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  • Phone.com Offers US Businesses Foreign Numbers


    Voxbone is to supply Phone.com, a hosted IP PBX provider for small businesses, with international DID (direct-inward-dial) numbers.

    The deal allows Phone.com users in the US to select telephone numbers in foreign countries that when dialled will ring to their Phone.com Virtual Office.

    An automated receptionist then asks for the called person’s extension number and completes the call.

    Such calls are local to the caller. Voxbone carries them over its managed IP network to Phone.com, which routes them to its end customer.

    Phone.com customers pay a flat monthly rate for each DID. The numbers can also be directed to ring home phones or cell phones, and to change routing by time-of-day rules.

    DIDs can be ordered for all included cities and countries through Phone.com’s self-service web site.

    Ari Rabban, CEO of Phone.com, said theVirtual Office enabled small business customers to look big by running big-company voice applications like automated attendant and conferencing.

    Voxbone leases international DID numbers and toll-free numbers via VoIP to organizations in North and South America, Europe and Asia/Pacific regions.

  • Gizmo5 Introduces Browser-Based VoIP Application


    Gizmo5 has launched a web-based VoIP app that allows users to call 800 numbers and SIP addresses for free.

    GizmoCall is Flash-based, so it only requires a browser to use the service rather than having to download a software client.

    Users go to the Web site, sign up for a username and password, and start making calls.

    The service can also accept inbound calls to the login user name, so long as the app is running in a window or browser tab.

    You can also drop one line onto a webpage to do inbound calling from GizmoCall.

    To make outbound calls, users require a GizmoCall account.

    The Adobe Flash client should work on Mac, Windows and Linux platforms.

  • OnePhone VoIP Client Coming To Blackberry


    Devoteam is to release a Blackberry version of its VoIP client OnePhone that runs on mobile platforms enabling voice calls over an IP network.

    It is expected to be available for the RIM handset in the first quarter of 2009.

    OnePhone is a SIP-based, dual mode GSM-WiFi solution that is able to interwork with public and private WiFi hot spots, and with mobile networks.

    The application, which effectively turns mobile devices into extensions of employees’ desk phones, is also being made ready for Android and the iPhone.

    Christoph Wernli, business development manager at Devoteam, told voip.biz-news that legal requirements meant the application would have to be modified to comply with Apple’s legal requirements for services such as VoIP functionality.

    That aside, he said the aim was to expand beyond the current offering for Symbian and Windows Mobile handset to provide its clients – and in particular operators – with a wider choice of devices on which OnePhone can be used.

    "What we are aiming to do is create this same kind of convergence platform for all operating systems out there," he said.

  • OnePhone Seeks To Benefit From Shift To Open-source

    smartphone.biz-news spoke to Christoph Wernli, business development manager at Devoteam, about the convergence market and the opportunities offered by open-source operating systems.

    Devoteam is to release a Blackberry version of its VoIP client OnePhone that runs on mobile platforms enabling voice calls over an IP network.

    It is expected to be available for the RIM handset in the first quarter of 2009.

    The application, which effectively turns mobile devices into extensions of employees’ desk phones, is also being made ready for Android and the iPhone.

    Christoph Wernli, business development manager at Devoteam, said the application would have to be modified to comply with Apple’s legal requirements for services such as VoIP functionality.

    That aside, he said the aim was to expand beyond the current offering for Symbian and Windows Mobile handset to provide its clients – and in particular operators – with a wider choice of devices on which OnePhone can be used.

    "What we are aiming to do is create this same kind of convergence platform for all operating systems out there," he said.

    Convergence Is The Future

    OnePhone is a SIP-based, dual mode GSM-WiFi solution that is able to interwork with public and private WiFi hot spots, and with mobile networks.

    It was first released in 2004 – before the advent of smartphones – in an internal Bluetooth version.

    Wernli said they had anticipated the growth of WiFi and sophisticated handsets, and the application had evolved for use with 3G and WiFi.

    "The vision we had is that it’s not going to be a mobile world but a converged one," he said.

    From an infrastructure access point of view, this entails a plethora of wireless options – WiFi or GSM/GPRS/UMTS.

    Wernli said this meant that a device has to be agnostic in regards to the access methods it uses.

    Devoteam had also to consider the gamut of services required for mobile devices, including:

    • Traditional voice
    • Messaging – SMS, email, instant messaging
    • Location Based Services (LBS)
    • TV
    • Video calls

    "All these should be accessible seamlessly by whatever means is available, without having to choose different WiFi access points or UMTS, if you are in the field. That should be transparent," said Wernli.

    He said OnePhone has been set up based on these requirements. As a result, it sits on top of the different stacks for accessing GSM or WiFi but beneath the user interface.

