Recently in Unified Communications Category

Rich Tehrani took xG Technology's xMax technology, a WiMAX / LTE competitor for a (literal) test drive.

Rich writes:

xG Technology proclaimed in 2005 that they have a revolutionary technology which allows wireless broadband using unlicensed and licensed frequencies. They said they could build the equivalent to a WiMAX network without the need to spend a massive amount on spectrum auctions and moreover, their technology had better range than WiMAX.

It seemed too good to be true and after some years of waiting, the communications industry got impatient. After all, this revolutionary technology had the potential to change the way wireless networks are deployed. If it was real, where was it? Again, it seemed beyond what was possible and after time, even patient old me figured the story didn't add up. I even asked the company to show us the technology so we could set the record straight.

Rich got a full demo of the xMax wireless technology by driving through Florida and talking on their SIP-based phone, which operates at 902-928 MHz. How's the range? Well, according to Rich's article, one of xG Technology's customers, Townes Tele-Communications, Inc. has a few towers and their 100 foot tower has a range of 2.5 miles while one at 350 feet in the air has 6-8 mile range and xG Technology claims it is superior in coverage area to the nearby GSM equipment. According to Rich's article, "Well for a cool $2 billion you could have 70% POP coverage for 452 metros or about 90% of the population of the US. This would include at least a megabit of bandwidth per channel."

Rich has full-on video action of this very cool test drive. Go check it out.

Livestream today is launching the world's first solution for wireless live streaming at HD quality by bonding six load-balanced 3G/EVDO modems over three carriers. Called Livepack, this unique solution enables you to have a roaming live video studio anywhere you can get 3G/EVDO connectivity. Livestream says it can stream HD video at far lower costs than traditional solutions such as broadcast trucks.

 Of course, bonding six 3G/EVDO modems together has some other fringe benefits - like ludicrous wireless Internet speed! Wonder if you can tether the Livepack to your laptop and get super high-speed Internet access while on the road? Imagine streaming HD Netflix movies or downloading Bittorrent files while driving down the road. - your passenger doing the laptop mouse & keystrokes of course!

Livepack fits in a custom-designed backpack and is a turn-key hardware solution for wireless live streaming at HD quality to thousands of viewers on the web using encoding hardware, Firewire cable, and 30 hours of streaming uplink time per month.

Livestream said: "Livepack is ideal for live broadcasting any events including concerts, interviews, sporting events, town hall meetings, paparazzi, university graduations, weddings, ceremonies, transmission from a moving car, and a variety of enterprise applications."

"Livepack is like having a satellite television truck in a backpack," said Max Haot, CEO and co-founder of Livestream. "If you want to live stream in high quality at an event where you don't have a reliable fixed Internet connection, broadcasting with a cell phone cannot yet deliver either the high video quality or network reliability you need. The only other solution available is a traditional broadcast truck and satellite signal which can cost up to $50,000 a day."

Livepack is an integrated solution using hardware provided by Livestream's partner, LiveU, that has been fully integrated with Livestream's streaming video platform and content delivery network (CDN). 

Livepack product details and recordings of live videos can be viewed at www.livestream.com/livepack. Livepack was recently used for coverage of the MTV Video Music Awards, NY Fashion Week, Harry Potter movie premiere and Pixie Lott Live,

Livestream's groundbreaking Livepack redefines simplicity for live mobile HD quality video streaming. Once Livepack is powered up, and a DV camera is connected, all it takes is just one press of a button to start the live streaming, enabling broadcasters to deliver live, on the scene, video coverage at just a fraction of what a satellite truck costs to rent and operate.

Livepack quickly establishes a reliable Internet connection and is not tied to one wireless network, as it includes six 3G/EVDO modems for redundancy. Because it integrates with Livestream's streaming video platform, Livepack does not require any additional re-encoding or server in your offices to reach its destination. Once the video reaches the Livestream content delivery network the video is immediately streamed in your Livestream player, as well as being captured and securely archived.

Availability and Pricing
Livestream Livepack is available in the U.S. for monthly or yearly rental directly from Livestream, and includes the hardware unit, custom designed backpack, dedicated IP address for the Livestream channel, all 3G/EVDO network charges, and 30 hours of streaming uplink time per month.  Neither a DV camera nor tripod are included. Month-to-month rental without commitment is $2,500 per month plus the cost of shipping. Yearly rental is $1,500 per month plus the cost of shipping.

