November 2006 Archives

A new white paper focusing on advertising revenue opportunities for telcos entering the IPTV and mobile entertainment space has been published by the research firm Detecon. Written by Susannah Spellman, a senior consultant at the company, the paper discusses a number of important topics, including how:

1. IPTV offers significant advantages for highly targeted and interactive ads that cable cannot offer, meaning that telcos will have a technology advantage over cable – if they are savvy enough to use it. e.

2. Continue Reading...

With all the buzz about newfangled battery technologies and lithium battery laptop explosions, wherefore the quaint old lead acid battery?

Peoria, IL-based Firefly Energy just announced that it will have an innovative carbon-graphite foam, lead-acid battery ready for production by the fourth quarter of 2007, following the announcement that the Caterpillar spin-off has completed a $10 million Series B equity round of financing, led by Milwaukee-based Stark Investments and including Caterpillar, KB Partners, the Illinois Finance Authority and the Tri-County Venture Capital Fund.

The Firefly Energy battery, which introduces the first significant improvement on lead acid battery technology in more than 150 years, is currently under development for use by the U.S. military and by lawn and equipment giant Husqvarna. After its initial production, Firefly will work to develop their advanced batteries for hybrid electric vehicles and hybrid trucks.

When compared to the current generation of lead-acid batteries, the Firefly Energy battery boasts:

- four times greater power density or less than 1/4 the weight
- double the life expectancy
- seven times faster recharge rate
- environmentally safer, using 80 percent less lead

The battery also supposedly has 1/10th the manufacturing cost of nickel metal hydride and lithium ion options.


Continue Reading...

BroadSoft held a grand opening ceremony for its new European Operations Center in Belfast earlier this week, and U.S. Consul General for Northern Ireland Howard Dean Pittman cut the ribbon to officially open the center. At the same time, BroadSoft announced that Irish broadband provider Digiweb was signed on as a new customer of its VoIP application software.

Digiweb plans to offer BroadWorks-enabled VoIP services to broadband and WiMax subscribers in Ireland.

Hosted IP-PBX service provider M5 Networks just announced it has signed up it's 500th SMB customer -- Dale & Thomas Popcorn, the famous, Oprah-salivating, New Jersey-based popcorn maker. With this milestone, M5 marks a 25 percent increase in its customer base over the course of this year.

In the midst of explosive growth with plans to open more than 200 retail locations nationwide, Dale & Thomas has tapped M5's outsourced IP phone system after suffering persistent downtime with a previous hosted IP phone system from SBC (now AT&T). The M5 implementatation was achieved with IT consultant partner Network Doctor.

Tomorrow, November 28, I'm honored to be the opening presenter at the 4th Annual Industry Conference on Broadband Communications and VoIP, hosted by the New York Society of Security Analysts (NYSSA). The event is a half-day investor conference attended by institutional investors and analysts, and features companies that want to get more exposure on Wall Street, and includes CTI Group, mPhase, and VoIP Inc.

The New York Society of Securities Analysts (NYSSA) is the premier membership organization on Wall Street for portfolio managers and security analysts, and the largest society of its kind in the world. Founded in 1937, it is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to educating investors and advancing the competence of investment professionals. Founders included Benjamin Graham, considered to be the father of security analysis.
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According to a new 2007 Industry Review study from Boonton, New Jersey-based Insight Research Corp., the worldwide telecom industry is in a strong growth mode, and overall industry revenue is expected to climbs to $1.3 Trillion in 2007.

According to the study, strong growth in wireless is leading the way as wireless service revenues are expected to grow at a compounded rate of nearly 10 percent over the next few years, while wireline service revenues grow much more modestly at two percent. Nearly all of the growth in both sectors is expected to occur in broadband services, with wireless broadband service revenues expected to grow at a compounded rate of more than 60 percent over the forecast period, while wireline services grow at 10 percent over the same forecast horizon.

“The 2007 Industry Review states that in the growth environment set off by the rush to meet subscriber demand for broadband services, service providers are trying to create viable business models on the fly in order to deliver new types of IP-based services, including Residential Video Telephony, Fixed Mobile Convergence, File Sharing/Downloading Services, Audio/Video Streaming Services, Location-Based Services, and Presence-Based Services.

The study highlights rapidly growing industry segments such as VoIP, WiFi and WiMax, fixed-mobile convergence, IMS, IPTV and streaming media, as well as technological innovations such as grid computing and DWDM and WDM in fiber optics. Continue Reading...

