“Friends of Skype” list on skype blog is back and I am listed

The friends of skype list on the skype blog that was taken off sometimes ago has now returned and I am listed has one of the friends of skype for the first time. The list normally includes high profile bloggers in the voip community which skype feels has contributed in one way or the other to the development of skype and the voip technology in general. Listed as Solomon Kay, I feel really honoured to be listed among long time and high profile bloggers in the voip community like Andy Abramson, Rich Tehrani , Om Malik, Jeff Pulver etc. It shows that the little contribution I have made in just seven months of blogging about VoIP is recognized.Check out the list at http://share.skype.com/sites/en/

Washington state phone number to your SIP phone.

IPKall is giving away Washington state phone numbers as call-in numbers to your SIP phone for free. All you need is an e-mail address and a subscription to a SIP based IP phone service like gizmo, freeworlddialup etc. You enter your sip phone number, SIP proxy settings and your e-mail address, within minutes your personal Washington state phone number will be e-mailed to you and you can start receiving calls on this number from any phone. If you don’t answer or are not online, calls will go to voicemail, and messages will be sent to your email as .wav files. You can also dial in and get your voicemail. Only apply for this call-in number if you intend to use it as inactive accounts will be terminated after 30 days for non use. Interested? Check out http://phone.ipkall.com/ipphone/.

VoIP Inc. Launched VoiceOne Direct Program

VoIP Inc. of Fort Lauderdale, Florida is hailing the launch of its VoiceOne Carrier Direct Program. The new program is designed to enable carriers to provide IP-based services with no CAPEX or other requirements. “Through our new Carrier Direct Program, VoiceOne provides carriers with media gateways at no charge, and installs and connects them to the VoiceOne network. This enables carriers to immediately begin selling IP-based services, such as hosted IP centrex, broadband voice , IP origination/termination, 800 service, CNAM, 911 services, etc., over the VoiceOne network”, explains VoIP Inc.´s CTO Shawn Lewis. VoiceOne is a protocol agnostic network that supports SS7, PRI, H.323, SIP, and MGCP protocols utilizing both circuit and packet switched technology. The company also announced the expansion of its VoiceOne direct network to and additional 48 CLEC customers and cities. The company´s network, which has been running for more than two-and-a-half years, currently interoperates with Netrake, Sonus, Cisco, Asterisk, Quintum Technologies, and others.

Another softphone from FINAREA

FINAREA the company behind the very popularly voip application voipBuster are out with another softphone nicknamed ViopStunt . The GUI is very similar to voipbuster and works in almost the same way. Calls to about 39 destinations are free and rates to other destinations are the same as with voipbuster. It also has a P2P capability and online contacts can be called for free. Download it for free at www.voipstunt.com. I have tested it and the audio quality is as good as with voipbuster if not better. One can not but wonder why FINAREA is always coming up with different names for what basically is the same application.

Freenet iPhone Communicator

The Germany based Phone and Internet Service Provider Freenet GmbH have launched their own VoIP service nicknamed the iPhone Communicator. It’s a voice and video call service which works with a broadband internet connection like DSL etc. With 4.90 euros monthly subscription you get the iPhone Easy Tarif with 200 free minutes to any german landline , a telephone number that can be used anywhere in the world, a DSL router and phone adapter which allows you to make phone calls with your PC turned off and it cost just 1 cent to call any german landline and the rates to other destinations are quite low. For 100 free minutes less you pay only 2.90 euros monthly subscription this is referred to as the iPhone Plus Tarif. Calls to other iPhone and other partner IP networks like sipgate, web.de, sipphone.com and STRATO.de are free. You can download iPhone communicator from www.freenet.de and try it for 100 minutes for free.

