Business News Holding

Tag: mobile-voip

  • 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.

  • 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.”

  • Volantis Enables Mobile Internet Access on More than 7,000 Devices

    Volantis announced that it has passed the milestone of 7,000 handsets for its mobile device information library, making it the most comprehensive device library available on the market.

    The HTC Legend, Samsung Wave and Sony Ericsson X10 mini pro are some of the most recently announced devices that have already been added to the Volantis device repository.

    The number of supported attributes and characteristics variables has also increased, from 650 up to 750 per device.

    Recent figures from the Volantis Mobile Internet Attitudes Report 2010 reveal that more than one in ten adults in the UK and the US are now accessing the mobile internet more than once a day, with another one in five accessing it at least monthly.

    With this level of adoption set only to increase, the appetite for mobile internet services that can react and adapt to the changing device landscape will result in significant opportunities for mobile operators in both the established and emerging markets.

    The Volantis mobile device information library is used by operators, systems integrators and developers to offer mobile internet and application experiences to consumers around the world, regardless of their handset or mobile device.

    According to the company, with the Volantis platform, developers can target a “next-generation user experience for high-end mobile devices,” whilst maintaining “best-fit experiences for lower tier and legacy devices without compromise.”

    For operators, this reduces exposure to commoditizing voice and SMS revenues by increasing data plan adoption from consumers across any device in their portfolio.

    "The mobile handset market has been greatly impacted by the recent surge in popularity of smartphones," commented Mark Watson, CEO of Volantis.

    "As a result, operators and content providers have to adapt and future-proof their service offerings for subscribers and keep pace with the speed with which these high-end, increasingly complex devices are launched," he added.

  • 8×8 Announces Voice over 3G Update to its iPhone App

    8×8 announced that an update to its Virtual Office Mobile application which supports business voice services over 3G is now available in the Apple iTunes app store for iPhone and iPod Touch models.

    The update to the 8×8 software application follows Apple’s recent removal of restrictions preventing VoIP applications from running on 3G networks.

    Originally released as a service which required access to a Wi Fi network connection, the new 8×8’s release enables the subscribers to utilize their business phone number or extension and service remotely from within any 3G coverage area or Wi Fi zone.

    8×8 Virtual Office Mobile extends the functionality of any Virtual Office extension to the iPhone or iPod Touch platforms to enable mobile access to the features, functionality of the 8×8 Virtual Office hosted PBX phone service, including unlimited inbound and outbound domestic calling as well as overseas calling.

    "We are pleased to be one of the first VoIP service providers to offer iPhone users an opportunity to experience the capabilities and cost savings of our hosted PBX platform from any 3G footprint, which is transforming the way businesses of all sizes are managing their day to day communications," said 8×8 Chairman & CEO Bryan Martin.

    8×8 Virtual Office Mobile is available as a free download in the App Store and can be added to existing 8×8 Virtual Office service plans for $4.99 per extension per month.

    The application is also available as a bundled service in 8×8’s recently announced 8×8 Virtual Office Pro Unified Communications solution which is available to existing Virtual Office unlimited, metered or global extension subscribers for an additional $20 per extension per month.

    Related articles
    More and More iPhone Apps Support VoIP over 3G

  • More and More iPhone Apps Support VoIP over 3G

    It came out of nothing. Releasing a new version of iPhone SDK last week (along with the reveal of the iPad) Apple lifted 3G VoIP restrictions on the iPhone. Since then VoIP calls are not only available over Wi-Fi but also over cellular networks. 

    VoIP on the iPhone has been the source of many debates with companies such as Google being denied access to the platform and the FCC inquiring as to the restrictions in the Apple App Store. Apple didn’t want to allow the applications offering VoIP over 3G networks to operate on the iPhone platform.

    Everything changed last Wednesday. iCall was the first to announce that its iPhone and iPod touch app now supports VoIP over 3G and the app was available to download immediately. Confirmations of the great functionality of the iCall application came from various sources.

    "I applaud Apple’s decision! This heralds a new era for VoIP applications on mobile platforms,” said iCall CEO Arlo Gilbert.

    The next day both Fring and Acrobits added the ability to make calls over 3G to their iPhone applications. Fring quickly announced first free video calls over 3G, while Acrobits proudly announced that since its Push Notification service allows to receive calls when the softphone is closed, users can receive calls anywhere they have a 3G connection.

