News Archive - September 2009
IBM Serves Up Cisco TelePresence Service
September 30, 2009
IBM debuted a new managed telepresence service for companies that want to take advantage of Cisco's high-definition video and voice-conferencing technology, but don't want have to deal with all the pesky maintenance and support issues the high-end equipment requires.
Neotel launches Africa's first public telepresence facility
September 30, 2009
Neotel launched Africa's first public telepresence facility, which would provide a new high definition "immersive" video conferencing opportunity, while also formally opening its Neovate Park head office in Midrand.
Cisco 'pours its own champagne' for growth
September 30, 2009
Cisco says it has been able to achieve revenue growth and cost reductions in Australia and New Zealand while maintaing staff numbers by 'pouring its own champagne' - especially through the use of its collaboration technology.
Google Wave meets conference calls, with Ribbit
September 29, 2009
It's becoming clear that Google Wave has potential to be much more than a text-messaging platform. As the telecommunications platform company Ribbit shows, Wave's architecture makes it a compelling platform for real-time streaming communication.
September 29, 2009
Verizon stepped into the VoIP business with the Verizon Hub in January, which had far loftier ambitions than simply replacing your landline. Now, just a few months later, the product is going off the market.
Verizon CTO advocates for metered broadband pricing
September 29, 2009
The notion of metered billing gained a major supporter Tuesday when Verizon Communications' CTO Dick Lynch told press and attendees at at fiber-to-the-home industry conference in Houston that broadband service providers "cannot continue to grow the Internet without passing the cost on to someone." — And yet, they already are. Do customers not already pay for the infrastructure? And if charging by the bit, can users expect higher-quality bits? Can one get a refund on latent bits?
Siemens expands agreement with Tandberg for global 'mass adoption' of video conferencing
September 28, 2009
Tandberg has announced it has expanded its relationship with Siemens to a Global Resale Agreement, which will see Siemens 'place a strong emphasis on mass adoption of video as a part of a complete unified communications platform.'
Google Wave Faces Tougher Test in Rollout to 100K Users
September 27, 2009
Google's Wave collaboration platform will soon face its first true test when the company rolls it out to 100,000 consumer and business users. Perhaps the biggest mystery is what companies will do to build on top of the Wave platform.
Skype Plots Business VoIP Course with Cisco
September 24, 2009
Skype's Skype for SIP software cleared its interoperability certification with the Cisco Unified Communications 500 Series for Small Business, the latest step in the VOIP provider's plan to hedge into the market for business communications.
FaxSIPit and FaxBack Announce Partnership To Bring Reliable VoIP Fax to Service Providers
September 22, 2009
FaxBack and FaxSIPit announce an alliance that brings a higher level of density, reliability and convenience to the VoIP fax industry. — Wow, and on the heels of the SIP Forum's announcement of trying to solve the same problem, even issuing a detailed problem statement? And we note the problem statement demonstrates fax has a lot of problems. We also note that there are two generally accepted methods of securing fax, and FaxSIPIt decided to use something entirely different. A better solution to fax: buy a scanner that has an email function built in!
Digsby claims it has Twitter client for 'the mainstream'
September 22, 2009
DotSyntax unveiled the latest version of its social-media management tool, Digsby, which is geared specifically towards helping solve the Twitter chaos problem.
HP unveils Skyroom video collaboration tool
September 22, 2009
Looking to take advantage of tightened corporate travel budgets, Hewlett-Packard showed the latest technology to come out of its labs called Skyroom, a real-time collaborative video conferencing and whiteboarding tool.
Interoperable Enterprise Instant Messaging is Finally Here
September 22, 2009
The acquisition of Jabber, Inc. by Cisco marked the beginning of the end of proprietary, closed enterprise instant messaging platforms. There are now real products and services on the market that enable fully-federated instant messaging and presence functionality between enterprises.
New FCC Rules Should Benefit VoIP Providers and Users
September 21, 2009
In a major policy address on the broad topic of "net neutrality", FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski described clearly his belief in the commission's responsibility "to preserve a free and open Internet" and proposed new rules that should be a boon to both users and providers of VoIP technologies.