Connect to other Google Talk users using GTalk Profile

GTalk Profile provides a means for google talk users to connect with one another. There is a world map on their homepage where you can see at once the countries with google talk users who are registered with gtalk profile and you can zoom on the countries to see which states or city the google talk users are located. To use the service you have to create a gtalk profile of your own. One interesting thing about this service is that your privacy is not compromised as your google talk ID is never displayed, another member can only contact you if only you want him or her to do so. To talk to another member you have to add them to your profile as private or public friend, once you do that a notice is sent to them requesting their permission to be added as your friend and you will only be able to see their google talk ID if and only if they accept. Check out this interesting service at www.gtalkprofile.com.

Different Approaches to Enterprise VoIP adoption.

Though some challenges still exist in the adoption of VoIP, the benefits of this technology over traditional voice networks are numerous. For an enterprise it can lead to increased productivity, operational flexibility, greater cost reductions and investment protection. The first steps in accepting VoIP systems as tomorrow’s enterprise communications infrastructure are understanding exactly what VoIP is, what your options are, how it can benefit the enterprise and its end-users, how to choose the right vendor, and where it’s going from here. There is no question that VoIP is the next great revolution in voice communications. In fact, industry analysts believe that by 2008, corporate IP telephony will reach $ 5.5 billion worldwide. For an enterprise wishing to deploy VoIP solution there are basically three approaches which are Hybrid Approach, Pure Approach and Hosted Approach. I will now describe in more details what this approaches meant. The Hybrid Approach involve using the Hybrid PBX system, in which IP-enabled PBXs combine IP technology with traditional Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) technology, essentially connects an existing traditional infrastructure with IP-based telephony. This option is effective for the short-term, enabling users to leverage existing investments in PBX equipment. A Pure Approach on the other hand involve deploying a pure IP-PBX system which routes all calls over the LAN/WAN, converting all telephony to data transmitted over the corporate IP backbone or internet only connecting to the PSTN when IP routing is not available. In the Hosted Approach, companies need not invest in any ort of PBX or other equipment to obtain the benefits of VoIP. The equipment providing control and service logic functions is owned and operated by the service provider and maintained on the provider’s premises. This is somewhat referred to as an IP Centrex. IP Centrex services are interoperable with both traditional analog equipment and IP-based equipment making them immediately available to the enterprise without any change to existing infrastructures. This option provides a transitional step toward an in-house VoIP system.

Public Internet VoIP versus Private Internet VoIP

Most of us use VoIP over the public Internet and we are generally satisfied with it but report has it that Fortune 500 companies will most likely never rely on the public Internet for their own internal voice networks and will also most likely require their carrier service providers to do the same. There will be some overlap in the SOHO business segment as they don’t typically have the size, or savvy to build their own VoIP network but the distinction between the two groups and their preferred media will become much clearer. This will bring the issue of VoIPeering to the fore, a topic I will elaborate more on in future post.

Oki Electric Offers New Mid-sized IP-PBX, Ipstage EX300

Oki Electric Industry co. Ltd. announced the launch of its latest IP-PBX model “Ipstage EX300”, for mid- and small-sized offices. The release adds a new multifunctional IP phone to Oki`s line-up, which includes Oki`s original “eSound” (excellent sound) technology. “As IP networks penetrate into the office environment, demands to link them with various applications and be SIP-compliant have been increasing. This Ipstage EX300 is the answer to such needs, responding to the changes we, as the market leader, recognize “, says Masashi Tsubol, President Of IP Systems Company at Oki Electric. “Not only can users experience the enhanced service functions of the IP-PBX, but they can also enjoy easy-to-use IP phone with excellent sound quality and advanced functions,”. Ipstage EX300 is a successor to Ipstage EX100 launched in September 2002. The newly added IP multifunctional telephone, the MKT-IP-30DKW, has Oki`s high sound quality e-sound technology built-in. The phone is compliant with IEEE 802.3af and enables users to set up to 30 functional keys. The phone also includes address book and call record functions. In addiction, SIP terminals, such as Com@WILL Softphone and N900iL the FOMA mobile phone and wireless LAN handset, can be connected to the system. Combining the new phones with Oki´s wireless LAN access point, MWINS BR2100 Series, users can establish a mobile centres system at a low cost. Users can also include Oki´s IP-compliant PHS(Personal Handyphone System) cell station in the system, which eliminates the need to install telephone systems at each location, and can establish a low-cost mobile environment by controlling the PHS handsets at satellite offices via IP networks.

