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  • snom Makes Broadcasts Possible From VoIP Phone

    snom, a developer and manufacturer of IP phones, has developed a new audio device that will allow SIP-based VoIP telephones to be used as an extension of any public address system.

    The PA1 is an audio control system that augments the SIP-based PBX. It has a built-in four-watt amplifier that can provide enough volume to fill large rooms and open spaces with sound using easily connected external speakers. Headset connection is also possible through two 3.5mm jacks.

    According to the company, the device is ideal for broadcasting announcements or playing music, can be used anywhere from reception areas to airports reducing the costs associated with this type of system

    The PA1 can link with all SIP-based VoIP telephones and business IP PBX platforms.

    It can be power-fed either via conventional power supply unit connection or through Power-over- Ethernet (PoE). The specific addressing of individual snom PA1 control systems can be centrally configured via the device’s web interface.

    Aside of the leading SIP protocol, the snom PA1 can also be addressed via Multicast, thus enabling one transmitter to simultaneously address many receivers.

    The device can also be linked to any existing installed public address loudspeakers.

    “Even across a network of 100 metres of cabling, there is no reduction in sound quality,” said Nelly Monkhouse, Sales Manager at snom.

    The PA1 will be unveiled at CeBIT in March in Hanover, Germany.

  • What Does Nokia’s Launch of Free Navigation Mean to the Market?

    On 21 January 2010, Nokia announced that it is to make turn-by-turn navigation free with its Ovi Maps offering. The research firm Canalys claims the move is a logical one for Nokia to take, especially in light of the recent launch of Google’s free navigation solution.

    Google’s navigation currently supports only Android devices and is confined to the United States – though Canalys expects both of these limitations to be addressed this year.

    “As Google’s free solution becomes more widely available, it will inevitably have a negative impact on consumers’ willingness to pay for navigation, making it increasingly hard for application providers to charge for their solutions. Yet Nokia’s move should be viewed less as a defensive measure and more as it going on the offensive,” state Canalys.

    “It already has the necessary assets in-house, with its own navigation software, ownership of Navteq, and a huge, growing installed base of GPS-integrated smart phones. In making its own solution free now, it has a head start over Google and any other vendor that follows in every supported market except the US, giving it time to firmly associate itself with the concept of free navigation through promotional activity.”

    Canalys’ end-user research has repeatedly shown that navigation is a feature that consumers want on their mobile phones. Being the first to make global navigation free across so wide a portfolio of devices will give Nokia handsets a true value-add and help it differentiate its products in the increasingly competitive smart phone space, according to the research group.

    Alanysts predict Nokia’s free navigation announcement will not be welcomed though by all its mobile operator partners.

    “While some are happy to endorse or support services that help encourage data consumption, many offer chargeable GPS navigation services themselves, albeit with varying success outside the US, and may well be reluctant to support a move that encourages consumers to expect navigation and other mobile content and services for free, eroding potential revenue streams,” says Canalys.

    According to the analysis, Nokia’s announcement may conceivably push more operators into partnerships with third-party navigation solution providers, where navigation is bundled with the cost of a data plan, providing their own effectively free navigation solutions with an incentive for customers to sign up to data plans, while maintaining customer ownership advantages.

    “Similarly, handset competitors may consider entering into deeper, closer relationships with selected navigation software vendors to offer their own bundled or free solutions. This would minimize Nokia’s ability to use navigation as a differentiator and enable them to also take advantage of the growing consumer appetite for, and expectation of, having free navigation available on smart phones out-of-the-box,” states Canalys.

    That it may prompt operators and some of Nokia’s competitors to pay more attention to their own navigation partner relationships.

    Canalys analysts claim the most significant impact for navigation vendors will likely be the effect that a widespread Nokia advertising campaign will have on consumers and their willingness to pay for navigation.

    "All providers will come under substantial pressure to reduce prices, and few consumers will be happy to pay the kind of prices that vendors such as TomTom or Navigon are currently able to command through application stores,” thay say.

  • Truphone Brings Wi-Fi Calling to Nexus One

    After releasing VoIP enabled Truphone for Android earlier this month, Truphone today announced that it has updated the application to operate on Nexus One, which makes the company the first to provide Wi-Fi calling on Google’s device.

    In addition to compatibility with the Nexus One, the update (version 3.0.2), ensures compatibility with the T-Mobile Pulse, meaning that Truphone is now Wi-Fi compatible with a total of five Android devices (Nexus One, Puls, HTC G1, HTC Magic and HTC Hero). Compatibility with Motorola Droid is supposed to come soon.

