TMC Labs Innovations Awards
[ Go Right To The Awards
Winners ]
This feature is the first presentation of our new TMC Labs Innovation
Awards. Although this magazine and our sister publications (Communications
Solutions� and Call Center CRM Solutions�) have long
published Product of the Year awards, we collectively decided that it was
time to make a new award -- one based on not just the "best" (or
best-selling) few products in each category, but instead on raw innovation,
uniqueness, and significant contributions to the industry. It is our intent
that this will be TMC's most prestigious award, selected by and for
engineers. Combined, the 20 products below represent, in the opinion of TMC
Labs, the most important contributions to the Internet telephony industry
during the past 12 months. Also, please note that although most of the
awards are given to specific products, others are given to vendors for their
entire product offering, in cases where the contribution is a suite rather
than a particular product.
TMC Labs
Awards Winners
Aplio/PRO
Aplio, Inc.
1670 S. Amphlet Blvd.
San Mateo, CA, 94402
Ph: 800-461-4038
Fx: 650-655-4065
E-mail: [email protected]
Web site: www.aplio.com
Of all the problems that Internet telephony technology can solve, perhaps
the simplest and most tangible is point-to-point calling for individual
users. There are clients like Microsoft's NetMeeting, Web solutions like
PhoneFree.com, and cut-rate telephony services like Net2Phone. But for
single users who have big long-distance bills, the best solution is a
PC-less VoIP appliance.
In our opinion, the best VoIP appliance is the Aplio/PRO. About the size
of an answering machine, the Aplio/PRO offers a broadband connection (for
use with DSL or cable modems) and compliance with the H.323 protocol to
enable connections to NetMeeting and similar products. The emphasis on such
products is that no computer is required -- the products simply attach to
your telephone line, or in this case, to your DSL or cable modem through an
Ethernet connection. They also include an analog pass-through port, so you
can still use your telephone for normal PSTN calls.
So, with the half-dozen or so similar products on the market, what's
unique about the Aplio/PRO? Using the product here in TMC Labs, we found
that its sound quality is good, with some latency but low amounts of jitter,
echo, and choppiness. The product is easy to use and configure. When coupled
with a third-party product like Superford's Virtual Private Netswitch, the
Aplio/PRO becomes a gateway. This means that if you're in California and you
need to call Boston, you could use NetMeeting to call your Aplio/PRO in New
York, and you'd only pay for a New York-to-Boston call.
Aplio's competitors also have useful features: Innomedia offers the
InfoTalk V, which does not have a broadband option, but which includes basic
content delivery, an LCD screen, access to their InnoSphere network, and the
optional EXR gateway. DSG's InterStar is another competitor, as is the
product from FoneFriend Systems, which offers remote configuration from the
vendor. More interesting is the Komodo Fone 300, from Komodo Technology,
which includes both H.323 and SIP options. Still, for SOHO environments or
for end users who call the same long-distance number often, the Aplio/PRO is
the best choice for ease of setup, economy of scale, and overall usability.
[ return to list of winners ]
AudioCodes
AudioCodes, Inc.
2841 Junction Ave., Ste. 114
San Jose, CA 95134
Ph: 408-577-0488
Fx: 408-577-0492
E-mail: [email protected]
Web site: www.audiocodes.com
For a few years now, AudioCodes has been a leader in the Internet
telephony market, especially when it comes to voice compression. As one of
the originators of the G.723.1 compression codec, AudioCodes has
continuously paved the way for advancing VoIP technology. Recently,
AudioCodes has developed NetCoder, which is a new voice codec that many say
has improved on the G.723.1 and G.729a codecs. Many major companies in the
industry, such as Lucent Technologies and Clarent Corporation, have already
adopted NetCoder in their products with reported first-rate quality.
NetCoder, as well as voice-over-packet processors, has also helped companies
maintain prescribed levels of quality of service (QoS) with its dynamic
bandwidth allocation functionality.
AudioCodes has contributed to the Internet telephony industry with
various products, consisting of voice-over-packet chip processors and
protocol stacks, media gateway modules and subsystems, and VoIP
communication boards. TMC Labs was especially impressed with AudioCodes'
TP-600 cPCI VoIP Communication Board, which incorporates the benefits of all
of the products into one board. It provides a sizeable 192-voice/fax ports
and VoIP packet streaming over IP networks with MGCP and H.323 support. Of
course, there are also VoIP communications boards available with less
voice/fax ports that are used for smaller companies. These boards enable
high-performance, open communications gateways that are used to connect
traditional telephone networks with packet voice networks.
It was these groundbreaking products and the ideas behind the products
that were the major reasons why TMC Labs was impressed enough to give
AudioCodes our award. From what we have seen from them thus far, we expect
AudioCodes to continue to provide exemplary products and help the Internet
telephony industry grow.
