Enterprise VoIP

Interoute taps Covergence for clearinghouse service

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 20:01:35 -0400

Covergence's Eclipse session border controller is making its debut in Europe with two U.K.-based service providers. One of those customers, Interoute, is using the Eclipse to support its new Microsoft Live Communications Server and Office Communications Server 2007 (LCS/OCS) clearinghouse service. The service enables business users who work for different companies that are connected to the Interoute network to work collaboratively via secure, reliable multimedia services. Among other things, they can exchange IM's, share calendars, view presence and make video and voice calls with each other using the Microsoft clients free of charge.

For more on Covergence and Interoute and Covergence's European roll-out:
- see the release

Related Articles:
Microsoft betas office phone system. Report
Microsoft buys voice recognition company Tellme. Report
OCS 2007 beta goes public. Report
Microsoft sniffing around VoIP. Report

Siemens CEO dropped in scandal fallout

Wed, 25 Apr 2007 20:01:38 -0400

A few months ago, the big story in telecom was the Siemens scandal, where several all sorts of internal financial shenanigans came to light and several high-level execs were arrested on charges of bribery. The fallout, which involved the industrial giant's telecom divisions, held up the spin-off of the company's carrier division to a joint venture with Nokia. Now the other shoe has dropped: Despite strong financial results, Siemens's board of directors has declined to renew the contract of CEO Klaus Kleinfeld. A new deal had been widely expected but reports say that some of the board members, themselves survivors of scandals at their own companies, thought that giving a new contract to an executive currently under investigation would call their own governance into question.

For more about the fall of Siemens's Kleinfeld:
- see the announcement from Siemens
- read this article from The New York Times

Related Articles:
Former Siemens telecom head arrested in scandal. Report
Siemens corruption probe widens: $556M. Report
Siemens in $250M corruption scandal. Report
Analyst urges caution on Siemens phones. Report

Is convergence certifiable?

Wed, 25 Apr 2007 20:01:36 -0400

IT managers know all about skills certification. If you want a job, you'd better be able to prove you've got the skills you say you have, and a large industry has grown up around testing for those skills (and cramming for the test). Now, CompTIA, a leading IT industry group, is offering certification in converged networks. The Convergence+ certification covers voice/data networks and joins similar CompTIA programs for security and networking.

For more information about the Convergence+ program:
- read this article from ZDNet

TI goes for HD

Wed, 25 Apr 2007 20:01:35 -0400

Texas Instruments, which has its chips in pretty much every piece of VoIP equipment there is, is making a big push for voice quality. It's licensed a high-quality high-bandwidth codec from the Fraunhofer Institute--the folks who gave the world the MP3, MP4, and AAC audio standards. The new MPEG-4 AAC-LD super-wideband codec can sample at up to 48KHz, which is slightly better than CD quality, and transmit the audio at between 48 and 64 kbps. That requires a lot of computing power and a lot of bandwidth. TI says its DSPs can handle the processing if you've got the bandwidth, and can open the door to a range of voice-powered applications.

For more about TI's wideband codecs:
- read this release from Texas Instruments

Is Google going after Cisco/WebEx?

Sun, 22 Apr 2007 20:01:37 -0400

Google bought another company last week. Not DoubleClick, but a Stockholm-based desktop video conferencing outfit called Marratech. Google says it plans just to use the technology internally, but it doesn't take a lot of imagination to see how things could play out if Google decides to productize it. With widely deployed Jabber-based VoIM (Google Talk), tons of bandwidth, and huge data centers, Google desktop conferencing could be a slam-dunk right in the face of Cisco/WebEx. The irony here is that Marratech says it would be cheaper to buy its server software than pay WebEx's per-minute charges. But it's a world turned upside down when when Google talks about selling software and a competitor provides software as a service.

For more about the Marratech acquisition:
- read this article from InfoWorld

Related Articles:
Is Google lusting after voice? Report
Google and eBay ally on VoIP. Report
Google and Samsung to create Google Phone? Report

Stanley Works' VoIP migration

Sun, 22 Apr 2007 20:01:36 -0400

If any company is going to be conscious of picking the right tool for the right job, it would be Stanley Works. Network World has a top-flight profile of a VoIP rollout at the renowned toolmaker, led by former Cisco exec. But if you'd expect that he would just plug in a bunch of Cisco gear, you'd be entirely wrong. Dave Cote is deploying servers and gear from Interactive Intelligence, Audiocodes, and maybe Polycom. The goal is to unify an international presence that grew fragmented through acquisition. Cote's starting by building an MPLS network, and he'll put VoIP on top of that.

For more about Stanley's VoIP tools:
- read this article from Network World

Study: hosted VoIP cos. spend on infrastructure

Wed, 18 Apr 2007 20:01:34 -0400

A new report from Infonetics finds that hosted VoIP service providers are spending plenty on infrastructure. In 2006, the study found spending of $68.6 billion, and expects it to rise 12 percent, to $76.7 billion, by 2010. Despite a track record of mergers in the telco space, Infonetics expects carriers to continue dumping money into capital infrastructure expenditures. The payoff: the combined revenue of North American carriers rose 3 percent, to $403 billion, in 2006.

