Subscribers to the nation's largest cell phone carrier have something to crow about: Cingular has a great range of innovative phones. From simple voice phones to smartphones, the big GSM carrier has all the bases covered.
Some even take advantage of Cingular's EDGE network, the closest thing to a truly nationwide cellular high-speed data network available today. While its speeds may feel more like dial-up than broadband at times, you can't beat EDGE's availability—you can access the Internet from almost anywhere you can get a Cingular cell-phone signal.
Another cool thing about the carrier is that you can also take unlocked foreign phones and activate them on Cingular's network, for a truly exotic experience. Here are some of our favorite handsets from the carrier with the big orange logo.
Nokia 3220 Teens will love the flashing disco lights and spastic vibration of this rugged phone, which lets them SMS and instant message to their hearts' delight. And it can take some hard falls without damage.
Motorola V551 A best-seller for a reason, this midrange phone is all-around great, with a stylish body, a good keypad, a bright screen and even Bluetooth for wireless headsets and file transfer.
Motorola RAZR V3 Coming in silver, black, and soon pink, the RAZR defines high style in cell phones. Even the upcoming Motorola SLVR and PEBL won't detract from its sharp sheen.
Nokia 6682 The latest Nokia smartphone is, first and foremost, a phone. It also packs in a 1.3-megapixel camera and the ability to run thousands of third-party Symbian applications.
Audiovox SMT 5600 For almost year now, the SMT 5600 has wowed us with Microsoft Smartphone power in a tiny little body. It syncs with PCs like a champ and even plays TivoToGo television on its small-yet-big screen. It's amazing nobody else has duplicated its successes.

By Robert Poe

 

In-flight Internet access is finally here, but the big question is whether it will go the way of in-flight phone calls--straight into the ground--by pricing itself out of the market.
The very idea of Wi-Fi on airplanes has generated plenty of buzz, not least from business executives keen to be up-to-date on their emails during tong-haul flights. On the other hand, the same executives have been able to keep in touch via onboard satellite phones for years, yet the service never really caught on.
Most observers blame the failure of airborne voice service on the cost of calls, typically something like $3.99 per minute. And rates remained high despite the fact that there was originally at least some competition, though most of that has disappeared.
As such, competition is the best hope for keeping in-flight broadband prices down and the service viable.
Perhaps the most productive competition will be between satellite-based and direct-to-ground broadband services. Each has significant costs that, as with in-flight phone service, will tend to keep prices high unless competitive pressures force them down.
For example, satellite-based services, such as Boeing's Connexion, require each aircraft to have things like a data transceiver/router, satellite antenna, and several 802.11b access points, and also have the recurring charge of satellite time. Direct-to-ground broadband will require both on-board equipment and specialized ground equipment, such as broadband-capable cellular base stations with "upward-looking" sectors.
It's unclear who would win any speed competition. Connexion currently offers download or "onboard" data speeds of 5 Mbps per aircraft, to be shared among all in-flight users, with "offboard" speeds of 1 Mbps. The system can boost onboard links to 20 Mbps when demand warrants it.
The data speed of direct-to-ground technology remain to be determined, but will presumably be adequate for most users. A more important difference is that Connexion is available over oceans, which means it will compete with direct-to-ground services only on domestic routes.
Whatever the competition and availability, prices will definitely have to come down for in-flight Internet to be a big success, according to Meta Group analyst Peter Firstbrook. Connexion, which is available on airlines including All Nippon Airways, Japan Airlines, Lufthansa and Scandinavian Airlines, charges fiat-rate fees from $14.95 on short flights to $29.95 for long flights.
That's a lot better than what in-flight phone calls cost, but Firstbrook believes it's still too high to make a mass market. "It would have to be similar to the Wi-Fi I can get in airports and hotels," he says. "I think people would be willing to pay from $10 to $20 for 24 hours access."
Theoretically the integration of Connexion into Internet roaming services could make it more palatable for users paying for roaming services that include Wi-Fi. BT Infonet, for example, officially added Connexion to its MobileXpress mobile data service last month. However, MobileXpress users are still billed the full $29.95 for long-haul flights for using Connexion in addition to their usual MobileXpress fee, although Marc Patterson, vice president and general manager of Mobile Data Services for BT Infonet, says the value lies in both the in-flight coverage and the "consistent, familiar login experience" for MobileXpress users.
Intensifying the challenge is the fact that the travelers most likely to use the Internet on the ground may not actually need to do so during their flights. Notes Garner analyst Rachna Ahlawat, "Right now most business travelers use that time quite efficiently."

By Amanda C. Kooser

 

WHENEVER YOU SEE A movie from the late '80s or early '90s, something always stands out: The cell phones are gigantic. Compare one of those toaster-size devices to the svelte flip phone that's in your pocket, and you're amazed at how far they've come.
Today, we have cameras, PDA hybrids, extensive phone books, internet access, ring tones that sound like songs on the radio, and entertainment applications all built into our cell phones. So what will the future of mobile phones bring? Rather than trying to figure out what phones will look like in a decade (they'll probably be implantable), we wanted to take a peck into the next few years.
By the time you're ready to upgrade your current phone, the capabilities could be very different. One thing holding back the hardware is the limitation of current batteries. Battery technology just doesn't move that fast. Expect slow capacity gains, but also expect to keep a charger handy as more and more power-hungry features are built in.
A couple of years ago, everybody was breathless at the thought of 3G broadband services coming to U.S. cell phones. So far, 3G isn't coming down like a tidal wave so much as a trickle. But the good news is that it's finally arriving. Early adopters take note: Major cities like Dallas, Phoenix, San Francisco and Seattle will be the first to benefit
AT&T Wireless' service allows data transfer at speeds of about 320Kbps with streaming video and audio available. Verizon Wireless' network, currently running in San Diego and Washington, DC, goes up to 500Kbps. Look for Nextel and Sprint to make progress on their versions before year's end. Entrepreneurs in smaller markets will have to wait a bit for services to become available.
Peter Skarzynski, senior vice president of wireless terminals at Samsung Telecommunications America, points to KOrea as an example of where cell phone services in the United States will eventually end up, albeit a few years behind. "Next year, you'll start seeing things [in Korea] like video on demand, and things like m-commerce [mobile commerce] the year after," he explains. Megapixel camera-phones are new on the U.S. market, and 2- and 3-megapixel versions are on the horizon. Videophones will become increasingly popular as services such as news feeds catch up. Skarzynski expects wide-based broadband to be a reality by the 2006-07 time frame. Then you can start thinking about videoconferencing on your cell phone.
Location-based services are another matter. With E911 requirements being met and GPS services hitting the mainstream, getting directions or even location-based marketing offers could become commonplace. But, once again, don't hold your breath. The phones will be ready before the services themselves are. "There are lots of capabilities in our phones still to be tapped," says Skarzynski.
Work is underway to meld two of the most popular wireless technologies: cell phones and Wi-Fi. Currently, the carriers are trying to figure out how to handle the handoff between the two to allow for a seamless experience. The phone hardware will be out widely in the first part of 2005, with manufacturers like Hewlett-Packard, Motorola, NEC, Nokia and Samsung all onboard. For businesses equipped with Wi-Fi and VoIP, this could be a big step to reducing phone bills. Imagine walking into your office and having your mobile phone automatically switch your call over to your VoIP network.
But the news on the mobile phone front isn't exactly all sweetness and light. Viruses and worms are setting off warning buzzers across the industry. Though they are concerns, most users don't need to worry much, says Muzib Khan, vice president of product management and engineering wireless terminals division with Samsung Telecommunications America in Richardson, Texas. "You could cause trouble by buying or downloading uncertified applications," he says. Entrepreneurs need to stay on top of security issues in much the same way they take steps to protect desktop computers with anti-virus software, firewalls and employee training. The same will apply as issues of cell phone spare and telemarketing crop up.
Put it all together, and here's what your future mobile phone might be like: You're out at a coffee-house for lunch, checking your calendar and e-mail while listening to a streaming MP3. An impromptu videoconference call comes in--you work out the details of a sales contract with your mobile sales representative. You then take an old-fashioned telephone call from a client, and it hands you over to your VoIP system as you step back into the office. Expect many challenges as these innovations hit the market over the next few years, but the upshot will be more flexibility for mobile entrepreneurs.