[ return to list of winners ]
Telegra VQT
Agilent Technologies
5070 Centennial Blvd.
Colorado Springs, CO, 80919
Ph: 800-452-4844
Fx: 719-531-4526
Web site: www.agilent.com
The Telegra VQT is one of the industry's most acclaimed fax- and
voice-over-IP testing products, providing PSQM, PSQM+, MOS, and PAMS scores
in real time. Such tools are vital for industry maturity -- without them,
there would be no way of guaranteeing QoS statistics, either in the outside
cloud or within your enterprise. By establishing levels of call quality
acceptance and rejection, system administrators can determine exactly where
and why a call over IP went wrong, and what to do to fix it.
The Telegra VQT can also test for echo, latency, voice activation, and
DTMF dialing. It works with both analog and E&M interfaces, on FXS and
FXO ports, and it can simulate previously captured network conditions, with
all results displayed in graph form.
Like some of the other winners listed here, the Telegra VQT system has
formidable competition, but in this case it stands out for its usability
(the test applications are Windows-based), competitive price, and overall
feature set. Plus, unlike some of its competition, it is backed by Agilent,
which has a long history of building industry-standard testing products.
Products from Hammer, Zarak, Ameritec, Gordon Kapes, GL Communications, and
others are just as good in some respects (and actually better in others),
but Telegra's solution is among the most thorough and comprehensive.
[ return to list of winners ]
CallManager/IP telephones
Cisco Systems, Inc.
170 West Tasman Dr
San Jose, CA, 95134-1619
Ph: 800-326-1941
Fx: 408-526-4100
E-mail: [email protected]
Web site: www.cisco.com
Several years ago, when Internet/LAN telephony was still in its infancy,
a little known company called Selsius Systems visited TMC Labs (then CTI
Labs). The Selsius representatives brought out several phones from some
containers and laid them out onto our conference room table. Our first
thought was, "Gee, another phone system." But then something
magical occurred. We saw them connect one end of a CAT-5 network wire
directly to one of the phones and the other end into a network hub. Our
Monday morning dreary eyes widened, we sat up in our chairs, and our mouths
dropped wide open. Executive Technology Editor Tom Keating quipped, "Is
that what I think it is?"
Sure enough, it was an IP-based telephone -- the first one that we
actually saw in person. If ever there was an "innovation," this
certainly was it. Cisco must have been just as impressed with the demo that
we saw because they bought out Selsius Systems and incorporated Selsius
Systems' technology into Cisco's "AVVID" product line, which
stands for "Architecture for Voice, Video, and Integrated Data."
TMC Labs noticed that the Selsius IP-based telephone required a huge AC
adapter plugged into each phone for power. We inquired if there was a way of
getting power from the network wire itself, which they said they were
working on.
Today, there still isn't a ratified standard for inline-power across
network wires, but there is a standards body working on it. This is a bit
tricky, because you don't want to plug a "powered" network wire
into a network card that wasn't designed to handle the extra current --
you'll blow the card. Some companies have come up with their own proprietary
method of providing power to IP-based telephones, such as using an unused
pair on an RJ-45 network wire.
A standards body is working on a standard that can run on top of a used
pair (non-destructive), so that you can still run at 100Base-T. The latest
Cisco IP phones (which work in conjunction with Cisco's CallManager
software) include an LCD display, as well as in-line power accepted from an
integrated Catalyst switch card or the Catalyst in-line power patch panel.
Other features of Cisco's IP phones include a two-port 10/100Base-T switch
interface to ensure QoS, virtual plug-and-play operation, and easy
administration for changes, moves, or additions.
[ return to list of winners ]
Clarent Carrier Solutions
Clarent Corp.
700 Chesapeake Dr.
Redwood City, CA, 94063
Ph: 650-306-7511
Fx: 650-306-7512
E-mail: [email protected]
Web site: www.clarent.com
Clarent's gateways and gatekeepers, in our opinion, are some of the best
available -- and the corporation has the sales figures to prove it. Their
product line of VoIP equipment, designed for high-traffic carriers, includes
network management, fax, and traffic monitoring products.
Some of their gateway's highlights are remote management, high
scalability, SS7/ISDN-PRI support, H.323 and multiple codecs to choose from,
real-time fax, and T1/E1 compatibility. With their Command Center,
ThroughPacket, and Gatekeeper products, Clarent's solution is perhaps the
most comprehensive available. Features of the Command Center include all
detail billing support, fault-tolerant operation, dynamic call routing,
Web-based management, and inter-network call completion and settlement.
ThroughPacket is the traffic manager; it features a reduction of bandwidth
usage, reduction in router congestion, and better network prioritization.
Lastly, the gatekeeper features centralized service delivery, complete
routing, rating, standards-based interoperability (with H.323 version 2),
and a Java-based GUI.
It's true that several vendors offer gateways with similar feature sets,
but what sets this product apart is its accomplishments in scalability, high
reliability, and total solution feature set. Too many companies, in our
opinion, simply give you a gateway and leave you alone; the Clarent carrier
solutions provide an end-to-end managed and high-density network for VoIP
traffic.
