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Last week, Skype debuted their new short text message service (SMS) that allows its users to both send and receive SMS messages, making Skype the only instant message software that has closed the SMS loop. Yahoo!, AOL and Microsoft's IM clients only allow their users to send SMS.
Read more: Skype launches free SMS service
U.S. Interstate Highway I-19, which runs from the Mexican border at Nogales, Ariz. in the south to Tucson, Ariz. in the north, is now the world's first Wi-Fi highway. A high-speed data network with Wi-Fi mobile voice data capabilities now covers a 4.9-mile stretch of the highway and by May will cover a 32-mile stretch from Rio Rico to just south of Green Valley, thanks to Wi-VOD Corporation and a grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The network is connected by nodes that are located about 1.2 miles apart. According to ExtremeVoIP:
Rio Rico Fire Deparment Chief Mike Foster said that "Having mobile voice and high-speed Internet access in our mobile units on the highways delivers what we are looking for. The speed at which the mobile VOIP worked was very impressive."
Read more: VOIP At 80 MPH: World's First Wi-Fi Highway
Time Warner has launched TW Telecom One Solution, a VoIP service for its PBX customers in 21 markets and will expand to other markets later in the year. This new service will offer unlimited long-distance calls for businesses using the metro Ethernet platform. According to InformationWeek:
The first phase of VoIP-based products offered under TW Telecom One Solution are targeted at PBX customers, and include: TW Telecom One Connect, a VoIP trunking solution; TW Telecom One Reach, an IP FX virtual numbering service; and TW Telecom One Forum, a conferencing solution. In concert with this VoIP-based business strategy launch, Time Warner Telecom is offering free VoIP VPN service to all its site-to-site customers in the 44 markets it serves.
Read more: Time Warner Launches VoIP Service For PBXs
MCI is ramping up its services offered to its SMB customers by offering its IP services through Cisco Systems channel partners. According to CRN:
The two companies are working together to identify Cisco partners with IP communications and security expertise to sell MCI's IP-based services, including its MCI Advantage hosted VoIP and managed firewall offerings, in exchange for a monthly commission. The services are targeted at SMB customers.
Read more: MCI to Sell Managed Services Through Cisco Channel
Pingtel is launching an effort that may help drive the development of open source VoIP software. The Pingtel Solution Provider Program can run on Linux and will deliver open source VoIP and other IP products to small- and mid-size customers. According to CRN:
"In terms of the value proposition, this is unique for VARs and timely because, for a lot of VARs in IT, margins are going down on hardware and they're looking for a way to differentiate themselves," Brisard said. "We're targeting the IT guy who typically has sold data equipment and sees voice as the next logical step."
Read more: Pingtel Builds Channel For Open-Source VoIP
WiMax, the 802.16-2004 wireless standard that will provide broadband Internet access over many miles, is not expected to enter the mainstream until 2007. But when it does, WiMax providers would be wise to bundle VoIP to make enough money for survival. According to silicon.com:
WiMax' promise lies in its ability to deliver broadband to large areas without wires stretched into homes. Proponents of the technology add that WiMax will bring broadband to rural areas that telcos do not currently reach.
Read more: VoIP could be key to WiMax
While on-site VoIP deployment is a popular choice among enterprises, some may wish to test the technology on a hosted VoIP solution. Outsourcing VoIP services would most likely lead to better uptime and freeing up the IT staff, thereby saving firms up to 25% according to one figure. Outsourcing the service also allows for more flexibility in the number of SIP-compliant phones to choose from. According to Search CIO:
Offered on a per port/per month basis, Pierce said hosted VoIP services are typically best known for providing intra-site connectivity, and "desktop" services like voice calling, video streaming and interactive conferencing.
Scott Wharton, vice president of marketing for hosted VoIP enabler Broadsoft Inc., in Gaithersburg, Md., said outsourcing offers an intriguing option for enterprises looking to test the technology, since it's relatively uncomplicated to start with small-office trials and then work up to enterprise-wide hosting.
Read more: Making the case for VoIP outsourcing
Broadwing has announced that it will add session initiation protocol (SIP) support to its VoIP aggregation service, PRIorityConnect. The service currently allows enterprises to terminate VoIP calls to the PSTN. Adding SIP support will eliminate the need for voice gateways. According to Communications Convergence:
"In the past few months we've seen tremendous demand from enterprises and VoIP carriers for a native SIP interface between their networks and the Broadwing network. Broadwing PRIorityConnect SIP will provide the ideal link between Broadwing's powerful local service infrastructure and the next generation VoIP networks our customers are developing," says Mark Pugerude, senior vice president of Marketing and Business Development at Broadwing Communications.
