News Archive - April 2006
IPSphere Forum Seeks to Patch Toll Net Potholes
April 30, 2006
The IPSphere Forum-which includes equipment suppliers, service providers, application vendors and software companies-is creating the technical underpinnings to allow end-user applications to automatically request the level of security, quality of service and bandwidth they need from their network provider and have that delivered across the Internet.
April 30, 2006
Siemens is to cut a further 1,000 jobs at its telecommunications division as the German engineering and electronics conglomerate struggles to find a strategy to fix its most troublesome unit.
Skype Reaches Milestone of 100 Million Internet VoIP Users
April 29, 2006
Internet VoIP provider, Skype, announced that it has achieved the milestone of 100 million registered users worldwide. — Years ago, a magazine claimed SIP Rules! SIP never did, but we think Skype can say it does. Time for the forthcoming H.325?
April 28, 2006
Vonage issued a pricing range of $16 to $18 a share for its upcoming initial public offering, giving it a valuation of about $2.8 billion based on the high end of its range.
Free mobile web calls on the way
April 27, 2006
Vonage has teamed up with The Cloud, which operates thousands of wireless internet hotspots across London, to offer free VoIP calls in pubs, stations and airports.
AT&T, Yahoo Team Up for VoIP Offering
April 27, 2006
AT&T and Yahoo have joined forces to offer subscribers of their high-speed Internet service an dual-branded VoIP application.
April 27, 2006
People are split on VoIP. Some love the cost savings that come with services like Vonage, but others suffer with poor voice quality problems and non-existent customer service. Worse, early cancellation fees, even when service is dysfunctional, seems to prevail in the young industry.
Alcatel earnings hit by price war
April 27, 2006
Alcatel produced a mixed set of results that showed strong sales but a disappointing gross margin and operating profit that sent the shares down and raised concerns about price wars in its markets.
VoIP products could face export crackdown
April 27, 2006
After spending the last decade denouncing Cold War-era laws against overseas shipments of data-scrambling encryption products, technology firms thought they were off the hook when President Clinton finally eased the rules in 1999.
Cisco/Moto Cellular/WiFi Deal is Dead/Gone
April 26, 2006
A cellular/WiFi roaming technology partnership between Cisco and Motorola lacked carrier support and fell flat.
April 25, 2006
There is a new type of email phishing scam targeting banking customers. These fake emails don't provide a URL for you to click. Rather, they provide a phone number, which calls into a VoIP voice mail system that asks for your account number.
Cingular strength boosts AT&T profit
April 25, 2006
AT&T posted a higher quarterly profit, boosted by strong growth in its Cingular Wireless division.
Skype to sell EMI music on retail site
April 24, 2006
EMI Music Publishing announced a deal with Skype to sell music on Skype's new retail website.
Rural phone competition on horizon?
April 23, 2006
Many rural phone companies - some backed by their state regulators - are blocking cable TV providers from competing with them by selling inexpensive Internet-based phone service.
Mobile phone market stays strong
April 20, 2006
Despite a slight seasonal decline, worldwide shipments of cell phones rose 26 percent in the first quarter of 2006 compared with the same period last year.
VC's Still Investing in VoIP Companies
April 20, 2006
Over the past few months, companies such as Homdel, Vonage, and Skype have garnered a lot of attention from the investment community. Still, investors point to companies that are building the infrastructure and the services to support the VoIP market as the next hotbed for investments.
EarthLink Selects Level 3 As Underlying Provider For New Consumer VoIP Offering
April 19, 2006
Level 3 Communications announced an expanded relationship with EarthLink to serve as the underlying provider for EarthLink's newest VoIP initiative, EarthLink DSL and Home Phone Service.
Lucatel: French Staff Not Safe
April 19, 2006
Lucent says that planned staff cuts following the merger with Alcatel won't be characterized by any geographic discrimination.
Keeping the VoIP house in order
April 19, 2006
The European Union is at the forefront of VoIP adoption. If we look at how new E1 line deployments in Europe are being set up, we see that fewer and fewer are being configured for TDM while more and more are being configured for IP.
April 19, 2006
A market research company is (again) predicting that Apple will be entering the cellphone market soon.
AETHRA With RADVISION To Provide New Visual Communications Solutions
April 18, 2006
AETHRA and RADVISION announced that they are broadening their partnership to include RADVISION desktop and 3G solutions in the Aethra offering.
CENIC Completes Migration to H.323 for All California Community Colleges
April 18, 2006
The Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California (CENIC) announced today that it has completed the migration of the California Community Colleges to CalREN Video Services (CVS). With the completion of this multi-year project, all community college campuses in the state are now H.323-enabled.
April 17, 2006
As the world waits for another telecom equipment megamerger, press reports and Wall Street analysts have Siemens Communications Group at the center of the next big deal.
