FierceVoIP

Telcos not just losing voice subs

Mike Dolan — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 12:47:39 -0400

I stand corrected. Every report that shows subscribers dropping from telco rolls has had me thinking that they've just switched to using VoIP service over broadband or their cell phones. The broadband move to me usually meant that when a telco subscriber jumps, they really just jump to the telco's broadband offer. Apparently, that is not true anymore... It looks like the VoIP loving cable companies are stealing them all. Article

Avaya Labs working on mashup UC apps and some far out stuff

Mike Dolan — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 11:55:29 -0400

The power of unified communications (UC) is about having all of your contacts instantly at your fingertips with live updates on their availability status, location, skill sets and the ability to contact via phone, video, text, email, chat, or face-to-face if you ever feel the need to get up from your desk and do things the old fashioned way. With all this advancement, some of which is still way beyond what the regular corner office is capable of, it's fun to see where the industry might go from here.

If the final frontier out the real world is space, then 3D cyberspace might be the final frontier for UC. Avaya Labs is currently working on virtual reality collaboration apps--the very idea seems far fetched when you imagine the future press release for Avaya Aura 3D: now with HD video and life-like virtual conference room with force feedback. It actually does feel like you are sitting there with people across the country.

On a more realistic note, the company is also working on a product called Phone Mash which really taps into the practical aspects of UC. When you ring someone up for a business call within your UC system, all your previous conversations throughout the system--like over email--will be brought up on an easy-to-sort-through screen. The system will allow you to have relevant data and past details of conversations and agreements at your fingertips so that you are always on top of the state of conversation. The software seems like something that shouldn't be far off, so look for it and things like it in future UC launches.

Check out more of the innovations in Network World's article on the Avaya Lab.

For more:
- read the Network World post

Free 3G Skype calling a play to buddy up with carriers?

Mike Dolan — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 11:32:49 -0400

Last week, Skype released the new version of its iPhone app which runs in the background making it possible to leave Skype on and use the service as your main way to receive calls on your mobile phone. As almost an aside, we related that Skype has decided to put its plans to charge for 3G calls on hold.

What's interesting is that the company noted this change in plans with some reasoning behind the move. The "mobile world is in a period of significant change" says Skype's blog. Indeed, the pricing models of our previous unlimited data buckets are changing and IP communications are being threatened by data caps and overage charges just like those old minute buckets of the early wireless world. With companies charging differently for data usage, Skype has pulled the plug on its plans to essential double charge its 3G callers.

One interesting take on this move came from The Register which posited that as Skype cozies up with operators, it might be in its interest to help carriers drive up data usage. It is possible that Skype use could be translated into carrier profits with users opting for bigger data buckets and this profit might one day take the form of making Skype money ala partnerships like the one they've already formed with Verizon. Skype's own blog post does say they are happy to keep 3G calling free because they are "delighted to make it easier for you to talk for even longer and do even more together using Skype." Doing more and talking longer on Skype means more data use to me. Perhaps 'no longer having plans to charge for 3G' means having plans to make money from those calls by other means.

For more:
- read the Skype blog post
- read the Register article

IBBS acquires SinglePipe for VoIP

Mike Dolan — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 11:15:36 -0400

Small and medium sized MSO's now have a complete solution in Integrated Broadband Services (IBBS). They just acquired SinglePipe, a provider of managed business and residential VoIP, as well as hosted business services.

IBBS' purchase of SinglePipe puts IBBS on competitive footing to be a single service provider tier 2 and 3 MSOs. The additional capacity that SinglePipe provides will allow IBBS to offer a holistic approach to voice and data network solutions.

Targeting the niche five to 20 employees business market niche, the combined company's commercial offering includes hosted apps like email, data backup and security.

For more:
- read Light Reading's article

Chatroulette Founder wants to focus on Telepresence

Mike Dolan — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 10:50:13 -0400

The popular random chat generator which has connected people all over the world to like minded thrill seekers (and also a few weirdos) has decided to embace the video communication aspect of its service. The video calling feature has resulted in viral YouTube videos and strangers meeting even stranger strangers via the magic of the Internet.

The founder of Chatroulette, Andrey Ternowsky, has decided that text chats are a dime a dozen and that the real power lies in video chat. He will focus the future release of the website on the video calling aspects of the service, making the video viewing box bigger and setting up channels to divide up chatters based on interest. As the site focuses more on video interaction, the channels become necessary to filter out exhibitionists interested in certain types of visual communication not all random video chat enthusiasts are looking to witness. At the same time, akwardness and surprise are two things all Chatroulette players are looking for, and Ternowsky believes telepresence is the way to deliver that far more successfully than text chat.

As more companies adopt video chat and telepresence over the old telephone and chat box, I wonder if this will also up the awkwardness factor in the office? Getting a video call while you are eating lunch at your desk, calls from people you don't recognize, bad hair days could all lead to some awkward moments in business video calling.

For more:
- read this post

AudioCodes E-SBC expands to SIP Trunking market

Mike Dolan — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 10:34:55 -0400

AudioCodes is applying its enterprise session border controller (SBC) expertise to the SIP trunking world to make it easier for customers to connect their existing environments to SIP Trunking as they move to take advantage of IP communications.

AudioCodes Enterprise Session Border Controller allows customers to safely and transparently migrate from traditional PSTN to SIP Trunking. The device protects their network from VoIP security threats as well as their existing investment in IP and TDM PBX equipment. Additionally, the new E-SBC has Multi-Service Business Gateway capabilities.

"The AudioCodes E-SBC family is creating a new breed of CPE products for the emerging SIP Trunking market," said Elka Popova, Program Director at Frost & Sullivan in the release. "Customers have been looking for a safe and straightforward way to move their existing telephony environment from PSTN services to the more cost-effective SIP Trunking services." AudioCodes' offering is sure to please customers considering such a migration from traditional TDM-based T1 circuits to SIP trunking.

