IPTV

CROSSTALK - MS Mediaroom reaches 2M, CWA, IBEW countdown to VerizonStrike

Doug Mohney — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 13:47:54 -0400

v Microsoft Mediaroom adds partners, reaches 2 million - FierceIPTV
v Eagle Broadband IPTV, broadband assets set for sale - FierceIPTV

v    CWA, IBEW countdown to Verizon strike - FierceTelecom
v    CWA locals voting on Verizon strike authorization - FierceTelecom
v    Verizon, CWA & IBEW prepare for strike, FiOS roll out threatened - FierceTelecom

v    The Olympics, Car Porn, and Online Syndication - FierceOnlineVideo
v    NO, you can't make popcorn with a cell phone - FierceOnlineVideo
v    Truveo Challenge Yields Exciting Video Apps - FierceOnlineVideo

SPOTLIGHT: Cape Verde, South Africa Advance VoIP

Doug Mohney — Tue, 20 May 2008 18:37:12 -0400

VoIP is heating up in Africa, both legislatively and in adoption by business users. Cape Verde intends to legalize VoIP and will license two or three international service providers offering cheap calls; PC-to-PC and PC-to-phone calling will operate without any type of regulation. The country has also licensed Cabo Com, a triple play provider offering voice, Internet and IPTV services. Cabo Com will compete with CV Multimedia, the IPTV subsidiary of Portugal Telecom-owned CV Telecom.

South African businesses are taking up VoIP four years after it became legal to use outside of company networks, according to a study released last week by World Wide Worx. At the end of 2007, half of all corporations were making use of VoIP with levels expected to rise to 64 percent in 2008; most use it for least-cost routing. SME usage is around 18 percent and expected to reach 25 to 30 percent in 2008.

For more:
- Botswana and Cape Verde Legalize VoIP
- South Africa VoIP progress

Related articles:
VoIP Costs Bangladesh Government Money
VoIP in India 'On The Runway'

Sony releases VoIP head sets

Tom Burton — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 06:59:54 -0500

Sony has released new VoIP headsets with hands-free capability. The headsets are designed to feature a high-enough quality audio speaker to be used for music and games as well as telephony ,for multi gaming, or normal conversation. The headsets come with a flexible, detachable USB microphone and "Silent Cap Design" noise-canceling technology, to reduce sound leakage. Sony has recently built VoIP technology into its PSP and had previously equipped its Playstation console with VoIP capability.

The headphones are available in black/silver and black/metallic orange colors. Many believe the IP hub for most homes will be based around gaming consoles with both Sony and Microsoft trialling IPTV via consoles.

For more:
- Sony adds color and voice to headsets Release

Related articles:
Sony VoIPs out the PSP Report
Mobile Nintendo as a VoIP platform? Report

New Motorola chief

Mon, 03 Dec 2007 06:59:55 -0500

Major IP vendor Motorola has succumbed to investor pressure to lift its performance replacing CEO Edward Zander with insider and former chief operating officer, Greg Brown.

Motorola has been in a battle with its major shareholder Carl Icahn over lack luster performance, especially from its mobile division which has lost market share after not being able to follow up with a successor to the popularity Razr phone.

Motorola is a major player in the IP space, especially in the IPTV space. Paul Sagawa, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Company, told the New York Times "the key will be whether, under his leadership, Motorola can produce the kinds of technologies that can help it turn itself around. The cavalry has been slow in coming when it comes to new products."

For more:
- Motorola goes for an insider Report
- Zander steps down Report

Related articles:
- Motorola invests in Tilefile Release
- Motorola showcases Wimax Report

New industry IP convergence site

Mon, 12 Nov 2007 06:59:55 -0500

An interesting new industry site focused on IP convergence has been launched with the backing of industry players, AudioCodes, BEA, BitBand, Blueslice, Cicero, Comverse, Intel, Tilgin and Verimatrixsite.

The site name may be a mouthful, ipconvergencetv.com, but the idea is to create a portal for longer form feature material for decision makers and industry in the area of IP communications, Fixed Mobile Convergence and IPTV. The non-profit site is being edited by Jon Arnold, a respected industry analyst and blogger on Jeff Pulver's site.

The site's aim is to afford service providers and professionals better understanding of the IP convergence opportunity and "develop successful road maps and service offerings in a rapidly evolving market."

