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  • SecureLogix Offers Free VoIP Security Tool


    SecureLogix Corporation has announced that its releasing a free suite of custom Voice-over-IP (VoIP) security assessment tools.

    Downloadable from the company’s Web site, the tools can be used to assess susceptibility to a wide variety of SIP threats, including Denial-of-Service (DoS) and Man-in-the-Middle attacks, eavesdropping, audio insertion and deletion, and even call teardown.

    Earlier versions of some of these tools, developed by Mark Collier, SecureLogix’s CTO and VP of engineering and R&D team member Mark O’Brien, were released along with publication of the book Hacking Exposed: VoIP, which Collier co-authored.

    Collier and his team have enhanced these tools and simplified their use.

    They have also developed a number of others while completing publicly funded research into current and future threats to VoIP systems, protocols and application services.

    These new VoIP security assessment tools compliment the company’s voice network security scanner that identifies modem vulnerabilities in traditional circuit-switched networks, also available for free download from the SecureLogix website.

    Almost all organizations deploying VoIP maintain a significant amount of legacy voice infrastructure, especially at the voice network edge where it connects to long distance service providers.

    The combination of these VoIP and legacy scanning tools provides a comprehensive approach to identifying critical voice security vulnerabilities across an organization’s entire mix of VoIP and legacy infrastructure and systems.

    Collier said this full voice network security approach was unique to SecureLogix.

  • Intel to help VoIP virtualisation


    New CPUs from Intel based on the upcoming Nehalem core architecture will improve VoIP virtualisation.

    The new processors will be targetted at the virtualisation and communications sectors, according to a report in Comms Dealer.

    Intel has released some new details of its upcoming CPU range, including its new Xeon 7400, claiming a 40 per cent performance in Hyper-V performance in VMWare tests.

    Virtualisation – running multiple operating systems on one server – can reduce the hardware footprint and increase power efficiency.

    However Comms Dealers said many IT managers are reluctant to virtualise business critical applications like VoIP and unified communications, citing reliability and performance concerns.

    It said the new processor family also includes significant improvements to instruction sets for handling multimedia.

    Intel claims that these will enable high definition video conferencing using the H.264 codec on laptops.

  • Europe's VoIP Services Growing Rapidly


    VoIP services in Europe are growing at a blistering pace and reshaping the fixed-line market, according to a report from TeleGeography.

    Consumer IP telephony subscribers reached 25.3 million at year-end 2007, up from 15 million in 2006, and only 6.5 million in 2005.

    As a result, revenues were projected to top USD $5.7 billion in 2008, up from USD $4.2 billion in 2007.

    Prices for triple play service in the US are approximately 70 per cent higher than in Europe, which accounts for VoIP adoption in Europe growing far faster than in the US.

    While customers continue to flock to VoIP services, market penetration in the 13 countries surveyed varies greatly.

    France leads the way in adoption of VoIP, as TeleGeography estimates that 42 per cent of the population has a VoIP line, while Spain’s VoIP uptake is only 2 per cent.

    All adoption statistics are based on fixed-line replacement VoIP installation, excluding VoIP soft clients like Skype.

    Skype has more subscribers in Europe than any individual provider of handset-based VoIP services, but the revenues and traffic volumes generated by Skype’s subscribers are lower and have a much smaller impact on incumbent’s revenues.

    Expect continued strong growth in VoIP revenue in Europe, as there are several large markets with low penetration currently, including Austria and Spain.

    TeleGeography’s European VoIP & Triple-Play Research Service is the authoritative source of data on consumer VoIP services and service providers in western Europe.

  • Security Boost to TiVi Phone Mobile VoIP Software


    Tilts Visiem (TiVi) says it will be offering an “unbreakable” level of caller authentication and voice and video encryption in its mobile VoIP software client "TiVi Phone" after linking up with Philip R Zimmermann’s Zfone Project.

    The newer versions of TiVi Phone have a Phil Zimmermann’s ZRTP software library built in upon a commercial licence agreement between Tilts Visiem and Zfone.

    TiVi said this meant users enjoyed better privacy when using the mobile version of the software.

    The SIP-based application is downloadable from TiVi.com and usable in a 3-day trial mode, however permanent activation of the encryption feature requires purchasing a software key.

    Ivo Kutts, CEO and co-founder of Tilts Visiem, said TiVi Phone bundled with ZRTP was unique for several reasons.

