September 2006 Archives

Not to be outdone by Dell's deal with Alienware (and not to be confused with the Congressional hearing (aka "HP FUD" -- Fear Uncertaincy and Doubt) now going on, Hewlett-Packard plans to buy niche PC manufacturer Voodoo Computers.

Voodoo makes cool looking, high-end PCs (expensive!) that are popular with gamers. We've blogged about them previously -- some hot boxes!

Will be interesting to see how the PC companies (Dell and HP) fare against game-console manufacturers Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft.

Another battle of the titans to enjoy ...

7 million -- that's right.  That's what Sony's looking at with the latest news on a GLOBAL notebook battery recall.

We've got Apple, we've got Dell, Toshiba and Lenovo (IBM) all facing problems with Sony's batteries in their notebook computers.

I'd be worrying even if my notebook battery was part of this massive recall.

This seems to be one of those problems like spinach and E.coli that that just goes from bad to worse and beyond ...

... Is there more bad news on the way?

There is a firestorm of controversy going on in the comments section of Rich's article title Zultys reseller update.

One comment reads, "Obviously TMC is interested in advancing VoIP industry participants, but this promotion of an obviously over hyped company is disgraceful."

Ouch!

There are over 10 comments and a lot of back-and-forth going on. Check it out

So you wanna be an Asterisk guru do ya? I bet you wanna be just like this Asterisk Master in the picture. Not the good looking guy on the left - I'm talking about the Asterisk guru himself, Mark Spencer - on the right.


Well, if you're not the self-taught type, or even if you are and just want some expert Asterisk training to "brush up your skills" -- then you may want to check out the TMC University program going on at Internet Telephony Conference & Expo which features Asterisk training. Our last show we actually had a full day dedicated to Asterisk training. According to Rich, the room was at capacity and we had rave reviews on how the session went.

Rich has a detailed synopsis of the Asterisk training sessions going on at the show. So go check it out.

Ken Camp has new digs, with the recent launch of a new domain called Realtime Unified Communications. They just completed migration of their Typepad based Realtime VoIP Conversation blog His new site has a community forum section, podcast section, and more. I love the clean look. Looks like he's running SixApart's MovableType, so it was probably a relatively painless database migration from SixApart's hosted Typepad. Drop by his new site and say hello.

In what is a sad end to a noble experiment, Mobile ESPN is closing its mobile phone venture for a simple reason -- not enough customers were interested.

Now, I'm all for getting sports update on my cell phone or even watching a game (or game clips or highlights), but what did they do to make this atractive to customers?

Yes, we are a sports-crazed nation, but not that sports-crazed I guess.

The "if you build it, he will come" mantra really didn't work -- and it usually doesn't work any more in consumer technology.

Plans call for hooking up via -- am sure plenty will be interested ...

Read all about it here or see the official goodbye notice here.

That's the date and that's the price for Microsoft's new MP3 player.

The press release gives all of the details.

The big question: Will this make any kind of dent in Apple's domination of this market?

GL Communications has enhanced its VoIP stress testing tool called PacketGen, a software based VoIP testing tool that features real-time VoIP bulk call generation (including SIP signalling & RTP generation), stress testing, and analysis of VoIP networks and equipment.  The latest version, PacketGen 3.0 supports SIP call generation (individual calls as well as bulk calling) and RTP/RTCP traffic generation. With PacketGen you can send/receive voice files, user-defined digits and tones, as well as create noise impairment and real-time voice traffic. TMC Labs has tested their testing products over the years, including their flagship product, the (Digital Central Office Switch Simulator (DCOSS), which we reviewed here and here.

Using PacketGen, calls can also be made to IP phones and to Analog Telephone Adapters (ATAs). PacketGen can be used to test basic functionality and verify proper protocol implementation in SIP based equipment such as SIP phones, as well as Proxy Servers, SIP Registrar servers, as well as PSTN and Media Gateways. One of my favorite features is its integrated impairment functionality. You can generate automatic impairments over the RTP for any (or all) established calls. These impairments include latency (Fixed, Uniform, Nominal), packet loss (Periodic, Random, Burst with burst probability and burst size), and packet effects (Out of order, Duplicate Packets).

Here is a list of their new features:

Russell Shaw has an interesting post about Verizon planning to offer all video content to their customer's set-top boxes in just 12-18 months using the fiber network. If you recall, I analyzed Verizon's race to build out their fiber network, which I read about in a NYTimes article.

Teaser of Russell's post:

In a private note to several of his colleagues (including your truly) Dave Burstein of DSL Prime reports this morning he has found out that Verizon is about 12 to 18 months away from executing a plan to open the set-top box to all Internet video. This woud be done by means of Verizon FIOS, their broadband video service.