For more:
- read the release

An interview with Polycom's Rodman

Mike Dolan — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 12:46:47 -0400

Polycom CTO Jeff Rodman knows sound quality and it might have something to do with his passion for pianos outside his work at Polycom. It might also have something to do with the fact that he's been in the Polycom game since the founding of the company. Check out No Jitter's interview with the CTO here.

Acme Packet launches "Powered by" program

Mike Dolan — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 12:36:09 -0400

Remember when 'Intel Inside' was the easy way to know if a computer was going to be fast enough for your needs? Well what if your network element had a stamp to let you know that you were going to get the right session border control (SBC) elements with whatever device you were picking up?

Acme Packet has come up with a variation on this idea to get their Net-Net SBC into the hands of customers everywhere: make it easy to embed the Net-Net OS-E SBC into network elements at the enterprise border and let IP communication solution providers stamp a "Powered by AcmePacket" label on the side.

The new initiative truly expands the territory of Acme Packet's SBC solutions, putting them in the hands of SMBs and small contact centers. In addition, the program enables IP communications infrastructure providers to embed SBC software in a wide range of hardware platforms such as IP PBXs, unified communications (UC) servers, multiservice business gateways, firewalls and routers, allowing for an SBC solution that occupies a smaller footprint on the customer premise.

For more details:
- read the release

snom interoperable with Zultys IP-PBX and UC

Mike Dolan — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 12:18:54 -0400

If interoperability is the name of the game these days, snom's full suite for IP desk phones just got more points.

The complete line of IP desktop phones from snom have passed a group of interoperability tests with Zultys' IP-PBX and unified communications (UC) system maker. The snom desktops have been certified as fully interoperable with Zultys' MX250 and MX30 IP-PBX platforms. Both snom and Zultys' systems are founded on global SIP open standards which means customers will have a lot of possibilities when they choose this setup.

"Like snom, Zultys has built its product suite on the promise of interoperability in SIP environments," said Dr. Michael Knieling, Executive Vice President of Marketing and Sales for snom technology AG in a release. "This premise has seen the company gain a strong following on an international level, particularly in North America and Europe. We think Zultys provides our customers and resellers a great IP-PBX option."

Zultys' MX20 and MX30 are all-in-one servers that pack many features into a single appliance to eliminate the need for additional external servers to support fax, call recording, visual voice mail, ICC, ACD, and other critical services that come standard on all Zultys IP-PBX products.

For more:
- read the release

Alteva sees benefits from Broadsoft's PacketSmart

Mike Dolan — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 12:03:55 -0400

As we move to all-IP technology, there are a lot of moving parts involved in making our advanced communications systems work. Along with our advancements comes the need for analytics to monitor networks to deliver the best quality of service we can. Broadsoft's PacketSmart is one such solution to this problem and some companies like Alteva have deployed it to much success.

Companies don't like to admit when they've had network problems, but if they've got the right tools, disaster stories can turn into shiny reasons for customers to sign up for their networks.

A few weeks ago, Alteva customer, Benefit Consultants Group, was experiencing some issues on their network and Alteva deployed the PacketSmart solution to figure out the issue. They identified a problematic switch on the customer's local area network, fixed it, and now voice quality is back up to where they want it. Having an analytics system on hand made a painful problem go away quickly.

For more:
- read this post

Skype for iPhone now runs in the background

Mike Dolan — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 11:53:17 -0400

With the release of iOS4, the iPhone entered the world of multitasking where applicaitons could run in the background. Finally VoIP applications made sense because they could be turned on and left on while users did other things with thier phones. Once on in the background they can answer calls. Until now, the monster of consumer VoIP calling was still not running in the background, but now Skype has updated their software.

With the new version of Skype for iOS4, the application can run in the background and receive calls while the user is free to search the web or play games on their phone. The app has pop ups to let you know when a message has come in. Calls will be completed over 3G and Wired noted in its article that Skype has abandoned the idea of charging for 3G calls for now.

One thing still missing is access to the front facing camera and video calling. In the past, Skype executives have made it clear that quality of service is important to them and they don't have much faith in the current networks handling all they want to deliver with their Skype applicaitons.

For more:
- read the Wired article

Avaya adds to Aura with ACE 2.2 and Contact Center

Mike Dolan — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 11:39:33 -0400

This week Avaya announced a suite of new solutions based on the Avaya Aura system to aid customers in real-time, multimedia enterprise communications.

Particularly new to the list is the Avaya Aura Contact Center which is a new multimedia contact center application that extends to all types of media, including voice, e-mail, web chat, and instant messaging/SMS. It helps enhance customer service by allowing businesses to connect with customers over a variety of media seamlessly. The add-on contact center addition complements the large enterprise solutions of Avaya Aura Call Center Elite and will serve as a multimedia extension to Call Center Elite in the future.

They've also upgraded their Agile Communications Environment, an application that shows the promise of what UC is all about. ACE 2.2 now features the Event Response Manager which boosts business efficiency by automatically notifying the right people with the right skills to respond to emergency events like inventory shortages and security breaches.

For more on Avaya's announcements:

- read the release

ShoreTel releases newest version of UC solution ShoreTel 11

Mike Dolan — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 10:35:31 -0400

ShoreTel has launched the newest version of its communications suite with ShoreTel 11. The newest versions boasts some cool upgrades and is available for free upgrade for any current ShoreTel customer. One of the first most noticable changes will be a name change: the recognizable ShoreTel Call Manager will now go by ShoreTel Communicator--certainly a nod to the growth of unified communications (UC) to include much more than just calls.