    • it’s inexpensive in comparison to all known alternatives and older technologies
    • it’s easy to install and run by any smartphone owner
    • it’s one of the first encrypting VoIP applications for mobile phones.

    Kutts said that, in addition, ZRTP cryptography offered the ultimate protection against eavesdropping and identity spoofing during a VoIP call.

    "Zfone is the leading light in today’s secure VoIP communications because its algorithms and source code – developed by Phil Zimmermann and his colleagues – are publicly available and open to peer review,” he said. “This contrasts with the unverifiable security claims by Skype."

    Tilts Visiem’s VoIP/messenger products first appeared on the international market in 2003 in the PC version.

    In 2006, the company added mobile VoIP clients for Symbian, Windows Mobile and Pocket PC platforms, already including free, IP-based video calling.

    The TiVi VoIP solutions, intended for next-generation networks, are sold to integrators and competitive carriers in Europe, Asia and North America.

    The ZRTP protocol has some cryptographic features lacking in many other approaches to VoIP encryption.

    Although it uses a public key algorithm, it avoids the complexity of a public key infrastructure (PKI).

    It uses ephemeral Diffie-Hellman, and allows the detection of man-in-the-middle (MiTM) attacks by displaying a short authentication string for the users to verbally compare over the phone.

    The TiVi team had been looking for an industry-leading cryptography solution for several years before it met PGP’s author Zimmermann at San Jose’s VON 2007 event.

    Specialists in proprietary and interoperable VoIP billing solutions and end-user software, they said they were particularly aware of the imminent switchover to internet telephony and the proportionally growing demand for secure VoIP communications.

    This meant that more and more businesses and individuals realise the need to protect their legitimate interests and privacy, since unencrypted voice or video calls transmitted over the public internet can be intercepted by a variety of third parties.

    Phil Zimmerman said that as users transitioned from traditional phones to VoIP, there was a dramatically increased risk of being wiretapped by just about anyone, including criminals who seem to have their way with the rest of the Internet today.

    “TiVi Phone can protect individuals, companies, and government officials from eavesdropping by criminals,” he said.

  • Skype For Asterisk Version Announced


    Skype and Digium, creator and primary developer of Asterisk, the open source telephony platform, have announced the beta version of Skype For Asterisk.

    The move will allow the integration of Skype functionality into Digium’s Asterisk software and enable customers to make, receive and transfer Skype calls from within their Asterisk phone systems.

    Stefan Öberg, vice president and general manager for Skype Telecom and Skype for Business, said: “Throughout our individual histories, Skype and Asterisk have each disrupted conventional communication methods through innovative, cost-effective solutions.

    “We are excited to be working together with Digium to offer small and mid-sized businesses an even more powerful communications solution to conduct business worldwide.”

    Specifically, the beta version of Skype For Asterisk is an add-on channel driver module that integrates Skype Internet calling with Asterisk-based telephony products.

    Skype For Asterisk also complements small and mid-sized business users’ existing services by providing low rates for calling landline and mobile phones around the world.

    Danny Windham, CEO of Digium, said: “Working together with Skype, our goal is to help businesses boost productivity and reap the rewards of feature-rich telephony software, all while saving a substantial amount of money.

    “The Skype For Asterisk beta program is a first step towards adding Skype capabilities to Asterisk-based phone systems and enabling them to reach more than 338 million Skype users.”

    The beta version of Skype For Asterisk will enable business users to:

    • Make, receive and transfer Skype calls from within Asterisk phone systems, using existing hardware.
    • Complement existing services with low Skype global rates (as low as 2.1US¢ per minute to more than 35 countries worldwide).
    • Save money on inbound calling solutions such as free click-to-call from a website, as well as receive inbound calling from the PSTN through Skype’s online numbers.
    • Manage Skype calls using Asterisk applications such as call routing, conferencing, phone menus and voicemail.

    Following the beta period when the product is released, Skype For Asterisk will be sold and distributed by Digium and its worldwide network of resellers.

  • Why Isn't VoIP Videoconferencing Taking Off?

    Voip.biz-news.com spoke to Huw Rees, VP of marketing and sales at Internet-based voice and video telephony company 8×8, to get his feedback on VoIP videoconferencing as a corporate communication tool.
    In these times of budget cuts and soaring travel costs, videoconferencing has been hailed as an effective means of communicating with far-flung employees and customers.

