1/5/09

VoicePulse Expands Coverage to Idaho's 208 Area Code

VoicePulse announces the immediate availability of phone numbers in the 208 area code. VoicePulse now offers numbers in 37 rate centers across Idaho, compared to other services that offers as little as six cities. VoicePulse now has greater coverage in the state of Idaho than any other pure-play VoIP provider.

VoicePulse broadband phone service plans include over 20 features to help organize and make your life simpler. Some of the features included:

 

·         Telemarketer Blocking, Do Not Disturb, Anonymous Call Rejection, and Call Transfer

·         Voicemail with optional e-mail delivery of messages as sound attachments

·         Choose your own area code

·         Low international calling rates

 

Plans for home users include:

 

·         Unlimited local, regional and US long distance calling for $24.99 per month

·         Unlimited local, regional and 200 US long distance minutes for $14.99 per month

 

Consumers only need a high-speed Internet connection and an ordinary touch-tone telephone to use the service.

VoicePulse also brings its premier VoIP service to businesses using IP PBXs and wholesale consumers using SIP trunking. For example, businesses using open-source PBXs like Digium's Asterisk, AsteriskNow, Switchvox, Fonality's PBXtra, trixbox, PBX-in-a-Flash, FreePBX, or FreeSwitch will find that VoicePulse is the perfect complement with its one-of-a-kind, one-click auto-configuration module.

The flexibility and cost benefits make VoicePulse a great value-added product for businesses. VoicePulse provides comprehensive support services for businesses of all sizes – knowledgeable support teams answer questions via email and phone while advanced technical support is available to optimize VoicePulse service for the company's IP PBX.

 

Covad Certifies IP PBX Providers

covad_logo.gifCovad has certified IP PBXs from TalkSwitch, Grandstream, Vertical and Epygi for its new Covad Integrated Access service.

IP PBXs certified by Covad include:

·         TalkSwitch IP PBX equipped for VoIP (models 244/248vs, 284/288vs, 484/488vs and 844/848vs)

·         Grandstream GXE502X ALL-IN-ONE IPPBX

·         Vertical Xcelerator IP

·         Epygi Quadro 2x and Quadro 4x IP PBX

Covad Integrated Access service is delivered over a powerful voice-optimized T1 line and works with customers' existing phone systems so businesses can leverage their equipment investment while saving money and simplifying operations. Covad Integrated Access now also utilizes SIP trunking and supports a wide range of IP, digital and analog PBXs.

Pricing starts as low as $435 per month with no installation fees, depending upon contract length and services ordered. Customers can start with as few as four phone lines. New lines can also be added one at a time, rather than in the more typical "blocks" offered by competitors, making it easier to grow the service with the company.

Integrated Access service uses Covad's voice-optimized technology to dynamically allocate bandwidth between voice and data. By always prioritizing voice traffic and automatically allocating all remaining bandwidth to data traffic, it provides maximum call quality and data throughput.

 

Mobivox Adds French and Spanish Languages

mobivox_logo.jpgMobivox has been enhanced with the addition of French and Spanish language capabilities that carriers, other service providers and online communities can offer their customers immediately.

The patent-pending Mobivox|PL platform now interacts with names and spoken commands in French and Spanish, particularly the idiomatic Spanish spoken widely in Latin America. The platform soon will support the Spanish spoken in Spain, and the company plans to add a Portuguese-language capability early next year.

Mobivox
PL enables partners to deploy and monetize voice-activated person-to-person and person-to-group communications services. For all Mobivox services – including its inbound and outbound mobile VoIP offerings – end users simply speak names or commands to initiate, manage and control voice-based communications.

No other mobile voice-services platform has the feature richness or flexibility of Mobivox
PL. The platform's open application programming interface easily enables "mashups" with other voice services. Furthermore, its communications infrastructure is network-agnostic, meaning partners anywhere in the world can take advantage of it to deliver value-added voice-activated services to their users.

 

FBI Warns of New Vishing Attacks Targeting PBX Systems

factech_0501.gifThe FBI has identified a new technique used to conduct vishing attacks where hackers exploit a known security vulnerability in Asterisk softwar e. Asterisk is free and widely used software developed to integrate PBX systems with VoIP digital Internet voice calling services; however, early versions of the Asterisk software are known to have a vulnerability. The vulnerability can be exploited by cyber criminals to use the system as an auto dialer, generating thousands of vishing telephone calls to consumers within one hour.

Digium released a Security Advisory, AST-2008-003, in March 2008, which contains the information necessary for users to configure a system, patch the software, or upgrade the software to protect against this vulnerability.

If a consumer falls victim to this exploit, their personally identifiable information will be compromised. To prevent further loss of consumers' PII and to reduce the spread of this new technique, it is imperative that businesses using Asterisk upgrade their software to a version that has had the vulnerability fixed.

Further, consumers should not release personal information in response to unsolicited telephone calls. Providing your PII will compromise your identity.

"As with all types of scams, whether by computer, phone, or mail, using common sense can protect you," said Special Agent Richard Kolko, Chief, National Press Office, Washington, D.C.

To receive the latest information about cyber scams, please go to the FBI website and sign up for e-mail alerts by clicking on one of the red envelopes. If you have received a scam e-mail, please notify the IC3 by filing a complaint at www.ic3.gov. For more information on e-scams, please visit the FBI's New E-Scams and Warnings webpage.

