FCC Deregulates DSL

By Ted Glanzer

In a highly anticipated move, the Federal Communications Commission recently voted unanimously to remove regulations that required legacy phone companies to provide network access to their competitors. Specifically, the Commission ruled that DSL is an information service instead of a telecommunications service, essentially leveling the playing field with cable operators. While the distinction sounds rather arcane, the stakes behind the classification change are enormous. First, RBOCs are no longer required to lease their DSL lines to non-affiliated ISPs. Additionally, the new ruling will alter (reduce) how much of their DSL revenue RBOCs must contribute to the Universal Services Fund. There is a grandfather provision that requires RBOCs to continue to provide network access to their competitors for one year. Also, RBOCs must contribute a portion of their DSL revenues to the USF based on current calculations for 270 days, or until the FCC adopts a new contribution standard. To be sure, the rule change has not caught anyone off guard. Indeed, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin has pushed for DSL deregulation ever since the Supreme Court handed down its decision in the Brand X case in June. In that decision, the high court upheld the FCCs rule that cable companies are not required to share their broadband lines with competitors. [The new rule] ends the regulatory inequities that currently exist between cable and telephone companies in their provision of broadband Internet services, Martin said. [L]eveling the playing field between these providers has been one of my highest priorities. . . . [T]he actions we take in this Order are an explicit recognition that the telecommunications marketplace that exists today is vastly different from the one governed by regulators over 30 years ago. Even though the vote was unanimous, not every commissioner was completely sold on the sweeping change. Were the pen solely in my hand, this is not the Order I would have drafted or the procedural framework I would have chosen, Commissioner Jonathan S. Adelstein said. This Order, however, reflects meaningful compromise by each of my colleagues, and I appreciate the efforts to address many of my concerns about issues including the stability of the Universal Services Fund, access for persons with disabilities, and the ability of competitive carriers to access essential input facilities. Nevertheless, according to sources within the FCC, Martin and his fellow commissioners were so driven to level the broadband access playing field that staffers worked around the clock to prepare for the announcement. While many have speculated that the new rule will spell the end of competition for broadband services, some industry analysts disagree. [W]ith growing pressure (both regulatory and market-driven) on RBOCs to proliferate naked DSL as primary line erosion continues, the door will increasingly be open to non-facilities-based VoIP competitors, stated an analyst at Deutsche Bank.
www.fcc.gov

StarVox Launches Next-Gen Voice Services Via Its VoIP Networks

By Ted Glanzer

StarVox Communications, Inc., a facilities-based service provider, announced the launch of its VoIP network for the delivery of next-generation voice services. StarVox works with a variety of channels (ISPs, CLECs, Telecom agents, carriers, affinity groups, etc.) that are interested in migrating customers from traditional separate voice and data communications applications to a converged voice/data connection. The company, according to a statement, is in a unique position to do so quickly and at a low cost because it owns its core application technologies and the network used to deliver its applications. The advanced applications we are offering enable the channel partner to compete effectively against competitors offering next generation solutions, said Doug Zorn, StarVox CEO, in a prepared statement. We are offering a product suite to both retail agents and wholesale partners who want to integrate the products with their existing solutions. StarVox domestic VoIP network has over 300 points of presence (POPs) nationwide reaching 80 percent of business customers. The network is comprised of redundant softswitch sites connected via a private IP VPN network backed up with a diverse MPLS-based ATM backbone. Among the features contained in the domestic VoIP network are the following:

Protocol mediation supports a variety of VoIP and PSTN protocols, including H.323, SIP, MGCP, SS7, C7, ISDN and others.
VoIP origination enables service providers to deploy services including IP Centrex and Unified Communications applications for their customers, providing local and toll-free numbers;
VoIP to VoIP Serves as an intermediary between non-related VoIP networks, completing calls in a native IP environment while maintaining carrier-grade QoS.

StarVox also owns and develops the following technologies:
VoIP trunking including local, long distance, toll-free and international calling in metered, flat rate or bundled packages, including all traditional voice services, such as 911, directory assistance and local number portability.
VoIP Virtual Private Network (VPN) hosted non-metered calling between various subscribers VoIP last mile sites;
IP-based Unified Communications, including display of voice messages on e-mail screen, attachment of voice messages to e-mail, single number reach and other advanced features.
Dedicated IP Centrex Service: VoIP network extended to the customers premise and maintains a network-hosted phone system that eliminated the need for a customer premise-located PBX or key system.

