Securing SIP Trunks

SIP Trunks are a simple, cost-effective way for enterprises to adopt VoIP. They are also a stepping stone to eventual adoption ofUnified Communications. After all, once the network is set up to use SIP-based VoIP via a SIP trunk, the infrastructure is already in place to start using IM, real-time video and the wide array of SIP-based applications available now and in the future.

So what’s stopping many enterprises from embracing SIP trunks? By far, what we hear from customers as the top concern is interoperability — how can I be sure that myPBX will interact properly with the SIP trunking service provider? This is followed closely by security — how can communications routed over the public Internet or a managed connection really be secure?

The fact is, with the right measures in place and with the proper planning, SIP trunk deployments can work flawlessly and be more secure than the PSTN. Here’s how:

Address interoperability at the start — Making sure the IP-PBX and ITSP are interoperable will not only smooth the way for an easy deployment, but also solve many security headaches. Opportunities for hackers, spoofers, etc. are easy to come by when there are inconsistencies between these two key components. Leading IP-PBXs and ITSPs are aggressively conducting interoperability testing; make sure your choice of equipment and service providers have demonstrated successful interoperability with one another.

Several leading PBX vendors recommend that a SIP-based edge device be installed for multiple reasons, one of which is to smooth out interoperability issues. The edge device can perform “normalization” functions both for your current environment as well as any future changes you may make, essentially future-proofing your SIP trunk deployments to ensure interoperability down the road.

Further simplifying vendor interoperability, the SIP Forum has developed the SIPconnect Technical Recommendation, a standards-based guideline for SIP trunking between IP PBXs and VoIP service provider networks. As more service providers, PBX vendors and edge device manufacturers adopt this standard, issues with SIP Trunk implementations will be significantly reduced.

Employ security measures — Like any other server in the enterprise network, the IP-PBX should be protected from unauthorized access. Many firewalls today do not adequately protect against attacks on SIP infrastructure so the edge device chosen should enforce rules and policies designed to protect this vital asset. For further protection, SIP based communications can be encrypted to keep the sessions private with no chance of eavesdropping.

Authentication with the service provider — Some IP-PBX equipment can support this natively, while others cannot. A full SIP proxy firewall or other edge device may offer this capability as well, allowing enterprises with non-authenticating IP-PBXs to leverage the benefits of SIP trunking securely.

VoIP Solution for Free VoIP Calls

Human beings have devised many activities which have been focussed on the basic purpose of getting the items that they need. Hence the barter system saw the light of a bright sunny day with the businesses now being the major as well as the latest form of the activities that human beings have undertaken for the purpose of earning money as it is the exchange item for the items that human beings who are operating these businesses. VoIP is becoming the latest form of technologies which are being used in providing services in the new form of carrying out businesses with the medium of internet.

A business VoIP solution is therefore, now being provided as an offer into most of the VoIP service provider websites. These offers are mainly focussed on the whole communication needs of the organisation with features being offered to serve the various needs of a business regarding communication that are likely to arise. Hence the offers that are being offered by the various VoIP solution providers have features which are concentrated on handling the system of communication on a large scale and that too at the same time.

The global scenario has seen a major shift in the processes that are being the primary part of business and communication has therefore assumed quite an important role for the working of businesses. VoIP business solution has hence, assumed one of the major features in most of the prevalent forms of business with some of them reaping in record number of profits and also many new innovative tools for businesses. One of them is a VoIP PBX System which enables the offices and branches residing in all the major corners of the world to have a common communication medium in the form of a sort of a 'global intranet'.

Almost every organisation and individual can enhance its business sales or image by using these business solutions. VoIP has been the major technology behind these business solutions and has been quite successful in improving the performance of the businesses that are harvesting the features of this fantastic technology. The world is therefore now a frequent visitor to the field of excellence of businesses the money has started to flow in amounts which are larger than they have ever been as a result of the inclusion of this majestic technology.

There have been many features that have led to the success of VoIP solutions for business to become a success. The organisations which have been using this feature are able to boast of the satisfied feedbacks of the customers about the advanced level of the quality of calls that are being frequently made. Hence, the elements like poor sound quality and irritating echoes are no longer a part of any call made to a distant location where a business deal has to be finalised and hence, the employee is quite busy negotiating with the client and can take the feature of unnecessary hassles described above.

Therefore, the VoIP solution provider who is in the process of giving the magnificent services of VoIP to business organisations is liable to have a successful business of its own and with the performance being a habitual feature in most of the offers, large number of business establishments are harping the advantages in an effort to stay one step ahead of their rivals. A VoIP business solution is therefore, being used by almost all those businesses who have a dynamic character and are therefore, always involved in the process of either inventing or discovering new technologies and then using them to accomplish their needs regarding communication in a manner which is always viable to be better than others.

Hermon Labs TI Introduces IP VoIP Test Equipment

Hermon Laboratories (www.hermonlabs.com), a world-leading expert in compliance testing in telecom, today announces its new test equipment TCA 4100 low cost PC Based solutions is initially offering for VoIP and SIP (H.323). Both solutions are available as optional add-ons plus VQT (PESQ), and acoustic testing with HATS. SIP solution is also available as a standalone software application.

The VOIP add-on solution complies with the TIA/EIA-810A/B and TIA/EIA 920 standards. The unique equipment offers R&D, production groups a low cost solution to reduce time to develop and faster testing for production lines. The new SIP add-on and standalone solution supports ETSI TS 102.027.

“With the addition of the new TCA 4100 test equipment, it makes it easier and faster than ever before to develop and test new VoIP products for international compliance at a lower price point than ever before,” said Alex Usoskin, CEO of Hermon Labs. “For our worldwide customer base, this means they can get to market faster – produce products that are better suited for the world market with better performance and reliability and quality.”

Key features and capabilities include:
· Compliance testing VOIP and SIP (H.323) – Relieves staff from having to learn two different instrument and two different software packages.
· Fully automated testing – Built-in test suites for supported standards and automated implementation of user-defined test parameters; manual operation for development and debugging testing is also available.
· Extensive, automated reporting – Detailed reports are automatically generated in MS Word format.
· Powerful display and analysis – The on-screen display provides test results in graph and table formats, along with test status and much more.

VoIP - Asterisk Channel Evolution

Starting from meager beginnings over three decade’s ago, VoIP is a technology that is reshaping the telephony industry. A number of factors have provided resistance to the evolution of VoIP and others that have enabled VoIP to flourish.

One of the major limiting factors is the actual media that carries the signal. When voice was first carried over the Internet, the technology of the day was based on 4800 and 9600BPS modems. Based on today’s standards and the demand for QoS, it is understandable why VoIP took so long to evolve.

Large telephony manufacturers also provided significant resistance to VoIP’s evolution. The large manufacturers already controlled the market. Their current equipment based on TDM provided large margins and was very profitable. Moving to VoIP meant changing the infrastructure and that would change the profitability of the telephony manufacturer .

The channel itself also provided significant resistance to VoIP. The telephony manufacturers, resellers or “interconnects” had complete product lines and were making good margins with their sales. There was no need to move to VoIP. The word on the street was that VoIP did not deliver a quality solution.

The manufacturers also protected the margins of the resellers making the resellers loyal to their existing suppliers and resistant to new VoIP suppliers that do not understand channels.

As the interconnects know, they are the sales force for the telephone companies and manufacturers. They are the feet on the street. They are the direct link to the consumer of the telephony services and equipment. Their margins need to be protected through channel controls.

Most VoIP manufacturers do not know the meaning of channels or they are trying to redefine the channel. Unfortunately for them, the VoIP companies that succeed will be the ones that develop a strong channel strategy. Selling to everyone that calls a manufacturer to order is not a channel strategy.

VoIP Enabling Factors

SIP and RTP both have had a major impact on the evolution of VoIP.

During the 1990s, user demand for high speed connections for use with the Internet increased tremendously. This also gave momentum to VoIP. Now users were able to use DSL and cable for the Internet as well as VoIP. More businesses were signing up for affordable T1s providing them the bandwidth necessary to use VoIP. Everything was starting to come together.

Asterisk was a major factor in changing the perception of VoIP. It was also a way to tie the TDM and VoIP worlds together. At first in 2001 and 2002, Asterisk was shown at Open Source shows to Linux and FreeBSD groups. Then it was presented at Internet shows such as TMC’s ITEXPO. As the firstDigium distributor, my company, Cylogistics, has been able to watch Asterisk growth very closely. During the last half of 2004, Asterisk started to take off.

