interview with versatel ceo

the dutch magazine emerce has an interesting interview with versatel ceo raj raithatha on voice, voip and video

next pulver.communicator will support skype

jeff pulver is dominating our voip news again. this time around he's looking for people using both skype and pulver.communicator, to help him test some some of the new features that will be available in the next release of the software. those interested and available should send an email to jeffp@pulver.com

2005 will be big for Open Source Communications

Once Open Source Communication solutions like Asterisk overcome the stigma of being free, the opportunity exists for the advent of open source communications solutions to introduce a major seed change within the established world-wide PBX Industry. I expect the commercial acceptance of applications like Asterisk to gain significant momentum during 2005.

Europe's Banks Putting Their Money on VoIP

Europe's banks are putting their money on voice over IP (VoIP). According to Datamonitor's September 2004 Networking in European Financial Services report, the number one long-term priority for finance-related companies in Europe is the convergence of voice and data.

And leading the pack is a major UK bank, Lloyds TSB, which on December 6 went public with plans to introduce almost 70,000 VoIP phones from Cisco Systems®, one of the largest implementations to date in Europe, as part of a £500 million (US$969 million) contract with IBM.

Skype rings up deal with C&W

Skype has beefed up its commercial voice over IP offering by signing deals with two UK companies, Cable & Wireless and Moneybookers; and with French telco B3G Telecom. The call-termination agreements with Cable & Wireless and B3G Telecom will allow Skype to route calls from its SkypeOut customers across their PSTN networks.

x-ten softphone for linux

the very popular x-ten softphone is now available for linux as well (in beta). if you want it, send an e-mail to linuxbeta@xten.com. i'll post a review here as soon as i have some time to take it for a spin.

Pulver predicts a roiling 2005 for IP telephony

Open source software communications will begin to influence the VoIP market in a big way next year, according to VoIP pioneer Jeff Pulver. Pulver said open source software for VoIP PBXs is progressing at a rapid rate. "It will continue to gain momentum, the effects of which will be felt in the next 12 to 18 months," he said.
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Pulver said the open source software movement in VoIP is gathering momentum faster than is generally realized. He pointed to the effort by Asterisk users worldwide to create a VoIP PBX. "They are developing a sophisticated PBX on a PC with the (capability) of a $100,000 PBX," he said. "It will be a world class PBX that runs on Linux. You can have a PBX for the cost of a PC."

Eircom to launch VoIP in 2005

The Irish telecoms incumbent is expected to launch its VoIP (voice over internet protocol) service in early 2005, with the initial roll out targeted at large corporations that already have significant communications networks to ferry data between offices throughout the nation. A version of the technology aimed at smaller businesses, as well as a service targeted at consumers, will be launched later in the year. The products -- including the consumer and small business services -- will allow Eircom customers to make telephone calls at dramatically lower prices than is possible using a traditional telephone service. The lower prices are possible because VoIP services route calls over networks designed for IP (the Internet Protocol) rather than over Eircom's traditional network.

new pulver.communicator

in light of the recent release of a new skype beta, jeff pulver let us know that his im-meets-voip client can do multi-party chat as well, even across multiple im networks. give it a try if you have a fwd account (it will not work on other voip networks).

new skype beta

skype have released a new beta version. among a number of bugfixes it also features chat with up to 50 users, new contact management tools, etc. you can find the full changelog here. it has a number of known issues you might want to check on first (ie.: it will eat your resources).

Wanadoo.fr staff strike over 'buggy' VoIP service

Wanadoo UK has denied that the roll-out of its new internet telephony service will be delayed, after problems with the VoIP service in France. Almost 300 Wanadoo staff in France went on strike last week in protest at fielding calls from irate customers complaining that the service didn't work. Staff told bosses that the VoIP service - via Wanadoo's LiveBox system - was riddled with bugs and complained that they hadn't received enough training, Libération reports.

incumbents cashflow disappearing by 2007

The UK CEO of one of the world’s leading telecoms equipment manufacturers, and Deutsche Telekom’s main equipment supplier – DeTeWe – has warned the industry that up to 40% of the free cashflow currently generated by the telecoms operators could disappear by 2007, as a direct result of the move to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP).

telco's see regulators as largest voip threat

according to this paid-subscription-only article "20 percent of leading telecom players across Europe have singled out government regulation as the most significant threat to the successful deployment of VoIP."

Voicenet sends out call for VoIP resellers

Voicenet Solutions, a new managed voice over IP (VoIP) service provider, is looking for reseller partners as demand for this new telephony service soars.
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The challenge, according to Crombie, is finding channel partners with sufficient knowledge in both voice and data fields. IT resellers could make a killing if they could make the adjustment to selling voice services, argued Crombie.

