VOIP News

The Fijian Cabinet has approved a policy that will allow the licensing of VoIP without infringing on the legal rights of the island country’s two licensed federal telecom providers, Telecom Fiji and Fiji International Telecommunications Limited (FINTEL).

Although Fiji citizens have been able to use services such as Skype, legalizing VoIP and allowing new businesses to provide service will speed up the adoption of IP telephony and broadband Internet services.

Some Fiji-based writers consider that the spread of VoIP may provide competition for the local telecommunications agencies and loosen their hold on the country’s market.  Traditionally, telecommunications costs in Fiji have been high compared with neighboring island nations, and Telecom Fiji and FINTEL will need to adapt to VoIP or risk losing significant business.

Got a little space in your calendar the end of next month?  Then you may want to pencil in attendance at the upcoming conference for data networking and telecom resellers in Dallas July 23-26. 

This year, the main themes are ”Making Money with IP Communications” and “Mobility and Wireless VoIP.”  “Discover new angles of how to provide value to his customers. We will show practical examples of open source based solutions, unified messaging and the integration of IP phones into the world of custom applications with XML., SIP Cameras and state of the art IP WAN bandwidth management. Gain new insight into the latest developments and opportunities to propel your business into the future. We have quite a program with two packed days covering not only IP products and IP services, but also regulatory, business, sales and marketing issues.”

Convinced you need to be there?  You can get more details and register right here. 

Extreme Networks, Inc. announced yesterday that they have joined forces with the new Carrier Ethernet Ecosystem led by Nortel. The Ecosystem was brought about by a desire to meet the growing needs of video, VoIP and other communication services in metro area networks. 

“We are excited to be a part of the Carrier Ethernet Ecosystem and to work within this framework to accelerate the adoption of PBT-enabled carrier solutions,” said Peter Lunk, director of service provider marketing for Extreme Networks. “The PBT interoperability demonstration between Extreme and Nortel scheduled at NXTcomm in Chicago this week is a great example of what we can get done by working together.”

The Ecosystem plans to bring together industry hardware/software vendors along with ”component and tool suppliers to participate in creating interoperable carrier Ethernet solutions.” For more information, visit www.nortel.com/ecosystem.

This month, Skype has its sights set on India and Pakistan, namely their calling rates to those countries.  For the month of July, the folks at Skype have lowered their calling rates to India and Pakistan with their new ‘To Bangalore or Lahore’ (say THAT three times fast!) promotion. For less than the cost of a postage stamp, you can be chatting away to friends and family on the cheap.  The promotion ends July 31st.

Skype wants to open up the world of communications and make the world a smaller place, said Stefan Oberg, VP & GM telecoms at Skype. We make it easy for people to stay in touch with one another all over the world. Today on Skype, you can talk and see each other for free. At the same time, we’re working very hard to make it even cheaper to call your friends and family even if they aren’t on Skype. With our new promotion, you can now make calls to Indian and Pakistan landlines and registered mobiles for incredibly cheap rates, making it possible talk to the ones you love for next to nothing.’

To make a call, just download Skype, buy Skype credit from their site and click on the green button to start.  Off you go.

With Apple’s iPhone just released this past Friday, I’d be remiss if I didn’t talk about the sales and frenzy surrounding it.  AT&T Wireless prepared for the June 29th launch by boosting up the training for their in-store employees, and even hired an additional 2,000 temporary employees to deal with the anticipated onslaught of new business.  An AT&T spokesperson told CNN, “We’re used to handling crowds… We were the first company to introduce the RAZR … We know how to do this. The iPhone [launch] is different in degree but not in kind.” 

Interestingly enough, prior to the launch on Friday, AT&T has not advertised the iPhone.  Either they think that lying low will build a bigger buzz or hope that the prior public court battles over the name “iPhone” is all the marketing they need in a there’s-no-such-thing-as-bad-publicity line of thinking.