 

snom Inks Distribution Agreement with Tek-Mart

snom_logo.jpgsnom continues to aggressively expand its global sales channel by signing a major agreement with Tek-Mart, one of the largest technology distributors in Mexico. snom's new 820 and 3xx series desktop SIP phones and its award-winning mobile snom m3 IP DECT phone are now available to Tek-Mart's reseller network of Value-Added Resellers, Network Service Providers and Systems Integrators.

Tek-Mart will distribute snom's full line of VoIP telephones including the snom 3xx series of advanced SIP phones as well as the new IP DECT phone for VoIP users, the snom m3. The snom m3 provides an optimal VoIP communication system for the home office, SMB or enterprise. snom provides customers with feature-rich business telephones that offer plug-and-play integration into any SIP-based telephony platform.

Tek-Mart, which has offices in Mexico City, Monterrey and Puebla will sell snom phones through their network of Tek-Mart resellers as well as independent resellers throughout the country. As part of the program, Tek-Mart employees have successfully completed snom's technical training program and achieved full certification to provide technical support for snom portfolio of handset products.

 

Nimbuzz is ruling the Mobile IM and VoIM arena

Looks like Nimbuzz is doing great in the Mobile VoIM and Mobile Chat arena. In addition, they have found the revenue model that has been elusive to most of the other Mobile VoIP, VoIM and IM startups. For folks that don't know nimbuzz, here is a quick summary; Nimbuzz offers a social interaction service combining (geo) presence, IM, and VoIP. The free application is available on the mobile phone, PC and Web, for (group) calling, instant messaging, (group) chat, file sharing across popular Instant Messaging communities and social networks. Recently they partnered with studiVZ, which counts over 12 million users spanning across Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. To me, nimbuzz sounds more like a meebo of voice.

Iam not sure if they are making any money right now from revenue sharing, though they claim to have 10k users logging in each day. Talking about partnership with social networking reminds me off
Jangl ; they had partnership with many social networking sites. In the end, we all know what happened to them . It's an open secret that making money out of social networking is like raising money via IPO in this market condition. All that said, what's most promising here is the instant user base they get with this kind of partnership. This might make them hot for acquisition. Fring, Mig33, eqo beware or follow nimbus model. There are very few startups that can survive in this arena.

Here is some good news to iPhone users; Nimbuzz is now available for the iPhone. This gives users additional capability to chat with facebook or myspace users in addition to Yahoo Messenger, MSN, Skype and Google Talk




Here are some of the features supported by iPhone app:
• Landscape-chat makes it easy and fast to type
• Call your IM buddies all over the world for free on your Wifi connection: Skype, Yahoo! Messenger, Windows Live Messenger (MSN), Google Talk
• Chat with social network friends: Facebook, MySpace, Gadu-Gadu, studiVZ, Hyves

 

Skype opens up for asterisk

Today Skype and Digium announced a partnership that would allow skype to be integrated with asterisk platform via a channel driver. This sounds like an interesting collaboration. It's definitely Good news to all those asterisk developers and corporate folks that use asterisk platform as PBX. What this brings to the table is an interaction of 338 million skype users with millions of asterisk users. The not so good news is that the channel driver is not open source. It comes with a cost. According to sources, the licensing shall be done per channel basis.

Picture courtesy, fiercevoip


Here is what users of asterisk get:

• Make, receive and transfer Skype calls with multiple Skype names from within Asterisk phone systems, using existing hardware.
• Complement existing Asterisk services with low Skype global rates (as low as 1.7€¢ / 2.1US¢ per minute to more than 35 countries worldwide).
• Save money on inbound calling solutions such as free click-to-call from a website, as well as receive inbound calling from the PSTN through create virtual offices all over world using Skype's online numbers.
• Manage Skype calls using Asterisk applications such as call routing, conferencing, phone menus and voicemail.

Skype integration is not something completely new to asterisk developers. There were other workarounds that allowed some kind of integration with skype earlier. For e.g. using ChanSkype , asterisk users were able to call skype users online, Receive up to 30 incoming Skype Calls, Bridge with SIP channels etc. However, today's announcement has more significance, because it's coming directly from skype, and hope this is beginning of skype opening up! Asterisk already supports different VoIP protocols like SIP,H.232,MGCP,SCCP etc. Skype protocol will be a new addition to the list.

I'm interesting in knowing how much did skype open up to digium for this integration. The platform is open for beta. If you're an Asterisk user or developer, you can apply for a beta at Skype Asterisk Beta . The initial beta is limited to a select number of users, developers and integrators

 

We want Internet Telephony in India

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India(TRAI) acknowledges the huge potential of VoIP. TRAI has recommended that calls made over the internet be allowed to be received on telephones rather than just computers. If it succeeds, it will be good news for those of you folks that wants cheap calling solution to india. In addition, this shall open up lot of competition among vendors that are into IP backhaul play. According to the report, india currently has 11 million internet subscribers compared with about 326 million mobile and land-line phone connections.

Currently, in india, ISP's are not permitted to have connectivity with PSTN/PLMN within the country. However, the restrictions imposed on use of different devices/ATA/Adapters to provide Internet telephony were removed as per subsequent guideline issued by DoT. Now any device or adapter conforming to the Standards of International Agencies can be used to make Internet telephony calls to PSTN/PLMN abroad. So what this means is- you can buy MagicJack and ship to India, your friends/family can call a USA number using the MagicJack adapter.