    Companies such as Cisco TelePresence, HP Halo and Lifesize have invested heavily in videoconferencing – or telepresence – technology and offer a range of HD products, some of which cost upwards USD $100,000.

    While these studio-type devices are beyond the range of small businesses, there are an increasing number of affordable desktop IP-based videoconferencing systems on the market.

    With early problems of video quality now overcome, VoIP videoconferencing products would seem to be an ideal corporate communication tool.

    Although more geared to two or three-way conference calls – rather than larger groups – they a provide clear, face-to-face visual link.
    Yet these easy to use, low-cost alternatives have still to catch on.

    Internet-based voice and video telephony company 8×8 introduced its videoconferencing solution, the Packet8 Virtual Office Tango Video Terminal Adapter (VTA), in January.

    However, Huw Rees, vice president of marketing and sales at 8×8, said so far it had not proved to be very popular.
    He said it had been adopted by around 5 per cent of subscribers.

    “It’s not really a runaway success,” he said. “Generally people do not use video to phone a lot of people.

    “They are still a bit unconfortable being in front of a camera rather than having a straight audio call.”

    Headquarted in Santa Clara, California, 8×8 is the second largest stand alone VoIP service provider in the US.

    Benefits Of  Videoconferencing?



    Rees said that, apart from in specific circumstances, business people didn’t see any benefit from using video.
    “We believe that will change, but we have been saying that for several years and haven’t seen it yet,” he said.

    Rees said that he remained to be convinced that even the expensive room systems with giant HD screens were realy going to catch on.

    “Presumably these companies have done their research but it will be interesting to see what happens,” he said.

    “There are certain circumstances where these set-ups work, such as when a business has two teams involved on a project in different parts of the country. But this is very specific.”

    Rees said the VTA, which has a built-in TFT LCD 5” display, has been adapted from an existing consumer product for its business customers.

    He said the main difference was that it was an extension on a PBX rather than being a stand-alone device.

    A phone is supplied with the package, with features such as call transferring built into it.

    Video Quality Not An Issue

    Joan Citelli, direct of corporate communications for 8×8, said video quality had been poor in the early days of IP-based videoconferencing but that was not the case today.

    “Quality is not an issue any longer,” she said. “Videoconferencing does seem to make a lot of sense and you would think that it would allow companies to cut down on commuting and travelling.

    “But it seems that seeing someone on a phone call is not a replacement for meeting and sitting down with them.”

    Have you used a desktop videoconferencing package? We would be interested to hear your comments on videoconferencing and whether it is going to catch on with small business users.

  • Strategy For HDMI Success Now Being Applied to Wireless HD

    Wireless High Definition Special: In the second of our articles looking at the competing next generation wireless high definition TV systems hdtv.biz-news.com spoke to John LeMoncheck, president and CEO of SiBEAM, and a leading member of the WirelessHD (WiHD) consortium.

    Before assuming his current role as president and CEO of SiBEAM in 2006, John LeMoncheck, was vice president of Silicon Image’s consumer electronics and PC/display business.

    In that position, he led the company’s efforts to promote the worldwide adoption of HDMI.

    Since joining SiBEAM, a high-speed wireless applications business, LeMoncheck has been at the forefront of its endeavors to develop WiHD technology it expects to transform the wireless landscape.

    He said he had adopted a similar strategy with WiHD as he had done when he pulled together the HDMI standard, which now has almost a billion installed links worldwide.

    “I called up my HDMI buddies and said let’s do this, but wirelessly,” he said.

    WiHD replaces HDMI wires with radio links and is designed to handle HDTV video streams between AV equipment.

    LeMoncheck said the need for wireless connections was becoming essential as more HDTV manufacturers produced super-thin panels for hanging on walls.

    He said WiHD had enough bandwidth – more than 4 Gbits/s – to ensure “perfect, lossless uncompressed video”.

    Picture Delays Avoided


    This meant there were no memory, compression or latency issues – essentially delays which can cause sluggishness in gaming or even when changing of channel.

    Coupled with this, the technology had a low rate back channel which enabled activities such as pictures to be moved around while still satisfying the “big pipe” to the display.

    LeMoncheck said SiBeam had taken the decision to change the fundamental frequency it worked with to 60 GHz.

    He said they had done this rather than adopting the “apple polishing tricks” of rival wireless technologies, which he said suffered from an “obvious loss of quality”.

    However, he said one factor that had limited the 60 GHz technology’s mass appeal was that it depended on a clear line of site between devices.

