cisco acquires sipura
cisco just announced that it is acquiring sipura technology - through its linksys division - for approximately $68 million in cash and options. Cisco Systems today announced a definitive agreement to acquire privately-held Sipura Technology, Inc. This represents Cisco's first acquisition for its Linksys division, the leading provider of wireless and networking hardware for home, Small Office/Home Office and small business environments. Sipura is a leader in consumer voice over internet protocol technology and is a key technology provider for Linksys' current line of VoIP networking devices.
i wonder if this is related to my earlier post. it not only prevents users from buying skypeout minutes, but also from downloading skype.Skype Journal confirmed that Skype users in the United Arab Emirates are blocked from the Skype.com web site. This prevents users of the Skype internet telephone system from buying minutes to call at highly discounted rates, of special importance to the many expatriates who work in Dubai.
asterisk & skype?
for some time i have been thinking about how nice it would be to have the ability to add a skype channel to asterisk. apparently some people have been thinking the same thing. there's even a bounty for it (currently $1050).i'm no fan of skype, but the ability to interconnect with other protocols is the power of asterisk and somehow it seems stupid to try and ignore the 35 million registered users they currently have, not to mention their low pstn interconnect fees.another thing, they have announced the 100 millionth skype download, but they only have 35 million users. that means roughly 2 out of 3 people that downloaded skype actually dumped it.
While price is the main attraction for Europeans, Americans are interested in wireless VoIP because it helps them cope with patchy GSM coverage, says one vendor. There is a transatlantic split over attitudes to wireless VoIP services, according to one Dublin-based VoIP operator which believes that Europeans and Americans are both keen, but for different reasons.
At the Voice On the Net (VON) conference in Toronto, Skype Technologies co-founder and CEO Niklas Zennstrom reported that a mobile version of Skype will be available this year. “We will encourage hardware manufacturers to deploy Skype on their devices.” said Zennstrom. SkypeMobile for mobile devices (our unofficial name for the new Skype) will be targeted to hardware manufacturers for integration into new dual-mode (GPRS + WiFi) mobile devices once made available to carriers.
this disturbs me a bit ...Narus Inc., the world's leading carrier-class IP Platform provider, today announced that it was selected by Saudi Telecom, the pre-eminent telecommunications provider in the region, to provide Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) detection services. By employing Narus' VoIP detection application, Saudi Telecom has recovered revenue that would otherwise be lost through unregulated VoIP traffic.
Pan-European operator Colt Telecom Group plc has finally got around to offering an enterprise VOIP service. After putting off the launch in February to spend more time on “innovation,” it has introduced Colt IP Voice, a managed IP centrex service available across its network of 13 countries. Although consumer VOIP services have been made available in Europe, the rollout of Europe-wide business services has been slower.
utstarcom f1000 review
engadget has a review of the ut starcom f1000 wifi phone. as the other wifi phones around, it's still very much a first generation wifi phone, and the question remains if people are really looking for wifi phones without cellular hand-off, let alone want to be seen with one
More known for their line of analog terminal adapters (ATA's), Sipura has released their first business hard phone. Small in size and large in features, The Sipura SPA-841 IP telephone can be configured as a two (2) line or, via a simple software upgrade, a four (4) line full featured business phone with pixel based graphical display, speakerphone and headset port. Stylish and functional in design, the SPA-841 can be used in residential, SOHO, enterprise and small to medium business service offerings including IP PBX, hosted IP telephony and IP Centrex. We put the phone to test to see if it lived up to the high standard that we are used to with other Sipura products.
The Dutch regulatory authority OPTA has today published a document (dated 24 March 2005) in which it states that it currently does not have the power to regulate the forthcoming VoIP offering(s) of the fixed incumbent operator KPN. KPN had announced its intention to launch VoIP for the second quarter of 2005, in its 2004 annual report.
holiday
so, i'll be off for a week enjoying the snowy slopes of the alps. actually, i already left, as i'm writing this on the highway somewhere between lyon and dijon over gprs. no ev-do over here as far as i know, but the connection is quite steady at 130km/h. although i don't manage to make a voip call over it. anyway, more voip news when i'm back ...