With the dot-com bust, Linux networking resellers were looking for the next gold mine. They soon came to realize that they had found it in telephony and VoIP. Asterisk enabled them to inexpensively deliver telephony to their existing networking customers as well as expand their customer base. Thus, the Linux networking reseller and Asterisk combined to put pressure on the major telephony providers to start moving to VoIP. By the end of 2005, the major telcos committed to moving to VoIP.

The Linux networking channel and Asterisk have had a profound impact on the telephony industry. Linux resellers have been on the VoIP bandwagon from the beginning. As indicated in the chart accompanying this column, the Linux resellers were early adopters. They really had no competition from the traditional telephony reseller until just recently. Even now, the interconnects are using VoIP solutions offered by the major telco providers.

This trend has been easy to monitor. The major manufacturers of traditional telephony equipment sell their products through national distributors. The new VoIP products do not meet the national distributor requirements and the manufacturers have had to find smaller regional distributors or VoIP specialty distributors like Cylogistics. Now that the interconnects are interested in Asterisk and VoIP, they must find suppliers of the emerging VoIP technology. Cylogistics, being one of those suppliers, is now getting a number of calls from the interconnect market segment and is seeing a significant increase in interconnect inquiries.

VoIP is now in full swing. The bandwidth is there. The infrastructure is there. Moreover, the channel is there for those that choose to use it.

VoIP vulnerabilities in Microsoft Communicator

esearchers at VoIPshield Labs have pinpointed a wide range of denial-of-service vulnerabilities in Microsoft Communicator, the unified communications that features business-grade instant messaging , voice, and video tools.

The flaws, rated “high severity,” could cripple VoIP-powered communications on Office Communications Server 2007, Office Communicator and Windows Live Messenger.

The skinny:

• Microsoft Communicator Emoticon: By issuing instant messages to a client which contain a very large number of emoticons it is possible to cause the Microsoft Communicator to become nonresponsive for a certain period of time. During this period of time the phone does not respond to incoming invite messages and can even be forced to go into an offline state, eventually requiring the phone to reregister.
• Microsoft Communicator INVITE Flood: Due to the manner in which sessions and authentication are managed it is possible to cause Microsoft Communicator to open a very large number of sessions resulting in the consumption of huge amounts of memory, potentially resulting in a Denial of Service.
• Microsoft Communicator Real-time Transport Control Protocol Report Block: Using a specially crafted RTCP receiver report packet it is possible cause a Denial of Service (DoS) against Microsoft Communicator, Office Communications Server (OCS) and Windows Live Messenger.

The company said Microsoft has acknowledged the issues.

Global VoIP keeps Eaton connected

Acquire 35 companies in five years, and you will quickly see the need to reduce the cost of communication across your entire organization.

That's what diversified manufacturing firm Eaton came to realize in 2007, when it decided to leverage its AT&T MPLS (Multiprotocol Label Switching) data network for VoIP -- a shift likely to be duplicated more frequently by enterprise-level companies in the years ahead.

Deployed at 220 of Eaton's 450 locations across the globe, the company's VoGAN (voice over global-area network) has saved Eaton nearly $3 million to date, allowing employees to make calls "on-net to on-net" anywhere in the world without charge, says William Blausey, senior vice president and CIO of Eaton.

"On-net to off-net" calls are billable, but the cost per minute goes way down, Blausey adds.

As anyone in IT might guess, integration proved to be the biggest challenge; Blausey and his team not only had to merge voice and data on the same AT&T network foundation, but also needed to integrate with myriad PBX and telephony infrastructures that the had company elected to continue using.

The result: a centralized infrastructure, with all voice and data streaming through two data centers in Cleveland. In other words, a setup for which data network reliability is critical -- a chief factor in Eaton's decision to go with AT&T, Blausey says.

"AT&T has Class of Service on the managed network," allowing Eaton to segment voice and data traffic on its network, Blausey says. VoGAN is designated Class of Service 1, followed by data, which Eaton designates Class of Service 2 through 4. Internet browsing is treated as a lower class of traffic.

By not completely recapitalizing Eaton's telephony environment, Blausey saved considerably on the project, which involved 12 IT staffers for engineering and deploying voice technologies. Eaton added two engineers with strong Avaya and network experience to help integrate its VoGAN with legacy Avaya, Siemens and Nortel systems, which took considerable work.

"We needed to figure out what the right cards were to put in the switches so they could talk to the AT&T network," Blausey says.

The project, which began in January 2007, prioritized sites that used long-distance calling the most in order to provide the quickest and largest return on investment. With nearly 230 offices yet to be transitioned, Blausey estimates that the company has already achieved about 75% of its anticipated cost savings.

Eaton is also now leveraging the VoGAN system as part of its move to unified communications -- a shift that includes voice-to-e-mail, e-mail-to-voice and the ability to talk to e-mail while on a cell phone.

Overall, Eaton's capital investment in communications capabilities has been reduced by 15% as a result of the project -- not bad, given the increased functionality its employees now enjoy.

Thanks to VoGAN, employees worldwide enjoy the same user experience wherever they travel, increasing productivity by reducing learning curves. Moreover, mobile workers now have a single phone number that can be used to contact them anywhere in the world.

Free Webinar: How Smaller Operators, ISPs Can Take Advantage of VoIP

Experts say that Internet telephony is poised to become a widely deployed technology among SMBs, highly profitable for vendors and service providers – yet the professionals behind VoIP systems must collaborate in order for their products to make money.

As TMCnet reported, officials from AudioCodes Ltd. – an Israel-based VoIP product provider with offices throughout the United States – say it’s time for Internet telephony to evolve from a visionary’s idea to a pragmatist’s business success.

More than half of what is now being sold on the market is Voice over IP, as larger cable and Internet service providers are embracing Internet telephony offerings as a way to bolster customer retention and increase revenues.

Bundled VoIP offerings are a large part of why AMI Partners Inc. predicts that SMB hosted VoIP spending will surpass $1.56 billion by 2010. As hosted VoIP companies themselves have told TMCnet, managed services are especially valuable in this slower economy, as they offer lower upfront and maintenance costs, and greater scalability.

As the quality of VoIP calls improves – such as with AudioCodes’ new “HD IP Phones for the Enterprise,” including the 350HD IP Phone Executive HD IP Phone, pictured right – as TMC Group Managing Editor Erik Linask describes in a video interview here, IP telephony solutions are becoming more and more prevalent across SMBs.

Yet in many ways, small and mid-tier operators, rural telecom companies and ISPs are being left out, put off the cost and technical complexity of creating a VoIP solution from scratch.

In two days, a panel of experts from IBM, Broadsoft and AudioCodes are delivering a free Webinar to help small and mid-tier operators learn how to offer VoIP services to customers.

Register here for “Small Operator, Are You Being Left Behind?” The Webinar will be held at 2 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday, Nov. 19.

Moderated by Linask, the Webinar will feature a panel of experts that includes: Alan Percy, director of market development at AudioCodes; Mike Wilkinson, director of European marketing at Broadsoft, and Scott R. Firth, director of telecommunications solutions forIBM systems and technology group.

VoIP Managed Service from Bell provides advanced toolkits, 24/7 expertise

MONTREAL, Quebec, Nov 17, 2008 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ -- Cisco and Nortel-based customers to unlock full benefits of IP

Bell, the Canadian leader in information and communication technology strategies for large organizations, today introduced VoIP Managed Services, a combination of advanced toolsets, resources and processes designed to improve the overall efficiency and performance of larger companies that use Cisco or Nortel IP systems.

The suite of services includes VoIP device surveillance, sophisticated incident diagnosis and problem solving, as well as access to the specialized bilingual expertise of Bell IP technical support staff around the clock.

"With the largest installed base of VoIP-enabled PBXs in Canada, we knew that our customers were looking for more help in getting the most out of their IP technology," said Stephane Boisvert, President, Bell Enterprise Group. "VoIP Managed Service meets that need, helping them be more productive by leveraging Bell's unmatched expertise."

"We ensure that customers' systems are performing at their peak with maximum uptime, and at a cost that is both predictable and, with no need to build their own support staff, less than if they manage it themselves. With access to Bell's industry-leading toolsets and experts, our customers can free up their time to be more responsive to their business and their customers."