The newest release not only includes more iPhone support with a new ShoreTel Communicator app available for download from the App Store, but it also allows users to manage communications from their iPhone, the Web and even Mac computers.

ShoreTel has also upgraded its distributed architecture with distributed database capabilities. Now the ShoreTel 11 database can have additional instances installed at remote sites to prevent single point failures and performace bottlenecks. ShoreTel is also extending its legacy PBX integration with expanded QSIG support. Customers will be able to take advantage of their previous call infrastructure while integrating with their new ShoreTel all IP UC.

For more:
- read the release

Report: The economy did hurt enterprise telephony

Mike Dolan — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 12:33:47 -0400

No Jitter has done a cool round up of Frost and Sullivan findings on the world enterprise telephony market. Truly it's a plug for the full report, but the highlight reel is interesting nonetheless.

Despite all of our positive talk about the industry succeeding during the economic slump, enterprise telephony in general saw some declines. Enterprise line shipments saw a negative 20.4 percent growth rate from 2008. You might blame the decline on traditional phone service, but IP systems made up 74.2 percent of total line shipments. They declined by 21.2 percent in the base year.

So the economy did indeed snag us a little. The research firm projects a compound annual growth rate of 1.1 percent over a seven-year period IP sales beating out TDM. A bit slow, but growth is growth, right?

For more:
- read the rest of highlights here or get the report

Mobile SIP VoIP roundup

Mike Dolan — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 11:49:14 -0400

SlashGear goes through the list of mobile VoIP offerings and gives an educated look at what works best. Article

FBI urges FCC to protect VoIP wiretapping

Mike Dolan — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 11:42:07 -0400

The FCC has been moving to treat broadband Internet the same as phone services and with those moves, the FBI's wiretapping authority might be becoming more nebulous.

The agency is lobbying the communications commission to make sure its changes in regulation do not hinder the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act which demands that telecom companies allow law enforcement to use wiretaps on phone lines and VoIP calls.

VoIP wiretapping has been challenged in court a few times unsuccessfully, but changes in regulations could hinder wiretap efforts. It seems like at this moment, however, the FCC has no plans to interfere with the wiretapping rules.

For more:
- read the Washington Post article

Skype was missing from iPhone App Store -Updated-

Mike Dolan — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 11:33:19 -0400

-UPDATE- I've heard from Skype that that thier app was back up in the App Store on Friday. There was originally some difficulty submitting their new iOS4 build, but it has been resolved. So, no need to panic!

Panic! First the iPhone 4's fring app loses its Skype capabilities and now Skype goes missing from the App Store! How are we going to make our 3G VoIP calls if this trend continues?

Luckily, according to reports quoting Skype executives, Skype did not remove their app from the App Store and are actually just as befuddled about it as everyone else. The company is pinging Apple to get to the bottom of it.

Some speculation was floating around that Skype was beginning to withdraw its support for apps on platforms that weren't on the Verizon network due to their deal with that carrier. This rumor has been put to rest by Skype. If anything, I'd guess from Skype's recent moves with the SkypeKit they are trying to get on every ecosystem they can. At some point our LG clothes washers will be making Skype calls if Skype succeeds.

For more:
- read this blog

Rleated news:
API drama aside, SkypeKit is available for Window and Mac
Skype vs. Fring: What does it mean for SkypeKit developers?

VocalTec and magicJack maker merge

Mike Dolan — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 11:15:36 -0400

VocalTec Communications and YMAX Corp, the creator of magicJack, have successfully merged and will now be traded on the Nasdaq as CALL.

According to the newly merged company, they believe that the enterprise has a value of $245 million and a per share value of at least $17.50 as of today. VocalTec projects revenues coming in at between $110 million to $125 million this year and expects to show a profit this quarter with cash on hand and no debt.

The two companies make up an interesting swath of the VoIP space. VocalTec holds a number of the original patents for VoIP and magicJack has a well recognized brand world wide with over 6.5 million units sold since 2008.

For more:
- read the release

A UC app store?

Mike Dolan — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 12:41:07 -0400

We all know the secret to success is an app store. And now it looks like one is in the works for a UC play. A company is launching an app store for Microsoft OCS '14'. Blog post

Telefonica's O2 offering VoIP calls

Mike Dolan — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 12:35:29 -0400

Six months ago Telefonica acquired VoIP company Jajah. Now they've launched a new VoIP offering based on that acquisition called O2 Global Friends. The service first launched in Germany, but plans are to expand the service to other O2 markets in Europe.

O2 Global Friends will allow users to make international calls by dialing a local number. Much like T-Mobile's five 'Faves' program, O2 is allowing customers to pick five friends that they would like to make international calls to and the company will give each of those international numbers a local number for the customer to call. The calls are routed over the Internet and after a five euro activation fee, only cost 15 euro cents a minute.

For more:
- read this article

API drama aside, SkypeKit is available for Window and Mac

Mike Dolan — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 11:53:41 -0400

A few weeks ago, Skype teased us with a Skype SDK release for Linux. Suddenly programmers could build programs that would use Skype calling functionality on devices running Linux. Now, the company has released its promised SkypeKit for Mac OSX and Windows.

The software development kit allows programmers and electronics manufacturers to create software applications that can make Skype calls without a seperately downloaded Skype application. Skype calling could be embedded in any type of program/device designers can come up with. The SDK allows developers to embed Skype's chat, voice calling and video into their applications running OSX, Windows or Linux.

Developers will have access to a number of Skype APIs and will be able to use the 'Plugged into Skype' descriptor to market their applications. The Skype Shop will also one day feature 'plugged into Skype applications' just like other online app stores. It looks like we might see Skype calling popping up in all sorts of Internet connected devices and software applications very soon.

