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Greg Galitzine

May 2005

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Speech-World Keynotes (Part II)

May 25, 2005

It was back to the keynote room for the second set of keynotes from Speech-World Conference.

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First up was Inter-Tel’s Jeff Ford, that firm’s CTO and President, talking about speech technology and what enterprises might hope to gain from it. Ford echoed a point made in the morning’s keynotes, namely that we are at a critical juncture, an inflexion point in the growth of this industry.

Speech-World Keynotes (Part I)

May 25, 2005


I had the opportunity to take in this morning’s keynote speeches at Speech-World Conference in Dallas, TX. After a brief introduction from Rich Tehrani, TMC’s President, Cisco’s Vickie McGovern – director of Product and Technology Marketing – IP Communications – took the stage to share her vision for speech technology and how speech is redefining communications.

The core message of the keynote was that speech can reduce the complexity associated with business communications. She touched on a variety of key elements including
Virtualization, Rich Media (focusing on personalization preferences), Natural Language (for such applications as directory services, e-mail and voicemail access, password services, communications management, and calendar management), and
Modality, Presence, and Context (a good example of which is someone calling me when I’m on another call, I respond via IM, and the response is read back to them utilizing speech technology).

Peerio and Skype

May 23, 2005

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Popular Telephony made news today when they announced the commercial release of a peer-to-peer serverless communication system for SoHo customers. The solution blends the PeerioBiz soft phone and Peerio Gateway with the Skype network.

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The announcement is significant for SoHo/SMBs, in that this solution essentially eliminates the need for a PBX.

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NexTone Signs Taiwanese Carrier

May 23, 2005

The session controller market is one of the hottest areas in VoIP these days. Today NexTone announced a new customer, a Taiwanese operator named sparq. New customers are a sure sign of success in this business. The news release follows:

GAITHERSBURG, Md.-- May 23, 2005--NexTone Communications, the market leader in scalable session management of real-time IP services such as voice over IP (VoIP), today announced that sparq, a non-government owned Tier-one carrier based in Taiwan, has deployed two NexTone Multiprotocol Session Controllers (MSCs) and the iView Management System (iVMS) as part of its network for wholesale international VoIP services.

IBM, Nortel In Development Deal

May 20, 2005

Nortel and IBM have joined forced in a strategic development agreement, which among other things, menas that the two companies will create a Joint Development Center in North Carolina's Research Triangle Park.

The two companies will collaborate on a variety of research projects including work� on a new class of blade servers bringing IBM’s Server Technology and Nortel’s carrier-grade communications expertise together.

The complete release is below.

Nortel, IBM Sign Strategic Development Agreement to Establish Joint Development Center

Initial Focus on Business Transformation, Focused Research, and Collaborative Innovation

Armonk, NY & Toronto – – Nortel* [NYSE/TSX:NT] and IBM [NYSE: IBM] today announced the signing of an agreement designed to support customized products across a range of market segments.

IPCC @ Supercomm

May 19, 2005

The International Packet Communications Consortium (IPCC) will be participating at the final SuperComm event and in fact will hold their Annual Member Meeting in Chicago on June 6. The group will also chair a VoIP panel at the event.

IPCC President Michael Khalilian is a tireless advocate for our industry; to that end I thought I would reprint his thoughts that appeared in the Chairman’s message in the IPCC’s most recent newsletter. For more information, please visit the organization at www.packetcomm.org

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Covad on FCC Ruling

May 19, 2005

Here's the first of many responses I expect today regarding the FCC decision.

This from Covad -- the complete release is below.

COVAD Applauds FCC Decision to Require All VoIP Providers to Implement ''Enhanced 911'' Service

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Covad Already Builds E-911 Service into All of Its Managed VoIP Phone Lines

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FCC Makes Ruling on 911 Service

May 19, 2005

No surprise here, but it’s official: the FCC has ruled that VoIP providers must offer access to E911 service within 120 days. That’s a nifty Thanksgiving present for someone.

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As pointed out in the article I linked to above, “They (indie VoIP providers) were in the market space first, they have far better offerings, and much better pricing as well,” wrote TechKnow Times.

VoIP Inc. To Acquire Volo/Caerus

May 16, 2005

Just saw this on the wire...�  Ever the sign of a healthy industry, the acquisitions in the VoIP space continue at a torrid pace in 2005.

Here's the official release:

Reuters: FCC Pushes 911 Requirement for VoIP

May 5, 2005

Came across this item from Reuters today. It's been quite a week for Vonage and 911.

FCC boss proposes 911 for Internet phones - sources

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin has proposed requiring Internet-based telephone services to offer 911 emergency services to customers by as early as the end of September, people familiar with the plan said on Wednesday.

VoIP to Peak by 2014? Come on.

May 3, 2005

According to an item from In-Stat:

"The international telecommunications industry is in the early stages of a migration to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), reports In-Stat. The big question is when will a mass migration to VoIP occur? 2005-2009 is the consumer and small business VoIP ramp-up period, and migration to VoIP will peak in the 2010-2014 time frame, the high tech market research firm says. This time frame is largely dependent on carriers' strategies for migration to the Next-Generation Network (NGN)."

I generally tend to agree that increasing amounts of residential users, small businesses, and large enterprises will become consumers of VoIP services.

AT&T Launches Integrated Services Portfolio

May 3, 2005

AT&T today unveiled AT&T Dynamic Network Applications (DNA),an integrated portfolio of IP services that will support the next generation of business communications — from voice to conferencing, messaging, and beyond.

The first service available in the portfolio will be AT&T Voice DNA, a network-based voice over IP (VoIP) service that combines the cost and functionality benefits of a premises-based VoIP service, with the flexibility, control and reduced capital expenditures of network-based IP services. AT&T will begin rolling out this service to a limited number of customers in the coming months, and will continue to roll out service through the rest of the year.

The rest of the news release can be found here.

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