Today, Mitel unveiled the next phase of its comprehensive software strategy with Mitel Series X Collaboration, showcasing Mitel's complete suite of collaboration solutions including Mitel Unified Communicator Advanced (UC Advanced) and the Mitel TeleCollaboration Solution. Mitel Series X aims to deliver a single solution to integrate business communications. Mitel's UC Advanced integrates your communications tools including phones, mobile devices, video conferencing, voice mail, instant messaging (IM), and email.

The sexy product within the Series X platform is Mitel TeleCollaboration, a 3-screen, high-def video conferencing solution that provides the ability to have up to 5 parties of video in a single screen without any degradation in video resolution. Mitel TeleCollaboration enables the group to view and edit documents within the application, in real time, without needing a dedicated room for the screens. It features the H.264 codec with enhancements made to reduce bandwidth requirements and improve tolerance. It sports 1080p x 1920p high definition (HD) video on 46" screens running at 30fps. It also supports wideband audio. According to Mitel, "Because it uses considerably less bandwidth than competitors (about 2.5 Mb for a full video, audio and collaboration session), Mitel's TeleCollaboration Solution saves you the expense of purchasing bandwidth guarantees. Lower bandwidth also means no need to dedicate a LAN segment." They're obviously going after Cisco TelePresence with this offering.

Mitel Unified Communicator Advanced (UCA) is a powerful communications client that integrates presence and availability, secure instant messaging, audio conferencing and web and video collaboration, document sharing and call control capabilities.

From within UC Advanced users have access to Mitel Dynamic Extension, Mitel Audio and Web Conferencing, Mitel NuPoint Unified Messaging, Mitel Teleworker Solution, Mitel TeleCollaboration Solution, UC Advanced Softphone, and UC Advanced Console.

Latest UC Advanced Capabilities:
 
•    Evolution of Dynamic Extension - Users now have a sophisticated interface to configure up to eight devices of choice with Mitel or non-Mitel phones as extensions of the corporate network.
•    Dynamic Status - Allows users to configure their status and presence including call routing options and calendar integration.
•    Visual Voice Mail - UC Advanced integrates with NuPoint Unified Messaging to provide users with the ability to see and access their voicemails. At the same time, they can see the presence status of internal callers and respond in the appropriate manner.
•    Web and Mobile Portals - Provides access to the UC Advanced interface securely from a web browser or on a user's mobile device.
•    Business Continuity - UC Advanced also plays a critical role in organization's business continuity plans as it provides the tools to allow employees to work and collaborate regardless of location in the event of pandemics and/or natural disasters. Integrated RSS feeds also allow for mass notification.

Mitel TeleCollaboration Solution:

•    The TeleCollaboration Solution combines collaboration with multi-party, high-definition, video conferencing technology providing full visual interaction with real-time desktop sharing.
•    Being software-based, the TeleCollaboration Solution leverages legacy equipment, protects organizations' investments, and integrates available standard components.

Latest Mitel TeleCollaboration Solution Capabilities:
•    Ability to record meetings and capture snapshots of the collaboration session.
•    Inclusion of remote workers or third-party participants through a simple web browser.
•    Requires only 2.5 megs of bandwidth with the ability to adapt to network fluctuations.
•    Mitel claims it has the lowest total cost of ownership (TCO) compared to similar offerings.

Pricing info:
Mitel Unified Communicator Advanced - For a 200-person company it is approximately $100/user for core UC Advanced. This price varies depending upon specific options selected for each user.

Mitel TeleCollaboration Solution - office configuration in the low $40,000s, meeting room configuration low $60,000s.

Today, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowsk said that wireless carriers shouldn't be allowed to block certain types of Internet traffic flowing over their networks. This has huge implications for the VoIP industry, since as I wrote last week, AT&T blocks port 5060 (SIP) on their 3G data network, thus blocking VoIP applications. If the FCC mandates that the wireless carriers can no longer block applications on their data network, this opens up the entire 3G/4G wireless network to game-changing VoIP applications!