[ return to list of winners ]
CUseeMe Networks
(formerly White Pine Software)
CUseeMe Networks, Inc.
542 Amherst St., Nashua, NH 03063
Ph: 603-886-9050
Fx: 603-886-9051
E-mail: [email protected]
Web site: www.cuseeme.com
White Pine Software recently changed their name to CUseeMe Networks,
partly because of wishing to be associated with their brand name, but the
name change also shows their commitment to the Internet telephony industry.
They now seem to be fully dedicated to consumer video chat and corporate
video conferencing software. Besides the name change, the most recent and
obvious examples to furthering themselves to these ends are CUseeMe World
and their MeetingPoint software, which includes Windows and Linux-based
versions. TMC Labs has examined both the CUseeMe World Web site and the
MeetingPoint software. While neither is perfect, we do recognize the
commitment and innovation behind what CUseeMe Networks has done.
Laura Guevin, managing editor of INTERNET TELEPHONY�, tested
CUseeMe World with the help of TMC Labs and wrote
about it in an online column. She chronicles much of our experiences
with the site. Yes, the application that the site offers as well as the site
itself need some work, but CUseeMe World is also unique in that it gives
users an environment that will not offend anyone and may lead the way in
creating real-time audio/video conferencing over the Web. This application
could potentially be valuable to SOHO users and service providers.
MeetingPoint, reviewed in the November
1999 issue of Internet Telephony, is a software-only, multimedia,
multipoint conferencing solution. Having the ability to enter a virtual
conference room and share documents on an existing IP network is appealing
for business and training purposes and could be the wave of the future.
MeetingPoint's large feature set is commendable, and it works with virtually
any conferencing system. MeetingPoint's use of the Linux operating system
makes the product that much more impressive. It is this type of ingenuity
that is required in this industry, and we award CUseeMe Networks for that
reason.
[ return to list of winners ]
CyberFone
CyberNet Group, Inc.
997 Old Eagle School Rd., Ste. 215
Wayne, PA 19087
Ph: 610-989-9330
Fx: 610-989-9366
E-mail: [email protected]
Web site: www.cyberfone.com
According to Bill Gates, we live in the "PC-plus" era.
According to Larry Ellison, we live in the "post PC" era. Both may
be correct, but much smaller companies are leading the trend in appliance
computing. One such vendor, CyberNet Group, is providing the communications
solution for the future in one package called CyberFone. A true Internet
appliance, CyberFone is an instant-on, standalone device that is one of the
first communications convergence appliances geared specifically toward
personal use in the home and business. Designed with Web browsing and e-mail
as its main functions, it combines the power of a desktop computer with the
convenience of a compact size to offer a wide range of advanced
communications features. The result of this technology is a complete
communications solution that brings together the modern capability of
computers, communications, and visualization in a single terminal device.
In addition to offering the standard telephone capabilities, CyberFone
also includes video conferencing features, VoIP functions, document and
graphical editing, and Internet browsing. The product includes several key
"PC" applications (like a word processor) combined with complete
telephony capability. With VoIP technology, businesses are able to
communicate with clients or employees located virtually anywhere in a more
efficient, cost-effective way. A software application used with CyberFone,
known as the Virtual Meeting, uses a "whiteboard" feature that
allows multiple users to edit and work on the same document simultaneously
from different locations via a shared paint program-type environment.
Also attractive about CyberFone is the ease of installation and use.
Creative new technology in a familiar form results in a product that does
not require extensive training to operate. The core of the CyberFone unit
consists of a 233 MHz Cyrix processor with 32 MB of RAM, an integrated
8" display screen with a 640x480 resolution, and 16-bit color. Also
included are a laptop-sized keyboard and a touch screen with a stylus pen
for easier data entry and system navigation. The hardware installation
basically involves plugging the unit into a standard outlet and then
connecting it to a standard telephone line. It's important to note that
while the current version of Cyberfone actually runs Windows 98/2000 and
includes a hard disk for installing software applications, the new version
coming out this fall will be scaled down to Windows CE -- with no hard disk.
CyberFone is a cost efficient alternative in personal information
appliances. It provides information on a real-time basis and in a simple,
inexpensive, and familiar form. Although there are many competitors in the
new appliance-computing field, such as the more popular devices from
InfoGear and Netpliance, CyberFone is the best of what's actually on the
market, and it's the only one with VoIP. It's obvious to us that CyberFone
is more than prepared to meet the need for a convergent communication device
in the ever-changing world of communications technology.
[ return to list of winners ]
Dialpad.com
Dialpad.com, Inc.