by Jeffrey Rothfeder

Hanaro Telecom is trying to make a living in a risky environment. The eight-year-old Korean-based company recently completed the installation of a 100-city, fiber-optic broadband network on which it hopes to piggyback data, video, voice, internet access, music and, in time, links to wireless systems. It's an exciting agenda, perfectly suited, it would seem, to what everyone says consumers desire: the ubiquitous network, or the proverbial "what I want, when I want it, where I want it."
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
But as eye-opening as Hanaro's business plan is, its perils are impossible to ignore. Even in Korea, Hanaro could be facing a muted reaction to its products and services. Its future may be reminiscent of the past in the U.S. when the Internet and telecommunications bubble burst, leaving companies like Qwest, Global Crossing and even AT & T, among many others, holding expensive, sophisticated networks with no place to plug them in.
After all, with no telephone companies anywhere in the world yet making serious money on their Web-focused offerings, how can anyone predict what consumers will be willing to pay for? "Right now, the DNA of [telecom] carriers is that they are connection providers," Prashant Pathak, a partner at McKinsey, told attendees of the "Wired and Wireless Broadband Network Convergence" panel. "Feed and speed has been their business model. But they have to address supply-side economics; they need a 'customer back' perspective to determine the [products and services] that customers will want. Otherwise, there will be a lot of stranded capacity and capital."
Hanaro's CEO Chang Bun Yoon understood the skepticism, but noted that the world had changed since the spate of high-speed telecom failures. Digital content, capabilities and networks, especially in countries like Korea, have become so much more interoperable through better standards and a keener understanding that isolated islands of technology are of little use. Further, the world is moving closer to an era of true broadband convergence, says Yoon, a time when voice, data, video, audio and computer animation will be tied together through high-speed Internet access.
That, Yoon adds, puts Hanaro in a privileged position. "Operators are searching for new opportunities of growth in convergence," Yoon said. "To a telecom provider, convergence can mean the long-awaited chance to go beyond providing just connections. For instance, convergence meets the consumer in home networks and entertainment content; it meets construction in the smart home; it meets retail and financial services in ecommerce."
The wide gap between Pathak's and Yoon's divergent points of view--chiefly, a challenge to completely rethink the telecom business vs. the notion that if we build a great network, customers will come--was the primary focus of much of the panel discussion.
One concern expressed by some on the panel was whether telephone companies are innovative enough or possess a sufficiently nimble culture to take advantage of the potential technological breakthroughs anticipated from broadband convergence. Indeed, just the possibilities of convergence are beginning to change the business landscape. Incumbent telephone companies like Hanaro, KT (the nation's biggest telecommunications company) and KTF, KT's wireless subsidiary, may not be the ultimate financial beneficiaries of broadband convergence.
Cable TV companies are already making inroads into home broadband networks with modems that allow them to offer Voice over Internet Protocol, ecommerce, portals, music, games and other services via PC or television set. It's likely that these companies will align with cellular providers and notebook makers to offer these same services to people on the go. Intel, for one, is leading the charge for the WiMAX standard, which would deliver top-quality broadband to laptops. And cellular phone, PDA and other small equipment manufacturers are adding functions to their devices that enable them to do everything--viewing as well as producing photographs and videos--that broadband convergence is currently expected to deliver.
With all this activity, and a consumer base that is still inchoate, it's likely that only the most creative companies will draw significant profits from convergence. "Convergence is a whole set of technologies for allowing competition across platforms," said John Davies, Intel vice president for sales and marketing. "It's driving competition across different devices."
But Davies added that he believes that convergence companies are looking at their potential markets too narrowly. He challenged the telephone executives--Hanaro's Yoon and KTF's executive vice president Joo Young Song--to consider going beyond the consumer market. "I think there's opportunity to make businesses and industries more effective using this fabulous infrastructure," Davies said. "What about health care or field service workers? Convergence applications that blend data, audio and video could increase productivity and bring down costs in almost any industry."
That sentiment, though, was dismissed by KTF's Song, who spoke enthusiastically about an agreement between his company and Hyundai to provide advanced global positioning systems in all the Korean automaker's vehicles. "The Korean market is a consumer market," he said. "We have not found a compelling application for business in terms of wireless convergence."
Even if that's true, Pathak said, all the companies now eyeing the broadband convergence arena are going to have to forge partnerships with other businesses. This isn't a go-it-alone technology; convergence by its definition is a collection of multiple technologies and applications. To offer a convergence product, companies will have to meld their areas of expertise. "Convergence will not be company against company but value chain vs. value chain," said Pathak. "It's ecosystem-based competition as opposed to firm-based competition."
An excellent model of that, Pathak said, is the partnership that began in 2002 between Yahoo and SBC to offer Yahoo content and services over SBC's DSL lines. Recently, the companies expanded this joint venture to provide video-on-demand, Internet radio and online photos for home-entertainment devices, such as television sets and stereo equipment. In addition, Yahoo-SBC signed a deal with Cingular Wireless to offer multimedia content to the cellular provider's subscribers. "Companies have to work with companies they didn't have to work with before," Pathak said.
Yong Shu, vice president of Asia Pacific region for Riverstone Networks, which provides network management equipment to carriers, service providers and cable companies, offered a dire warning to companies that don't appreciate the importance of new partnerships. He predicted a period of industry consolidation and pointed to the swallowing of AT & T by Cingular and SBC as an example of how weak companies will fare. "What do you expect? In five years when a customer comes to your shop, what is he going to buy? Will he want 100 Mb/s [broadband service] or Internet TV or certain entertainment applications? [If we don't offer these], we will die."
And, in an unlikely sentiment from a network supplier, Shu added that telecom providers are probably giving too much attention to the network itself. "We focus too much on technologies," Shu said.
That brought a sharp rebuke from Hanaro's Yoon. "If you do not have a strong enough telecom service provider, there is no convergence at all," he said. "So the infrastructure matters. You can't ignore that."
Telephone executives say they're also trying to adjust as the market changes and be there when it finally settles down. "A carrier like us is continuously evolving," said KTF's Song, who demonstrated cell phones that were carrying high-quality broadcasts of Korean soap operas. "We just want to develop a mixture of fixed and wireless convergence to allow the customer to always be connected. Profitability? There is no time-frame for profitability."
Those are the same famous last words uttered during the Internet boom. Broadband convergence, though, is a much bigger market with much higher stakes. This time, the Korean telecom companies hope, the rules are different enough that massive investment without profits is the right strategy--and that they will still be standing when broadband convergence pays off.