VoIP semiconductor market to reach €1.3bn by 2008

The worldwide VoIP semiconductor market is now experiencing significant growth as the deployment benefits of packetised voice are being continuously proven to service providers, businesses and consumers. Accelerated adoption across all system segments will enable the market to reach €1.3bn by 2008, with a compound annual growth rate of 48 per cent for 2003 to 2008, according to a new forecast from market advisory firm IDC.

vonage arriving in the uk

the largest us voip provider vonage is introducing its offer in the uk. this has been known for quite a while, but the launch date has now officially been set: 28 december. not much details have been published yet. according to their cfo, vonage has already partnered with the uk's largest supermarket chain tesco

IM firms urged to buy into VoIP services

Major instant messaging (IM) firms, including Microsoft, AOL and Yahoo, are missing out on a potentially lucrative opportunity by not buying voice over IP providers and integrating the technology into their own services, industry watchers have claimed. ABI Research said today that, unexpected as it might seem, there is a "lot of logic" in a large IM company buying a VoIP business.

The phone call is dead; long live the phone call

First, while traditional telephony takes account of geography, distance, and time, says Michael Powell, America's telecoms regulator, “VOIP shatters all three”. In most cases it makes no difference to a VOIP caller where he is, how far away from the person he is calling, or how long they talk. VOIP phones can have traditional telephone numbers, yet still work no matter where they are, provided they are plugged in to a broadband internet connection. Lots of Indian mothers in Delhi have Vonage phones with the American area code 650 so that they can make cheap “local” calls to their sons in Silicon Valley.

Second, VOIP uncouples the two previously intertwined components of telephony: access to the network (via a wire running into your house, for example) and service (the ability to make and receive calls). Traditionally, both have been provided together. With VOIP you can buy broadband access from one firm and a telephony service from another—or even from a company in another country altogether.
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Who will be the biggest losers? Not the fixed-line telcos, even though their revenues may fall by 25% by 2010 due to VOIP, according to Mr Mewawalla. The mobile operators are likely to be the big losers, with their revenues plunging by 80%. Together, VOIP and wireless broadband could fatally undermine their costly third-generation (3G) networks.

Over 5m VoIP subscribers worldwide

There were over 5m VoIP subscribers worldwide by the middle of 2004, with the majority of customers shared by a half-dozen or so operators, according to figures from broadband research firm Point Topic. There are now approximately 1,000 VoIP providers around the world. Most of these have been set up in 2003 or 2004. Many have very few subscribers at the moment.

eu adopts report on electronic communications

it may not be voip related, but it's definitely euro. the eu commission has adopted a communication on european electronic communications regulation and markets for 2004.

some key figures: the eu electronic communications market is valued at €277 billion; with more than 379 million subscribers, the mobile market has a penetration of 83% across the 25 member states; there are about 30 million fixed broadband access lines, an augmentation of 236% in comparision with 2002, which still only averages at about 6,5 broadband lines per 100 population.

PIPEX announces VOIP for Business

PIPEX is launching VOIP for Business, allowing customers to save money on telephone line rental and call charges, whilst accessing the Internet over a secure connection for email and web. Customers can make free calls between extensions and to 01 and 02 numbers for less than 1p per minute. [...]

VOIP for Business brings together a Firewall / Router / Modem from Virtual Access and broadband telephony from Inclarity to enable users to access the Internet and make telephone calls simultaneously, without losing voice quality or being exposed to hackers targeting their network assets.

voip providers boom

there are over 400 voip providers in the usa alone, according to voipaction. i wonder if they have similar data for europe available. the only source right now is the voipproviderslist, but because everyone can add themself to the list it might not be very reliable.

VoIP finds a voice in the enterprise

VoIP is generating a level of interest in the boardroom that the traditional voice and data networks have never achieved. The big promise is huge reductions in phone call costs, and access to new, productivity-enhancing applications - many of which have yet to be conceived - that will revolutionise the business. But the market remains immature, the technology still isn't as good as more tried and tested equipment, and, as ever, there's a danger of simply jumping on the bandwagon out of a fear of being left behind. So who is deploying VoIP and why? And what are its pitfalls?

interview with mark spencer

it's a little silent on the eurovoip market this morning, so i thought i'd share this interview with you sineapps had with mark spencer, founder of digium and creator of asterisk

New VOIP Exploits Coming Soon

Before long, VOIP systems will be filled with spam, open to hackers and taken down by worms. But security, infrastructure and VOIP vendors say it's important to get ahead of the curve, and they encouraged enterprises to consider security first when implementing VOIP systems in a panel Wednesday at Ziff Davis Media's online Virtual Tradeshow on security. "We've already seen instances where good-size enterprises had their VOIP infrastructures taken down by a worm," said Chris Thatcher, national practice leader at Dimension Data Holdings, a global IT services firm based in Reston, Va.