2953 Bunker Hill Lane, #400
Santa Clara, CA, 95054
Ph: 408-588-4688
E-mail: [email protected]
Web site: www.dialpad.com
Did you hear that Porsche is giving away 1,000 FREE Porsches to the first
1,000 visitors to their Web site? Before you start tripping over your own
feet, running to your computer to hit www.porsche.com
as one of the first 1,000 visitors -- relax... We're only kidding. Although,
lately it seems you can get just about anything for FREE on the Internet.
Free PCs, free Internet access, free voice mail, free e-mail, free music,
free digital cameras, and who knows what else? Well, guess what? Now you can
have FREE PC-to-phone calls utilizing Dialpad's service. Dialpad.com, Inc.,
a privately-held company in Silicon Valley, developed the Internet's first
free, Java-based, Web-to-phone telephone service. Several competitors have
now offered similar services, but Dialpad was the first and certainly the
fastest growing company in this space. Currently, Dialpad has a whopping 6.5
million registered users!
Dialpad makes its money from advertising displayed on its graphical user
interface. All that is needed is Internet access, a browser, and a Windows
PC with a microphone and speakers or a headset to call nearly anyone in the
United States. The sound quality varies, depending on your
Internet bandwidth (dial-up, ISDN, broadband), as well as the speed of your
processor and even the quality of your sound card. With a full-duplex sound
card and a decent Internet connection, you can make free PC-to-phone calls
with decent voice quality. Certainly, Dialpad has helped bring Internet
telephony to the forefront of the mainstream press and to the general
public.
[ return to list of winners ]
Phone Doubler
Ericsson, Inc. Datacom Networks
77 South Bedford St.
Burlington, MA 01803
Ph: 781-505-6100
Web site: www.ericsson.com
For many years now, a common complaint of dial-up Internet users is that
being online hogs their telephone line. Many users have moved to a second
line, and a lucky few ones live in areas where broadband connections are
available, but the vast majority of us still use a 33.6 Kbps or 56 Kbps
dial-up ISP. So, many users wonder why call waiting doesn't work with a
modem connection.
A handful of products exist that merely alert you to incoming calls when
you are online, and there are others that bounce an "I'm busy online, I
will call you back later" message to the caller. Finally, however,
there is a more thorough VoIP solution to the problem of Internet call
waiting, from Ericsson.
It's called Phone Doubler. The way it works is that the product is
installed at the ISP. Incoming calls to your home or office are routed
through your PC, and if the client software sees that you are online, the
call is rerouted back to the ISP, converted to a digital VoIP call, and
again routed back to your PC, where you can accept the call over your
multimedia system -- all without having to disconnect from the Internet.
We think this solution is brilliant. In trying to solve the Internet call
waiting problem, Ericsson engineers actually invented something better than
call waiting, because you can stay online and take your phone call
simultaneously. If they had followed the literal definition of call waiting,
then you'd only be able to do one of those tasks at a time, and you'd have
to switch between them.
Since this product debuted, other companies have copied it, and a few
companies have even made "literal" Internet call waiting gadgets
(i.e., the switching between your Internet connection and PSTN method).
Ericsson's Phone Doubler provides an excellent new feature for the end user,
an excellent new revenue stream for the ISP seeking to stand out from the
competition, and an excellent example of how to use VoIP technology in an
innovative and useful way.
[ return to list of winners ]
Hammer.323 Call Generator
Hammer Technologies, Inc.
205 Lowell St., Wilmington, MA, 01887
Ph: 800-HAMMER-IT
Fx: 978- 988-0148
E-mail: [email protected]
Web site: www.hammer.com
Imagine a world where you could only call people who used the same brand
of telephone as you. Your average person would say it's ridiculous to even
consider that scenario, but if you're reading this magazine, then you likely
know that such considerations are a reality of the current state of the
Internet telephony industry.
Enter standards, like H.323, SIP, MGCP, and the others. H.323 version 2
currently stands alone in its market penetration, but with multiple
companies manufacturing their own "ITU-compatible" versions of the
protocol stack, true H.323 interoperability is far from reality.
The Hammer.323 software is one of the only Windows-based products
available to test these connections. It does so by generating and receiving
multiple "true ITU" H.323 calls to and from your product via a
gatekeeper. By making use of extensive real-time monitoring and logging,
developers can see exactly where their H.323-compliant product went awry.
Hammer.323 is one of several products that we've tested and still use
here in the laboratory. Using it to develop test situations, we can
configure options like the pause-between-calls interval, the maximum number
of simultaneous calls, the number of script repeats, and error
handling/logging. We can route calls with or without a gatekeeper, and we
can choose to play the ITU voice prompts using different codecs, like
G.711a-law and mu-law, G.723.1, and G.729a. We can make tests of up to 30
distinct steps, which include sending DTMF tones, and we can link to
external files for connection strings, SQL statements, etc.
Other features of the Hammer.323 software include the ability to place up
to 50 simultaneous calls, or 5,000 calls per hour; adjustable call lengths
and loop tests; a real-time status display; detailed connection and
tear-down reports in .TXT format; and template-based test script saving.