The boundary line that formerly distinguished Korea's highly developed broadband and mobile networks is fading. In one direction, broadband connections are becoming mobile with extensive Wi-Fi (e.g., KT's Nespot) and soon WiBro networks (e.g., KT and Hanaro). At the same time, mobile phone technologies are starting to reach broadband-type speeds, as EVDO comes more widely available and as WCDMA services are launched. Convergence is nigh and the new Korean network likely will be one of the first of its kind in the entire world. Convergence will mean that Koreans have seamless access to fast, robust information wherever they happen to be in the country.
The Korean mobile and broadband networks, while both very advanced, have evolved separately and are quite different in their composition, network architecture, and business models. Therefore, it should be no surprise that there is no exact picture of what the future network will look like. The Korean model has had to be dynamic to reflect the merger of two very dynamic Korean telecom sectors. Even the official name of the new network has undergone a series of transformations, currently settling on broadband converged network (BCN).
To fully understand the BCN, it is important to understand where different network elements fall into place in the wider scheme of total connectivity. The BCN is being touted as one massive IP network to which Koreans can connect from a wide range of terminals and from nearly all locations.
For a society to achieve the goal of total connectivity, the network must use many different technologies, some of which are more suited to certain environments than others. In essence, different services and activities optimally are provided by different types of connectivity, and the BCN should leverage each technology's comparative advantage. For example, video streaming of movies to a household is best done over the broadband, wired network while mobile telephony in the subway may be most efficient over the existing mobile networks. The key then is ensuring that each of the disparate networks can communicate with each other and pass traffic among themselves via IP.
Network-specific services (e.g. SMS) should move away from being solely a mobile technology and should be accessible via any IP-enabled terminal. This creates the need for new network architecture. The BCN will demand an entirely different type of network plan that involves building a third type of data service.
In many countries, mobile operators have envisioned being able to encroach on the fixed-line broadband market through their 3G and eventually 4G offerings. Likewise, broadband providers have been eyeing mobile data provision, until now the domain of mobile carriers, by using WLAN technologies such as Wi-Fi.
However, neither broadband nor mobile operators are suited perfectly for offering fast, mobile data. Broadband networks are too stationary since Wi-Fi and other WLAN technologies ranges are short and there is no effective handoff ability. This makes it less effective for use in moving vehicles. Mobile networks, on the other hand, don't have enough bandwidth to offer truly high-speed, broadband-type connectivity, as was highlighted by SK Telecom's experiment with video-on-demand on its CDMA network.
Korea's policy-makers, broadband providers, and mobile operators have come up with a plan to develop a new data network that is more efficient at offering mobile data than either broadband or mobile.
This plan is called WiBro, or "the portable Internet." The portable Internet is a technology that fits well between WLAN and IMT-2000 in terms of mobility and speed. It would offer a 1 Mbps connection to users for a flat monthly fee. The three licensed operators have not said how much they will charge but industry watchers assume the prices will be about US$ 15 per month, for flat-rate access.
The strategies of the three licensed operators for the 2.3 GHz plan vary:
* KT, for example, has already introduced a seamless offering through its Nespot Swing, a bundled package where users can roam between its own Wi-Fi hotspots and its competitors' CDMA2000 1x EVDO networks, when out of Wi-Fi range. WiBro will allow them to take this latter traffic onto their own network;
* The portable Internet promises to further expand SKT's network in a more cost-effective manner than relying on CDMA alone. Because of their limited bandwidth availability, CDMA networks are only cost effective for voice and non data-intensive applications.
* For Hanaro Telecom, WiBro offers a chance to fight back against its loss of market share and traffic to mobile operators, as well as a chance to become a mobile operator itself.
The portable Internet has several advantages over WLAN and IMT-2000 for delivering data. While Wi-Fi is limited to a range of roughly 100 meters, WiBro will be accessible in a 1 km radius around a base station and be accessible at speeds around 60 km/h. WiMAX will be accessible over a much greater range, though probably not from fast-moving vehicles. Mobile carriers are especially interested in portable Internet technologies because of their significant investment in cell towers throughout the country that can be leveraged quickly to offer portable Internet. This upgrade can be effectuated simply by adding a second set of radios on the towers.
Portable Internet technologies, as envisioned, could handle a majority of mobile data traffic while voice calls will be routed over the existing CDMA and W-CDMA networks. This plan leverages the comparative advantages of each technology and allows Koreans an effective way to have fast data access everywhere. However, portable Internet technologies can also accommodate VoIP traffic streams relatively simply, and in this sense would compete more directly with existing mobile networks.
In this sense, the fixed-line operators, like KT and Hanaro, are positioning themselves to offer services, like KT's One-Phone, which provides users with a telephone with a unique number that can be used on both fixed and mobile networks, and will automatically route via whichever link is cheapest for a particular call (e.g., jumping onto a fixed-line network via a Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, WiBro, WiMAX, 3G or 2G interface).
Korean handset manufacturers are also interested in portable Internet technologies as a stimulus for their products. Manufacturers such as Samsung and LG will build multiband phones that work on a variety of networks. Future mobile handsets, like KT's One Phone 26 may have the ability to access the different types of networks: CDMA2000 1X, W-CDMA, Wi-Fi, and portable Internet technologies. Both Samsung and LG make it clear that the technology for building these multifaceted handsets is currently available, but they simply are waiting for word on how the network will evolve before building in portable Internet functionality.
Seoul's DongDaeMun market is a good example of how Koreans function at all hours of the day. The market's busiest hours are between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. Restaurants are all open, sidewalks packed, and traffic jams common at 3 a.m. For shoppers, DongDaeMun is a clothing paradise and reflects the constant, always-on attitude of Koreans. Much like the DongDaeMun market, the mobile information society in Korea is always open, always busy, and there is always something to do.
Koreans apply the same vigor of shopping in the middle of the night at DongDaeMoon to the mobile connectivity. Koreans are heavy mobile users with a typical user making 4.1 hours of calls a week, roughly 1,000 minutes a month. In addition, the average mobile user also sends 42 SMS messages a week (6 per day, 168 a month).
People in their 20's make the most phone calls, while teenagers are the heaviest SMS users, far outpacing any other segment of the market. Similarly, Koreans use computers, on average, around 14 hours 36 minutes per week, of which 11 hours 30 minutes (almost 80 percent) is online. Again, it is 20-year-olds that are the most intensive users of both PCs and the Internet. Those in the 30-to 39-year bracket have the greatest offline use of computers while 12- to 19-year-olds seem to be online most of the time that they use the computer.
This high correlation among Korean wired and wireless users highlights the complementary relationship among the two access technologies. Some 93.8 percent of mobile Internet users also use the wired Internet. However, of those that do not use the wireless Internet, only 63.8 percent use the wired Internet such as broadband. This is an important and key aspect for the Korean mobile information society, highlighting the important role that a converged network will play.
A Home Information Gateway?
Korean mobile operators and handset manufacturers envision a society where mobile phones replace keys, wallets, credit cards, as well as function as the control for all the user's appliances. Many of these services are already available in Korea with several mobile operators offering home networking and application control over their 3G networks.
One of the most advanced services is SK Telecom's Nate service that can interact and control networked appliances from afar. Mobile handsets play a vital role in this vision of an intelligent home network. This network will enable a household of appliances to be controlled remotely via a mobile phone or over another IP connected device.
Government Target
The Korean government hopes to have 10 million homes with intelligent networks by the year 2007; roughly 61 percent of all households in the country. MIC has determined that intelligent home networks should play a key role in the government's overall ICT strategy and will target the industry with US$213 million (Won 249.3 billion) of investment from 2004 until 2007.
In addition, the government is assembling a set of initiatives to set the foundation for intelligent networks. These include developing a home network platform that combines communications, broadcast video and gaming. In July 2003, the government started a one-year test project to develop a home network platform based around the Linux operating system. Linux was chosen to avoid the expensive licensing fees of proprietary operating systems. ETRI currently is working on developing the platform and testing it for use.
The Korean government's targeted investment in intelligent home networks will also establish an RFID research center, as well as helping to establish RFID, sensor networks, and the BCN. Korea's telecom manufacturers also are involved in developing intelligent home network systems. Samsung and LG are creating network-ready appliances, along with complementary technologies such as power line communications (PLC) for connecting the appliances to the network, middleware and microchips.
There is immense interest in being able to control all devices in a home via a mobile phone. However, the vision is not clear entirely on how users will make the best use of this networked environment. RFID chips on food packaging in the refrigerator are commonly used as an example. Users would be able to check remotely which foods they were out of via their mobile phone. Other examples have shown that the air conditioning in an apartment could be turned on and off.
The problem with these examples is that while they are both convenient uses, the benefits may not be able to outweigh some of the privacy issues and costs associated with the service. This may delay rollout until a secure network that people trust has evolved; and that may take time.
The story represents an edited and abridged extract of Ubiquitous Network Societies: The Case of Korea. This updated case study has been prepared by Taylor Reynolds, Tim Kelly, and Jeong Jin-Kyu for the Strategy and Policy Unit (SPU) of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), and we wish to thank ITU for permission to reproduce.
Wireless Subscribers in Korea (000)

 

2004      2005    2006    2007    2008

 

36,300  39,000  41,800  44,700  47,500

 

Source: ITU, TIA, Wilkofsky Gruen Associates

Student unions across the UK are offering a new product for students that combines a flexible broadband contract with free voice calls over the Internet.
The two new packages, Everythingstudent Broadband and Everythingstudent Talk, include broadband Internet access from UK broadband Internet provider, PIPEX, and free calls using Voice over IP (VoIP) from Perfect Branding, from GBP21.99 per month.
Everythingstudent Broadband is available in a variety of speeds, with a 50GB download limit, and offers a reduced fee during the summer months. Everythingstudent Talk is a service, which allows students to call other VoIP users for free via the Internet. In addition, the package from Perfect Branding reportedly offers low cost calls to landline and mobile phones from GBP0.015 a minute and a range of features such as free voicemail, three way calling, SMS call back and a personal telephone number.
Everythingstudent Talk and Everythingstudent Broadband are available now to all students that hold a valid NUS (National Union of Students) Extra or NUS Card.