And by all Internet video, not just the video content provided by Verizon content partners, but all of it.

Hmmm. While Russell suggests that Internet video will be available, he doesn't give specifics how this would work. Will the set-top box feature a built-in web browser? Will it require a keyboard and mouse to navigate Internet video content on your TV and wouldn't this be a redux of the failed Microsoft WebTV (now MSN TV)? Or is Verizon planning instead to use a 4-way keypad on your typical TV set-top box remote control for content navigation? Plus using numbers 0-9 pressed multiple times to enter letters A-Z, which is a pain.

I would think that Verizon would have to partner with YouTube, Google Video, and other major video content players if they want to make it easy to navigate their Internet content simply using a 4-way keypad. They'd have to "skin" the web content in order to make it easily viewable and easily navigated from a remote control with no keyboard or mouse support.

Or perhaps, we will see a redux of the WebTV and similar devices, where future set-top boxes will have full keyboard/mouse support  to enable Internet access for accessing online video content, as well as checking email, chatting/IMing, etc. Of course, a wireless keyboard/mouse would be preferred for the best 10' experience. Maybe it will support USB cameras as well for 2-way videoconferencing and audioconferencing over IP (VoIP). It could use Bluetooth for the audio part, so you can answer VoIP/video calls on your TV using your favorite Bluetooth headset, such as the Plantronics 510-USB. Or since the set-top box is already connected to your home stereo system, you could pipe the caller's audio out your 5.1 surround sound speakers so you can have a headset-free, handset-free, speakerphone-type call in 3D surround sound!

Of course, then you'd need a really good echo canceller built into the set-top box, which will add to the unit cost of the set-top box. Still, a cool future concept. Not to mention cable companies typically charge you a maintenance fee on the set-top box, a remote control renting charge, etc. So I'm sure they could recoup their costs. So... ummm.. any takers? I can be a beta tester!

Anyway... Check out Russell's post...

HIP Communications is a new Canadian-based hosted service provider that plans on offering hosted IP telephony very soon. HIP Communications is a sister company of Accelerated Connections Inc. (ACI) with the intention of building hosted applications that run across the ACI network. HIP's product roadmap currently has five hosted applications scheduled for rollout within the coming months, including hosted IP telephony (business class IP PBX), digital media/signage, video surveillance, off-site data storage, Web and teleconferencing.

The hosted IP telephony solution is based on Tekelec's PBX technology. Their voice services switch is fully redundant, with multiple Sun and Intel carrier class servers. Some of the features include find me/followme, call center queues, voice IVR, extension dialing, and more.

According to HIP's website, "HIP's mission is to be a role model providing businesses across Canada with leading edge, hosted IP applications. Whether it's a standard product such as our voice over IP phone services, or more customized consulting services for retailers such as network design, management, IP video surveillance, remote offsite storage or digital media, we refuse to take a back seat to anybody."

Mobile phones to go, go Moto! Indeed!

Not to be outdone by the likes of other gadgets companies that hve gone the kiosk route, Motorola now plans to sell cell phones and accessories in vending machines.

Motorola has begun selling phones and accessories through "Instantmoto" vending machines at such well-trafficked locations as airports and department stores, including San Francisco International Airport and Macy's on State Street in Chicago. The first stage of the roll-out will be completed by November.

According to sources like the Associated Press, The Philadelphia Inquirer and Chicago Tribune, the machines will stock nearly 12 phones and 18 accessories.

While this is very interesting and makes it even easier to increase mobility, who will be the first company to put a cell phone in a cereal box?

It's official, Yahoo! Messenger and Microsoft Live Messenger now interoperate! As of today, the limited beta is no more and it's fully available to all users. That's right, starting today the combined community approaching 350 million user accounts (arguably the world’s largest IM community) can take advantage of Yahoo! Messenger interop with Windows Live Messenger. Woohoo!

Here are some interesting stats that resulted in a recent poll commissioned by Yahoo! and Windows Live which was conducted by Harris Interactive:

Some IM Users Are Willing to Forego Their Guilty Pleasures for (IM) Inter-Connectivity Feature:

• 29% said they’d be willing to give up watching American Idol
• 16% said they’d give up ice cream for one month
• 15% are willing to give up their morning cup of coffee
• 15% said they’d give up their morning paper

Some other interesting findings:

One in four IM users surveyed said that being able to use one IM service to connect with friends on other IM services is the next great thing  since the creation of the cell phone.
57% of the IM users surveyed have a friend or family member on a different IM service.
More than one-third (35%) of students (over the age of 18) use more than one IM service.

