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

Mobility

Goin' Mobile With Skype

January 9, 2009

Out in the woods

Or in the city

It's all the same to me

When I'm drivin' free, the world's my home...

When I'm mobile...

 

 

Ok, I admit it. Sometimes I can't help myself. I reach for the most clichéd classic rock lyrics when writing about IP Communications. It happens.

Microsoft Zune to add VoIP?

December 12, 2008

From the "made you look" files...   BusinessWeek offers an item posted on December 10 by Olga Kharif, who surmises that based on an October employment posting from Microsoft, the company's Zune MP3 player might one day be VoIP enabled.   The ad, which calls for:   "...experience with human interface and navigation models requiring engineering prototypes of dpads, switches, accelerometers, touch screen input variables" and "sensibility for mobile communications and entertainment applications..."   ...prompted Olga to ask if this means that Microsoft is building a phone?   Microsoft is denying such plans.   It's an interesting item though, which does set the thought process in motion.   The Zune as a VoIP device?   Not likely, but then again...Why not?

DataViz to Develop Android Apps in 2009

December 11, 2008

14 Join Open Handset Alliance, Android Gains Momentum

December 10, 2008

So yesterday, the Open Handset Alliance announced that 14 additional companies were joining the Android alliance, demonstrating "their support for Android as an open mobile platform and their commitment to its commercial success."   The newest member companies are: ·         AKM Semiconductor Inc., ·         ARM ·         ASUSTek Computer Inc. ·         Atheros Communications ·         Borqs ·         Ericsson ·         Garmin International Inc. ·         Huawei Technologies ·         Omron Software Co. Ltd. ·         Softbank Mobile Corporation ·         Sony Ericsson ·         Teleca AB ·         Toshiba Corporation and ·         Vodafone   Adam Leach, principal analyst at Ovum believes the move will lead to a greater number of devices based on the Android operating system over the next year.   Said Leach, "This announcement signals greater confidence in the OHA and the Android platform within the mobile industry. The extended membership will lead to a greater number of Android devices in the market next year and could lead to much-needed consolidation in the mobile Linux space."   "Google and its OHA partners have the opportunity to build critical a mass of supporting handsets during 2009," Leach added. "If [Google] achieves this momentum in the handset market in 2009, then it has the potential to challenge Nokia and the Symbian Foundation for dominance in the handset software market."

It's That Time of Year...

December 8, 2008

As the year comes to a close, it's time again to feature that publishing staple -- the year end interview.

  I'm fortunate enough to work in an industry where people not only have a lot of interesting things to say, they're not shy about sharing their thoughts and insights with our audience.                 Below you'll find links to several interviews I've posted with some of the companies that operate in our space.   Among the threads that are tying these together (so far) is the belief that mobility holds the key to our industry's future. Mobile VoIP, mobile video, mobile UC... you get the picture.   I invite you to take a look at this first batch of interviews. There's more on tap, so check back often.     The Future of IP Communications Rests With the Mobile Device Jon R. Doyle, CommuniGate's vice president of business development talks about mobility...   Open Source IP PBX Vendor Gains International Recognition Xorcom CEO Eran Gal discusses open source and the opportunity ahead...   Look For Mobile UC To Open Up In 2009 Vivek Khuller, President and CEO of DiVitas Networks remains cautiously optimistic for 2009...   The Future of IP Communications?

Opera Mini 4.2 Released

November 25, 2008

Opera Software released latest version of its Opera Mini 4.2 browser for mobile phones. The company reports that speed trials have shown a 30% speed increase for users in the US, due to the addition of a new Opera Mini server park in the US.   According to the company, this release also marks Opera Mini's official availability on the latest version of the Android mobile platform. A technical preview of Opera Mini was previously released for an earlier version of Android in April 2008. I covered that here.   One of the neat things about this version of Opera Mini is that it offers support for more than 90 language versions, including Amharic, Armenian, Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Kirghiz, Lingala, Marathi, Malayalam, Mongolian, Oriya, Punjabi, Pashto, Sinhala, Tajik, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, Uzbek, Khmer, Kashmiri, Lao and Turkmen.   This is great news for native speakers of those languages and on a personal level allowed me to use words like Pashto, Lingala, Assamese and Urdu -- in context -- on my blog.  

From TMCnet to Obama's Transition Team?