    "That means that on one hand the OnePhone is not necessarily visible to the user, but can translate any kind of user action towards different access stacks," he said.

    "So, if you place a voice call, then of course you couldn’t care less if you are in the office or in range of WiFi access or outside on GSM.

    "You place the call, OnePhone intercepts it and depending on the parameters, processes the call over GSM or, if WiFi is available, it will transform this user action into a VoIP call."

    Wernli said that ability to seamlessly communicate via the best possible wireless option at any given moment was one of the fundamental concepts of OnePhone.

    He said it was this that gave it a huge advantage over other applications that were often separate add-ons that sat on top of the user interface.

    "OnePhone is structured so that it can be used by my grandmother – it’s point and click," he said.

    Convergence Platform

    Wernli explained that behind the scenes OnePhone was a convergence platform providing voice call functions as well as others such as video calling and access to data (email, mapping etc).

    A key element was its ability to provide call continuity, switching between GSM and WiFi mid-call without calls being dropped or any loss of call quality.

    He said other solutions relied on special boxes to provide this functionality, increasing the burden on enterprises.

    "OnePhone implements the hand-over mechanism, which is entirely client-based," he said.

    "It senses when it is losing the WiFi signal and starts transferring a call over to GSM or whatever is available."

    Signal strength is continuously measured and based on a series of complex factors the application decides when it is necessary to start the hand-over procedure.

    "It’s a trade-off. On the one hand you want to remain on VoIP as long as possible because it costs less," he said.

    "On the other hand you don’t want to have dropped calls."

    Encryption Becoming Essential

    A recent feature added to OnePhone was the ability to encrypt voice calls, something that is required particularly by users handling sensitive information such as banks.

    Wernli said there was still a certain wariness that someone could eavesdrop on calls.

    "With GSM it’s usually taken for granted that no-one can drop in on your call," he said.

    "With VoIP that’s not the impression people have."

    Wernli said because Devoteam developed and controls the entire stack within the application it has the flexibilty to implement such user requests speedily – something he said was almost certainly not always the case.

    "We don’t have to tell the customer that we would like to provide this feature, but you will have to wait until someone in Microsoft or Nokia agrees," he said.

    Market Expanding

    Devoteam’s main market is currently Italy, where it has over 60,000 users but it signed up a UK operator earlier this year and is currently in talks with operators in Spain and France.

    Typically sales are to operators who are able to sell OnePhone’s mobility function as a complementary product to an IP PBX.

    Wernli said that while efforts were being focussed on the European market, they weren’t ruling out future operations in the US.

    "We have seen a lot of interest in the upper segment of the market where OnePhone is used to offer additional services to complement other corporate functions and broaden an enterprise’s offering."

    Open-source World

    Wernli said he expected the penetration of OnePhone to increase as the shift towards handsets being mobile computers rather than simple phones quickened.

    He said that in addition to improvements in hardware towards iPhone-like handsets, the shift to open-source operating systems such as Android, LiMo and iPhone was extremely positive.

    "Open-source gives so much more choice to enable new kinds of services," he said."We will see a huge explosion of applications and services in the same way we saw it on the Internet 10 years ago."

  • Smartphones To Buck Global Mobile Sales Fall


    IDC forecasts that global mobile phone shipments will fall 2.2 per cent next year, the first decline since 2001.

    However, the researchers expect smartphone sales to outperform the market next year, growing an estimated 8.9 per cent.

    This follows a 27 per cent increase in smartphone shipments this year, which helped boost worldwide growth to an estimated 7.3 per cent in 2008.

    IDC does not expect the downturn in mobile phone shipments to stretch past 2009.

    Its report states that by 2010, the worldwide mobile phone market should show signs of improvement as economic recovery plans start to take effect.

    IDC forecasts 7.7 per cent volume growth in 2010 and a return to double-digit growth in the following years.

  • Apple Devices Dominate Mobile Wi-Fi Use


    iPhone owners are the single largest source of mobile WiFi data traffic worldwide, particularly in the US and UK, according to AdMob.

    In the US, the Apple handset represents 50.6 per cent of all requests from handhelds of any kind, followed by the iPod touch, which accounts for 28 per cent of the requests.

    The best non-Apple device, Sony’s PSP, only manages 13.1 per cent of this traffic.

    Even further down the scale come the T-Mobile Dash, G1 and various BlackBerries, which each have less than one per cent of WiFi use.

    UK figures are similarly weighted and give the iPhone the lead at 46.1 per cent, followed by the iPod touch at 21.8 per cent and Nokia’s N95 at 16.7 per cent.

    The Apple device is also more than twice as likely to be used on Wi-Fi than other devices and is used 42 per cent of the time on these hotspots in the US rather than EDGE or 3G compared to no more than 10 to 20 per cent for competitors.

