From the Google Blog:
Last year, we launched Google Talk, a free and easy service for making voice calls and sending instant messages. It used to be that only Gmail users could use Google Talk but now anyone can sign up for Google Talk.
NEC Corporation (NEC) and The Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels, Limited, the owner and operator of five-star luxury hotels, The Peninsula Hotels, in Asia and North America, today announced the deployment of an integrated voice and data VoIP(1) network system linking The Peninsula Hotels’ fourteen hotels and offices worldwide. This globally-connected VoIP network is the first ever built in the hotel industry.
The Peninsula Hotels’ global VoIP network was mainly built by upgrading software, which incorporates NEC’s IP Networking functionalities into NEC’s IP-PBX. The IP connectivity is used in the hotel’s fourteen locations including the hotels in Hong Kong, Manila, Bangkok, Beijing, New York, Chicago and Beverly Hills. This network system was designed and built with a minimal initial investment and completed in a short time.
With the new VoIP network, The Peninsula Hotels has a lower initial investment as compared with a global VoIP network using a conventional method that requires VoIP gateway in each PBX location, a significant decrease of cost from the cheaper international communication costs, and a Global Customer Service Centre located in Hong Kong which handles the global reservations of Peninsula customers.
"The Peninsula Hotels has been working to curb the cost of international calls since the communication among its hotels worldwide has become more frequent as a result of global expansion. The new network system was built in response to this, and it will expand along with the establishment of new hotels," says Mr. Shane Izaks, general manager, Information Technology of The Hong Kong and Shanghai Hotels, Limited.
"NEC is one of our preferred vendors of PBX systems to The Peninsula Hotels. Building of the new network system signifies the hotel’s recognition of NEC’s technological capabilities to integrate voice and data, its ability to make a system proposal that efficiently utilizes the hotel’s already existing IP-PBX assets, in addition to its proven track record," says Mr. Shane Izaks.
The Georgia Tech Information Security Center (GTISC) today announced it is creating a partnership with BellSouth (NYSE:BLS) and Internet Security Systems (NASDAQ: ISSX) to explore security surrounding the emerging Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology. As communication services migrate to Internet-based platforms, it is important that the security and dependability users expect in the current public switched networks be maintained with these new converged technologies. At the GTISC VoIP Security Summit held in April 2005, GTISC initiated a dialogue with security and telecommunications industry leaders, including ISS and BellSouth, to proactively address security associated with this emerging technology.
“At GTISC, we feel strongly that security should not be an after-thought with VoIP,” said Mustaque Ahamad, principal investigator and director of GTISC. “By partnering with proven industry leaders ISS and BellSouth, GTISC will be able to lead the research efforts necessary to better understand VoIP threats and explore techniques that are well suited for securing VoIP devices, protocols and services.”
Internet Security Systems and BellSouth have committed to a two-year research program totaling $300,000. This funding will enable GTISC faculty and graduate students to work with ISS and BellSouth technologists to develop and evaluate solutions that address VoIP security. In return, BellSouth and ISS will have access to the resulting intellectual property.
“Internet Security Systems was one of the first security companies to provide coverage for VoIP protocols in our products,” said Christopher Rouland, chief technology officer at Internet Security Systems. “We look forward to working with experts at GTISC and BellSouth to further our understanding of VoIP vulnerabilities and how best to mitigate them for our customers.”
“BellSouth is committed to ensuring security is an integral component in all our products and services and working with GTISC and ISS is one way to continue that focus with next generation products such as VoIP” said John Heveran, VP-Chief Information Security Officer, BellSouth.
Skype is getting ready to release a beta version of an "enterprise-friendly" version of its VoIP phone software:
Skype is working to make its Internet telephony service more enterprise friendly, and expects to introduce a beta version of its software with support for enterprise management functions within weeks.
The update will allow system administrators to use standard Windows management tools to set how the Skype software connects to the Internet, or to disable any of half a dozen functions, including file transfers, said Skype’s vice president of telecommunications and Skype for business, Michael Jackson.
Use of Skype in business is widespread: Of Skype’s 113 million registered users, 30 percent say they use it for business, Jackson said, speaking at the IDC European IT Forum in Paris on Monday.
The proprietary and hard-to-block connection protocols used by Skype’s peer-to-peer communications system have raised concerns about security in some businesses.
"There was a rumor we disrupt networks to get around things," Jackson said. That started, Jackson said, "because we design things for consumers so they work in any network environment. The back end of that is, it works in any network environment." That makes it difficult for enterprises to block the software, he said.
Boo to universities that are limiting the services students can access on the Internet:
An effort by San Jose State to ban the Skype phone service has been put on hold in the face of fierce objections from students and staff members.
Administrators said they would meet with eBay, the owner of Skype on Tuesday in order to give the San Jose-based company an opportunity to address the university’s concerns about network security.
San Jose State is the third California university to impose restrictions on Skype.
In January, UC Santa Barbara announced it was prohibiting Skype because the license agreement it presented to users gave third parties access to the university’s network. UC Santa Barbara said it would allow other computer-calling services.
Cal State Dominguez Hills has long discouraged use of all computer-calling services, including Skype, a spokesman said.
Skype has also been banned by some universities in the United Kingdom.
Jennifer Caukin, a spokeswoman for eBay, said Skype was looking forward to having "a direct dialogue with SJSU officials to discuss their concerns and educate them about how Skype works." Caukin declined to discuss other bans.
Security concerns should obviously be considered, but this sounds a lot like universities - which tend to have a monopoly on on-campus telephone networks and exclusive long distance landline deals worked out with telcos - trying to protect their own monopoly profits on phone service.