Hat tip to yodel.yahoo.com:

Today I woke up, logged onto Yahoo! Messenger, and pinged my friend Blake Irving, head of Microsoft’s Windows Live Platform Group, to applaud him and his team. Congratulations are definitely in order, as today marks a true milestone in Internet history. For the first time ever, interoperability (a.k.a. interop) between consumer instant messaging (IM) services is possible.

In July, Microsoft and Yahoo! introduced interop on a limited basis and received an overwhelming response. In just two months more than 90 million messages were sent and received across our networks — a level of usage that is a dream for us Internet geeks.

Everybody loves a format war; by "everybody" I really mean the media. Format wars are no fun for the companies backing each format, the companies manufacturing the competing products and the consumers who must ultimately vote (with their pocketbooks and wallets) to determine which side is the winner.

Now, according to a press release, the war is over -- maybe -- before it has begun.

(The war we are talking about is between two new high-capacity DVD formats: Blu-Ray, which is backed by Sony (see hardware below); and HD-DVD, backed by Toshiba. The reason for the battle? High-capacity DVD disks are needed to store High-Definition movies on a single disc.)

This according to UK-based New Medium Enterprises, which claims it has solved a technical production problem that makes it possible to produce a cheap multiple-layer DVD disc containing one film in different, competing formats.

What's really interesting is the production cost of the new disc, estimated at approximately 9 cents each -- compared with the 6 cents for a standard single-layer play-back DVD. (These figures are from ODMS, a Dutch company that is one of the world's leading makers of production lines for optical disks.

(So why do we shell out $20 for a DVD? Very nice profit margin for the big boys ...)

What a coincidence that this announcement comes only a week after three employees at movie studio Warner Bros. filed a patent for the application of multiple formats on a single DVD disc.

So out with the old and in with the new -- Is the new war going to be between the competing multi-layer technologies?

I didn't attend VON, so I cannot attest to the traffic numbers or how the "buzz" was at the show just a few short weeks ago. However, I found some interesting posts from bloggers and websites that discussed the VON show. One interesting comment was from Eric Chamberlain, from Voxilla that said,  "This was my first VON show. Turnout appeared light and my peers confirmed that turnout was around 20 percent lower than in past years. It's been a while since I worked a trade show and maybe I've spent too much time in Berkeley, but it felt like we were nickel-and-dimed for every little thing at the show."

20% lower than the previous year? VoIP is growing like gangbusters, so why the low turnout at VON? Has VoIP peaked? Does the lower turnout explain why Pulver has changed the name of the show from "Voice on the Net" to "Video on the Net" in an attempt to broaden his audience appeal? TMC runs several VoIP-related tradeshows, including the flagship Internet Telephony Conference & Expo show, so if VON is any indication of lower turnout at VoIP shows, this doesn't bode well for TMC's shows.

Another negative post comes from Garrett's SmithonVoIP. "It seems that quite a few folks, both publicly and privately, were disappointed with this year’s Fall VON Conference and Expo. Eric Chamberlain, who attend the show as an exhibitor, thought the turn-out was light. He also added that the possible shifting of the industry from early adopter to the mass market phase is a possible reason for the disappointing turn-out. Even speakers like Alec Saunders, felt that the attendance of this year’s Fall VON blogger’s panel was disappointing in comparison to last year’s turnout."

Garrett adds, "Personally, I am divided. On one hand, I felt that the traffic was not as promised and there was almost nothing exciting announced, but on the other hand the ability to for me to meet with every person in the industry I need to over a three day period is worth the cost to exhibit."

Although VON is a direct competitor to my company, I'd much rather see VON do well than do poorly. So I asked Rich how our next show, coming up in 2 weeks in San Diego was doing -- registration/attendee-wise. Rich said, "Since early Summer, ITEXPO registration has been running well ahead of 2005 - and the momentum has not stopped. This event is on pace to have the most exhibitors, most paid conference attendees, and most exhibit hall attendees in the history of the show."

Rich continued, "The registration numbers for this show look fantastic and we expect attendees from up to 70 countries. In addition to buyers -- something ITEXPO always attracts -- we have been focusing extensively on recruiting the most influential, press, analysts and financial people. We expect ITEXPO to be the best attended IP communications show in the world. The show will take up a significant portion of the San Diego Convention center and this is a can't miss event."

