VoIP Now

Businesses Discover Skype

Skype is mostly used for personal VoIP calls. But now business customers are beginning to turn on to Skype to help increase communication at lower costs when employees go on the road. While currently there are over 23 million Skype users, the company expects the number of users to be over 140 million by 2008. According to ZDNet:

Employees at Ruhrpumpen, an industrial pump manufacturer in Tulsa, Okla., started using Skype last summer to communicate with co-workers and business partners in Asia, Central America and Europe. The company has even put a directory with Skype contacts on its intranet. About 70 people out of the 1,000 that work for the company are registered Skype users.

Read more: No-cost Skype strikes chord with businesses

NIST Releases VoIP Security Report

The National Institute of Standards and Technology has released a 99-page report Security Considerations for Voice over IP Systems (PDF link) to help IT administrators deal with the many security issues of implementing VoIP. While the technology promises "lower costs and greater flexibility," according to the report, certainly there exist many security problems. For instance, while many may opt to converge voice and data onto one single network, the report suggests having separate networks and building a separate VoIP firewall. Additionally, there are some applications for national security as well, as ComputerWorld suggests:

Ray Bjorklund, an analyst at Federal Sources Inc. in McLean, Va., said the report might be especially valuable for federal agencies involved in war or national security efforts in which network security is paramount. “If an operation overseas were suddenly relying on IP to transmit voice through a satellite or through the Public Switched Telephone Network with many places for potential failure, that’s a particular problem for the national security community,” he said.

Read more: NIST report urges caution with VoIP security

Vonage Launches VoIP Service in UK

Vonage has announced that they are now offering residential VoIP service in the United Kingdom. According to the Vonage VoIP Forum:

It said the service would allow U.K. residents to choose telephone numbers within London and the surrounding area. U.K. subscribers will have access to international virtual phone numbers with U.S., Canadian and Mexico City area codes for $5.62 per month per number.

Vonage said it hired Kerry Ritz, ex-Hutchinson 3G, as managing dir. of Vonage U.K. The company also plans to hire "half a dozen" executives in the near future, Vonage Chmn. Jeffrey Citron told us.

Read more: Vonage launches broadband phone service in the U.K

iBasis Introduces DirectVoIP Broadband

iBasis, a wholesale carrier, is now offering DirectVoIP Broadband for retail users who have broadband IP connections such as cable modem or DSL. According to Phone Plus:

Using DirectVoIP Broadband to connect voice over broadband providers to the iBasis global VoIP network means retail providers do not need to make a large infrastructure investment, according to iBasis.

"With the dramatic growth in worldwide adoption of broadband, the growth potential for voice over broadband services appears to be tremendous," says Ofer Gneezy, president and CEO of iBasis.

Read more: iBasis Launches Retail VoIP Offering

Google VoIP Rumors Denied

The Google Job Opportunities page now includes a listing for a Strategic Negotiator, Global Infrastructure to help negotiate the "development of a global backbone network." Some have speculated that Google's intention behind such a project is to develop a VoIP network, which could nicely tie into its advertising network. Google has so far denied the rumors. But according to silicon.com:

Ovum chief analyst Julian Hewett believes that internet telephony could be another such lucrative extension to the Google business model.

"'This would be an obvious development for the world's leading search engine. Millions have downloaded the 'Google toolbar', so why not a VoIP client too? The appeal for Google is obvious: search for something, then 'click here' if you'd like to speak to the company that's selling what you're looking for. Google then collects a fee from the 'sponsor' for each voice connection. Voice calls with very little cost AND funded by advertising," he said in a research note.

Read more: Google to launch VoIP service?

SIPhone Offers VoIP Router DVG-1402S

SIPhone Inc. has released the D-Link Broadband Phone Service Router DVG-1402S, which can be configured for use with any SIP standards-based VoIP service. Most VoIP routers are manufactured to be locked to a particular service, e.g. AT&T or Vonage. This new router from D-Link is unlocked and is available for $99 from SIPhone.

According to TMCnet.com:

The D-Link DVG-1402S enables standard phones to be used for placing calls over the Internet while sharing the incoming Internet connection across up to four different PCs. Using existing broadband connection, the D-Link DVG-1402S connects directly to a cable or DSL modem in place of a traditional router using a firewall protection. When users connect up to two regular phones to the D-Link DVG-1402S, it enables them to connect to SIPphone's Internet telephone service for free.

Read more: DVG-1402S: The First Unlocked VoIP Router?

TeleSym Announces VoIP SymPhone for MC50

TeleSym has announced that they will provide VoIP support for the Symbol MC50 enterprise digital assistant (EDA) with its new SymPhone solution. SymPhone enables users to make VoIP calls from the EDA over a wired or wireless LAN or via the Internet.