By owning the applications and the network, [StarVox] can achieve faster reaction to customer requests, Rich Barry, StarVox vice president of marketing, told TMCnet in an interview. Indeed, under normal circumstances service providers purchase applications from third party developers and offer network services dependent on these developers. This, according to the statement, typically results in long lead times to react to evolving customer needs and the ability to control vendor development priorities. Service providers dont have the subscribers that give them the power to persuade vendors to make them their number one priority, Barry said. Its really hard to get a third party to change its priorities. With the transition of corporate communications to a converged IP network, Barry said that business customers can expect the much faster development cycles associated with IP-based products versus the slow traditional deployment of new TDM-based voice services. As a result of the forgoing, Barry said that he sees a major shift from TDM to VoIP connections. Millions of lines are going to be switched, Barry said.
www.starvox.com

MCI Speeds Up Rollout Of Wholesale VoIP
By Robert Liu

Because of the current red-hot market demand for IP-based communications, MCI has accelerated its product development to roll out a wholesale Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) product suite earlier than initially planned. MCI recently announced immediate availability of the service that was originally set for later this year. The VoIP enablement services include Carrier IP Termination, available throughout the U.S., and SIP Gateway Service, available to roughly half of all U.S. business and residential customers. The accelerated rollout comes at a time when more than half of all CIOs recently polled by Deutsche Bank stated they either have already deployed or were planning to deploy in the next 12 months some form of VoIP service. Meanwhile, on the consumer side, cable operators and independent service providers like Vonage and Skype are ramping up their marketing and sales efforts. As the IP marketplace develops, MCI said it has adapted its approach to TDM functionality. The Carrier IP Termination product is ideal for customers who have already purchased media gateway equipment and desire to obtain the cost advantages of originating IP traffic and terminating that traffic over a fully integrated global network. MCIs wholesale VoIP enablement services provide our customers with a carrier of choice that owns and operates an IP-centric network necessary to compete in todays market, said John Krummel, senior vice president of MCI Wholesale Services, in a press statement. To help support the new product suite, MCI has slightly re-engineered the sales process. Wholesale customers interested in getting into the VoIP market will now work with a dedicated VoIP sales team that includes senior management, sales professionals, specialized engineering technical consultants, and program implementation personnel, the company said.
www.mci.com

Portugal Mobile Operator Deploys IMS-based PoC Service
By Robert Liu

Motorola has deployed a Push-To-Talk over Cellular (PoC) network for Optimus and the Portuguese mobile operator has signaled that its 2.1 million customers will have the ability for other IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) services in the near future, the handset maker announced recently. Albeit small, Portugals telecommunications market is among the most advanced in Western Europe. In mid-2005, mobile and Internet usage are among the highest in Europe and broadband adoption is far above the EU average. So its no wonder that operators like Optimus, formed only in 1998, have embraced burgeoning new technologies like Motorolas IMS platform. This comes despite analysts predictions that real-world IMS deployments wont like come until 2007 or 2008 in the U.S. But while U.S. telecom execs continue to sort through the promise and the hype surrounding the emerging IMS standard, Optimus is now offering its subscribers the opportunity to make walkie-talkie style mobile conversations with individuals or groups of contacts. Optimus subscribers will initially have a choice of PoC handsets; the Motorola V400p and Symbian Series 60 devices with the Motorola PoC Client. Depending on the success rate and market acceptance, Optimus executives believe more IMS services could be forthcoming down the road. "'Push-to- x' applications are expected to develop considerably over the next few years with compelling roadmaps, for which Optimus wants to be ready," said Miguel Almeida, Chief Operational Officer for Optimus. Motorola is far from the only handset maker that's embraced IMS-based PoC functionality. Nokia and Ericsson have also issued white papers detailing their Push-To-Talk over Cellular offerings. Unlike what Motorola manufactures for Nextel for its so-called "Direct Connect" service in the U.S., PoC is an IP-based technology that uses cellular access and radio resources as opposed to circuit-switched cellular services. The platform allows operators to not only deploy voice but other applications like Push-To-Text, Push-To-View, Push-To-Video, etc. But Optimus turned to Motorola because of existing relations Motorola helped deploy the operators 3G network in 2004.
www.motorola.com