Now if it was just one comment on VON, I could easily discount it. However, Voxilla isn't the only one that was dissapointed in this past VON show. Marc Robins, an industry analyst and reporter had a mixed review when he wrote, "The exhibit floor looks quite good, with 350 or so booths and decent traffic. I did detect a bit of boredom on Jeff's part with respect to VoIP -- he seems to be tiring of the technology and clearly finds Video over IP a more compelling area right now."

Interestingly, and on a related note, I came across some interesting comments to a paidcontent.org article.

Dave: VON = voice on the net NOT video
Rafat: Dave…it is Pulver’s new thing…he’s still calling it VOD, for video on the net.

So even VON attendees are confused and aren't yet aware of the name change.

Skype Journal writes about how Pulver demo'ed a high definition trailer of the Ghost Rider movie. While I'm sure it was pretty entertaining to watch a high-def trailer of a movie coming out, do we really attend tradeshows to be entertained? Most attendees to telecom/VoIP shows are there to be educated, to learn about new products and how to apply them in their business. Another portion of attendees there are vendors and they are there to sell their products, partner with other vendors, as well as demonstrate a "market presence" by exhibiting at the major VoIP tradeshows. Yet another portion is analysts and reporters that are there to report interesting news. Is seeing Ghost Rider in high-definition during a keynote interesting news? I suppose in context Pulver could be simply setting the stage for what the future holds in the video-on-demand space - in particular within the IPTV space. Nothing wrong with that I suppose, but it certainly shows a change in direction for the VON show.

During his keynote, Pulver pulled up on screen a virtual live conference room in "Pulveria," an online space he created at Second Life. From within this virtual world, 3D avatars watched his keynote address over the Internet.  While it's a cool concept, and I actually checked out the Pulveria conference room, I hear the keynote's video frame rate was a dismal 6FPS or less for most attendees. The virtual tradeshow/conference using IP is still a way off. Besides, there's nothing like "pressing the flesh".

So with all this focus on streaming video to Second Life, HD movie trailers, etc., is this further proof that Voice over IP (VoIP) just isn't as exciting to Pulver any more? Jeff just celebrated his 10th year anniversary for VON, which was previously known as "Voice on the Net" but for whatever reason on this 10th year, he decided to change the name to "Video on the Net". Video certainly seems to be Jeff's new love, leaving his former love, "VoIP", feeling jaded after a loving 10 year marriage.

In fact, I was able to get an "exclusive" interview with Mrs. VoIP to get her take on their marriage break-up.

Tom: So Mrs. VoIP, tell me, what happened between you and Jeff?
Mrs. VoIP: I don't know. Jeff and I were happily married for so long. Jeff was one of my earliest fans, before I became so famous. He even stood up before Congess in defense of me.

Tom: That's interesting. Pulver went all the way to Washington D.C. to defend you?
Mrs. VoIP: Yes, that's right. He even lobbied against a proposed tax on VoIP (me) and broadband.

Tom: So Jeff is a lobbyist? Does he known Jack Abramoff?
Mrs. VoIP: I don't know if Pulver knows Jack.

Tom: Pulver doesn't know Jack? I thought he was a smart guy.
Mrs. VoIP: Oh Jeff knows plenty of things. But he's certainly not the same man I used to know. I used to be the star of his Voice on the Net (VON) show. Now I am just a side attraction.

Tom: So when did Jeff start distancing himself from you?
Mrs. VoIP: Well, it all started once Jeff started lobbying for net neutrality.

Tom: Yes, but doesn't net neutrality help VoIP? Doesn't it help you against the "big boys" blocking VoIP packets?
Mrs. VoIP: Yes, it does, but once Jeff took up the battle cry for net neutrality, he was spending less and less time with me. I should have seen the writing on the wall. <blows nose><sniff>

Tom: There there, Mrs. VoIP.

Mrs. VoIP: He did go to bat for me in trying to get e911 legislation passed, but I could tell his heart wasn't in it any more. I just wasn't as sexy to him any more. <sniff> That's when Mrs. Video over IP stole him from me. First, Jeff wrote a really long blog post listing the top Internet video TV channels. That damn video chick stole him from me! Reminds me of that LonelyGirl15 chick. I hope Mrs. Video over IP pulls a LonelyGirl15 on him! We all know that YouTube video chick was a fraud. I, Mrs. VoIP, would never perpetrate a fraud on him! VoIP is an honest biz free from fraud ya know.

Tom: Really? But what about VoIP CallerID spoofing, or those guys that resold stolen VoIP minutes?
Mrs. VoIP: <crying> Never you mind. It's not very nice to argue with a crying lady you know.