Yahoo PC-to-Phone Working fine !

I have been able to solve the initial problems i had with Yahoo PC-to-Phone. I contacted their customer service using the Live chat help on my yahoo voice account page. So many things were tried including disabling firewall, running audio setup again etc but the problem still passist ( no audio on both sides when i call). I was told that the problem will be refered to their technical department and i would be contacted within 24 hours. Though i was never contacted as promised but yahoo phone out started working fine about 12 hours after my conversation with them. I made several calls with it and the audio quality was really good. The rates are much lower than that of skype but still higher that voipbuster rates for most destinations. I see serious competition for skype here considering the popularity of yahoo instant messenger. Unlike voipbuster yahoo is doing an aggresive campaign to popurlarize yahoo Phone Out and Phone In. More Yahoo Links : ============== Yahoo! Personals with 7 Day FREE Trial offer Get quotes from Yahoo! Autos Yahoo!Music Unlimited Free Trial Yahoo! Top Games

Homestar Direct uses IP Telephony to gain a competitive Edage

It will be a gross understatement to say that the residential real estate market in America is very competitive. The competition for potential customers by lenders is very high and more and more companies are turning to technology to be able to work more efficiently and have a competitive edge. One of such technology employed by companies is Voice over IP. An example is Homestar Direct,a paramus NJ based mortgage company, which is currently using Inter-Tel's Axxess communications platform along with IP endpoints to maintain efficient operations seven days per week. The system's IP capability enables agents to work from their homes while allowing them to access the company's database resources and other tools to conduct business. The system is transparent to the customer, who receives the identical customer care as if they were calling into a centrally-located call center. Most importantly, the IP deployment allows Homestar Direct to remain competitive while giving it the flexibility to meet customer demand during peak hours. Also Homestar Direct is using Inter-Tel's Call Center Suite, a powerful application that provides businesses with comprehensive tools to gauge and manage both incoming and outgoing call activity. Call Center Suite provides companies with myriad reat-time statistics, such as the number of agents on duty, the amount of calls in a particular queue, calls on hold, and a wide range of performance-based statitstics for individual agents. Call Center Suite provides the detailed information to managers in a variety of graphical formats, or dashboards that can be custormized to provide both complex statistical information as well as performance snapshots. Homestar Direct has been really satisfied with the performance of the Inter-Tel IP based systems and the improvement in their productivity and organisational efficiency. Lots of companies in the industry are allready following the Homestar Direct model.

Yahoo introduce PC-to-phone and Phone-to-PC

Yahoo has now gone fully voip by introducing PC-to-phone and Phone-to-PC to the yahoo messenger platform. It is still in the beta stage and only available at the moment for international users, will be available in the US by early 2006. Its now possible to call any phone in the world directly from yahoo messenger and also receive call from any normal phone.The new PC-based voice calling capabilities join the suite of communications solutions in Yahoo! Messenger with Voice including text IM, PC-to-PC calling, e-mail, mobile text messaging, photo sharing and video. The Yahoo PC-to-phone is nicknamed Phone Out and the rates are really low for example call to US cost just 1 cent and calls to about 30 0ther countries cost just 2 cents. The Yahoo Phone-to-PC is nicknamed Phone In. The Phone In service gives international audiences the ability to receive calls on their PC from traditional and mobile phones. For about U.S. $2.99 a month or about U.S. $29.90 a year, people can select a personal phone number, and receive incoming calls at no additional charge. If everything goes fine with yahoo voip service i see it as a big threat to skype because of the popularity of yahoo messenger with hundreds of millions of users around the world. Check out http://messenger.yahoo.com to get the new yahoo messenger. More Yahoo Links : ============== Yahoo! Personals with 7 Day FREE Trial offer Get quotes from Yahoo! Autos Yahoo!Music Unlimited Free Trial Yahoo! Top Games