By Cade Metz

 

For the past hundred years, since radio was invented, scientists have tried to prevent wireless signals from interfering with one another. They want signals to arrive at their destinations separate and undisturbed, not scrambled together.
Yet in a remarkable twist of logic, researchers at Bell Labs, Lucent Technologies' research institute, have embraced interference and used it to build a wireless system that's several times as fast as today's cell-phone services. This system, known as Blast, achieves much higher speeds by splitting each call into several different signals, transmitting and receiving with multiple antennas. The signals do interfere, but with its cleverly arranged antennas, the system can recover each signal and deliver an undisturbed call.
"Initially, sending and receiving with multiple antennas sounds like a bandwidth-destroying technology," says Jeff Jaffe, head of Bell Labs. "But the bandwidth actually scales up linearly with the number of antennas."
For years, researchers have struggled to equip notebooks, handhelds, and cell phones with broadband wireless connections. But companies can't just increase the power of each user's signal, because the signals will interfere. "It's the party effect," says Reinaldo Valenzuela, head of the Blast project. "If everybody shouts a little louder, nobody can hear."
Sending multiple signals across the same, limited spectrum seemed equally hopeless. If signals are sent from three transmitters to three receivers, for instance, the signals will scramble together on each receiver. But researchers at Bell Labs noticed that if they placed receivers roughly a wavelength apart, each received a slightly different scramble of data. This simple realization gave rise to Blast, which separates the interfering signals using a special set of algorithms.
The process is a bit like solving multivariable equations in algebra. If you have one equation with three different variables, you can't solve it. If you have three equations with three variables, you can find the value of each variable in a heartbeat. Blast embeds a different marker in each signal sent. Then, by comparing data from each receiver, it picks out these markers—and thus the attached signals—one by one.
Using ten antennas, Blast has achieved 20 to 40 bits per second per hertz, more than 300 times the rate of today's cell-phone connections. Interference is a good thing.

UK telecomms company BT plc has entered into an agreement with mobile phone retailer Phones 4u that will see BT Broadband being sold in Phones 4u retail outlets.
Also as part of the agreement BT Broadband will be made available from the Phones 4u web site at http://www.phones4u.co.uk. The Phones 4u outlets will provide all of the equipment needed for the customer to get online in-store and will supply installation advice as well as information on the benefits of broadband.

By Amanda C. Kooser

 

Now that cellular networks are starting to achieve broadband speeds in major markets, entrepreneurs are taking advantage of the faster data speeds on their mobile phones. But there's no reason you need to be limited to your phone. Why not bring your laptop or PDA to the party? Assorted hardware devices let you capture data over broadband cellular connections.
For example, OmniWav Mobile's MBR-1100 (www. omniwav.com) is an in-vehicle system that lets you connect any Wi-Fi or Ethernet-enabled device to the internet. The vehicle broadband package costs $979, and the data service contract through Verizon Wireless is about $80 for unlimited use. Its range extends up to 300 feet, so you can still get online out side your car. A portable package version is also available so you can connect at your hotel, at a trade show or at a customer's site.
For a less expensive alternative, check out Novatel's Merlin V620 Wireless PC Card Modem (www. novatelwireless.com), which runs about $100 with a service plan. It also works with Verizon's EV-DO network and will keep your laptop connected on the go. Generally, data speeds aren't quite up to your office broadband line, but they're sufficient for use on the road. Check provider websites to see if these services are available in your area yet. As broadband network rollouts continue, expect the number of similar solutions and providers to grow.

An Internet phone service aimed at the increasing number of consumers moving from landline services has been unveiled by Tesco, a supermarket retailer based in the UK.
Around 8.1m households in the UK currently have broadband Internet access and can use Voice over IP (VoIP) to make phone calls online. However VoIP use has to date stayed mainly within the more technically minded computer users and Tesco has developed its service to be more in line with normal telephone use, though the phone is plugged into a computer.
Tesco will allocate a unique phone number to customers which will include an area code but can be taken with the user if they move house. The company claimed that its Internet phone service will focus around value and simplicity and said it expects consumer adoption of Internet calling to increase following the introduction of its service.
Tesco Telecoms will introduce the service in conjunction with Freshtel, an Internet phone company based in Australia.

 

 

By Tim Goral

 

A COALITION OF 14 EDUCATION GROUPS LED by the American Council on Education filed suit in January against the Federal Communications Commission to block new surveillance rules from taking effect. Behind the concern is the 1994 Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) that requires telecommunications companies to enable wiretaps by law enforcement agencies. Last fall, the FCC amended CALEA to include broadband access and internet phone services--the kind found at colleges and universities.
The Bush administration contends the new capabilities will help fight terrorism, yet others worry about privacy violations--not to mention the expense of complying with the rules.
"If CALEA requires the replacement of a substantial portion of network equipment, the cost to the entire higher education community could total billions of dollars," the brief reads. Citing the careful long-range planning that goes into technology expenditures, ACE--along with the Association of American Universities, the American Association of Community Colleges, and others--maintains that the compliance target of spring 2007 would require funding to be diverted from other programs, resulting in possible course eliminations and tuition increases.
While economics are at the forefront of the controversy, the suit also speaks to concerns about growing government intrusions on privacy and free speech. Many believe the government's actions cast a pall over constitutionally guaranteed freedoms.
The American Civil Liberties Union sued the National Security Agency, also in January, to stop illegal domestic surveillance. The ACLU was joined by educators who claim the program intercepts vast quantities of international telephone and internet communications by innocent Americans without court approval.
One of the participants in the suit told University Business that colleges and universities should be deeply concerned about the effect of the government's actions on academic freedom. "Professors and students can get caught up in the net of warrantless intercepts of phone and e-mail communications, and this could compromise confidential interviews they may be conducting on sensitive matters," notes Larry Diamond, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley. "The problem is potentially very serious for political science research but could also affect research in a wide range of other disciplines, including history, sociology, anthropology, and religious studies. Keep in mind that the people we are in touch with or whose interviews we are internally communicating about need not be terrorists. If they have been in touch with people who have been in touch with people who are suspected of being terrorists, then, according to what has been reported about this warrantless surveillance program, these innocent people, by two or three degrees of separation, may still be monitored, and so may the researchers who are in communication with them or who are writing back to their professors about them."
Left unchecked, he says, "I think it is likely that over time the power of the government to monitor what we do will expand, and academic freedom will likely shrink in proportion to it."

 

 

By Craig Ellison

 

In an announcement that's sure to send ripples through the consumer Voice over IP (VoIP) market, America Online announced April 7th the rollout and availability of AOL Internet Phone Service in 40 markets across the United States. Additional cities will be added in coming months.
The new offering appears to be similar to other consumer VoIP services offered by providers such as AT&T (CallVantage), Verizon (Voice Wing), Vonage, and others. (For more on these VoIP providers, see our "Talk Is Cheaper" roundup). AOL's position as one of the nation's largest ISPs and a major content provider affords it a unique opportunity to bundle its VoIP offering with the company's other services.
For new AOL customers with their own broadband connection, AOL's introductory offer of $29.95/month includes unlimited local and long distance calling within the U.S. and Canada plus unlimited access to AOL's services. At the end of six months, the price increases to $39.99 per month.
Current AOL members can choose from one of three plans. Introductory pricing starts as low as $13.99/month for unlimited local and regional calling plus $0.04/minute for long distance
There is a one time charge of $5.00 for the terminal adapter, plus an additional $9.95 for shipping and handling. There is no activation fee, but there is an early cancellation fee of $50.00 if the service is terminated by a subscriber within the first six months.
AOL's offering includes unified voice, e-mail and instant messaging. You can manage and retrieve voice mail and e-mail messages using either a standard touchtone telephone or via an Internet-connected computer. You can also respond to e-mail via telephone. In doing so, your response is recorded and sent to the message originator as an attached .WAV file.
Though the initial rollout offers an impressive amount of messaging integration, the service does lack some features offered by competing VoIP service providers, such as virtual numbers and 800 services. But it's a competitive market. Look for AOL to plug the missing holes in its feature set fairly quickly.
In some areas AOL will be offering Time Warner's Digital Phone service as an alternative. Visit aol.com for more information on this and other aspects of the service.

