Archive for December, 2006
Sunday, December 31st, 2006 | Posted in VoIP News | 2 Comments »
Russell Shaw at ZDNet’s IP Telephony blog, writes that:
I for one, see the reasoning why Google seems to be more intent on marketing a mobile Google phone with searchable listings rather than concentrating on making its GoogleTalk more competitive as a PC-to-PSTN calling service.
It’s because search is what Google does best, not talk.
Shaw argues that Google isn’t interested in turning Google Talk into a competitor to VoIP services like Skype 
or Vonage 
- landline replacements. He’s probably right.
Google has a history of launching products and services alongside its search engine - Gmail, Google Earth, Blogger - but at the end of the day, Google is primarily a search engine. Those other features are nice to have and we’re happy to use them, but Google isn’t trying to turn them into major revenue streams - it’s still in the business of search, or, more specifically, selling advertisements to searchers.
So will we see more expansion of GoogleTalk in the near future? We say no. What do you think?
Saturday, December 30th, 2006 | Posted in Skype | No Comments »
Convenos, provider of a collaborative web conferencing solution, today announced it has delivered the Convenos Meeting Center Extra for Skype 3.0. With the Convenos Meeting Center Extra, users can now launch meetings directly from within Skype, easily displaying, sharing and editing files and documents in an online meeting with one or more users whenever they want. This means business users can also move seamlessly from a Skype chat or conversation directly into a collaborative web meeting via Convenos Meeting Center.
“This solution makes it even easier to collaborate with anyone online–a few clicks in Skype, and you’re instantly in a Convenos meeting with your Skype contacts,” said Thomas Torf, Convenos CEO. “We’re extremely excited to deliver this solution to Skype customers as an early participant in the Skype Developer Program, and we anticipate delivering additional offerings as a top Skype for Business partner.”
As one of the top 30 Skype developer partners, Convenos has worked with the Skype team throughout the development phase of Skype 3.0. Skype continues to innovate in the delivery of Internet communication tools, and now with the Convenos Meeting Center, Skype users can have collaborative meetings online at any time.
“We value our ongoing partnership with Convenos and are delighted they have delivered the Convenos Meeting Center Extra for Skype 3.0,” said Paul Amery, Director of Skype Developer Program. “The integration of Convenos Meeting Center and Skype 3.0 follows a natural evolution of business communication toward the use of collaborative technologies to drive business success. We look forward to our continued joint successes though the Early Adopter Program, Skype for Business, and the Skype Developers Program.”
Trial version here
Saturday, December 30th, 2006 | Posted in Skype | No Comments »
Wrapping up the year and looking forward to 2007, here’s what Motley Fool has to say about VoIP service provider Skype, part of the eBay Internet business conglomerate:
Something pretty important is happening this weekend. The free SkypeOut promotion that allowed Skype users to call phones in the United States and Canada for free in 2006 will come to an end. The regular rates will return. Yes, paying $0.021 a minute is pretty darn cheap, but will the forced upsell work?
Skype is adding a layer of urgency to accepting the change by promoting an unlimited-dialing option for $14.95 for a full year. The incentive to hop on now is that the unlimited plan will more than double to $29.95 a year come February. Will folks pay? Is this the chance that VoIP providers such as Vonage (NYSE: VG) have been waiting for to win back the market’s respect?
Jot down Jan. 18, 2007, as a day to check back in on Skype. That will be the day the service announces "an innovative and disruptive pricing structure."
eBay paid between $2.4 billion and $4.2 billion for Skype last year, and the initial analyst expectations of embedding the chat service into the company’s auction site haven’t really taken off. Skype will have to prove itself as a stand-alone entity, and the shift to a pay model next month for many freeloaders will go a long way toward dictating the platform’s success.
Skype
sees profit potential in the business VoIP service market:
Skype Ltd. will continue to aim at the business market, adding functions for specific business needs, executives said this week at the company’s development center in Tallinn, Estonia.
The company’s most recent 3.0 version of its software allows system administrators to configure and control Skype use across an enterprise and Skype will build on that. Its software provides Internet telephony service as well as messaging, video conferencing and file transfer.
In the short to medium term, Skype will rely on the growth of an "ecosystem" of third parties to adapt and integrate Skype for specific enterprise uses, executives said. "My opinion is that it is better to provide good information and let [other] people build the Skype ecosystem," said Chief Security Officer Kurt Sauer, adding that "the best ideas are somewhere else."
Vice President, Mobile & Telecom Services Michael Jackson joked that "we will not, in the short-term, be having installers in Skype trucks visiting businesses," but added that independent "Skype integrators may come along."
He said "Skype for business" will evolve as a set of functions that can be switched on or off and fine-tuned according to the needs of the enterprise or organization.
Wednesday, December 27th, 2006 | Posted in Skype | No Comments »
Article from Andy Abramson on Skype - has it disrupted the market, or is it subversive? Abramson says subversive.
A report from the Financial Times:
A broadband television service developed by the founders of internet calling program Skype is expected to be launched next year, according to the Financial Times.
Some 6,000 individuals have already been testing the service, named the Venice Project, the newspaper said.
Janus Friis and Niklas Zennström invested part of the money they made from selling Skype to eBay last year in developing the new product, it said.
Friis told the FT that peer-to-peer technology used by the service would make it possible to serve "tens of millions of users" while overcoming content owners’ security fears.