Use Woize to make calls without a Computer

This has been reported to work very well for Woize users in Sweden but should work for users in other parts of the world too and its very easy to implement. Just follow the simple steps below: 1. Register a Woize account and deposit at least 25 SEK.(or equivalent in euros) 2. Activate the SIP account in your Woize account. 3. Buy a SIP/ATA box, like the PAP2 or the WRT54GP2 4. Configure it according to the guide at Wisper.se 5. Configure your SIP address (sip.woize.com), and your username/password from your Woize SIP account. Thats all and you can start making SIP calls without a computer.

Distributed conferencing from ineen

The new ineen has realy improved. Its now pre-configured on a CounterPath eyeBeam video softphone. I tried it with a friend and the audio quality has improved considerably but it is still only for pc-for-pc calls. One new feature which i found really interesting but not able to test in distributed conferencing. Normally ineen can be used for audio conferencing of up 10 people and 4 people for video conferencing. Ineen claimed that it can be used to conference infinite number of people using what they called distributed conferencing, which means a group of nine people in audio conference can connect to another group of nine people making an 18 people conference and this 18 can then connect to another nine people conference to make 27 and can continue infinitely like that. See the image for an example of using ineen for an audio conference involving 56 participants. I dont think i will ever be able to test this feature but i think its really interesting if it works fine.

CounterPath eyeBeam softphone

For those who want to start providing voip services and want the lowest time to market solution counterPath ( formerly Xten) eyeBeam softphone might prove to be very useful. Its a voice, video and instant messaging softphone that is IP PBX ready. It has lot of wonderful features that makes it really good for voip service providers. CounterPath also provides a SDK that makes it really easy for the softphone to be customised to the operator's requirement. This SIP softphone / videophone SDK provides low level access to the eyeBeam engine for maximum control and flexibility. The SDK was built using non-MFC, C and C++ programming languages. Many companies including, yahoo, vonage, MCI, Plantronics and ineen are allready working with CounterPath. For more information visit http://www.counterpath.com/

Inter-Tel IP PBX System

Whether you need to connect several phones in an office, hundreds of phones in a building or on a campus, remote and telecommuting associates, or even geographically dispersed offices, Inter-Tel unifies your communications into a single enterprise that interoperates harmoniously. The Axxess Converged Communications Platform offers a flexible, feature-rich solution that is migration-friendly and Internet ready. The converged platform combines IP, wireless, digital, and analog into a single platform — enabling you to deploy traditional or IP telephony or a combination of both when and where it’s right for your organization. Axxess is based on open architecture interfaces and standard protocols, which offer the flexibility to tailor the platform to suit your dynamic needs. Support for VoIP protocols, such as SIP, provides a communications pathway — connecting diverse tools together so that they can “speak” to each other. SIP enables simple, flexible connectivity, which allow infrastructures, applications and endpoints to interact in a standard manner. Axxess also supports IEEE standards, such as 802.11b and 802.3af — enabling your business to provide tools that facilitate the mobility of employees.

Skype Launches Skype 2.0 Beta with Video Calling!

Skype launches skype 2.0 with video calling today. Now its posible to see your contact while you talk on skype and its free. Skype 2.0 has several interface design enhancements, though the definite standout among the new features is the integrated video calling. In addition to the beta rollout, Skype has announced its collaborative partnerships with Web cam manufacturers Creative and Logitech, as well as its relationship with Six Apart, a blogging-software and -services company. "At Skype we want to make talking over the Internet the most natural, simple thing for people all over the world to do. With the release of our new software, it's never been easier for people to talk to one another for free, and now they can see each other with video as well," said Niklas Zenstrom, CEO of Skype, in Wednesday's press release. The new Skype video features have been designed as an integrated component of the new Skype client. With just one click you can switch from the small image seen in the "calling window" to full-screen video (in case you are worried about a bad hair day, you can also click open a window to view what you look like to the person you are calling).