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Unified Communications

Polycom VVX 1500 Media Phone Game Changer?

March 9, 2009

Today, Polycom has launched the Polycom VVX 1500 touch-screen business media phone, a new VoIP phone that combines IP telephony with business-class video and the ability to integrate with business applications. Recently, Verizon make a big splash with their consumer-class Verizon Hub, a multimedia phone that combines VoIP, Internet access, color screen, video streaming, and more. One could easily make the case that the Polycom VVX 1500 is the "business-class" version of the consumer-oriented Verizon Hub phone.

Although there are many similar features and both could be classified as "media phones", the Verizon Hub does not do video conferencing, since it does not have an embedded camera. The Polycom VVX 1500 on the other hand does have a video camera embedded (2-megapixel) and is therefore more suited to video conferencing, which is more prevalent in the business world any way.

The Polycom VVX 1500 combines a personal video conferencing system with a fully featured voice over IP (VoIP) telephone along with Polycom HD Voice (wideband telephony) and an open application programming interface (API) and microbrowser for real-time delivery of personalized Web content.



UCSniff2.0 launches

March 6, 2009


Greg Galitzine has the goods
on a new IP video sniffer/recording product called UCSniff2.0.

According to Greg, "Until now, the information has only been posted on security boards and community sites, and on the SourceForge site at http://ucsniff.sourceforge.net/". And of course, as you probably surmised, since it's on SourceForge, it's "free" under a GPL license.

According to their website:
UCSniff is an exciting new VoIP Security Assessment tool that leverages existing open source software into several useful features, allowing VoIP owners and security professionals to rapidly test for the threat of unauthorized VoIP and Video Eavesdropping. Written in C, and initially released for Linux systems, the software is freely available for anyone to download, under the GPLv3 license. Some useful features of UCSniff that have been combined together into a single package:
  • Allows targeting of VoIP Users based on Corporate Directory and/or extensions
  • Support for automatically recording private IP video conversations
  • Automatically re-creates and saves entire voice conversations to a single file that can be played back by media players
  • Support for G.722 and G.711 u-law compression codecs
  • Support for H.264 Video codec
  • Automated VLAN Hop and Discovery support
  • A UC Sniffer (VoIP and Video) combined with a MitM re-direction tool
  • Monitor Mode
  • Sniffs entire conversation if only one phone is in source VLAN

Read Greg's trip report from Dallas for more info.





SmartSIP Launches for OCS 2007 R2 Enabling Any SIP Phone & Any SIP Trunking Service Provider

March 4, 2009

OCS 2007 R2 won't replace your PBX just yet. However, their latest R2 version adds the ability to do direct SIP trunking, thus bypassing the need for an IP-PBX.

One drawback however is that Microsoft only supports direct SIP trunking with two providers, namely Global Crossing and Sprint. Well that's pretty lame, considering their are dozens of decent SIP trunking service providers and probably hundreds across the entire world.
Fortunately, Mike Stacy an OCS 2007 guru, over at Evangelyze Communications has some products that enhance OCS 2007 R2 functionality. One such product is SmartSIP which launches tomorrow.


SpinVox Transcribes Skype Voicemail & VoiceScribe does the same for Asterisk

March 3, 2009


Skype
users can now have their voicemails converted into text via SpinVox. Today, SpinVox announced that your Skype voicemails transcribed and sent to you via SMS for €0.20/£0.17/25 cents plus the cost of the SMS. SimulScribe, now PhoneTag, is a similar service, that Rich Tehrani uses regularly. GotVoice is yet another one.

But how about another cool TTS app that is currently 'free' and works with the popular open source Asterisk platform? Weavver's VoiceScribe is a beta web-service for Asterisk that converts your voicemail to text and delivers them to you via e-mail.

Karaka Bridges XMPP and Skype

February 27, 2009

Vipadia announced the release under the GPLv2 of Karaka, the open-source XMPP-Skype Gateway which connects the XMPP and Skype networks.

Karaka is a scalable distributed XMPP transport that bridges instant messaging and presence between a user's XMPP and Skype accounts. This will for instance enable Skype-to-Google Talk instant messaging. In theory AOL's AIM should work, since I believe they also support XMPP. In addition to full presence and instant messaging exchange, it also supports multi-user chat ("conference rooms").

