VOIP News

Globe 7 is offering two new USB phones and a calling plan guaranteed to make consumers who like to make calls to other countries smile. For $120 total, they can purchase one of the phones and make unlimited calls to 25 countries for one year. The WIPA Wireless Internet Phone, features a large graphic display, a range of 33 feet and battery with 100 hours of standby or 10 hours of talk time. Users can scroll through contacts from their computer on the display to place a call. The ISPA Internet Storage Phone looks like a thumb drive and has 1 GB of Flash memory preloaded with software needed to make calls. The hands-free headset with built in microphone offers portability.

For more information on Globe 7’s USB phones and calling plan:

- read this VoIP Monitor article

Have you ever met anyone who went on a cruise and was angry when they found out that there was no Internet access on board ship? Never mind vacationers, how does the crew live without Internet access? Kind of takes the dreaminess out of a career at sea. Never fear though, Marlink comes to the rescue with a service that will let people work on their vacation or on the job at sea. This new line of global maritime broadband satellite services, available in three configurations, enables always-on connectivity and VoIP calling at sea for a fixed monthly rate.

For more on VSAT@SEA:

- read this article from BYM Marine & Maritime News

Now here’s a product that I hope will be a huge, huge hit. SoliCall says its PBXMate reduces background noise in VoIP networks that support SIP. The solution, which runs on Linux and Windows, cleans up the cacophony so often encountered on conference calls or calls from cell phones.

For more on how you can help put an end to noisy business calls:

- see the release

The coolest products and toys are those that, after you’ve had them awhile, you realize can be used to do even more cool things. After they’ve purchased VoIP for its ability to positively impact the bottom line, enterprises are starting to appreciate its many other virtues: flexibility, the ability to scale, and mobility, just to name a few. It also turns out that cleaning up the network for VoIP benefits the entire data network. And there are even more hidden benefits companies will enjoy as the rest of their IT infrastructures catch up to VoIP. Article

> Considering VoIP? Calculate your ROI with this free tool. Report

> SIPphone adds support for AOL Instant Messenger and MSN Messenger. Report

> TerraSip offers Romanian market low, low rates. Report

> Codima Technologies earns Avaya stamp of approval. Report

And Finally… If you’re there, you’re not square…at NXTComm that is. On the off chance you get bored with the talking heads on all the panels at the big show, head over to Millennium Park any day between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. for the Puppet Play program and create your own talking heads. Even if you don’t go for the puppets, be sure to see the park. It’s absolutely gorgeous and it’s interactive. If you, like me, aren’t there, then you are square too, but you can download the official audio tour and listen to it while you peruse the Chicago Millennium Park Photo Album on the Chicago Traveler website.

Note from the Editor-in-Chief

As you’ll read below, this is Dan Rosenbaum’s last issue of FierceVOIP.  I want to thank him for his contributions to the newsletter.

We have many exciting plans for FierceVOIP. Deborah McAdams is joining our team as senior editor of FierceMarkets telecom publications. You may know Deborah from her work on TV Technology, CableFAX Daily and Broadcasting & Cable magazines. Deborah will be starting June 25. In addition, veteran telecom reporter Annie Lindstrom is going to be working on FierceVOIP and other telecom projects. You probably know Annie from her work at Broadband Week, Wireless Week, Telephony and America’s Network. –Sue

After roughly 100 editions of FierceVoIP, this is my last. I want to thank the folks at Fierce: Anne Zeiger, now writing the healthcare newsletters, found me and brought me aboard; CEO Jeff Giesea and COO Sean Griffey, whose professionalism were always in abundant evidence; editor Mike Dolan, whom I know bit his lip and pressed the Send key even when I went a little overboard; conference and PR director Heather Cox, who labors mightily to assemble and execute Fierce’s terrific events; and the other staff and execs who see that the Fierce family of products hit the street when and how they ought to. I can promise you: it’s not nearly as easy as it might look.

Thanks, too, to the many executives in the VoIP business who’ve taken the time to talk with me and add perspective to these pages. Some have become friends, but I hope you couldn’t tell which ones by reading these items.