VoIP Managed Service includes:

    - Advanced surveillance - proactively detects and prioritizes incidents
   - Incident management - detects and restores VoIP devices
   - Problem management - a more technically advanced investigation of
     recurring incidents
   - Change management - automatically submits all changes to the Service
     Desk
   - Release management - includes patch management deficiency analysis,
     implementation and monthly summary reporting
   - Configuration management - periodically verifies and backs up
     information about managed devices and application configurations
   - Reporting - electronically distributes an extensive array of management
     reports
   - 24/7 bilingual service desk - provides single point of contact and
     accountability to improve the customer experience.

Nortel is very excited to be working with Bell Canada on the launch of Bell's new VoIP Managed Service. Given the size and breadth of Bell Canada's Nortel base, we believe they are uniquely positioned to deliver these services to their Nortel customer base," said Ron McDougall, Vice-President, Sales, Nortel. "Customers are looking for ways to maximize the return on their capital investments while gaining the immediate benefits of new technologies, such as Unified Communications, for a competitive edge. Bell's new VMS services will provide customers with both, while lowering their overall total cost of ownership. Nortel is pleased to join forces with Bell Canada in taking this offer to market."

"As a leader in IP voice and Unified Communications in Canada and around the world, Cisco is pleased to collaborate with Bell as they launch this important managed service to their Cisco customers," said Olaf Krahmer, Vice-President, Service Provider, Cisco. "Bell has consistently demonstrated its commitment to delivering leading-edge managed services through the expansion of its national MPLS core network and its achievement of Cisco Master Unified Communications and Security Certifications. We are pleased to work with Bell to bring new and innovative solutions and services to our mutual customers looking to streamline IT while implementing advanced technologies to transform their business."

VoIP Managed Service is available to customers with Cisco or Nortel-enabled VoIP systems.

Fring Trials Ads On Free Mobile Chat/VoIP Application

Fring is trialing something it should have implemented long ago if it ever planned on making money: ads.

Fring is essentially a mobile VoIP / chat service provider that works on the iPhone and any device running Windows Mobile or Symbian, with technology that enables users to make free calls using the Fring service itself, Skype, Live Messenger, Google Talk, and other communication services.

Up until now, the chat functionality was completely ad-free, but now Fring will gradually start rolling out banner display ads, beginning with a small number of randomly selected users.

From the Fring blog:

We wanted to give you the heads-up, as you may soon see small clickable advertising banners in the fring chat window, beneath the chat itself. Clicking the ad will open your browser and take you to the advertiser’s site; you may even find extra special offers, cool promos & other nice surprises behind the click from time to time And, more clicks mean happy advertisers; and happy advertisers mean more resources for us to develop cool new stuff for you to play with in fring!

The beta version of Fring was made publicly available in January 2007, and is now being used by millions of users across the globe. With $10 million in venture funding, the company was bound to come up with a monetization effort for all those users soon. Unlike competitors such as Jajah and Truphone, Fring is committed to keeping the costs of calling as low as possible and will try to make up for that revenue by slapping ads on chat screens.

Ribbit Rolls Out VoIP Developer Platform

Web-based telephone software provider Ribbit on Monday opened up its platform to developers, enterprises, and carriers.

The company, which markets itself as Silicon Valley's first phone company, enables calls to be made and answered across multiple communication networks, devices, and protocols. Most importantly, Ribbit said, it lets developers create Web applications that use voice without having special knowledge of programming communication apps.

The telephony platform already has been integrated into Salesforce .com's CRM software, and Ribbit said developers can use the communications platform to design, test, provision, deploy, monitor, and bill voice-powered Web applications. Developers will be able to freely market and sell their applications, but they will have to pay Ribbit a fee depending on usage.

"Our vision from the start was 'programmable telephony' -- a platform that enables developers around the globe to design, deploy, and monetize the next generation of telecommunication services," Ribbit CEO Ted Griggs said in a statement. "Now, just four months after BT's acquisition of Ribbit, the platform is live, and we are open for business with developers, systems integrators, and yes, other carriers. ... The platform is now open to anyone -- small businesses, large businesses, telecommunications vendors -- that are looking for ways to innovate with next-generation, Web-based services."

The company said it has more than 7,500 developers working with the platform, which is based on the SmartSwitch software that enables voice to move across landlines, mobile phones, and IM applications. To spur further development, the company is launching a $100,000 contest for the best business productivity, media, social network, and next-generation applications.

The company also is implementing a "Bring Your Own Network" program, which enables other carriers to use the Ribbit software for applications on their own voice networks. This move is part of BT's larger strategy to evolve from a traditional telecom into more of a software-focused telecom, Ribbit said.

In addition to Ribbit, InformationWeek has evaluated three hosted IP PBX systems, which offer small and midsize businesses all the benefits of voice-over-IP services without the cost of buying and maintaining their own switches.

Security tool for VoIP solutions released

A new tool which allows administrators to assess if their VoIP solutions are vulnerable has been released.

UCSniff, from Sipera Systems' VIPER Lab, is a free application which is designed to allow network managers find out whether their VoIP solutions can be eavesdropped on.

It allows them to find out how easy it is to imitate an enterprise VoIP phone, download a directory and then listen in on confidential calls.

"UCSniff is an assessment tool that helps demonstrate vulnerabilities in VoIP design and implementation," said VIPER Lab director Jason Ostrom.

"It was born from the concept of combining targeted attacks against VoIP users along with the corporate directory, intelligent VLAN support, and man-in-the-middle features."

The results of a survey released last month revealed that security was one of the top-five concerns for respondents when investing in VoIP solutions.

Performance, hardware reliability, cost and technical support completed the top five in the fifth annual Enterprise VoIP Survey, by IDC and InfoWorld magazine.

Yealink Network Technology selects Texas Instruments' VoIP system-on-a-chip for full-featured high-definition voice in enterprise IP phones

Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) today announced that Yealink Network Technology CO., Ltd has selected TI's field-proven digital signal processing technology and software to enable its new IP phone, the SIP-T28. TI's VoIP (Voice over IP) technology allows Yealink to quickly deploy high-definition (HD) voice IP phones across the Asian market where, in countries such as China, Japan and Korea, there is a high demand for superior levels of voice quality for enterprise communications.

Yealink's SIP-T28 is a powerful and stylish 6-line IP phone that features 16 programmable function keys, four soft keys, a XML screen, SMS (Short Message Service), language customization and groupable enterprise phone books, among other features. In addition, the SIP-T28 is designed to support the advanced wideband audio codec G.722, which allows users to enjoy lifelike voice quality. For its SIP-T28, Yealink selected TI's TNETV1055 integrated silicon platform, featuring the market-leading programmable TMS320C55x(TM) digital signal processor (DSP), which includes TI's robust Telogy Software(TM) for VoIP.

"As Yealink continues to focus on the development of quality VoIP products that offer high-performance, reliability and ease of use, we are drawing from TI's valued partnership and field-proven VoIP platforms, to quickly enable us to deliver a wide-range of advanced features, such as HD voice, that increase productivity in the workplace," said David Chen, president of Yealink. "TI's powerful processing technology and flexible design facilitates our development of scalable, affordable, full featured IP phones that meet the varied needs of our enterprise customers."

Based on the C55x DSP family, TI's TNETV1055 IP phone solution is a complete system-on-a-chip solution. The TNETV1055 leverages a superior architecture, powerful processing technology and increased expandability options, enabling product designers and manufacturers to rapidly create differentiated and innovative IP phone offerings."

TI is working closely with Yealink in the Asian market to ensure VoIP enterprise users experience the highest quality of HD voice solutions," said Fred Zimmerman, director of CPE solutions for TI's voice solutions business unit. "This partnership aligns with TI's vision for voice, supporting the proliferation of HD voice and the next-generation of robust voice applications."

TI has shipped over 850 million VoIP ports to date for the IP phone, customer premise equipment (CPE) gateway and high-density infrastructure markets.

SPSS mrDialer(TM) with Voice over IP (VoIP) Lowers Costs for Market Researchers, Enables the Virtual Call Center

the leading global provider of Predictive Analytics software and solutions, today announced SPSS mrDialer(TM) 4.0 with Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). With VoIP, SPSS mrDialer 4.0 delivers faster completion of projects, lowers staff costs and gives market researchers more control over survey projects.