 

European Telephony over Internet Protocol (ToIP) provider Annatel Networks has announced the launch of its Internet phone service in the UK.
Annatel said that companies in the financial and production industries are coming around to the benefits of ToIP, and are gradually combining their IT and telephone links to cut costs. The company's new service is accessed through the use of an ANNABOX box between the router and telephone connection on a network, and also through the use of ANNASOFT software that allows phone calls to be made through computers.
Annatel's ToIP services are available in various packages starting at EUR9.90 per month, excluding tax.

UK wireless broadband company Broadreach Networks and IP telephony company Skype have announced that they are offering users the chance to make free calls over the Internet via any of Broadreach's 350 Wi-Fi hotspots around the UK.
The companies said that all users will need is to download a free Skype account, and they will then be able to make free Internet calls via Wi-Fi to other Skype account holders. Users can also call landlines and mobiles for a fee. The system - called Skype Out - has 28m users worldwide, and has so far attracted 940,000 UK users.
Skype said that it is planning to launch other pay services including voice mail, video conferencing, and Skype In - which would allow users to receive calls from mobiles and landlines. A spokesperson for Broadreach said that it is delighted to be offering Skype users free access through its hotspots, reports the BBC.

If you're a Skype user, you know how annoying it can be to fumble around for your headset when you receive an incoming Skype call. The Internet Phone Wizard from Actiontec solves this problem. At just under $70, this small (1.1 by 4.6 by 3.4 inches, HWD) USB-powered appliance lets you connect an analog phone to your computer as another means of interfacing with Skype. At the same time, you can also have a traditional analog phone line connected to the device so you can make and take regular landline calls on it as well. There is a USB port on the back of the appliance for connecting to the Skype client on the PC, as well as two analog phone ports (one for your phone line and the other for attaching the phone).
The Internet Phone Wizard installs as a USB audio device under Microsoft Windows 2000 and Windows XP. Installation requires running the included CD and takes only a couple of minutes. A small program links the device to the Skype client program on your PC so they can communicate. You have the choice of using the Skype client as you normally would, or you can simply initiate calls the old-fashioned way, with the telephone.
When you receive an incoming call, the phone rings and two indicator lights on the front panel show you whether you're receiving an "Internet" call (Skype) or a "Regular" call. The device allows you to switch between the two types of calls by hitting the pound key twice on the touch-tone keypad of the attached phone. You can easily assign a speed-dial number to your Skype contacts within the PC interface, making it simple to dial them directly from the telephone keypad
We made several free Skype-to-Skype calls from New York to California, as well as a call from New York to Japan using the Internet Phone Wizard. The parties called said our call quality was indistinguishable from a conventional landline call. Calls to non-Skype members require users to sign up for the Skype Out service. You would then purchase credits using a credit card. Pricing is done in Euros and the current minimum is 10 Euros, or approximately $13.30. Skype Out calls within the U.S. and to the U.K. and most of Western Europe cost $0.022/minute. Skype Out calls to Japan cost $0.0245/minute. Of course, when calling European cell phones, the caller pays for the cellular air time (unlike in the U.S., where the recipient pays). For example, calls to a U.K. cell phone cost $0.262/minute—quite a difference from the land-line rate. A complete listing of international call rates is available on Skype's Web site.
The Internet Phone Wizard provides Skype users the convenience of answering calls on a traditional phone. And if you're feeling adventurous, you can hook it up to a cordless-phone base station and use your landline phone and Skype service anywhere in your house.

SK Telecom Co, South Korea's biggest mobile phone operator, said Wednesday it has launched a new version of cell phone Internet service as part of its efforts to find a new growth area in the nation's saturated market.
The new wireless Internet service, which is based on an interactive user interface in the mobile phone's window, include a personalized digital character, short text messaging and personalized programs that let users to know about 10 kinds of information such as news, weather, television programs and movies, SK Telecom said. The new service allows users to talk to or manage their personalized digital characters on the handset screens.
"As the mobile phone use environment becomes more sophisticated and diversified, customers increasingly want to quickly and accurately find needed information via mobile phones," said Yoon Song-yee, senior vice president of SK Telecom.
The new service requires customers to buy new handsets and pay additional fees, with a monthly subscription charge of 1,200 won
So far, three such handsets made by LG Electronics Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. are available on the market, SK Telecom said.
SK Telecom is trying to persuade customers to spend more on wireless Internet to diversify its revenue sources. SK Telecom controls more than half of South Korea's mobile market with 19 million subscribers. Around 39 million people, or 78 percent of the country's population, subscribe to mobile phone services in South Korea as of the end of March.

DRIVING ONLINE shoppers to your website isn't always best; your company might connect better with prospects over the phone. Instead of paying for ads or clicks, you can now buy one-on-one conversations.
Through pay-per-call advertising you can promote a phone number instead of, or in addition to, your URL. Many people would skip surfing your website to buy right now. A flat tire, a toothache or a lost cell phone needs immediate resolution. People pressured for time could be searching the web impatiently for a restaurant or a florist. An ad displaying a phone number is a shining beacon.
FindWhat.com and Citysearch (www.citysearch.com) are leading the way with internet pay-per-call advertising. FindWhat.com advertisers can choose up to five keyword categories and one geo-targeting option: national, regional, state, city or ZIP code. It costs $10 per year for the listing, a minimum per-call bid price of $2, plus 10 cents per minute for calls over 10 minutes. There's a bid price because, just as with its pay-per-click program, FindWhat.com advertisers outbid each other to secure better listing positions.
Citysearch charges a flat fee of $2 to $12 per call received, depending on the category. Advertisers can choose an unlimited number of categories and either a national or local campaign. The listing positions are ranked based on several factors, such as the advertisers' distance to city or ZIP code searches done by users.
When pay-per-call prices are the same as pay-per-click prices for competitive keywords, calls are actually cheaper because a call is a lead while a click is just traffic. But don't open your phone lines until you can make each call count. Train your phone personnel to complete specific actions, such as collecting contact information, processing orders, upselling orders or cross-selling related items, and offering freebies to nonbuyers. Pay-per-call isn't just about getting the immediate sale. Use it to increase your per-order revenue and grow your lead database.
58% of internet users have deleted cookies--files used to track user web traffic;
39% delete them monthly.

VoIP: Note to IP telephony solution providers: if you want to play in VoIP, make sure your equipment is compatible to corporate environments.
That was the message from a YankeeBrandMonitor study on IP telephony, released last month. Attributes such as stability, reliability and quality outweighed "future" benefits, such as being a technology leader and innovator, according to buyers surveyed.
The study ranked Cisco Systems and IBM as the top two suppliers of IP telephony equipment in terms of deployment preference by buyers in the next two years, though Zeus Kerravala, Yankee Group enterprise infrastructure vice president, noted that the market is still in the early-adopter phase, and "there are many other solutions providers nipping at their heels."

Despite a slow-down in growth in 2003 (just 23% compared to 80% in 2002), VoIP traffic in now growing at twice the rate of traditional switched voice and accounts for 11% of international calls. Growth in 2004 was forecast at 40%. According to TeleGeography, global voice traffic reached nearly 200 billion minutes in 2003, 22 billion of which was carried over the Internet. The impact of VoIP technology is greatest on routes into developing markets, where high settlement costs make VoIP a worthwhile alternative. For example, VoIP traffic to India, Pakistan and Bangladesh more than doubled in 2003. In markets like these, VoIP can account for a quarter or more of incoming calls.

