Business News Holding

Category: voip

  • FCC Inquiry Into Comcast


    The departing Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman Kevin Martin announced another investigation is to be launched into Comcast shortly before leaving his post.

    The regulatory agency is to focus on allegations that Comcast is deliberately downgrading its rivals’ phone services.

    Among those whose sound quality is said to have been affected are Vonage and Skype, competitors of Comcast’s own VOIP service.

    The FCC has ordered Comcast to reply to the inquiry by 30 January.

    Comcast has responded by saying it has "fully complied" with the FCC’s so-called congestion-management practices and that it is "reviewing the FCC staff’s letter".

    Julius Genachowski is expected to be named as the next head of the FCC.

  • Skype and IBM collaborate on LotusLive


    Skype has announced that it is to integrate Skype functionality with IBM’s LotusLive.

    The new cloud services from IBM are designed to help individuals build communities to work more effectively and efficiently across and beyond their own companies.

    Effectively, Skype’s voice and video calling adds real-time communications capabilities to LotusLive.

    Employees of companies using LotusLive will be able to use Skype to initiate voice and video calls by clicking on their contacts’ Skype names or phone numbers within LotusLive.

    Future possibilities include the ability to import Skype contact information into IBM cloud services to enhance online collaboration.

    Scott Durchslag, Skype’s chief operating officer, said the collaboration showed how serious Skype is about bringing the benefits of ‘anytime, anywhere, any mode’ Internet communications to the enterprise environment.

  • XO Communications Names Wagner As New Head of Business Services


    Daniel Wagner has been appointed head of XO Communications’ Business Services unit.

    The appointment, which is effective immediately, will see Wagner focus on accelerating the division’s profitability and revenue growth.

    Key to this is expected to be the intergration of new and different approaches to delivering voice, data, converged and managed services for businesses and enterprises.

    Wagner is an industry veteran, including fourteen years of combined experience at Global Crossing and Frontier Communications.

    Dan Wagner, XO Communications

    Most recently, he served as Global Crossing’s executive vice president of Enterprise and Collaboration Services.

    He also played a significant role in Global Crossing’s Regional Direct Sales, Government Services, Collaboration Services, Indirect Channels and Sales Engineering divisions.

    He is credited with increasing sales productivity and customer-focus, streamlining business processes and developing a metrics-driven culture.

    Wagner also holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Cornell University.

    XO’s Business Services group recently installed VoIP services at a milestone 15,000 businesses and continues to develop its Session Initiation Protocol trunking solution – XO SIP.

    In 2008, XO Communications secured USD $780 million in financing.

  • MyGlobalTalk Adds Symbian And Android – Apple Next?


    i2Telecom has announced that its MyGlobalTalk service is now available for the Symbian S60 operating system.

    The service has just been approved for inclusion on Android’s Marketplace and has been submitted for approval on the iPhone App Store.

    The US company’s MyGlobalTalk is an advanced mobile VoIP application that targets the wireless handset market.

    Symbian is used in mobile phone devices built by Nokia, Samsung and other mobile phone manufacturers.

    Paul Arena, i2Telecom’s chairman and CEO, said MyGlobalTalk will provide Symbian customers with a first-rate calling experience at a fraction of the cost of traditional long-distance calls.

    "We are pleased with initial sign-up rates for the application, and we are offering 20 minutes of free calling for new MyGlobalTalk customers that download the application from the MOSH website," he said.

    MyGlobalTalk is internally developed patent-pending mobile VoIP technology.

    Approval to Apple’s iPhone App Store would be a major step for i2Telecom if the sales success of other third-party apps is anything to go by.

  • Choice of VoIP iPhone Apps Growing


    The options for VoIP calling on the iPhone are expected to continue expanding with both Skype and Truphone expected to join a growing list of VoIP apps for the Apple handset.

    Truphone already provides an app for the iPhone which enables users to make low-priced international calls via the GSM network even when the smartphone is not connected to the Wi-Fi network.

    But the company announced at the recent Macworld 2009 that callers will soon be able to use Truphone to make and receive Skype calls and instant message.

    Not to be left out, Skype itself announced at CES that it is also developing a native client for the iPhone.

    The subsidiary of eBay said that a version of its Internet calling and instant-messaging software is available for Google’s Android cell phone platform as a free download – and an iPhone Skype program is expected shortly.

    Fring also has an app that you make Skype calls using the iPhone.

    Keep them coming?

  • Cisco Preparing 320Mbps Cable Modem With VoIP


    Cisco is developing a 320Mbps cable modem – the DPC3212.

    It will be one of the first to use the DOCSIS 3.0 standard to pass 300Mbps.

    Equipped with a new Broadcom chip, it joins eight – rather than four – cable channels together to reach the maximum speed.

    Capable of 120Mbps upstream, the cable modem lets Internet providers ramp up speeds progressively by limiting how many channels are used until the network can handle the load.

    The DPC3212 also carries space for two lines on cable providers with VoIP service.

    The network hardware producer expects to submit the DPC3212 to CableLabs for approval before the spring.

    It would then be available by mid-2010.

    The technology should lead to increased speeds for DOCSIS 3 services.