Since VoIP uses broadband connections instead of analog phone lines, SPSS mrDialer 4.0 is well-positioned to support the escalating trend toward the virtual call center -- where interviewers are dispersed over a wide geographical space, either in separate offices or working from their own homes. This allows market researchers to centralize control of the call center, operate around the clock and easily scale resources without significant cost escalation.

SPSS mrDialer is a dedicated solution that frees interviewers from having to dial multiple numbers before reaching a respondent. SPSS mrDialer also ensures maximum interviewer productivity by working seamlessly with mrInterview CATI (Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviewing) software, which controls the administration of phone interviews, provides supervisory capabilities and helps manage the survey call center workload.

SPSS mrDialer uses sophisticated predictive dialing algorithms to automatically identify busy, unanswered or unobtainable numbers. These algorithms ensure that market researchers are engaged in their interviews and projects are completed efficiently. SPSS mrDialer 4.0 is also unmatched as it is easily adaptable to new rules and dialing methodologies that can be updated with an easy-to-use Graphical User Interface (GUI).

Jason Edgeworth, data collection systems manager at Market Strategies International, a full-service market research and consulting firm, said, "Telephone surveys are still one of the best and most accurate ways to conduct valid market research. With the addition of VoIP, SPSS mrDialer 4.0 enables centralized predictive dialing from any of our call center locations,providing us with a more flexible and efficient operation. As we expand, SPSS mrDialer 4.0 gives us more control over our survey projects, the ability to centralize our dialers closer to our technical talent, and shift capacity so we can realize a better return on our telephony investment."

SPSS continues to develop leading-edge technologies for the market research industry, and SPSS mrDialer 4.0 allows organizations to better leverage their phone centers to easily reach and capture valuable feedback about people's opinions, preferences and attitudes on a global scale. This new product is part of the SPSS suite of data collection and survey reporting products that allow organizations to continually capture feedback from customers, citizens or employees through the best channel, with the right questions in the appropriate language.

Bob Dutcher, vice president of product marketing at SPSS, said, "SPSS is enabling the modern survey research call center by giving market researchers the freedom and flexibility to cost-effectively set up call centers all over the world. SPSS continues to serve all market research needs with leading solutions that provide full control of the entire research lifecycle -- from developing feedback surveys, managing the data collection process and conducting the analysis and distribution of the resulting valuable information."

SPSS mrDialer 4.0 also offers market researchers the ability to:

-- Record entire interviews for quality assurance, and accurately capture responses, especially open-ended verbatim responses.

-- Efficiently analyze busy signals and unanswered, modem and fax calls using mrDialer's improved call detection features.

-- Prioritize re-calls to meet a pre-set appointment time, which can mean the difference between an angry respondent and a successfully completed survey project.

-- Simultaneously run multiple interviewing projects.

-- Deliver real-time reporting of numbers dialed and attempted, along with completed interviews.

-- Monitor the interview screen and voices from any station.

-- Playback audio of digitized music and sounds.

-- Leverage existing Quancept CATI software.

VoIP, UC network planning and management the focus at VoiceCon 2008

VoiceCon San Francisco 2008 opens this week with a flurry of product announcements and demonstrations, so in this week's newsletters we'd like to highlight a few news items that were released in advance of the show. Today, we'll focus on tools designed to improve VoIP and unified communications network planning and management from Mindsharp, NetIQ, NetQoS, and Psytechnics.

Mindsharp, a global education company that specializes in Microsoft enterprise products will be on hand at VoiceCon to discuss its 16-module, five-day comprehensive instructional program available for Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 core components. The primary target audience for the course is “OCS administrators who intend to design, implement, and manage OCS 2007 as either a stand-alone implementation or as part of a larger unified communications strategy,” according to the company.

NetIQ, a provider in systems and security management, will showcase its latest release of Vivinet Diagnostics, an analysis tool designed to diagnose and troubleshoot voice quality issues. The latest features add “Layer 2 and 3 path tracing across VLAN configurations and deeper support for Nortel hybridized Ethernet, router and switch data gear,” according to the company’s pre-show disclosure.

NetQoS, a company that specializes in network performance management software and services is launching its latest tools for VoIP monitoring that will expand support for unified communications and provide video quality monitoring. The release also adds “enhanced diagnostics and reporting for Cisco IP telephony environments,” according to the company.

Psytechnics, a voice and video performance management supplier for telecom operators and enterprises will unveil its Experience Manager 4.0. The tool is designed to manage and diagnose video conferencing and voice issues.

Our observations: First, we should point out that management tools aren’t the only thing going on at VoiceCon - we’ll highlight other product announcements next time. But we’re encouraged to see a wide variety of alternatives that help network managers address everything from human factors (with Mindsharp) to unified communications and video performance management across multiple platforms because performance management continues to be a hot button issue for successful deployments. And we encourage enterprise IT managers to intelligently compare the available selection of these tools, deploying those that will best help them sleep a little better at night.

VoIP Phone Calls: Changing the Way of Inquiring People Around Us

The ability to transfer human voice into signals of digital nature and then sending them across networks in the form of data packets have led to the wonderful occurrence of VoIP calls all over the world with human beings reaping the advantages of this technology to its full potential.

Business dimensions of this technology have been understood and hence, the world now sees the emergence of VoIP service providers in large numbers in different countries and giving the customers are now being vested with advanced means to talk.

The primary reason for people preferring to make VoIP Phone calls http://www.youtring.com/mobile-calls.aspx is its price which has the primary feature of being quite cheap. Hence the inclination will always shift towards the VoIP phone service due to the chance of having to pay less by a mammoth degree when compared to the costs incurred while making local or international calls with the help of the normal telephone.

The features of this new technology are quite advanced enough to provide many useful features to the persons using it and the process of VoIP calling is now one, which is gaining an increasing degree of realism with large number of human beings making VoIP calls for staying in touch with their friends and relatives.

The process of making VoIP calls can be done with the help of a standard telephone. This is possible due to the fact that all the telephone requires for being able to handle the process of VoIP calling is an ATA or an Analogue Telephone Adaptor. He can also make calls with the help of VoIP phones which already have the necessary technology and hence both time and money is saved by not having to make the required installation in the case of a standard telephone.

The website has become a major tool for many businesses and is also giving its advantages to the service providers who give this technology of VoIP. The user is also able to do many wonderful things in order to find the most beneficial service for him. With business being the major drive behind the service of VoIP, hence innovations are constantly being made in this technology and all these are being made available to the common public in the form of different types of offers. The features of these offers are not only the basic feature of VoIP calling either with the help of a VoIP phone or a standard telephone attached with an ATA(Analogue Telephone Adaptor), but the user is also given a host of other services as well. Hence the user who wants to take the advantages which are associated with making VoIP calls http://www.youtring.com/mobile-calls.aspx , get many extra benefits and features. All these offers therefore, are available on the websites of all the service providers who are operating and hence, the user can compare the benefits given by these offers and select the one which serves his needs in the best possible way.

The VoIP phone service is thus proving to be a new facility for human beings and for businesses too with the ability to give low priced calls for international locations or national locations or even the wonderful prospect of absolutely free VoIP calls as well. The scenario of the communication features are now changed with the emergence of the process of VoIP calling and the future is quite an hallowed one as every technology is bound to see advancements and therefore, improved facilities.

South Korea introduces number portability to encourage VoIP

Charice Wang South Korea introduces number portability to encourage VoIP The Korean Communications Commission (KCC) introduced VoIP number portability between PSTN and VoIP service providers at the end of October. It allows fixed line users to switch to VoIP-based packages from alternative operators while retaining their fixed line number. This move will encourage take-up of VoIP in Korea.