For more:
- read the Skype developer blog

Fring went head-to-head with FaceTime, ended up fighting Skype

Mike Dolan — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 11:38:32 -0400

So the big drama award this week really has to go to Fring and Skype. Just as Fring launched their video calling app to compete with the iPhone 4 FaceTime app, the company got into a blog-war of words with Skype over alleged blocking of service.

In a case of He-said She-said, Skype and Fring both allege different things. Fring fired off a blog post claiming that Skype had blocked them from using their service. Skype claims that Fring was violating its API terms and that Fring voluntarily stopped using Skype for its service. I guess if Skype told Fring that they couldn't use their service because they were violating their API terms that would essentially be blocking but it's not that they have set up a physical software block on Fring software.

FierceWireless had a good Editor's Corner on the whole fracas, bringing up the real concern of the whole thing: Why are these guys fighting when the services the companies are offering are going to cost consumers a fortune on their new limited cellular data plans?

For more:
- read the GigaOm post with all the back and forth
- read the FierceWireless editorial on the Fring/Skype fight

Polycom and BT collaborate on end-to-end suite for MCS

Mike Dolan — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 11:27:05 -0400

Polycom and BT have been working together on Unified Communications (UC) products for a little while now and at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference they've announced a range of new solutions.

The companies are building on BT's 'UC Ready' networked IT, voice and professional services for Microsoft UC. As we mentioned earlier this week, Polycom has been showing off its CX IP phones that integrate with Microsoft Communications Server "14." The companies are offering a holistic set of UC products and services to deliver integrated applications, networks and systems to assure customers that Microsoft and Polycom technologies on the BT network will be deployed and managed effeciently.

"Microsoft is pleased to see two of our leading UC partners come together to offer a broad and innovative set of UC services and solutions," said Yancey Smith, Director of Product Management, Communications Server for Microsoft in a release. "Large enterprise customers need to approach UC solutions from a wide vantage point which includes network, endpoint devices, professional services, security and other important pivots. Customers can turn to BT and Polycom, working with Microsoft, for solutions which will maximize the impact that UC can deliver to the business."

For more:
- read the release

Sonus expands to Central and Eastern Europe with NewTelco partnership

Mike Dolan — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 11:08:17 -0400

Sonus Networks and NewTelco, an infrastructure supplier in the EU region, have announced a partnership that will help bring Sonus to more markets in Central and Eastern Europe. Sonus will use NewTelco's relationships with customers throughout the region to offer its VoIP products to new business.

NewTelco will act as a reseller of the complete Sonus product portfolio, including the GSX9000 Open Services Switch, PSX Call Routing Server, SGX Signaling Gateway and the NBS9000 Network Border Switch. The deal will also include the new NBS-5200 Network Border Switch on Sonus' new ConnexIP platform.

"The combination of Sonus' market leading VoIP and session management portfolio and our proven sales and service experience represents a tremendous opportunity as we expand our footprint throughout Europe and the CIS region," said Ivan Soldo, Sales Director for NewTelco in a release.

Back in May, Sonus debuted the NBS-5200 SBC platform, a high density, scalable Session Border Control solution that includes integrated transcoding and media interworking while supporting IPv6 and IPSec encryption, that is also the first product launched on the Sonus ConnexIP platform. The company claims the device is the most advanced SBC on the market today.

For more:
- read the release

IP Phone Spotlight: Acrobits Softphone Business Edition - A First Look

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 13:19:03 -0400

by Leo Zheng

It has only been months since the major mobile carriers began allowing VoIP calls over their networks, and already there has been plenty of progress. A few recent developments, mainly multitasking on iOS 4 and the growing popularity of Android, have made conditions very favorable for the coming of viable mobile VoIP enterprise solutions.

Indeed, a growing number of mobile VoIP developers are taking things well beyond simple 'make and receive call' functionality. Acrobits is one of these developers.

Acrobits Softphone Business Edition is a yet to be released mobile SIP application for the iPhone OS designed specifically with the business user "on the go" in mind. We're going to take an exclusive first look at the application here. Please do keep in mind that this is a pre-release version, and that there may be some changes in the final publicly released version. Acrobits Softphone is strictly an end user agent, which means it is not a B2B user agent, or tethered to any kind of subscription-based service. Think of it as just another VoIP phone - you put in your account info from your service provider, and you're ready to go.

Feature Overview

What do I mean by a business oriented mobile VoIP application? My ideal mobile SIP client would be a lightweight softphone that includes all the features and functions that I get from the Polycom and Aastra phones sitting on my desk. Unfortunately this is a far cry from the majority of mobile VoIP applications available, most of which do not have any transfer functionality to speak of (you cannot transfer calls, and you cannot be transferred). Let's start there.

Transfer, DTMF, Conferencing

The Acrobits Softphone Business Edition includes both attended and blind transfer functionality. It also comes with support for DTMF, which means that users can actually get where they want to go when they call into an automated attendant menu (think 1-800-FLOWERS: press '1' for sales, '2' for support, etc). Most people would be surprised to learn how many VoIP applications do not have this feature.

The application allows users to switch between two simultaneous calls going at the same time, and merge and split them into and out of a 3-way conference.

iOS 4 Multitasking Support and Push Notifications

One of the main draws of a VoIP application with multitasking support is that users will be able to receive incoming calls even when the application is not running in the foreground. This was previously impossible in previous 'iOS' versions, meaning that mobile SIP clients were only really good for making calls unless push notifications were enabled, something I will address shortly. Unfortunately, Apple currently only allows applications to 'wake up' from incoming traffic that arrives in the TCP socket, meaning that I was not really able to test out multitasking using my own provider, OnSIP. Yes, Apple's limitation is leaving most standards based SIP providers high and dry. It's rumored that Apple asked Skype how to do VoIP and decided that if Skype is okay with something, then everyone should be okay with it.