According to the press release at TMCnet.com:

TeleSym(R) is focused on the growing Voice-over-Internet-Protocol (VoIP) marketplace. The company's SymPhone(TM) system provides enterprises with voice everywhere they need it. It offers the highest quality voice communications on laptops, PCs, and Pocket PC mobile devices over any broadband IP network. SymPhone is an enterprise-class solution that supports key telephony standards such as SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) and is designed to be interoperable with the full range of PBX and network environments in the enterprise.

Read more: TeleSym Announces Mobile VoIP Solution Support for Symbol MC50 Enterprise Digital Assistant

VoIP Security

Making VoIP secure is no easy task. The three main threats to VoIP security include authentication failures, integrity failures, and privacy failures. ComputerWorld offers its suggestions on how to tackle these challenges:

The VoIP servers all will run a general-purpose operating system, Windows or Unix. You'll forever have tension between the VoIP application vendor, which doesn't want you to touch its carefully tuned systems, and the operating system vendor, which will release periodic patches. If you have dreams of unprotected VoIP connections over the Internet, you'll not only open yourself to huge risks but also put yourself on an upgrade treadmill with your firewall vendor as it tries to get its VoIP code right.

Read more: A VoIP Security Plan of Attack

Taiwan to Issue VoIP Regulations in July

With public demand for VoIP services growing, the Directorate General of Telecommunications for Taiwan will issue VoIP regulations in July.

According to DigiTimes Telecom:

The DGT has already published opinions about IP-phone operations, and these were reviewed by local operators of telecommunication services in June and November 2004. DGT will take further steps to draw up supervisory measures this month and in March openly consult all parties concerned about licensed operation of IP-phone services, the agency indicated.

Chunghwa Telecom, the largest telecom company in Taiwan, and three local operators of fixed-line telecommunication services have already offered international VoIP services.

Read more: Taiwan expected to issue VoIP regulations in July

Vonage F-1000 Wi-Fi VoIP Phone

Vonage and UTStarcom have partnered to develop a new Wi-Fi consumer VoIP phone, the Vonage F-1000. The new product will offer mobility across 802.11b networks and will be available to Vonage subscribers in the U.S. this summer.

According to the press release at Business Wire:

While this is not the first foray into providing cellular phone services over Wi-Fi -- Net2Phone has been conducting a trial in Newark, New Jersey -- Vonage's extensive reach, via hotspot aggregator Boingo Wireless's 12,000+ locations in 48 U.S. states and 32 countries, means that F-1000 purchasers will enjoy a practical alternative to traditional cellular communications.

According to Philip Solis, senior analyst, wireless connectivity at ABI Research, many consumers will use the new phone as a cordless phone replacement on their home or business Wi-Fi networks. Some might not want to carry the extra VoIP handset in addition to their standard mobile phone when traveling. But such a service could have value for anyone wishing to make a large number of calls from public hotspots.

Read more: New Vonage VoIP Phone to Speed Voice-Over Wi-Fi to Consumer Market, Says ABI Research

Comcast to Offer VoIP Cable Phone

Cable operator Comcast plans to rollout VoIP phone service to its subscribers by the end of this year. They expect to reach 15 million homes.

According to PC World:

The company aims to sell the phone service not as a cheap alternative to traditional carriers' offerings but as richer telephony that eventually will include features such as unified messaging and video calling, Comcast Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Brian Roberts says.

"It's not our desire to do this to hurt phone companies... We want to build value in the phone," Roberts said at the Citigroup Smith Barney Entertainment, Media and Telecommunications Conference in Phoenix, monitored via a Web cast.

However, he does expect voice to drive revenue at Comcast, which along with other cable operators, increasingly is coming into competition with carriers.

Read more: Comcast Calls on VoIP

Skype VoIP Threatens European Telcos

As more people switch to broadband telephony company Skype to handle VoIP phone calls, traditional European telcos are feeling threatened.

From the Register:

According to research outfit Evalueserve, the European telecoms market is more vulnerable to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) providers because of per minute tariffs and high roaming charges.

With 13m users worldwide and numbers growing by 80,000 a day, Evalueserve reckons Skype could have between 140-245m subscribers by 2008.

It forecasts that incumbents could see revenue fall by as much as 10 per cent because of the surge in demand for internet telephony with profit predicted to slide by at least 22-26 per cent.

Read more: Skype VoIP threat to Euro telcos

AT&T, Texas Instruments VoIP Partnership

AT&T and Texas Instruments (TI) have formed a joint-development pact for the VoIP platform.

According to TechWeb.com:

In a statement, AT&T and TI said: "The combination of TI's market-leading VoIP software and silicon technology and AT&T's broadband telephony solutions will quickly enable communications equipment manufacturers to develop new equipment, such as terminal adapters and VoIP gateways, for use in managing voice services through broadband connections."

The companies added that VTech's 2.4GHz VoIP6322 telephone system is one of the initial products to be available under the auspices of the new AT&T-TI partnership. The VTech device consists of a corded base station and one cordless handset.

Read more: AT&T, TI Team On VoIP Platform