Interesting
analysis from the report

US analysts Telegeography predict that revenues from Internet Telephony (termed as VoIP) will reach USD 5 billion having 16% of total telephony subscribers by 2010. Other estimates are much higher. According to Juniper Research, revenues from VoIP services in the business sector alone will reach USD 18 billion by 2010, with hosted VoIP business revenues reaching USD 7.6 billion. Source: iDate


The amount of money predicted in business and consumer VoIP is humongous. Iam not sure about the credibility of these reports. Lets hope these reports come true.

Some highlights of TRAI recommendation:
•The service providers must inform QoS parameters supported by them to their subscribers so that they can take informed decision.
•Internet telephony may be permitted to ISPs with permission to provide Internet telephony calls to PSTN/PLMN and vice-versa within country and necessary amendments made in the license provisions.
•National Long Distance (NLD) Operators shall be permitted to connect to ISPs through public Internet (Internet cloud) to facilitate termination of Internet telephony calls on PSTN/PLMN and vice-versa including among ISPs both within telecom circle as well as across the telecom circles.
•Allocation of E.164 number resources may be permitted to ISPs also for providing Internet telephony.
•Lawful Interception and Monitoring

 

Finally BroadSoft Says It Bought Sylantro

BroadSoft, of Gaithersburg, Md., has finally said what has been rumored for so long: It has acquired Sylantro Systems Corp., a VoIP applications developer based in Campbell, Calif., for an undisclosed amount of money. From what I've heard, no cash changed hands, though BroadSoft might have assumed Sylantro's debt. The real reason for this deal might be AT&T: Sylantro is the voice platform being used by AT&T for its U-verse offerings.

BroadSoft is consolidating the market and is becoming a dominant player. It recently acquired the M6 application server business from GENBAND, expressing high hopes for the future. This leaves the company with two competitors: Sonus and MetaSwitch.

News of the deal has been doing the rounds in the VoIP circles for a while now. The 10-year-old, privately held BroadSoft, which recently slashed jobs and raised some fresh capital, sells to some of the largest telecom operators. It's estimated to have logged around $60 million in revenues in 2007 and was said to have broken even.

 

5 Trends That Will Separate the Strong From the Weak in 2009

Year-end prognosticators have their work cut out for them. Most predictions made a year ago were undone by events few actually foresaw. Now things are as uncertain as ever. 2009 could bring a healthy recovery, or another financial crisis could set us back even further.

So rather than specific predictions, it seems more sensible to look at current trends that could shape the tech industry next year. Here are five that, barring further upheavals, could separate the strong companies from the weak.

 

Big names get bigger. Bad news for startups: Capital and customers alike are seeking the safety of well-known, well-funded names. Take a minute and think of the most respected names in tech. Google? Apple? Amazon? Whether they finish the year higher or lower, the more stable they look, the more they will outperform the broader market. They will have a larger share of attention, and possibly sales.

That won't be the case for all big companies, especially those slow to update their business models. Microsoft may be aggressive about moving into newer markets, but its core operating-software business may be a drag on growth. Nokia and Motorola have lagged in innovation for years, and must catch up this year or risk falling into oblivion.

 

The netbook lifestyle. Netbooks are looking to be a big trend in 2009, but it's unclear whether they'll be as popular as handhelds and PCs, or a thin niche sandwiched between them. Their fate depends in large part on applications that make them as useful as their bigger and smaller siblings.

Acer is emerging as an early leader in netbooks, but HP, Lenovo, Dell and possibly Apple are competing as well. Who will lead in netbook apps? It's up for grabs. Google and Apple could take it, as could longer shots like Yahoo and Microsoft — or even a small company not yet on the radar.

 

Companies get virtual. CIOs plan to spend 2 percent less on IT projects next year, a survey by UBS suggests. Spending on virtualization software will rise 6 percent (down from 10-percent growth in 2008), although UBS cautions it still isn't a priority in many IT departments.

That could change as CIOs wake up to the efficiency — and potential savings — that virtualization can bring. VMware rules this niche, with Citrix also a player. IBM, Oracle and Microsoft will try to grab market share, but it may require them to alter their licensing terms and cut into profit margins.

 

Cloud over privacy. It's not much of a prediction to say cloud computing will advance in 2009. But that could make this a make-or-break year for privacy issues. Yahoo and Google have taken baby steps toward protecting privacy, and how they and others act will turn the the cloud into either a safe place for personal data or a hostile one. And how secure we feel in the cloud will in turn affect the companies building it.

On a separate but related note, 2009 also looks to be a crucial year for net neutrality, so the fate of the individual on the Internet may be cast in stone by year's end.

Business models sink or swim. Several new business models have emerged this decade, among them VoIP, social networks and online video. But with a few exceptions, they haven't been profitable. 2009 could be something of a crucible for them. Companies offering products or services for free will be tested as ad dollars remain scarce.

The pressure will force companies to be creative about monetizing technologies that have proved popular. Those that simply won't bring profits will survive, there just won't be any publicly traded companies behind them.

 

VoIP: Dead or Alive?

For the past few days, the VoIP community has been indulging in a bit of soul-searching. The debate: Is VoIP dead? To pragmatists such as Alec Saunders, the answer is yes. In his well-reasoned polemic, "2008: The Year VoIP Died," he succinctly writes, "Voice over IP is just a transport and signaling technology. It's plumbing." Harsh, but true!