    The Truphone for Android integrates a full VoIP engine allowing users to make free calls to Truphone, Google Talk and Skype users when both parties are in Wi-Fi, in addition to low cost calls to landlines and mobiles around the world whether they are in or out of Wi-Fi.

    It also includes fully integrated multi-headed Instant Messaging support for Skype, Google Talk, AIM, Yahoo! and MSN customers.

    The application builds on the company’s previous release which allowed customers to make low cost calls on their mobiles when out of Wi-Fi. When out of Wi-Fi, the application works by making a local GSM call to the Truphone gateway (if a customer has a bundled package of minutes this call is often free, otherwise is charged as a ‘local call’), from where the call is then routed over the Truphone network.

    Calls can be made outside of Wi-Fi using Truphone Anywhere in 33 countries around the world.

    The application is available now as a free download in the Android Market.

  • Gartner: Consumers Will Spend $6.2 Billion in Mobile Application Stores in 2010

    Consumers will spend $6.2 billion in 2010 in mobile application stores while advertising revenue is expected to generate $0.6 billion worldwide, according to market research firm Gartner.

    Analysts said mobile application stores will exceed 4.5 billion downloads in 2010, eight out of ten of which will be free to end users.

    Gartner forecasts worldwide downloads in mobile application stores to surpass 21.6 billion by 2013. Free downloads will account for 82 per cent of all downloads in 2010, and will account for 87 per cent of downloads in 2013.

    “As smartphones grow in popularity and application stores become the focus for several players in the value chain, more consumers will experiment with application downloads,” said Stephanie Baghdassarian, research director at Gartner.

    “Games remain the No. 1 application, and mobile shopping, social networking, utilities and productivity tools continue to grow and attract increasing amounts of money.”

    The research shows worldwide mobile application stores’ download revenue exceeded $4.2 billion in 2009 and will grow to $29.5 billion by the end of 2013.

    This revenue forecast includes end-user spending on paid-for applications and advertising-sponsored free applications. Advertising-sponsored mobile applications will generate almost 25 per cent of mobile application stores revenue by 2013.

    According to Carolina Milanesi, research director at Gartner, application stores will be a core focus throughout 2010 for the mobile industry and applications themselves will help determine the winner among mobile devices platforms.

    “Consumers will have a wide choice of stores and will seek the ones that make it easy for them to discover applications they are interested in and make it easy to pay for them when they have to. Developers will have to consider carefully not only which platform to support but also which store to promote their applications in,” she said.

    High-end smartphone users today tend to be early adopters of new mobile applications and more trustful of billing mechanisms, so they will pay for applications that can meet their needs, as Gartner claims.

    Analysts think average smartphone users will become less tech-savvy as smartphones come down in price to have a mass market appeal and these users will be more reluctant to pay for applications.

  • 3 Scandinavia Launches World’s First 84Mbps HSPA Network

    Danish and Swedish consumers can look forward to four times faster mobile broadband as operator 3‘s network speeds leap from 21Mbps to 84Mbps.

    To improve coverage, the upgrade will be complemented by a new 900MHz 3G network, the first in Sweden, supplied and supported by Ericsson.

    The three-year contract between Ericsson and 3 includes the HSPA Evolution capacity upgrade of its existing 3G network, via 42Mbps, to 84Mbps plus a new WCDMA/HSPA radio access network on the 900MHz frequency band.

    In addition, Ericsson is providing IP-based optical and microwave backhaul, and support services.

    Nationwide rollout in Denmark and four major cities in Sweden will start in the first quarter of 2010.

    Peder Ramel, CEO at 3 Scandinavia, said: "We were the first to launch turbo 3G in the Nordic region and now we are first signing up for the world’s fastest 3G.”

    “Ericsson is evolving our network so we can meet these demands and give our customers true connectivity, wherever they are – from city office to country cottage," he added.

    3 Scandinavia is a part of the global 3 group (25 million customers in 10 countries), a joint venture between Hutchison Whampoa Ltd in Hong Kong (60 %) and Investor AB in Stockholm (40 %). The company also holds a license to operate a 3G network in Norway.

  • XConnect Offers Trial of High-Definition Calling

    XConnect announced a trial of the first IP peering federation specifically for service providers capable of offering high-definition voice services.

    The trial, open to qualified operators, waives sign-up and monthly fees for its April-June duration. “Multiple providers using the G.722 wideband codec will be able to test the interoperability, scalable interconnection, reliability and support of XConnect federation services,” says the company.

    High-definition voice is being adopted increasingly by fixed, mobile and Web 2.0 telecom service providers, as it delivers a much richer audio experience than the PSTN makes possible.

    Using wideband codecs, HD achieves a wider frequency range, providing almost the clarity of face-to-face conversation.