Interesting study from Keynote Systems:
New insights into the performance of leading VoIP providers was released today by Keynote Systems (Nasdaq: KEYN), the global leader in Internet and mobile test and measurement services. Keynote’s third VoIP competitive intelligence study revealed that overall VoIP quality has improved across the board since Keynote’s last study in December 2005 and that the leading VoIP providers have actually surpassed PSTN (traditional phone service) in overall audio quality, but still lag behind PSTN in audio delay.
Twelve leading VoIP providers are part of the benchmark study that includes AT&T (NYSE: T), Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA), Lingo, Packet8, Skype (Nasdaq: EBAY), SunRocket, TimeWarner Cable (NYSE: TWX), TrueVoice, Verizon (NYSE: VZ), Vonage (NYSE: VG), Vonics and Windows Live Messenger (Nasdaq: MSFT). The complete Keynote VoIP competitive intelligence study, including detailed rankings, is available for purchase.
In order to benchmark and rank the quality of consumer VoIP services, Keynote measured the relative performance of the leading VoIP providers in the New York and San Francisco markets, including digital cable, adapter-based VoIP (hard phone) and PC-based software (soft phone) services, as well as the performance of leading VoIP providers against PSTN service in those cities. Keynote then rated the leading VoIP service providers on critical performance factors that influence the end-user experience using Keynote Voice Perspective®, which is Keynote’s VoIP quality test and measurement product.
Good article written by Deb Shinder from ZDNet Asia on making VoIP service more reliable:
Almost everyone has heard by now that Voice over IP (VoIP) technology can save you money on phone calls, whether you’re a consumer, small business owner, or running an enterprise-level corporation. In fact, using VoIP can reduce your telephone costs by hundreds or even thousands of dollars per month if you make a lot of long distance calls. Why, then, do landlines still exist at all? Why isn’t everyone using VoIP?
I talked to a group of managers of small- and medium-sized businesses, and the biggest concern they expressed to us–indeed, their most common reason for not switching to VoIP–can be summed up in one word: reliability.
The phone company has a reputation for reliability. Customers are used to getting a dial tone every time they pick up the phone. They’re used to their calls going through to the correct party. And they’re used to having clear communications up until the moment one of the parties terminates the call. They aren’t willing to settle for less.
The trouble with VoIP
Many of these business people tried VoIP when it first became available. And the reason they didn’t cancel their Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) service and embrace IP telephony was because they didn’t find VoIP to be entirely trustworthy. One user reported that the service worked great–sometimes. Other times he’d pick up the phone to find there was no dial tone, and would have to reboot the VoIP box before he could make or receive a call. Another said most calls went through with no problem, but calls to certain phone numbers, especially those on corporate PBX systems, resulted in so much echo that she had to switch to the landline when talking to those people. A few reported downright weird problems, such as caller ID reporting a totally different number than from the actual originating phone. The overall consensus: VoIP has great potential but, like beta software with cool features, it’s just a little too flaky for everyday use.Continue reading Making VoIP More Reliable
One of the best things about Boeing’s in-flight Internet access service, called Connexion, was the ability to make and receive VoIP phone calls while in the air. The service was canceled earlier this year because of disappointing financial results, but Panasonic (NYSE: MC) may pick up the torch:
JUST when the Inmarsat community was relishing the prospect of an unobstructed run at the passenger broadband market, Panasonic has announced a plan to take up where Connexion by Boeing left off. The IFE giant has no intention of rushing in, though, and will not launch unless it has commitments covering a critical mass of aircraft.
“We have a complete system designed, developed and ready to go,” strategic marketing director David Bruner told Inflight Online at the WAEA show in Miami Beach last week. “But we’re determined to avoid one of the things that brought Connexion down – lack of an initial fleet big enough to assure acceptable pricing for the airlines.”
Panasonic has set about securing agreements covering a minimum of 500 aircraft in the next 60 days. That schedule is being driven by the need to be ready to serve ex-Connexion airlines within a tolerable time after the discontinuation of that service by the end of the year. “We can’t drag our launch decision on until, say, February,” Bruner said. “There will inevitably be a dark period between the end of Connexion and the start of our service, and we want to keep that as short as possible. We already have 150 aircraft committed and feel confident we’ll make the 500. But if we’re falling badly short in 60 days’ time we will not go.”
Cable provider Comcast Corporation (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK) announced that it reached the one million subscriber milestone with its Comcast Digital Voice VoIP service. The fact that Comcast reached this mark in less than two years demonstrates that consumer interest in VoIP continues to be strong.
Comcast’s success comes on the heels of similar success by rival cable firm Time Warner, demonstrating the viability of this business model. Comcast Corporation says it plans to add 4,000 jobs nationwide this year.
"Comcast Digital Voice and the Triple Play bundle continue to exceed our expectations. Customers are attracted to the convenience of the service and the value of the $33×3 offer," said Steve Burke, chief operating officer of Comcast Corporation. "We’re increasing our job growth projections this year to meet the accelerating customer demand for the bundle and our Comcast Digital Voice service."
Feature: Get prices on cable, high speed Internet access and voice service
Helpful VoIP troubleshooting article from the Washington Post:
My laptop makes weird "whoosh" and "boing" sounds when I use it near the TV. What is it trying to do?
Don’t freak out, but the computer wants to talk to the television. The sounds are how a Windows laptop with an infrared data-exchange transmitter indicates that it’s found another such transmitter nearby.