That being said, Acrobits has assured me that their background mode does indeed work with TCP being selected as the SIP transport type. They've also set up their own TCP SIP proxy to facilitate this process. Even without background wakeup working properly on my iPhone, I was able to catch a glimpse of some iOS 4 support that did work. For example, I was able to stay on an ongoing call even when I clicked the home button to browse my other applications. A red blinking 'Softphone' band appeared at the top of my screen, ready to take me back to the Acrobits Softphone.

This brings me to the other way to get incoming calls: push notifications. Admittedly, I have a pretty love-hate relationship with push. On one hand, I love being able to know when someone is calling me, but on the other hand I hate giving my account username and password to an anonymous third party. Let me explain. Push notifications rely on push servers managed by... well, not me and not my service provider. Anyone enabling push notifications essentially hands over their service provider account credentials to a third party on a silver platter. We, at OnSIP, invest a lot of time and resources into protecting user account credentials, and all of that work is essentially nullified when a user enables push.

Now I would like to think that Acrobits has some internal security measures in place to make sure that user account credentials are never leaked, but I don't really know what happens behind the closed curtain. VoIP hacking is something that really shouldn't be taken lightly. I would hate to wake up one day and find out that someone used my account for 10,000 minutes worth of calls to Mongolia. Speaking from experience, this does happen. And if it does, your carrier/provider will likely expect you to pay for the calls as responsibility for keeping credentials is in your hands.

Codecs, Detailed Call Histories, and Call Recording

The Acrobits Softphone business edition includes G.722 wideband, G.711, iLBC, G.729a, and GSM. Users can set which codecs they want to use for both WiFi and 3G calling.

Users can select the option to record their telephone calls, and they can access these recordings in the call history tab.

Miscellaneous Features

The application includes its own version of speed-dial in its 'Quickdial' tab. Users can also easily add contacts straight through Acrobits, and customize each of their contacts with pictures and ringtones.

Application Configuration

The Acrobits Softphone Business Edition is quite easy to configure. There are presets for dozens of supported providers, which means that all those users need to do is input a few key user credentials. There is also a 'Generic SIP Account' tab, but there is nothing out of the ordinary here. If you have ever configured or provisioned a VoIP phone, then you probably won't have any trouble setting up Acrobits.

Voice Quality

The actual call quality you get will depend entirely on your 3G and WiFi Connection. That being said, I tested out G.722 in lower Manhattan over 3G and the call quality was very good--miles ahead of what I get on a regular phone call. I was very impressed. G.711 sounded about the same if not slightly better than my regular cell phone calls.

The User Experience

Acrobits Softphone Business Edition looks and feels very good. It's not too complicated, with only a few key tabs: 'Quickdial' menu, 'History', 'Keypad', and 'Contacts' which imports your iPhone contacts. The developers also did a good job of making the call handling features intuitive and easy to use. There were still a few kinks to be worked out to make it ready for public release (for example, SIP address dialing is currently not working), but the application is shaping up to be a serious contender in the mobile VoIP enterprise market.

Leo Zheng manages the tech lab at OnSIP. In his role, Zheng tracks new developments in VoIP hardware and software, utilizing the combined expertise of the team to test and review the latest SIP user agents, whether it be a desktop phone or a mobile SIP client. He currently runs OnSIP VoIP phone reviews, a VoIP hardware resource center for both OnSIP customers and non-customers alike. In addition to being featured in FierceVoIP, Zheng has also been featured on TMCnet.

50% of companies have reservations about using Google for UC&C

Mike Dolan — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 12:49:09 -0400

Irwin Lazar over at Nemertes Research did an annual research benchmark polling 200 companies about the technology they use and found some interesting stats about cloud based services and Google specifically. For all our talk about Google's future enterprise play, it looks like it might take longer for the company to become a serious player in that respect.

The research firm found that about 50.2 percent of companies polled had reservations about using Google as a vendor. Concerns ranged from storing data in the Google cloud, the suspicion that it might get indexed by a search engines, to the company's lack of a robust customer support arm.

Surely, Google's office-in-the-sky applications combined with Google Voice and the hints of the Google Voice softphone are compelling reasons to consider Google as a vendor, but the concerns of this poll surely offer some legitimate barriers for Google to overcome. Entrenched UC vendors have built up customer trust and can still charge them for it where Google might offer services for free with less safety.

For more:
- read the Network World article

Related news:
The rise of Google's enterprise empire
Users demand Google Voice Desktop App
Google Voice: Now for everyone

IntelePeer and WorkSpace Communications partner and launch a hosted UC solution for MSCS

Mike Dolan — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 12:02:24 -0400

More from the Microsoft Partners Conference: IntelePeer and WorkSpace Communications have teamed to offer unified communications (UC) solutions for the Microsoft Communications Server "14" platform.

IntelePeer, a provider of cloud-based communications, and Workspace Communications are combining IntelePeer's Quick Start SIP Trunking program, Voice Peering Network, and SuperRegistry with WorkSpace Communications' patent-pending Microsoft OCS environment. The environment interoperates with any previously installed Microsoft Exchange implementation and combined with the IntelePeer offerings provides a complete, turnkey solution. The combined solutions enable service providers to offer hosted UC, SIP trunking and on-demand communications services that can be deployed almost instantly.

"The IntelePeer Quick Start program is optimized for Microsoft OCS," said Margaret Norton, general manager, enterprise for IntelePeer in a release. "We can turn around a hosted, Microsoft-certified SIP trunk as rapidly as five days, giving our partners and customers the agility they need for today's dynamic market."