He said in an interview: "The overall picture is that this is happening. Video is moving online, and people have to find strategies for that."
Linksys pulled a fast one today, announcing its iPhone line of VoIP solutions for home and small business use.
The iPhone family of handheld devices harnesses the power of the Internet to enhance voice communications, integrate compelling information services, and deliver access to multimedia. In short, Linksys iPhones voice solutions and products give consumers the ability to do more with their phone than talk.
"As the next generation of handheld devices, Linksys iPhone voice solutions and products are changing the way people communicate with their friends, family and colleagues. They enable compelling internet services, allow consumers to know when their contacts are available for calls, and offer access to personal content like music, movies and live video cameras." said Mike Pocock, Linksys senior vice president and general manager. "The development of the iPhone family demonstrates our flexibility in selecting the right partnerships, feature sets, and product designs to exceed the demands of even our most connected customers to whom the Internet is no longer a destination, but an inextricable part of their lives."
(more…)
Monday, December 18th, 2006 | Posted in Skype | No Comments »
Skype, the global Internet communications company, is now offering U.S. and Canadian consumers the new Skype Unlimited Calling plan, a paid annual subscription service that allows registered users to make 12 months of unlimited SkypeOut™ calls to any phones within the U.S. and Canada.
Skype allows its users to make great quality voice and video calls over the Internet. In addition, Skype can be used to share files, send instant messages, conduct conference calls, and more.
The Skype Unlimited Calling plan is available for a flat rate of $29.95 per year. People who sign up for the new plan before January 31, 2007 will receive a special discounted introductory rate of $14.95 per year – 50 percent off the regular price. While Skype to Skype calls will remain free, the new Skype Unlimited Calling plan is an easier and cheaper way for our growing number of SkypeOut users to stay in touch with friends and family over any phone line. Consumers can also choose SkypeOut’s pay-per-minute offering.
“The new Skype Unlimited Calling Plan is an affordable option that will save consumers hundreds of dollars compared to high rates charged by traditional phone companies,” said Don Albert, North America General Manager for Skype. “We want to give Skype customers convenient options of choosing either an unlimited calling plan with a flat annual rate and or staying with our standard pay-per-minute offering.”
The new pricing plan follows Skype’s very successful promotion in which calls within the US and Canada are free until December 31, 2006, at which time the new Unlimited Calling plan takes effect. Customers who purchase the new Skype Unlimited Calling plan before January 31, 2007 will get the discounted pricing of $14.95, as well as a bonus offer of 100 minutes of SkypeOut credit for making International calls and over $50 in discount coupons for purchasing Skype-certified hardware products.
Thursday, December 14th, 2006 | Posted in E911, Vonage | 2 Comments »
Vonage (NYSE: VG) announced that over 93% of its U.S. subscriber lines are now equipped with Enhanced 911 (E911) service – a feature that automatically associates a physical address with the calling party’s telephone number.
Vonage’s nomadic E911 solution gives customers the ability to reach a Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP), or 911 center, through the dedicated 911 network infrastructure. With Vonage’s nomadic E911 solution, a customer’s call is automatically routed to the appropriate 911 center, with the caller’s registered street address and telephone number appearing on the dispatcher screen. Vonage will continue to turn up and test new PSAPs that are VoIP-ready every day.
In less than two months, Vonage has equipped over 170 locally-run emergency call centers across the U.S. with E911 – bringing the total number of calling centers with emergency 911 service to over 6400.
"Today over 93 percent of our U.S. subscriber lines have full E911 capability, which is a tremendous step for Vonage," said Vonage CEO Michael Snyder. "Vonage will continue to work with the FCC, regulators, Congress and public safety until PSAPs across the nation are equipped with E911."
Details by area code of Vonage E911 coverage
Microsoft has begun a private beta testing phase of its Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007, which allows businesses to integrate VoIP with their existing telephony infrastructure.
The new voice server will also allow workers to instantly launch a phone call from 2007 Microsoft Office applications, such as Office Word 2007, Office Outlook® 2007 or Office Communicator, by simply clicking on a colleague’s name to determine his or her availability and initiate a person-to-person or multiparty call.
With native support for Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), Communications Server 2007 and Microsoft Office Communicator, part of the 2007 Microsoft Office system, interoperate with products from industry partners including Nortel Networks, Alcatel-Lucent, Avaya Inc., Cisco Systems Inc., LG-Nortel Co. Ltd., Mitel Networks Corp., NEC Philips Unified Solutions, Polycom Inc. and Siemens Communications Inc. Through these relationships, customers worldwide will be able to support VoIP using their existing desktop phones, data networks and time division multiplexing (TDM) or Internet protocol (IP) private branch exchanges (PBXs). Customers will also able to leverage the softphone capabilities of Office Communicator to make and receive phone calls from their PCs, eliminating the need to purchase expensive IP-compatible phones.
"The convergence of telecom and data networks is happening rapidly. Software will integrate these two worlds, enabling IT managers to deliver new communications possibilities that include VoIP," said Gurdeep Singh Pall, corporate vice president of the Unified Communications Group at Microsoft. "With this open architecture and broad interoperability, Office Communications Server 2007 will give IT managers the flexibility to determine when and how and in what way they move their communications infrastructure forward."
The business VoIP server system can also be integrated with the Exchange 2007 communications package.