Cisco TelePresence Video Conferencing Enables Fans to Interact with NBA Players

February 13, 2009

This weekend, the NBA and ESPN will utilize Cisco TelePresence technology to create an interactive "in-person" forum to allow athletes and fans to interact using Cisco's videoconferencing / telepresence technology.

According to Cisco, Cisco TelePresence has been deployed on the All-Star Jam Session floor allowing fans to interact "face-to-face" with NBA stars from the convention center's green room and backstage at the arena. On-site Cisco digital signage will provide All-Star programming content and live updates of the NBA Jam Session Trivia contest.

Additionally, ESPN will broadcast exclusive NBA All-Star Weekend reports on the network's popular news shows directly from the Cisco TelePresence system in Phoenix back to ESPN's studios in Bristol, Connecticut.

Here's the full details:

ESPN and NBA Bring Fans Closer to All-Star Game Action With Cisco TelePresence Technology

Cisco TelePresence Technology Will Be Used to Create an Interactive Experience Between Fans and NBA Players and Legends at NBA All-Star Weekend

NBA All-Star Weekend -- The National Basketball Association (NBA) and ESPN today announced that they will utilize Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) TelePresence(TM) technology to create an immersive "in-person" experience that will bring NBA players and legends closer to fans at the NBA All-Star Game in Phoenix this weekend.

Facts:
•    ESPN will broadcast exclusive NBA All-Star Weekend reports on the network's news and information shows, such as "SportsCenter," directly from the Cisco TelePresence system in Phoenix back to ESPN's studio in Bristol, Conn.
•    With the implementation of TelePresence in ESPN broadcast operations, the sports network will be able to deliver a higher level of interactive sports broadcasting for major events happening across the globe.
•    During NBA All-Star, Cisco will deploy two Cisco TelePresence units at the Phoenix Convention Center and one at U.S.
















31 Million IP Phones shipped by Mayan 2012 Doomsday, the Media Phone, & Slow Consumer Adoption

February 13, 2009

According to In-stat, nearly 31 Million Business IP Phones will ship in 2012. That's if the Mayan 2012 Doomsday Prophecy doesn't come to pass. You know, the one where the Mayan calendar ends on December 21st, 2012 - the same date as the Winter Solstice and when the Earth will be in galactic alignment with the massive black hole at the center of our galaxy, as well as our sun, resulting in a planetary shift. The date 12-21-12 reads as, A-B-B-A-A-B.

Philadelphia City Council approves a Verizon FiOS franchise agreement

February 6, 2009

The Philadelphia City Council voted unanimously to approve a Verizon FiOS franchise agreement that will allow Verizon to offer fiber-based digital TV, voice, and Internet to Philly's 600,000 residents. Verizon will spend $1 billion to build out the network which will offer HDTV channels, voice, and high-speed Internet.

City Council members said the deal was "not perfect" and they tried to push for more minority contractor involvement. Now how is it that a City Council has the right to demand who a company hires? There are already state and federal anti-discrimination laws on the books, so why the hell do companies have to answer to some local city council mafia?

TANDBERG PrecisionHD USB Camera Sports 720p HD Video

February 6, 2009

Cisco Unified MeetingPlace 7.0 with WebEx integration Review

February 5, 2009

Here is a preview of the TMC Labs review of Cisco Unified MeetingPlace 7.0, which is scheduled to be published in the March issue of Internet Telephony Magazine. Enjoy!



Cisco Systems, Inc.
Web site: http://www.cisco.com

Pricing:
40 concurrent user licenses (750 users), audio conferencing, includes application server software and media server hardware for voice conferencing - $79,999 ($2000/concurrent user)

100 concurrent user licenses (2000 users), audio conferencing, includes application server software and media server hardware for voice conferencing - $127,999 ($1280/concurrent user)

In both sample pricing scenarios, it also includes 6 concurrent web and 6 concurrent video licenses (customer needs to purchase video blade to use video licenses)

Note: As seen by the two example prices the concurrent user price comes down quickly as the system size grows.
Additionally, the customer would also need to purchase a $12,000 Cisco Media Convergence Servers, which is a standard server running Linux

//////////////////////////////////
RATINGS (0-5)
Installation: 5
Documentation: Not tested
Features: 5
GUI: 5
Overall: A
///////////////////////////////////

Unified communications is all the rage these days, especially when businesses are looking to optimize productivity and reduce costs. But what really is "unified communications"? You might be surprised at the different answers you'd get from various people.

























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