Tektronix is looking to cover all of the bases for VoIP and converged network testing with its Spectra2 large-scale load solution. Users can now perform both sophisticated signaling and high-speed media generation from one system using Spectra2 version 4.0 software and Tektronix Wideband Trunking Interface processing cards. This solution delivers up to six Ethernet, STM-1 or OC-3 interfaces in a single Spectra2 server. Calls can be established with protocols such as SIP, H.323, MGCP and Megaco as well as traditional telephony protocols including SS7 ISUP. Media traffic can be generated across RTP (real time transfer protocol) and TDM voice paths simultaneously to test key network elements such as media gateways. Spectra2 also provides a voice quality analysis tool for TDM and IP networks in one integrated system.
A Spectra2 equipped with a WTI OC-3 board and Spectra2 version 4.0 can generate 2,016 simultaneous calls with media per board, scaling up to six boards for a total of 12,096 timeslots per system. The WTI TRP board delivers 2,000 simultaneous calls with RTP streams per board for a total of 12,000 RTP streams on systems equipped with six boards. Spectra2 version 4.0 can also support 126,000 calls per hour with voice quality analysis (PESQ).

PIPEX is launching VoIP for Business, bringing together a Firewall/Router/Modem device from Virtual Access and broadband telephony from Inclarity. Customers can make free calls between extensions and to 01 and 02 numbers for less than 1p per minute.
Users can access the Internet and make telephone calls simultaneously, without losing voice quality or being exposed to hackers. Voice quality is preserved by reserving bandwidth thus preventing 'clipping' during data downloads. Five simultaneous calls should be possible over a single 512K ADSL connection.
"Of all the features, the most valuable is the ability to manage the Virtual PBX over the Phone Manager web interface," said Pipex CEO Mike Read. "Users go to a secure web page and easily configure the phone to their requirements."

VOIP: The start of the new year means a raft of predictions for telecoms in 2005. One of the more commonly cited trends for the year will be the further development of VoIP, especially in light of the recent rise of local IP telephony services launched over broadband networks, and the emergence of Skype.
Not surprisingly, VoIP guru Jeff Pulver has his own list of predictions for VoIP this year. Some of the choice ones of regional interest include:
* The restart of VoIP IPOs, and the burnout of some VoIP startups "due to lack of marketing funds and customer base and vision"
* Still more major carrier VoIP announcements
* More government scrutiny around the world on VoIP regulation
* Increasing wireless substitution
* Continuing implementation of ENUM (electronic numbering)
* The first dual/multi-mode phones capable of switching from Wi-Fi to cellular.

Hutchison Global Communications and Skype partner to offer a VoIP service in Hong Kong through a co-branded HGC-Skype portal, which is scheduled to be in service this month.

VOIP: More rumors have been surfacing about Google getting into the VoIP business. And while Google is still officially keeping its mouth shut, another analyst has given the concept of GoogleVoIP a thumbs-up.
Ovum chief analyst Julian Hewett said a VoIP play would be "an obvious development for the world's leading search engine." Millions have downloaded the Google toolbar, Hewitt says, so why not a VoIP client?
The appeal for Google is just as obvious, he notes. "Search for something, then 'click here' if you'd like to speak to the company that's selling what you're looking for. Google then collects a fee from the 'sponsor' for each voice connection."

By Henrik Lilja

 

The traditional view of VoIP is that it is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, as a 'disruptive' technology, it constitutes a major threat to incumbent fixed-line telecos; on the other, it creates business opportunities for new entrants.
Take ISPs. For them, VoIP clearly represents a vehicle that will allow them to enter a new market territory. Unlike basic internet access services, which are often offered on flat-rate basis, voice is--potentially--a significant new revenue stream. By contrast, traditional fixed-line telcos have seen, during the last decade, the cannibalisation of their business by wireless operators. VoIP now appears to be the next major threat to their business.
That said, VoIP could turn out to be an opportunity for even the traditional telcos. Technological convergence of voice and data onto one platform is fuelling customer expectation and demand for converged services; that suggest that service providers cannot maintain their business by offering standalone voice and internet access services.
However, the major challenge for service providers is to constantly maintain an attractive service portfolio consisting of a mix of voice and data services with high quality and availability. We outline seven critical steps in building a successful VoIP-based business. Each step is inspired by experience and practices from mobile network operators where the strive for a good voice service quality is a constant battle and where, at the same time, major parts of future revenue growth is expected to come from other related services using the latest 2.5/3G technology.
Step 1: integrated customer-service-network
Any successful business builds on an integrated understanding of: customer needs and behaviour; product usage and attractiveness; and utilisation and status of internal production resources. VoIP service providers can gain significant competitive advantage by gathering an integrated customer-service-network view. A clear understanding of the linkages between these three aspects will allow the service provider to optimise the internal operation, network resources and the service portfolio to meet the customers' demand.
Reliable access to data and performance metrics, combined with powerful tools that make the information available to different parts of the service provider's organisation, is the cornerstone to build this integrated business view that is central for the overall business success.
Step 2: attention on perceived voice quality
The only way to gain a detailed knowledge about the correlation between voice service quality and network behaviour is to constantly track both network and service behaviour. The fluctuating behaviour over time of IP networks means that nothing less than continuous monitoring and analysis of voice service metrics and network performance metrics can ensure a full understanding of the network's ability to deliver a toll level of service quality.
Voice quality monitoring addresses parameters such as: listening quality (ie, speech clarity in one direction); side tone quality (ie, the ability of the terminal equipment to give a suitable side tone without echo); and conversational quality (ie, how well duplex interaction between the parties works). The overall voice quality is the sum of the above.
These parameters are quantified using mean opinion scores (MOS), originally by using a number of test persons or using automated test procedures delivering a high degree of accuracy independent of language, age and gender. MOS scores range from 1 (bad) to 5 (excellent) with 'toll quality' PSTN telephony lying in the range of 4.0-4.5 and GSM telephony under good conditions around 3.6.
MOS can now be obtained non-obtrusively for every call in a network. Applications facilitating an overlaying of this information on the whole network and using it together with other key metrics under the next step give the network operator the necessary visibility to manage the VoIP network.
Step 3: new IP performance metrics
The circuit switched world is already familiar with service-centric metrics based on signaling analysis. The most important metrics are call set-up time (CST), network efficiency ratio (NER) and successful call completion ratio (SCCR). NER, CST and SCCR are widely used in service level agreements because they provide a good reflection of user perception. The system monitoring the network--and which also generates and stores these performance metrics--must be flexible enough to provide a complete view of the whole network or for any desired sub-network. It must also be possible to view the performance metrics per customer or customer group, ie, SLA reporting. These signaling based metrics combined with perceived voice quality (MOS) will serve well as the key performance metrics both for SLAs as well as for network monitoring and dimensioning in VoIP networks.
Step 4: integrated monitoring
The newer generations of SIP terminals include native support for reporting of signaling and VoIP metrics (including CST, CSR and MOS) and errors to the service provider (RTCP-RFC.3611). This allows the service provider to complement the monitoring of the core network with information automatically uploaded from the end-user terminals. Thus a system capable of automatically correlating the end-terminal data with relevant network data can immediately report any equipment failure or drop in service quality to service provider. The passive monitoring of the end-user terminals can successfully be complemented by active test solutions that continuously validate the service quality and availability based on pre-defined service scenarios.
Step 5: active use of internal/external SLAs
No chain is stronger than the weakest link. This means that customer perceived service quality is dependent on the performance of all network segments in the service providers' network and interconnect partners. Constant monitoring of QoS and network performance is not only vital to follow up on SLAs, but standardised performance and SLA reports will be the foundation for service providers to determine new internal service goals and to negotiate favorable agreements with interconnect partners.
Step 6: differentiate your service offering
To combat falling ARPU and achieve competitive advantages, service providers should explore new integrated voice and data services. Unified messaging services and various types of instant messaging are just two service examples of converged services that have reached wide adoption. Further, penetration by these services combined with the introduction of new services will ensure high customer satisfaction.
The introduction of new services also poses new challenges. Over time users become dependent of particular services, and users expect services to work every-time and everywhere. The diversity in the service offering unfortunately implies diversity in platforms and solutions. This leads to complex architectures as both direct and indirect service dependences. It is therefore essential to be able to efficiently monitor the service behavior and utilization, and if required troubleshoot sessions across different technology domains.
Step 7: automate fraud and spam detection
A network-wide monitoring system providing a continuous stream of data in real time can provide all the information required to detect unwanted behaviors. 'Fingerprinting' the network by checking network load, authentication profiles and the type of traffic distribution profile over a 24-hour period provides a big picture of normal network behavior. Unwanted behaviors, such as spam and fraud, can then be detected by monitoring network behavior in relation to the normal 'fingerprint'. An automated system for detection and alarming in case of deviating traffic patterns can very well prove to be on of the best investments a network operator can make.
A new mindset is required
It is important not to treat VoIP as just another technology upgrade for the specialists to worry about. The VoIP revolution should encompass the whole organisation within the network operator or ISP. Use valuable experience from mobile network operators where measures have been defined and organisations have been shaped to manage and prosper in an environment where the voice service quality is the basis for customer satisfaction but where most of the ARPU growths come from new associated services.
A new mindset should be build on easy to understand and verifiable service quality metrics creating an awareness of 'how we are doing' throughout the organization. The organisational structure should be geared towards a constant proactive monitoring of these key metrics and use this knowledge on all levels from network engineering, planning, and marketing to customer service in its strive for VoIP excellence.
Henrik Lilja, strategic system architect, NetTest. NetTest is an industry specialist devoted to providing test and measurement instruments and network monitoring solutions designed to empower global telecom leaders and large enterprises to optimise their business performance.
39.Three reports talk up wireless VoIP
A good indicator of how hot a market is, could be the number of research reports published in a short space of time. Last month, three highlighted the subject of voice over Wi-Fi.
Infonetics Research believes wireless VoIP is already spreading steadily in the enterprise and will see even higher growth over the coming four years. Its report says that 113,000 Wi-Fi VoIP handsets were sold worldwide in 2004, bringing in $45m, while global dual-mode Wi-Fi/cellular handset revenues reached $6.6m based on over 8,000 handsets sold (these dual mode devices only shipped in Q4). The 2004 figure signifies a very fledgling market, of course, and one that is lagging behind what forecasters had hoped when looking into their crystal balls in 2002-3.
But these figures should grow 'dramatically' by 2009 as more enterprises offer employees flexible mobile access over- different wireless networks. The report identifies the logistics and healthcare verticals as early adopters, because voice over-WLan already has some momentum.
A good indicator of how hot a market is, could be the number of research reports published in a short space of time. Last month, three highlighted the subject of voice over Wi-Fi.
Infonetics Research believes wireless VoIP is already spreading steadily in the enterprise and will see even higher growth over the coming four years. Its report says that 113,000 Wi-Fi VoIP handsets were sold worldwide in 2004, bringing in $45m, while global dual-mode Wi-Fi/cellular handset revenues reached $6.6m based on over 8,000 handsets sold (these dual mode devices only shipped in Q4). The 2004 figure signifies a very fledgling market, of course, and one that is lagging behind what forecasters had hoped when looking into their crystal balls in 2002-3.
But these figures should grow 'dramatically' by 2009 as more enterprises offer employees flexible mobile access over- different wireless networks. The report identifies the logistics and healthcare verticals as early adopters, because voice over-WLan already has some momentum.

