July 2004 Archives

Willie Nelson's got nothing on me this summer.

Having spent most of June on the road (for work) and then most of July on the road (splitting time between family vacation and summer scout camp director responsibilities) it's finally August. So how do you think I'm planning to meet month #8? On Sunday August 1st, I'm flying out to San Jose for TMC's inaugural VoIP Developer Conference which starts August 3rd.

We're literally crushing our early projections. With an Exhibit Hall jam-packed with nealry 30 exhibitors and a conservative estimate of 400 to 500 attendees the VoIP Developer Conference promises to be quite an event.

I'm looking forward to hearing Chris Wood, director of AT&T's CallVantage service kick off the show with some insightful commentary, and I'm equally looking forward to hearing from Intel, Aculab and SIP Foundry.

If you're out in Silicon Valley, I urge you to take a half-day and drop by the show. It's going to be great.

And if you're like me, and you find yourself on the road again, just keep an eye out for this guy:

Not to be overshadowed by verizon's entry into the VoIP game, VoiceGlo has announced a promotion whereby users of the VoIP service can be eligible to win (cue announcer voice:) A NEW CAR!!!

Voiceglo is encouraging people to ‘Talk It Up’ with friends and family this summer using Voiceglo’s free Internet phone, the GloPhone, and possibly win a car in the process. The company announced its “Talk It Up Sweepstakes,” the first in a series of four sweepstakes contests Voiceglo will be holding throughout the year, with grand prizes that include the winners’ choice of a PT Cruiser, a Cooper MINI, a Volkswagen Beetle convertible, a Chevy SSR convertible, or a Jeep Wrangler Sport convertible.

The first sweepstakes contest is running now until August 31st, and anyone activating a GloPhone at www.glophone.com/sweepstakes will automatically be entered into weekly drawings for Apple iPod minis. Additionally, each winner is entered into a drawing to pick the car of their choice. As an added incentive, customers will receive bonus entries into the sweepstakes for each person they refer to the service who activates a GloPhone before the end of August. There is no limit on the number of sweepstakes entries an individual can be awarded. Other cars and prizes will be given away in subsequent contests each month from September through November.

Hmm.... this VoIP stuff we've been talking about since '97? Looks like people are finally starting to listen. It was only a matter of time. Today Verizon launches its brand-new broadband voice service called VoiceWing.

I'm thrilled to see the continued growth of VoIP and the entry of major service providers into this space. When we started this magazine, I would bring copies home to show my family what I was working on. For the most part, they would comment on the yellow cover and then would check to see if my name really was on the masthead. Now they engage me in debates over the relative merits of Vonage versus AT&T. I guess I can expect questions about Verizon's VoiceWing service next time we gather around the dinner table.

For as low as $29.95/month (promotional price) Verizon offers unlimited Local and Domestic Long Distance Calls anywhere in the 50 States and Canada as well as a bundle of features that is fast becoming the standard "table stakes" for broadband VoIP offerings. I'm talking call waiting, caller ID, and voice mail, as well as click-to-dial, the ability to check your voice mail online, choice of area code and more. VoiceWing is offered nationwide -- anyone in the U.S. can subscribe to the service, however Verizon is currently offering phone numbers only in certain area codes for now.

One point that is laudable: Verizon is not demanding that you be a DSL customer of theirs in order to take advantage of this service, VoiceWing is available to anyone with a broadband connection (cable or DSL).

Verizon is being up-front about their inability to offer full E911 coverage and addresses this point right from the start, warning users that if the power fails -- there goes your ability to dial 911. The FAQ on their Web site even warns "You Must Maintain An Alternate Means of Requesting Emergency Services." However there is some limited emergency response functionality with the VoiceWing service.

It's really amazing to me that VoIP is now conisdered mainstream. When AT&T decides it will no longer pursue consumers, save for with their VoIP service, that tells you something about the status of this once fledgling technology. It's here. It's real. And with industry giants like Verizon entering the fray, we can say with some certainty it's here to stay.

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.

The Essentra BAX is a SIP-based softswitch platform providing subscriber calling features and Web-based management over broadband access networks. The BAX is designed to offer service providers a cost-effective entry into the world of broadband VoIP services. End users connect to the service through a SIP-based IAD or SIP Phone, which hooks into their broadband modem. Essentra BAX supports traditional subscriber calling features, such as call waiting, call forward, etc., as well as a wide range of innovative features, including conferencing and do-not-disturb. A Web-based self-provisioning interface allows end-users to manage their subscription services by defining exactly which services they require and how they wish them to operate.

“The Essentra BAX product is a key addition to our current Essentra offering,” said Moti Suess, chief operating officer at VocalTec. “With the company's strong heritage in the consumer VoIP market, the residential/small business access market represents an excellent opportunity for VocalTec in a market segment that we were the first to address in 1995 with VocalTec's Internet Phone product. The Essentra BAX enables service providers to realize the true vision of NGN in which the entire voice route is implemented over an IP network.”