    However, for HD to work across networks, the entire call path and endpoints themselves must support high definition. According to Eli Katz, XConnect CEO, the mass-market adoption of high-definition voice and other new IP services demands “trusted, scalable cross-network interconnection.”

    “Service providers are eager for a solution. We look forward to working with the industry to help bring the benefits of HD voice to these operators and the consumer and enterprise markets they serve,” he said.

    Jeff Rodman, Polycom co-founder and CTO, said, “Because voice is the most critical way that we communicate, the significantly improved sound quality of HD voice is an important step in making communication clearer and more effective.”

    Trial participants will form a private peering community under the Private Alliance feature of XConnect’s Global Alliance, which combines ENUM-registry and multimedia interconnection hub services. Supporting multiple protocols and codecs, the Global Alliance enables new IP services, including HD voice, to be delivered across networks.

  • Nokia to Offer Free Turn-by-Turn Navigation

    Nokia makes walk and drive navigation free on its smartphones. Starting today, the company offers a new version of Ovi Maps that includes turn-by-turn navigation with voice guidance for 74 countries, in 46 languages, and traffic information for more than 10 countries, as well as detailed maps for more than 180 countries and 6000 3D landmarks for 200 cities around the world.

    The important news is that there is no network connection required when navigating: earlier pre-loaded on to the phone, the maps also work in offline mode, which means users don’t have to be worried about international roaming costs when traveling. That should also extend battery life.

    This game-changing move has the potential to nearly double the size of the current mobile navigation market and makes Nokia the only company with a mobile navigation service for both drivers and pedestrians that works across the world.

    "Why have multiple devices that work that work in only one country or region? Put it all together, make it free, make it global and you almost double the potential size of the mobile navigation market," explained Anssi Vanjoki, Executive Vice President at Nokia.

    "The large-scale availability of free-of-charge mobile phone navigation offerings using high-quality map data will be a game changer for the navigation industry," said Thilo Koslowski, Vice President Automotive and Vehicle ICT at Gartner.

    "Such offerings will accelerate mass market adoption for navigation solutions and shift innovation focus to location-based services that go beyond traditional routing benefits."

    For Nokia, removing the costs associated with navigation for drivers and pedestrians allows the company to quickly activate a massive user base to which it can offer new location features, content and services.

    Nokia says this is part of its strategy to lead the market in mobile maps, navigation and location-based services. The move is also in line with Nokia’s vision that the next wave of growth will be centered on the location-aware, social internet — as the ‘where’ people are doing things becomes as important as the ‘what’ they are doing.

    According to research firm Canalys, the number of people worldwide using GPS navigation on their mobile phones was approximately 27 million at the end of 2009. With this announcement Nokia potentially grows the size of this installed user base to about 50 million by enabling smartphone owners, with compatible devices and devices that will be made compatible shortly to activate free drive and walk navigation through a simple download of the new Ovi Maps.

    Nokia will further grow this base as it adds more smartphones to the compatible devices list.

    Canalys also estimated in 2009 that the installed base of smartphones with integrated GPS was 163 million units worldwide, of which Nokia accounted for more than half (51%) having shipped cumulatively 83 million GPS devices.

    "By adding cameras at no extra cost to our phones we quickly became the biggest camera manufacturer in the world. The aim of the new Ovi Maps is to enable us to do the same for navigation," adds Vanjoki.

    Ovi Maps is immediately available for download for 10 Nokia handsets (including N97 mini, 5800 XpressMusic and E72), with more Nokia smartphones expected to be added in the coming weeks.

    The company informed that from March 2010, new Nokia GPS-enabled smartphones will include the new version of Ovi Maps, pre-loaded with local country map data, with walk and drive navigation and access to Lonely Planet and Michelin travel guides at no extra cost.

  • Dialogic to Provide “Any-to-Any” PBX Connectivity for SIP Trunking

    Dialogic announced that it has entered into an agreement with Ingate Systems and says this allows them to incorporate the SIP Trunking software module from Ingate into a new enterprise border element designed to connect virtually any SIP trunk with virtually any PBX, to facilitate seamless SIP trunk deployments in legacy TDM and hybrid PBX environments, as well as new SIP-based PBX systems.

    “PBX’s are transitioning from the traditional TDM PBX’s to hybrid PBX’s, IP-PBXs, and Unified Communications solutions creating a heterogeneous TDM/SIP trunk environment and there is a significant opportunity to provide connectivity and security between public and private networks,” said Franz-Josef Eberle, Vice President and General Manager for the Enterprise Market Group at Dialogic.

