July 2005 Archives

Digium Inc., the creator of Asterisk and pioneer of open source telephony, recently announced the availability of its second generation firmware for Digium. According to Digium, their new firmware increases quality, performance, and reliability. The new firmware solution relies less on the server's CPU for the operation of the Digium card, therefore reducing CPU overhead and improving performance and increasing channel processing. For example, a dual-processor, 3-GHz 800FSB Intel XEON server with 1MB L2 cache, and a Digium 4-port T1/E1 card, can now convert 120 SIP channels with G.729 compression to the PSTN without Digium's echo cancellation module and 150 channels with G.729 compression with the Digium echo cancellation module.

"This development is significant for Digium's Asterisk customers," said Mark Spencer, president of Digium and creator of Asterisk. "There is always room for improvement in technology and we are dedicated to providing our customers with solutions that offer higher quality and reliability than our competitors. Our second generation firmware results in up to a 67% performance increase over previous benchmarks."



Additional improvements in the firmware include hardware TDM channel alignment (instead of software channel alignment) resulting in greater voice integrity and reliability, master clock source distribution for synchronized timing across multiple cards, assuring synchronization of clocks and increasing reliability and quality of data transmission, zero-latency TDM direct hardware-level cross-connect, support of new echo cancellation module resulting in increased performance, hardware DTMF detection with echo cancellation module and field upgradeable firmware for future updates.

Support and Availability

The Second Generation Firmware for Digium quad-span and dual-span T1/E1 cards is now available. For more information, please contact sales@digium.com or call 1-256-428-6262. All Digium products are warranted and include installation and troubleshooting support.

Improvements in the firmware include:

• TDM channel alignment now done in hardware (instead of software), for greater voice integrity and reliability
• Master clock source distribution for synchronized timing across multiple cards, assuring synchronization of clocks and increasing reliability and quality of data transmission
• Zero-latency TDM direct hardware-level cross-connect
• Supports new echo-cancellation module which further increases performance
• DTMF detection can be done in hardware with echo cancellation module
• Field-upgradeable firmware for future updates

The Firmware improvements affected the following Digium cards:

• TE411P—Quad-Span PCI T1/E1 termination with on-board echo cancellation for 3.3-volt PCI slots
• TE406P—Quad-Span PCI T1/E1 termination with on-board echo cancellation for 5-volt PCI slots
• TE410P—Quad-Span PCI T1/E1 termination for 3.3-volt PCI slots
• TE405P—Quad-Span PCI T1/E1 termination for 5-volt PCI slots
• TE210P—Dual-Span PCI T1/E1 termination for 3.3-volt PCI slots
• TE205P—Dual-Span PCI T1/E1 termination for 5-volt slots

(Hat Tip to Rich Tehrani for sharing the email with the news)

Ratings Score Installation Documentation Features Usability Performance Overall

Thomas Bui over at IPFones sent me a couple IPFones IP-700m USB World Phones to try out.While there are many USB audio/phone devices on the market, what's unique about the IP-700m is its cool LCD display and its tight integration with Skype.

The product which very similar to a cellphone (though wired not wireless) features CallerID display on the LCD as well as multiple ring tones. One of the first things I noticed right off the bat is that it's small and light. You can fit it in your pants pocket even with the long cord.

Installation
Installing the IP-700m was a snap. Simply install the software from the CD and then plug in the device into an available USB port. You could of course not install the CD software and use the phone as a "dumb" USB audio device but then you'd miss out on all the cool Skype integration!




After installing the software and connecting the unit, I did some test Skype calls. One of my test calls involved speaking with some from Oman who just happened to call me just as I installed the product and launched Skype. Perfect timing for sure. By the way, does anyone know the distance from Connecticut to Oman? I don't. Can't even Mapquest it or even Google Map it or Microsoft Virtual Earth it. <sigh> I suppose some latitiudinal/longitudinal calculator could probably figure it out for me. Suffice to say, the distance was pretty far for the IP packets to travel. In any event, even with this great distance the Skype call sounded superb on the IP-700m. We spoke for about 20 minutes and with some minor exceptions the sound quality was better than PSTN. Obviously, where there was latency or chopped words, that wasn't the fault of the IP-700m.