For more:
- read the release

Broadvox and Grandstream launch CPE device with Go! SIP Trunking

Mike Dolan — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 10:29:08 -0400

Broadvox has announced the first CPE device to deploy with its Go! SIP Trunking service. Grandstream Networks' new GXV3140 is an IP Multimedia CPE device employing GO! to enable Small to Medium sized businesses (SMBs) and enterprises to add video and telepresence throughout their organizations.

Broadvox GO! SIP Trunking gives businesses all the functions that come with SIP and helps them save up to 70 percent a month over their previous TDM systems. The Grandstream GXV3140 IP Multimedia Phone adds video and multiple features to company calls in just one plug-in step. The device incorporates video, a web browser, RSS feeds, IM with Yahoo, MSN, and Google, along with music/video streaming all on the desktop while using SIP trunking for IP communications.

For more:
- read the release

Polycom offers demo of MS Comm Server '14' solutions

Mike Dolan — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 10:21:50 -0400

At this week's Microsoft World Partner Conference in Washington, D.C., a number of VoIP vendors are showing off their new products that play nice with the Microsoft brand.

Polycom, for one, is offering a sneak peak of some of their IP phones and integration plans with the new Microsoft Communications Server "14."

The Polycom CX series offers two new network-based IP desktop phones: the CX500 and CX600 as well as the industry's first and only IP conference phone designed for MCS "14" the CX3000. The three phones will offer Polycom's HD Voice to the server. The company will also demo more UC solutions like the CX700, the CX5000 Unified Conference Station and Polycom's personal and room-based HD telepresence solutions.

For more:
- read the release

An over-25 Guide to VoIP

Mike Dolan — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 10:18:18 -0400

The LA Times has decided to educate the over-25 crowd with a Beginner's Guide to VoIP. They didn't check with us about the age demographics of FierceVoIP, but I guess we can all take it as a compliment that we are all still 'hip.' Article

Fring goes head-to-head with FaceTime for video calling

Mike Dolan — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 10:08:02 -0400

Last week, Fring's iPhone 4 video calling app finally got approved by Apple. The new app directly competes with Apple's own FaceTime software for video calling dominance on the mobile platform. Who wins?

CNET originally compared Fring's one-way video calling app with FaceTime and obviously chose FaceTime as the winner, but now the fight's a little more fair with both apps offering 2-way video calling. Fring allows users to use the iPhone 4's user-facing camera to send video of you smiling face to friends when you make calls. The service allows calls over Skype, SIP and other chat services that offer video calling.

CNET reviewed Fring's new service in comparison to FaceTime and found that FaceTime still performed better than the new offering. Fring's (and Skype's) call quality was actually great and in real time, but there were some video hiccups and fails trying to connect. Fring does win in a few categories though. It works over 3G which might explain any connection or quality issues as FaceTime only allows WiFi which is a much faster and more reliable method of transporting data heavy video calling packets. Fring also trumps FaceTime in that it can connect calls to PCs, Android phones, Nokia and Symbian phones in addition to the iPhone 4. FaceTime only offers iPhone 4 calls.

Update: At publishing, Fring and Skype got into a bit of a scuffle and it looks like at the moment Fring users can't make Skype calls. Article

For more:
- read the CNET review

Pocket Office Phone Apps

Mike Dolan — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 11:36:06 -0400

WebWorkerDaily has a cool write up about the office phone-to-iPhone app phenomenon. They discuss Alcatel-Lucent's latest app supporting their collaboration suite and also Microsoft's SharePoint. Article

More on the BT, Cisco Hosted UC deal

Mike Dolan — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 11:29:26 -0400

Last week Verizon teamed with Cisco to offer Unified Communication and Collaboration (UCC) over the cloud. Also in the headlines was British Telecom's plans to offer its hosted IP communications in the U.S. BT would also be taking advantage of Cisco's technology to make its services available using Cisco Hosted Unified Communications Services (HUCS) platform in addition to BT's Onevoice UCC portfolio.

The offering would bring BT's cloud-based UC system to U.S. businesses to help reduce capital expenditure, enhance communication and introduce productivity enhancing tools. The service allows businesses to bring converged voice, mobile and data services to every desktop in their organization, using BT and Cisco's cloud computing-based technologies.

"We are delighted BT is expanding its hosted service into new global markets. We share the same vision of providing customers with flexible deployment models that can ultimately help customers reduce costs while enhancing communications across the enterprise," Barry O'Sullivan, senior vice president, Voice Technology Group, Cisco, said in a release.

Verizon is beginning field trials of its hosted UCC solution in Las Vegas, offering the Cisco HUCS to a limited number of companies. The trial participants include a multinational auto manufacturer, a women's fashion retailer and a state government agency. Each of these trial users will get to use Verizon Business solutions and Cisco UC&C tools from the cloud.

For more:
- read the post
- read the release

Counterpath updates Bria softphone

Mike Dolan — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 11:13:57 -0400

Desktop and mobile VoIP software maker, CounterPath, has released a new version of its Bria softphone. The Bria 3.1 is being billed as the perfect softphone for replacing deskphones and integrating with new unified communications (UC) upgrades.

The Bria 3.1 is a secure standards-based softphone that include HD 1280x720p video calls. The upgrade sees an improved user interface (UI) and organization structure to make features easier to access. The Bria has also expanded its interoperability with equipment from major vendors like Alcatel-Lucent, Avaya, BroadSoft, Cisco, NEC and Nokia Siemens Networks as well as Asterisk-based telephony systems.

Another new feature coming to this latest upgrade is multiple account support. Users can now choose on the fly which account to use for voice, IM and HD calling.