    Beam-steer Fixes Broken Signal

    This had been overcome by developing a technique to beam-steer the signal by bouncing it off walls.

    He said the technology was now omni-directional – allowing it to detect all available devices – and then direct data to the receiver as a tight beam of energy with only micro-second delays if the beam was interfered with.

    “If you walk in with a new device, it will get added to the network of devices,” he said. “To the user it feels like an omni-directional radio – you don’t have to position it to make sure it works.”

    As well as SiBEAM, members of the WirelessHD consortium include industry leaders such as Intel, LG, Matsushita, NEC, Samsung, Sony and Toshiba.

    But it was also important to have the confidence of Hollywood and last month WiHD announced that a content protection scheme for the transmission of wireless high definition content had been released by the Digital Transmission Licensing Administrator and approved by major film studios.

    High Cost Factor

    Another problem encountered in the WiHD technology was the high cost of transceiver circuits.

    This has been tackled by using a radio frequency (RF) integrated circuit (IC) manufactured with complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology.

    GaAs technology is commonly used in millimeter-wave transceiver circuits, making it hard to lower costs.

    The use of general-purpose CMOS technology is expected to lower costs to about the level of the costs of wireless LAN.

    SiBEAM is the key driver in chipping the CMOS RF transceiver and in January this year it announced the world’s first WiHD chipset.

    LeMoncheck said this was very small and simple to integrate.

    He said if it was possible for manufacturers to add the chip solution to, for instance HDTVs, for the same cost as a 10m cable then it was a “no-brainer”.

    “It’s a strategic gain for them as they are gaining from the cable dollars that they would not have got before,” he said.

    Potential Uses Are Vast

    LeMoncheck said future uses, once a single chip solution was perfected, would allow it to be put, for instance, on the back of a camcorder.

    He said the PC world was also very interested in wireless docking giving access to displays, printers and so on.

    “There are a lot of different devices that this can go into,” he said. “That’s our other key advantage – we are capable of working with data.”

    He said an iPod could synchronise effortlessly between devices, transferring a whole DVD file in five seconds.

    “That’s why we are working with the IEEE and looking at personal area networking,” he said.

    The WiHD consortium has entered into contracts with about 40 firms for the use of its technology and the first equipment compliant with WiHD is likely to appear in early 2009.

  • Tiny LCD Step Closer to Mobile HD


    Casio has unveiled a two-inch LCD that brings the arrival of HD video on mobile devices a large step closer.

    With a resolution of 960×540 the company is rightfully excited that its latest offering gives its sharpest display yet.

    By contrast, LCD screens on PMPs usually come with a screen resolution of 800×480.

    The size and resolution of the new screens makes them ideal for use on future cell phones, digital cameras, and portable media players.

    The display uses a new Hyper Amorphous Silicon TFT LCD with an extremely small pixel structure and 15.5 micron dot pitch.

    The output is a full quarter that of 1080p HD and results in an extremely dense 546 pixels per inch, giving the final image its excellent quality.

    Casio said that despite the advances in resolution images still carry a complete 16.7 million colors and have a 160-degree viewing arc from any direction.

    No information has been released on when the new two-inch LCD will start shipping.

  • AT&T To Boost HD Line-up With MPEG-4


    AT&T is to continue growing its high-definition channel line-up in the US with the help of increasingly efficient MPEG-4 compression.

    The telco’s U-verse TV service currently delivers MPEG-4 video in the range of 6 to 8 Megabits per second.

    The use of improved video compression will allow that to be reduced to 5 Mbps, with the expectation that further improvements are likely.

    Earlier this month, AT&T launched Total Home DVR, initially in San Francisco, which lets U-verse TV deliver five simultaneous HD streams: two live and three from the DVR.

    John Donovan, AT&T’s CTO, said efficiency gains would allow it to support more simultaneous IPTV streams, upping the live HD streams to three and the recorded HD streams to four in 2009.

    MPEG-4 equipment is allowing IPTV service providers some help against their cable TV competitors, who mostly use MPEG-2 compression.

    Speaking at an investment conference, Donovan noted that video now exceeds 40 per cent of AT&T’s total IP backbone traffic whereas three years ago it was negligible.

    “If you download one HD video movie, it’s the equivalent of 35,000 rich-content web pages, or 2,000 songs,” he said. “So it’s very, very dramatic.”