I made some more test calls and again, the voice quality was great. I really like the ergonomics of the IP-700m. It looks and feels exactly like a cellphone, only much much lighter, since no heavy battery - powered via USB. Just to give you an idea of scale, I took a photo of the unit on my standard PC keyboard.
The unit displays the current date, the current time, and even the current day (Mon, Tues, etc.) One thing you'll notice about the time display on the unit is that it is in military time. I asked if it could be changed to standard time and IPFones responded, "Yes we can change the time to non-military time but since around the world everyone uses the 24 hour format we preferred to have make it so it's a universal time reading understood by everyone and does not confuse the end-user." I'm certainly comfortable converting military time in my head, but I know plenty of U.S. citizens that don't know how to do it. Of course, the U.S. isn't the end-all-be-all, so I understand the need to make this product with international countries in mind. Besides, it's just a clock - a very minor feature.

Speaking of featurs, let's look at some of the features. First, I should mention that the unit does voice sampling at 8Khz for better sound quality. Regular phones only sample 300Hz to 3Khz. The LCD is a three-line display for displaying your CallerID, and other info. Although I mentioned the LCD can display alphanumeric characters for the days of the week, the main display line uses numbers and not letters. If you can picture the old blocky number 8 on calculators which is comprised of 7 short lines connecting to form the number 8, then you know what kind of LCD screen this is. Or you can just click the thumbnail photo above and see for yourself. You can of course use these 7 lines to draw alphanumber characters, for instance the letter S would simply be the number 5 on the LCD. Thus, on an incoming call from a fellow Skype you will see there name displayed with a "best effort" representation. IPPhones told me that they are working on a high-res LCD screen.

The next feature I tested was using the buttons on the IP-700m to launch Skype and it navigate the Skype interface. Yep, you read that correctly - you can navigate the Skype interface using arrows on the IP-700m (technically the left & right arrows are the 'IN' and 'OUT' buttons on the phone, but the up and down arrows are indeed arrows).
You simply press the green handset icon and Skype will popup. Then using the up/down and left/right (IN/OUT) arrows you can scroll through the Skype interface to view your Call Log, Contacts, etc. To dial someone you can simply scroll down and highlight the contact (in your Contacts or the Call Log) and then press the green handset icon. Pretty spiffy! I didn't even need to touch the mouse or keyboard to Skype someone! Here's a auto-repeating video clip of me navigating through my Skype interface and then initiating a call. You'll see my screen video grab display my mouse cursor at the very end - that was just so I could stop the recording. All the other movements and actions are all done via the IP-700m. (For privacy sake I temporarily deleted some Contacts and hid my Skype name)

(Firefox may not display the video above) I noticed the LCD screen doesn't "pull down" from the PC whichever contact you are displaying on the monitor to the LCD. This would be helpful if your screensaver is on or your workstation is locked. You could simply dial contacts via the LCD. I asked IPFones why they don't sync the info and they responded, "We did have call logs on the phone itself, it actually was pulled off the call logs from the Skype screen but everyone complained because it was too much functionalities and made it difficult for navigating around with so many features and information that it defeated our original intended purpose of making a user-friendly device accessible to all ages and all computer knowledge background."

They also added, "The scroll up and down and left and right does operate very well and the customer did see everything through the LCD display but again many customers actually complained that it was too much information and made the phone complicated to use. Also this LCD resolution does not display well certain characters and so it confused the customers even more..So we deactivated the LCD scroll display in our recent versions of interfaces."

Ok, IPFones, I somewhat agree with you on the KISS (keep it simple stupid) method. But how bout offering a firmware download for us advanced Skypers that want that more complex functionality? Don't let the noobs ruin it for the rest of us!

They did tell me some good news with regards to their LCD display, however. "We will certainly reactivate LCD scroll display when we will introduce our third generation handsets with a higher matrix LCD resolution that we are currently developing. The new LCD matrix will also be back-lit as requested by many."