    On Monday, Agito, the company delivering solutions in enterprise mobility, announced enterprise VoIP over 3G. Its Global Enterprise solution enables enterprise business calls and UC applications – such as IM and presence – to use a smartphone’s low-cost 3G internet data connection and WiFi, in addition to the cellular network, to reduce international cellular charges

    Agito’s product is compatible with iPhone, iPod touch and some Blackberry and Nokia devices as well.

    Finally, yestarday, Media5 announced that its Media5-fone application for the iPhone/iPod touch is VoIP over 3G ready. The company has applied to Apple to activate the VoIP over 3G feature for the Media5-fone Lite Edition. The application is expected to be approved within 1-2 weeks.

    Other main VoIP developers still haven’t upgraded their iPhone apps.

  • Requestec Provides Bell Mobility with 3G Mobile Video Calling App for Facebook

    Requestec, an Adobe Flash-to-SIP telephony provider, announced their key involvement in the release of Bell Mobility’s, Bell Video Call application built on the Facebook platform.

    The application allows Facebook users to visit the profile page of a Bell subscriber that has added the application and click on their Bell Video Call tab. From here, calls can be made from anywhere in the world to the Bell subscriber’s HSPA Video Calling handset; all at no cost to the caller.

    The company claims it’s the first video calling application in North America that is fully integrated into Facebook.

    The application is available to Bell Mobility subscribers with video calling capable phones on the new HSPA network.

    “We were approached by Bell Mobility about the possibility of incorporating video-calling functionality into Facebook. This was our chance to show the world our technology within the Internet’s leading online community, Facebook,” said Requestec’s CEO, Marek Zwiefka-Sibley.

    According to Bell, its the new HSPA network (launched last month) covers 1.2 million square kilometers, reaching approximately 20,000 Canadian towns and cities and 93% of the population. It offers mobile speeds of 21 Mbps.

    Over the last 4 years Requestec has been focusing on developing Adobe Flash-based telephony solutions built on the Zenon Telecommunications platform. In 2008, the company launched Voixio, one of the world’s first web-based no-download Flash-to-SIP telephony services.

  • VocalTec Acquires Outsmart

    VocalTec, a provider of carrier-class multimedia and voice-over-IP solutions, announced that it has acquired substantially all of the assets of Outsmart, a provider of telecommunications convergence solutions.

    The Outsmart assets acquired by VocalTec included Outsmart’s technology and intellectual property, as well as its primary customer and partner contracts. The company says the engagement by VocalTec of certain Outsmart personnel “is intended to enable the continued development and support and an uninterrupted transition to all Outsmart customers and partners.”

    VocalTec provides trunking, peering and residential/enterprise VoIP application solutions that enable deployment of next-generation networks.

    Outsmart is a mobile solutions provider of convergence technologies. Its flagship product, the Plug ‘n Talk solution allows mobile operators to reach out across national borders to tap into new user segments.

    Based on its Smart Convergence Platform, Outsmart enables operators to converge between mobile and VoIP.

    According to VocalTec, Outsmart’s mobile VoIP and Intelligent Network products are a strategic addition to VocalTec’s existing portfolio of VoIP solutions. The combined portfolio positions VocalTec as a provider of VoIP solution and applications to both fixed line and mobile service providers.

    "Fixed & Mobile carriers are repeatedly forced to lower their rates. The competitive field is becoming so crowded that the only solution they have is to “go IP” in order to lower their cost. VocalTec is a dominant player providing VoIP end-to-end solutions to service providers," said Ilan Rosen, Chairman of the Board of Directors at VocalTec.

    Jacob Bros, CEO of Outsmart, claims VoIP technology will play a major role in revolution in providing cross-geography services. “And as such teaming up with VocalTec will position the technology of Outsmart in the forefront of the industry," he said.

  • GIPS Brings HD Voice to Android

    Global IP Solutions announced support for a mobile operating system, allowing Android mobile application developers to quickly create applications with HD voice inside. Building first-rate VoIP-enabled clients is now possible with GIPS VoiceEngine Mobile.

    GIPS VoiceEngine allows Android developers to build VoIP-enabled applications that offer HD voice, while tackling all the typical IP network issues – such as delay, jitter, packet loss, bandwidth constraints, noise and echo.