For more information about the Infonetics study:
- read this article from TMCNet

Related Article:
BT gets into the hosted VoIP business. Report

Skype planning an enterprise version

Sun, 15 Apr 2007 20:01:38 -0400

Here's some news that would have been unthinkable a couple of years ago: Skype is testing an enterprise version of its software. Despite new "enterprise-friendly" features built into the new version 3.0 of its software, Skype is still on the hit list of many a suspicious IT department. It will be interesting to see how much of its technology Skype will be willing to open--or change--in exchange for a shot at the rich enterprise market.

For more information about Skype's enterprise software:
- read this article from Computerworld

Related Articles:
Skype/PayPal tie-up a recipe for disaster. Report
Skype ends party, sets annual unlimited rate. Report

Cisco wants high-end and low-end business

Sun, 15 Apr 2007 20:01:36 -0400

Cisco doesn't want to play nice with others, at least not in the reseller channel. Charlie Giancarlo, its chief development officer, told the company's distribution partners last week that if a VAR is selling Cisco gear and someone else's lower-end equipment, the company wants it to drop the other product line and sell Cisco's Linksys, instead. In addition, Cisco is starting to put its own stamp on lower-end gear to, introducing a Cisco-branded VoIP system for 16 or fewer users. Previously, Cisco bottomed out at 20 users and Linksys picked up the rest of the small-business market.

For more information about Cisco's distribution strategy:
- read this article from CRN

Related Articles:
Cisco to pitch at the SMB VoIP market. Report
Cisco buys WebEx for $145,000 per customer. Report

Cablecos to chase SMB market

Sun, 15 Apr 2007 20:01:35 -0400

If you're betting that cablecos are going to be satisfied with signing up home telephony users, you might want to hedge those bets. Insight Research released a report recently predicting that the Top 20 cablecos (are there still that many cable companies left?) are going to turn their attention to SMBs next. Researchers project that telcos will lose more than 1.5 million small business phone lines this year, and nearly 10 million over the next five years. That would probably have happened, cablecos or not. But given that cablecos pass 6.5 million of the 7 million SMBs, count on their being fierce competitors.

For more about the Insight Research report:
- read this Network World article

Related Articles:
Cablecos out-satisfy telcos. Report
Report: Cablecos targeting SMBs. Report
Cablecos emerging as major VoIP players. Report

What are the Verizon VoIP patents, anyway?

Wed, 11 Apr 2007 20:01:36 -0400

Here's a good question: what exactly are the patents that are causing all of Vonage's problems? Network World pored through the patent database and court transcripts and figured it out. One patent is about how VoIP systems do packet translation, changing domain names into PSTN phone numbers and back. A second is about supporting features like Caller ID and call waiting for VoIP customers. The third is about how calls can be moved from the Internet to a wireless network on a customer's premises.

For more information about the Verizon patents:
- read this article from Network World

Related Articles:
More Vonage patent news. Report
Comcast dodges a VoIP patent bullet. Report

VoIP gaining ground, but there's still plenty of TDM

Wed, 11 Apr 2007 20:01:35 -0400

As you're putting together your business plans, you might want to keep in mind some research from In-Stat. The company found that even though 20 percent of U.S. companies are using VoIP, 44 percent of their voice lines are still TDM. VoIP migration is steady--the industry's building traffic numbers abundantly show that--but customers are moving carefully until the technology has proved itself and the old TDM equipment depreciates out. And there's still plenty of experimentation going on out there: of the companies using VoIP, 36 percent are using multiple types of VoIP communication. In four years, In-Stat expects, about two-thirds of businesses will be using some form of VoIP. In other words, there's still plenty of headroom in the VoIP business.

For more information about the In-Stat study:
- read this press release from In-Stat

Related Articles:
Spun-off Dialogic will focus on TDM. Report
Top 10 ways your VoIP migration could go wrong. Report

Heavy-duty VCs get set for 700MHz auction

Sun, 08 Apr 2007 20:01:34 -0400

TV broadcasters are due to hand back a bunch of spectrum--including the 700MHz UHF band--to the federal government after the transition to digital television is completed in early 2009. Cellcos and a lot of other people are interested, but there's a new player with some very familiar big names. Frontline Wireless is headed by former FCC head Reed Hundt, and has built an investor group that includes John Doerr (the VC behind Google, Amazon, Intuit, Sun, and others), Jim Barksdale (Netscape) and K. Ram Shriram, an early Google investor. They apparently propose using a technology called "software-defined radio" being championed by Vanu Bose, son of Amar Bose, as in Bose audio. They want to use the spectrum to build services for connected devices, with the option to clear the spectrum on demand from public safety agencies. The CTIA is apparently unamused by the Frontline proposal--not surprising, as Frontline would compete with CTIA members in any spectrum auction.