Telecomms technology company Nortel Networks (NYSE/TSX: NT) has said that it is continuing to drive the mass deployment of VoIP and multimedia services through a series of new strategic partnerships with Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) technology companies.
The company said that Arcturus Networks Inc, D-Link Corporation Inc, Grandstream Networks Inc, NETGEAR, SIPquest, Sipura Technology Inc and TABLETmedia - which produce SIP-based access devices, data networking products and wireless clients - have joined Texas Instruments, i3 Micro, Polycom and Uniden as part of Nortel's collaborative open client initiative to promote industry-wide SIP adoption.
The initiative will see all the participants focus on bringing to market Nortel-interoperable SIP products that will expand the availability of VoIP services to consumers through products such as analog terminal adaptors and routers for home-based VoIP services. A spokesperson for the company said that the initiative will create a powerful catalyst for the adoption of SIP.

By Mike Hogan

 

IF MEMORY SERVES, it was the Carpenters who popularized that '70s tune "We've Only Just Begun." Bad leisure suit visual aside, that's a pretty good description of where the phone business is headed.
Increasingly, you'll be able to buy premium phone services a la carte without a service call or hardware installation and at pretty reasonable monthly rates. For example, CallWave (www.callwave.com) has a new $4 per month offering called CallWave for Mobile that lets you reroute your cellular calls to any landline or IP-based phone you like.
Mobile Call Screening is simple in operation but lets you do a remarkable thing: listen in while folks leave messages on your cell phone. One button lets you grab the call or forward it to any other phone, conserving those precious cell minutes. Otherwise, the caller's message gets forwarded to your e-mail. Your callers get a toll-free number to use, leaving your current cell number available, and you can take the call on another line even if your cell phone is turned off.
CallWave for Your Home is the latest add-on to a suite of CallWave services that already lets you swap landline and IP calls. For just $8 per month, you can get new toll-free and local numbers whose incoming calls can be forwarded to any landline, cell or IP phone number. An alert on your PC tells you who is calling and, if you don't pick up, any message is forwarded to your e-mail inbox as a WAV file attachment. Faxes to your dedicated CallWave fax number (you get three lines total) arrive as PDF attachments. Competitors such as RingCentral (www.ringcentral.com) sell other bundles of services
CallWave's president and CEO, Dave Hofstatter, estimates that about an eighth of the company's customers are entrepreneurs giving customers in far-flung markets local numbers to call, or providing co-workers who need them with "fax machines" in their inboxes. Individual accounts are set up and managed entirely on CallWave's website, with monthly charges added to a credit card or phone bill.
It's all part of the next step in telecom's evolution: You'll be able to mix and match the services you want and who you want providing them.

Some of the biggest trends of the second half of 2005 will rest on technologies that were hardly on the corporate radar a couple of years ago. Perhaps the most dramatic is voice over IP, which after a brief vogue in the late 1990s fell foul of poor performance and unreliability in early products. Now, with much improved products and the option to use IP to create a converged office/home/ mobile network, VoIP is firmly back on the agenda, as Vonage's massive round of funding indicates.
This was the largest round since the dotcom crash and shows that VoIP is really taking its place as the 'new dotcom', along with many forms of wireless technology. The hope, this time, is that investors will be more circumspect about choosing their start-ups, not throwing money recklessly at any company with magic word 'VoIP' attached.
Some of the traditional IT and telecoms vendors are adapting to the new world more easily than others. Microsoft has had a few stumbles over IP and new communications, but has now launched the new version of its mobile Windows for PDAs and other devices, and has hired some new senior executives to oversee its strategies for mobility, wireless and Vole In this issue we examine its strategies and the moves of its new head of mobile devices, who has transferred from China with a wealth of new ideas.
New technology platforms inevitably bring fights over standards as the users call for interoperability and affordable kit, and the vendors seek control over key emerging markets. The wireless technology Ultra-WideBand, which could be the basis of a major boom in digital media networks, has been stalled by a massive stand-off between two factions led by Intel and Motorola, but there are now hopes of the two camps starting to work together for the common interest of kickstarting an important market.
On the enterprise wireless Lan side, Cisco is seeking to take its usual dominant role by supporting a range of security and interoperability standards that are heavily influenced by its own technologies, particularly those of recently acquired Airespace.
New platforms also bring a rush of mergers as large players look to snap up specialists in the hottest platforms. We profile the bumper crop of acquisitions of the last couple of months.
And of course, many traditional technologies continue to evolve and remain strong. Two in-depth user surveys indicate the main trends. One looks at customer data integration and how enterprises are looking better to exploit the masses of information they hold on clients in their traditional databases. The other, conducted by Arcati, gives a comprehensive overview of the current state of mainframe users.

