« November 1, 2005 | Main | November 3, 2005 »
CMP Layoffs
To all you PR people out there I could use your assistance. I understand CMP announced layoffs this week. If you know any great reporters who understand technology please forward them my way. TMC is still in rapid growth mode and we need 10 editors and reporters. We have other positions available as well so if you know any good people that want to get involved in a rapidly growing media company, please drop me a line. Thanks!
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VoIP Providers Win Major Victory
The FCC may have been a bit too hasty in requiring VoIP providers a short window to provide nationwide E-911 compliance. The original deadline was in August of this year. Not only did the FCC have to subsequently push back the deadline for compliance but the Senate Commerce Committee today pushed back the deadline for full 911 compliance to up to four years. The deadline will be pushed in one year increments based on waivers granted by the FCC. These waivers will be granted if compliance is not technically or operationally feasible at the time.
The legislation, S. 1063, waives the current November deadline and requires revised FCC rules within 120 days from the date the bill is enacted. Providers still have to warn subscribers that 911 and E-911 service is unavailable and receive confirmation from subscribers that this message is understood. The bill goes on to waive E-911 rules for up to four years if the service provider meets a specific set of tests.
Coincidentally today I wrote an article which mentioned how many service providers have criticized the short deadline imposed by the FCC so I can tell you first-hand that a number of these providers will be thrilled about this news.
One of the more important parts of this bill is the requirement that our pubic safety 911 system be modernized. In short I hope this means the PSAPs will go IP. Back in October of 2004 I mentioned that PSAPs can benefit immensely from the power of VoIP and I am happy to see that the migration to IP telephony may actually happen in many if not all PSAPs in the country.
The bill also treats VoIP providers like wireless and wireline carriers in another vital area as public safety officials are now immune from lawsuits when they accept VoIP calls. Prior to this bill they were not and many in our industry were unhappy about this point.
The bill also does wonders for providers who were afraid they would have to cut off customers. As long as these customers subscribe before the end of 2005 and acknowledge certain 911 limitations they cannot be disconnected.
In order for this bill to become law it needs to be approved by Congress and then signed by the president. The day the president signs this bill cannot come soon enough in my opinion.
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Free iPod nano
My favorite iPod at the moment is the nano. I just think the form factor is amazing. I don't have one yet. I am too busy blogging and enjoying putting on conferences to get one. So I figured I would do the next best thing and make sure you get one.
No I haven't lost my mind. The reason I want to give you one is because I want to thank you for being an awesome customer and helping Internet Telephony Conference & Expo become the best-attended VoIP show in the world.
It is that simple. If you come to ITEXPO as a conferee and sign up by December 12, 2005 you get a free iPod nano. That is all there is to it. Your company by the way will also save up to $1,000 if you book by this date.
ITEXPO is the must-attend industry event. We have the best speakers on the market -- Ron Insana and Tom Ridge among hundreds of others. You will get the only conference guarantee in the VoIP expo business at ITEXPO. We have had this guarantee in place for a year and out of thousands of conferees not a single one has taken advantage of it.
You will not find a better show or better education than ITEXPO. Sign up now and enjoy some sweet tunes on your way back from the show.
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Nuvio Fights For VoIP Fairness
I have heard nothing but complaining from VoIP service providers about the lack of response from the FCC on questions regarding implementing E911. I have heard it here at the Voice Peering Summit today and at Comptel at an IPCC meeting. The FCC according o some just doesn't have the bandwidth to deal with all the technical issues such as is Skype going to have to provide E911. What about SkypeOut or SkypeIn. The levels of complexities in VoIP are staggering and I feel for the FCC.
Still the common complaint about unfairness starts at not getting enough response from the FCC to why the wireless industry has ten years o do something we have to do in months. There is limited logic to this approach... At least on the one hand. On the other, this approach makes people scramble to get to the best possible 911 solution as soon as possible.
But of course that isn't fair to VoIP providers. As an industry we need to be behind Nuvio for fighting to get the FCC to treat us as an industry fairly. We can't solve the E911 problem correctly without feedback from the FCC. If there is a need for E911 support in the VoIP industry and it needs to happen overnight then the FCC will have to make it a priority to respond and work with our industry in tandem so we save lives without stifling the investment in IP communications. As the 911 issue has dragged on, investment in the industry has slowed. This may artificially retard the market and it is unfair to consumers to reduce industry innovation due to slow response times.
This is the brief release put out by Nuvio today.
Nuvio Asks Federal Court for Partial Stay of FCC VoIP- E911 Order
Overland Park, Kan., -- Nuvio Corporation, a leading provider of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services, today announced that it has filed with the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit an emergency request for a partial stay of the E911 Order for VoIP Service Providers. Because of the looming November 28, 2005 deadline Nuvio felt that it had no other choice but to ask the Court to intervene. The court issued an immediate order requiring the FCC to respond by November 8th at noon. Nuvio and others have made repeated requests for clarification and direction from the FCC on this matter, but to date have received no response.