Preparing themselves for a rash of listings, eBay tightened up the reins on iPhone listing rules.  They banned sellers from listing the iPhone prior to the official launch on Friday, and issued the following requirements for the postings:  ”The listing must include a unique photograph of the iPhone; Your User ID must be clearly displayed within the photograph (watermarks will not be accepted); To ensure buyer protection, PayPal must be the only accepted form of payment.”

So just how brisk were sales?  So far, mum’s the word, but an analyst estimated to CNNMoney.com that they may have reached 500,000 on opening weekend.   So the big question … did you spring for it?  And if so, was it worth it?

Noting Polycom’s consistent leadership and innovation in the VoIP arena, consulting firm Frost & Sullivan recently recognized them for their VoIP product line.  An annual award given to the company that is most successful in fulfilling customer needs, it is quite an honor for Polycom to receive, and their diverse portfolio placed them ahead of the pack. 

“We’re honored by this recognition. Our strategy to build strong relationships with PBX vendors and softswitch manufacturers has helped us secure a strong presence in the SMB space,” said Sunil Bhalla, Polycom senior vice president and general manager of Voice Communications, in a recent press release. “We also strive to offer our customers market-defining products including our HD Voice technology, while maintaining affordable solutions that are interoperable with most standards-based telecom systems worldwide.”

“Polycom’s broad portfolio of IP telephones has secured it the leading position in the SIP-based desktop phone market,” said Elka Popova, global program director at Frost & Sullivan. “Its HD Voice feature delivers top-quality voice communications to enterprises choosing to deploy next-generation telephony.”

Popova added, “The company offers a comprehensive SIP-based IP telephony endpoint line. And going forward, we believe that Polycom will not only be a leading SIP-based end-point vendor and the leader in table-top conferencing solutions; but also, the leader in the voice over wireless LAN (VoWLAN) market through its strategic acquisition of SpectraLink.”

Mobile endpoints giving you headaches? This webinar might help……

Join ITSecurity.com and Mirage Networks on June 21, 2007 at 4:00 p.m. (EDT)/1:00 p.m. (PDT) as Joseph Karam of Hamilton College in Clinton, New York shares his hands-on experience rising to the challenges of his college’s network infrastructure, including the unique aspects introduced by large numbers of unmanaged endpoints.

Attendees to this webcast will learn about:

* The challenges posed by the open campus network and exploratory nature of the campus network user

* How network access control can protect this exposed infrastructure

* The benefits of pre-admission compliance checks and network behavioral monitoring

You can register for the webinar here.

Joe Karam, Director of Network and Telecommunications Services at Hamilton College, has 15 years experience in information technology for higher education. He is responsible for the reliability and security of a network infrastructure that supports approximately 1,800 students, 200 full time faculty, and more than 5,000 high speed network connections distributed throughout the Hamilton College campus.

Trent Fitz, Director of Product Management, Mirage Networks. Trent Fitz has more than ten years of experience with security-focused solutions in networking and desktop computing. Trent was a leading network architect for IBM Global Services, designing secure networks from the ground up across multiple industries including educational and financial services institutions. He also designed global network security architectures for several banks and large utility companies.

Moderator

Rich Mironov writes about networking, security and wireless for IT Security and other online publications.  In addition to covering technologies and tech companies, he’s worked at several Silicon Valley companies in engineering and marketing roles. Rich is a principal at Mironov Consulting, where he also writes the Product Bytes newsletter on startups, business models and technology.

Register here…

At next week’s NXTcomm 2007 in Chicago, Nortel plans to show attendees and carriers how to best use increased bandwidth, how to save money, and how to take full advantage of VoIP service. 

“Hyperconnectivity is fast becoming a reality. This industry trend is fueled by business and consumer demand for bandwidth-hungry services and applications like video, gaming and streaming music, as well as seamless connectedness all the time, anywhere, and on any device,” said John Roese, chief technology officer, Nortel. “At NXTcomm 2007, Nortel will showcase powerful, cost-effective innovations that will help carriers to benefit from this megatrend and provide the network capacity and the IP core essential to tomorrow’s wireline and wireless networks - critical to coping with the demand of a hyperconnected world.”