For more:
- read the release

AudioCodes offers UcSIPT for MS Communications Server 14

Mike Dolan — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 11:00:48 -0400

VoIP tech provider, AudioCodes has announced their new solution: UcSIPT. The offering is a solution set for combining Microsoft Communications Server 14 and SIP Trunking using their Media Gateway and Enterprise Session Border Controllers.

The solution will allow companies to securely connect with Microsoft Office Communications Servers using cost saving SIP trunking. Companies can use AudioCodes Mediant 1000 and Mediant 2000 to provide mediation to implement the solutions quickly.

"With the latest announcement of Microsoft Communications Server '14' and Microsoft Exchange Server 2010, supported by the AudioCodes Mediant 1000 and Mediant 2000 Survivable Branch Appliances, customers can now accelerate their adoption plans of the Microsoft Unified Communications architecture as their solution for enterprise voice services," said Nimrod Borovsky, Vice President Marketing at AudioCodes.

For more:
- read the release

Report: VoIP and SIP services to reach $3.9 billion in 2016

Mike Dolan — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 10:33:11 -0400

A new report from Frost and Sullivan has some high hopes for VoIP and SIP services. The research firm has painted another rosy picture where IP communications rule. The firm sees VoIP and SIP Trunking services beating the market downturn and instead build on their previous growth.

According to the research firm's 'North American VoIP Access and SIP Trunking Services Markets' report, the market earned revenues of $717.3 million in 2009, but it could reach $3.9 billion in 2016. While most enterprise systems currently run on PBX with gateways, the firm believes the move to SIP would be inevitable as companies upgrade and deploy more complete unified communications (UC) solutions.

For more:
- read the TMC article

Users demand Google Voice Desktop App

Mike Dolan — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 10:21:19 -0400

Google Voice is now available to the general public, but that's not enough for some users. At the time of this writing, an online petition asking Google to release a desktop app for the Voice application had over 3,000 signatures. The petition might have been considered a silly attempt by fans to sway a company to do their bidding, but leaked images and videos of an actual Google Voice desktop app in action have been circulating to fuel the fire.

Over at TechCrunch, Michael Arrington who has to-die-for connections has been teasing the public with video evidence of his Google Voice Desktop app usage. The desktop softphone app is an unreleased version of Google's Voice and Gizmo5 combo. The software still bares the Gizmo5 branding and a few weeks ago Google even hinted at killing off the desktop app project altogether.

For more:
- check out the TechCrunch story
- PCWorld has this story
- sign the petition here

Happy Fourth of July!

Mike Dolan — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 12:23:23 -0400

In honor of the Fourth of July holiday, we will not be publishing FierceVoIP on Monday. Enjoy your weekend BBQs and fireworks, and we will see you on Thursday for all the post-holiday news! -Mike

The rise of Google's enterprise empire

Mike Dolan — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 12:58:02 -0400

We already know that Google's (NasdaqGS: GOOG) main mission is to capture all the information in the world and make it easily accessible. More recently it seems that their mission--at least in the short term--is to dominate the communication's landscape and take over the enterprise. Just in the last few months, Google has made some huge strides in the direction of this domination.

Nowhere is it more clear that Google is an enterprise communications player than with the launch of the Cisco Cius tablet which boasts Google's Android operating system. Sure the majority of the communications software being deployed on the device will be Cisco's Telepresence and Quad presence suites, but Cisco is doing the Internet company a service by bringing their Android product into the board rooms of major enterprise clients.

Google has been slowly amassing the necessary pieces to launch their own IP communications system. Google's Gmail has long been marketed to companies as a replacement for their old corporated email accounts. The system already has built in IM features, including a video chat feature between Gmail users. The system can also be tied into a type of presence system when combined with Google's Latitude which offers a GPS-tied location awareness for mobile phone users. If Gmail is Google's answer to Microsoft's Outlook, then its cloud based MS Office competitor is its Apps. Google provides word processing, spreadsheets and presentations all online with instant collaboration and sharing abilities with co-workers.

Beyond the email/IM/apps world, Google's long tested Google Voice has just been opened to the public. With its one number to rule them all, the capability is similar to a lot of other UC offerings where a user's one Google number can ring their desktop phone, their softphone client, their cellphone or even a cloud based voicemail that can be dumped into the user's email inbox.

Combine that Voice technology with Google's recent purchases of Gizmo5 and GIPS: both VoIP companies with capabilities to create a Skype SIP competitor that could be easily integrated into Google's Gmail and Voice offerings.

What we have with Google's shotgun approach to offering solutions is a number of Trojan Horses each with the ability to plant the Google seed in a company which might one day adopt the Google suite of enterprise offerings. Whether a company switches to Gmail for its email needs or launches a fleet of Android smartphones, companies are beginning to trust in Google's solutions. Back in February, Google's Enterprise President Dave Girouard explained in an interview with eWeek that Google has been building on its business app suite and will launch an enterprise version of Google Voice later this year. With all their bits of software already planting seeds in the minds of executives everywhere, perhaps this future play for enterprise users is already set up for success. Check out our Google news round up to see the timeline of the companies rise to dominance. -Mike

A look at Hosted VoIP pricing

Mike Dolan — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 12:27:46 -0400

PhonePlus has an interesting look at Hosted VoIP pricing. It looks like they've uncovered a new Hosted VoIP pricing paradigm. Article

HP continues Avaya UC deal

Mike Dolan — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 12:23:19 -0400

HP (NYSE: HPQ) has agreed to extend its partnership with Avaya--selling the company's unified communications (UC) products to its enterprise customers.