This will no doubt cause a firestorm of protests from the wireless industry which has invested billions in their wireless infrastructure and they see VoIP as something that will cannibalize their revenue stream. According to Yahoo, "FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said wireless carriers should be subject to the same "open Internet" rules that the agency has begun to apply to home broadband providers."

Genachowski wants to take the same principles the FCC has already been applying to wired Internet trafficand extend them to wireless. Comcast ran afoul of the FCC last year when they started blocking Bittorrent traffic and even slowing down packets to VoIP service provider Vonage.

The Commission previously embraced four open Internet principles affirming that consumers must be able to access the lawful Internet content, applications, and services of their choice, and attach non-harmful devices to the network. These four principles guide the FCC's existing case-by-case enforcement of communications law.

"The Internet is an extraordinary platform for innovation, job creation, investment, and opportunity. It has unleashed the potential of entrepreneurs and enabled the launch and growth of small businesses across America," said Chairman Genachowski.  "It is vital that we safeguard the free and open Internet."

In today's speech, Chairman Genachowski proposed the addition of two new principles. The first would prevent Internet access providers from discriminating against particular Internet content or applications, while allowing for reasonable network management. The second principle would ensure that Internet access providers are transparent about the network management practices they implement. The Chairman also proposed clarifying that all six principles apply to all platforms that access the Internet. This is HUGE! This basically means "net neutrality" rules would apply not just to landline Internet access, but wireless Internet (3G, EDGE, 4G) access as well.

Chairman Genachowski will seek to begin the process of codifying the Commission's existing four open Internet principles, along with the two additional principles, through a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) at the October meeting. The NPRM will ask for input and feedback on the proposed rules and their application, such as how to determine whether network management practices are reasonable, what information broadband providers should disclose about their network management practices and how the rules apply to differing platforms, including mobile Internet access services.

"I look forward to working with my Commission colleagues on this important initiative," Chairman Genachowski said.  "Commissioners Copps, McDowell, Clyburn, and Baker each bring a unique and important perspective to the complex issues at stake and I look forward to getting their input and insight when we kick-off the rulemaking process next month."

As part of Chairman Genachowski's commitment to openness and transparency, the FCC launched a new website, www.openInternet.gov to encourage public participation. I vote 'yes' on net neutrality applying to wireless carriers' networks. Then I can run VoIP over 3G on my iPhone and life will be good!

After ITEXPO's resounding success in Los Angeles (over 6,000 attendees), we can definitively say VoIP hasn't been as badly affected as other industry sectors within the U.S. economy. In just about 3 weeks, we can confirm this is true with the big AstriCon event held at the Renaissance Glendale Hotel & Spa in Glendale, Arizona. TMC's Internet Telephony Magazine is a media sponsor for the event. Companies participating include Aastra, Adhersion, Digium, PIKA, Polycom, Sangoma, Xorcom, and more

This marks AstriCon's sixth year as the official conference for Asterisk, the world's leading open source PBX. According to the event organizers, "AstriCon's mission is to expand awareness and knowledge of Asterisk over the course of a three-day conference and exhibition. AstriCon includes a wealth of information for every Asterisk user, whether you are getting started or have already discovered the power of Asterisk."

I for one am a little sad I won't be going. Too much stuff to do back at the home office. TMC is growing like gangbusters and we are very close to moving into a state-of-the-art facility. Now imagine you are in charge of moving TMC's entire data center to this new facility with minimal downtime. It's enough to keep any CTO awake at night. It's not happening for a couple of months, but this will require some massive planning by me and my team.

ShoreTel is the first company to land SIP interoperability with Skype for SIP - before Avaya, Cisco, Mitel, Nortel, or any Asterisk-based PBX. I can't help but find the irony in this news since ShoreTel did not support third-party SIP phones/endpoints until ShoreTel 8 was released in 2008. Thus, ShoreTel was pretty late to embrace the SIP standard for endpoints, which forced users to use ShoreTel's proprietary phones. Though to be fair, Cisco was pretty late to the game as well, finally embracing third-party SIP phones back in 2006.