CallWave Launches First Prepaid VoIP Mobile Phone
By Ted Glanzer

People who either cant afford or dont want to commit to a long term cellular phone contract have a new option to obtain mobile service: a pay-as-you-go mobile phone that has VoIP features. Indeed, CallWave, Inc., a provider of VoIP enhanced services for consumers and small businesses, has announced the availability of the CallWave Mobile prepaid cell phone, which, according to a press release, is the first pay-as you go phone service with VoIP enabled features. According to the release, the VoIP features, which include Mobile Call Screening, Mobile Call Transfer, and Follow Me Home, are designed to assist customers to stretch their airtime, control their costs and enjoy higher quality phone service. For example, the Follow Me Home feature enables subscribers to receive their mobile calls on their home phone instead. FMH is automatically activated when the prepaid cell phone is turned off or if the phone is on and loses network coverage. Mobile Call Screening allows users to listen to voice messages in real time; a user has the option of interrupting the message at any time to take the call. Another feature, Mobile Call Transfer, permits users to instantly transfer a live cell phone call to a home or office phone. If a subscriber has run out of minutes, the service will still take a message and deliver it to the subscribers e-mail or PC software. Along with the VoIP features, the press release states that the first 1,000 customers to purchase the service at CallWavemobile.com will receive a free Nokia phone with 60 minutes. All subscribers are provided AT&T nationwide coverage. Additionally, there are no charges for in-network roaming, in-network long distance, or service termination. The service costs $3.95 per month; "refill" minutes cost extra, starting at $10 for 40 minutes.
www.callwavemobile.com

NetCentrex Adds To Its IMS Portfolio Expansion, Acquires NeoTIP
By Ted Glanzer

NetCentrex has moved a step closer to offering a complete IMS architecture by acquiring NeoTIP. NetCentrex, Inc., a developer of next-generation converged voice and video solutions, added key component in its effort to offer a complete IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) architecture with the announcement that it entered into an agreement to acquire NeoTIP, a European-based supplier of session border control technology (SBC). The two companies, both of which are headquartered in France, are kindred spirits with similar cultures and, therefore, arent expected to experience the growing pains associated with many acquisitions, NetCentrex Vice President of Marketing Brian Mahony told TMCnet in an interview. It also didnt hurt that NeoTIP is profitable. The crown jewel in the deal, however, is NeoTIPs SBC technology, which delivers security and quality assurance to VoIP and other services, according to the release. SBC will be folded into NetCentrex IMS developments component (the Proxy Call Session Control Function in particular). Managing network borders cannot be performed by regular network services such as routers, softswitches or firewalls, NeoTIPs Web site states. As IP technology is becoming the foundation for delivering advanced applications to consumers and enterprises, operators demand increased security and quality of service without increased complexity or cost, said Olivier Hersent, chairman and CTO of NetCentrex, in a press release. Mahony said the acquisition is a natural progression for both companies in light of the rapid evolution of IMS. It just makes sense, Mahony said. NetCentrex full commitment to IMS puts the company in a favorable position to assist service providers in delivering data and fixed-mobile services to consumers and enterprises quickly and efficiently. NetCentrex is growing; were waking up and being aggressive, Mahony said. Were doing what we need to do to be a major player.
www.netcentrex.net

Zultys Intros WiFi VoIP Phone
By Johanne Torres

Gadget lovers rejoice! Zultys Technologies has announced that it will introduce the WIP 2 wireless IP phone. The WiFi VoIP device will be available this month. With this release Zultys joins a growing number of VoIP product and service providers that are currently designing such devices. The device is designed to allow users to take their VoIP service from a stationary PC to a more mobile environment. Nearly 80 percent of our customers have asked us about WiFi VoIP products, explained Iain Milnes, president of Zultys Technologies. They tell us they would like the ability to take their desktop IP phone with them rather than have a second mobile unit with reduced capability. Other WiFi IP phones coming into the market today dont provide users with enough features or sufficient battery life. The WIP 2 excels in all areas. The company had announced a desktop version of the WIP 2 wireless IP phone back in March. The wireless device has all of the features and functionality found in the companys desktop version such as open standards, Linux operating system and SIP compatibility. The device also features two call appearances and supports voice encryption, paging, three-way conferencing, presence, instant messaging (IM), and all other telephony functions commonly found in landline telephone services. The phones battery life lasts for four hours of continuous talk time and 12 hours of standby time. The phone also allows users to access functions like call hold, call transfer, and DND. The device bundles the companys jitter buffer, speaker-phone and full duplex acoustic echo cancellation (AEC). The paging feature is supported on the MX family of IP PBX products from Zultys. The company explained how this feature worked in a news announcement released today. Using a single button on the WIP 2, a user can initiate paging to a group, thereby emulating push to talk capabilities within the enterprise. Such a feature is invaluable in construction areas, medical facilities, or any other organizations where immediate communications is mandatory. The WIP 2 is in trials now with quantity shipments beginning in September. Pricing for the WIP 2 will also be announced in September. The announcement goes to show that WiFi IP phones are becoming increasingly popular, and industry insiders have started to notice the trend. In fact, according to a recent study conducted by Infonetics Research titled WiFi Phones Biannual Worldwide Market Size and Forecast, revenue for these devices totaled $54.7 million in 2004 and units totaled 143,000. The firm predicts a strong growth through 2009 as steady adoption of voice over WiFi continues.
www.zultys.com