    In the UK, this reaches 56 per cent.

    The phone’s presence helped roughly double the use of mobile WiFi to 8 per cent in both countries between October and November.

    Increasing numbers of smartphone users are taking advantage of WiFi to make voice calls over IP networks.

  • Movial Launches HD Video Calling for PCs


    Movial has announced a new software application that offers PC-to-PC, and PC-to-Mobile HD video.

    Victor Donselaar, president of Movial, said the Communicator PC 7.2 HD video calling technology significantly reduces the CPU and bandwidth utilization compared to other technologies.

    He said this enables users to run multiple applications at the same time.

    The video technology comes complete with high-quality, high-resolution, real-time, two-way video communications and advanced voice processing technology.

    It allows tight lip-synching of video and voice, which Donselaar said allows for much more natural conversation.

    “With Movial Communicator PC 7.2, subscribers can see and talk to a person as if they were sitting in front of them,” he said.

    “With high-speed Internet connectivity more readily available and video capture and display costs decreasing, users can finally enjoy a much richer multimedia face-to-face encounter."

    Movial also announced that it has signed a deal with Cyta, the leading telecommunications company in Cyprus, which has launched an IMS PC play with its broadband telephony service bundle, powered by Communicator PC 7.2.

  • XStreamHD Beams "Blu-ray" Quality Video Direct-to-Home


    XStreamHD has successfully tested a transport system that delivers Full HD movies, music, and games directly to subscriber homes via satellite.

    The system, tested on the AMC-16 satellite at 85 degrees west ongitude, will be able to provide content throughout North America.

    XStreamHD, which first announced its plans for the innovative new satellite delivery system in January at CES 2008, had expected to launch the service in October.

    George Gonzalez, founder and CEO of XStreamHD, said today that the service will be able to deliver Full HD (1080p) content to homes, independent of Internet or cable congestion, by unlocking existing FSS (Fixed Satellite Service) capacity.

    He said the XStreamHD test had shown that the network’s could deliver Blu-ray quality video with up to 7.1 lossless channels of DTS Master Audio.

    The company is to offer its customers access to movies, HDTV, music and electronic games.

    There’s no word yet about partnerships for movies or HDTV content but as XStreamHD will be showcasing its transport system next month at the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show, more might be revealed then.

  • VUDU Brings The Web To TV


    VUDU has launched a new platform that brings Web-hosted applications and services to consumer appliances, including its own Internet movie player.

    The VUDU RIA (Rich Internet Application) platform will deliver TV shows as well as Web apps which enable users to share their photos and watch the tens of millions of YouTube videos on their HDTVs.

    The company plans to open VUDU RIA up to third party developers in the first half of 2009.

    Prasanna Ganesan, VUDU’s Chief Technical Officer, said the goal in creating the new platform was to allow anyone with Web development skills to easily author Internet-driven applications for the TV.

    "We are very pleased with the results and look forward to opening up VUDU RIA to the developer community," he said.

    VUDU says it plans to add more applications and services throughout 2009.

    Edward Lichty, executive Vice President of Strategy and Content, said VUDU RIA enabled customers to quickly open up huge libraries of web based content to TVs in living rooms around America.

    The company has created an initial set of applications and services in a new area of the VUDU home page, called VUDU Labs. It is available to all VUDU owners in the US amd has applications that include casual games, implementations of Flickr, Picasa and the entire YouTube library, as well as a new "On Demand TV" area with more than 120 channels.

    These include free on-demand shows provided by major network television and on-line specialty sites spanning news, food, music and sports.

  • Growth Strong In HD Videoconferencing and Telepresence


    A third of videoconferencing managers report that the economic crisis is likely to lead to an accelerated deployment of equipment rather than a slowdown.

    A survey from Wainhouse Research reports that customers are continuing to invest in "visual collaboration solutions", even in the current economic climate.

    It says the two largest drivers for this are travel reduction and improved decision making.

    Nearly a quarter of respondents have either deployed telepresence suites or are planning on deploying within one year.

    It’s not just full-room telepresence systems that are experiencing growth but videoconferencing solutions generally, including desktop videoconferencing applications.

    Wainhouse’s annual survey of videoconferencing end users indicates that in the past year, both interest in and purchases of more advanced visual solutions have increased dramatically.

    The results shows that 32 per cent of respondents have systems that can now support 720p HD videoconferencing.

    To support these and other unified communications applications, customers are continuing their migration to IP, with users reporting that 76 per cent of video calls now take place on an IP network – up from 66 per cent one year earlier.

    In addition, interest in integrating videoconferencing to unified communications platforms has grown significantly, according to the report.