We expect the Hammer engineers to develop similar products for SIP, MGCP,
and any other voice-over-packet protocols that become popular. In the
meantime, we find that the Hammer.323 product is an invaluable tool, and
it's definitely worthy of an Innovation Award.
[ return to list of winners ]
HearMe
HearMe, Inc.
685 Clyde Ave.
Mountain View, CA 94043
Ph: 650-429-3900
Fx: 650-429-3911
E-mail: [email protected]
Web site: www.hearme.com
When TMC Labs learned of the plethora of products offered by HearMe, we
knew almost immediately that this company was responsible for some
impressive software. HearMe offers personal products, such as VoiceCREATOR
and VoiceCONTACT, and business products for distance learning, e-commerce,
interactive online events, business conferencing, and for Web communities.
VoiceCREATOR allows visitors to your Web site to talk to each other while
viewing a page. This type of application can do wonders for drawing visitors
and keeping them on your Web site. In similar mode, VoiceConnect is like an
instant messenger client using voice instead of just chat. HearMe has also
joined up with ICQ to allow for speech while using the ICQ chat software.
All of these applications have their uses and are forerunners to what is to
come on the Net.
More important, however, are HearMe's business products. Lately, there
has been a surge of e-commerce Web call-through applications. HearMe offers
these as well as callback capabilities with a quick download that can reach
customers behind a firewall. In addition, HearMe offers multipoint
conferencing in which participants can view who is online, who is speaking,
and who will likely speak next.
Also impressive are the Web communities and interactive online events
applications. The software for Web communities is based on the other
applications and allows for simultaneous speech for multiple users with text
chat engines, a record and playback feature, and instant messenger
capabilities. Building on that application, online events can be interactive
because audiences can talk or chat with speakers or panelists and can ask
questions or make comments in real time. Moderators make sure the event is
orderly and clean spoken. On a similar note, distance learning can be
attained from student to teacher over the Web. All of these new interactive
methods are what TMC Labs envisions to be a major part of the future, and we
honor HearMe for their pioneering spirit.
[ return to list of winners ]
ITXC
ITXC Corp.
600 College Rd. East
Princeton, NJ, 08540
Ph: 609-750-3333
Fx: 609-419-1511
E-mail: [email protected]
Web site: www.itxc.com
With this award, TMC Labs recognizes ITXC's contributions to the Internet
telephony industry. ITXC is the largest Internet Telephony Service Provider
(ITSP) and is renowned for building its global network -- ITXC.net, in which
gateways from two different companies can exchange calls. They are heavily
involved with the iNOW! consortium and are a major part of the industry's
interoperability and convergence push.
We would like to note that ITXC is a Tier 1 Internet telephony carrier,
not a clearinghouse. To understand ITXC as a company, one must know the
difference between the two. A clearinghouse finds customers to buy minutes
to a particular destination through a seller; they do not manage a network.
A Tier 1 Internet telephony carrier is a network operations center. ITXC has
over thirty resellers or carriers, who connect through a SNARC (customer
premise equipment that eliminates the cost and circuit provisioning delay of
PSTN backhaul to a long-distance provider's switch) or connect switch to
switch to ITXC.net. In turn, these resellers and carriers currently have
millions of minutes of inexpensive international calling.
ITXC's services, such as WweXchange, bDIRECT, Borderless800, and
webtalkNOW, are striking. Authorization and intelligent routing to a
company's customers is provided using the WweXchange service. Carriers,
calling card companies, and resellers may use the bDIRECT service to provide
subscribers direct international access to their own voice services. The
Borderless800 service offers non-U.S. carriers access to toll-free numbers
in the U.S. The webtalkNOW service, which offers a turnkey solution so that
companies that provide portals can call inexpensively from the Web to any
phone, impressed us most of all.
[ return to list of winners ]
Fusion
Natural MicroSystems, Inc.
100 Crossing Blvd.
Framingham, MA, 01702-5406
Ph: 800-533-6120
Fx: 508-620-9313
E-mail: [email protected]
Web site: www.nmss.com
A few years ago -- 1997 to be exact -- when Internet telephony was still
in its infancy, TMC Labs tested the first officially released IP telephony
board from a leading voice-processing board manufacturer. Natural
MicroSystems (NMS) was the first major voice-processing board manufacturer
to come to market with an IP telephony board. In probably the first-ever
comprehensive test drive of a VoIP card, written in the November 1997 issue
of CTI magazine (now Communications Solutions, www.tmcnet.com/articles/ctimag/1197/testdrv001.htm),
TMC Labs was very impressed with NMS' IP telephony hardware, which was used
in Inter-Tel's IP telephony gateways. Other leading IP telephony gateway
manufacturers also used the NMS line of VoIP telephony boards.