    The Ingate SIP Trunking software module provides enterprise session border control along with the routing capabilities necessary to connect SIP trunks to enterprise networks and branch offices by employing Ingate’s proxy-based traversal and security technology.

    The SIP Trunking software also is designed to resolve interoperability issues between service providers’ SIP services and the SIP-based systems being deployed inside corporate data networks today.

    Dialogic’s media gateway technologies provide the protocols and interfaces necessary to connect with a wide variety of legacy telephony equipment and networks, both TDM and IP.

    Dialogic says its new enterprise border element will combine the functions normally found in a media gateway and an enterprise session border controller into a single product. “The result will be a solution that is designed to connect virtually any trunk with virtually any PBX, thus helping to resolve the connectivity issues with the heterogeneous environment,” says the company.

    According to Steven Johnson, President of Ingate Systems, the Dialogic solution will open the opportunity of a rapid return on investment to enterprises with mixed PBX environments, including those using traditional PBXs.

    Dialogic plans to make a first set of enterprise border elements available later this year with product configurations offering SIP trunking legacy PBX connectivity via PRI/E1/T1 and ISDN BRI.

  • Skype’s On-Net International Traffic Growing Fast

    New data from TeleGeography show that the growth of international telephone traffic has slowed, while Skype’s growth has accelerated.

    Over the past 25 years, international call volume from telephones has grown at a compounded annual rate of 15 percent. In the past two years, however, international telephone traffic annual growth has slowed to only 8 percent, growing from 376 billion minutes in 2008 to an estimated 406 billion minutes in 2009, according to recent TeleGeography research.

    The deep recession has had a marked impact on many routes. "Demand for international voice has been remarkably robust, but it’s clearly not recession-proof," said TeleGeography analyst Stephan Beckert.

    “While international telephone traffic growth has slowed, Skype’s traffic has soared,” he added.

    Skype’s on-net international traffic (between two Skype users) grew 51 percent in 2008, and is projected to grow 63 percent in 2009, to 54 billion minutes. That means that about 13 percent of international calls are made on Skype.

    "The volume of traffic routed via Skype is tremendous. Skype is now the largest provider of cross border communications in the world, by far," said Beckert.

    He claims that the proliferation of alternatives to telephone calls—including Skype for mobile devices, and Google’s gradual entry into the voice market—will present ever greater challenges to international carriers.

  • Richard Shockey Named New Board Chairman of SIP Forum

    The SIP Forum, an IP communications industry association that engages in numerous activities that promote and advance SIP-based technology, has announced the recent re-election of industry veteran and VoIP pioneer Richard Shockey to the Board of Directors, and the election of Shockey as new Board Chairman.

    Additionally, the Forum has re-elected Dr. Eric Burger to the Board of Directors and named him Chairman Emeritus, and elected Dr. Alan Johnston to the Board.

    Richard Shockey, founder of Shockey Consulting, is an industry veteran with a decades-long and distinguished track record in helping shape numerous technical standards that have become the foundation for today’s SIP-based next generation network infrastructure and application ecosystem.

    Richard Shockey

    He served as a Director and Member of Neustar Inc.’s Technical Staff, which provides a number of critical services to the communications industry including the administration of all telephone numbers in North America, management of the wireline and wireless Number Portability Administration, number pooling, and OSS products for carriers.

    “I look forward to continuing to build on the solid foundation left by my predecessor, Dr. Eric Burger, and ensuring the successful completion of the important work in progress in the SIPconnect, Fax-over-IP and User Agent Configuration task groups. I also look forward to expanding the work of the SIP Forum into new and exciting industry sectors, including Smart Grid and Unified Communications,” said Shockey.

    Rejoining the SIP Forum Board of Directors, Dr. Alan Johnston brings nearly two decades of industry experience. He has been involved with SIP and VoIP since the mid-1990s, helping to spearhead the development and adoption of SIP and VoIP in both the service provider and enterprise markets.

    Alan Johnston

    He served as an architect on the first enterprise SIP VoIP product in the U.S. as a Distinguished Technical Member at MCI.

    He co-authored the SIP protocol specification RFC 3261 and edited the Basic and PSTN call flows Best Current Practices documents, RFC 3665 and RFC 3666, along with additional RFCs. He has also worked on SIP Service Examples, Peer-to-Peer SIP and security, and co-authored the ZRTP protocol.

    He is currently a Consulting Member of the Technical Staff of Avaya.

    “As SIP approaches critical mass in the market, the SIP Forum continues to play a significant role breaking down the barriers to true interoperability between vendors, platforms, applications and more,” said Johnston.

    “This highly respected organization is shaping the future of how companies, customers and users communicate, and I am honored to be rejoining the board.”