Joost sues former CEO Volpi over Skype
September 18, 2009
Mike Volpi's battle with his former employer Joost is now headed to court. Joost announced that it has filed a lawsuit against Volpi, alleging that the former CEO used trade secrets and other confidential information in a bid to acquire a majority share in Skype from eBay. — The only relationship between Joost and Skype is that the owners of Joost used to own Skype, but information about Skype is "trade secrets" of Joost? We disagree.
Place a Phone Call Via Twitter
September 17, 2009
Twitter users will soon be able to make short phone calls for free directly through the microblogging service. JaJah is launching the beta version of its new Twitter VoIP calling service, named @call.
Skype founders file copyright suit against Skype
September 16, 2009
Joltid, a peer-to-peer software company established by Skype's founders, filed a copyright suit against Skype alleging Joltid's technology is being infringed on by Skype users "in the United States at least 100,000 times each day."
India: IB Calls for Block of VoIP Services
September 15, 2009
India's Intelligence Bureau (IB) has reportedly called on the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology to block all internet telephony services in and out of the country until the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is able to track such calls, arguing that such calls pose a national security risk.
Avaya and Nortel and Skype, Oh My!
September 14, 2009
Silver Lake owns Avaya and will indirectly control Skype, and Avaya just announced that it will purchase Nortel's enterprise business. Could we see the coming of the world's largest communications manufacturer and carrier?
SoliCall's PBXMate for Audio Improvement is Now available for H.323 VoIP Networks
September 14, 2009
Avaya Selected to Acquire Nortel Enterprise Solutions
September 14, 2009
Avaya announced it was selected to acquire Nortel Enterprise Solutions for US $900 million in proceeds to Nortel and an additional pool of $15 million reserved for an employee retention program.
Skype retiring third-party Extras
September 11, 2009
Skype is effectively pulling the plug on its Extras program, which was designed to help third-party developers create add-ons for Skype's VoIP service—like emoticon enhancements, backup services, and music player plug-ins.
Cisco Fosters Intercompany Collaboration With Global Cisco TelePresence Network
September 11, 2009
Cisco announced major steps in the company's strategy to bring Cisco TelePresence to everyone, everywhere, with continued global momentum for intercompany Cisco TelePresence services and the introduction of a new one-screen, one-camera Cisco TelePresence system for multipurpose conference rooms.
802.11n Wi-Fi standard finally approved
September 11, 2009
Finalization of the new wireless networking standard 802.11n—which is capable of delivering throughput speeds up to 300 megabits per second (and even higher)—took exactly seven years from the day it was conceived, or six years from the first draft version. Nonetheless, it is finally here.
September 10, 2009
Motorola has unveiled its first-ever smartphone based on the Google Android operating system, the "Cliq," which will be introduced by T-Mobile in the last quarter of 2009.
T-Mobile, Orange Join Forces in UK
September 8, 2009
Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom confirmed that they are in exclusive talks to merge their U.K. businesses, T-Mobile (UK) and Orange UK, in a 50-50 joint venture and create the largest mobile operator in the country.
Telefonica, China Unicom swap $1 billion in stock
September 8, 2009
Telefonica announced a $1 billion share swap with Chinese operator China Unicom. In addition, the partners will cooperate in business areas. For example, they will jointly acquire infrastructure and equipment and jointly develop wireless service platforms.
Huawei is developing the Chinese Telepresence market
September 4, 2009
China is the second largest market after the United States for videoconferencing systems. And now it is on the way to reaching that position for Telepresence systems.
Symantec: Posted code enables VoIP spying
September 2, 2009
A Symantec security blog disclosed a new Trojan horse, Tojan.Peskyspy "that records VoIP communications, specifically targeting Skype." — Did we not read somewhere that this was funded by the Swiss government?
Cisco Readying Collaboration Software Platform
September 1, 2009
Cisco Systems is developing a collaboration software platform that will allow enterprises to combine social networking, presence, content and transactional applications in a single interface.
Apple approves Vonage mobile VoIP app
September 1, 2009
Vonage announced that its mobile VoIP app has been approved for use by Apple on the iPhone and iPod Touch.
eBay partially undoes Skype deal, selling majority
September 1, 2009
Rather than try to take Skype public with the current threat of litigation, eBay has decided to sell 65% of its ownership in Skype to a private group of investors for about US$2B. eBay originally paid $2.6B to purchase the company in 2005.