Tom Keating : VoIP & Gadgets Blog
Tom Keating
CTO
| VoIP & Gadgets blog - Latest news in VoIP & gadgets, wireless, mobile phones, reviews, & opinions

February 2011

You are browsing the archive for February 2011.

ClearOne Launches Speakerphones For Microsoft Lync & Skype

February 28, 2011



 

ClearOne today launched its two latest USB speakerphones designed for use with Microsoft Lync or Skype for audio conferencing. The CHAT 70-U (for Lync) and CHAT 60-U (for Skype), both feature integrated call controls, including an end-call button on the device. They also include the propriety ClearOne technologies enabling natural conversation without the clipping, echo, noise or tinny sound many people associate with speakerphone use.

Both models feature raised, push-button controls for speaker volume, mute, and call hook and include a blue LED which lights when a call is in progress. 

ITEXPO Busts out $99 Conference Pass Sale!

February 28, 2011

Aastra BluStar Media Phone Launches

February 28, 2011

Aastra today launched Aastra BluStar, a video conferencing solution for the desktop. The BluStar 8000i desktop media phone includes true HD video conferencing quality with unified communications and business applications along with collaboration. It includes a 13-inch touch screen that achieves true HD 720p video conferencing at a rate of 30 frames per second. It also includes excellent HD sound quality, powered by four voice tracking microphones and three speakers.

Bandwidth.com Acquires Dash - Google Voice, Skype & Others Impacted

February 23, 2011

Bandwidth.com, a nationwide supplier of VoIP network services to Voice 2.0 innovators such as Skype, Pinger, and others, today announced the acquisition of dash Carrier Services (dash), a North American-based provider of tier-one emergency services and wholesale carrier voice solutions. The acquisition provides Bandwidth with a definitive competitive edge, as it will now tightly couple additional advanced services, such as E911 calling, with its core voice and SMS offerings to deliver a stronger experience for customers who would otherwise need to cobble together these services in much less efficient ways. The deal was all-cash, and the combined company is now projected to generate over $100MM in revenues this year.

Voice 2.0 innovators will increasingly need to add services like E911 calling as VoIP adoption continues to accelerate, and Bandwidth.com can directly address this need through its now expanded portfolio of solutions.

Building Communities Online: Boost Sales, Search & Social Initiatives Webinar

February 23, 2011

TMC has helped multi-million and multi-billion dollar companies build online communities and microsites that have resulted in more sales and a larger marketing presence on the Web. One example is China Telecom here. Other companies past/present include Digium, Jabra, Microsoft, Packet8, Plantronics, snom, and more. So how does TMC do it?

Rich Tehrani explains:
Over the past decade, hundreds of companies have benefitted from TMC’s Community program, attracting a laser-targeted group of potential customers who are looking to learn about a specific topic area. TMC populates these communities with thousands of articles per quarter – which in turn attracts millions of interested viewers a year to our sponsors.


Microsoft Lync Virtualization How-to Guide

February 22, 2011

Microsoft just released a whitepaper that outlines best practice recommendations for running Lync Server 2010 in a virtualized environment.

Here's a snippet from the Table of Contents showing the covered topics:
1.2    Why Virtualize?   
2    Virtualization in Lync Server 2010   
2.1    Terminology   
2.2    Supported Functionality   
2.3    Hypervisors
2.3.1    Validated Hypervisors
2.3.2    Other Hypervisors
2.3.3    Unsupported Hypervisors
2.4    Guest Operating System Requirement
2.5    Virtualized Lync Server Deployment General Considerations
2.5.1    Mixing Physical and Virtual Servers Running Lync Server 2010
2.5.2    Spreading Lync Server Workloads on Different VM Hosts
2.5.3    High Availability through Virtualization
2.5.4    Quick Migration and Live Migration Support
2.5.5    Dynamic Memory Support

8    Measuring Performance on Virtual Lync Server 2010   
8.1    Performance Indicators
8.1.1    Processor and Percentage of Processor Time
8.1.2    Network Interface
8.1.3    Memory
8.1.4    Databases
8.1.5    SIP

1.7    Establishing Performance Baselines
1.7.1    Resource Utilization Baseline Tests
1.7.2    User Load Baseline Tests
1.7.3    Multipoint Conferencing Unit (MCU) Resource Utilization Baseline Tests: (Monitor on All MCUs)


Running Lync in a virtualized environment is a popular topic amongst Lync aficionados, so read up on this document and avoid any pitfalls in your UC infrastructure!
