Read more: Broadwing Adds SIP Support To Its VoIP Aggregation Service
Motorola has announced that they are currently developing cell phones that will be able to make calls over Wi-Fi networks. The phones will work on both the GSM network and over Wi-Fi using VoIP software provided by Skype. According to CNET News:
Because the phones would steer calls away from cell phone networks, combination cell and voice over Internet Protocol phones could have a profound impact on the wireless industry.
VoIP calls, connecting via a Wi-Fi network to a home broadband connection, can be made for free or at prices sometimes half of that for a cell phone call.
Read more: Motorola phones to call on Wi-Fi, VoIP
i-Mate will begin distributing mobile phones that double as VoIP phones in Europe, the United States, and Asia by March. The phones will be packaged with Skype's VoIP software. According to silicon.com:
The i-Mate phones are based on a Microsoft operating system and contain radios capable of using both cell and Wi-Fi networks. When you're in a Wi-Fi hotspot, the internet phone software lets you dial other Skype users for free, or pay per minute for calling traditional phones.
Analysts have long suggested that the net/cell phone tandem could prove a potent weapon that net phone, mobile and broadband providers could use to steal customers from the nation's major local phone companies.
Read more: Phone your i-Mate on net-enabled mobile
Direcway broadband satellite will soon offer their customers in Europe and the Middle East a voice over IP via satellite, through a partnership of Hughes Network Systems Europe and Net2Phone. According to TechWeb:
Net2Phone's VoIP service will be enabled through Hughes' DW6040 Voice Appliance terminals on Direcway. "Net2Phone's core competency has always been to layer voice over data networks," said Uri Schechterman, Net2Phone general manager and vice president of sales, in a statement.
Read more: Hughes, Net2Phone Plan VoIP Via Satellite In Europe And Middle East
The VoIP Security Alliance has been formed by companies such as Alcatel, Avaya, Comcast, Qualsys, Symantec, and TippingPoint. With all of VoIP's security vulnerabilities, the group has been formed to research and distribute information on issues dealing with security as well as promote certain security tools. Many may not be fully aware of the fact that upgrading IP networks is integral to both the security and the usability of voice over IP technology. According to PCWorld.com:
One goal of the group is to clear up misconceptions about the technology, which allows voice conversations to be transmitted over the Internet. One misconception the group will try to dispel is that deploying VoIP is the same as deploying traditional data networks, Endler says.
"There's this idea that you don't need to do anything different after you install VoIP applications," he says.
Read more: VoIP Security Alliance Forms
Softswitch deployment activity at AOL has spiked recently, lending some credibility to the rumors that AOL may be preparing to launch a residential VoIP service very soon. One source familiar with the company says that the targeted launch date is March 16. According to Light Reading:
AOL's VOIP offering, as reported earlier by Light Reading is riding across Level 3 Communications Inc.'s message board network, the same carrier that powers residential VOIP services offered by Skype Technologies SA and other companies. [...]
But VOIP gives AOL more than just a feature. It makes the service more attractive to carrier partners who need to sell something beyond a basic high-speed data connection.
Read more: AOL Marches Toward VOIP Rollout
PCTel Inc's new VoIP-enable roaming client will be available in spring and will allow users to receive and make calls using the same number on both the cellular GSM network and and IP-based Wi-Fi network. A later version will be support the cellular CDMA standard. According to Information Week:
The product supports connection management, profile management, Wi-Fi hot-spot authentication, and 802.1x/WPA security on wireless networks. It also has a Voice Dialer that operates on both cell and IP networks.
Read more: New VoIP-Enabled Roaming Client
Skype has released their popular VoIP service software version 1.0 for both Linux and Mac OS X v10.3 or newer. Although a beta version had previously been available for download, the final version allows for cross platform use. According to eWeek:
All of Skype's features, including its global address book, the ability to manage "presence" across different locations, and the ability to send files, have been included in the shipping versions, according to Skype. An additional service called SkypeOut allows Skype users to connect to mobile and landline phones for the price of a local call.
Read more: Skype Releases VOIP Software for Mac, Linux
Perhaps just as important as deciding to implement VoIP is deciding who to send for VoIP training. Should an enterprise send a telephony engineer or a data engineer to become VoIP certified? After all, VoIP is the convergence of voice and data networks. According to ITworld.com:
Those seeking training from the telephony side of the tracks may have an advantage because of their existing knowledge of call routing, PBX interfaces and signaling, voice features, and trunk capacity planning. VoIP training will help telephony engineers integrate these concepts using radically different transmission methodologies. The training will allow the telephone specialist to learn the packet delivery side of networking, including IP addressing and framing and Quality of Service (QoS) features in the networking equipment.
Read more: VoIP is real - So who do you send for certification and training?