WiFi VoIP Handset Market Expected To Grow Significantly
By Johanne Torres

Internet telephony industry insiders know that the technology buzz is all about the gadgets. This year Ive noticed that developers have been pretty busy designing Internet telephony devices that let us take our VoIP calls wherever we go. After all, I can only hope that these devices will one day replace my expensive contract-bound cell phone. Analysts have noticed the trend and predict that mobile WiFi VoIP handsets worldwide revenue is set to multiply at a rapid speed. According to a recent study conducted by Infonetics Research titled WiFi Phones Biannual Worldwide Market Size and Forecast, revenue for these devices totaled $54.7 million in 2004 and units totaled 143,000. The firm predicts a strong growth through 2009 as steady adoption of voice over WiFi continues. Whats the latest in mobile devices you ask? I have noticed that developers are designing hybrid WiFi/cellular handsets. The devices roam between cellular and IP-based networks bundling the connections seamlessly to prevent phone call disruption. The study found that the revenue for these devices hit $6.7 million in 2004. Analysts believe that WiFi capability will eventually become a common feature in cell phones, just as it is becoming standard in laptops today. Research revealed that despite the WiFi VoIP handsets market being currently small; it is indeed one with great potential. Analysts believe that in logistics and healthcare verticals in particular, VoWLAN is already gaining momentum and will become widespread throughout the enterprise as VoIP and wireless LAN adoption continue. The study also found that there is potential for notable growth in the consumer space, as VoIP services and wireless gateways are bundled with a broadband connection. More dual-mode WiFi/cellular handsets will reach the market, enabling enterprise users to roam across 3G networks, home networks, corporate wireless LANs, and WiFi hotspots. Some challenges remain, such as QoS, roaming across different wireless platforms, and the relatively short range of WiFi signals, but with vendors currently addressing these issues, it is likely well be at the foot of the adoption bell-curve by mid-2006, concluded Richard Webb of Infonetics Research, author of the report.
www.info.infonetics.com

Trinity Convergence Announces Availability, New Customers Of VoIP Software
By Ted Glanzer

Trinity Convergence, a provider of voice and video over IP software solutions, announced the availability of VeriCall 4.0, a turnkey voice-over-Internet-protocol software framework for telecom infrastructure and equipment manufacturers. According to the release, the new version offers equipment manufacturers a platform to develop connected and wireless VoIP products, such as wireless gateways, integrated access devices, IP-PBXs and media gateways and delivers even more flexibility, enabling transcoding between any combination of TDM and IP networks. New enhancements to the software include the following:

Support for multi-party conferencing and caller ID; and
Integration with the Freescale MSC8122 digital signal processor.

Trinity wasted no time in announcing in a separate release that Pannaway Technologies, Inc. and Quantm Voice Systems are the first customers for the new VeriCall VoIP platform. The VeriCall framework supports Pannaways desire to create the most comprehensive and robust platform available for delivering converged voice, video and data services over broadband, Kevin Brown, vice president of marketing for Pannaway, said in a prepared statement. Our award-winning Broadband Access Switch family is a key component to our end-to-end IP platform and requires VoIP functionality that is capable of evolving with the needs and requirements of our customers.
www.trinityconvergence.com

