News Archive - May 2008

Work on the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) began in 1996 and the first standards track specification (RFC 2543) was out in 1999. Many had high hopes that SIP, as a peer-to-peer protocol, would redefine the very nature of telecommunications. In the intervening years, there have been some deployments, some changes and a new standards track document, RFC 3261. But so far, SIP has only a relative toehold in the world of communications.

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Let's face it, IMS is on life support, and it's about time we pull the plug. The inevitable emergence of mobile networks built from the ground up to handle data makes existing VoIP technologies the superior choice for voice on the mobile network. — And there is the forthcoming new system from the ITU that will enable users with so much more capability. IMS is dead and SIP has little value.

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So where is VoIP technology heading next? The answer: H.325 (or "AMS"). H.325 represents the next leap in terms of capabilities and features, enabling users to utilize a multiplicity of devices that are associated in such a way as to enable seamless multimedia conferencing (a.k.a., "rich media communications"). Users will no longer be restricted to just voice and video, but will be able to use any number of applications within a "call". Also, by the very design of H.325, application developers will be able to write applications for AMS that simply "plug in" and are usable by any two people with the same application.

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Sales of cell phones in the U.S. declined during the first quarter of 2008, as the maturing market was hit by a slowing U.S. economy. Nearly 31 million handsets were sold in the U.S. during the first quarter of this year, down 22 percent from the same period a year ago.

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It's mobile or bust for cable operators that seem to be trying anything and everything to get into the wireless market.

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There are some very interesting new statistics that shows that the popularity of mobile devices is taking off, at the expense of traditional landline phones. Further, new advances in capacity and technology will definitely reshape the way we all communicate in the future.

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Rumors are that VON has no more money left after the VC backed out of them. VON Europe has been cancelled and there is no official response from Pulver as to why. This would have been the 10th anniversary of VON Europe.

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Passwords and usernames from Voice over Internet Protocol accounts are now selling for more than stolen credit cards numbers, a VoIP equipment maker says.

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Cisco Systems will take its TelePresence virtual meeting systems into home offices later this year, bringing telecommuters nearer to their corporate colleagues and society one step closer to science fiction.

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Sprint Nextel subscribers continue to jump ship, as the company's sales decline and losses widen. Investors have been pushing the company to sell assets and focus on its core cell phone business and has already dumped its WiMAX effort. — Focus on core phone business, though? That is exactly what caused them to get into this situation. A phone is a phone and Sprint is smaller. They must do something different, else they will disappear.

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Vonage is getting back on track with improved quarterly earnings and a deal to resell broadband service from Covad, a DSL service provider. The new service, called Vonage Broadband, will offer speeds of 3 megabits per second to 6 Mbps to residential and small-business customers.

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At its last meeting that just concluded May 2, 2008, the ITU-T SG16 approved the creation of a new Question to study the next-generation multimedia communication system, called H.325 (or, "AMS"). This technology is intended to significantly advance communication capabilities by enabling users to use various devices and applications together.

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