    Services such as Comcast’s in the US currently tops out at 50Mbps but upgrades to modems and the network could see them reach 160Mbps.

  • TringMe Combines Voice with PHP


    TringMe has announced a method of marrying VoIP with PHP – VoicePHP.

    The Bangalore, India-based startup, describes VoicePHP as an extension of PHP that now outputs voice instead of text and also takes input as voice instead of text.

    Other approaches to combining web applications with voice include using Voice XML or Adobe’s Flash.

    TringMe said VoicePHP is intended to do the same things as VoiceXML, but by adopting the familiar PHP programming methology.

    This enables it to remain attractive to the numerous PHP-proficient developers and ensure a stream of voice applications.

    Essentially, with VoicePHP there’s no need to learn a new markup language, tags, or attributes associated with VoiceXML.

    Widely and freely available tools for developing, debugging PHP can be continued to use with VoicePHP.

    It also means that an application written in VoicePHP can be accessed via Flash, instant messenger, Mobile VoIP clients or even conventional phone lines.

    This gives TringMe an advantage over rivals.

    It should also enable the start-up to generate revenue as VoicePHP grows popular and more web-voice application developers use its VoIP platform.

  • Motorola Unveils Router That Combines WiMAX, Wi-Fi and VoIP Connectivity


    Motorola has released an all-in-one access point that combines WiMAX, Wi-Fi and VoIP, along with an Ethernet port.

    The wi4 WiMAX CPEi 775 is a WiMAX 802.16e modem with an integrated Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g router, VoIP ATA ports for voice calling, and an Ethernet port.

    Unveiled at the Consumer Electronics show in Las Vegas, this is the second generation for the router.

    Motorola said the CPEi 775 follows the award winning CPEi 850.

    The company said that by incorporating adaptive switching techniques, the CPEi 775 does not need to be rotated for optimal signal strength, allowing easier installation.

    With some of the most advanced antenna designs available today, Motorola claims the CPEi 775 sets new standards for device transmit power and receive sensitivity — two factors that have a big impact on a network operator’s bottom line, and the number of cells required to provide coverage.

    Charles Riggle, senior director of strategy and business development, WiMAX devices, Motorola Home & Networks Mobility, said service providers are looking for ways to leverage the speed and performance of WiMAX for more advanced services as mobile WiMAX networks proliferate globally.

    "It takes considerable know-how to put two different radio technologies together in a single package with internal antennas and not suffer from interference or degraded throughput," he said.

    "With the CPEi 775, we are able to provide high performance in a very attractive form factor."

  • Slower Growth Expected In IP Contact Center Market


    Global economic problems will cause a slowdown in spending in the IP contact center (IPCC) market in 2009, according to Infonetics Research.

    The communications market research firm reports that while the overall Unified Communications and IPCC markets will experience a downturn, the IPCC and communicator segments will weather the economic downturn better than others.

    Infonetics said sales of UC products ended mixed in 2008, with unified messaging platform sales up and communicator software sales flat.

    Matthias Machowinski, analyst, Infonetics Research

    Overall, the IPCC market finished 2008 up 37 per cent over 2007, with many vendors reporting robust sales, particularly in Asia Pacific.

    Worldwide, businesses bought USD $851 million in IP contact center equipment in 2008, up 37 per cent from USD $622 million in 2007, based on the report.

    The 2008 numbers are based on actual sales numbers for the first half of the year and projections for the second half.

    Current economic conditions make repeating this level of activity virtually impossible.

    Matthias Machowinski, Infonetics Research’s directing analyst for enterprise voice and data, said the communicator market continues to be fluid.

    He said growth was not yet following established patterns and market share positions were shifting one period to the next as PBX vendors battle each other and Microsoft.

    "It’s an exciting market to watch, and one that should thrive in 2009, even as the overall enterprise telephony market declines due to the economic environment," he said.

    "Similarly, the IPCC market will slow down in 2009, but should do relatively well as customers find IP contact centers, self service, and automation cost effective ways to deliver on customer service."

    Other report highlights:

    • In 1H08, over a million IPCC seats were sold worldwide
    • Avaya still leads the IPCC market by far in 1H08, but lost share to Cisco and Alcatel-Lucent
    • Nortel takes the lead in unified messaging license market share in 1H08, while Avaya maintains its lead in revenue market share; Cisco is now a close 3rd for both

  • fring Mobile VoIP Gets WinMo Approval


    Microsoft has awarded fring’s mobile VoIP application its “Designed for Window Mobile” certification.

    The approval is the latest for fring, which has been working to develop its popular IM/ VOIP application for different platforms.

    In October, fring was approved by Apple for use on its iPhone and iPod devices.

    The company has also released a new version of fring for Windows Mobile devices (version 3.34), including Sony Ericsson’s new Xperia multimedia device.

    New features include the ability to send files over IP to fring, Skype, MSN and Yahoo contacts at the touch of a button.

    Navigation has been improved with a new ‘Go- To menu’, ‘Privacy’, and ‘Joystick-In’ settings, while Add-ons have been extended and improved and can be managed more easily through a new Add-Ons Management screen.

    Fring for Windows Mobile also allows HTC users to use earpieces for extra privacy.

    The application is available to to download from fring now.