November 17, 2008

Spracht Marries Quality, Design

November 13, 2008

It's not every day you meet with a company and think, "...this may be the next Bose or the next Herman Miller, or the next Apple..." I'm talking of course about companies whose claim to fame is not only offering quality products but also the close attention they pay to the design process to produce a lasting product experience.   I met such a company recently, that produces the Aura Mobile BT, a speakerphone that is equally at home broadcasting a Skype-based phone call next to a laptop, or attached to the visor of your car cruising down the boulevard while you carry on a hands-free conversation.   Spracht is the acoustic division of parent company ODI, an OEM provider of digital imaging, acoustics, LCD image display, and other consumer electronics. Founded in 1993, Silicon Valley based ODI has developed popular products, such as the Connectix Quickcam, for both Fortune 100 companies and technology notables such as Palm and Kensington.   I met Trace Williams, vice president of sales and marketing at Spracht who gave me some background on the company and also talked up a brand-new device that is expected to be launched in the next couple of weeks.   First, we discussed the Aura Mobile BT a full-duplex speakerphone featuring dual 3W speakers, and echo and noise cancellation, powered by the patented SoundClear™ Digital Signal Processing (DSP) chip.   The device offers eight hours of talk time and can connect up to eight profiles to each device.   The company also offers the Aura SOHO, a conference call device that can be used in an analog phone environment, or converted with the simple swap of a module to operate with digital PBXs, and soon will offer a wireless option as well. The Aura SOHO is designed for conference rooms ranging up to 20' x 40' when utilizing expandable microphones.   Spracht is offering the solutions through multiple channels, including Dell, Amazon.com, Best Buy, Fry's and telecom distributors such as Synnex, NTD, and others.

Meetings Galore

November 12, 2008

Trade shows serve as a wonderful opportunity to meet with a large number of companies and individuals in a very condensed time frame. Today I got to meet with a rather large and diverse group of companies operating in the IP Communications space.   First among today's meetings was a visit with Todd Woodstra, vice president of unified communications and emerging markets for SpinVox, the voicemail to text company.   SpinVox captures spoken messages and converts them into text. It then delivers these messages via e-mail.   On Tuesday, SpinVox announced that they were playing a major part in Avaya's new Speech to Text solution, along with Mutare Software's EVM gateway.   SpinVox provides the core recognition technology that provides the conversion of the voicemail file to text.   According to Woodstra, SpinVox is only company in this space that can provide the needed scalability to yield a successful solution. To drive the point home, he told me that SpinVox is already deployed at 13 carriers spanning 5 continents.   The service bridges silos of audio files into text and makes those files actionable and searchable, which empowers end users.   I look forward to trialing the SpinVox solution shortly.     Yesterday I wrote about Mitel and how they were getting into the Telepresence space in addition to offering an upgraded suite of Unified Communications solutions.   Today I spoke with Mitel's Kevin Johnson, director of analyst and consultant relations, who shared more details about the company's announcement.   In addition to the telepresence portion of the announcement, Johnson spoke of several upgrades including a revamped UC desktop client for users (Mitel Unified Communicator) and extended mobile integrations for Windows Mobile and Nokia devices and a similar integration on Blackberry devices, which enable mobile users to access PBX functionality when on the go.   Johnson touched on the economy and mentioned that in these trying economic times, UC solutions must offer fast, well defined payback to be seriously considered.   Johnson said Mitel offers UC Solutions "for the real world" -- marketing speak that underscores the company's pragmatic approach to marketing products and benefits to the real world.     I also met with Mike Storella and Michael Knieling of snom, who were excited with the launch of their latest desk phone, the snom 820.   The new 820 phone includes snom's foray into the wideband audio space, and features the company's klarVOICE technology.   Other features include an HD display, WiFi functionality which offers a way to deploy the phone quickly without having to draw a wire to the desk, secure VoIP with SRTP and TLS as well as all the usual standard advanced business-class calling features one expects on a device of this quality.   Storella mentioned that the phone was competitively priced, and that he has high hopes for this new line.

MItel Expands UC Portfolio, Adds Telepresence

November 10, 2008

Mitel has unveiled some new twists to its Unified Communications portfolio including a brand-new telepresence platform, which will be commercially available in Q109. Mitel's TeleCollaboration Solution is designed to improve the telepresence experience with enhanced collaboration capabilities including desktop sharing and recording for a 'better-than-live' interaction.   Mitel is also introducing several new UC clients that are tailored to different worker needs, including:   Mitel Unified Communicator (UC) Express - a desktop UC client that provides productivity enhancements like click-to-call, incoming caller ID pop-up, call history, speed calls list, plus personal and corporate directory integration with public IM presence engines.   Mitel Unified Communicator (UC) Advanced - a comprehensive client that integrates presence and availability, secure IM, audio conferencing and video and data collaboration. Mitel UC Advanced provides simplified access to commonly used Mitel and third-party applications via a 'launchpad' designed to enhance productivity.
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