Number portability changes the regulatory scene in Korea

Korea is known for its unique regulation of VoIP.
It is the only country so far to impose interconnection price control on facility-based VoIP operators. This is different to most European regulators, who have taken a 'wait-and-see' approach to VoIP interconnection regulation. The VoIP termination rate is W5.5 ($0.004) per minute, and VoIP operators pay W18 ($0.014) per minute for outgoing calls to PSTN.
However, this wholesale tariff regulation has had a limited effect on the development of VoIP. Currently 14 VoIP service providers (nine operators and five value-added service providers) are competing in the market of around 900,000 subscribers. This is relatively limited growth of VoIP in comparison to Japan (15 million as of 2Q07), given the similar situation of advanced broadband infrastructure and penetration.
The incumbent KT has taken a strong defensive stance on VoIP. KT currently dominates more than 90% of the fixed-line market. Hence it set the VoIP-to-fixed and VoIP-to-VoIP call retail tariff at around the same price as KT PSTN local calls. The cheap legacy telephone service prices and absence of number portability meant that VoIP providers have failed to disrupt the fixed market. It is therefore no surprise that the KCC decided to review the VoIP regulatory framework this year and proposed number portability.
Number portability will speed up the growth of VoIP services With the introduction of number portability, VoIP will experience a higher level of uptake and will soon become a mainstream service. The number portability will allow alternative operators to strengthen their competitiveness against incumbent KT by offering cheaper call options. These operators, such as SK Broadband (previously Hanaro Telecom) and LG Dacom, will see number portability as a strong opportunity. For incumbent KT, it is time for it to change its defensive strategies on VoIP; it should try to take the initiative in the VoIP market to protect its broadband subscriber base. Fixed line competition in Korea is set to heat up.

Choose a security-aware VoIP provider for conferencing

A major advantage of VoIP is that it allows employees to take part in meetings regardless of their location, but a security-aware VoIP provider should be chosen to deploy the system, an industry commentator has said.

Michelle Robart, from TMCnet, explained that VoIP solutions can let a number of users be connected on one conference bridge.

People working from home or other locations can enter the meetings via their telephone, computer or softphone using a process called IP audio conferencing.

She explained: "IP audio conferencing relies on packet switching to transmit data from one point to another."

However, she warned: "Those in the market for a business VoIP service should be aware that every audio-conferencing solution does not offer security options to protect against network intruders."

She recommends looking for a VoIP provider that has multilayered security systems in place to protect its IP infrastructure.

Ms Robart also advised businesses which want to purchase an IP audio conferencing system to be aware of the H.323 standard, which defines how information is sent over IP networks.

'Rapid cost-savings driving VoIP take-up'

Many businesses might be tightening their belts financially amid the economic downturn, but that does not mean investments in IT communications technologies are being pinched.

On the contrary, recent research has suggested that the credit crunch has merely prompted smaller firms to invest in IT solutions which can streamline communication options while also cutting costs and improving flexibility, by enabling telecommuting, reduced travel and virtual networking.

VoIP, which enables voice calls over an internet connection, is one of the IT solutions at the forefront of business' minds, it appears.

New research by Conjungo has revealed that VoIP is the most searched for single item on its UK IT channel.

The firm, which provides an archive of more than 15,000 IT technology suppliers, analysed the activities of website visitors in October and found that a tenth of all searches related to VoIP and IP telephony.

According to David Cruse, chief executive of Conjungo, ten per cent of users interested in just one area of the website's array of searchable online content constitutes a "huge" proportion.

He said: "We believe this is an indication of the potential for rapid cost savings that VoIP technology offers combined with a need for truly independent advice for small business on how to find and implement the best solution and supplier."

Indeed, VoIP's potential cost-savings have already been well documented in the US. Point Topic research last month showed that VoIP and related security services accounted for more than half (56 per cent) of the worldwide broadband value-added services market, which was predicted to be worth some $25.7 billion (£15.7 billion).

US-based VoIP provider Bandwidth.com recently said that smaller businesses in the US have already saved more than 50 per cent on their telephony costs through VoIP.

A further attraction of VoIP is its simplicity. A router, special phone, or standard phone with an adaptor box is all that is needed to get your business up and running, according to Dr Adam Le Gresley, head of operations at business and communications technology advisory group Technology Means Business.

He said recently: "Whether you have a physical work space, whether you're working from home or if it's a virtual organisation, you can have everything linked up to a relatively cheap voice-over-internet system."

Companies looking to improve communications between their branch locations, offices and with their supplies have driven the growth of the enterprise VoIP market, concluded Research and Markets' Enterprise Network Equipment & Network Management Services Market 2007-2010 Bundled Report.

It added that enterprise VoIP is also developing further trends in hosted solutions, internet security and networking equipment as firms are upgrading their IT technology so it is compatible with new technological developments for the next five to ten years.

Amid the ramifications of the credit crunch, the report also said: "Cost savings and robust feature sets are also expected to drive increased spending on IP telephony equipment."

So thanks to its proven cost savings and compatibility with emerging IT business trends, VoIP is well-placed at the front of a new wave of solutions - including hosted services, cloud computing, virtualisation and wide area networking - that continue to attract firms closer towards an e-business model of enterprise operations.The 8el CallPort is and IP Centrex solution developed as an alternative to a LAN based PBX. CallPort is differentiated from any other IP Centrex platform and has been designed to deliver a range of telephony features and benefits to the mid-enterprise market space.Says Justin Hamilton-Martin, Managing Director of 8el "While there are many VoIP offerings out there, no one is doing this in the same way as 8el: we are the only service of this kind, with the level of functionality and resilience that we are able to provide. It is suited to any company that wants to maintain control over their communications, while experiencing the benefits of VoIP, but without having to employ dedicated staff or make large investments in equipment."

Smart SS7 to VoIP Calling, the Software Only Solution

"Sky C&C required an immediate solution providing an SS7 interface to PSTN with our Cisco AS5350s and ZTE switches, as well as implementing a billing module and RADIUS support.

We were looking for a carrier grade solution that would terminate SS7 and provide full support for VoIP. Squire Technologies' software only solution, which bridges PSTN to VoIP and supports third party gateways, including Cisco media gateways, satisfied all our requirements.
Interfacing and supporting our existing infrastructure was essential to ensure a high ROI, therefore by utilizing the Cisco AS5350s and supporting SIGTRAN and ISUP, we were able to capitalize on Squire Technologies' powerful and cost effective solution. Once we realized this software only alternative, making the decision was easy. Squires then demonstrated how quickly and simply we could be making calls."

Simon Dinnage, Sales Director
"As a software only solution, an MGC (media gateway controller) deployment delivers to the customer all the benefits of a carrier-grade solution without requiring the level of investment or effort that a physical switch would demand.
Worldwide many network operators with an incumbent Cisco, AudioCodes or Lucent gateway architecture regularly have found this product provides all the necessary functionality and quality of service, while offering full support for many SS7 variants."

Squire Technologies
Established in 2001, Squire Technologies Ltd has experienced rapid, year-on-year growth providing Carrier Grade Telecoms Products and Services to the Telecommunication Industry worldwide with deployments in more than 40 countries.
Squire Technologies provide a range of SS7 products - protocol converters, gateways, and an extensive range of VoIP products - Media Gateways, Media Gateway Controllers and Class 4 SoftSwitch.

VoIP vs dino technology

Cape Town - Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) solutions address the shortcomings inherent in the premicell or least cost routing (LCR) solutions, such as the lack of Caller-ID information on outgoing calls and the long contracts companies need to sign with service providers.

That's according to Greg Massel, managing director at Switch Telecom, a telecom company that operates an advanced VoIP and switched network.

He says that many enterprises that have been using premicell (a type of cellphone device that gets attached to your switchboard) to reduce their telephone bills, should be looking at moving across to VoIP-based solutions instead since they offer a range of functional benefits, in addition to the cost-savings.

One problem that many enterprises experience with premicells is that they generally block the sending of Caller ID information.

Consistent caller ID

Even when configured to send Caller ID, the multiple different numbers associated with each premicell are difficult to recognise. That means many of the people you are dialling will not answer their phones.

With VoIP, a consistent and recognisable Caller ID is displayed on the recipient's phone so that they know who is calling.

The result: you get in contact with more people on the first attempt, and without annoying them, saving you time and money, said Massel.

Another benefit of VoIP is that it is available on a month-by-month contract with no minimum call spend commitment.

By contrast, premicells are subject to 24-month contracts which means that one could be stuck paying for unneeded minutes if the company's call volumes dip.

Savings on all phone calls

Alternatively, if call volumes are increasing, one will need to constantly add capacity and refresh the contracts.

VoIP allows companies to achieve savings on all phone calls to fixed-line numbers as well as cellphone calls and even calls to special numbers, while premicell offerings address only cellphone calls.

While premicell technologies do deliver cost reductions on cellphone calls, the savings are almost always less than anticipated and come at the expense of 24 month contracts and difficulties connecting calls at peak call times, said Massel.

