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

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Quintum, Brekeke Offer Joint IP-PBX Solution

September 9, 2008

Quintum Technologies, a subsidiary of Network Equipment Technologies (NET), and SIP-based IP PBX maker Brekeke Software announced that they have completed interoperability testing of Quintum's Tenor VoIP MultiPath switches and gateways with Brekeke Software, Inc.'s IP PBX.     An award-winning product, Brekeke PBX is an SIP-based IP-PBX system that provides reliable and scalable IP communications for enterprises and service providers. The Brekeke PBX provides all essential IP-PBX features that enterprise users require, including voicemail to e-mail, "confirm call," and number portability. The newly introduced edition of Brekeke PBX, Multi-Tenant Edition, provides a simple and flexible yet easy to deploy solution for service providers that want to offer hosted IP-PBX services. Brekeke PBX supports both Windows and Linux platforms.   The combination is being hailed as a "perfect fit" by Ernesto Casas, General Manager for Binnacle Technologies, a value added distributor dedicated to VoIP in Latin America.   Early reports from customer camps are positive as well.   Having recently deployed the Quintum/Brekeke combination, Francisco Martin, CTO of Beyond En Linea, a Binnacle client commented, "With the combination of Quintum and Brekeke, we were able to deploy advanced communications for all our employees regardless of where they are located, integrate our remote branch offices in Venezuela, and integrate users in key partner locations."

TelcoBridges at WiMAX World

October 3, 2008

I know Rich already mentioned earlier that he stopped by to speak with Gaetan Campeau and the rest of the TelcoBridges team at WiMAX World, but I too had the pleasure of sitting down to hear what they were doing at this event.   Building on the high-availability Toolpack announced at ITEXPO, I learned that the company sees a great opportunity in WiMAX.   "We see very few voice solutions in WiMAX," Campeau told me.   "In WiMAX, since most deployments are by new service providers, they need a platform that can grow along with them," he added.   It's true that most WiMAX deployments are starting small, be it citywide, or covering small regions. Not too many nationwide deployments yet....   So for these carriers, they either offload voice to a competitor and not realize revenue, or they can deploy a voice solution like TelcoBridges and keep the revenue.   Campeau explained that increasing the ARPU is key for these operators. With the usual data ARPU running at around $45, adding voice can generate an increase of up to $23 on average. Per user.   That's good math, especially in the light of today's economic news.

FT: CenturyTel to Acquire Embarq?

October 27, 2008

The Financial Times is reporting this morning that it appears that CenturyTel will make an offer to purchase Embarq for $5 billion in stock.   Embarq, which was spun off from Sprint in 2006 following Sprint's takeover of Nextel, has reportedly been exploring options and talking to potential suitors for several months now.   According to their Web site, CenturyTel is the seventh largest US LEC in United States based on 2,077,100 access lines in service and over 600,000 high-speed Internet connections deployed.   If it comes to fruition, this deal that may presage further consolidation among regional US service providers.   CenturyTel currently has operations in 25 states. Embarq, which is headquartered in Overland Park, KS, has 18,000 employees and services customers in 18 states.

AudioCodes Looks to HD VoIP

November 3, 2008

AudioCodes is getting into the HD VoIP business.

 

The company today announced VoIPerfectHD, its High Definition Voice over IP technology, which is designed to deliver higher voice clarity, better intelligibility and richer sound, and an improved user experience by doubling the audible voice spectrum.

 

AudioCodes plans to embed HD VoIP across its product portfolio throughout 2009.

 

According to the release announcing the move into HD VoIP:

 

The introduction of HD VoIP extends AudioCodes reach to both enterprises and service providers, allowing entry into new market segments which will benefit from enhanced clarity and better speech intelligibility.

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.

Infonetics: Carrier VoIP is Down...

