VoIP Peering

I just saw an ad on TV for Vonage World. Check it out on their homepage

UNLIMITED termination for $24.99 / month to these countries - many of which include cellular!

Andorra
Argentina
Australia
Austria
Bahamas*
Bahrain
Belgium
Brazil
Brunei*
Bulgaria
Canada*
Chile
China*
Colombia
Croatia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Dominican RepublicEstonia
Finland
France
Georgia
Germany
Greece
Guadeloupe
Guam*
Hong Kong*
Hungary
Iceland
India*
Iraq
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Japan
Jordan
KenyaLatvia
Luxembourg
Macedonia, Republic of
Macau*
Malaysia*
Malta
Mexico
Monaco
Netherlands
New Zealand
Norway
Peru
Poland
Portugal
Puerto Rico*
Romania
Russia
Saipan*
San Marino*Singapore*
Slovakia
Slovenia
South Africa
South Korea
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Taiwan
Thailand*
Turkey
United Kingdom
United States*
U.S.

From their recent press release .." XConnect, a London-based provider of peering and ENUM registry services to the telecom industry, has raised $10 million in Series B funding. Crescent Point Group of Singapore was joined by return backers Accel Partners, Grazia Equity and Venrock. The company previously raised $12 million in 2007."

I just spoke with Eli Katz, XConnect CEO and founder about the news and a few other things related to the VoIP Peering business and as usual he is spot on.

When the broadband mobile data pipe can be used to carry skype/VoIP and it is supported by the mobile service provider it's all over for the traditional mobile voice minutes business.

O2 allows mobile VoIP use, launches new wholesale broadband offering

We have arrived.

The DealCenter marches forward as it takes on yet another major telecom industry conference. This time it is none other than the ITEXPO!

This is very cool as it makes the entire conference experience more valuable. By being able to set up one-on-one meetings with prospective buyers/sellers before you go to the conference you can justify your trip and raise the probability of a successful outting rather than just a chance meeting at a booth.

I encourage everyone attending ITEXPO to use the DealCenter as a way to meet new people and manage your time more efficiently.

These topics are on a lot of minds today and that is a great thing for all of us in this industry. I am going to be moderating/leading two sessions at the IT EXPO West 2009 in LA.

Spread the word! I hope to see everyone there!

From Internet Telephony to Voice over Internet Protocol there was a shift. It was from voice over the public Internet to voice over the protocol itself but using a private network, or transport layer circuit rather than the public Internet. This distinction is subtle, but critically important.

Recently there has been much hype about cloud computing.

For those that missed the article I am blogging about it. I can get the stats from the blog on how many views I get, but do not get the same data from the magazine articles. Not that it diminishes the value of print or anything, but the message needs to get out.

As many sit and wait for the BTOP, A.K.A.

The upcoming IT Expo West in LA, CA September 1-3 will undoubtedly be stacked with several valuable sessions as always. I will be covering a couple of known subjects around a timely phenomenon - The Broadband Stimulus. The focus will be on the Broadband Stimulus and how it will potentially impact broadband VoIP deployment and use as well as investment in fiber and wireless technologies and their inevitable union.

I hope to see you there!

Do not even think for one second that VoIP Peering, or any of its various dimensions, are napping - and XConnect is the proof. In their latest announcement XConnect has laid down the VoIP Peering Law. For a quick recap here are the highlights...

1. The Global Alliance Community Web portal - a site containing the tools for finding peering partners based on their location, business type and service features supported, and creating and controlling all aspects of their peering policy on a peer-by-peer basis.

I recently had the chance to chat with Doug Ranalli, Founder and Chief Strategy Officer of NetNumber, the world's leading provider of converged, next-generation, portability-corrected ENUM, SIP, SS7/C7 and SIGTRAN addressing and routing technology to the global communications industry about their recent annoucement with XConnect.

Although we had a very stimulating conversation that included perspectives on the US Broadband Stimulus which is sure to ultimately help VoIP deployment and adoption in many ways Doug's quote from the release basically sums up the value of the XConnect relationship and how it will stimulate VoIP Peering...

"Fixed-line carriers and mobile operators that have deployed the NetNumber TITAN server can now query the XConnect registry via SIP and ENUM methodologies to identify routing details for millions of telephone numbers operated by service providers globally," said Douglas Ranalli, NetNumber's founder and chief strategy officer. "Future Carrier-ENUM and number-portability implementations will depend on the smooth integration of routing data from multiple registry providers, and this certification moves us in that direction."

This announcement received a decent amount of media attention from sources other than myself - which is great!

I had the chance to catch up with Shrihari Pandit CEO of Stealth Communications, owners of the Voice Peering Fabric. Aside from the usual highly stimulating conversation the short story is:

• The VPF now has over 350 (increasingly enterprise) members
• Over 56 Million active numbers in the VPF ENUM registry hitting peaks of 1 million successful calls (lookups) per day
• An annual run-rate of over 537 Billion minutes as of March 5th

There is a lot happening with the VPF, so much that Shrihari hasn't even had time to communicate it all. The progress is evident in the increasing number of members, and call volumes which seem to be accelerating even in this down economy. It looks like the enterprise IT managers might be beginning to realize the benefits of VoIP Peering now that many of them have migrated to VoIP and been running with it for a while.

From a February 8th, 2009 Rice University News Release

"In the first real-world test of a revolutionary type of computing that thrives on random errors, scientists have created a microchip that uses 30 times less electricity while running seven times faster than today's best technology. The U.S.-Singapore team developing the new technology, dubbed PCMOS [pronounced "pee-cee-moss"], revealed its results in San Francisco TODAY at the International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC), the premier forum for engineers and scientists working at the cutting edge of integrated-circuit design."

"...PCMOS piggybacks on the "complementary metal-oxide semiconductor" technology, or CMOS, that chipmakers already use. That means chipmakers won't have to buy new equipment to support PCMOS, or "probabilistic" CMOS. Although PCMOS runs on standard silicon, it breaks with computing's past by abandoning the set of mathematical rules -- called Boolean logic -- that have thus far been used in all digital computers.

There is a lot going on in the world of broadband development these days even if it is one-sided and a bit misunderstood. The US House passed the $819billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act - with no Republican support at all. What does that tell us? I'm not really sure.

Skype IS Internet-based VoIP Peering and a very good example of it. Proving the point that multi-lateral (free) calling is preferred over the next best choice in a least-cost route Rich Tehrani just blogged about an Om Malik analysis of Skype's numbers in an eBay filing.

Two very powerful elements of multi-lateral VoIP Peering, compounding viral growth and user cost savings realized from it, were captured in this comment by Rich,

"The problem as you might imagine is Skype-to-Skype minutes are growing much faster than SkypeOut and this only makes sense when you consider broadband is spreading and computers are getting much cheaper. In fact you can potentially justify a netbook from your telephone savings of a month or less in some countries/situations."

The "problem" being referred to is that the growth of multi-lateral is a hit to Skype revenue.

I was searching for some current data on the effects of broadband development on the economy and came across this posting. I actually was not very surprised that it's from a fellow TMC blogger. The reports mentioned tell the true story. Broadband drives productivity and growth, both personal and business, which drives the economy.

Build it, they are already there!

Let's hope we can get it going fast enough to save the US!