Of course, on the other side of the debate are folks such as Jeff Pulver and Jon Arnold, both with deep interests in the success of VoIP, who seem to think that VoIP is in for a renaissance. Pulver argues that we are going through Internet Communications Continuum, or "the continued evolution of the IP Communications Industry. In my case, this continuum represents all forms of IP Communications, including: VoIP, Instant Messaging, Presence, IP Signaling, Internet TV, Unified Communications, Social Media and more."

They continue to think of VoIP as a revolution. The reality, however, is more mundane and as Alec said, boring. Where do we come out on this debate? On the side of realism. About two months ago, Ian Bell on our behalf analyzed the state of VoIP and why it was "dead." We were egged on by some comments made by Skype's general manager of voice and video, Jonathan Christensen, at an industry conference a few weeks ago.

Towards the end of that post, Ian pointed out that the current spate of problems facing the VoIP sector was lack of imagination on the part of the industry because its players went "after low-hanging fruit and forcing their innovations to be defined within the walls of the PSTN." It is not just the failed voice service providers who took the easy way out, but also the so-called social voice innovators.

My friend Daemon sees a lot of hope in the new services that are emerging, but I remain skeptical. Not because I am a hater. Far from it. It is just that the VoIP landscape is littered with carcasses of companies that represented mediocrity and marginal ideas. There is some hope on the horizon, but we have been fooled before.

 

At CES 2009, Ooma Hopes For a Second Act

Ooma, the Palo Alto, Calif.-based VoIP phone hardware and services platform that has been struggling to live up to its initial hype is going to take a second run at mainstream success. At CES 2009, the company is launching the Ooma Telo, a wireless handset that wraps the original Ooma phone system in a mobile unit. Ooma has raised a total of $43 million.

 

 

ooma-handset1If you frequented Amazon.com this holiday season, then you might have noticed that Amazon was pushing the original Ooma device hard, though it's not clear how that impacted sales. I am looking forward to the launch of this new wireless version, to see how the platform has actually evolved.

The company previously made some strategic mistakes, including an ill-conceived marketing strategy with actor Ashton Kutcher, and the initial product launch was fraught with problems. The biggest problem was that Ooma was too expensive for VoIP's market segment, which includes penny pinchers. Since then, Ooma has tried to mend its reputation. It brought in new management that has focused on the consumer electronics channels and slashed prices. Ooma Founder Andrew Frame was recently replaced as the CEO by Rich Buchanan, but he remains with the company as its chairman.

 

VoicePHP: Indian Startup Marries Voice with PHP

Marrying web applications with voice has long been seen as the proverbial pot of gold: easy to dream about but hard to actually find. A few startups (and some large companies) are trying to solve the problem; some are using Voice XML, while others are betting on Adobe's Flash. Today, TringMe, a Bangalore, India-based startup has thrown its hat in the ring by coming up with a way to marry VoIP with PHP, the lingua franca of the contemporary web. TringMe describes VoicePHP as an extension of PHP that now outputs voice instead of text and also takes input as voice instead of text.

Basically, VoicePHP is intended to do the same things as VoiceXML, but by using the familiar PHP programming methology. In doing so, it wants to attract a large pool of PHP-savvy developers and have them develop voice applications. (See how it works.) This is an even simpler approach than the one floated by Ribbit, a Silicon Valley-based company that was acquired by British Telecom in July 2008 for $105 million. Ribbit is betting on the large-scale adoption of Flash and hopes its Flash-centric solution would become the engine that powers web-voice applications.

The idea of VoicePHP seems disruptive in its simplicity. As TringMe puts it on the VoicePHP web site, "With VoicePHP, there's no need to learn a new markup language, tags, attributes associated with VoiceXML. Widely and Freely available tools for developing, debugging PHP can be continued to use with VoicePHP." It also means that an application written in VoicePHP can be accessed via Flash, instant messenger (like Google Talk), Mobile VoIP clients or even plain old phone lines. This gives TringMe an advantage over rivals that require Flash.*

voicephparch

VoicePHP also squares off against Twilio, a startup that allows developers to write apps that tap into Twilio's backend to talk to any kind of phone. Twilio's simpler version of VoiceXML allows developers to offer some core voice-related functions and helped it attact 1,000 or so developers during the first three days following its launch in late November 2008. Some of them are already using the service in an interesting ways. Voice(sneak) and Dwellicious are two such examples.

Twilio's approach seemed simpler than the application programming interface (API) tactics that have been tried by others; VoIP companies offering APIs to their platforms have struggled to attract developers to their platforms. Although some VoIP services such as Phweet and iotum's Calliflower are using TringMe's API, the company is hoping that VoicePHP will remove all the complexity associated with API-based solutions.

VoicePHP goes well beyond the API paradigm and integrates voice into the language itself. One continues to use the same development, testing tools and implements PHP code as he is used to. There is no need to invoke special "vendor-specific" APIs.

Of course, TringMe isn't doing this out of the goodness of its heart. It is betting that as VoicePHP grows popular, more and more web-voice application developers would use its VoIP platform, in turn helping TringMe earn money.

* If you are a VoIP developer and can offer your insights, I would appreciate your help. You can leave your thoughts in the comments area or email me using the contact form.

