Unified Communications

VoIPshield Finds Security Flaws in Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007, Office Communicator and Windows Live Messenger

November 12, 2008

I'm always a bit skeptical of VoIP security vulnerabilities discovered by firms which sell security products. Nevertheless, I thought it was worth sharing this bit of news.

Update: Microsoft responded that VoIPShield's test is "on a non-secure implementation of OCS, which you would have to disable as we are secure with a default installation."

See, that's why I was "a bit skeptical"!

VoIPshield Laboratories, the research division of VoIPshield Systems Inc., is making its first-ever announcement in a new category of research related to security vulnerabilities in VoIP and Unified Communications (UC) systems. These vulnerabilities affect applications that use media stream protocols like RTP (Real-time Transport Protocol), a popular standardized packet format for delivering audio and instant messaging over the Internet.

The Microsoft products affected are Office Communications Server 2007, Office Communicator and Windows Live Messenger.

Posted in Microsoft, SIP, TMCnet, Unified Communications, VoIP

Cisco ASR 9000 High-end Router Launches

November 11, 2008

Cisco Systems unveiled a supercharged router called the ASR 9000, which is capable of moving 6.4 terabytes per second of traffic. The router is aimed at service providers with next-generation networks which plan to run bandwidth heavy services such as video, IPTV, mobile broadband, and more. With the explosion of Youtube videos, and other bandwidth-hungry apps, service providers are looking to stay ahead of the bandwidth demand curve. The ASR 9000 hopes to address that need with the ability to support the future "Zettabyte era".

Posted in Cisco, Internet, TMCnet, Triple Play, Unified Communications, Video Conferencing, Wireless

Sametime and Microsoft OCS integration

November 10, 2008

Posted in Microsoft, SIP, TMCnet, Unified Communications, VoIP

NetQoS Unified Communications Monitor 2.0 Launches

November 10, 2008

NetQoS today launched its first unified communications focused management tool called NetQoS Unified Communications (UC) Monitor. NetQoS is broadening the focus of its formerly named VoIP Monitor product to reflect the growing role and functionality of unified communications. NetQoS UC Monitor 2.0 supports voice and video quality metrics in a Microsoft Office Communications Server (OCS) environment as well as enhanced diagnostics and reporting for Cisco IP telephony environments.

In my conversation with NetQoS I asked them what the upgrade/migration path was for current customers, and they said existing customers would be upgraded to NetQoS UC Monitor 2.0 free of charge.

Posted in Microsoft, SIP, TMCnet, Unified Communications, Video Conferencing, VoIP

Future Mobile Phone Features 20 Megapixels, 100Mbps, HD Video - in other words it'll kick ass

November 7, 2008

Posted in Gadgets, Mobile Phones, TMCnet, Technology and Science, Unified Communications, VoIP, Wireless

Some interesting TMCnet videos on 4G, wireless, and more

November 4, 2008

Greg Galitzine has an interesting interview with Carl Ford (formerly with VON) about the future of wireless, including 4G and the pending 4GWE (4G Wireless Evolution) event co-located with ITEXPO. Carl discusses gadgets, smart phones, the Amazon Kindle, and more as the future growth factors in an saturated wireless phone market. He also discusses the challenges of 3G, femtocells, and more.
Go check it out:
http://www.tmcnet.com/tmc/videos/default.aspx?vid=657

Another interesting video is Carl Ford and Greg Galitzine discussing how TMCnet is able to have such a visible presence on the web via TMCnet's plethora of technology news coverage. They also cover 4G and Carl has an inside track on what is on the carrier's minds since he has excellent sources and friends in the carrier space.

Posted in ITEXPO, Mobile Phones, TMCnet, Technology and Science, Unified Communications, VoIP, Wireless

SkyStone Video Enables Video Skype Gateway

November 3, 2008

Stonevoice has created SkyStone Video, a unique Skype-gateway product that allows video communications between enterprise video solutions from vendors such as Cisco, Sony, and Polycom and the popular Skype software. There are several voice over ip-to-Skype gateways, but this marks the first time someone has created a Video-to-Skype gateway that "bridges" the gap between high quality enterprise video conferencing solutions and Skype.

"Video has become a fundamental need in the day-by-day communications. The technology is now ready to handle video calls and conference calls; however, one fundamental element was missing to take it to the next level: simplicity - says Christian Bongiovanni, CEO of StoneVoice - today, ahead of competition, Stonevoice, has demonstrated its technical excellence and strategic thinking by releasing a unique product worldwide: SkyStone Video that allows standard based video solution interfacing with the Skype world, bringing excellent quality, rich and mobile communications, with extreme simplicity!"

With Skystone Video, Stonevoice has eliminated the Business-to-Consumer and Business-to-Business barriers.

Posted in Polycom, Skype, TMCnet, Unified Communications, Video Conferencing, VoIP

VoxOx Skype killer?

November 3, 2008

VoxOx is a new unified communications client launched by San Diego based startup TelCentris. Think of it as Skype on steroids since it not only support VoIP, IM, and video conferencing, but it also supports social media, such as Facebook, SMS, fax, e-mail, and content sharing all in one unified desktop application.

VoxOx creates a "meta address book" of contacts from all of a user's disparate communications networks into a single user interface, accessible from any device. To ramp up they are providing a free phone number, along with two initial hours of free talk time. TelCentris' CEO Bryan Hertz is making their API open source in hopes of duplication what Skype has done with Skype Extras and their developer community.

Features include:

Full inbound/outbound calling capabilities
Voicemail and interactive voice response "personal assistant"
Two-way texting
Call forwarding and "one-number-follow-me service"
Inbound faxing and fax-to-e-mail
Landline replacement option
Interconnects users to major instant messaging networks (MSN, Yahoo, AIM, ICQ, Google Talk and others), allowing members from different IMs to chat and video conference with each other from one service
Integrates with all major social networks, including Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and others
Enables flexibility for integrating existing and future applications via its open standards platform

It currently supports Windows and Mac, with Linux support coming soon.

One interesting feature is Call-Back, which is similar to Jajah and a feature lacking in Skype.

Posted in Mobile Phones, Skype, TMCnet, Unified Communications, Video Conferencing, VoIP, Wireless

What's New in Administration and Management with Office Communications Server 2007 R2

October 31, 2008

With Microsoft OCS R2's pending release, I thought you'd be interested in seeing a video interview of Microsoft's Ananad Lakshminarayanan about some of the new features in Office Communications Server R2, which is Microsoft's popular unified communications platform. In the video you'll see some of the IT Admin specific features in OCS R2, which includes an OCS architecture planner to make OCS much easier to deploy. Essentially, it includes a wizard that you provide with your locations, users, and feature requirements and it spits out a detailed Visio style architecture for you, including recommendations for number of servers and locations, as well as bandwidth requirements. The wizard will even list out all the ports & IPs that you need to open.

They've added load balancing for Edge Servers for scalability.

Posted in Microsoft, SIP, TMCnet, Unified Communications