November 20, 2008

A new research report from Infonetics tells us something that many of us have felt coming for some time.   According to the report Service Provider VoIP and IMS Equipment and Subscribers carriers are not likely to engage in VoIP equipment purchases at this time, which Infonetics expects will bring down the worldwide service provider VoIP market 8% sequentially to $816 million in 3Q08.   All is not doom and gloom however.   Infonetics is reporting that in the third quarter of 2008, sales of session border controllers and media servers were up.   Other highlights from the report:   ·         Cisco enjpoyed a 37% sequential jump in worldwide trunk media gateway revenue, propelling them to the #1 spot, followed by GENBAND and Huawei; ·         Nortel maintains its #1 position in the worldwide softswitch market                          ·         Voice over broadband (VoBB) will continue to be the big driver across the board   To view the full press release, click here.

Report: US Broadband Operators Spent $4.1 Billion on P2P in 2007

December 10, 2008

Next time you visit one of those "click here to steal this copyrighted work" download sites you should know that you're not just taking food from the tables of entertainment industry workers, you're also stiffing carriers with quite a tab.   Apparently, carriers spent over $4 BILLION dollars as a result of consumers' use of peer to peer (P2P) networking, and according to research just released by MultiMedia Intelligence, that massive number is DOWN slightly down from the $4.2 billion spent in 2006.   On top of the capital expenditure (CAPEX), carriers also dropped about $700 million in operational expenses (OPEX) as a result of P2P networking.   Rick Sizemore of MultiMedia Intelligence said, "Our research uniquely quantifies the impact that P2P has on broadband operators. Since the majority of P2P traffic is unlicensed content, our research demonstrates that piracy costs are not only impacting content owners, but broadband providers as well."   According to the release announcing the findings:   ·         The value of unlicensed (in some cases known as pirated) music trafficked on P2P networks in 2007 was US$69 billion. ·         Not all P2P content is unlicensed. The growth rate for licensed content files distributed over P2P networks is much higher than unlicensed, although it is fair to note that we are starting from a much smaller base. ·         P2P Internet traffic, despite having grown at a torrid pace for years, will grow almost 400% over the next 5 years. Growing from a level of 1.6 petabytes of Internet traffic per month in 2007 to almost 8 petabytes per month by 2012.   TMCnet columnist Gary Kim offers more insight on the matter.

Alcatel-Lucent to Trim Workforce, Tighten R&D Focus

December 12, 2008

Alcatel-Lucent CEO Ben Verwaayen spoke to media and analysts at a press conference today, announcing the company's strategic plan for 2009 and beyond. To read a full description of the company's plans, please read this article. The company will undergo a strategic reduction in workforce, eliminating approximately 1,000 management positions and lowering the number of contractor headcount by approximately 5,000. Plans call for reducing the company's break-even point by 1 Billion Euros a year in 2009 and 2010. Company officials also spoke of a renewed focus on research and development activities, targeting four key segments (Optical, IP, broadband and Applications enablement).

Great Explanation of Universal Service Fund

December 19, 2008

Fred Goldstein, principal of Ionary Consulting (and a featured TMC columnist) has an excellent explanation of the Universal Service Fund (USF), with an insightful history of the fund as well as a good recounting of the many challenges associated with this "FCC boondoggle" as he calls it. It's definitely worth the read. In these challenging economic times, it's interesting to see how this money is being spent and then judge whether or not it makes sense.

5LINX Picks Up Kancharla's Wholesale Services Group

December 19, 2008

5LINX Enterprises, Inc., is acquiring the Wholesale Services Group, of Kancharla Corporation, which including Business, Residential, E911, DID Services and the A-Z Origination/Termination services. These offerings will be immediately available through GLOBALINX, 5LINX's wholly owned subsidiary.   Kancharla will continue to offer the standalone and branded versions of its LeftSeat Billing/OSS software solution.   Mike Machonkin, GLOBALINX Vice President of Sales & Marketing is excited about the deal and believes that it will be good for customers and channel partners alike.   "With the acquisition of Kancharla's wholesale services, GLOBALINX is further demonstrating our commitment to provide our GLOBALINX Customers, Agents and Resellers with the most robust portfolio of products and services available on the market today," Machonkin said.  
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