    The growth in broadband data is driving the telco’s content-distribution network services, which replicate Internet content.
    AT&T will invest $70 million this year tripling CDN storage and server capacity, according to Donovan.

  • Who Said Smartphones Were Just For Fun?

    While the iPhone and Google’s HTC-made G1 may be introducing a more consumer-oriented market to the smartphone, it is still very much a business tool.



    The high-end handsets are being used to carry increasing amounts of confidential data, yet only 35 per cent of companies have a mobile device security strategy in place.



    Smartphone.biz-news.com spoke to Larry Ketchersid, chairman and CEO of Media Sourcery, about how it’s helping enterprises with mobile workforces securely distribute confidential information.

    Epitomised by RIM’s BlackBerry, with its reputation for secure email and text messaging, smartphones remain a powerful data communication tool for companies.

    Larry Ketchersid, chairman and CEO of Media Sourcery, believes that role is likely to gain in importance as more enterprises latch on to the benefits of utilising smartphone-based products.

    But security and data regulations have to be a major consideration when dealing with highly sensitive information.

    His company has developed a secure smartphone application called Mobile Data Messenger (MDM) that allows the sending and receiving of encrypted traffic.

    It securely transfers data files through a network without the need to use E-mail or FTP, or having to burning CDs or DVDs and sending them via snail mail or courier.

    Intended for use in virtually any size of organisation, it also enables companies to do away with the need for significant numbers of paper forms and provides real-time information that can be integrated directly into a data system.

    Ketchersid said the result was secure data transmission – but also increased productivity.

    “Security is great, and it’s required, but when it gets down to doing the ROI, the company and CEO are looking for simplified and improved accuracy and efficiency for their mobile workforce,” he said.

    Ketchersid said the MDM package was written in Java and was already being used by a major US healthcare company on its BlackBerries.

    “Security of patient health information is required in the US by the HIPAA regulations, and our solution solves that and other problems, such as the removal of paper forms, automation of data entry, cleaner data, mobilization of their application and so on, for our customers,” he said.

    Ketchersid said MDM wasn’t restricted to the RIM handsets or the BlackBerry encrypted enterprise server.

    Larry Ketchersid

    The package has been adapted for use on Nokia’s S60 platform at the request of the Finnish phone manufacturer.

    Media Sourcery has also just completed a request by HTC to port the application to Windows Mobile and Ketchersid said he was keeping a close watch on Android to see if it became more enterprise focussed in the future.

    “By having Symbian 60 and RIM, we have the two big ones,” he said. “So we have a pretty large market share.”

    Ketchersid said MDM was initially intended for use in heavily-regulated industries with a need for high security and audit trails.

    All transactions are encrypted and tracked for full regulatory compliance and once securely sent and succesfully received, confidential data is wiped from a smartphone’s memory.

    Simplicity Essential For High Adoption Rates

    Ketchersid said a prime example of the importance of this was in the healthcare industry, which has a mix of technically-trained staff and employees with low technical skills.

    “Our biggest customer in the US is the country’s largest hospice company,” he said.

    “We provide a user interface for healthcare workers to enter patients’ data, which is then sent back to the company’s database and automatically integrated into the back-end health information system.

    “What we have to do where the customer is not as used to smartphones as in other industries is make the application very simple.
    “We are talking about making the transfer from filling out a paper form, yet it has to be something everyone can do.”

    But Ketchersid said feedback from the client was good, adding: “They are loving it and asking us to put all the forms they have on it.”

    The MDM package is either sold as a hosted subscription service or as a software version for companies to manage themselves.

    Ketchersid said the decision on which version to adopt came down to whether IT departments wanted to have complete control of their own systems.

    MDM is also being used in the oil industry where security is an important feature, as are GPS requirements, a timestamp and automatic integration.

    “We have a customer in the oil field professional services that has to go out to remote locations,” said Ketchersid. “What they really need is an audit trail to show they were at a site and did tasks. It’s like a timesheet on steroids.”

    He said there was a growing market for MDM from companies looking for a forms package with Media Sourcery’s security built into it.

    Aside from the healthcare and oil industries, MDM is being used in the legal profession.

    Potential future uses include a law enforcement project where officers are required to record possible evidential data or prove a vehicle was stopped.

    “It’s a pretty open field. We got started in the healthcare market and will continue to have healthcare customers but are expanding out from that,” he said.

    “There are so many possibilities. It’s really going to be where the customer demand comes from.”