VOIP News

It sometimes feels like data security is on everyone’s list of New Year’s resolutions, even though it’s one of those things–like eating right–that needs year-round attention. Word’s out that NEC has developed technology that can help knock out SPIT, or “Spam over Internet Telephony”  by challenging calls to discover whether the caller is human or a machine. The problem is acute: By one estimate, there are some 150 million computers on the Internet that can be used as “zombies” from which to launch attacks. The nature of the challenge is unclear; there already are solutions that ask callers to enter a three-digit code before putting the call through, a task that a spambot would not be able to perform. NEC will be showing the technology, which does has not been productized and does not have a commercial availability date, for the first time next month at 3GSM in Barcelona.

For more information about NEC’s anti-spam technology:

- read this article from PC Advisor

Related Articles:

Spammers SPIT on VoIP, NEC’s SEAL fights back. Report

VoIP requires new thinking about IT security. Feature

Here’s more about security. A couple of semiconductor designers have written an interesting article breaking down VoIP security attacks into three basic scenarios: eavesdropping, spam (which, on VoIP, is getting the unfortunate nickname SPIT), and “man in the middle” spoofing. There’s nothing explicitly new in the article. But it’s very detailed about how attacks work from a technical point of view and provides a useful framework for thinking about what it is you’re protecting your network from. It’s worth a few minutes to read.

For more information about VoIP security:

- check out this article from CommsDesign

Related Articles:

SMBs think VoIP is less secure than wireless LANs. Report

What does VoIP look like to a hacker? Report

A corporate migration to VoIP isn’t all that different from any other corporate technology migration, except that a bit higher profile–which may be all the difference in the world. Network World continues its excellent coverage of VoIP with a punchlist of “10 Things You Need to Know about VoIP.” Some of them are obvious but worth repeating: it’ll take longer than you thing, and make sure everyone’s OK with the move. Some fall into the “cascading changes” category: maybe installing VoIP might be a good time to move to gigabit Ethernet. Some are technical: use the right codec. But overall, it’s a good piece to hand out to customers who are about to plan the Big Move. Remember: their success is your success, and their failure will make you look bad.

For the 10 Things You Need to Know:

- read the article from Network World

Related Article:

Carriers look to generate rev from VoIP. Report

It’s a question that won’t seem to go away: Is IMS truly the bee’s knees, a set of standards that will squeeze all the old technology out of the phone network? Here’s one opinion that suggests pretty much the opposite: that IMS will create standards-based frameworks in networks, within which OSS will be a useful tool. Rather than killing OSS, the argument goes, IMS will force OSS to evolve from an engineering tool to a business tool. Interesting, thought-provoking reading for big network planners.

For more information about IMS and OSS:

- read this article from America’s Network

Related Article:

Big gear vendors back expanded IMS. Report

If you’re looking for deeper than deep information about IMS, OSS and BSS, you could do far worse than putting aside some serious time for Zippy Grigonis’s magnum opus on the subjects. He comes down pretty much in the same place as the piece in the article just prior to this one, but Grigonis is very thorough on every piece of the puzzle and quotes at length people who are hips and elbows deep in this stuff. If you care about the software and hardware architecture of large-scale networks, roll your calls to voicemail and chew on this for a while.

For more information about IMS, BSS, and OSS:

- read this article from TMCNet

Late January is kind of an odd time for a magazine to publish a “hot companies” list, but this one is pretty interesting, with some well-known companies and a few surprises. Article

> Remember that Netgear wireless phone that could connect both to Skype and PSTN? First reviews are coming in, and they’re not bad at all. Article

> Deutche Telekom will reportedly miss its number, as twice as many customers pulled their landlines in 2006 as in 2005. Article

> You think VoIP managers need to watch out for Google, IBM, Microsoft, Oracle and eBay? Yeah, probably. Article

> And Finally… Is a new operating system any reason for a big song and dance? Apparently so. Article

Microsoft Vista Upgrade requires an earlier version of Windows in order to install. No biggie, right? Just insert the Windows 2000/XP CD during the install process, right? WRONG! In a bonehead move Microsoft has decided that in order to “upgrade” your current version of Windows you have to have the older version of Windows ON YOUR PC already. Thus, upgrade versions of Windows Vista Home Basic, Premium, and Starter Edition will require that you have Windows XP or Windows 2000 on your hard drive. Everyone knows a “clean” install is better for reliability/stability and better performance. Now Microsoft is forcing you to install an older version of Windows (XP or 2000) just to get the Windows Vista Upgrade to install.

You could of course pay for a full version of Windows Vista, but isn’t the point of upgrades to “reward” your loyal customers by cutting them a price break? Bad move Microsoft. Piss your customers off any more and the Mac OS or perhaps even Ubuntu (Linux distro) is looking better all the time!

While I’m getting ready for the launch celebration of Windows Vista and 2007 Microsoft Office in New York City today (Bill Gates will come out of “retirement” for one of the presentations), it’s very interesting to see how excited everyone is getting (or is supposed to be getting) about this product launch. (Catch the Bill webcast here.)

(Microsoft itself apparently can’t wait — new Wow home page can be viewed today. Wow, of course, now to be confused with World of Warcraft.)

Microsoft is (of course) hoping to recreate some of the frenzy around previous launches of operating systems (like Windows itself) when many folks waited many hours outside retailers to say they bought one of the first copies of the new OS when it went on sale at midnight. (See if that smile lasts.)

(That will work better in warmer parts of the country today — will be in the teens here in the Northeast …)

Apparently, you can get around inconvenience if you wanted to buy a new Dell computer today (click here for more).

But now we have the upgrade issue …

Let’s hear it if you’re getting all jazzed up about this launch (or why not) …

The art of the deal …

Now it’s not surprising that Apple’s iPhone would wind up with Cingular (er, I mean AT&T), but wouldn’t you like to know why — or at least why it didn’t end up with a different wireless service provider, like Verizon, for instance.

Well, your dreams have been answered … (if you were dreaming about this at all.)

According to USA Today, we can now get an idea of the kinds of negotiations that go on between cell phone companies (aka handset manufacturers) and wireless service providers (aka cell phone companies).

In this case, curious to see issues/details like who decides to fix or replace the phone play such a large part. Lots of other stuff they talk about, too …

The art of the deal, indeed …