree Launches PickRoute VoIP Termination Service

    TalkFree, an international VoIP carrier, has launched PickRoute, an A-to-Z VoIP termination service for small and medium-sized businesses and resellers already utilizing a VoIP switch or IP PBX.

    By employing SIP Trunking, customers connect to the service and access TalkFree’s network and routing technologies and over 60 telecom carriers managed by the company’s Global Intelligent Routing software.

    TalkFree’s GIR continuously monitors network performance and makes automated route changes. According to Ona Stewart, director of buying and routing at TalkFree, the beauty of the GIR is that once you understand the trends of a country you can set the measurements for the route and it will change itself based on the data history. .

    “This ensures that our customers always have access to the highest-quality connections. It also allows TalkFree to manage a massive network with less manpower, which translates to better pricing for our customers,” she said.

    TalkFree operates primarily in the Middle East and Africa with targeted growth coming from Southeast Asia and rural areas of South America. They specialize in assisting local in-country communications providers by delivering a turnkey, plug-and-play VoIP “business in a box”.

    According to the company, its multiple access techniques ensure high-quality voice connections regardless of internet traffic volumes. All applications are managed in real time, in local language and local currency, and are supported by customer service experts who are available 24/7.

  • AT&T Releases Mobile Conferencing App for iPhone

    Mobile conferencing iPhone App from AT&T is now available on the App Store.

    It integrates multiple conferencing products including audio conferencing, web conferencing and video conferencing into a single UC application.

    The app includes the following features and functionality, depending on connectivity:

    • View whiteboard
    • Call Me and Dial In features that simplify audio setup
    • Interactive participants list: See/hear the other participants in the conference, their emoticons and mode of connection
    • Use emoticons to signal opinion
    • Alert other participants when stepping in or out of the conference
    • Use notes to chat with one or all participants
    • Answer polls
    • Host an event
    • Invite others to join an event

    According to Ron Spears, president and CEO of AT&T Business Solutions, converging communications technologies are driving business demand for integrated voice, web and video conferencing services, to reduce costs and speed decisions.

    “Collaboration across a broad sweep of individuals – employees, suppliers and partners, as well as across geographic and organizational boundaries – is a daily necessity. AT&T is bringing its Unified Communications capabilities to integrate voice, email, messaging and web conferencing in business apps that drive the productivity of businesses regionally, nationally and globally,” he said.

    AT&T Connect supports virtual meetings with both internal and external participants. The service can be provisioned to include standalone audio conferencing, multi-point video, regular/mobile phone and VoIP-based audio, application sharing, whiteboard/presentation, web touring, polling, reporting, recording and editing.

  • RIM Announces BlackBerry MVS 5 with Voice over Wi-Fi Calling

    RIM announced BlackBerry Mobile Voice System 5 with voice over Wi-Fi calling. It works with Cisco UC Manager and enables a business user to use their regular desk phone number and extension from their BlackBerry smartphone.

    According to RIM, with the new version 5, an employee will be able to use a single work phone number shared between their desk phone and BlackBerry smartphone and make and receive enterprise calls on their BlackBerry over a Wi-Fi connection, adding to the existing capability available over cellular networks.

    Calls made through BlackBerry MVS 5 are routed through the corporate phone system/PBX, which helps with adherence to company policies and enables potential savings on long-distance and international roaming charges. It’s easy to use since incoming calls ring simultaneously on the employee’s desk phone and BlackBerry and employees access BlackBerry MVS using the same phone interface that they are already familiar with on their BlackBerry.

    RIM and Cisco have worked closely to integrate BlackBerry MVS 5 with Cisco UC Manager. The solution has been tested for interoperability and will be supported by both RIM and Cisco.

    RIM claims that advanced IT features built into BlackBerry MVS 5 will help to provide “controlled, managed and secure” use of BlackBerry smartphones with the corporate phone system.

    Key features include:
    • Wi-Fi network access controls to set which Wi-Fi networks employees can access
    • Network preference settings with the option of prioritizing the use of Wi-Fi or cellular for making phone calls
    • Authentication to help ensure that only authorized BlackBerry smartphones have access to the corporate phone system
    • Incoming call filtering based on allowed and blocked caller lists

    The company informed that they are working with other companies to make BlackBerry MVS available for a range of PBX systems.

    BlackBerry MVS 5 is expected to be available later this year.

  • Avaya Introduces New Products at Interop 2010

    Avaya today at Interop 2010 unveiled new data products that are specifically designed to support the growing needs of today’s bandwidth-hungry video and unified communications applications.

