News Archive - February 2007

Verizon Business SIP Trunking Services Now Rated 'Avaya Compliant'
February 28, 2007

Avaya announced that the Verizon Business' SIP trunking services have been rated compliant with key Avaya IP telephony solutions. As a result, organizations using Avaya communication solutions now have a cost-effective and efficient way to connect to the public phone network without having to rely on hardwired land lines.
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Brix Networks Expands VoIP Service Assurance Offering For Cable Providers
February 28, 2007

Brix Networks announced the addition of several enhancements to its BrixCall VoIP analysis and correlation application that gives cable operators unprecedented QoS visibility into subscribers' homes.
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Is Verizon Wireless really looking to buy Alltel?
February 27, 2007

The rumor du jour is that Alltel, the largest rural mobile operator in the U.S., is up for sale. But at least two experts are split over whether the company widely mentioned as the likely buyer, Verizon Wireless, is the most logical suitor.
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Skype petitions FCC for open cellular access
February 22, 2007

Skype petitioned the Federal Communications Commission earlier this week to force U.S. mobile operators to loosen controls on what kinds of hardware and software can be connected to their networks.
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WorldGate Adds H.323 Communications Protocol To Video Phone
February 22, 2007

SIP could not deliver the videoconferencing capabilities demanded by customers, prompting WorldGate Communications to add H.323 communications protocols to its Ojo video phone. In addition, it has added H.263 video compression and G.729 audio compression capabilities.
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Motorola on Rocky Road
February 22, 2007

Motorola says it will continue to have some tough times in the first half of this year, and isn't expecting operating margins to improve until the last six months of the 2007.
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Avaya to add VoIP to Google Apps
February 22, 2007

Avaya said that it will develop communications solutions for small business that combine Google's updated Apps Premier Edition suite of Web applications with its own IP telephony technology.
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Qualcomm CEO: Cingular deal may aid Nokia talks
February 22, 2007

Qualcomm Chief Executive Paul Jacobs said that talks with Nokia on renewing a technology license may be helped by AT&T's decision to use Qualcomm's mobile television technology.
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Report Sees More Hype Than Progress For Enterprise VoIP
February 21, 2007

A combination of factors, not the least of which is a disconnect between what enterprises want and what carriers will provide, is stifling the growth and deployment of IP-based voice services within large enterprises, even as more enterprises face the inevitable termination of TDM-based voice equipment. — The fact that SIP is such a universal interoperability headahce isn't helping any, either.
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Cisco IP phone flaws discovered
February 21, 2007

Cisco Systems issued a warning that some of its IP phones could be compromised, allowing unauthorized individuals to bypass security restrictions.
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AT&T lands billion dollar GM networking contract
February 21, 2007

AT&T said it would provide global networking services to General Motors under a five-year contract worth nearly $1 billion.
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Cisco, Apple Settle iPhone Lawsuit
February 21, 2007

In a settlement agreement over the trademark "iPhone", Cisco said Apple will be allowed to use the name for its sleek new multimedia device in exchange for exploring wide-ranging "interoperability" between the companies' products in the areas of security, consumer and business communications.
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Video Phone Still Battles Weak Reception
February 21, 2007

Video phones seem like a natural fit in new "converged" home networks, but they won't be a mass market item until more consumers want to use them and the industry can force phones from different manufacturers to work together.
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deltathree buys go2call
February 20, 2007

deltathree announced that it acquired the service provider and consumer businesses of Go2Call.com.
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VoIP Still Giving Investors a Busy Signal
February 20, 2007

Maybe some ideas that can transform industries and change how we communicate aren't destined to make investors money. By allowing callers a nearly free option to make long-distance calls, VoIP was supposed to find fast adoption and undermine a key source of revenue for the giant phone carriers.
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Vonage, Verizon in Court Over VoIP
February 20, 2007

Vonage is set to appear in court to face charges that it has infringed on patents owned by telecommunications giant Verizon. Altogether, the nation's largest VoIP provider is accused of violating seven patents covering telephone features and the use of Wi-Fi to place telephone calls. If Vonage loses the case, it could put in jeopardy what has become one of the fastest growing Internet services, and force a lot of smaller providers out of business.
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The 21st Century Meeting
February 16, 2007

The latest gear may finally deliver on the promise of videoconferencing. Taking advantage of breakthroughs in video, audio, and broadband technologies, HP, Polycom, and Cisco purport to create experiences so lifelike that participants who are thousands of miles apart look (and more important, feel) like they're in the same room.
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Glowpoint Named Best U.S. Video Service In 2006
February 15, 2007

Glowpoint announced it has received the 2006 VC Insight Editors Choice Award for being the best always-on IP Network dedicated to Videoconferencing service in the U.S.
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Nortel CEO: 3G Can't Cut It
February 15, 2007

Only weeks after selling his company's 3G access equipment business to Alcatel-Lucent, Nortel Networks CEO Mike Zafirovski said that 3G isn't good enough to meet wireless broadband demands.
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Vonage loss narrows on subscriber growth
February 15, 2007

Internet phone company Vonage said its fourth-quarter loss narrowed as it gained more subscribers. Revenue rose to $181 million, a 91 percent rise from $95 million in the year-ago quarter.
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Handset makers get in on location services
February 15, 2007