In the lastest mash-up of VoIP and a Web 2.0 application, Google's Click-to-Call feature is now available as a free enhancement to Google Maps. Here's how it works: After you find the specific selection you're looking for on a map, you can click on it and a small "click" link will appear. When you click on this link, you'll launch a small box to enter your phone number into. Then Google will call your number and connect you to the number of the map selection.

FYI, Google is using VoIP, Inc. to partner with in providing this service.

First, Skype announced that Skype for Mac 2.5 Beta is now available. The new version is specially designed with exclusive Mac-only features including the ability to send an SMS message to any mobile phone number in the world, and it allows users to make 10-way conference calls.

The second announcement is about an interesting new communications product and service bundle. Skype, SMC Networks and FON have combined their technologies to create a new bundle that makes it easy to enjoy Internet calls without any need for a PC. Continue Reading...

Rich Tehrani sent me this photo a while ago while he was traveling and meeting with TMC prospects and customers, and I thought it was worth sharing.

It's nice to see that people are still reading the ole' analog stuff, despite the surroundings  -- As a monthly contributor to Internet Telephony magazine, I sometimes wonder how many people actually read the stuff I write.

P.S. If you can't read the small print in the photo, click here to read the column, "The Voice Enabled Web Gets Its Groove On",  online...

I thought I'd seen it all. But then a friend of mine told me about a unique "half-suit" called the Businessbib created by Tucson-based designers Brad Denboer and Jeff Adkins. Their company, Klosk, operates under the philosophy that many everyday "objects can be re-invented."

If you're looking for a special something for a friend or family member who enjoys being a talking head during videoconferences, this just might be the perfect gift!

According to the designers, "the Businessbib allows you to look perfectly put-together in a fraction of the time it takes to boot your computer. You can work from home in your underwear while presenting a polished appearance to the people that matter most. Continue Reading...

In an effort to compete with Wal-Mart and other retailers, electronics retailer Circuit City has announced that it is offering a $99 Compaq laptop for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday. According to a copy of the Circuit City flyer posted on the bargain-hunting site Black Friday 2006, Circuit City is selling a Compaq notebook for $299 after instant and mail-in rebates, or $99 with rebates and a 12-month subscription to Vonage.

The laptop comes with an Intel Celeron processor, 512MB of memory, a 15.4-inch screen and a 60GB hard drive.

According to a posting on Slashdot, the Web celebrated it's 16th anniversary yesterday. According to W3.org, the first Web page was "http://nxoc01.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html" -- but alas, the site is no longer active. For those of you interested in the history of the Web, the W3 has a neat timelime of Web milestones.

SoliCall, a privately-held company, has developed new, real-time software that's designed to reduce background noises -- like screaming kids, barking dogs, weed wackers and lawn mowers --  during PC-based VoIP calls, based on personalized algorithms. The software is supposedly patent-pending, and promises to improve both the incoming and outgoing audio streams.

The SoliCall software is free, and according to company sources works with all the major softphones, including Skype, Yahoo! Messenger with Voice, and Google Talk.

The latest version of the software also includes an option for the users to see live graphs of the incoming and outgoing audio before & after SoliCall’s filtering to demonstrate the differences between the original audio and the new audio.

After a short installation process, the user can improve the noise reduction ability by recording a sample of his or her voice. Continue Reading...

Global IP Sound (GIPS) is making a GIPS VoiceEngine Mobile Lite software platform available for free to the GIPS Developer Community.

Based on the VoiceEngine Mobile platform, VoiceEngine Mobile Lite includes some components of the core GIPS technology used by many leading VoIP solutions providers including Skype, Tencent, and Inter-tel. With VoiceEngine Mobile Lite, developers can implement GIPS codecs as well as NetEQ, an advanced jitter buffer and packet loss concealment module, without having to license the solution. GIPS VoiceEngine Mobile Lite today supports Windows Mobile 2003, Windows Mobile 5.0 and 5.0 Smartphone devices with real-time performance Wi-Fi.

GIPS is partnering with a number of companies to offer additional mobile VoIP development tools. Continue Reading...

All self-respecting geeks know about the great value and selection of tech products that are available at newegg.com -- the site is a bonanza for deals, especially if you're a DIY (Do It Yourself) type of person. I've bought countless gizmos, cables and adapters, printers, and other essential and just plain cool tech items from them for years, and I think they have the best and deepest selection in many hard-to find-categories. The site is also a treasure trove for customer ratings, feedback and tips relating to the products in stock.

After checking the latest deals, I came across some great VoIP Open-Box specials (products that have been opened or returned but work just fine) -- specifically the NETGEAR SPH101 Skype WiFi Phone, on sale for $209.99 -- a savings of about $100.

Get 'em while you can! Continue Reading...