PS: GigaOM readers will get 50 beta invites for the hosted platform which will include one US phone number and phone credits to test the service. You can signup with TringMe & mention GigaOM. Their voice application will be immediately available from Flash, IM, Phone etc.

 

Qttel.com offers Unlimited free VOIP calls

We are already in 2009 and expecting that more and more VOIP Providers join the "free VOIP" revolution and offers unlimited free international calls around the world.

Today we take a look at Qttel, a simple Phone to Phone based VOIP Service which promises to give unlimited free voip calls to over 50 countries. Thanks to comment on our VOIP Provider of the Year 2008, thats where we discovered about this service, which seem to have changed the name recently. I remember using this service but a non-free version of it.

You must enter your number in international format.

We have embedded their softphone into this post, you can start making calls right now. Use the following Qttel widget to make free calls.



QtTel is however a browser based VOIP service. It askes you to enter your phone number and your party's number and then Call. Qttel will first call you and then call the destination number. The biggest limitation of this service is it only works for 5 countries, Australia (FIX only),Canada (FIX & GSM!),UK (FIX only),Holland (FIX only),USA (FIX & GSM!). That means only people from this country can make calls. Of course if you have a incoming phone number from any of these country you should be able to receive calls from Qttel and of course make free voip calls.

Please note all calls are limited to 5 minutes but it seems you may dial the same number and over and over. Please let us know your feedback on Qttel.

 

VOIP Provider of the Year 2008 Winners Declared

Finally, we got all the results from our VOIP Provider of the Year 2008 Polls. There were multiple categories in which these VOIP Provider battled out against their close competitors. Read the full report.

We had multiple categories for VOIP Provider of the Year 2008. Around 1000 voters voted on some of the best VOIP Providers and chose the best in each category.

Lets analyse the results. There are some very shocking results.

1) Free International Call Providers: Over 517 users voted for this category.

Winner of Free International Call Provider in 2008: PokeTalk.

PokeTalk won this category with 167 votes, but it was a close finish with 160 votes for Mediaring, making it a very tough competitor to Poketalk. Surprisingly, Betamax lagged behind with barely 72 votes. Another indication that people are most likely fed up with their policies and billing issues.



2)Cheap International Call Provider: No surprises here. Localphone totally washed away all competitors. I guess its time for other VOIP Providers to start looking at Localphone as their leader and learn from them. As I always said, Localphone is my current most favorite VOIP Provider.

Total 268 votes were registered. Localphone got 174 and the closest competitor was Betmax with 47 votes.See the huge difference. again betamax loosing on because of their policies. Surprisingly Rebtel and Mediaring didnt get many votes.

best cheap international call provider

3)Residential Phone Service Provider: Again, Two fairly new companies dominated over the veterans here. Lingo and PhonePower got same number of votes, Vonage lagged behind. There was a tie between Lingo and PhonePower. We highly recommend PhonePower(Read PhonePower Reviews), since its the cheapest residential phone service provider in USA today.



4) Best SIP Softphones in 2008: This was one off Poll, to see the interest amongst users for SIP Softphones. As we said Xlite is still extremely popular. Xlite got over 46 votes from the total of 80, clearly showing that it dominates this market.



If anyone wants detailed reports of this poll, please contact me on ut(dot)godmode@gmail.com. The results from this poll were exciting and i hope they give good indication to VOIP companies on how they are doing and where they need to work on. Hopefully we see a great 2009 for VOIP. Wish you all a very happy new year!


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HD Voice Gains Traction

As companies look to differentiate themselves in a competitive telecom marketplace, pushing HD Voice is bound to help them gain a competitive edge. TMCnet's Michael Dinan recently covered how Alteva is promoting their hosted communications service which supports Polycom's line of HD voice phones.

I would imagine all resellers should be looking at these solutions to sell and they should be positioning HD voice as the future of communications.

 

Obviously VoIP is Alive and Well

 phoenix.jpg

A Phoenix rising from the ashes -- not sure this is the appropriate image but it sure is colorful


A few people have asked me recently to throw my hat in the ring about the health of VoIP. Many bloggers have been eulogizing the technology while I was on vacation - ironically using more VoIP than I ever have.

It is worth mentioning that bloggers are so far ahead of the curve they sometimes don't realize that businesses need to catch up to where they were years ago.

SMBs are just now slowly learning about SIP trunking for example and they are beginning to use it. Enterprises are just beginning to deploy UC, CEBP, telepresence, HD voice, FMC and so many other technologies which are intertwined with VoIP that it is incredible this morbid topic would even come up.

But getting back to VoIP - the transformation which began before IP telephony - namely CTI started opening up communications in ways we never imagined. Concepts like unified messaging for example were dreams over a decade and a half ago. Now, an entire wave of IP communications related technologies are being deployed across companies and households around the globe.

Some may say I have bias or I depend on VoIP for my living. This is actually untrue - I rely on the TMC audience for my living and they rely on my honest feelings on topics like where VoIP is headed.

Is it dead? Absolutely not. Ask the cable companies, telcos and wireless operators who are all transitioning to or all out using IP networks. Ask the home user who likely uses VoIP on their PSTN lines and/or or Skype or calling cards.

Is the industry losing innovation? I say perhaps. There are however new companies being created all the time and new platforms such as the iPhone which allow these applications to flourish (well the ones allowed to run on the iPhone anyway).