In a bold move to accelerate the adoption of location services for mobile devices, the world's two largest handset makers have each introduced their own navigation services, a move that could pit them against mobile operators.
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IBM, Nortel Team Up on VoIP Apps for Carriers
February 14, 2007

IBM and Nortel Networks announced they will team up to bring service-oriented architecture technologies into the telecommunications space for carriers and service providers.
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T-Mobile CEO: VoIP will have no major impact
February 13, 2007

Don't expect new mobile phone services based on the Internet Protocol to become nearly as prevalent as those running over PCs. That's the view of Hamid Akhavan, CEO of T-Mobile International, one of Europe's largest mobile phone operators. — His opinion is likely true with the 2G and 3G technologies. I believe that this will all change with the introduction of mobile WiMAX. VoIP requires bandwidth, plain and simple.
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BT moves into smart-phone market
February 13, 2007

BT has announced it will be launching Wi-Fi-enabled smart phones based on Windows Mobile 6 for its business mobile VoIP services.
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HP Intros iPAQ Smartphone With VoIP Capabilities
February 12, 2007

Hewlett-Packard introduced a new VoIP-enabled smartphone, the iPAQ 500, with support for Windows Mobile 6. The phone includes Wi-Fi, GSM/EDGE, and Bluetooth connectivity options. It's small, measuring just 4.7 by 2.8 x .7 inches and 5.8 ounces.
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Cisco and Nokia push Wi-Fi VoIP/cellular convergence
February 12, 2007

Cisco and Nokia announced new dual-mode smart phones that can operate on a Cisco enterprise VoIP infrastructure and a public GSM network.
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Charter Boasts of Big VoIP Gains
February 9, 2007

Charter said it signed up 106,200 VoIP subscribers in the last three months, as opposed to 31,300 customers in the year-earlier period. With the increase, the MSO closed out 2006 with nearly 446,000 IP phone customers.
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Alcatel-Lucent announces job cuts, posts loss
February 9, 2007

Alcatel-Lucent said it would cut about 12,500 jobs over three years, more than previously announced, as it reported a fourth-quarter net loss and forecast a drop in first-quarter revenues.
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DyLogic selects Bluefish444 to implement 3G-to-TV video calls
February 9, 2007

DyLogic announced that it has selected Bluefish444 to power PSE Broadcaster Genie, allowing users to stream audience-generated 3G video calls directly to TV.
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Frost & Sullivan Recognises Ring2 Conferencing's Outstanding Innovation in Audio Conferencing
February 8, 2007

The 2006 Frost & Sullivan Entrepreneurial Company Award in the audio conferencing service provider market is presented to Ring2 Conferencing. The award is given in recognition of the company's creation of a unique conferencing service model that introduces innovative call monitoring and control capabilities from BlackBerry devices as well as PCs.
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Nokia to roll out free mobile-map service
February 8, 2007

Nokia plans to open a service on February 10 offering free maps and routing in more than 150 countries.
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Throw away your PBX: Why Asterisk may be the VoIP future of your network
February 7, 2007

The open-source Asterisk PBX has been gaining a big following, offering surprisingly powerful telephony features on inexpensive hardware. Not only has it been saving companies money, but it has also been able to integrate telephony with network applications in ways that previously might not have been possible.
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Nortel CFO Leaves (Again)
February 6, 2007

Currie took over the CFO chair one year ago to help Nortel recover from several years of financial scandals and mismanagement. Between February 1999 and April 2004, two of the three men who held the title of Nortel CFO were fired for cause. Currie said he was leaving, because he accomplished what he set out to do.
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Takahashi Wiretapping could stifle VoIP technology
February 5, 2007

In its zeal to pursue terrorists and criminals, the federal government could crush a nascent technology and, ironically, jeopardize the nation's security. That's one of the consequences of enabling wiretapping in the digital age.
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Telecom Agents Swarm Into Midmarket VoIP
February 5, 2007

What a fitting analogy for the midmarket VoIP space, now that large carriers like Verizon and Qwest have taken steps to reduce the commissions and profit margins of their reseller agents. Changes to the 2007 agent contracts of Verizon and Qwest are making it more difficult for many agents of the two Baby Bells to make money.
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Leveling the Playing Field With VoIP
February 4, 2007

It's important to note that system vendors are moving away from traditional phone systems. This means as VoIP technology advances, not only will the availability of traditional phone system hardware become scarce, the cost of maintaining such a system will also become more expensive than it already is.
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A Difficult 2007 for Competitive VoIP?
February 2, 2007

How much worse can things get for competitive voice service providers like Vonage? Quite a bit, especially if you take into account the results of two major cable providers – Comcast and Time Warner – and the recent bundling efforts by Verizon and AT&T.
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Vonage Adding Enhanced Voice Tricks
February 2, 2007

Vonage will soon augment its VoIP service with tools to set contact-specific call management rules, offering a Web interface where users can set rules for handling calls from specific people or certain contact types.
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Residential VoIP users to hit 267m by 2012
February 2, 2007

Global residential VoIP services will attract 267 million subscribers in 2012, a huge jump from the 38 million users registered last year. — I suppose this number does not include the millions of Skype users, because think Skype can claim more than 100m users today.
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