Cool! -- backlit display? Now this device will truly look like a cell phone. Not only that, but you'll be able to dial fellow Skypers while computing in the dark. (C'mon admit it, you've used your computer in the dark before as not to wake up someone or for some other discreet reason)

IPPhones also informed me that they are getting ready to release soon their second generation IP-700M2 USB World Phone which has built-in 32 MB, 64 MB flash drives and possibly larger. The second generation model will have the whole Skype software and IPFONES Interface and any files the end-user wants to store and carry around built-in to the phone. According to IPPhones, "It will be a true plug-and-play phone without needing for any initial software installation." They're currently going through their final beta phase testing right now.

At the end of the year, IPFones will release their third generation design which IPFones claims "will have most everything that everyone has ever wanted". According to them it will have "Skype support, back-lit LCD, hands-free speakerphone, wireless Bluetooth 1.2, and standard AAA battery rechargeable through a USB/Universal AC Adapter cradle and even selectable polyphonic ringtones and maybe even silent vibrating mode and with possibly a functionality of Dictaphone and voice command integration through Microsoft built-in speech recognition software on Windows. It will be a true piece of work designed exclusively under IPFONES Specs and giving future users the true feel of IPFONES vision of IP Telephony at it's best"

I look forward to both the Gen II and the Gen III models. As for the Gen I IP-700m USB World Phone I have sitting on my desk, I whole heartedly recommend it to any avid Skypers. It retails for only 59 Euros or U.S.$70.

Hey, did you know that TV commercials rule? I mean c'mon who doesn't love TV commercials? Wait a second, are you telling me you don't like commericals? Well, did you know that according to Parks Associates, "Consumers Warming to Emerging Television Advertising Services Survey finds consumers willing to trade viewing information to advertisers for the ability to fast-forward through commercials with a DVR"?

{Butthead}: Uhhhhhhhhhh, no.

Given the choice, I'd rather not be tracked nor watch commercials. I realize TV networks need to get their money from somewhere, but Parks Associates' survey points to people being "comfortable with viewer tracking and targetted advertising if offered with ad-skipping capabilities." I'm never comfortable being tracked and I think with so many channel choices, people like me are still flipping through channels during commercials or using time displacement technologies such as TiVo or Microsoft's Media Center Edition to avoid commecials. In our fast-paced society, we want to be entertained -- not get 5 consecutive 30 second sales pitches every 10 minutes! And don't get me started on movie theaters that display commercials in addition to previews! Back in my day movie theaters only... nevermind...

Of course, they also paint a picture in this study that says TiVo will be thrilled that customers will be "comfortable" being forced to watch TV commercials. TiVo recently instituted a policy where they insert their own ads as well as prevent commercial skipping. Yeah, TiVo users are really happy about that!

Apparently, their study says otherwise. We'll all take our dose of TV commercials and WE WILL LIKE IT! I guess I'm in the minority.

Read it for yourself...

DALLAS, July 28, 2005 - Nearly one-half (46%) of U.S. Internet consumers aged 13 and older are comfortable with viewer tracking and targeted advertising services if offered in conjunction with ad-skipping capabilities, according to Digital Entertainment: Changing Consumer Habits, a new study from Parks Associates.

This study, based on a survey of more than 2,000 consumers in U.S. households with Internet access, finds that consumers respond favorably to prospective television advertising services that track their viewing habits and produce targeted TV or e-mail ads if they also have the ability to fast-forward or skip regular TV commercials.

"This finding bodes well for TiVo and other PVR/DVR developers, who are hoping to balance viewers' desire to have fewer commercials with the needs of broadcasters and advertisers to better measure their audience and drive more value from advertising," said Kurt Scherf, vice president and principal analyst at Parks Associates. "The PVR/DVR platform has great potential to reshape how consumers interact with marketing messages and to improve the connections between advertisers and potential buyers."

Scherf notes that the advertising lessons now emerging from the PVR/DVR space are also applicable to service providers as they seek to deploy more interactive IP video services, including offerings from both telcos and cable MSOs.

