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Outlook Toolbar
June 5, 2007
What are VoIP service providers up to these days? Simple. They are doing things like adding toolbars to their services. In this case Packet8 has an Outlook toolbar which not only allows outbound calls it also has a screen pop and Caller-ID.
Let’s thank IP communications for allowing the market to have true telecom competition. This allows more and more new services for customers to take advantage of. Hats off to Packet8 for continuing to add new and in this case free services as part of their business VoIP plan.
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Kenati
June 5, 2007
Although my home may look very neat and organized, it is in fact a an absolute mess. I am not talking about the normal objects which create mess -- paper and clothes; I am talking about devices.
I have gadgets and wireless headsets of all types laying around. I have a USB hard disk, multiple laptops, an iMac, a phone which plays music, two phones which take photos and videos and myriad other devices which do different things. I have a Nokia N800 web tablet to browse the web from the couch and finally I have files, files everywhere.
My (electronic) home life is frankly a mess. I bet I am not alone. As hard disks get bigger and we take more and more digital photos, managing this motley assortment of files is becoming a massive task. Add to this the various iPods people have, the iPhone, the RAZRs and WiFi telephony handsets and you have a recipe for domestic chaos.
Enter Kenati Technologies, a company looking to make order out of the device and file chaos in your home. They even manage your VoIP calls.
I recently caught up with Andy Chinmulgund the company’s CEO and he explained how Kenati Technologies has a product called myHome which helps manage your digital life.
Kenati’s open-source application run on residential gateways and has a companion application for the PC. When it is fired up it does a search on the network for all attached devices such as video games, NAS, and files.
It then catalogs the files based on content and file type. Metadata is extracted dynamically I am told.
One feature of the solution worth mentioning is file sharing which is much better than typical home network file sharing. Rather than having to deal with port forwarding you have a wizard which guides you through the process of setting this up.
You are able to share the files you want and even require password access. You can even generate a URL which you can send to relatives and friends. The URL registers dynamically with dns.org.
In addition there is access control built in to keep the kids off inappropriate sites and home security is coming soon.
So what we have here is a CPE/software solution which allows you to share files such as video without having to upload them to a site where there is no security. You also get file and device management. Really, you get full network management for the home.
The target market is OEMs, end users and service providers.
Kenati Technologies has a really interesting solution and should have a higher profile. You may want to check out the company’s site to help put an end to the massive device and file clutter you have in your home life. After all, a gadget-healthy home is a happy home.
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Green Conference
June 5, 2007
The world is going green and TMC wants to be part of the solution. As you may know back in 2002 (see the site courtesy of the WayBack machine in May of that year) we launched a publication called Alternative Power Magazine because we saw the need for alternative sources of energy.While we were early to spot the need for education regarding alternative energy sources, as of late it has become clear alternative energy is only part of the solution to the earth’s problems.
Increasing pollution and global warming are a few of the problems gaining widespread recognition and the time has come for TMC to have a renewed a focus on this space.
At the next Internet Telephony Conference & Expo in Los Angeles, CA, September 10-12, 2007 you will find a full virtual track of green sessions which will be part of the first TMC Green Conference.
Videoconferencing, collaboration, work at home technologies, etc are just a few of the topics you will learn about at this event.
IP communications is actually an amazing technology as it affords us the ability to save hundreds of millions of gallons of fuel over the years. Telepresence for example saves not only time but massive quantities of corporate jet fuel. IP collaboration saves not only time but airline fuel and gas for cars.
If you are looking to add the color of chlorophyll to your enterprise, be sure to come to the show and furthermore be sure to drop me a line if you can think of any high level speakers who symbolize the movement to green. If you know any personally this is even better.
If your company wants to be associated with the green movement, please drop me a line about sponsorship opportunities.
One last point. We will likely have our strongest areas of focus on green technology. Don’t expect us to talk about planting oak trees or anything like that (at least not for now. Yes we love trees, we just don’t hug them :) ).