RADVISION Teams With TTPCom, Adds Video Telephony To 3G
By Johanne Torres

Attention handset developers: if you are looking for a way to quickly integrate video telephony capabilities to your 3G designs, RADVISION and TTPCom might just have the solution. RADVISION, a protocol toolkit provider for developers made news as it joined TTPCom Ltd., a wireless terminal developer, for the companies to integrate video telephony capabilities into its AJAR mobile applications platform for wireless handsets using RADVISIONs 3G-324M Toolkit. TTPComs AJAR allows handset manufacturers wanting to design low to high-end multimedia phones to quickly customize the end-user interface as well as implement third-party apps. The AJAR platform features include multimedia messaging, browser functionality, player/recorder/camera support, and intelligent text-entry. RADVISION is the acknowledged leader in Internet Protocol (IP) and 3G signaling protocol development kits, said Morten Iversen, director of partnership programs at TTPCom. When we began looking for a partner to add high-end multimedia and video telephony capabilities to our AJAR handset development platform, RADVISION quickly rose to the top due to its field-proven technology, market leadership, and up-to-date, reliable, industry-standard protocols. RADVISIONs 3G-324M Toolkit includes features with the necessary capabilities to develop multimedia communication systems for 3G networks and terminals. The company said the toolkit is fully compatible with 3G-324M enabled devices is optimized for minimal dynamic memory usage, yet offers outstanding performance. Version 3.0 of the 3G-324M Toolkit is currently available worldwide. We are very happy to team with TTPCom and have our advanced 3G-324M technology integrated into AJAR, said Adi Paz, senior director of product management and marketing for RADVISIONs Technology Business Unit. TTPCom is rapidly gaining traction in the handset development market and its customers can gain a competitive advantage by quickly adding video telephony capabilities to their next-generation wireless handsets with AJAR. This latest news follows RADVISIONs recent announcement about the company releasing Version 2.5 of the RADVISION Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) Server Platform. The new release offers interfacing to external databases as well as enabling the development of presence servers and events packages. Other features include the SUBSCRIBE/NOTIFY mechanism and presence message format, Winfo, PUBLISH, and XML encoding/decoding.
www.radvision.com
www.ttpcom.com

Empirix Unveils Voice Self-Serve App And VoIP Net Combo Tester
By Johanne Torres

Empirix, Inc., just unveiled the Hammer CallMaster 5.0, an automated testing tool for both voice self-service applications and VoIP networks. The new device tests voice and speech applications as well as VoIP environments, allowing users to launch higher quality apps in a short amount of time. The company described the Hammer CallMaster as a robust software solution that runs on top of Empirix Hammer test systems to enable users to quickly and easily create test scenarios using a visual scripting interface. Those scripts can be deployed in a pre-deployment setting for testing, or in production to proactively monitor and manage application performance. Empirix claims that users report that Hammer CallMaster simplifies the testing process considerably, thus lowering overall testing costs and enabling them to perform more testing in less time. Speech and VoIP technologies are becoming more prevalent in contact center environments, but as with any new technology, they both present Quality of Service challenges, said Wes Hand, product manager for the companys Contact Center Solutions Group. Automated testing from the caller perspective is the most efficient way to identify and correct customer-impacting issues. Hammer CallMaster reduces the most significant barrier to implementing automated testing by making it very easy to map out call flows and create test scripts. The Hammer CallMaster has a visual interface which enables drag-and-drop, point-and-click test creation and execution, along with expanded reporting and analysis capabilities for quicker identification of problem sources. The tool features an Integrated Grammar Administration, which allows IT personnel to remotely manage both test scripts and supporting grammars from a single remote desktop interface; enhanced scheduling capabilities for monitoring based on time-of-day, and day-of-week; support for Windows 2003; and enhanced ISDN support, which provides extended programming capabilities for testing. The Hammer CallMaster is available starting at $25,000 per seat plus $25,000 per server.
www.empirix.com

GL Launches PPP Protocol Analyzer

GL Communications, Inc., a leading provider of test and measurement products for the telecom industry, announced the release of a new protocol analyzer, PPP Protocol Analyzer, designed to capture and analyze various PPP protocols over IP network. The Point-to-Point protocol (PPP) is a link layer protocol, which is generally used to establish a direct connection between two network nodes over a serial link. Today, the PPP protocol standard finds wide use in synchronous connections between LANs, bridges, routers, and other intermediate devices. GLs PPP Protocol Analyzer is designed to capture and analyze a suite of PPP protocols such as LCP, NCP, PPP BPDU, PAP, CHAP, HTTP, SNMP, FTP, DNS, and DHCP. The tool allows a test engineer to monitor, capture, and perform numerous measurements across WAN-LAN or LAN-LAN connections. It also includes the ability to test and analyze HDLC-based PPP protocols in a synchronous environment. Some of the main features of PPP Analyzer are listed below:

Compatible with Windows 2000/XP operating systems with user friendly GUIs.
Works with GLs field proven Ultra E1 or T1 internal cards or Laptop E1 or T1 external units. Other interfaces also available soon.
Supports analysis in real-time as well as offline.
Supports both PPP routed and PPP bridged protocols.
Supports data transmissions on single channel, sub channels or hyper-channels.
Allows exporting detailed information to an ASCII file: all captured frames or only filtered frames defined by a comprehensive filter criterion and raw frame data as hexadecimal and ASCII octet dump.
Allows exporting summary information to a comma-delimited file for subsequent import into a database or spreadsheet.
Supports statistics display based on frame count, byte count, frames/sec, bytes/sec, and more for the entire capture data.
Supports call records and message trace to be monitored remotely and centrally using NetSurveyor.
www.gl.com