"We had hoped that the FCC would give guidance in this matter, much like they did in the affirmative compliance deadlines," commented Jason Talley, president and CEO of Nuvio. "Unfortunately, either the FCC and staff has been unable or unwilling to answer rudimentary questions about how the deadline will affect users on November 28. Since they remain silent, we have no choice but to ask the Court to stay these arbitrary and untenable rules."
"What we have been seeking from the FCC, is some acknowledgment of parity between VoIP and wireless 911 deployments. Wireless had 36 million users at the time 911 mandates were enacted and wireless has been given over 12 years to implement a solution. By comparison, VoIP had, at the most several million users, and has been given a paltry 120 days to design and implement a nationwide solution. This is not only unfair in comparison to wireless, but potentially disastrous to this new technology. The FCC's apparent decision to wait until the last possible moment to comment is not only reckless, but could potentially needlessly endanger lives," Talley stated.
If I hadn't heard the above sentiment over and over from others, then perhaps I may not have noticed this press release. But Nuvio has a point that others are voicing in private. It is time for politicians to treat VoIP as what it is... Something that is helping consumers by allowing more flexible communications at much lower prices.
We have seen that the aftermath of natural disasters like hurricanes are environments where VoIP shines. Companies like Inveneo, Sphere Communications and others are using VoIP technology to help restore communications and order in these scenarios. I hope the FCC works with our industry more closely to allow us to wring out all the benefits VoIP has to offer with whatever life-saving features need to be added to ensure safety and security for users worldwide.
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VoIP Box
Dr. Christian Stredicke has launched a new company called PBXNSIP which is short for PBX and SIP. As you may recall Christian also founded SNOM. The new company has a very slick product I just witnessed today called simply VoIP Box which is essentially a PBX which is about the size and weight of a deck of cards.
The device has a CompactFlash slot, USBconnectivity, two Ethernet connectors and a line in and out for music on hold.
At $1,295 you can have up to 50 extensions and 10 simultaneous lines. The two Ethernet connections can be allocated to public extensions and private -- allowing you to keep your internal phones off the open Internet.
Some of the benefits of the device are no moving parts, amazingly small form factor and no noise. The system contains embedded linux and all the processors you need. Multiple units can be connected via Ethernet if needed.
I saw a pre-production unit of the device and the external case was also a heat sink. If they were to put a slick iPod-like case on the outside it could do very well.
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Voice Peering Summit Live Today
Shrihari Pandit, the founder of Stealth Communications, kicked off the conference this morning here at the Voice Peering Summit in the Wall Street Area of Manhattan. He had some interesting things to discuss, such as how the Voice Peering Fabric or VPF allows interconnection with SS7 networks and advanced services such as connectivity to PSAPs and ANI databases. Shrihari mentioned that 17 billion minutes have passed through the VPF this year. What he didn't say (but I discussed it with him recently) is that this number is in less than two years since the inception of the VPF.
I spoke after Shrihari and I think my presentation went well. Everyone seemed very interested and hungry for knowledge. I mentioned to the crowd of about 200 people that I declared 2006 the year of VoIP peering. I then queried the audience and asked if anyone could tell me the year of videoconferencing. I got some good laughs on this last point and explained how I went out on a limb with my prediction. Based on the audience size at this event, I think I may be right on, and after my presentation I received some great feedback that I am probably right.
Next, Telx's Hunter Newby moderated a panel with a speaker from MetTel, a New York-based Integrated Communications Provider that has over ten thousand SMB customers and primarily sells through agent channels. The speaker was quite good; his name was Edward Fox III, the company's VP of Network Services. A PowerPoint diagram of their network showed Cisco gateways, Netrake session border controllers and services from Broadsoft. MetTel has its own dark fiber and collocation cages and is SS7 certified with Verizon so they can do their own LNP.
The VPF has become an enabler for MetTel, allowing the company to do ENUM origination and termination. Fox seemed elated to be part of this network. The company is looking forward to doing SIP LNP via SNET Diversified Group, operator services and 411.
Fox mentioned that VoIP communities of interest can be built within the VPF; I was very excited to hear this, as this topic is near and dear to my heart.
Rich Linstrom, the VP of Sales & Marketing from Telecom New
The company is looking to have their VPF interconnection in place by mid-December and will conduct business on the network by January of 2006.
Don MacNeil, the VP of Carrier Sales Operations of XO Communications, took the stage next, and I was blown away at the sheer size of the company's network, with 90 Sonus softswitch gateways and many Broadsoft servers. This is in addition to Acme Packet session border controllers.
Their network is only one hop away from the PSTN, meaning the quality of the calls is great. How do you do LNP in ENUM?, is an interesting question MacNeil said they are working on. A notable quote was, "Nomadic E911 will be more tied up in policy than technology in the upcoming months." They will support nomadic E911 and foreign ANI, according to MacNeil. He thinks transcoding will also become better over time and hinted that there is room for improvement in this area.