Nortel’s NXTcomm demonstrations will include:

• Carrier Ethernet, powered by Provider Backbone Transport (PBT), to enable Ethernet as the primary means of network transport. Ethernet is simple to deploy and maintain compared to other approaches and provides network agility, great bandwidth capacity and reach. Nortel and key industry solutions providers will launch the Carrier Ethernet Ecosystem at the show and, for the first time, demonstrate how PBT can seamlessly operate a multi-vendor environment.
• High Performance VoIP for regional carriers driven by the Nortel Communication Server 1500. This complete solution uses Ethernet transport and broadband access to replace today’s aging rural networks with a simple and inexpensive solution custom designed for small to medium carriers.
• A true mobile broadband experience delivered over WiMAX, including video conferencing and video surveillance on mobile devices. Nortel will also showcase an end-to-end solution for the delivery of VoIP over mobile WiMAX.
• New revenue-generating quadruple play services such as Interactive web-based applications blended with entertainment and communications over IMS.  This demonstration will showcase a voting application integrated with IPTV and IMS and include communications with a call center operator and mobile subscriber. 
• New carrier SIP applications including Fixed-Mobile Convergence with Call Grabber functionality, Web Services and, from the Nortel Microsoft Innovative Communications Alliance, computer desktop applications that enable instant messaging, click-to-call, voicemail and conferencing capabilities.

For more information on attending NXTcomm, visit their site.

With Skype’s recent global roll-out of Skype Pro, using Skype To Go will now save you beaucoup bucks in calling ’round the world.  With your Skype To Go phone number, it makes international calling from your mobile phone almost as cheap as local.  “For instance, calling your friend in Australia now costs the same as calling your friend across the street plus the SkypeOut™ rate for Australia, which for landlines is as little as 1.7 Euro cents per minute.”

 ”Millions of Skypers around the world already make cheap international calls from their computers. With Skype To Go, you don’t have to think twice about the cost of making an international call from your mobile phone. If you have a friend living abroad, you can now talk to him or her anytime and anywhere you want.” says Stefan Oberg, VP & GM Telecoms at Skype.

To use it, download Skype onto your computer and sign up for Skype Pro.  You’ll then receive a Skype To Go number free. To activate the number, choose the friend or family member you want to call who lives abroad, and then enter their international number and in return, Skype To Go will give you a local number to use instead.

Skype Pro* launched earlier this year and is now available worldwide.

Fusion Telecommunications International, Inc. announced recently that their CEO, Matthew Rosen, is set to deliver the keynote address at the VoIP World Middle East 2007 conference in Dubai, UAE, on Monday, June 18th.

The VoIP World Middle East 2007 conference event marks the first major event in that area that will focus largely on VoIP business strategies.  Attendees are expected to include VoIP provider senior executives, mobile operators, Internet service providers, regulators and government officials, equipment manufacturers and more from around the world.  

From Fusion, “Mr. Rosen’s keynote address will focus on VoIP’s advantages and disadvantages from the perspective of each of its relevant stakeholders. It will also cover the challenges faced by the incumbent service providers in the region, as well as the many opportunities available to forward-thinking, quick-acting companies seeking to capitalize on the potential of this new technology. The session will also review VoIP’s market demand and revenue potential, the current state of affairs with regards to VoIP in the countries of the Middle East and North Africa, and ‘Strategies for Success’ that can be embraced by companies seeking to aggressively compete in the world of ‘Next Generation Networks.’ ”

“The opportunities in the Middle East and North Africa are a key element of our global VoIP marketing strategy,” said Mr. Rosen. “We expect this region to deliver significant growth for us, as we are already seeing very rapid adoption of our Efonica VoIP services.”