There is certainly a lack of imaginative applications - who can argue that? But as Om Malik points out and Ted Wallingford seconds, last year showed us perhaps the worst parts of business, politics, and just about everything else I hoped I would never see in my lifetime.

2008 marks an era which has come and gone. A pretty crappy one if you ask me. I just hope 2009 is the exact opposite in every way and becomes a time when we begin to see more innovation, ethics, honesty and a sense of pride in everything we see and do. I get the feeling that in the fifties the American worker was much more proud and ethical and less materialistic. Perhaps this is just a dream on my part but I hope when I open my eyes and get back to work next week, I will get some of that 1950s feeling inside me.

 

Look Out Google, Here Comes MSE360

Recently I came across a search engine which was new to me called MSE360. I tried it out and was impressed that a search engine I have never heard of could be so accurate. It is not perfect mind you but it isn't bad for a newcomer to the scene.

When you search, you are presented with a lot of information. You get typical search engine results and the top Wikipedia and blog entries on the left. On the right there are image results and even some ads tucked away in the bottom right hand corner.

An MSE360 search for IP Communications

mse360.jpg


The page design is busy but at the same time pretty comprehensive. I thought it worth learning more so I conducted an email interview with Daniel Clarke from the company. Here are the results:

Tell me what differentiates MSE360 from the others?

MSE360 is a dynamic project and by that I mean that we hope to never stop creating cool and really useful features for the site. I guess that I should start with the core concept of the multimedia search with the multimedia results displayed in separate columns on a single page.

This is not a "mash up" of data from Yahoo, Google etc simply regurgitated on to a page, but a unique system of searching for and making the required information available to the user. One of the most interesting new technologies incorporated in the MSE360 is the Unique Indexing System allowing "deep and really super fast" indexing of the web sites by our really talented Web Crawler called Fred!

Then there is our Unique Algo providing an increasingly fast response to a query.

Also the very popular Virus Warning for the user, with a Virus Warning Icon placed next to any web site that has the possibility of being infected with a virus.

Privacy of our users is a major concern for us and so, we do not store any user information, other than the key word. Other engines store a substantial amount of information about their users under the banner of improving their services, when really it is to improve their profit margin by targeting adverts.

And our image search. We are feeling better about the image search which uses another unique search system. The image search which was not an easy task I am happy to tell you that it is getting better and better every daysmile .

There are many more really cool features but more importantly, there is a lot more cool stuff to come. So please keep your eye on MSE360!

Where does the name come from anyway?

MSE360 is in fact short for MultiSearch360.com.

The name along with the concept of the multi search with the multimedia results displayed in separate columns, on a single page, came from one of my two partners.

What role does a toolbar play in search engine accuracy?

Well MSE360 does not have a toolbar at this time.

In many cases the tool bars are now being used to grab user data for example toolbars automatically reporting sites the user visits to a web crawler.

We believe that there has got to be a balance between the convenience and privacy. As far as making the results more relevant and accurate, we believe that the accuracy and relevance of the results is something which really has to be enhanced and controlled by a server side function.

How are you monetizing your endeavors?

At this stage of our development, revenue is not a concern. Our focus at this time is to try and create a great search tool for our users.

We expect to launch our own Advert platform as well as other possible ideas regarding this subject in the near future. At this time, we do have some ads on the site by adsense but that is mainly for research purposes.

Who is funding your company?

All of the funding up to now, has been provided by the two majority owners of the search engine project  -- my partners in this endeavor.

I am the Chief Techie and a junior partnersmile .

My partners are currently exploring further sources of funding for the project, including the possibility of a public floatation in the US. However, there is no indecent haste involved in this, as we would much rather seek public funding with an already working project under our belt, rather than offering only a dream and a lot of hope to the prospective investors.smile

Mind you, I am sure that because we have had to keep within a very tight budget, it has helped us to be even more innovative and creative in our technology and knowhow.

Where does your company stand with respect to each search engine competitor?

There are some very good search engines out there and I would be less than honest if I said that I did not respect Google. The original fire in the belly of the founders that had helped them in creating one of the best search tools may well have cooled down a little now, but it is still a great work of technology.

There are other good search tools and then there are some search engines which well, could be better than they aresmile .

Personally I use some other search engines as well as MSE360. In the 21st century the users need to learn to use more than one search engine.

Will people switch search engines and if so, what will make them do so?

In answer to this, I would like to take you back to our unique and useful features, as described as a response to your first question. But I think the real reason that I may switch any service that I am using would be that the new service provided exactly what I wanted, as quickly as possible.

Additional really useful features would also be a consideration. I would also be concerned about my private data being held and possibly being passed on to others.

I believe that during the year 2009, MSE360 will increasingly become a destination of choice for many, many users of the web.

What is the toughest thing about going up against Google?

To try and get enough people to sit up and take notice of the new kids out of another garage, so to speak, who could well have something that could change the world, just as the founders of Google did with their little project back then.

And of course Google is a good product so as in the case of Avis, we will have to try harder.smile 

What are you doing to increase your web traffic which Alexa pegs at around 460k?

At this time, we are mainly spending all our efforts towards enhancing the feature set of MSE360. We expect the traffic to grow slowly over this year.

I think that it is better to keep the level growing naturally rather than getting "forced traffic" due to a spurt of publicity which would inevitably decline after the end of the PR campaign.