MacNeil asked himself, Why did we do this? -- referring to connecting to the VPF. The answer was simple: It is the future. The Internet is the future of the PSTN, according to MacNeil. It is a speed to revenue objective for us.
Gary Kim, the editor of VoIP Business Weekly, moderated a panel next and mentioned he is a believer in the telecom business and wants to help carriers make money in a world where minutes are free.
Jim Shepard, Executive Vice President, HBF Group, explained to the audience that if you could get any call to the company on the VPF via SIP they can get it to the right 911 PSAP. The audience seemed very happy to hear this, based on the loud applause as he finished his brief presentation.
Dave Tipping, the Product Line Manager from Sonus Networks, then spoke about their support for SIP, which they have had for years, as well as the ability to work with them and the VPF to enable lower termination rates and to choose the provider of your choice.
Paul J. Brady, Director of Product Marketing, SNET DG, spoke about their nationwide SS7 signaling network, directory assistance and wireless roaming services. They can take SIP messages into the network and then get the information requested and convert it back to SIP. They are doing this with three VoIP carriers and are looking for more carriers to work with.
They manage the LNP database in the
Next up was Joe Dechant, Solutions Architect Manager, VeriSign, who spoke about how his company supports up to 14 billion SS7 transactions daily on the largest private SS7 network in the world. Dechant mentioned that Verisign's connectivity into the VPF allows you to have access to Verisign services and ENUM registry.
Overall the first half of the day was very educational and the audience was glued to its seats throughout. An information-packed afternoon will be discussed in a follow-up article.
So far, the general themes are 1) understanding what VoIP peering is, 2) the services available and 3) how to make money in a world where voice is free. As an industry we need to move to VoIP 2.0 sooner rather than later, as peering will drive the money out of voice services much more rapidly than many realize.
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Tomorrow's Brooktrout Webinar
Check Out Tomorrow's Brooktrout Webinar
As an industry professional, we wanted to let you know that a Complimentary Webinar will be occurring on Tomorrow November 3rd, 2005 - 1:00 p.m. ET. Please feel free to register for the event by the link given below.
==================================================
Enhance your business with Microsoft Speech Server
Date: Tomorrow!!!! November 3rd
Time: 1:00pm ET
Register here: http://www.tmcnet.com/webinar/brooktrout/
==================================================
In this Webinar learn about new opportunities to enhance your business with Microsoft Speech Server. Find out about major trends in speech that are making it an excellent investment with an attractive ROI.
Hear an overview of Microsoft Speech Server and how many enterprises are experiencing the business benefits that speech-enabled voice response applications can deliver: increased cost-savings, higher customer satisfaction, and enhanced revenue opportunities.
Learn about specific customer self-service applications being deployed in enterprise business like yours.
Presented by Brooktrout Technology, Viecore, and TMC/Internet Telephony magazine
Register here: http://www.tmcnet.com/webinar/brooktrout/
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RapidIO And PICMG
The PCI Industrial Computer Manufacturers Group (PICMG) consortium has released specifications to enable interconnection of AdvancedTCA (ATCA) backplanes with RapidIO, one of the most popular architectures used in embedding systems, both trade groups announced on Monday.
The release, specifically known as PICMG 3.5 RapidIO for ATCA, was recently approved by the PICMG's membership of about 400 or so companies and is available immediately, the trade organization said in a press statement. The PICMG 3.0 specification defines the detailed characteristics of AdvancedTCA form factor, which is widely used in the telecommunications market.
If you haven't been following what is going on in the AdvancedTCA market and development in general you may benefit from bookmarking and frequently visiting the IPCommunications.com site. Topics covered on this site range from VoIP to video to anything else in the next-generation communications field.
This site is designed to be a global online community catering to the needs of the IP communications market. Having launched for just over a week we are thrilled to announce that many tens of thousands of unique visitors have already visited this site. We hope you bookmark it, visit often and send suggestions on what you would like to see us do to improve this interactive community.
Thanks to Intel for being the sponsor of IPCommunications.com and working with TMC to educate the market on what is next in communications.
For a more in-depth look at the specifications that enable RapidIO and ATCA to work together take a look at the full article.
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Off To The VPF
I am off to the VPF or Voice Peering Fabric to speak. I am very excited about the talk and think my presentation should be very well-received as it discusses the benefits of VoIP peering as well as what the future will be in a VoIP peered world. I hope to see you at the conference.
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An End To Spam
If Goodmail's CertifiedEmail system gets more widely adopted this could be the beginning of the end of spam for many. The system highlights certain messages as certified meaning the sender is who they say they are. AOL and Yahoo! will implement this technology soon and perhaps with the weight of these behemoths behind this system, it will become the industry standard.
This sort of spam-blocking technology is essential in my opinion as something similar to it needs to be implemented when you use VoIP. Otherwise we have to worry about SPIT or spam over internet telephony. If we can work the kinks out of e-mail spam then phone spam may be easier to eliminate.
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