60 Seconds with Doug Makishima
VP, Marketing & Sales, D2 Technologies

Doug Makishima is Vice President, Marketing and Sales, for D2 Technologies (www.d2tech.com), of Santa Barbara, California, a leading IP communications-enabling company that provides its customers with user-friendly and cost-effective software solutions that span both enterprise and consumer devices, such as gateways and WiFi handsets. Makishima has over 19 years of marketing and engineering experience in the networking and communications industries. He holds a BSEE from the University of California and an MBA from Santa Clara University.

Richard "Zippy" Grigonis spoke to Makishima about how D2 Technologies is revolutionizing the mobile UC industry.

RG: What's the difference between your vPort and mCUE software?

DM: Our vPort product line of embedded VoIP software provides a broad set of VoIP features, underlying protocols and 'softDSP' voice capabilities that can be embedded in IP phones, WiFi phones, and all sorts of endpoints and CPE devices such as broadband access routers. Our vPort embedded software enables manufacturers to rapidly deliver the latest IP communications mult-mode devices by ensuring that networking, signaling and voice processing functions execute as an integrated solution on a single processor. Our platform's multi-protocol capability provides simultaneous support for traditional SIP-based VoIP as well as the latest VoIM services such as PC-based IM/P2P voice applications - Skype, GoogleTalk, Yahoo and MSN.

Our new mCUE is a universal, mobile UC client that provides basically mobile UC capabilities blended with some FMC [Fixed-Mobile Convergence] capabilities too. The mCUE product line takes mobile endpoints such as WiFi phones, dual-mode phones, or smart phones and enables functions such as presence, chat, directories, UC functions and beyond, as well as voice channel communications, either over circuit-switched cellular or VoIP/VoWiFi. All of that rich functionality can be brought to the handset. mCUE has a patent-pending user interface and it's built on top of our vPort engine, which we consider a communications middleware layer that provides all of the underlying 'plumbing' to connect to IP communications systems, such as IP PBXs, UC systems, even third-party public and commercial systems such as IM and Yahoo, GoogleTalk, Gizmo and others. Service providers and handset OEMs can now enjoy a quick time-to-market, as well as volume, scalability and portability, for dual mode phones, WiFi handsets and Mobile Internet Devices [MIDs] in conjunction with applications such as gaming, navigation, multimedia, e-book readers/browsers and social networking.

We can also do true FMC, which includes the seamless handover of voice calls between, for example, VoWiFi and the GSM cellular network. We prefer the SIP-based IMS [IP-based Multimedia Subsystem] approach of VCC [Voice Call Continuity]. I think FMC to us is more about being able to access your IP communications functions - which today are your IP PBX, PBX and some early UC capabilities - over any connection, or at least whatever connections you have available to you. If it's a single mode cell phone that has a 3G data connection, then we can use that connection to bring in your presence directory, native chat, and we can actually do VoIP over 3G. In a dual mode phone, you can of course use 3G data, you can use WiFi and circuit-switched communications. Even if you only have a circuit-switched cell or line available we do things such as in-band signaling to activate PBX features via DTMF tones to the PBX.

RG: Do you think FMC will become popular?

DM: The FMC idea that you can seamlessly handoff a call between disparate networks is certainly a value add, but I don't think that's the 'killer app'. What is the killer app? Well, for example, if you're in-building in your enterprise, hot spot or home office, and you happen to have WiFi, then why not use WiFi? It gives you better coverage, bandwidth and UC capabilities over the data network. If you're outside in the cellular domain, then, with a 3G capability, you can project a lot of additional functions into that environment.

RG: So this relates to femtocells?

DM: If you have a great smartphone that's not WiFi-enabled, your femtocell enables you to have a strong signal for good voice call quality and 3G data. So you'll be able to activate functions over the 3G data connection and perhaps even do good quality VoIP calls, which might not work as well in a congested urban environment where many people contend for that 3G bandwidth. One U.K. carrier, Hutchison 3, supports Skype solely over 3G data connections. You buy a handset available in some European countries and Hong Kong, and its only does VoIP over 3G, which is interesting.