"Advertising revenues will be important for next-generation video providers in solidifying their services," Scherf said. "In addition to building more robust ARPU and increasing customer satisfaction via on-demand applications, targeted advertising applications that better measure viewer preferences and then drive targeted purchases should be part and parcel of business model development with IP video services."

Parks Associates' Digital Entertainment: Changing Consumer Habits is an Internet-based survey instrument of 2,084 U.S. consumers in households with Internet access, including 270 teenagers between the ages of 13-17. This study analyzes consumer behavior for digital entertainment in the home, including product purchases, service subscriptions, use of home computers and the Internet for multimedia purposes, and interest in new Internet- and carrier-based services.

Empirix and Digium (of Asterisk fame) have announced that Empirix has been named as "a premier participant in the Digium Partner Program", as well as Digium's sole partner for VoIP testing. Digium, Inc., the leader in open source PBX solutions, utilizes the Empirix Hammer FX and Hammer Call Analyzer to test its current open source products, including the Asterisk Business Edition product.

"We're delighted to have Empirix as our test system partner. Hammer systems are central to the comprehensive test program that ensures Asterisk's reliability, performance, and interoperability with key hardware, software, and protocols, "said Jim Webster, director of software technologies for Digium. "We use Hammer to test Digium hardware for full compatibility with Asterisk Business Edition, as well as several select models of our open source VoIP devices. Our test bed systems are also subjected to extreme stress conditions, using Hammer test equipment, to simulate hundreds of complex VoIP calls in various real-world combinations and configurations."

"Empirix has worked closely with Digium to develop and implement test methodologies that meet the challenges of open source system development," said Duane Sword, vice president of product marketing for Empirix. "We look forward to extending that relationship through the Digium Partner Program, and to working with Digium on future product testing."

On a more personal note, Steve Gladstone, VP & General Manager for Empirix has decided to pursue other opportunities. I've known Steve for over 10 years and I wish him the best success. I hope you'll continue in the telecom/VoIP sector so we can continue to work together.

Someone posted a comment to my Electric Car blog entry where I talk about a new electric car that is faster than a Porsche 911 Turbo. In his comment, he mentions a new electric car called the Trio made from a company called "Zap!". I doubt it goes as fast as the electric car I mentioned in my prior blog post, but they don't list the top speed or the 0-60mph times on the website. It's range is 40 miles, so this electric car is certainly designed for more urban areas. They claim to fit four people in this car. Now just take a look at the size of the vehicle and keep in mind the name of this company - Zap!. Doesn't it look like one of those remote-controlled ZipZaps cars that were all the rage two Christmas's ago. Hmmm, Zap! and ZipZaps? Coincidence?

And speaking of ZipZaps, I checked out their site to see if they sell a ZipZips version of an American icon -the Dodge Viper and sure enough they do have a ZipZaps 2003 Viper SRT/10 - if you can even call it a Viper. I mean look at this thing (photo below). Does this look like a Viper to you? To add insult to injury they claim the 0-60mph time is a paltry 4.4s when in fact the 2003 redesigned (Gen III) Viper has a 0-60mph time of under 4 seconds (3.7s). Heck, my 2001 RT/10 (Gen II) which has 50 less HP than the Gen III has a 0-60mph time of 4.1s. Well, at least they got the 2003 Corvette specification wrong too. Yeah, they made the Corvette faster - listing it as 0-60mph in 4.5s when in fact it's 4.7s. Not that I'm bitter or anything!

Came across this new softphone client from Adoresoft in a post on the VoIP Forums. The softphone client is creatively called Adoresoftphone. (some places on their site have a space in the name, i.e. Adore softphone, so not sure the precise product name)

According to their website it has the following features:
- Customized skin interfaces
- Call timer
- Display Balance
- Last Number Redial
- Local signaling (Dial tone, busy, ring back, etc.) for user comfort
- Touch Tone
- Address Book
- Micro Phone Volume Control
- Speaker Volume Control
- Small application
- Work with any full-duplex sound card
- USB hand set and headset support
- NAT/Firewall support, stable SIP RTP ports
- Specify NAT IP to be written in SIP messages
- Auto-configuration of settings for easy deployment
- STUN support for NAT detection and classification
- Configuration Wizard
- Uses NEW RFC 3261 compliant stack

Anyone ever hear of them? Post a comment if you've heard of them or used their softphone.