Although Cisco was two years ahead of ShoreTel in embracing SIP Cisco plays some serious licensing shenanigans that make it very cost prohibitive to use 3rd party SIP phones with Cisco CallManager. If you look at Cisco's CallManager licensing guidelines, a third-party SIP Device (Basic) that supports one line consumes three license units and a third-party SIP Device (Advanced) that support up to eight lines and video consumes six license units. As an example, for just a basic IP phone you must purchase (three) license units at $50/each for $150 total on top of the cost of the phone itself. However, an inexpensive  Grandstream GXP-2000 (a $85 phone) is classified as 'Advanced' since it supports multiple lines, thus requiring six license units for an additional $300, bringing the grand total of the handset to $385!

ShoreTel on the other hand charges a 'reasonable' $30 licensing fee per SIP device, according to this May 2008 press release - the most recent licensing info I could find. Kudos to ShoreTel for not overcharging their customers that want to use 3rd party SIP devices. Score one for ShoreTel over Cisco!

Back to the news at hand, I spoke with Skype and ShoreTel on Tuesday about Skype certifying ShoreTel as the first IP-PBX to work on Skype for SIP. According to Skype, currently 10,000 individuals have signed up and are part of the Skype for SIP beta. With this announcement,  SMBs with ShoreTel's phone system, which numbers around 11,000, can immediately register and join this 'relatively' closed beta. Anyone with any IP-PBX system can of course apply for the Skype for SIP program, but you might have to wait to be accepted. Skype mentioned to me that as part of this controlled beta they want to make sure everything runs smoothly, especially when dealing with enterprise voice as opposed to their traditional consumer voice. They want to be sure the Business Control Panel works perfectly, there are no exploits, no voice quality issues, 100% interoperability, etc. No doubt since ShoreTel is "certified" you'll be able to move to the front of the line and be approved quickly.

So what advantages does Skype for SIP give you? Well, besides the cheap outbound SkypeOut minutes, Skype users can contact ShoreTel-based businesses for free using a simple click-to-call button on the corporate web site. "By certifying ShoreTel's UC system as interoperable with Skype for SIP, we have made it possible for ShoreTel's business customers to reduce their costs even further, while also enhancing their own business experience through communications," said Stefan Oberg, VP and General Manager of Skype for Business. "Skype for SIP is easy for businesses to configure and manage using Skype's Web-based Business Control Panel (BCP), making it complementary to ShoreTel's UC system, which is renowned for its simplicity."

Skype for SIP allows ShoreTel's business customers and their employees to receive inbound calls through their ShoreTel SIP-enabled UC system from more than 480 million registered Skype users around the world at no cost to the Skype user. By my calculations, Skype should pass 1/2 billion users around October 2nd - an impressive landmark achievement when it occurs! Enterprises that use ShoreTel with Skype for SIP may also purchase and associate online Skype DID numbers, currently available in more than 25 countries, with their ShoreTel UC system to receive inbound calls from landline and mobile phones.

"As part of our ongoing commitment to a standards-based open ecosystem that offers flexibility and choice, we are delivering a significant competitive advantage to ShoreTel customers with the ability to leverage Skype's low-cost calling rates and to create an online presence with a click-to-call button that enables Skype users to call them for free," said John W. Combs, president and CEO at ShoreTel. "The simple-to-configure capabilities of Skype for SIP will further improve the flexibility and efficiency of our customers' operations, while lowering the total cost of ownership even further, and providing the boost in productivity they are used to seeing from ShoreTel's UC systems."

On a related note, I do have Skype for SIP working on a trixbox IP-PBX for a few months. I've been meaning to review my experience so far with it, but hope to soon. Stay tuned...

8x8, Inc. announced at ITEXPO a new, web-based conferencing service to its existing portfolio of business communication offerings for small to medium sized businesses. I met with a few 8x8 employees to get the low-down on this interesting new offering.

First, they leverage Adobe Flash and Adobe Flex for the client piece, which enables cross-platform support. No download required. You can also easily invite participants from a dashboard utility or send an email link to instantly join the conference. Importantly, it supports VoIP over the Flash client, so callers from around the world can join in for free. It also features remote desktop sharing, and full presentation tools such as invite, mute, kick, pass controls, etc. One 8x8 spokesperson commented, "Our offering is like eVite + WebEx combined".

It's only $29.99/month for unlimited web meetings which can be used for training, webinars, webcasts, presentations, etc. They told me that currently 15 is the maximum number of participants. After 15 participants it's $2.99 per participant per meeting up to a maximum of 50. However, they said the SMB market they are targeting in most cases won't exceed 15 participants. They also stressed that they priced their conferencing offering for the SMB to be very cost-effective versus other conferencing solutions.