One problem with premicells is that each device and contract can carry only one call at a time, meaning that if two or more people in the organisation try to dial a cellphone number at the same time, only the first call will be routed through the premicell at a discounted rate.

Multiple calls

Although multiple premicells can be installed, companies need to strike a careful balance between having too few devices and contracts to cater for the volume of calls to cellphones and having too many, which means that they will not use all the minutes they pay for, Massel said.

"VoIP, by contrast, can handle multiple calls simultaneously. On the surface, savings on call rates to South African cellphones may not appear as impressive as those promised by premicells, but in reality, they usually add up to more since savings apply to every single cellphone call made from the switchboard," Massel added.

"In a nutshell, VoIP offers you savings on call types and across your entire call volume and without getting tied into a long-term contract.

"You don't need to worry about managing call volumes since a VoIP solution scales alongside your business," said Massel.

In addition, all calls are routed via direct interconnects resulting in superior call quality, faster connection times, and guaranteed delivery of Caller ID.

VoIP is a compelling and affordable solution for any company that is looking to save money on its monthly phone bill.

FierceVoIP Names MetaSwitch as One of the "Fierce 15" VoIP Companies of 2008

MetaSwitch announced today that it has been named to the annual FierceVoIP "Fierce 15" list, designating it as one of the top IP communications companies of the year. FierceVoIP editors evaluated hundreds of organizations, and found MetaSwitch to be amongst the "fiercest," proven by its creativity and innovations in the marketplace.

FierceVoIP, an internationally recognized twice-weekly email newsletter reaching more than 45,000 senior IP communications industry executives, provides readers in over 100 countries with a quick, authoritative briefing on the day's top VoIP stories, including new trends and technologies.

The leader in reliable, high-quality voice communications platforms and services, MetaSwitch counts more than 400 service providers as customers, including Tier 1 carriers and more than 125 CLECs, as well as rural telcos and cable operators. The company also supplies the core VoIP technology for over 150 independent operating companies in North America.

"We are thrilled to be recognized by FierceVoIP, one of the industry's most recognized publications," said Andy Randall, vice president of marketing at MetaSwitch. "The IP communications community depends on FierceVoIP to provide the most up-to-date news along with analysis of major industry trends. It is an honor to be recognized by such a well-regarded news outlet."

The FierceVoIP "Fierce 15" celebrates the spirit of being "fierce" -- championing innovation and creativity, even in the face of intense competition. The complete list of winning companies is available today on the FierceVoIP Web site at http://www.fiercevoip.com/.

AudioCodes Announces High Definition VoIP Strategy

AudioCodes (Nasdaq:AUDC), a leading provider of Voice over IP (VoIP) technologies and Voice Network products, announced today VoIPerfectHD(tm), its High Definition Voice over IP technology. High Definition (HD) VoIP delivers higher voice clarity, better intelligibility and richer sound, as well as significantly improving a user's experience by doubling the audible voice spectrum. AudioCodes plans to embed HD VoIP across its product portfolio throughout 2009.

Voice over IP emerged in the past 10 years as an alternative to traditional telephony (PSTN). While providing lower cost and greater flexibility on converged voice and data networks, VoIP in general failed to deliver 'better-than-PSTN' quality mainly due to its 3.4 kHz bandwidth limitation connected with the use of legacy narrowband speech codecs in VoIP networks. With the advent and growing spread of IP broadband networks, wideband speech codecs which encode 7.1 kHz of the voice spectrum can now be effectively deployed to double the bandwidth and improve everyday voice communication quality to a level similar to that of conference room quality and/or FM radio. AudioCodes has been working over the past few years and increasingly in 2008 to implement a group of standards-based wideband speech codecs including G.722, AMR-WB, Microsoft RTAudio and others for use in wireline, wireless, cable, enterprise and internet applications with the goal of leading the transition towards increased use of HD VoIP in evolving voice communication networks.

AudioCodes VoIPerfectHD implementation of HD VoIP relies primarily on AudioCodes leadership in DSP, voice coding and voice processing technologies, and their application to VoIP communications and conferencing. AudioCodes VoIPerfectHD implementation as a unified infrastructure for all AudioCodes' products allows the offering of HD VoIP capabilities and benefits across all of its products ranging from Multi-Service Business Gateways (MSBG), Media Servers, Media Gateways and DSP chips to IP Phones.

The introduction of HD VoIP extends AudioCodes reach to both enterprises and service providers, allowing entry into new market segments which will benefit from enhanced clarity and better speech intelligibility. Among key segments expected to benefit from this new introduction are banks, government, military, health, telemedicine and education. AudioCodes' HD VoIP is designed to enable enterprises to improve worker collaboration resulting in higher productivity and enhanced customer service quality. Service providers are expected to benefit from differentiating their VoIP offering and services by increasing call length and having a higher Average Revenue per User (ARPU). In addition, application providers and ISVs are capable of effortlessly enhancing their solutions in order to meet stringent voice quality standards.

"With our launch of VoIPerfectHD, AudioCodes is creating a whole new market opportunity for the Company's voice communication business and introducing a key competitive differentiator in our markets. It's about bringing a new real sense of quality to VoIP communication, enabling improvements to business productivity and clear interpersonal communication between people and across wireline, wireless and cable IP networks," stated Shabtai Adlersberg, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer at AudioCodes. "AudioCodes' rich expertise in voice coding and transcoding enables us to offer enhanced connectivity between HD VoIP islands in disparate networks in broadband, IMS, Mobile and Cable, and offers greater flexibility in future interconnecting HD VoIP devices."

"HD VoIP holds the potential to drive growth in a number of key market areas in which AudioCodes is very active," commented Joe McGarvey, Principal Analyst, IP Services Infrastructure, for Current Analysis. "AudioCodes' portfolio of products is HD VoIP-enabled and geared toward improving voice quality and naturalness, enhancing foreign accents to sound clearer and offering transcoding between various HD VoIP devices."

AudioCodes' current and planned HD VoIP Enabled products consist of the IPmedia(tm) 3000 Media Server, Mediant(tm) 3000 Media Gateway, Mediant(tm) 1000 MSBG and the Mediant family of Microsoft certified basic Hybrid Gateways. AudioCodes' Media Servers and Gateways now enable transcoding between different wideband coders while retaining wideband quality. This will allow interworking and connectivity between different wideband networks such as mobile and broadband. AudioCodes plans to introduce HD VoIP on more products in 2009.

AudioCodes has created a website landing page www.audiocodes.com/hdvoip which includes all technical and marketing resources for the HD VoIP.

AudioCodes will have a Demo of the HD VoIP at VoiceCon San Francisco, California, 11-12 November 2008 at AudioCodes' Booth #509

AudioCodes will be conducting webinars titled "HD VoIP - the next sound barrier?" on Thursday, November 6th at 2:00pm (Eastern Daylight Time), Monday, November 10th at 10:00am (Central European Time) and on Tuesday, November 18th at 2:00pm (Eastern Standard Time).

Global Crossing Adds SIP for VoIP Suite

Global Crossing Ltd. has added a SIP Refer feature to its VoIP services portfolio. This feature enables enterprises and IP-based application service providers to utilize their IP networks more efficiently while transferring incoming calls to the location or party best able to serve the caller’s needs.

“SIP Refer enables enterprises to provide targeted customer service utilizing their VoIP network while delivering efficiencies to the business through its automated functionality,” said David Lemelin, senior analyst, Business IP Communications at In-Stat.

SIP Refer is designed to allow IP equipment to perform a call transfer automatically, and without attendant intervention, to any on-net or off-net phone number while removing the company’s equipment from the call path. Once a call is transferred, a port on the customer equipment is released, as well as the capacity being used on the IP network. This capacity is free to be used for other calls.

VoIP startup Jaxtr lays off some staff, CEO steps down

VoIP and social network startup Jaxtr Inc. has laid off 13 of is employees and its chief executive has stepped down.

In June the Menlo Park-based company raised $10 million to expand its Web-based service that allow users to make less expensive long-distance calls, and said that along with that as-yet unspent funding and its revenue streams, the company will be able to stay afloat for at least 18 months.

On the company's blog, interim CEO Bahman Koohestani said Konstantin Guericke is stepping down to spend more time with his wife and two young daughters. "I like to thank Konstantin for his leadership, marketing insights, and social networking know-how to get jaxtr past its initial phase," Koohestani said. "I’m also glad that Konstantin will remain with us as chairman, and I am very excited and look forward to working with the stellar team here to deliver all the enhancements our members have been asking for..."