Natural MicroSystems' Fusion product family includes PCI and CompactPCI
boards, all providing a common software development environment, which can
be used to create IP telephony gateways, IP-enabled enhanced services
platforms, and wireless IP telephony gateways. Fusion includes support for
the H.323 specification, the International Multimedia Teleconferencing
Consortium's (IMTC's) VoIP Implementation Agreement, the iNOW! Profile, and
a growing list of emerging protocols like the Media Gateway Control Protocol
(MGCP) and Session Initiation Protocol (SIP). Vocoders supported include
G.723.1, G.729A, G.711, and ETSI GSM, and this product also supports both
real-time (T.38) and store-and-forward fax (T.37).
With this plethora of acronym soup that Fusion supports, developers can
create applications with configurations from four analog ports to multiple
T1s/E1s with little or no increase in latency or decrease in performance,
and can scale to up to a dual E1 (60 ports) of IP telephony in a single PCI
slot. Fusion utilizes the industry-standard CT Bus (H.100/H.110) as a
switching fabric among digital signal processor (DSP) resources, PSTN
interfaces, and LAN ports, easing integration with other CT Bus-compliant
products.
[ return to list of winners ]
Click2Talk
Net2Phone, Inc.
171 Main St.
Hackensack, NJ, 07601
Ph: 201-530-4000
E-mail: [email protected]
Web site: www.net2phone.com
Web contact using VoIP technology is quickly becoming the most important
standard by which today's leading call centers are judged. Companies must
now be able to hold their own when it comes to answering the call for
improved Internet capabilities. Their success in this niche of the Internet
telephony industry determines their overall reputation as well. As a result,
along with the emergence of this revolutionary new technology is a wave of
new services and applications that will ultimately change the way people use
technology to communicate.
Net2Phone is one company that is leading the pack of technology-driven
competitors in the Internet telephony industry. Their main business-oriented
product, Click2Talk, is a voice-over-IP service that gives consumers the
ability to increase the power of their personal computers. While Click2Talk
may not be the most popular product offered in the Internet telephony
industry, it is one of the most innovative. The reason is that Click2Talk
operates solely as a service-based ASP model. It provides an e-commerce
solution that allows visitors to a vendor's Web site the opportunity to
connect, using VoIP, to live sales or service representatives using an
existing Internet connection. To the impulsive-buying consumer, it is a
quicker and easier way to receive assistance while on the Internet. Simply
clicking on an icon will initiate a call from their PC directly to an agent
that is specified on the Web site. Being able to interact directly with a
representative while surfing a company's Web site is a breakthrough in how
technology can enhance communications. And what is truly interesting about
Click2Talk is the fact that Net2Phone delivers this advanced technology to
consumers as a hosted service to the vendor, as opposed to the CPE model
that most of its competitors have adopted. Thus businesses are able to take
advantage of the technology without having to purchase or maintain any
hardware components.
Net2Phone has successfully managed to stay true to their mission to
voice-enable the Internet. Currently, only a short list of competitors offer
a product with Web call-through, a technology that enhances communications
between companies and their clients in a cost effective way. Creating
products such as Click2Talk has helped them to maintain their leadership
role in the Internet telephony industry and influence the impact of emerging
new technologies.
[ return to list of winners ]
xpressa
Pingtel Corp.
400 West Cummings Park, Ste. 2200
Woburn, MA, 01845
Ph: 781-938-5306
Fx: 781-938-9650
E-mail: [email protected]
Web site: www.pingtel.com
When Pingtel came to give us a demonstration, we were immediately
impressed with their VoIP phone, called xpressa. As soon as we looked at the
phone's stylish design and found out that it was Java-based, the word
"cool" established its way out of at least one TMC Labs engineer's
mouth. After we found out about the many features that xpressa had to offer,
a few more "oohs" and "ahhs" could be heard.
Pingtel's xpressa integrates modern phone applications with the servers
and PCs on the Net, which is called Web-Telephone Integration (WTI). It uses
JTAPI for call control Java applications in the Windows NT environment. It
also sports a PDA-like, grayscale LCD screen with a scroll knob, a help/menu
key, 11 soft keys, and eight hard keys. The phone's feature set includes
more speed dial numbers than a user will ever need, call forwarding, hold,
transfer, caller ID, and multi-party conferencing. There is even the ability
to create up to a six-party call conference using an MS Outlook appointment
to automatically set it up. Additional features include voice mail and
e-mail handling, call recording, call scheduling, and the ability to
personalize rings, messages, and music, and find me/follow me capabilities.
Overall, xpressa works well as a companion to a PC.
As for VoIP, Pingtel has already demonstrated SIP interoperability on a
number of occasions and could add support for other Internet telephony
protocols as well. The IP phone also supports the G.711 and G.729a/b codecs.
For even better audio quality, xpressa features voice activity detection
with silence suppression.
The innovation that Pingtel has shown with their xpressa IP phone
demonstrates the type of ideas necessary to allow the Internet telephony
industry to excel. We liked its Java-based paradigm so much that we rate it
highly even among the exclusive list that we have presented for these TMC
Labs awards.