What's even cooler is that 8x8 told me they plan an Apple iPhone app which will allow you to join the conference, see the presentation/remote screen sharing, and hear the conference leveraging VoIP. I guess they won't be using Flash for that one since Apple still hasn't allowed Flash on the iPhone. 8x8 also mentioned they support the G.729 codec.

The "8x8 Virtual Meeting" web conferencing service is available as an add-on service for existing 8x8 customers or as a standalone offering for new subscribers, 8x8 Virtual Meeting features complete integrated voice conferencing (to and from any telephone or web browser platform), presentation slide sharing, desktop and application sharing, instant messaging, chair control, conference control and call recording, with up to 50 participants per conference.

"Small businesses, like those that subscribe to our 8x8 Virtual Office hosted phone services, want and need the same communications tools enjoyed by larger enterprises," said 8x8 Chief Marketing Officer Debbie Jo Severin. "In fact, in a recent survey of our existing business customers, more than 60% of them told us they already use some form of web conferencing in their day to day operations. 8x8 Virtual Meeting is a powerful collaboration tool that embodies all of the cost, performance and ease-of-use characteristics valued by our small business customers. We are excited to offer this new service and look forward to introducing additional communications solutions specifically geared to the small business market."

Highlights of the 8x8 Virtual Meeting web conferencing service include:

• No software download, plug-ins or supplemental hardware required
• Integrated VoIP, chat, desktop sharing and dial in/dial out features
• Unlimited meetings for a low monthly or annual price
• Up to 15 participants per meeting with the option to add more for a minimal cost
• One free local dial in number
• Flexible local and international toll or toll free meeting dial-in numbers available
• Audio-only meetings, audio and web meetings or web-only meetings
• Record any audio meeting or portions of a audio meeting
• Playback and/or download meeting audio recordings
• Perform desktop sharing and pass controls to participants
• Seamless integration with 8x8 Virtual Office services including corporate directory
• Extensive meeting management capabilities for meeting creators and participants
• Organize past meetings, upcoming meetings and meetings in progress
• Create private group audio sessions during a live meeting
• Customize dial in numbers for each meeting, including international numbers from 19 countries and more than 50 international destinations
• Request and manage participant RSVPs online

Existing 8x8 subscribers can add 8x8 Virtual Meeting service with unlimited conferencing for $29.99 per month. As a standalone service, 8x8 Virtual Meeting is priced at $39.99 per month. Lastly, for a limited time, 8x8 is offering a free 30-day trial version with unlimited conferencing, up to 15 participants per meeting and a free local dial-in number.

TANDBERG announced that their PrecisionHD™ USB camera is now shipping. The PrecisionHD™ USB camera is the first webcam to offer 720p high definition with 30 frames per second and is interoperable with Microsoft OCS.

The camera does not require additional drivers or software installations to operate the camera which is always nice - just plug and play.

I wonder how this HD camera compares with the HD-capable Microsoft LifeCam Cinema which is supposed to be coming out soon?

Below is a pic of the Microsoft LifeCam Cinema HD camera:

At TMC's ITEXPO, Digium and Skype announced the official launch of Skype for Asterisk, which was launched as a closed beta back in September 2008. Well, now anyone can now download Skype for Asterisk and make & receive low-cost calls leveraging Skype.

According to Digium, "Now businesses can take advantage of Skype's low-cost calling to landlines and mobile phones and free calling to more than 400 million registered Skype users around the world. Skype for Asterisk allows businesses to access the world's largest community of people communicating over the Internet, natively encrypts all voice calls and lets companies manage their Skype user accounts via Skype's Web-based Business Control Panel. Businesses already using an Asterisk-based phone system can add Skype as another complementary form of communications by downloading Skype for Asterisk, without additional costly hardware. Skype users can benefit from the advanced call features of Asterisk, including call transfer, interactive voice response, automated call distribution, flexible call-routing and many more."