Most of all, I want to thank the tens of thousands of you, readers. You’ve welcomed me into your Inboxes twice a week for a year, picking me out of your spam filters and paying with the most valuable currencies of all: your attention and your reaction. We design these newsletters to be readable in about two minutes, but those are two minutes that could far too easily be spent doing something else. I’ve never forgotten that, and I’m grateful for your readership and especially for your response.

Some final analysis:

• Pure-play VoIP providers are probably toast. Cablecos have too many resources to compete against (even though they’re each geographically limited), telcos will either be too entrenched or aggressive, and there’ll always be someone who can drive the price lower.

• The more I learn about Verizon’s VoIP patents, the less I think they’ll survive a challenge. But the fight will be long and bloody, and Vonage will survive as a wounded company. Remember: MCI-the company that broke AT&T’s long-distance monopoly-had more lawyers on staff than engineers.

• Enterprise VoIP infrastructure companies will do fine. They’re listening to their customers (the carriers and big IT) and building the right technical alliances. It’s not the flashiest business, but it’s a good one.

• The biggest winners will be the companies that figure out how people want to communicate and use VoIP as the means to provide that end. The biggest losers will be the ones who start with the technology and figure out what to do with it. Start with the customers and their needs, and build to meet them. Don’t expect customers to adapt to your solution.

That’s it; I’m done, though FierceVoIP will march steadily on. From here on out, e-mail goes to sue@fiercemarkets.com. So long, and thanks for everything. - Dan

Here’s some late Friday news you might have missed. A Federal appeals courts says that VoIP carriers that connect to the PSTN do have to pay into the FCC’s Universal Service Fund. Vonage had challenged last year’s FCC ruling to that effect, saying the commission overstepped its authority and set the fee unfairly high. But the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, which hears most regulatory appeals, thought otherwise on both counts. Although the court found that the FCC’s computation of VoIP carriers’ contribution wasn’t perfect, “perfection…is not what the law requires.” Now there’s a quote for a needlepoint pillow.

For more about the USF:

- read this article from Internet News

Related Articles:

USF proposal to ignore VoIP? Report

Another USF option for VoIP carriers. Report

FCC eyes putting VoIP into USF pool. Report

Never mind that VoIP can save money or improve service. It’s also good for the planet. One analysis says that the U.K.’s million call-center employees generate 1.3 million tons of greenhouse gases by commuting. Eliminating those emissions is the equivalent of planting 1,400 square miles of forest. Globally, the 6.5 million call agents’ annual commutation have the same carbon footprint as 6.2 million acres of forest. So one telemarketer roughly equals an acre of trees. There’s an unkind joke somewhere in there, but I can’t quite find it.

For more about call center’s carbon footprints:

- read this article in PublicTechnology.net

Related Article:

Why it’s time to go green. Report

First it was 911, then CALEA, then the USF. Now, VoIP providers have to provide the same access to disabled customers than wireless telcos do. Section 225 says that equipment builders and service providers must make their products accessible to the disabled. Also, the commissions says that VoIP providers have to pay into the Telecommunications Relay Services Fund and provide 711 dialing for access to TRS services.

For more about VoIP’s Section 225 responsibilities:

- read this article from Converge!

Related Article:

FCC head says broadband is top priority. Report

Big IT shops in Los Angeles are not particularly likely to have a business recovery plan in place, according to an AT&T survey. The company’s sixth annual Business Continuity Survey asked 1,000 IT execs in companies with at least $10 million in revenue about their disaster recovery plans. It turns out that places that have had recent significant infrastructure disruptions (like New York, with 9/11) are most ready for another. But lagging all cities surveyed were Minnapolis/St. Paul, Cleveland, and Los Angeles. A third of surveyed companies say continuing planning is not a priority. Half of those think their infrastructure is pretty much OK, and half also say they don’t think there’s much chance of a disruptive event. L.A.? Hello? Earthquakes and wildfires, anyone? The VoIP hook, of course, is that VoIP-based systems are comparatively easy to design for disaster recovery.

For more about the continuity survey:

- read this article from TMCNet

Related Articles:

Tekelec pushes disaster recovery. Report

VoIP for business continuity. Report