[ return to list of winners ]
The Cloud 2.0
Shunra Software, Ltd.
139 Kenilworth Rd.
Ridgewood, NJ, 07450
Ph: 201-652-7366
Fx: 201-652-7734
E-mail: [email protected]
Web site: www.shunra.com
A common issue in laboratory environments is simulating real-world
conditions. Whether you're developing new client/server software or trying
to guarantee QoS for VoIP calls, there are always real-world concerns that
just don't arise in the lab. A very clever solution to this problem -- which
we like so much that we use it regularly here in TMC Labs -- is The Cloud,
from Shunra Software.
The Cloud is a Windows-based WAN emulator and WAN capturing tool. In the
emulation mode, the software is configurable to make any kind of network
traffic degradation, such as packet loss, packet damage, latency, jitter,
lack of bandwidth, etc., and these settings can be done by precise or random
amounts. In capture mode, the software takes a snapshot of live network
conditions, which you can send via e-mail to a remote lab. For example, if
you're testing a product in your Miami lab for use on a VPN in the Pacific
Northwest, you can "capture" that network's conditions and
implement them back in the Miami R&D office. This way, when the product
is ready, there won't be any surprises when it is actually implemented.
The Cloud has several other useful features, like support for misordered
packets, duplicate packets, and IP fragmentation. It can emulate bit error
rates and link disconnections, and provide real-time analysis and logging.
Scripting support is available through a command line interface, and the
product runs on either Windows NT 4.0 Workstation or Server.
The Cloud also has a sister product, called Storm. Storm allows emulation
of multiple WANs on a single box, which is an essential feature for service
providers. Our hands-on experience with this company has shown us that their
products are extremely easy to use and to configure, and we recommend them
very highly. The Cloud in particular is excellent for companies of all
sizes, and for many other uses in addition to Internet telephony.
A final note: To be fair to other innovators, we'd like to recognize the
EMIP-1, from a company called CC&T Technologies. Their product is very
similar to The Cloud, except that it runs on a Linux platform. With some
improvements, the EMIP-1 might win this award next year. For more
information, see our product review from the August
1999 issue.
[ return to list of winners ]
IAF Horizon
Solect, A Division of Amdocs
55 University Ave., Ste. 1500
Toronto, ON, Canada, M5J 2H7
Ph: 416-363-7844
Fx: 416-363-1011
E-mail: [email protected]
Web site: www.solect.com
Internationally, there is a need for IP billing and customer care
software. ISPs, CLECs, ITSPs, and ASPs all need to remain competitive in
their respective marketplaces, whether it is to increase their services or
to lower overhead. For this reason, there are many companies that have
entered the IP billing space in the last few years. In this space, Solect's
Internet Administration Framework (IAF) Horizon stands out of the pack,
especially now that the software provides a focus on the specific needs of
ASPs from a single platform.
For adding new services and managing a large number of subscribers, IAF
Horizon allows ASPs to congregate multiple ISPs and package many
applications, and is designed for the Virtual ISP (VISP) business model. IAF
Horizon's key features include the Virtual Product Console, which allows
VISPs to create their own pricing plans in a secure manner; the QuickBrand
toolkit, which saves time and money because branded interfaces can be
created without extensive coding and program recompiles; and Provisioning
Data Collectors (PDC) Plug-ins for new services to be billed in days or
weeks instead of months. These features are just a few of the many
innovations inherent in IAF Horizon that are designed to target specific
segments in a service provider's ever-changing market.
Also of note is Solect's choice to work with Nokia and Ericsson to offer
billing solutions for the mobile IP market. With new enhanced services being
introduced into this market, such as e-mail, Internet access, and
e-commerce, a new, flexible IP billing scheme is required to keep up with
the technology. In this fashion and with IAF Horizon, Solect has
demonstrated an ability to update their software with innovation that solves
real concerns that service providers face.
[ return to list of winners ]
Sonus OSA
Sonus Networks, Inc.
5 Carlisle Rd.
Westford, MA, 01886
Ph: 978-692-8999
Fx: 978-392-9118
E-mail: [email protected]
Web site: www.sonusnet.com
Just about every industry pundit is claiming that eventually the telco's
circuit-switched networks will be rendered obsolete by packet-based IP
networks. Certainly, TMC Labs also believes this to be true (eventually),
but what about today? Companies have invested millions if not billions of
dollars in circuit-switched network infrastructure, which they certainly are
not going to throw out. So how are telcos and service providers going to
provide enhanced services such as IP telephony, video conferencing,
integrated voice and data, Web, and more? Certainly the traditional
circuit-based world cannot handle these types of services. The answer lies
in "bridging" the worlds of IP and circuit-based networks, so that
telcos and enhanced service providers can leverage their existing
investments (circuit-switched) while adding additional flexibility and
functionality via open-platform IP networks.