The partnership has been extended for another three years with HP agreeing to sell Avaya UC solutions to its customers. HP has also noted its plans to provide consulting and integration services on network design and UC setup to customers in support of selling Avaya UC products. Finally, HP will provide customers with Avaya's Aura unified communications hardware, software and applications as well as contact center solutions client applications and endpoint hardware.

This extension is just the latest in HP's UC empire. The company also has sales deals to sell UC products from Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) and Microsoft (NasdaqGS: MSFT). Noticably absent from the deals is Cisco (NasdaqGS: CSCO), a company that no longer has a deal with HP and has a rather heated competition with them from what we can tell.

For more:
- read the article

Verizon Business offers Cisco UCC over the cloud

Mike Dolan — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 12:12:03 -0400

Verizon Business has announced a cloud based service delivering Cisco's unified communications and collaboration applications as a service.

The company is beginning field trials in Las Vegas, offering the new Cisco Hosted Collaboration Solution to participants interested in finding out how cloud-based UC&C might work. The trial allows users to activate employee accounts over the air and on the fly because all the applications exist in the cloud. Services can be paid for on a per-user basis and the capex costs are reduced since there is no need to buy new computers or other UC devices.

The trial participants include a multinational auto manufacturer, a women's fashion retailer and a state government agency. Each of these trial users will get to use Verizon Business solutions and Cisco UC&C tools from the cloud.

"Our customers are eager to put cloud-based unified communications to the test," said Anthony Recine, vice president of networking and communications solutions for Verizon Business in a release. "Verizon Business' field trial of Cisco's Hosted Collaboration Solution builds on a proven track record the two companies have established in developing and delivering innovative solutions to market."

For more:
- read the release

FCC says there's 21 million VoIP lines out there

Mike Dolan — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 11:55:20 -0400

The FCC's Local Telephone Competition report has announced some big news for the VoIP industry. IP communications is on the rise with 21 million end-users taking advantage of VoIP subscriptions from cable, traditional telcos or VoIP providers.

The report noted that there were 162 million wireline retail local telephone service connections as of the end of 2008. Of that figure, 141 million were traditional switched access lines while 21 million were VoIP subscribers. With numbers like that it seems VoIP still has a long way to go before it replaces all the telephones in the U.S., but with the FCC's plans for the all-IP network, these numbers may be shifting more in the coming years.

For more:
- see the FCC release here
- read FierceTelecom's take here

Cisco reveals tablet to replace all your enterprise communication devices

Mike Dolan — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 11:37:52 -0400

Cisco has sent shockwaves through the enterprise IT world this week with the launch of its Cius tablet which runs on Google's Android operating system. The seven-inch touchscreen device has all the bells and whistles you'd expect from an Android device with apps and web browsing over WiFi, cellular networks and of course Ethernet.

The big draw for us, however, is that this new device is all connected to Cisco's suite of VoIP and Telepresence applications. It supports HD (720p) streaming video calls using Cisco Telepresence whether it's over the WiFi or on the road using a cellular network. The Cius will have collaboration applications including Cisco Quad, Cisco Show and Share, WebEx, Presence and IM.

Fortune posits that the device might end up replacing all your business devices if Cisco has its way. Your laptop, Blackberry, deskphone, and webcam will all be rendered unnecessary with one of these in your briefcase. Ok, perhaps you'll want a keyboard add-on, but then you will be set.

For more:
- read the Fortune blog post
- watch this video

Video: Cisco's new UC Tablet

Mike Dolan — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 11:31:22 -0400

Check out Cisco's explanation of their new Cius Tablet:

FierceVoIP

Telcos not just losing voice subs

Avaya Labs working on mashup UC apps and some far out stuff

Free 3G Skype calling a play to buddy up with carriers?

IBBS acquires SinglePipe for VoIP

Chatroulette Founder wants to focus on Telepresence

AudioCodes E-SBC expands to SIP Trunking market

An interview with Polycom's Rodman

Acme Packet launches "Powered by" program

snom interoperable with Zultys IP-PBX and UC

Alteva sees benefits from Broadsoft's PacketSmart

Skype for iPhone now runs in the background

Avaya adds to Aura with ACE 2.2 and Contact Center

ShoreTel releases newest version of UC solution ShoreTel 11

Report: The economy did hurt enterprise telephony

Mobile SIP VoIP roundup

FBI urges FCC to protect VoIP wiretapping

Skype *was* missing from iPhone App Store -Updated-

VocalTec and magicJack maker merge

A UC app store?

Telefonica's O2 offering VoIP calls

API drama aside, SkypeKit is available for Window and Mac

Fring went head-to-head with FaceTime, ended up fighting Skype

Polycom and BT collaborate on end-to-end suite for MCS

Sonus expands to Central and Eastern Europe with NewTelco partnership

IP Phone Spotlight: Acrobits Softphone Business Edition - A First Look

50% of companies have reservations about using Google for UC&C

IntelePeer and WorkSpace Communications partner and launch a hosted UC solution for MSCS

Broadvox and Grandstream launch CPE device with Go! SIP Trunking

Polycom offers demo of MS Comm Server '14' solutions

An over-25 Guide to VoIP

Fring goes head-to-head with FaceTime for video calling

Pocket Office Phone Apps

More on the BT, Cisco Hosted UC deal

Counterpath updates Bria softphone

AudioCodes offers UcSIPT for MS Communications Server 14

Report: VoIP and SIP services to reach $3.9 billion in 2016

Users demand Google Voice Desktop App

Happy Fourth of July!

The rise of Google's enterprise empire

A look at Hosted VoIP pricing

HP continues Avaya UC deal

Verizon Business offers Cisco UCC over the cloud

FCC says there's 21 million VoIP lines out there

Cisco reveals tablet to replace all your enterprise communication devices

Video: Cisco's new UC Tablet

Skype was missing from iPhone App Store -Updated-