No, this isn't a political post, just some news from Information Security Corporation (ISC) who announced the immediate availability of SecretAgent 5.9, the latest version of its file encryption and digital signature utility. SecretAgent 5.9 adds four significant enhancements: the ability to replace recipients on existing encrypted archives, support for server-mediated decryption using SecretAgent Document Access Servlet (DAS), optional plaintext disposition controls, and support for Entrust profiles.

Widely recognized for its ease of use, scalability, interoperability, and platform independence, SecretAgent ensures the confidentiality and authenticity of sensitive files whether they are stored on a local hard drive or transmitted between systems, with or without a formal PKI. In an enterprise setting, SecretAgent supports centralized security policy and software updating, emergency key recovery, as well as state-of-the-art PKI and LDAP directory support. Support for DAS-mediated decryption allows sensitive documents to be easily shared among the members of one or more Communities of Interest.

“SecretAgent has helped our government and corporate customers protect their most sensitive data for over a decade.” said ISC President Thomas J. Venn.

“SecretAgent 5.9 represents the beginning of a transformation from simple file encryption and digital signature utilities to secure document sharing applications that allows users to seamlessly access data to which they’ve been granted access whether individually or as a member of a group. While many security companies focus on securing data in a particular place, ISC is committed to protecting the data wherever it goes.”

So my only question is... Mr. Karl Rove, any plans to out this secret agent? Hmmm?

TMC's VoIP Developer Conference features some very impressive company names that are attending this very educational VoIP conference, which I will list in a moment. Unlike any other VoIP conference or tradeshow, including VON or even TMC's own Internet Telephony Conference & Expo, the VoIP Developer show is much more technical.

This is a good thing, because developers are looking for technical education on VoIP and they don't want to sit through another set of boring marketing-speak Powerpoint presentations! The presentations are primarily given by the vendor's product developers and engineers, (not marketing or sales folk) so they can handle technical questions. So if you are a VoIP engineer or VoIP product developer, then you need to be at this show.

I myself am a computer engineer and love to learn about the technical aspects of just about anything, including VoIP. This is why I am a bit miffed at my boss, Rich Tehrani for not sending me to the VoIP Developer show. Just kidding Rich! I've actually got my hands full with some products to review and some blogs to write.

But let me tell you who will be there.. The partial list is quite impressive!

Just registered yesterday:
Nortel
GAP
Verizon
Visa
Verilink
Cisco Systems
Intel
Samsung
Yahoo

Other prominent companies attending include:
Alcatel
AOL
Compuware
Countrywide Financial
Covad
Dell
Earthlink
EMC
Epson
France Telecom
Gartner
Global Crossing
Goldman Sachs
HP
IBM
Macromedia
Microsoft
NEC
Nokia
OnStar
Oracle
Plantronics
RIM (Blackberry)
San Francisco Chronicle
Siemens
Skype
Sonus Networks
Toshiba
Toyota
VeriSign

iConnectHere (powered by Deltathree) is offering a free Linksys PAP2 router, the first month free, and FREE worldwide shipping. I wonder if I lived in Nigeria, the Amazon jungle or Zimbabwe how much that would cost iConnectHere to ship? That would be quite some cost they'd be eating. Anyway, iConnecthere requires a one-year committment (pretty typical these days) and the Linksys PAP2 is "free" via a $55 rebate. I inquired if the PAP2 was locked and they told me that indeed it was - again pretty typical of these ATA/router devices these days. iConnectHere told me that the free Linksys PAP2 and free first month program just started today. I inquired how long the program may last and they said it's an open-ended program which could last a month or longer.

They also offer a 30 day no-risk guarantee if you want to try it out. Finally, I should point out that they're not strictly targetting the U.S. to go up against the likes of Vonage - though you can certainly compare the two VoIP providers and determine which is the better deal. In fact, iConnectHere's support for international numbers should draw some interest from potential international customers. Definitely worth checking out.