The new suite of products further comprises the following elements:
• Essentra CX: A Core Control Softswitch, Essentra CX is a flexible multi-protocol softswitch, featuring intelligent routing, control of third-party gateways and seamless migration of H.323 networks to NGN.
• Essentra EX: A Peering Manager, Essentra EX is an edge network device enabling interconnection and peering of VoIP networks, dynamic call routing, vendor and protocol interworking, accounting and topology hiding. Can be used as a session border control element when used in conjunction with Vocaltec partner Acme Packet.
• Essentra VSX: A SS7-Enabled SIP or H.323 Voice Gateway. Essentra VSX is a multi-purpose VoIP gateway, providing SS7 signaling and standards-based integration with any SIP-based application server, softswitch or H.323 gatekeeper.
• Essentra OSS: An Operational Support Server. Essentra OSS is a centralized, Wweb-based system, enabling remote element management, service configuration, monitoring and provisioning for Essentra products.
• Essentra TMS: Traffic Management System. Essentra TMS is a Web-based service assurance and traffic management system, supporting real-time network performance and QoS monitoring for optimized network operations.
• Essentra NRS: A Network Routing Server. Essentra NRS is a centralized routing server enhancing network performance, scalability and manageability for large and distributed networks.
• Essentra RX: A GSM SCCP Roaming Gateway Solution. Essentra RX is a specialized product set enabling reliable transport of SCCP messages over IP to support roaming and SMS services between GSM networks.
• Essentra SG: An SS7 Signaling Gateway. Essentra SG is a scalable, standards-based SS7 signaling gateway, supporting protocol interworking for over 60 SS7 country variants.

According to Joe McGarvey, senior analyst at market research firm Current Analysis, “The expanded Essentra suite positions VocalTec to capitalize on new, high-growth market opportunities such as voice-over-broadband access and VoIP network peering and control. This expansion allows VocalTec to grow beyond its strength in the Class 4 international and national long-distance and wholesale VoIP market and approach a larger segment of small and medium-sized carriers with its broadband voice offering.”

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. I have been assured that eDial will maintain its commitments and will continue to support its enterprise customers.

In a press release issued yesterday, eDial described the features of the ACS 5.0:

• Scalability – In ACS 5.0 service providers will be able to increase ACS’s stacking capability to handle over 900 simultaneous calls within a single network, and over 10,000 users. Service providers will be able to offer integrated conferencing services within their current network and worldwide through remote servers.
• Multiple Browser Support – ACS 5.0 adds support for multiple browsers including Internet Explorer, Netscape, Mozilla, and Safari.
• Multiple Voice Prompt Sets – By installing multiple voice prompt sets on the server, service providers, large enterprises and systems integrators can now customize an interface in different languages either by organization or box-wide.
• Auditing/SEC Compliance – An interface has been created to log IM traffic via SMTP to provide real-time logging of all IM traffic to a trusted third party to provide archiving and auditing support. The log can also be routed to a specific mailbox for internal audit and archive.
• Enhanced Management – Service providers will now be able to allow customers to easily deploy replication and manage media licenses across a stack.

According to eDial president and CEO, Jill Smith, “By bridging today’s PSTN with tomorrow’s IP network, service providers are now able to offer a range of integrated collaboration, IM and presence, and broadcast services to their customers without the need for additional infrastructure. The latest version of ACS presents service providers with a powerful solution they can drive revenue growth through value added services with the flexibility, scalability and management that carriers require.”

According to Michael Osterman, president and founder, Osterman Research, “The latest version of eDial’s ACS helps service providers build upon the capabilities already residing in the PSTN and IP networks by expanding conferencing, IM and browser support with additional management features on the back end. Using ACS should enable carriers to generate additional revenue streams today.”

The ACS 5.0 is available now.

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.

Vonexus, in conjunction with the parent company, will also be involved in the marketing and development of EIC.

“We believe that we can become a significant provider in the burgeoning IP PBX market, and we're ready to go after it in a big way," said Interactive Intelligence president and chief executive officer, Dr. Donald E. Brown. "Creating a subsidiary dedicated to this effort provides the necessary focus and motivation to achieve our goals. As a result of our many IP telephony innovations - including the industry’s first all-software IP PBX using Intel’s voice processing software instead of special hardware boards, and pioneering the development of feature-rich, server-based IP telephony using the SIP standard - customers get more functionality for less money, and avoid being locked into a particular vendor’s phones and other devices."

This is an exciting company - one that has always held my interest through the years, since I first met with Don Brown in 1997. One might even say that they "get it." Certainly, I would.