Sonus Networks is one vendor pioneering this technology. The Sonus Open
Services Architecture (OSA) will support any application developed on
standards-based IP servers. Carriers can now create and offer new services
or applications that seamlessly integrate voice and data, or voice and Web,
etc. Sonus utilizes open APIs allowing equipment from multiple vendors to
interoperate. Carriers can flexibly combine services developed internally,
by network equipment providers, and by third parties. The OSA also supports
SS7 SCP legacy applications, so carriers are able to continue to offer them.
A few examples of legacy SCPs include 800-number translation and Local
Number Portability (LNP). Also, utilizing Sonus Networks' OSA, service
providers can take as little or as much of the voice traffic as they choose
and migrate it over to data networks at their own pace.
The GSX9000 is a carrier-class Open Services Switch with a large capacity
and NEBS Level 3 compliance (99.999 percent reliable) with the ability to
enable this new converged PSTN/packet-based infrastructure. It is the
central component of the Sonus Networks Open Services Architecture (OSA).
Another feature of the GXS9000 is support for more than 8,000 simultaneous
calls over IP, while a fully configured Open Services Switch can support
hundreds of thousands of calls. Also critical is its interoperability with
H.323 terminals and smaller VoIP gateways.
Using OSA, public network service providers can also facilitate a class
of new services through the interaction of the GSX9000 with the Sonus
Networks PSX6000 SoftSwitch and the SGX2000 SS7 Signaling Gateway. This
interaction makes possible the movement of telephony from circuit networks
to packet networks and the rapid creation of new network services -- all of
which are important to the future of Internet telephony.
[ return to list of winners ]
NetVision Data Phone
Symbol Technologies, Inc.
One Symbol Plaza
Holtsville, NY, 11741
Ph: 800-722-6234
Fx: 516-738-5970
E-mail: [email protected]
Web site: www.symbol.com
Here at TMC labs, we often think about new evolutionary products or
services that may be at our disposal in the future. In fact, it was one of
these thoughts that gave us the idea for these awards. It was another one of
these thoughts that had us thinking that it would be smart to incorporate
true VoIP technology into wireless devices. It was not long after when we
discovered a company that has done exactly that.
Symbol Technologies offers a wide range of products and services, mostly
in the wireless and mobile markets, but it is the NetVision Phone and
NetVision Data Phone, used on the Spectrum24 wireless LAN, that caught TMC
Labs' attention. These phones merge wireless applications with the Internet
telephony industry. They have the ability to converge voice/data
communications over one wireless network, using the H.323 protocol. Over
standard data networks, either phone converts analog voice into compressed
digital packets, which are sent using IP. Improved productivity and cost
savings that could benefit just about any company utilizing this technology
are a result of this convergence.
The NetVision phones integrate with Spectrum24 into an existing phone
system through a gateway, which connects calls to anywhere in the world and
provides traditional phone features, such as transfers, conferencing,
overhead paging, and voice mail. They use IP addressing to tie into an
extension number or name directory, thus allowing someone to dial by
extension or name. Other features include speed dials, dialed number recall,
and support for text messaging. Even with this added functionality, the
NetVision phones still work similarly to other wireless phones.
In the future, there will be more devices that will add voice
communications to wireless LAN installations. Symbol has pioneered the way
with an innovative solution, and we reward this ingenuity.
[ return to list of winners ]
OfficeLink 2000
Teltone Corp.
22121 20th Ave. S
Bothell, WA, 98021
Ph: 425-951-3009
Fx: 425-487-2288
E-mail: [email protected]
Web site: www.teltone.com
Your company just spent six figures on the latest, greatest, most
feature-packed communications server available. The next day, they decided
to let the sales and call center employees work from home. What do you do?
Telecommuting is the inspiration for numerous software and gadgetry, but
one of our favorite solutions is Teltone's OfficeLink 2000 product. By
creating an IP network connection over the PSTN (or ISDN or even DSL),
teleworkers can use all of the features of your PBX and ACD systems,
including DNIS, ANI, transfer, conference, speed dial, visual message
waiting, and supervisor notification. The server software runs on Windows
NT, and no special hardware is needed at the end user's location. Up to 48
clients can run on each daisy-chained server. Even more exciting is that
because the connection is based on IP, there is no toll charge for the voice
aspects, and the software is invisible to callers or to outbound called
parties. The product currently supports PBXs from AT&T, Lucent, Siemens,
and Nortel.
In addition to its obvious features and benefits, one of the reasons we
chose this product is because it is representative of a great concept for
other products. OfficeLink 2000 can be thought of as an in-house ASP
solution for your telephony systems. It is useful not only for teleworkers,
but also for branch offices of larger corporations where a handful of people
may work in a remote area. We feel that this product is one of the more
innovative uses of VoIP technology on the market; it is reviewed in more
detail in the November
1998 issue of Communications Solutions (then CTI ). We highly recommend
that you give it a try.
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