Pandora Networks Chooses Sangoma

Sangoma Technologies Corporation announced Pandora Networks has selected Sangomas AFT Series of TDM hardware as an integral part of its On Demand IP communications solution. Capable of handling both voice and data and supporting all popular open source projects, Sangomas AFT Cards are designed for performance, reliability, compatibility, support, and ease of installation. With less demand on the host CPU, drivers take advantage of the AFT technology to substantially reduce the processing required to handle TDM voice calls. This reduces the CPUs workload and results in fewer dropped calls, less jitter and better voice quality for callers. Sangomas family of AFT cards are among the most robust and complex the industry has to offer the result of our more than two decades in LAN/ WAN networking and numerous hundred thousands produced and successfully installed, says Sangoma Technologies President and CEO David Mandelstam. That Pandora has selected our hardware after a meticulous evaluation of the marketplace is proof-positive of our four tenets for which we are becoming increasingly known: quality; compatibility; performance and unparalleled support. Some of the AFT card features include:

Compatible and Flexible. Sangomas voice/data cards are self-sensing for 3.3v and 5v PCI slots and software configurable for T1, E1 or J1. They share interrupts properly between themselves and other PCI compatible devices, supporting unlimited numbers of cards per PC chassis. Conforming to the 2U form factor, both in height and length, the AFT cards allow users to install many cards in a slimline 2U chassis to maximize server capacity.
High performance. Sangoma cards have been carefully designed to reduce CPU loads in TDM environments, improving system performance and reliability on larger systems.
Trust and quality. As part of its commitment to quality assurance, each Sangoma card is individually inspected and burned-in prior to shipment in protective anti-static wrap complete with cables, manuals and CDs. The result is an almost zero dead-on-arrival rate and high reliability in service.
Unparalleled support. Sangomas fully engaged engineering support for both its hardware and software is unrivalled in the industry.
www.sangoma.com
www.pandoranetworks.com

FrontRange Releases IPCC 5.0
By David Sims

FrontRange Solutions USA, Inc., a service management, CRM, and voice application vendor is announcing the availability of IP Contact Center 5.0. The new version of FrontRanges Voice Over Internet Protocol-based software suite features quality management and integration with other FrontRange product families, including the companys HEAT, GoldMine Corporate Edition and the new IT Service Management modules. The release is pitched squarely at contact center managers who continue to scrutinize and manage costs meticulously, emphasizing its integration to business applications, which reduces both implementation time and costs. FrontRange IPCC 5.0 is designed, company officials say, to enable users to train staff more effectively with features like the optional module quality management with which a supervisor can record calls with server based recording and call rating. Its a growing field: The Pelorous Group recently released a study predicting that the total global market for contact center recording systems will grow from $487.9 million in 2004 to $705.8 million in 2009. Sales for selective recording systems will flatten and full recording systems increase due, primarily, to declining storage costs, legal requirements, and contact center needs to mine deeper databases to find root causes of performance deviations, the group predicts. Kevin J. Smith, FrontRange Vice President of Products called 5.0s rapid deployment and reduced implementation key benefits for their target demographic: Customers want a solution that is easy to use without sacrificing power and flexibility. Other product features include the quality management module, which allows supervisors options of one-way listening, coaching agent without customer hearing it or conference participation. Theres also a business application integration which is designed to lessen the requirement for middleware and costly professional services.
www.frontrange.com

Pillar Data Systems Chooses Nuasis IP-based Contact Center
By Johanne Torres

IP contact center provider Nuasis Corporation announced it was picked by Pillar Data Systems, a provider of enterprise storage systems, to deploy its Nuasis NuContact Center for Pillars customer service contact center operation. Our decision to purchase the NuContact Center was based on our desire to have the right technology in place from the start. The IP-based system gives us the flexibility to customize the system to fit our needs. Whether it be fulfilling a disaster recovery requirement or establishing 24/7 availability for our customer service center, Nuasis has created a product that empowers its customers to meet their business goals, said Dave McCroskey, vice president of Customer Service, Pillar Data Systems. The hub-and-node architecture of the Nuasis system contains failover and bypass capabilities to protect against the loss of a voice call under a variety of outage scenarios. According to the companys announcement, if communication is lost between a hub and node or if a node experiences a network or PC outage, calls in progress and in queue are automatically redirected to another node on the network. For this particular deployment, Pillars main node of their Nuasis system is located at their primary customer service contact center in California while the failover or second node is located at the companys development center in Colorado.
www.pillardata.com
www.nuasis.com