    These products address the main challenge that enterprises face today: how to cost-effectively add the bandwidth needed to position them for growth.

    The products introduced at this year’s Interop include:

    • Avaya Ethernet Routing Switch 8800: helps enterprise campuses and data centers boost capacity to embrace UC, virtualization and unified wireless solutions. It is especially suited to support bandwidth-hungry video applications. According to Avaya, the solution provides more than a 150 percent increase in memory while using approximately 33 percent less power compared to existing 8600 options.

    • Avaya Wireless LAN 8100 Series: an advanced Enterprise Class 802.11n wireless solution that “easily and seamlessly” extends UC applications to mobile users. Its ‘split plane’ architecture helps eliminate the inefficiencies and bottlenecks of overlay wired/wireless networks with a solution optimized for voice, UC and video applications. It provides a full 802.11n solution including a wireless controller (WC 8180), 802.11n wireless access points (WAP 8120), management software and partnerships for enhanced application support.

    • Avaya Configuration and Orchestration Manager (COM): is a real-time, web-based, multi-user network configuration management solution. It is part of the Unified Communications Management (UCM) solution that can manage multi-user configuration, provisioning and troubleshooting for a wide range of enterprise technologies. Acting as a unified configuration management platform, COM delivers an extensible architecture allowing it to support pluggable device add-ons through data-driven development models and loadable software components.

    • Avaya Advanced Gateway 2330: a flexible SIP gateway providing cost-effective, survivable voice services for branch locations. It can provide local branch connectivity to the public switched telephone network (PSTN) as well as SIP survivability in case of IP wide-area network failure or service outages. It’s also upgradable to support a full suite of routing and WAN services.

    According to Kevin Kennedy, Avaya President and CEO, the days of the ‘one size fits all’ network solutions are over.

    "The Avaya Data Solutions business is positioned to play a critical role in Avaya’s growth as we lead the industry to ‘Fit for Purpose’ data and SIP-based communications technologies that will redefine the IT value proposition and offer the best return on investment for business communications," he said.

  • Visiongain: The Perspectives for Mobile VoIP Market

    The mobile market is growing, up 1.4% to €417 billion in 2010. The strongest growth is posted by data services such as mVoIP, both on fixed and mobile networks, finds Visiongain in its recent “The Mobile VoIP Market Report 2010-2015.”

    Analysts predict that sales of internet connections and data services on fixed networks will grow in 2010 by 7% to almost €200 billion. Mobile data services – such as mVoIP are posting even stronger growth: up 16% to over €140 billion.

    The report also examines how the growing market share of smartphones offers potential for third-party applications developers in the mVoIP market. In 2010 for example, mobile phone users will download over 6 billion applications to their mobile phones, growing to 7 billion by 2013.

    According to Visiongain, there will be opportunities for the mobile telecoms industry in the IP convergence/substitution market. By introducing fixed VoIP to cellular telephony and mobile VoIP to fixed telephony, operators will have the opportunities to grow on a unified voice and multimedia service experience.

    “VoIP services are cheaper than circuit-switched services on traditional legacy networks. VoIP has diversified from purely voice implementation to a complete multimedia experience offering video calling, video conferencing, gaming and many other features,” the analysts say.

    Visiongain claims that the global economic crisis appeared to have had only a slight impact on the global telecommunications and IT markets. After a slight dip of 0.5% in 2009, the information and communications (ICT) market will increase by 1.9% to €2.3 trillion in 2010 and by 3.7% to €2.4 trillion in 2011, according to the European Information Technology Observatory (EITO)’s forecast. The number of mobile subscribers (currently four billion) is set to reach 6 billion by 2013, and smartphones will outsell PCs by 2011, growing to over 50% of the total handset market share by the end of 2013.

    As the report highlights, the strongest growth markets are in the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India & China) countries – where in 2010 the Chinese telecom market will grow by 8% to €126 billion and the Indian market will grow by a staggering 15% to €40.5 billion. The inherent cost advantage of mVoIP may help drive and contribute towards wider proliferation of the telecoms sector for the near-term, by way of accelerated take-up among more price-sensitive consumers.

    The research group also notes that the online social networks such as Facebook and Myspace have integrated mVoIP services to offer opportunities for development of third-party applications and software, as well as multimedia content and advertising. Facebook users for example currently send one billion IMs per day.

  • CounterPath Releases Network-Based Mobile Mashup Application

    CounterPath announced the launch of NomadicPBX, claimed to be the world’s first turnkey platform for enabling converged mobile and broadband SIP voice, messaging and presence services.