Free Net TV threatens telecoms and cable
April 12, 2006
Walt Disney's bold move to let people download TV shows for free could spell trouble for cable and satellite providers, but it also throws into question the strategy of telephone companies spending billions to get into the paid TV business.
XO reports 32% hike in VoIP traffic in Q1
April 12, 2006
XO Communications has announced that it carried more than 2.9 billion minutes of VoIP traffic across its nationwide IP network in the first quarter of 2006, a 32% increase over the previous quarter.
April 12, 2006
Skype has purchased VoIP provider Sonorit for about $27M in eBay stock. The transaction includes Sonorit's US subsidiary Camino Networks.
U.S., U.K. Adults Becoming More Aware Of VoIP
April 11, 2006
Over the last nine months, the number of adults in the United States and Britain who have heard of VoIP has increased to about half from just over a third, but a substantial number remain ignorant about the technology. — And why should the general population need to understand much about it? Will they be deploying their own phone system? To be successful, VoIP should be entirely transparent to people. That is success.
FiberNet Launches the Phonomenum Minutes Marketplace
April 11, 2006
FiberNet Telecom Group announced the launch of the Phonomenum Minutes Marketplace, an open clearinghouse for VoIP traffic.
April 10, 2006
Clearwire becomes the first international wireless broadband provider to offer VoIP services to its subscribers.
Comverse To Acquire Netcentrex
April 10, 2006
Comverse announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire privately-held Netcentrex for approximately $164 million in cash.
RADVISION Releases New SIP Protocol Toolkit With Java APIs
April 10, 2006
RADVISION announced the release and immediate availability of a Java version of its SIP toolkit for real-time communication applications, such as VoIP and IM.
Sprint Nextel, cable to test cell service
April 10, 2006
Sprint Nextel and a group of four cable operators, who announced a joint venture last year, will be testing wireless service in several markets starting this summer.
Cell phone industry steps closer to VoIP
April 9, 2006
Manufacturers and mobile carriers are preparing to link standard cellular networks to the mishmash of Wi-Fi hotspots, a move that will expand coverage and perhaps make cheaper mobile minutes a reality.
Telecom firms eye Internet, VoIP and Cable Television
April 7, 2006
All the major player in the telecom space appears to be upgrading their network infrastructure in an effort to provide last mile connectivity and a common platform for Internet, VoIP and cable television with video on demand services to consumers.
April 7, 2006
The main challenge for VoIP is its extreme sensitivity to delay and packet loss. A basic understanding of VoIP traffic and of the quality metrics provided by VoIP monitoring tools will help you keep your VoIP network running smoothly.
Tradeshows Battle for '07 Audience
April 7, 2006
It seems that the TIA has won the support of most in the industry as the organization to carry on the historic Supercomm tradeshows under the new name Globalcomm.
Nortel CEO: We're Ready to Deal
April 7, 2006
Nortel's CEO Zafirovski stressed the need to strengthen Nortel's balance sheet, fix broken financial systems, install a new leadership team, and turn Nortel employees into "boy scouts" who would do the right things.
Compal Communications and RADVISION Team to Develop Advanced 3G Mobile Video PDA Phone
April 6, 2006
RADVISION announced that Compal Communications Incorporated (CCI) has licensed RADVISION's leading 3G-324M protocol toolkit, along with professional consulting services, for development of an advanced 3G cellular video Windows Mobile PDA phone.
April 6, 2006
This article highlights various ways in which one could listen to VoIP calls, making the point that security is very much needed in VoIP.
April 5, 2006
Alcatel announced its intention for its Genesys subsidiary to acquire privately held VoiceGenie in an undisclosed cash transaction. The deal is expected to close in a few weeks.
April 5, 2006
BSDRadius, the core AAA element of Data Tech Labs Billing Manager, is released to open source under BSD license.
The Danger in IMS Dogma: The Missing Enterprise
April 4, 2006
There is hidden danger in the dogma of IMS – the enterprise is missing in action. By blindly implementing this next-generation architecture according to current specs, service providers could leave behind their most profitable customer segment: the enterprise.
Apple Could Be Eyeing VoIP For its iPhone
April 4, 2006
As buzz continues to build over Apple's fabled 'iPhone,' speculation increases that such a cell phone will eventually take advantage of VoIP, which is projected to eventually cause serious problems for cell carriers.
VoIP Hardware To Slump After Peak
April 3, 2006
Juniper Research says that VoIP equipment sales will surge to US$5.5B in 2007, but then drop back down to US$3B by the end of the decade.
MindSpring returns as a free VoIP product
April 3, 2006
EarthLink is reviving the MindSpring name as a new business that provides voice calling, instant messaging and access to free voicemail and EarthLink Web Mail.
Alcatel, Lucent complete merger
April 2, 2006
Alcatel and Lucent said they had entered a definitive agreement to merge and form a new group with revenues of around 21 billion euros.