Salesnet Announces Significant Upgrade
By David Sims

Salesnet, a provider of on-demand CRM software, is announcing what company officials call a significant upgrade to its enterprise product offering, introducing over 50 product enhancements. These new product additions are a prelude to Salesnets upcoming 25th Anniversary Edition, anticipated for a winter release, which will include over 250 wide ranging features that, in the words of a company spokesman broaden Salesnets CRM footprint into Campaign Management, Lead Management, Product Catalogs, Order Management, and much more. Jonathan Tang, President and Co-Founder at Salesnet, promised the so-called Anniversary enhancement will be the most extensive enhancement in the companys history. In this current release, geared towards enterprise customers, Salesnet is introducing over 50 direct feature product enhancements to its flagship on-demand CRM product. Key new product enhancements include:

Deal Fields in Communication Manager. This allows users to create proposals, quotes, and opportunity summary documents using the Salesnet MS Word integration, at four times the speed.
Custom Field Enhancements. These allow finer-grain control of custom field attributes: user/position-based default values, user/position-based access to individual dropdown field values.
Reporting Privileges. These include the ability to control multiple levels of access to the reporting engine.
Deal Import Wizard. This has the capability to create and import deal records, extensive to round-robin deals to sales groups within the organization and newly added ability to stagger deal creation across a period of time.
www.salesnet.com

Popular Telephonys Peerio Signs An SMB Deal With Vocalpad
By David Sims

Popular Telephony, provider of serverless peer-to-peer communications products, has signed a distribution and licensing agreement with Vocalpad, a provider of VoIP services to establish the VAR channel for SMBs in Spain, South Asia, Middle East and African countries. Theres also a licensing deal to integrate Peerio in Vocalpads core product lines. Popular Telephonys Peerio products will be part of Vocalpads product portfolio, offering SMBs serverless end-to-end peer-to-peer with the direct connectivity to PSTN and mobile networks. Vocalpad offers long-distance and international carrier services with access to VoIP products and technical and customer support. Hassan Ghandour, the CEO and founder of Vocalpad, says Peerios unique serverless design opened up a whole new outlook that will potentially impact our corporate offering, as well as their Web-based and device-based services. Peerio serverless middleware resides in the endpoints (PCs with PeerioBiz soft-phone or Peerio-embedded IP phones) connected over a corporate LAN. Peerio-intelligent endpoints collectively create an enterprise telephony system, providing traditional PBX features along with modern functionalities. You can make calls with it on Baby Bell POTS as well. Specializing in the VoIP connectivity and system integration services for SMBs, Vocalpad is currently integrating the PeerioBiz serverless soft phone in a number of financial institutions in Europe and the Middle East. Vocalpad plans to use Peerio SDK to develop and customize functionalities specifically tailored for its customers, as well as a variety of custom interfaces to the PeerioBiz serverless soft phone system.
www.populartelephony.com
www.vocalpad.com

GIPS Joins Symbian Platinum Partner Program

Global IP Sound (GIPS) announced that it has joined the Symbian Platinum Program to support the growing market for smartphones based on Symbian OS. As a Platinum Partner, GIPS is extending its VoiceEngine Mobile platform to the Symbian ecosystem. Symbian develops and licenses Symbian OS, the operating system that powers todays most popular smartphones. Symbian OS is licensed by the worlds leading mobile phone manufacturers. To date, more than 32 million Symbian OS phones have shipped to over 200 network operators worldwide. This partnership reflects our commitment to the Mobile Voice- over-IP market and our intent to build upon our mobile VoIP strategy, said Gary Hermansen, President and CEO of Global IP Sound. By becoming a Symbian Platinum Partner, we can further expand our VoiceEngine Mobile platform and strengthen our relationships with users, application developers, smartphone manufacturers and network operators. VoiceEngine Mobile for Symbian OS empowers OEMs to extend the mobility of VoIP to end users. The platform helps these companies create products that are easy to use and provide better-than PSTN voice quality even without in-house Voice-over-IP expertise. VoiceEngine Mobile allows manufacturers of mobile, IP-enabled products to capture all of the benefits of GIPS VoiceEngine technology-superior voice quality, accelerated product development and technology specifically designed for packet networks.
www.symbian.com
www.globalipsound.com