Earlier this year Guericke said the service has registered more than 10 million users in 220 countries and spent no money on advertising.

Guericke was also co-founder and CEO of Mountain View-based social networking site LinkedIn Corp.

The company's service generates local numbers for users to call with their phones, eliminating long-distance and international charges, Guericke said. Users must be registered with jaxtr to receive calls, but consumers don't have to register with jaxtr to call the service's customers for free.

Jaxtr has several revenue streams: fees for phone minutes, advertising on its Web site, and advertising on free text messages. Users get free minutes for referrals and for activity on the site but pay 1 cent to 6 cents a minute for additional calls.

With the layoffs, the company now has about 30 employees.

A new communication technology for Legal Firms - track billable hours by call, voice, e-mail, fax automatically

ATIO, a leading South African-based information communication technology service provider and a Platinum Elite Interactive Intelligence Partner, has launched a standards-based, all software IP communications system focused on cost containment for the Legal fraternity. The Enterprise Interaction Centre (EIC) solution is a Microsoft-based business communications solution that automatically tracks all billable interactions.“Traditional phone systems do not have the automatic capabilities to monitor, track, record and report daily interactions that most legal associates perform with their clients and as required by legislation. Industry statistics estimate the loss in revenue to be between R14 000 and R35 000 per associate, per month. The EIC solution is more than just a communication system, it is a financial management tool with the ability to account for all legal interaction per associate per month in billable income in just one click” says Andre le Roux, MD, ATIO interactive.
Unlike a traditional telephone system where voice and data rarely merge, the EIC VOIP solution blends all types of communications and interactions on a single network. This is the first solution that is able to combine and completely track voice, e-mail and data communications.“This solution provides a total communications and interaction management platform. Finally, a phone system that can track each call including conference calls, by client, by voice mail, by e-mail, by fax and record them automatically anytime and add that to the client portfolio. To the legal associates, this means you are both the judge and the jury,” says Cindy van Wyk, Business Unit Executive, ATIO.The solution provides the legal organisation with the opportunity to collect billable hours already performed instead of losing thousands per month. The ultimate benefit is the ability to capture enough billable income per associate and provide a detailed client record.“It takes 60 hours to 70 hours a week of office time to generate 2 100+ hours of billable time. Improving communications among in-house and outside counsel, and internal clients is essential to keep projects on track and equally important, to meet and exceed client expectations.” concludes van Wyk.

VOIP calls 911

911 Enable, a provider of E911 solutions for IP telephony, provides an emergency routing service that helps VOIP service providers (VSPs) meet legal requirements for 911 calls, reports Market Watch.

The US Federal Communications Commission recently adopted new 911 rules for VSPs. These rules, set out in the NET 911 Improvement Act, which was signed into law in July, require that VSPs have access to the 911 system and that their customers be able to make emergency calls that are routed directly to the local public safety answering point.

"Customers have come to expect 911 calling as part of their telephone service package," said Cliff Rees, president and CEO of XCast Labs, a Los Angeles-based VSP. "As a VOIP service provider, we have a responsibility to ensure reliable 911 services to our customers at all times.”

Cbeyond revenue up 25%
Bucking economic downturns that have IT insiders discussing ways to sell communications during a recession, Cbeyond, an Atlanta IP-based managed services provider, is reportedly posting third-quarter revenue of $90.2 million, states TMCnet.
Officials at Cbeyond say the figure marks a 25% increase over the same quarter a year ago.The company's CEO, Jim Geige, said the strong financial results are fueled by growth in average revenue per user, increased applications used per customer (up to 6.8 from 5.9 in the year-ago quarter) and 31% mobile penetration of Cbeyond's customer base.

VOIP phones a hot topic
In October, a tenth of all searches on a new search engine were related to VOIP phones, statistics have shown, says Telappliant. It means VOIP phones and IP telephony in general were the biggest single topic users were looking for on Conjungo, which contains a database of UK IT suppliers. Conjungo contains 15 000-plus listings and has more than 100 technology areas.“Considering how many potential areas of content we have on our site, 10% is actually a huge percentage of users interested in one area," said the company's CEO, David Cruse.

Free PC to Phone Calls: The Computer is Now The Free Call Making Phone

The enthusiastic endeavour of making free calls is now possible for human beings to make with the introduction of many new technologies in the field of communication. So, the calls that are taking place in frequent periods of seconds are almost free.

The technology that is perhaps making headlines in the mediums being used by human beings is VoIP in the present era and the improvements that are being provided with this technology are wonderful enough to entice users all over the world to shift their tools of making phone calls using the VoIP technology.

If one has to consider the meaning of the process which is involved in VoIP, then the primary thing that takes place is human voice being converted into digital signals and then these signals are sent across the network after being compressed into data packets using techniques like speech compression.

The mediums which are there for making VoIP calls are many and the most frequently used tool is the PC or the personal computer. Hence users are now able to make free PC to phone calls http://www.youtring.com/Phone.aspx to their friends living in any nook or cranny of this big wide world. The result is therefore, the increase in usage of this technology due to its wonderful features and since the primary feature is the calls being free, hence users are able to make free PC calls in a smooth and an excellent manner.

Free phone calls are therefore, being made by many human beings with the help of the communication software that they install in their computers. This software is present on the websites of the VoIP service providers and the users who avail the services of these service providers are able to download the software on their PCs and then install it for the purpose of making free calls enabled with the features of VoIP. The service is frequently used with an improvement in economy of nations with more human beings having access to computers.

The VoIP service providers who normally give the technology to its users for making free PC calls have a reason for doing so. The cost of the calls that are being made are handled by the magnificent revenue that the websites receives from lots of companies who put their product advertisements on the service provider websites. From the companies side, there is a valid reason for doing so, as the VoIP service provider websites see the maximum number of hits at any time and hence, the advertisements are normally read multiple times and hence some of the users turn into the customers of these companies by acquiring the products after being impressed by the advertisements that they see on the websites.

Hence, the business of providing VoIP services, is becoming quite a profitable one with many VoIP service providers being established and therefore, the number of customers who are using the wonderful technology in making free PC phone calls http://www.youtring.com/Phone.aspx, is growing at a rate which is quite phenomenal.

Most of the softwares that are provided have many wonderful assets in the form of user friendly features like interfaces being designed in the form of standard phones. The result is that the user has no difficulty in making free calls by being able to associate the working of the softwares with traditional phone systems.

The borders of countries are no longer important for communication and the various formalities that are normally being made are also nullified in the sense that the working of the overall technology takes place in a manner which enables free calls to be made from any city in any country to any city present in another wonderful country. The nationalities of VoIP users are therefore, many with the result being this technology assuming a global presence and hence a dominant presence in the world.

The place from where free calls are being made is therefore, a giver of many new opportunities both to the person making the call and also to the service provider who is giving this service. Another wonderful receiver of this wonderful service is the company who is able to effectively market his products in the form of widely viewed advertisements being put on the websites of the VoIP service providers.

Who Killed the VoIP Revolution?

"VoIP is dead," Skype General Manager for Voice and Video Jonathan Christensen declared at an industry conference a few weeks ago. He spoke figuratively, of course, but he may well have been right. While proponents of Voice over Internet Protocol had long promised a decade of creative destruction, they themselves appear to have become the victims.

The full potential of a technology is not always realized once it converges with market forces. In this case, the gravitational pull of the incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs) has always proved difficult to resist. Most of the VoIP industry, while loudly proclaiming the "session-initiation protocol" SIP era as the beginning of the end for monopoly communications, secretly courted the incumbents in hopes of profiting from replacing their long-amortized investments in the fixed-line business. By tying their fortunes to the whimsy of the ILECs, many of the upstarts suffered, destroying billions of dollars in shareholder value in the process.

Recently, PulverMedia, which spurred the VoIP crowd and rode its financial crest, shut its doors amid a swirl of controversy. As of this writing, Sonus Networks (SONS), once a highflier trading at 95 a share in 2000, goes for about 2.29. Even Cisco (CSCO) has thrown in the towel, discontinuing its BTS series of softswitches, which provide the routing logic for VoIP networks. These dismal stories perfectly mirror the ride of the VoIP industry in general.

