Tom Keating : VoIP & Gadgets Blog
Tom Keating
CTO
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VoIP

VoIP news, trends, and opinions, VoIP reviews. Covering Asterisk, Cisco, Grandstream, Polycom, Microsoft, Vonage, Packet8, etc.

Adobe Enhances Flash VoIP Capabilities

March 8, 2011

Even with Adobe's new Wallaby offering which aims to make détente with Apple in the mobile space, Adobe is still going full steam ahead in improving Adobe Flash, including its VoIP capabilities. Adobe just released Adobe Flash 10.3 beta, which makes some enhancements to its VoIP capabilities. Specifically, 'Acoustic Echo Cancellation', which enables developers to create real-time online collaboration experiences with high-quality audio, such as telephony, in-game voice chat, and group conferencing applications. Developers can take advantage of acoustic echo cancellation, noise suppression, voice activity detection, and automatic compensation for various microphone input levels.

Google Voice <strike>Supports</strike> SIP

March 8, 2011

We all heard the buzz surrounding Google killing off Gizmo5, including some peeved users like Todd Vierling. However, Todd Vierling then discovered that Google added SIP support to reach any Google Voice number. For instance, if you Google Voice number is 203-555-1000, anyone can now call you for free via SIP simply by dialing [email protected].

A bunch of bloggers picked up on Todd's discovery. Dan York, writes "Wouldn't it be great if you could call a Google Voice number directly via SIP?

Dialogic Launches High Density BorderNet 2020 Integrated Multimedia Gateway

March 1, 2011

Dialogic today launched their high density BorderNet 2020 Integrated Multimedia Gateway (IMG) for service providers. It enables “any-to-any” network connectivity, integrated signaling and increased capacity for service provider networks to handle more subscribers and more calls per second. Its next generation Dialogic BorderNet 2020 Integrated Multimedia Gateway features 2.6x the session capacity of the previous generation Dialogic IMG 1010 Integrated Media Gateway.

According to Dialogic, networks using a BorderNet 2020 IMG have achieved call rates ranging from 36-52 calls per second when connecting mobile or fixed line subscribers to mobile VAS and cloud-based services.

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.

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!
































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."

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