Voda One Streamlines Delivery Of IP Telephony Solutions

Voda One, a specialty distributor of networking and communications technology solutions and a division of the multi-national Westcon Group, Inc., announced that it is serving its enterprise customers more efficiently by handling final channel assembly on the Avaya Modular Messaging product. By performing these functions at the distributor level, Voda One is able to deliver IP telephony solutions to its enterprise customers by up to 75 percent faster than previously possible. By bringing Avaya Modular Messaging products to market faster, Voda One enables BusinessPartners to realize revenue recognition on an accelerated basis. Voda One already performs final channel assembly for Avaya Communication Manager IP telephony and TDM servers. Robert Linder, vice president of sales for Voda One, commented: Avayas new program helps us make our BusinessPartners more competitive by enabling us to deploy complex convergence solutions on an expedited basis. These solutions, which are assembled in a dedicated integration facility in our warehouse, are totally customized to fit the need.
www.vodaone.com

TelTel Unveils New SIP-Based Public Internet Telephony

TelTel, a provider of SIP-based global Internet telephony with presence-enabled features, announced the availability of a new Public SIP Telephone Network (PsipTN). While maintaining an interface with the PSTN, the PsipTN powered by TelTel is designed to enable a new generation of SIP-based applications and services, and create new revenue opportunities for service providers and application developers. Unlike a traditional PSTN that only handles voice traffic, the new SIP-based virtual network is capable of carrying voice, multimedia, and audio/video content. TelTel is also using the SIP protocol to enable TelTel users, service providers, application developers, and product vendors to join together to take advantage of SIP capabilities to enable communication and commerce. By taking advantage of the open SIP standard, new value-added services and products will be regularly available to TelTels rapidly growing community. The new platform provide numerous commerce and co-branding opportunities such as customizable softphones and Web pages, billing, call center, and provisioning applications, as well as information/entertainment media channels for devices and services. For example, an Internet service provider can offer customers VoIP calls under their own brand and use PsipTN to route the calls and provide billing services. Additionally, vendors can offer their customers so-called TelTel Ready handsets and personalized ring tones. The goal of TelTel is to fulfill the great potential of the open SIP standard. said Benedict Tse, VP of Product Management of TelTel. PsipTN creates an environment that fosters and facilitates innovation, as well as revenue potential for developers and service providers.
www.teltel.com

Tekelec Expands IMS Portfolio With Acquisition Of SIP Routing Provider iptelorg

Tekelec announced they have purchased German and Czech-based iptelorg GmbH, developer of leading-edge Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) routing software, securing a critical IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) capability for Tekelec. Weve been collaborating with iptelorg for the past year because of the fast, purpose-built Call Session Control Function [CSCF] capabilities of its SIP Express Router, said Fred Lax, Tekelec CEO. What became clear to us was that we wanted to do more than license this technology we wanted to own it, build on it, and make it a central part of our IMS strategy to bring the same level of carrier-grade reliability, scalability and innovation to our customers rapidly growing SIP signaling needs that we provide for their SS7 networks. The fact that IMS networks are very signaling intensive plays to our strength, Lax continued. Integrating SIP-signaling applications with our SS7 applications provides a perfect complement to our portfolio, supporting customers with legacy and next-gen environments alike. We help operators evolve their networks at the pace and scale that make sense for their businesses.
www.tekelec.com

Eicons Diva Server To Enable SIP-based VoIP Telephony

Eicon Networks Corporation announced recently that it will provide SIP-based gateway software to enable VoIP calls to easily traverse between Microsoft Office Communicator 2005 and legacy PBX systems by using Diva Server telephony adapters and Microsoft Office real-time collaboration (RTC) applications. The SIP-based gateway software is designed to enable users to seamlessly make PC-to-phone and phone-to-PC audio calls through the standard public switched telephone network (PSTN). Microsoft Live Communications Server 2005 is a real-time collaboration platform that enables people to connect and work together in real-time using web and data conferencing along with instant messaging and audio/video collaboration. It supports linking corporate telephone systems and computers together to integrate private branch exchanges (PBX) and the PSTN with an IP network. This requires an IP-to-PSTN Gateway to allow users to make and receive calls to and from enterprise-wide PBX extensions or external PSTN phone numbers using Communicator 2005. The forthcoming SIP-based gateway software from Eicon adds this IP-to-PSTN gateway functionality to any Diva Server telephony adapter (PCI-board) and this can be installed into a server along with Live Communications Server 2005 to provide an integrated gateway. This allows both PC-to-PC as well as PC-to-phone and phone-to-PC voice calls.
www.eicon.com/divaserver