However, we are planning a steady stream of user based PR at this stage of our development, which tends to produced a more stable traffic to the site.

What are your company's objectives in 2009?

Our main goal is to complete the current stage of the development of the project by adding the planned new features to the site. We believe that after the completion of the "first stage" of its development, MSE360 will be one of the very best search tools anywhere.

Modesty forces me add "one of the".smile

I really can't go into too much detail about what new and cool features are to be added to MSE360, as we've already had a few of our ideas stolen as soon as they are publicized. But needless to say 2009 will be a very interesting year, so watch this space!

One of things that I do not mind disclosing though is that we intend to let the user customize MSE360 as much as possible. We would really like the users to make the search engine their own.

What can Obama administration do to help tech in the next four years?

Washington really needs to be taught about the Internet. I think in the next 4 years Obama and his Administration need to set in stone Net Neutrality.

They also need to fund a large scale improvement of the fiber network in America. China is quickly becoming a source for new tech companies, and if America does not act fast it will be hit of the top spot.

Most importantly, the Internet must not become just another arm of the enforcement division of the Government, by recording every move that everyone makes while in the cyber space.

However that being said, the developers of MSE360 are based in Singapore, UK and the US. So we have to be hoping that the governments all over the world would prove to be more web friendly this year than they have been up to now.

---

What strikes me about this project is that it seems to be coming out of a garage and still provides good results. Years ago there was talk about Google not having any barrier to entry and over the years instead of losing search share it gained it. This led some to hypothesize that the company's position in search is virtually impossible to breach. But if this is true, how do you reconcile a company of a few people with limited funding coming up with a search engine that isn't that far off in terms of results? Obviously I didn't check every keyword but the many I tried were impressive. If Google gets a 10, MSE360 gets a 6.5-7.

An MSE360 Search for News

mse360-news.jpg


To gauge accuracy I tried searching for the term news and the results were MSNBC, Google News, CNET, CNN, Citizens Voice, Fox News, ABC News, CBS News, etc. Like I said... Pretty good.

An MSE360 Search for Tehrani

mse360-tehrani.jpg


A search for my last name pegs my blog at number six while Google had it at number five. Not bad. And then again, who is to say my blog even belongs on the first page (Daniel it really doeswink ).

I invite you to try the search engine in yourself. I have no vested interest in its success - except the part of me which thinks competition is good and the underdog deserves a more than fighting chance.

 

Telstra Deploys Australia's Largest Hosted IP PBX Solution

Telstra today announced it had deployed more than 10,000 new Telstra IP Telephony (TIPT) services across the organization - the largest ever roll-out of hosted IP telephony in Australia and an important milestone in the internal upgrade of the existing CustomNet voice solution.

Telstra Enterprise & Government Executive Director Paul Geason said the roll-out utilized the Telstra Next IP network and was another example of how Telstra was benefiting from the same products and services it makes available to its customers.

"Telstra continues to lead by example," Geason said. "One of the cornerstones of unified communications solutions is Telstra IP Telephony, which enables Australian customers to maximize their resources and operate more cost-effectively, which is particularly critical in a tough economic environment."

TIPT features a toolbar that integrates with Microsoft Outlook and Internet Explorer to deliver improved usability and productivity with simple tasks such as click-to-call and integration with the Telstra Corporate Directory.

Telstra Product Management Executive Director Philip Jones said this milestone was a prime example of Telstra's commitment to its unique and differentiated products and services.

"Telstra staff are now reaping the benefits of a network-based system that leverages the Telstra Next IP(TM) network to deliver high definition voice and mobility with rich features like simultaneous ringing, remote office and a desktop toolbar with the power of click-to-call," Jones said. "This unified communication solution will soon be enhanced with new functionality including seamless integration with Microsoft Office Communicator and video calling."

BroadSoft President and CEO Michael Tessler said BroadSoft(R) played an integral role in Telstra's early IP telephony initiatives by delivering a rich voice feature set that now powers TIPT.

"This milestone is a compelling proof point of how Telstra is leading the market with next-generation communications services," Tessler said. "Telstra IP Telephony can improve the efficiency of how Telstra employees and customers communicate, thus increasing productivity and providing an enhanced user experience. We look forward to working with Telstra and its partners on the continued TIPT roll-out, as well as on its broader unified communications initiative."

TIPT operates across a single data network, which helps business to become more resource efficient. Eliminating dual networks can lead to improved efficiency, productivity benefits and potential cost savings to business.

Polycom Vice President of Marketing, Voice Communications Solutions Chalan Aras said this was one of the largest IP handset deployments globally for Polycom.

"The success of the TIPT service exemplifies the rising demand for IP telephony worldwide," Aras said. "Telstra's vision to deliver HD-quality IP telephony to Australian organizations meets the increasing needs of businesses of all sizes to achieve cost efficiencies and enhance productivity through the deployment of Voice over IP (VoIP) solutions."

Source: Broadsoft

 

VoIP Still Isn't Dead - Part Deux

Since the birth of the VoIP industry, the millions (maybe Billions) of dollars of VoIP Telco infrastructure that has been purchased and will continue to be purchased has been meaningful for quite a number of companies. So in real life, VoIP really isn't dead.

For some people, VoIP has become a word associated with "network plumbing."  And in that perspective, I can appreciate why some of my friends no longer believe that VoIP is cool.