Update:
Although, the Linksys PAP2 is locked, you can use SIP-based softphones with iConnectHere since it is SIP-based. The Apple Blog has a nice detailed explanation using the SJphone you should check out.

Rich Tehrani has an interesting take on pending telecom legislation that will affect broadband data and VoIP competition. Rich does a quick overview of the Senate legislation and includes PDFs of them as well. Check it out

Update: 5 min from post.
For those too busy to read through the long PDF documents, I thought I'd include an extract from the proposed legislation that relates to VoIP.

Section 7—Consumer Access to Content:
(e) ACCESS TO VOIP APPLICATIONS—This subsection provides that there is nothing in subsection (a) that permits a broadband service provider to prevent a customer from using a VOIP application offered by a competitor. VOIP access cannot be blocked

Can I get a hell ya?

Update #2: 2:49pm 7/27/05
Some analysis from Competitive Enterprise Institute Technology ..

Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) this morning announced wide-ranging legislation that would modernize U.S. telecommunications law and eliminate regulatory disincentives to investment and economic growth.

“The Ensign bill is an important step toward reforming our outdated telecommunications law,” said Competitive Enterprise Institute Technology Counsel Braden Cox. “It creates a more unified national approach for communications policy in broadband and video services that will encourage more rapid deployment of each. It also does a good job of separating basic telephone service, which is still mired in regulations that relate back to the AT&T monopoly era, from new Internet services where competition is heating up.”

The legislation would be the first major update to the nation’s telecom law since the Telecommunications Act of 1996, itself a regime which has long needed a Congressional overhaul. Today’s rules are based on regulatory distinctions that pre-date mass adoption of the Internet, and the assumptions behind them have been carried forward to the present even though they do not apply to today's communication networks.

“Advocates of deregulation could argue that it doesn’t go far enough to deregulate the industry,” continued Cox. “However, stripping away government regulation from the overregulated telecommunications sector will take time. This bill provides some relief to an industry that desperately needs it and keeps open the opportunity for future reform.”

CEI is a non-profit, non-partisan public policy group dedicated to the principles of free enterprise and limited government. For more information about CEI, visit www.cei.org.

I modified my RSS template a few weeks ago and apparently I didn't include encode_xml="1"$> as part of one of the tags. Didn't realize it was needed at the time and my RSS feed was working just fine until two days ago.

Without this code, words in the blog title with with an ampersand (&) would cause the RSS feed to invalidate. I wrote about AT&T a couple of days ago and it needed to be encoded as AT&amp;T and not AT&T.

Thus, if you haven't been getting my latest RSS feed for the past couple days now you know why.

I guess I need to subscribe to my own RSS feed just to make sure I don't mess anything up.

To quote Apollo Creed, "I'm dangerous..." (when it comes to messing around with my blog's configuration.)

I received an email this morning from Net-Numbers.com which claims to help you find your contacts' VoIP number by providing a centralized worldwide phone directory for all of the major VoIP providers, i.e.Vonage, Skype, etc.

Didn't I just discredit phone directories yesterday? Oh wait, that was printed phone books I didn't like -- I was pro-Internet phone directories.

Anyway, Net Numbers is a subscription-based model of about ~US$15 although they are having a 'special' of 6 months free. Looking at the website it didn't appear that it's been live for very long.

So to test a theory I had, I did a simple search on a common name, "Smith" and sure enough nothing came up. The directory database is really really really new. Ok, we won't hold that against them. There definitely is a need for a centralized VoIP directory, I'm just not sure if Net Numbers has the financial backing to pull it off. We need someone with Google's, Yahoo's or Microsoft's clout to pull a VoIP directory off. I do applaud Net-Numbers attempt at providing a centralized directory though.

Whoever does create a worldwide VoIP directory needs to make it non-proprietary and open to access. Of course, if it's open to anyone accessing it that could result in more SPIT (Spam over Internet Telephony) or other privacy concerns. Why do spammers and other criminals have to make life difficult?