    VoiceEngine family consists of VoiceEngine PC (voice processing solution optimized for softphone applications on PC platforms), VoiceEngine Mobile (adds VoIP capabilities to mobile applications; includes echo cancellation technology designed for difficult mobile environments), VoiceEngine ATA (enables residential gateways with VoIP capabilities) and VoiceEngine IP Phone (delivers suite of voice processing technology to IP Phone manufacturers).

    “Today, mobile users desire a smartphone that offers a unique experience, which includes the ability to have great quality communication. With GIPS engineering expertise, developers can quickly and effectively build their applications enabling them to concentrate on their core business,” said Roar Hagen, GIPS’ Chief Technology Officer.

    GIPS also announced that Nimbuzz, a free mobile social messaging application, will be the first customer to offer HD voice (VoIP) on Android phones using GIPS voice mobile solution.

    “We’re thrilled that Nimbuzz will be GIPS’ first customer to deploy their application on Android mobile phones. Nimbuzz continues to offer their users a distinctive unified social messaging application that connects popular social and instant messenger networks into one simple, user-friendly offering,” added Hagen.

    GIPS already offers mobile versions of its voice engine to developers on the iPhone and Symbian platforms.

    With nearly 3 billion users worldwide, the mobile phone has become the most personal and ubiquitous communications device. Research firm Gartner has predicted that Android will become the second most popular smartphone by 2012 with 14.5 percent market share and iPhone with 13.7 percent market share.

  • Apple Explains the Removal of Google Voice from App Store

    Not long after Apple removed the official Google Voice application and any other applications that use Google Voice functionality from its iPhone App Store, the Federal Communications Commission has asked both Apple and AT&T to clarify the reasons of the removal.

    The companies just answered FCC and published their statements.

    A bit surprisingly, Apple stated that the company has not rejected the Google Voice application, and continues to study it.

    As they explain, “the application has not been approved because, as submitted for review, it appears to alter the iPhone’s distinctive user experience by replacing the iPhone’s core mobile telephone functionality and Apple user interface with its own user interface for telephone calls, text messaging and voicemail.”

    Apple seems to be concerned also about the proper data protection: “When using Google Voice the iPhone user’s entire Contacts database is transferred to Google’s servers, and we have yet to obtain any assurances from Google that this data will only be used in appropriate ways.”

    The company gives the examples of other applications that have also fall into this category.

    Answering the question if Apple did act alone, or in consultation with AT&T, in deciding to reject the Google Voice application, the firm assures that it is acting alone and has not consulted with AT&T about whether or not to approve the Google Voice application.

    “No contractual conditions or non-contractual understandings with AT&T have been a factor in Apple’s decision-making process in this matter,” the statement says.

    “Let me state unequivocally, AT&T had no role in any decision by Apple to not accept the Google Voice application for inclusion in the Apple App Store. AT&T was not asked about the matter by Apple at any time, nor did we offer any view one way or the other,” said Jim Cicconi, AT&T senior executive vice president, external and legislative affairs.

    “AT&T does not block consumers from accessing any lawful website on the Internet. Consumers can download or launch a multitude of compatible applications directly from the Internet, including Google Voice, through any web-enabled wireless device. As a result, any AT&T customer may access and use Google Voice on any web-enabled device operating on AT&T’s network, including the iPhone, by launching the application through their web browser, without the need to use the Apple App Store,” says the company’s statement.

    Apple reminds that “there is a provision in Apple’s agreement with AT&T that obligates Apple not to include functionality in any Apple phone that enables a customer to use AT&T’s cellular network service to originate or terminate a VoIP session without obtaining AT&T’s permission.”

    For example, AT&T’s Terms of Service prohibit an AT&T customer from using AT&T’s cellular service to redirect a TV signal to an iPhone.

    “From time to time, AT&T has expressed concerns regarding network efficiency and potential network congestion associated with certain applications, and Apple takes such concerns into consideration,” Apple says.

    Asked to explain any differences between the Google Voice iPhone application and any VoIP applications that Apple has approved for the iPhone, the company answered that it does not know if there is a VoIP element in the way the Google Voice application routes calls and messages, and whether VoIP technology is used over the 3G network by the application.

    They also assured that they had never approved any application that works over AT&T’s 3G network.