Assault on Monopolies

The outlook was once a lot better. In 1999, with the ratification of the SIP specification by the IETF, advocates who wanted to tear apart the monopolies that dominated telecom started to beat the war drums. Following conventional wisdom that the Internet democratizes and deleverages any market into which it enters, they found it easy to persuade investors to pour billions into VoIP products and companies. Regulators seemed to support that theory, too, sealing the deal with the Federal Communication Commission's so-called "Pulver Order," which defended the VoIP industry from over-reaching regulation and tariffing.

The anticipated period of "creative destruction" came, all right. It began in 2001 with the smiting of the competitive local exchange carriers (CLECs) and long-distance competitors, who had not yet even had time to embrace VoIP, by predatory pricing from the incumbents. It continued with the shift from fixed voice lines to wireless phones, as evidenced by the drop in landlines. More recently, the guns have been turned toward the VoIP equipment vendors that begat the revolution in the first place.

Voting via VoIP—Coming soon to a polling place near you

We'll be pulling the lever on Tuesday—or touching the screen, or making our mark, but we won't be phoning it in.

At least not yet.

The thinkers at San Diego-based Everyone Counts are betting they can get voters to register their preference by VoIP within the next few years. Their Web-based technology won't just make life easier, they say. It will change the course of elections.

When Australian military personnel voted in a recent federal election, 22 percent sent their votes in by mail. When they voted by phone using Everyone Counts, participation rose to 75 percent, according to Lori J. Steele, CEO of Everyone Counts.

Consider that there are some 6 million U.S. voters overseas, less than 5 percent of whom have their votes counted in a typical election. A commensurate rise in participation could mean a difference of almost a million votes.

To utilize the technology, a voter dials in and uses touch or voice to enter authenticating information, typically some combination of ballot code, PIN, date of birth, Social Security number or driver's license number. Then the ballot is cast by touch or voice.

Which form of ID will vary with local law. "It depends on the county and city and the state. We just have to tailor it to the laws of the jurisdiction," Steele said.

VoIP allows the ballot to be encrypted using established Internet encryption protocols.

Everyone Counts is not alone in experimenting with telephonic voting. IVS of Louisville, Ky. for example proffers a paper ballot marking system in which voters make their choices using a touch-tone telephone located at the polling site.

Everyone Counts, however, claims to be the only Internet-based effort. Its product has been road tested in the United Kingdom, where the British Labour Party has been using it in party elections since 2000. The tool has featured in certain local U.K. elections since 2007. Labor unions, credit unions, homeowner associations in Australia, Canada and elsewhere also are using it.

Pricing is meant to help users phase into the product. For an upfront project fee, Everyone Counts will build and run the first election. In year two the buyer takes over with the vendor's help, and beginning in year three the buyer flies solo with an annual license. Steele says the cost works out to be about half the cost of paper ballots.

The company may have an uphill climb, since its target market is government entities, which never are an easy sell. But Everyone Counts has an inside edge in the person of COO Paul DeGregorio, former chairman of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, a national body charged with overseeing a broad range of electoral processes.

"He knows everyone from the federal level in most countries to the local election level in America, so we have a clear understanding of who is aggressively trying to serve the voters and whose laws allow for the implementation of things that are electronic, that are not being currently used," Steele said.

Steele anticipates the adoption of this new voting technology will nonetheless take time.

"We believe that the first place where it will be strongly implemented is for overseas voters. Of those who live or serve abroad in the military—who tried to vote in 2006—70 percent were not counted, and that is typical because it is much too slow to get ballots back and forth overseas to be counted," she said.

After that, municipalities will look at implementing the technology at polling places, to assist those with disabilities who may have trouble accessing conventional voting mechanisms.

Only then will attention turn the convenience factor, those who just don't feel like getting out of the La-Z-Boy on Tuesday evening.

It will take time.

"You can't go to a government and say, 'change everything now,' because they panic," Steele said. "But if you show them how it works in situations where they need it badly, then that familiarity drives solutions in other settings."

Still, the public has shown itself wary of any digital incursions into the Old Ways of voting. It's a point that irks Steele slightly. "People are perfectly happy to hand their ballot over to an 80-year-old woman who puts it in a cardboard box and puts it in the trunk of her car," she fumed. "That can be hacked just by going to Kinkos!"

Still, she says, VoIP's time will come. A generational shift is coming, people are more accustomed to existing in the ether. "Paper will phase itself out ever time," she said.

Comcast VoIP Revenue Up 44 Percent in Third Quarter

Comcast phone revenue increased 44 percent in the third quarter of 2008, though the pace of net additions has slowed.

Comcast executives say they are confident they will be able to add over two million new phone customers this year, though.

"Just to put a point on it, I think what we are talking about is marginally less net adds, so instead of 550,000 phone ads, it’s 450," says Comcast COO Stephen Burke.

"In terms of small and medium-sized business, I am getting very optimistic about this business," Burke adds. "The revenues grew 42 percent year over year."

Comcast added about one additional percentage point of phone service penetration in the third quarter, which now stands at 13.3 percent of homes passed. Comcast also has some markets with penetration in excess of 20 percent.

VoIP services should be in service in about 8.5 million more U.S. households over the next two years, growing about 14 percent annually, according toPike & Fischer.

The number of VoIP-connected households in the United States will approach 30 million by the end of the decade, generating more than $11 billion in revenue for cable operators, telephone companies and network-independent providers Pike & Fischer predicts.

iSkoot for Skype Puts VoIP On Androids

The beauty of having an open platform is that you can largely operate without boundaries and without the restrictions imposed by some overlord.

If you want to save your precious minutes each month, it might be a good idea to load up your newly acquired T-Mobile G1 with iSkoot for Skype. This is the first mobile VoIP application for Android smartphones.

In effect, you can make Skype-to-Skype calls right from your new smartphone. Unfortunately, you do use some data and some airtime if you use iSkoot, but at least you can save on the major long distance charges that you may otherwise incur. Local calls might not be so good.

For more information, check out the official page. And yes, iSkoot is free to download.

VoIP 'leaves small firms free to grow'

Making use of fixed free Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) allows small businesses to expand without adding to their overhead costs, it has been claimed.

Samuel Schneider, marketing director at communications provider Bandwidth.com, said the prohibitive expense and maintenance demands of traditional Internet Protocol-Private Branch Exchange (IP-PBX) technology has led to the creation of a new hosted PBX model which requires monthly fees rather than an up-front investment.

"Phonebooth will absolutely bring an affordability to VoIP that hasn't been seen yet in the market, because it is free of any license fees and it does not confine small businesses to a certain number of seats, so they are free to grow," he added.

Last month, Bandwidth.com launched Phonebooth, an IP-PBX, which is a private telephone network used within an enterprise that can access a limited number of external lines.

The group claims current hosted models confine small businesses to a certain number of seats, whereas they need flexibility to sustain growth.

WFMSG Announces Asterisk Integration

Community workforce management solution provider, The WorkForce Management Software Group, Inc. (WFMSG), has reportedly developed and deployed an interface into theAsterisk engine, an open source telephony platform.

Released under the GNU General Public License (GPL), the Asterisk allows developers and integrators to create advanced communication solutions. This open source telephony engine is available for download free of charge. Asterisk runs on a wide variety of operating systems including Linux, Mac OS X, OpenBSD, FreeBSD and Sun Solaris.

Asterisk has also reportedly added various features to existing call center solutions by adding remote IP agent capabilities, advanced skills-based routing, predictive and bulk dialing, and so on.

"Interfacing into this platform broadens Community's appeal and reach into a wider market," says Peter A. Schmidt, WFMSG principal and chief technology officer.

"It is crucial that our solution interface is not only to the more traditional PBX platforms such as Nortel and Avaya but to more open platforms such asCisco, which we announced earlier this year, and now Asterisk," added Schmidt.

"We feel that presenting an end to end solution to our clients increases our value proposition," said Todd A. Cotharin, principal responsible for WFMSG operations.

"By adding Asterisk to our extensive library of active integration, we are further reducing cost to our customers. Reducing cost of entry and ownership, coupled with intelligent deployment processes that capture ROI, is the strategic difference for Community in the market”, stated Cotharin.

Cotharin also confirmed that the Asterisk interface is just one more facet of the company’s bundled approach that makes it easy for its clients to invest in the Community solution without worrying about unforeseen expenses.

WFMG has been offering contact center performance optimization professional services that are designed to maximize and leverage investments in people and technology.