Apple Mafia wants 30% Cut of App Subscriptions

February 16, 2011

Apple plans to take a 30% cut of all subscriptions on the iPhone & iPad. According to Techcrunch, Steve Jobs explained:
“Our philosophy is simple—when Apple brings a new subscriber to the app, Apple earns a 30 percent share; when the publisher brings an existing or new subscriber to the app, the publisher keeps 100 percent and Apple earns nothing. All we require is that, if a publisher is making a subscription offer outside of the app, the same (or better) offer be made inside the app, so that customers can easily subscribe with one-click right in the app. We believe that this innovative subscription service will provide publishers with a brand new opportunity to expand digital access to their content onto the iPad, iPod touch and iPhone, delighting both new and existing subscribers.”
This is a game changer! Will taking a 30% cut of 3rd party subscriptions cause a mass exodus of developers to Google Android?

SPIRIT DSP Lands Another Win - Huawei

February 16, 2011

SPIRIT DSP announced today the second big news of the week. Yesterday, they announced Viber, a VoIP app for the iPhone was powered by SPIRIT DSP and now today they are announcing that Huawei Technologies has extended its license with SPIRIT DSP for HD voice and video to carriers. Interesting that I never hear from SPIRIT DSP's competitor Global IP Sound (GIPS) any more -- who at one time powered Skype.

Anyway, under terms of the agreement, Huawei, an existing SPIRIT customer since 2007, will use SPIRIT's TeamSpirit Voice&Video Engine PC in its IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem), Unified Communications (UC) and Fixed Mobile Convergence (FMC) solutions to carriers from the Huawei core network, delivering a PC video softphone to Huawei's carrier customers.

Why Spirit DSP Powers Viber's Popular HD Mobile VoIP App

February 15, 2011

SPIRIT DSP, a voice and video over IP Engines provider, today announced that its TeamSpirit Voice Engine Mobile is powering the new Viber application that offers free HD Voice over IP (VoIP) calls from the iPhone.  

"Within three days of launching Viber on the iPhone late last year, we received one million downloads, and seven million within the first month, quickly becoming the No. 1 free app in the Netherlands, Spain, Singapore, Taiwan, Israel and several other countries, validating the enormous demand for quality, free mobile VoIP calling," said Viber Media's CEO Talmon Marco.  "We're incredibly pleased with this massive uptake and can credit SPIRIT's Voice Engine Mobile for the quality of the Viber voice experience."

Asterisk + OpenBTS = Be Your Own Wireless Carrier

February 14, 2011

OpenBTS (Open Base Transceiver Station) is a free softare implementation of the GSP protocol allowing the creation of software-based GSM access points that enable standard GSM mobile phones to make phone calls without using traditional wireless providers' networks. In other words, create your own homebrew cellular network!

According to the OpenBTS Project, OpenBTS is an open-source Unix application that uses the Universal Software Radio Peripheral (USRP) to present a GSM air interface ("Um") to standard GSM handset and uses Asterisk software to connect calls leveraging SIP and VoIP.

The goal of the project is to reduce the cost of GSM service provision in rural areas and the developing world. They explain, "In plain language, we are working on a new kind of cellular network that can be installed and operated at about 1/10 the cost of current technologies, but that will still be compatible with most of the handsets that are already in the market. This technology can also be used in private network applications (wireless PBX, rapid deployment, etc.) at much lower cost and complexity than conventional cellular."

During the past few Burning Man festivals, OpenBTS has performed a week-long live field test under special temporary WE9XJN authorization to use certain wireless frequencies.