What is exciting to us is technology which reduces energy consumption, carbon footprints and resource waste. In a perfect world this green technology can be easily cost-justified by forward looking enterprises who not only want to make more profit but in doing so reduce damage to the earth.
PS: At some point soon we will get our green website up and running at www.tmcnet.com/green.
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Office Live Meeting 2007
June 5, 2007
Tom Keating has a great review/first look at Microsoft’s Office Live Meeting 2007 which seems a voluminous name for a product. But perhaps this is intentional as the software is stuffed with features. For example the same desktop client is used in a hosted or CPE-based solution.
The new software has the ability to show/play rich media such as Windows Media and Flash as well as support for Live webcam XE and support for panoramic video XE via Microsoft RoundTable XE. There is VoIP and PSTN integration, an active speaker indicator, a public events page and Handout XE file transfer.
Overall Tom was pleased with this new product. He did have a minor question about the file transferring which he discussed with Microsoft. Please read his in-depth review of Microsoft Office Live Meeting 2007 for the details and more.
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Volpi Joins Joost
June 5, 2007
Just as hiring Mike Volpi from Cisco was big news for Skype, the fact Volpi has become the CEO of Joost is big news. Volpi brought an air of legitimacy to Skype when he joined the board in 2004. Having years of experience at Cisco and becoming part of a VoIP startup was big news at the time and the benefactor last time was certainly Skype who sold to eBay for more than 2 billion dollars.
This time as head of Joost, the founders of both Skype and Joost, Janus Friis and Niklas Zennstrom can be confident they have hired someone who knows how to rapidly scale a viral software company and make it even more successful.
In a recent conversation with Niklas Zennstrom, I asked about the synergy between Skype and Joost and his eyes lit up when he talked about the possibilities. It was apparent this was something he had thought about extensively.
Imagine hooks into Skype allowing instant TV viewing. Imagine the Joost code being seamlessly downloaded as part of the next Skype upgrade and you get the idea of the potential to get Joost installed on hundreds of millions of computers quickly and efficiently.
Joost has the right investors and the right idea regarding how to make Internet TV work. They have some good content partners and are working on getting more. They really need the A list to make this venture a huge success.
Joost seems to have gained the mindshare of the media as well. As the saying goes, the market is theirs to lose.
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Codian
June 5, 2007
Telepresence seems to be taking the high-end of the enterprise market by storm but for the lower end of the market telepresence is out of reach. For this group of companies simple videoconferencing is likely what you will use. But before you mortgage your house to get into HD videoconferencing at every endpoint or purchase a telepresence system, you may want to consider a more cost-effective alternative.
Codian has developed a technology called ClearVision which takes a traditional videoconferencing signal and improves it up to 4x. I had a chance to see the product in action as part of the company’s MCU 4500 and the video improvement is substantial.
The system allows you to mix, high, standard and enhanced video signals on a single conference call.
William MacDonald who is the Chief Strategy Officer for Codian tells me the company’s solution is a notch below the quality of telepresence and I tend to agree. The cost as you might expect is less than a typical telepresence solution as well and I suggest you give the company a call if you are looking for high quality video conferencing without the champagne wallet typically associated with such solutions.
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ZyXel
June 5, 2007
The engineers at ZyXel have been busy pumping out new products which I recently had a chance to see. One of the company’s latest creations is the ZyWALL 2WG which is 3G and WiFi mobile broadband security appliance for remote offices.
The sleek box acts as a 4-port switch which also allows WiFi access and can failover to a 3G (or even 2.5 G) wireless network if the Internet goes down. You can insert an EVDO or HSPDA card yourself once you have chosen a wireless provider.
