News Archive - September 2008

German technology magazine "Heise On-line" reports on a research survey conducted by InformationWeek and Steria Mummert Consulting that indicates the end of the VoIP hype at least in enterprises in Germany. 468 managers and security officers have been queried. Nearly 40% of them said that VoIP is not planned in their enterprise (2006: 33%). The fraction of enterprises that deploy VoIP already has basically remained constant (33%) for the past 2 years. Only 25% are still planning to introduce VoIP. Reason for reluctance being: fear of follow-up costs such as employee training and investment in network infrastructure change. VoIP security problems are said to be among the major hurdles; VoIP security concerns have more than doubled in the past year.

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A new analyst report from ThinkPanmure suggests that Google Android devices could arrive on the Clearwire network sometime in 2009, backing up recent comments about the platform by the operator's CEO, Ben Wolff.

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Apparently, Google and T-Mobile have worked together to ensure that Skype will not work. What?!?! They deliberately took steps to block an application? Why? There can only be one reason: they want to maintain the old business model of charging by the minute for voice calls.

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T-Mobile and Google just announced the first-ever handset with Google's new Android operating system. Called the T-Mobile G1, it has both full touch-screen functionality, a QWERTY keyboard, a trackball for one-handed navigation, plus access to mobile Web applications like Google Maps Street View, Gmail, YouTube, and more.

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The number of VoIP users in Europe has quadrupled in two years, driven by aggressive pricing for bundled communications services. A report said that at the end of 2007, there were more than 25.3 million consumer VoIP "lines" in service in Western Europe. Aggressively priced bundles of voice, broadband, and video service were considered a key driver of growth.

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Cisco announced its intent to acquire privately held Jabber, Inc., a provider of presence and messaging software. Based in Denver, Jabber will work with Cisco to enhance the existing presence and messaging functions of Cisco's Collaboration portfolio.

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All VoIP services that enable users to call regular phone numbers must also now offer emergency 999 and 112 access, thanks to new rules imposed by telecoms industry regulator Ofcom.

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8x8 announced it has executed a technology partnership and marketing agreement with Microsoft to offer Packet8 VoIP phone service for Microsoft's Response Point small business phone system.

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As Nortel stock plunges on expected lower earnings and widening losses, the company says it is to undergo a significant revamp in the coming months, part of which will be an attempt to sell its Metro Ethernet Networks (MEN) division, which supplies optical and Ethernet equipment to carriers and cable operators.

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More than 20 million households in America have cut the cord and are going wireless for their home phone service, according to a Nielsen Mobile report. The reason is apparently people feel that a home phone service is no longer essential, whereas a mobile phone is.

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Android, Google's new operating system for devices, will be officially unveiled as part of the HTC "Dream" phone launch on T-Mobile on September 23rd. The phone, to be officially called the "G1" will ship on October 13th and arrive in stores on October 17.

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Josh Silverman is on the defensive. As the head of eBay's Skype unit, he's happy to talk about his company's more than 330 million users and six straight quarters of profitability. He also believes that devices like TVs can be turned into video conferencing devices — he shares a similar vision we have for H.325.

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A German court has sided with wireless carrier T-Mobile and banned the use of Voice over Internet Protocol on Apple's iPhone.

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Cult of Mac has confirmed the newest version of Apple's iPod Touch contains the hardware necessary to enable free or low-cost phone calls over wi-fi.

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AT&T is gearing up for an imminent play in the regional video conferencing market, teaming with Cisco to deliver a managed offering. The service will be based on Cisco's telepresence solution using B2B links via AT&T's IP network and VPN capabilities.

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With all the technology we hold today; unified communications, interoperability amongst technologies, protocols spreading and sharing rules, an ever expanding phone and networked systems - are we really heading towards a VoIP only world?

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Global banking giant HSBC will aim for big savings and to slash its air travel by millions of miles as it begins a global rollout of Cisco's videoconferencing system, TelePresence.

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Two former senior managers of ITXC (now Tata Communications) have been sentenced to a total of 10 years probation and fines of US$17,000 for attempting to bribe employees of Nigerian telco Nitel.

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ITU-T Q12/16 met the last week of August to make progress on H.325), the next-generation multimedia communication system that will enable users to communicate using a multiplicity of communication modes across any number of independent devices. The focus of this meeting was primarily on network architecture and requirements.

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Samsung Electronics has reportedly agreed to sell its investment stake in Symbian to mobile phone maker Nokia for $440M.

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