"Digium has been using Skype for Asterisk for the past few months while the product has been in development," said Danny Windham, CEO of Digium. "We created Skype accounts such as Digium Sales and Digium Support--a convention I suspect many companies will quickly adopt. Now, our customers all over the world can call us for free using Skype and our Asterisk PBX processes the inbound call just like it would a normal call. This is going to save Digium and our customers a lot of money."

DATUS Corporation is a Digium Select Partner with nearly four decades of experience designing and implementing communications networks in Germany. The company has nearly completed an Asterisk installation at 2,100 sites for LVM Versicherungen, a major insurance firm, and also works with Digium to design features for Asterisk that are of particular interest to European businesses. "Adding Skype for Asterisk to the DATUS indali OBX, our IP-PBX, will offer our customers inexpensive and secure international calling that, for instance, could be used for toll free customer services," said Jonny Kueppers, vice president of sales and marketing at DATUS. "We believe that the price and cost savings will be welcome with today's budgets."

"The combination of Skype and Asterisk gives those companies that have relied on Skype the advanced call management capabilities of Asterisk, while Asterisk users get free calling to more than 400 million registered Skype users and low Skype rates when calling landlines and mobiles," said Stefan Öberg, vice president and general manager of Skype for Business. "We believe the product will bring together two of the largest groups of users that value flexibility and cost savings in their PBX systems."

Foehn Ltd, Digium's U.K. Solutions Partner, has been designing and implementing Asterisk-based solutions for more than five years. The company's technical director, James Passingham, commented: "With Skype for Asterisk, we can offer our clients even more freedom in business communications. The ability to unlock the lower call costs of Skype provides a huge savings opportunity, especially for those with offices and customers around the globe."

Skype for Asterisk Features
Skype for Asterisk, which is compatible with the free and open source Asterisk versions 1.4, 1.6 and AsteriskNOW™, as well as the commercially licensed Asterisk Business Edition™, is unique in the market today. It is the only solution that integrates directly with Skype, enables multiple concurrent Skype calls from a single Skype account, and supports both G.711 and G.729a calling.

• Make Skype-to-Skype calls.
• Receive calls with online numbers (SkypeIn).
• Make world-wide PSTN calls to landline and mobile phones (SkypeOut).
• Make and receive multiple concurrent Skype calls from the same Skype account.
• DTMF support for incoming and outgoing calls.
• Read Skype profile fields from incoming calls.
• Set and retrieve online status.
• Set privacy settings.
• Handle incoming Skype calls using Asterisk applications such as voicemail, ACD, MeetMe conferencing, etc.
• Simultaneous access from both Asterisk and the Skype desktop client.
• Trunk calls between Asterisk servers over Skype.
• Supports G.711 and G.729 (included) codecs.

Presence is a valuable tool used in a variety of consumer and business applications, including Microsoft OCS 2007, Skype, AOL's AIM, Windows Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, and more. Businesses which used to ban IM applications (block it on the firewall, Group Policy, etc.) are starting to see the productivity value in IM and have implemented IM solutions in the enterprise. With the convergence of voice, video, and chat in applications such as Microsoft's Office Communicator, rich presence functionality enables your fellow co-workers to know if you are on the phone, in Do Not Disturb mode, away, working at home, on vacation, etc.

Knowing your co-workers presence certainly improves how, when and if you interact with them. However, not every employee wants their fellow co-workers tracking when they sign-in or are away. Two hour Friday lunches anyone? Executives, CEOs, and managers may not care what employees below them think, and they never want them to see when they are or aren't there. This is where the "Appear Offline" presence state comes in handy. Most IM applications allow this, including Skype, MSN Messenger, and others. However, when it comes to business IM applications such as Office Communicator, you may not want to allow employees to "Appear offline" or at least you'll want to restrict the privilege to just executives and managers.

By default Office Communicator does not support "Appear offline" since the whole point of Microsoft's unified communications strategy is to "share" information to improve communications in the enterprise. However, you can easily add it by doing the following:
Just be careful about enabling the "Appear offline" presence state in any corporate IM solution. If everyone enables this feature, then you defeat the whole purpose of presence. However, with Group Policy and corporate procedures in place, certainly executives, managers, etc. will find this privacy feature useful. As for the rest of the minions, you must share your presence so we know you've been on a 2-hour lunch break. Or at least you'll feel somewhat guilty knowing your presence status hasn't changed to Online in a couple hours.