Tom: My apologies. This may be a tough question to ask, but what do you think of Mrs. Video over IP?
Mrs. VoIP: Sure, she's pretty and all. Sure video is a huge multibillion dollar industry. In fact, the online porn industry probably accounts for a huge chunk of Internet traffic - mostly XXX video downloads. I know Bittorrent is #1, but half the stuff being downloaded on Bittorrent is probably video porn. Well, let me tell ya, Mrs. Video over IP outta show some respect cause I started this whole porn industry ya know.

Tom: Really?
Mrs. VoIP: Well, technically it was my Ma.

Tom: Ma who?
Mrs. VoIP: Ma Bell. She made a killing on 1-900 phone sex calls. In fact, she's still doing phone sex even though Ma Bell is over 100 hundred years old.

Tom: Now there's an image I don't want to ...
Mrs. VoIP: <interrupts> Excuse me? Are you making fun of my Ma?

Tom: No.. no. Not me. Let's move on, shall we?
Mrs. VoIP: Let's just say Jeff would be nothing without me. I made Jeff the successful entrepreneur that he is today. As for Mrs. Video over IP... She would be nothing without Voice over IP. Who wants to watch a video with no sound? Shall we go back to the 1920s of silent film before the "talkies" were invented? I don't think so. Let's say that eventually in the future everyone has a videphone in their home.  Which would you rather have - video and no voice, or voice and no video. Can't communicate with just video, and no sound, now can ya?

Tom: Well, if you know sign language... maybe charades...
Mrs. VoIP: Don't argue with me. I already had one VoIP blogger turn on me, so don't tell me you're thinking about leaving me too.

Tom: Did I say that?
Mrs. VoIP: You didn't have to. I can hear it in your voice. You think Mrs. Video over IP is sexier than me! You men are all the same! Just try and use your Vonage line tonight, mister! I'm going to mess up the QoS on the line.

Tom: I hate to break it to ya, but I switched from Vonage to AT&T's unlimited-plan double-play package which uses the PSTN.
Mrs. VoIP: Damn you! This hurts far more than Jeff leaving me! Not you, Tom. Of all people, not you! Tom, please don't leave me. What do I have to do to make you stay?

Tom: Hmmmmm. Well, do you know Miss Data? No relation to Mr. Data from Star Trek - The Next Generation.
Mrs. VoIP: <cautiously> Yes... I know Miss Data.

Tom: Not 'slow' Dialup Miss Data. I'm talking about that fast woman. She's gotta be fast.
Mrs. VoIP: What's up with men and liking fast women? She's fast all right. Miss High-Speed Data is her full name. What do you want with her?

Tom: In addition to Miss High-Speed Data, I want you and Mrs. Video over IP in my house as well.
Mrs. VoIP: You want a threesome?

Tom: Hey, now, I'm a married man!  I just want a Triple Play offering from you and the other two with excellent features, tight integration, and good quality of service. And I want it cheap.

Mrs. VoIP: So you want us woman to be cheap, provide service to you, and feature "tight" integration? Hmph! Oh I see how it is. You want your cake and eat it too. I don't play that game. Have fun playing with your PSTN. Goodbye!

The preceding was all in jest. Any attempts at humor that failed I blame on Jeff. Yep it's his fault for inspiring this blog post. I assume no responsibility for any bad humor.

In all seriousness, I hope the 20% downturn at VON this year was just a "blip" or a fluke. Was it related to refocusing the show on video instead of voice? Is Jeff becoming too much of a 'visionary 'instead of focusing on technology solutions that exist today? Hard to say. All I know is that I'm excited to head to sunny San Diego in just 2 weeks for ITEXPO where I can gauge for myself the pulse of the IP communications industry. By all accounts, IT EXPO should be a great show.  I'll be reporting from the show - including all the interesting VoIP news expected to come out. I will be sure to also post my analysis of the attendee traffic numbers - for better or worse - here on my blog. You can count on me to be brutally honest and to say it like it is.

Rich just wrote about an interesting conference session titled SIP Trunking - Realizing Rapid ROI Today, taking place at Internet Telephony Conference & Expo (ITEXPO) in just 2 weeks. Although I ditched my residential Vonage VoIP service, due to price and QoS issues, that doesn't mean I don't whole-heartedly support SIP trunking in the corporate enterprise -- where voice is even more critical. Most corporations have better QoS Internet/IP connectivity than residential Internet offerings, thus SIP trunking with "guaranteed QoS" is a viable option to an expensive voice PRI/T1/E1 line. Some service providers offer voice VPNs for added security. If your attending ITEXPO, definitely check out this session to see how SIP trunking can save on telecom costs.