Cisco Responds to Polycom's Adoption of TIP and Interoperability

February 10, 2011

A Cisco representative saw my article about Polycom's announcement to support Telepresence Interoperability Protocol (TIP) and she thought I'd be interested in hearing Cisco's take. David Hsieh, vice president, emerging technologies, Cisco responded to this news announcement as follows:

"We are pleased to hear that Polycom is joining other companies in adopting the Telepresence Interoperability Protocol (TIP), the only open, multi-screen Telepresence interoperability protocol available today. TIP, originally developed by Cisco to enable multi-screen telepresence interoperability, was turned over to the IMTC (International Multimedia Teleconferencing Consortium) to be managed as an industry standard.  It is not a Cisco proprietary protocol — it’s an open protocol available to anyone in the industry.

Hoot.me Wins SMS Voting Contest at StartupCamp3 at ITEXPO

February 9, 2011

I was at ITEXPO East in Miami and got to see some cool companies demoing their products on stage in front of hundreds of people. At the end we got to vote using our cell phones and SMS. Competition was tight, but in the end Hoot.me pulled out the win with their tutoring/study application that directly integrates with Facebook. You can invite friends to work on calculus problems for instance - including calculus symbols like the differential and integral signs.

Polycom UC Intelligent Core Platform Supports TIP Standard - Interoperable with Cisco

February 9, 2011

June of last year I wrote about how Cisco had to adopt the open source TIP protocol before the EU would approve Cisco's acquisition of Tandberg:
An interesting back story behind the Cisco acquisition of Tandberg is that Cisco had to make sure Cisco's open source and free TIP (Telepresence Interoperability Protocol) protocol was used. The EU wouldn't approve the acquisition of Tandberg without Cisco agreeing to use this protocol. There have been obvious concerns (including my own) that Cisco/Tandberg could create a proprietary telepresence platform that locked out third-party competitors. Cisco and Tandberg just made an announcement stating advanced multiscreen telepresence interoperability with each other as well as other third-party systems, by integrating the Telepresence Interoperability Protocol (TIP) on Cisco's newly acquired Tandberg TelePresence Server.
The fruits of that effort are now realized with today's announcement from Polycom.

Flash 10.2 Adds Full Screen on Separate Monitors

February 9, 2011

Flash 10.2 finally adds the ability to watch full screen video on a separate monitor while you continue to work on your primary monitor. Guess this makes the popular Flash full screen hack called FlashHacker obsolete. Now everyone can happily watch Hulu, YouTube, Liveleak, and all other Flash video in full screen on a second monitor while simultaneously checking email and surfing the web.  In theory, any Flash-based video conferencing product (i.e.

Snow Blower Revenge: Man Buries Car of Woman who Stole his Shovel

February 7, 2011


A Chicago man who works for a security company was none to pleased to discover his snow shovel was stolen. But as Warner Wolf would say "Let's go to the videotape!". David Welles checked out his security footage from the many surveillance cameras around his house, according to the Chicago Tribune and discovered a woman swiping his shovel from his front steps.

A 2nd camera saw the woman go around the corner and then use his snow shovel to dig out her car. His 2 year old daughter cried and was upset that her dad couldn't finish making a snow igloo.


Overview shot of ITEXPO show floor

February 4, 2011

Hosted Microsoft OCS/Lync Provider Supports Direct SIP Trunking

February 3, 2011


Direct SIP trunking has existed since OCS 2007 R2, however, WorkSpace Communications claims to be the only hosted Microsoft OCS/Lync Provider to support direct SIP trunking in a "hosted" environment. Even the more recent version Microsoft Lync cannot do direct SIP trunking when using a hosted Lync provider. I stopped by their booth at ITEXPO where they told me that Microsoft said it would be near impossible to offer direct SIP trunking in a hosted scenario. Well, they figured it out and are now applying for a patent.

Currently, WorkSpace Communications is hosting OCS 2007 R2, but Lync support will be released very shortly.