For more information about Frontline:
- read this article from The New York Times

Cisco to pitch at the SMB VoIP market

Wed, 04 Apr 2007 20:01:37 -0400

Cisco, already one of the princes of enterprise VoIP, is now going after small businesses. The Smart Business Communication System is aimed at the just-under-100 station market, and the company estimates the typical cost will be between $600 and $700 per seat, phone included. That price will vary, of course, depending on which of Cisco's many connectivity options are put into play: routers, access points, and so on. Because Cisco can deploy a fair amount of complexity at the same time as its customers (especially in this market segment) demand simplicity, expect Cisco to lean heavily on its reseller army to get this product line onto desktops.

For more information about Cisco's SMB offering:
- read this article from GigaOM

Related Articles:
Cisco: How to select the right VoIP integrator. Report
Cisco, Nokia reach dual-mode phone deal. Report

Is 2007 the year of VoIP testing?

Wed, 04 Apr 2007 20:01:35 -0400

"The Year of VoIP"? Old news. But it's never too late to focus on administration and quality, and there's some indication that we may be entering the golden era of that. Test and monitoring vendors are increasingly rallying around SIP as the must-have standard: if a VoIP network doesn't support standard SIP--not a proprietary extension of SIP, as many do--admins will have a tougher-than-necessary time finding analysis tools. The debate between active and passive monitoring will remain active; some networks need one, some need the other and some both, though this analysis comes down on the side of active.

For more information about VoIP testing:
- read this VON Magazine article

Cisco systems vulnerable to DoS attacks

Sun, 01 Apr 2007 20:01:36 -0400

If you or your customers are running Cisco's Unified Call Manager or Unified Presence Server, better make sure your patches are up to date. Cisco says its systems are vulnerable to DoS attacks using ping floods or malformed UDP packets. CallManager versions 3.x, 4.x and 5.0 are affected; the latest, 6.0 appears to be okay. Until you can get the patches, there are some filters you can set, too.

For more information about the Cisco vulnerablities:
- read this article from Techworld

Related Articles:
Cisco buys WebEx for $145,000 per customer. Report
Cisco, Nokia reach dual-mode phone deal. Report
Cisco: How to select the right VoIP integrator. Report

M5 will transcribe your voicemails

Sun, 01 Apr 2007 20:01:34 -0400

It's very nice indeed to use a VoIP service to record calls, but it only solves half the problem: the calls still need to be transcribed if they're going to be any real use. M5 Networks has cut a deal with SimulScribe, a provider of voicemail-to-text services, to fix that. The M5Scribe service, available to clients of M5's hosted PBX products. Voicemails can be sent via e-mail as audio files, as text files, or both. Experience with automatic transcribers shows that they are hardly perfect, but a quick scan of the rendered text combined with a directed listening of the recording to clarify any serious problems, is a great combination.

For more information about the M5Scribe service:
- read this press release from M5 Networks

Microsoft betas office phone system

Wed, 28 Mar 2007 20:01:38 -0400

OK, so now I'm confused, too. It was just earlier this month--I'm sure it was--that Microsoft exec Jeff Raikes stood up in front of a ballroom full of VoiceCon attendees and said that desk phones were dead and softphones would carry the day. Yet now, here's Microsoft going into beta with a small-business VoIP PBX called Response Point. It's apparently from a different part of Microsoft than OCS, which makes a certain amount of sense because the hardware and software parts of Microsoft don't talk much to each other. Response Point is SIP-based, sort of, in a way that other SIP-standard handsets won't work with it. And given that Raikes has performed the rite of extreme unction on desksets, one wonders if Response Point will wind up as the Coleco Adam of SMB PBXes.

For more information about Response Point:
- read this article from the soon-to-be-online-only Infoworld

Related Articles:
Microsoft has voice winner. Report
OCS 2007 beta goes public. Report
Microsoft sniffing around VoIP. Report

$15B enterprise wVoIP market predicted

Wed, 28 Mar 2007 20:01:34 -0400

Does an estimate of $15 billion in enterprise spending on wireless VoIP in five years make sense to you? That's what Juniper Research is predicting--that $2 billion in 2007 sales will grow to $15 billion in 2012, with switches/mobility controllers accounting for $8 billion of that. The big winner is expected to be Cisco, followed by Aruba, Trapeze, Proxim and Meru. For handsets, Juniper says Spectralink (whose sale to Polycom closed this week, by the way) is the company to beat.

For more about the Juniper report:
- read this article from IT Pro

Shoretel links with salesforce.com

Sun, 25 Mar 2007 20:01:34 -0400

There are times when it seems like salesforce.com is taking over the world of small business and CRM. This is one of those times. Shoretel said last week that it's got a new Call Center Adaptor that works with saleforce.com's Apex web service API. The effect is to allow the control of a Shoretel-based call center through the Salesforce Service and Support module.

For more information about the Shoretel integration with salesforce.com:
- read this press release from Shoretel

Related Article:
Siemens cuts a deal with salesforce.com. Report