Greg Galitzine : Greg Galitzine's VoIP Authority Blog
Greg Galitzine

VocalTec Jumps On Broadband VoIP Juggernaut; Expands Essentra Suite

July 20, 2004


I just got back from a week away (I spent a quiet week on the coast of southern Maine with my family) to find my Inbox overflowing with messages. A couple of meetings here, a status update there, and it was well in to the afternoon before I had a chance to look around and see what news had transpired back here in civilization while I was teaching my 2-year-old twins that as scary as the ocean is, it’s not such a horrible idea to splash in the surf.

Apparently, while I was away, VoIP fixture VocalTec announced that they were expanding their Essentra product suite and decoupling the various parts of their softswitch in order to allow systems integrators and resellers the opportunity to mix and match VocalTec elements with third-party products in order to enable best of breed solutions. The announcement also establishes VocalTec as a player in the voice over broadband market that is currently as hot as any technology opportunity out there.

eDial Delivers Advanced Communications Server 5.0

July 20, 2004

eDial announced yesterday the arrival of its latest version of their Advanced Communications Server (ACS) 5.0. The ACS 5.0 is a SIP-based feature server designed to enable service providers to deliver a full suite of communications and collaboration services, such as audio and Web conferencing, presence-based services, as well as instant and broadcast messaging capabilities.

While eDial has significant roots in the enterprise market, this announcement marks a strategic move into the carrier space. That’s not to say the company is abandoning its enterprise customers however.

Interactive Intelligence Spins Off Subsidiary

July 8, 2004

I was combing through my Inbox today, and i came across a release titled, "Interactive Intelligence Launches Subsidiary to Sell All-Software IP PBX."

I thought, Wow! That's pretty big. Anyway, here's the gist of it:

Interactive Intelligence Inc., has formed a wholly-owned subsidiary named Vonexus Inc. The new company was created to more effectively distribute a newly packaged and priced version of Enterprise Interaction Center (EIC)- a standards-based, all-software IP PBX developed exclusively for Microsoft SMB customers.

WiMAX Goings On

June 18, 2004

Intel Corp. and Proxim Corp. have just announced they will collaborate to develop and deliver WiMAX solutions, including base station and subscriber unit access points designed to deliver fast wireless access for data, voice, and video.

“We as an industry are headed toward the ‘broadband wireless era,’ and WiMAX will play a key role in delivering on our vision,” said Scott Richardson, general manager of Intel’s Broadband Wireless Division.

Apropos of Nothing...

June 18, 2004

Research Puts Session Controller Market at $1.2 Billion by 2008

June 18, 2004


Carriers and service providers are increasingly using voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) for peering purposes to deliver new and enhanced services to consumers and enterprises. Session controllers are devices deployed at the network’s edge and are designed to facilitate carrier-to-carrier peering, carrier-to-enterprise peering, and carrier to consumer peering. In a new report entitled VoIP Is Heating Up The Need For Native IP Peering, Yankee Group explores the session controller market and the VoIP applications driving the need for these devices.

Many incumbent carriers have publicly announced their consumer VoIP plans.

Chambers: "Never Say Never."

June 17, 2004

Never say never.

So says John Chambers, Cisco Systems’ President and CEO regarding the possibility of a potential merger with Nortel Networks.

“I believe in strategic partnerships. I would love to have Nortel as a partner,” Chambers told a question and answer session after a speech in Toronto.

Senate Witnesses Diverge On VoIP Regulation

June 17, 2004

Members of the United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation heard testimony on Wednesday, June 16 regarding “The VoIP Regulatory Freedom Act of 2004” (S. 2281) — legislation introduced by Senator John Sununu of New Hampshire, the purpose of which is to enable growth of VoIP by protecting the burgeoning technology from the heavy-hand of federal and state regulation.

Among the witnesses speaking before the Committee, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Laura Parsky told the Senate Commerce Committee that unregulated VoIP would be a “haven” for terrorists unless the government forces service providers to build special wiretapping capabilities into their systems.

“If legal loopholes allow criminals to use new technologies to avoid law enforcement detection, they would use these technologies to coordinate terrorist attacks, to sell drugs throughout the United States and to pass along national security secrets to our enemies,” Parsky said.

Webfone Partners Intros “IP-in-a-Box”

June 17, 2004

Webfonepartners.net, Inc., (www.webphonepartners.net) has introduced a series of programs aimed at the reseller and distributor community designed to offer them rapid entry into the growing VoIP market.

“Telecom has been in a relative funk in recent years due to a combination of factors but is currently undergoing a revitalization of sorts by the burgeoning VoIP developments in both network technology and product enhancements,” says Jim Gibson, Vice President of Sales. “The introduction of IP-in-a-Box brings superior equipment and significant quality of service.”

The series of Internet Telephony programs, dubbed “IP-in-a-Box,” is available in four basic packages: Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum. IP-in-a-Box combines product, back-office, and network components, designed so resellers do not have to shop around for providers who only offer partial Internet Telephony products or services.

VoIP To Supplant Enterprise TDM Within 5 Years

June 16, 2004

Insight Research (www.insight-corp.com) released a new report today titled IP PBX and IP Centrex: Growth of VoIP in the Enterprise 2004-2009, in which the research firm states that VoIP phones in the enterprise will not represent the majority of installed PBX base until 2009. Even though shipments of the newer IP-based technology are expected to grow at a compounded rate of more than 20 percent between 2004 until 2009, and sales of the older TDM-based phone systems are expected to decline at roughly the same rate, the report claims that TDM technology will continue to dominate the installed base until the end of the decade.

According to the Insight study, the PBX business will ship about $4.3 billion worth of PBX equipment this year.

In essence this report highlights the inevitable transition to IP Telephony in the enterprise that began some years ago, but has taken off in earnest as of late.

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