Ok, let's have a vote. Who thinks Net Number's business model will work? Or perhaps post your thoughts on VoIP directories in general.

Also, here's the email they sent me:

www.net-numbers.com



The Definitive International Cross Network VOIP Directory

One of the problems at present with VOIP Telephony is that there doesn't seem to be a central database or other form of directories of numbers for all the VOIP networks currently operating. If you are on Babble and your friend in Australia or America is on Skype, there is no way for you to find out their numbers unless you call them and ask them (See the Joke?).

Now there is NET-NUMBERS

During our Set-up phase you can Subscribe to Net Numbers
Free for 6 Months

Normal Price £10.00 for 3 years (about US $15.00)
This offer is Limited so Subscribe NOW.

Your on Vonage (go on let's pretend) and in the USA and your friend in the UK is on Babble.

Using the Net-Numbers Listings (or Directories if you prefer) you can search for them and find out their external VOIP address so you can give them a call - going from your local network - over the internet - and exit locally in their country, probably, for the price of a local call.

Well now, that's great for you because they were registered with Net-Numbers. Are you?

How are they going to find your VOIP telephone number if they don't know it and you're not registered as a subscriber?

Best you register now.

The PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) guru, Phil Zimmermann, has done it again! He's come up with a VoIP PGP-equivalent for encrypting voice-over-ip conversations. His prototype program for encrypting VoIP will be announced tomorrow during a presentation at the BlackHat security conference in Las Vegas.Check out the story.

Wonder how Homeland Security and the FBI feel about this VoIP encryption program? Then again, the ever popular Skype is near impossible to intercept as well.

I just received a tip that the FCC announced a 30 day extension of its e911 rules. The FCC has stated that it will not initiate any action until August 30, 2005 against any provider of VoIP service. (This pertains to the requirement that the provider obtain acknowledgement by every customer.) The email states that it is conditional that the VoIP provider file a detailed report with the Commission by August 10, 2005.

Some more interesting revenue numbers, this time from Envision Telephony. I've reviewed Envision Telephony's quality monitoring products in the past which were publishied in one of TMC's publications and I have to say -- I have always been very impressed with their products which focus on the call center. They have an excellent quality monitoring solution, a training solution called Click2Coach, as well as other products.

On Wednesday (tomorrow), Envision will announce record revenues for the second quarter, a 44 percent increase over Q2 2004. Envision also exceeded last years’ first half revenues by 49 percent.

Envision also added 12 new customers during the second quarter and secured two major expansion deals from existing customers. Envision also won Frost & Sullivan’s 2005 Global Excellence in Technology of the Year Award and was recognized by Washington CEO magazine as one of Washington’s Best Places to Work for. They are also a prior TMC LAbs Innovation Award winner.

Here's the release:

Envision Announces Second Quarter Results

Workforce Optimization Leader Sustains Record Growth

Seattle — July 27, 2005 — Envision Telephony, Inc. today announced a 44 percent increase in second quarter revenue for 2005 over the same period in the prior year. Revenues for the first half of 2005 exceeded 2004 by 49 percent. Total revenue for the last twelve months increased more than 40 percent over the preceding twelve months. Envision is a privately held, Seattle-based leader in contact center recording, coaching, workforce optimization and business intelligence software.

During the second quarter of 2005, the company added twelve new customers, spanning the globe and several industries including retail, outsourcing, utilities and telecommunications. Envision also secured major expansion orders from one of its signature branded customers in the financial industry as well as one of the world’s largest software companies.

In addition to its business growth in the second quarter, Envision won Frost & Sullivan’s 2005 Global Excellence in Technology of the Year Award. Frost & Sullivan presented this award to Envision for its commitment to technical superiority and innovative work in the call center solutions space. Envision was one of nine companies recognized by Washington CEO magazine as Washington’s best companies to work for.

“Our team at Envision is continuing to experience phenomenal success in the market,” said Rodney Kuhn, Envision CEO. “Our customers are seeing the benefit of our integrated workforce optimization suite and the returns which can be achieved. The results of this strategy can be seen in our financial success and our growing market share."