    The application is a presence-based, fixed and mobile voice, and instant messaging/short message service (IM/SMS) technology mashup with a select set of enterprise-ready features.

    According to the company, NomadicPBX gives wireless carriers and mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) a cost-effective way to launch enterprise fixed-mobile convergence (FMC) services.

    It enables wireless operators and other service providers to extend their feature sets into small and medium enterprises, which currently account for one-third of all hosted VoIP deployments, according to a recent Infonetics Research survey.

    “The NomadicPBX’s network-based features let operators push deeper into the business market, creating new revenue streams and differentiating themselves based on innovative services rather than price alone,” says the company.

    Carrier customers that currently deploy CounterPath’s NCG platform and Bria client can use the NomadicPBX configuration to create services relevant to other market segments, too.

    The application uses presence for status updates and real-time management of call and message delivery across a wide variety of endpoint types, from PCs to feature phones to smartphones, all from any vendor. This flexibility means enterprises can integrate standard mobile network services into their enterprise communications architecture by leveraging their existing devices.

    Donovan Jones, President and CEO of CounterPath, said, “NomadicPBX is a game-changer that enables wireless carriers, MVNOs and other service providers to escape voice commoditization by offering a wide range of market-differentiating services that are an ideal fit for today’s increasingly mobile workforces.”

  • GIPS Enables HD Voice and One-Way Video Chat to the iPad

    Global IP Solutions announced the availability of high-definition and Super-wideband Voice as well as one-way Video Conferencing/Chat capabilities for iPad developers, powered by GIPS VideoEngine Mobile.

    According to GIPS, its VideoEngine Mobile supplies iPad developers with “a simple to integrate, high-level software API that contains the complex video conferencing/video chat capabilities into applications running on Apple’s iPad operating system.”

    As video access becomes available from Apple, GIPS VideoEngine will support two-way video chat/conferencing.

    “With over 600,000 unit sales of the iPad to date, demand for this device is clearly continuing to grow,” said GIPS’ Chief Marketing Officer Joyce Kim.

    “With the unique experience that a device like the iPad can deliver, it is imperative that the overall quality exceed all expectations and GIPS is proud to offer HD and Super HD voice and video for the iPad and other mobile devices.”

    Roopam Jain, Frost & Sullivan analyst said, “GIPS technology is becoming increasingly significant with the growth in IP traffic as it offers HD voice and video communication capabilities that adjusts dynamically to available bandwidth on Wi-Fi or cellular networks,” said.

    He added that the introduction of devices like the iPad will greatly increase wide scale voice and video communications beyond corporate boundaries.

    GIPS mobile technology is already available on the iPad, Android, iPhone, Symbian and Windows Mobile operating systems.

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  • Global IP Solutions Brings Video Chat to Android Mobiles

    Global IP Solutions, a provider of HD voice and video processing solutions, announced yesterday another first-to-market with GIPS VideoEngine for Android, which provides mobile developers the vital building blocks for integrating video conferencing/video chat into applications running Google’s Android mobile operating system.

    Mobile video application revenue is expected to double worldwide over the next four years to $2.42 billion, with much of the growth taking place this year, according to U.K.-based research firm Screen Digest.

    According to Joyce Kim, GIPS’ Chief Marketing Officer, mobile applications are becoming more and more sophisticated and by providing HD voice and video capabilities inside their applications, GIPS customers continually differentiate themselves to lead the mobile application market.

    “GIPS continues to innovate for mobile application developers by offering the ability to incorporate high-quality voice and video communications without having to worry about the complex challenges of wireless networks,” he said.

    Now with GIPS VideoEngine Mobile, developers can integrate the real-time video technology overcoming the multiple issues intrinsic to IP networks and devices. “By dealing with obstacles such as delay, packet loss, bandwidth limitations and echo; GIPS VideoEngine Mobile ensures video conversations dynamically adjust with Wi-Fi or 3G cellular network conditions maintaining great caliber video,” the company claims.

    “GIPS VideoEngine is capable of running on a wide variety of smartphone devices globally,” said Ronald Gruia, Frost & Sullivan’s Principal Analyst of Emerging Telecom.

    “Android is becoming the fastest growing operating system and with the addition of Android video support from GIPS, application developers can utilize established real-time video expertise without the need for heavy R&D investment to offer real time voice and video capabilities.”

    GIPS VideoEngine Mobile is available on Android, iPhone and Windows Mobile OS platforms.