From my own perspective, I miss reading stories about startups prepared to leverage the concept that "Voice is just an Application" and empower a new generation to communication in ways which were not possible or practical in the past. Something more than Skype and something different than Vonage. What we are missing are the totally disruptive startups willing to challenge the status quo.

The VoIP industry in America was fortunate to have been born at a time when the FCC embraced disruptive technologies. People like Dr. Robert Pepper, Julius Genachowski and Kevin Werbach under the leadership of FCC Chairman Reed Hundt did the right things necessary to embrace VoIP. Their embracing of VoIP and appreciation for disruptive technologies helped the VoIP industry grow. This growth continued under the leadership of FCC Chairman Bill Kennard.

Looking back, the VoIP Industry was most fortunate to have come of age a time when the FCC Chairman was Michael K. Powell. Chairman Powell embraced the nascent VoIP industry and made it a point to come out to the VON conferences and connect directly with our community. I enjoyed the opportunity to spend time with Chairman Powell at my VON Conferences and meeting with him in Washington, D.C. I most of all enjoyed being able to call Chairman Michael K. Powell, a friend.

Chairman Powell's FCC embraced my VON Conferences and FCC staff members were an active part of the community. During the VON events we held a number of "Town Hall Meetings" with various members of the FCC staff. I will be forever grateful for all of the work that Dr. Robert Pepper did over the years to make sure the FCC had a presence at the VON events.

 

Chairman Powell's FCC is one of the big reasons the VoIP industry grew in the United States and around the world. Chairman Powell recognized the need not to apply legacy rules and regulations to the VoIP industry. And I will be forever grateful to Chairman Powell and the FCC of 2003/04 for the fact that the "Pulver Order" was issued under his leadership.

Looking back, since Chairman Powell's departure from the FCC, the VoIP industry in America has suffered.

One of the reasons I believe VoIP will find a new beginning in 2009 is because this is the year Kevin Martin will be replaced at the FCC. Since becoming Chairman of the FCC in 2005, Kevin Martin is the one person in America who has done more harm to the future of the VoIP industry than anyone else. If you take a look at his career as Chairman of the FCC, it was his public policy approach of taking the most  burdensome rules and regulations of the wireline service and imposing it on the VoIP industry that sucked a lot of the air out of the VoIP revolution.

While the wireless industry in America had many more years to in effect "grow up", Chairman Martin's FCC forced the nascent VoIP industry quickly out of adolescence and into adulthood. An adulthood it wasn't necessarily prepared to embrace at the time.

Under Chairman Martin's rule, there was little need for a the Telcos to pay any lobbyists to convince the FCC Staffers to apply telecom laws developed for a different technology and throw such rules at the totally disruptive independent VoIP service providers. It seems as if this is some that freely happened on it's own.

Ever since Chairman Martin held the open E911 hearings and used traumatic, heart wrenching stories as a way to make an example out of Vonage, I realized we were dealing with someone who was acting from their bully pulpit. In fact, when Chairman Martin used his platform to make it a requirement for all VoIP service providers comply with E911, it became clear to me that he was out to suck the air out of the VoIP industry rather than embrace it. Time after time Chairman Martin passed on the opportunity to leverage IP based platforms to deliver solutions better than what the PSTN could have offered. Instead he decided to focus a backward compliance rather than a forward looking one.

If anyone is wondering why the FCC was never seen at any of the VON events since Spring 2005 VON, it was because of Chairman Martin never accepted any of my invitations to speak at VON. In fact, there was a time when no one from the FCC was permitted to attend VON under the Martin leadership.

Beyond this, Chairman Martin's FCC failed to act on two petitions which I filed during his tenure. One was the ( http://pulverblog.pulver.com/archives/003912.html ) Pulver/ Evslin Petition on Post-Disaster Communications</a> which is still relevant today as it was when it was filed on March 16, 2006. The second was the ( http://pulverblog.pulver.com/archives/006642.html ) Network2 Petition for a Declaratory ruling that Interview Video is not subject to regulation under Title III or Title VI of the Communications Act. I believe both of these petitions are relevant and hopefully will be considered under the new FCC Chairman.

So why Chairman Martin has been focused on damaging the VoIP industry is beyond me. Maybe one day he will be public about it and tell all of us. 
I will be leading the cheer on behalf of the VoIP industry on the day that Chairman Martin leaves office.

In my opinion, the near future for VoIP in America to some extent rests on the decision of who is selected to become the New FCC Chairman and whether or not they will attempt to unwind the regulatory burden Chairman Martin's FCC placed on the VoIP Industry.  It would also matter how supportive the new Chairman will be toward communication innovation in America. <B>With the right approach to public policy, the new FCC Chairman will be able to put a shot of adrenaline into the arm of the VoIP Industry and jump start a new generation of communication innovation.</b>

When I look to the future, I believe we are just on the edge of the time when the true promise of VoIP can be realized. In order for these dreams to be realized, it will require a new group of people who believe in challenging the status quo, to stand up and be counted on.

While I am looking for others to join the NEW revolution, I am ready and prepared to do what it takes to continue to push for the promise of what IP Communications can offer.

So while some of my friends may declare that VoIP is Dead, I still don't. And I won't.

"VoIP is Dead, Long Live VoIP." Jeff Pulver

(see: http://pulverblog.pulver.com/archives/008753.html )

 

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