The device also has SSL VPN capabilities and a firewall. In addition to DoS protection the box also prioritizes voice packets automatically. The system basically scopes out small packets and bumps up their priority so you don’t have to do any VoIP priority configuration yourself. Of course this may not work for that long-winded relative who talks forever and seems to fit 256 kilobits of voice into every packet. ;)
Another ZyXel solution which is pretty intriguing targets the burgeoning WiFi market allowing companies to cope with the growing WiFi density challenge being felt in many organizations. As more and more devices are WiFi enabled, WiFi networks are getting bogged down and as such are bucking under the strain of continuous data transfers.
One solution is to blanket an office with WiFi APs but this is a terrible idea from a management perspective. ZyXel has a solution which consists of a central controller which looks like a switch and up to eight boxes which are essentially antenna modules.
The boxes have zero millisecond roaming which over 300 times faster than the time it takes for you to blink! The NXC-8160 is the brains behind this solution and the antenna units are designated as NWA-8500.
Benefits of this solution include no need for a site survey, what looks virtually like a single AP and no latency. I am looking forward to testing this solution at TMC headquarters in fact but until then if you pick one of these combos up, be sure to comment and let the community know how it works for you.
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WildPackets
June 5, 2007
WildPackets comes out swinging with a suite on new testing initiatives as part of it’s new OmniAnalysis 5 release.
The testing market seems to be doing very well and it is amazing to see how many new products are being launched in this space and how well companies in this market seem to be doing.
I certainly don’t want to say the market is an easy one to play in but in reality as networks get more complex and real-time applications like voice and video jump on packetized networks, testing becomes essential. Add to this the proliferation of new wired and wireless broadband standards and you have a recipe for rich testing companies.
Now I am not accusing any of the testing companies of being fat and happy because clearly they are innovating. What I am saying is the opportunity seems to be bright in this space.
One company who has launched a major set of new products is WildPackets. I recently caught up with the company’s management team and the briefing was so packed with information I may have set a typing record trying to record it all. WildPackets has rolled out an API for their testing solutions allowing you for example to tie in Google Maps to see where the trouble spots on a network lie. In addition this API allows you to turn routers from companies like Cisco and Aruba Networks into data collection devices.
By the end of June 2007 the company plans on shipping the following products/upgrades:
802.11 Testing
An 802.11n tester. The company has one now but it is only for use by WiFi Alliance members. Soon, non-members can have one as well.
Virtualized Server Testing
The company has a lightweight application which sits on virtualized servers allowing you to see the data flows on each of these virtual configurations. This is needed to troubleshoot applications virtualized servers effectively. The information is polled into OmniPeek for analysis.
Next Generation Network Forensics
The company has had the ability to capture and store massive amounts of data traffic for some time. This is a crucial ability for network managers for a number of reasons. In case of a network attack you want to be able to trace what happened and when. In addition you may need to trace the movements of certain people in an organization who acted inappropriately.
For example a trader who shared information they shouldn’t have with others. Some companies have purchased a great deal of network forensics equipment which consists of the company’s Omnipliance which of course runs the Omniengine software solution.
There are improvements in the forensics application enabling more data to be stored, a more granular look at packets and the ability to have the packets converted back into instant messages, web pages and e-mails via plug-ins.
Expert VoIP Analysis
WildPackets has also integrated Telchemy’s excellent VQmon VoIP testing technology enabling the company to monitor dropped packets and quality of experience which takes into account MOS scores and R factors.
Application Performance Dashboards
The company is also a founding member of the Apdex alliance, an organization committed to ensuring users have acceptable application performance. Apdex focuses on measuring a single task which could be part of a CRM or ERP system.
Apdex has done research to see at what point people stop working because applications are just too slow. Armed with this information the company is able to rate task speeds on a scale of zero to one with one being optimal.
WildPackets now has a dashboard to monitor such performance which they say is designed for managers as opposed to something only an engineer could love.
The company actually has even more news in the 10 Gigabit Ethernet testing, network audit service and field service automation spaces. Check out the WildPackets news page on TMCnet for more.
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