Content addresses both wireline and mobile markets, and covers the full range of multimedia IP communications, including IP Telephony, Fixed Mobile Convergence (FMC), Triple Play, Quad Play, IPTV and IMS applications.

"IP Convergence TV includes latest information on trends and issues in IP convergence, and enables visitors to shape their own views and expertise thanks to industry analysis, thought leadership, opinion pieces and best practices guidance," according to the launch announcement.

The site launch comes at a time where industry research seems to suggest it is price and not feature improvements which to date is driving VoIP take up. Similarly while VoIP and IPTV solutions are offering many features, they are so far broadly similar to those offered by traditional switched services.

For More:
-ipconvergencetv.com launch announcement
-A Call for More Innovation in Voice Services Jeff Pulver's Blog

Related Articles:
- VoIP growth still strong
- VoIP is here to stay

SPOTLIGHT: Revenue vs. deployment

Thu, 01 Nov 2007 07:59:53 -0400

In the not unrelated IPTV market Dailyiptv has a useful article by David Cotriss for those who care about what is the number one VoIP market: Europe or the US (with apologies to the 4 billion plus living in the Asia Pacific region). The article notes Europe is number one by a significant margin in terms of box deployments but for revenue the gap is much smaller.

Richard Broughton, an analyst at Screen Digest, puts Europe's lead down to the less competitive US market place and the maturity of the cable television network in the US. As a result U.S. telcos are choosing to go for full pay-TV services Broughton tells Dailyiptv. "In Europe, IPTV services tend toward the budget end of the market. As such, they are a little easier to roll out en masse. In the U.S., the telcos are competing directly with the major pay-TV operators, and as such have had to be much more careful when considering how they roll out the services, what sort of content is available and how they market their offers."

"In terms of those IPTV customers who actually use the IPTV box, Europe will have roughly four times as many IPTV customers as the U.S. by the end of the year. In terms of deployed boxes, Europe leads by even more - roughly double the number again. However, revenue wise, the gap narrows, with the U.S. looking to have made roughly half a billion euros (about $700 million) from IPTV subscriptions in 2007. Europe's figure is only two and a half times this." Report

ITExpo West begins

Mon, 10 Sep 2007 06:59:57 -0400

ITExpo, the Internet telephony conference in Los Angeles, begins today in the L.A. Convention Center. Hundreds of vendors and thousands of folks will converge here for what's new in the way of everything that affects VoIP, from regulations, technology and protocols, to handsets, hardware and open source codes. FierceMarkets is concurrently hosting IPTV Evolution today, a one-day event covering the rapidly emerging sector of IP television and video distribution.

As with all trade shows, IT Expo is heavy on the swag, although this one is light on T-shirts and chocolate statuettes. Instead, there are iPods, IP PBX systems, putters, a Sharper Image massager and "500 inward dialing phone numbers."

The tchotchke of the show is a Toyota FJ Cruiser with every type of mobile comms imaginable--Bluetooth, GPS, satellite, WiFi, DVD "and more." To qualify, all one has to do is visit and get a stamp from every booth.

For More:
- ITExpo's home page is here
- IPTV Evolution is here

Skype tested on jets

Mon, 10 Sep 2007 06:59:56 -0400

A VoIP aircraft antenna has been tested successfully by Starling, a firm in Yoqneam, Israel, according to reports. Starling specializes in low-profile, broadband antennas for aircraft.

Starling's Mijet antenna was mounted on the fuselage of a Boeing 737 and tested with simultaneous video conference calls, Skype calls, downloads, emails and Web searches, according to a release from the company. The comms were bounced via Israel's Amos communications satellite, with download rates of more than 20 Mbps (compared to 12 Mbps for "fast" U.S. landlocked broadband) and uploads of 5 Mbps.

Panasonic Avionics, the Lake Forest, Calif., Matsushita division specializing in in-flight entertainment, is working with Starling to offer airborne triple-play of 'Net access, voice and even IPTV. A report in IFEXpress indicates Quantas is interested.

For More:
- Starling's official announcement is here
- The report from IFEXpress is here

Related articles:
SpinVox breaks into VoIP with Skype
Skype hits Walmart shelves

France ISP offers $40 triple play

Thu, 06 Sep 2007 06:59:55 -0400

Iliad, France's third-largest broadband player, is offering a bundle of broadband, VoIP and IPTV, for around $40 a month, according to DSL Reports. The offer is notable not just for price, but for speed--100 Mbps upload/50 Mbps download.