SIPfish VoIP Recorder ITEXPO Coming Out Party

February 3, 2011



SIPfish, a San Francisco-based company and their SIPfish VoIP Voice-Recorder appliance has been in stealth mode - in private beta since March 2010. Now they are ready to bring their Linux-based appliance for general availability with their first public showing of the SIPfish VoIP Recorder appliance made at ITEXPO East 2011 in Miami.

I met with Scott Olsen, Co-Founder and CEO of SIPfish to learn more. One of the first things Scott said his goal was in this product was "no compromises on accuracy and we have to make sure everything gets recorded". He explained that they have done lots of regression testing and have engineered their product to have high throughput, leveraging  Intel advanced I/O for network appliances, which is designed to handle the capture of thousands of packets without losing a single one.

Scott said they are dealing with carriers now that are looking to record 20,000 simultaneous calls with maybe 5,000 calls that they want to record.





Rich Tehrani's Q&A with Former FCC Chairman Kevin Martin Video

February 3, 2011

ITEXPO Exhibit Floor video

February 3, 2011

Photo of ITEXPO 2011 East attendees from above

February 3, 2011

Digium's Danny Windham ITEXPO 2011 Keynote

February 3, 2011

Digium Asterisk World session on Adhearsion & Tropo

February 2, 2011

Allworx Unveils 9204G IP Phone at ITEXPO

February 2, 2011


At ITEXPO Allworx today unveiled the Allworx 9204G, the newest addition to the Allworx series of IP phones featuring an embedded Gigabit switch.

Allworx will be showcasing its entire family of phones and systems at ITEXPO East 2011 this week at the Miami Convention Center at the PAETEC Allworx booth #301.

“This is our first Gigabit-based phone and it provides all of the unique features of our Allworx product line at blazing speeds which will prepare any business for the increased requirements of the future,” said Chris Hasenauer, president of Allworx. “Using the 9204G with embedded gigabit switch ensures that the phone will never be the limiting factor on network performance.”

Allworx 9204G features include:

  • Four (4) Programmable Feature Keys
  • 192 × 64 monochrome graphical display
  • Adjustable backlit LCD Display
  • Enhanced Full-Duplex Speakerphone
  • Wideband Audio Support via G.722
  • 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet switch
  • Four (4) party conferencing


Fonax Announces New Web UI for IP-PBX Line at ITEXPO

February 2, 2011


At ITEXPO Fonax today announced the release of their minimalist WEB UI  with full recording capability. As of Feb 2nd all Fonax systems will ship with the new interface and capabilities. The new user interface enables installers and end-users, the ability to make simple, as well as complex changes to their phone system. Adding users, extensions, call reports and much more are now as simple as a few clicks away.

To be honest I've never heard of Fonax.


Xorcom's Premium XE2000 and XE3000 IP-PBXs Now Shipping

February 2, 2011


Today, at ITEXPO Xorcom announced their new line of VoIP business communication solutions, the XE2000 and XE3000 series is now shipping. Similar to the XR2000 and XR30000 series, these two new PBXs handle both TDM/PSTN and VoIP calls. Running the Elastix distro of Asterisk, the new series adds new features including microprocessor-based temperature control with redundant fans, redundant hard drives, internal backup and recovery support (including restore points), and an LCD touch panel for access to system parameters. The LCD enables system adminisrtrators to perform monitoring, maintenance, and troubleshooting without the need for a keyboard and mouse.

360networks Upgrades IP Network

February 1, 2011

There are several service providers participating at ITEXPO, including 360networks. I'm told Randy Muench, President of CFN Services Wireless Division, 360 Networks is speaking at one of ITEXPO's 4G conference sessions. Today 360networks announced they've upgraded their IP network, which they claim will improve customers’ transit economics of scale and network performance

360networks is a facilities-based wholesale provider of Private Line Transport, Ethernet, IP, VoIP and Local Access services. With this upgrade the company’s wholesale customers are better able to keep pace with demand for capacity from new IP applications and mobile users by benefitting from increased operating efficiency and network performance. 

Featured Events