France would appear to be awash in fiber-to-the-home. Iliad competitors France Telecom offers 100 Mbps for around $60, while Neuf has a 50 Mbps up/down triple play for around $40. DSL notes the following figures: 2.6 million homes have IPTV service; 52 percent of broadband connections have VoIP.

Comcast charges the typical $99 price for a triple play in the United States. The broadband portion, "with PowerBoost," gets "blazing download speeds up to 12 Mbps," the Comcast boilerplate states. Sadly, for U.S. broadband customers, that indeed is "blazing."

For More:
- DSLReports carries a summary here

Microsoft and Cisco make nice

Thu, 23 Aug 2007 06:59:55 -0400

Microsoft and Cisco pulled together a press event in New York to show how they could simultaneously compete and cooperate. Cisco CEO John Chambers and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer sat down before a roomful of reporters for an interview with PBS talker Charlie Rose to discuss détente.

Seven joint initiatives covering IT architecture, security, mobile communications and IPTV were announced at the event that formalized existing alignments between the two tech giants. Dynamically, the two companies are somewhat interdependent. Cisco is more active on the network level; Microsoft, the user level. But Microsoft hasn't developed a stellar reputation for playing nice, to the point where it was slapped down by Washington. Motley Fool analyst Anders Bylund noted that the very public CEO summit was a way to reassure business customers that Microsoft applications and Cisco gear would continue working together.

Meanwhile, Microsoft executives at the VoiceCon trade show in San Francisco this week reportedly said the company's new unified communications platform--Office Communications Server 2007--would debut in October.

For more:
- BusinessWeek provides background here
- Information Week covers the VoiceCon goings-on here

ALSO NOTED: Concilio's mobile phone plans; Comcast signs 3 million VoIP customers in two years;and much more...

Mon, 30 Jul 2007 06:59:52 -0400

> Concilio's mobile VoIP plans Article

> Comcast signs 3 million VoIP customers in two years Article

> VoIP raises call center customer satisfaction Article

> MTNL adds VoIP/IPTV in bid to boost margins Article

And finally... Japanese company develops self-destruct button for your phone Article

Market forces Trinidad telco into VoIP

Mon, 20 Nov 2006 19:01:38 -0500

The legacy carrier in Trinidad & Tobago, TSTT, is finding itself forced to provide a VoIP service because its small "call centers" were pretty much taking away its international business. Rather than paying telco rates for international calls, people in that Caribbean nation were going to the call centers and paying $1/minute--still high, but cheaper. TSTT tried to shut down the call centers, then to offer its own $1 rate; neither measure worked very well. Now TSTT is upgrading its network with equipment from Calix, which will let it get into the VoIP business. No financial details were revealed, but TSTT did say the upgrade would let them provide IPTV sometime down the road.

For more information about Trinidad's VoIP upgrade:
- read this article from Breaking News

NYT goes with Nortel for new IP net

Thu, 02 Nov 2006 19:01:37 -0500

The New York Times is moving into a nifty new headquarters building next year. When it goes, it'll be leaving behind an Avaya/Cisco phone system and lighting up an all-Nortel IP communications network. Each desk will have a Gigabit Ethernet connection and an IP phone; computers will have a USB camera and mic and access to 10 channels of IPTV from Time Warner Cable. One of the driving forces behind the technology upgrade, other than the "because we can" factor, is the merging of the Times' online and print newsrooms. Reporters will be able to create podcasts and rudimentary multimedia packages right at their desks. The network is based on Nortel ERS 8600 chassis, ES 5520 switches and CS1000 IP PBXes. Nortel's recent deal with Microsoft does not appear to have come into play.

For more information about the Times' new VoIP and IPTV installation:
- read this article from Network World

SPOTLIGHT: IPTV Webinar coming tomorrow

Mon, 14 Aug 2006 20:01:33 -0400

Please join us tomorrow for a webinar on IPTV hosted by FierceIPTV editor Brian Dolan. "IPTV: The New Killer App for Telcos" will take place Wednesday, August 16th at 2pm Eastern/11am Pacific. We'll have Colin Dixon from The Diffusion Group giving an analyst's perspective on deployment strategies, and Keith Cobler and Jon Hammarstrom from Tektronix discussing equipment and testing needs for quality of service. Click here to register