In light of the torrent of announcements about VoIP services and equipment surrounding the recent VON conference in San Jose, the central question facing the nascent business resembles the one the kids in the back seat ask on long car trips: Is it here yet? Depending on how rambunctious the kids are, the best answer might be either "not yet" or "pretty soon."
The highest-profile announcements had to do with services. In particular, Vonage noted that it had reached more than 500,000 subscriber lines. That was up from 75,000 at the end of 2003 and 390,000 at the end of 2004. The rate of new subscriber take-up rose from 10,000 per week in the fourth quarter of 2004 to 15,000 a week in early March.
In addition, AOL confirmed previous reports that it would be getting into the IP telephony business soon, using Level 3's national infrastructure and Sonus softswitching equipment. And there were persistent reports that Google is seriously considering getting into the VoIP market, as well as speculation that Yahoo and MSN would soon do the same. VoIP calling is a natural evolution for providers like AOL, Yahoo and MSN that already offer voice-capability instant messaging or even PC-based Internet phone service.
VoIP equipment announcements can be a less reliable indicator of growth prospects than in other markets, because gear such as softswitches can be used to deliver conventional as well as IP telephony services. In one such announcement, Veraz Networks and Sylantro Systems unveiled a tie-up that combined Veraz softswitches and media gateways with hosted communications services from Veraz to provide end-to-end packages for service providers. In another, low-end softswitch maker CopperCom said it had made a deal to incorporate Jasomi Networks session border controllers as part of a turnkey packet-based infrastructure product. And yet another softswitch vendor, Sentito, announced that it had landed an equipment deal with KBT Systems, a provider of wholesale managed services.
Still, softswitches at least represent the next-generation infrastructure that will make ubiquitous IP phone service possible in the future. And at least one announcement represented one of the classic coming-of-age milestones that indicate an industry at least thinks it's on the verge of the big time: the semiconductor announcement. That occurred when Texas Instruments said it had been named Vonage's preferred provider of VoIP silicon and software.
Along with the various signs that the VoIP market is moving along rapidly, there was also a bit of fighting in the back seat. In February, Vonage had complained that a broadband provider was blocking its calls. The FCC fined the provider, Madison River Communications of North Carolina, and it agreed to stop. But Vonage and Nuvio have also since complained that telco and cable broadband providers had been degrading their signals, a subtler form of blocking. Any business that is threatening enough to block is clearly getting big enough to take seriously.
WARY CONSUMER
However two surveys about consumer attitudes towards VoIP services that surfaced before and during the VON conference gave the best indication of where the industry was headed. One by Forrester Research found that only 43% of its respondents had heard of VoIP telephony and only 4% used it. The other, commissioned by Level 3, said essentially the same thing: that 60% of its respondents were unaware of the service, while 4% used it.
Two further questions, though, showed the real path to VoIP's future. Forrester found that only 13% of its respondents were interested in such services. The Level 3 survey, going a step further, found that after having the capabilities and benefits of VoIP service explained to them, 71% said they would consider switching from conventional service.
And that, more than anything else, makes clear what it'll take to make the VoIP telephony business a success: a lot of explaining.
Consumer interest in using VoIP services

 

Interested       13%
Neutral          23%
Not interested   64%

By Al Senia

 

Residential VoIP service is growing ever more popular. But customers appear highly confused about what they are buying and how the technology operates. Furthermore, significant security threats loom on the horizon.
A new report from research firm IDC predicts that U.S. residential VoIP subscribers will hit 27 million by the end of 2009, up from an estimated 3 million this year. Price will drive this high adoption rate, at least initially, but the more robust calling features VoIP offers will become a more dominant factor as carriers educate consumers about the technology.
Will Stofega, senior analyst in IDC's VoIP Services Research Program, notes that carriers and equipment vendors "need to plan for a marathon" because the market still is in an early stage of development.
Furthermore, carriers need to proactively educate and market the value of VoIP to avoid a bloody price war. So far, the technology is marketed primarily by price; Stofega notes that AT&T (with its ad campaign for CallVantage service) is the only VoIP service provider emphasizing features, not merely price.
The winners will use the flexibility of IP to design services that differentiate themselves from their competitors," says Stofega. VoIP's main challenge, he adds, is to "prove that it is just a cheap replacement for POTS service."
All well and good. However, service differentiation might not prove so easy because there's already plenty of confusion about VoIP in the marketplace. A second research report, this one conducted by IQ Research and Consulting on behalf of SunRocket, a Virginia-based VoIP service provider, finds that although consumer awareness about VoIP has grown, only half of consumers realize that Internet phone calls can be made using a standard telephone.
Other interesting findings: Only 47% understand that Internet phone calls don't go through their computer; only 44% realize a technician isn't required to activate IP phone service; and only about 20% know that no special computer software is required to activate VoIP service.
"This survey ... reveals that despite significant progress, most consumers still don't realize how easy it is to use Internet phone service at home," concludes Joyce Dorris, SunRocket's co-founder.
And if all this isn't enough to roil the VoIP marketplace, security experts are warning that the technology poses a credible security threat. Dave Endler, recently elected head of the VoIP Security Alliance (VoIPSA), warns that threats to voice networks from viruses, Trojans and worms are increasing.
And David Lacey, director of information security for the U.K.-based Royal Mail Group, recently warned a security gathering in London that using one network for both voice and data makes enterprises particularly vulnerable and could trigger an electronic "Pearl Harbor-type event" by the end of 2007.

By John Engebretson

 

Heavyweights from several cable companies, including Time Warner Cable senior vice president Gerald Campbell, sat down with representatives of the alarm industry in a meeting at CableLabs headquarters in Denver last month to discuss incompatibilities between VoIP and alarm systems. Namely, rewiring requirements, backup power, and difficulties with transmitting certain alarm industry communication protocols. VoIP providers outside the cable industry face the same challenges, but have yet to take action on this matter. Some of them advise customers to keep their regular phone line for their alarm system, considerably reducing the value of VoIP for the 23% of homeowners who have installed alarms

Imago Communications has announced the results of its end-user research in conjunction with analyst company Ovum into attitudes and usage of Voice over IP (VoIP) technology.
The research reveals that VoIP applications that improve teleworking and employee mobility are the most popular, with both being cited by 61% of respondents when asked 'What applications are driving your move to VoIP?'. Some 86% of respondents also said that wireless VoIP was of 'significant interest' to their organisation.
The importance of improving communications with employees working outside the office was also evident, with 47% of respondents agreeing that enabling mobility was one of their goals, and 44% citing enhanced flexibility and 41% extending functionality to remote workers. A total of 47% said that the more general goal of improving communications was behind their move to VoIP.
The research also suggests that one of the most important reasons why organisations are adopting VoIP is to save money, with 69% of respondents stating that cost savings was a business goal behind the adoption of VoIP.
In addition, 75% of respondents that had deployed VoIP said that it was successful and had met all, or the majority, of their objectives. However 46% of respondents said that they still didn't fully understand the business benefits that VoIP and IP communications could offer and 67% of respondents stated that the interoperability of different suppliers' equipment in an IP network was a major worry.

By John Engebretson

 

After many disappointments, viable local residential voice competition has finally arrived--and it's not UNE-P. It's VoIP-over-broadband.
It seems, in retrospect, that we should have predicted it. Yet no one did. By riding the data connection on a DSL or cable modem, voice calls now can be handled more economically, enabling service providers to offer local and long-distance service for a flat monthly fee.
The hitch is that this service can only be delivered to people with a broadband data connection--which means that its success depends on how widely and quickly broadband is deployed. And since broadband VoIP took center stage a few months ago, I've been wondering whether it will boost or block broadband deployment.
On the one hand, because VoIP makes broadband more useful, it should increase broadband demand. But the incumbent telcos that control the majority of residential DSL lines have not embraced VoIP because it would cannibalize existing voice revenues. Another concern is that VoIP-over-broadband enables a competitor to ride an incumbent's DSL line (and siphon off voice revenues) without the incumbent's knowledge--and telcos' fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) plans face the same technology threat.
To date, the incumbents have taken a defensive approach toward broadband VoIP. Three of the four Bell companies--BellSouth, Qwest and SBC--have attempted to fend off the VoIP threat by requiring DSL customers to also buy local voice service. And despite how distasteful that strategy may seem from a consumer standpoint, one has to admit that it could help prevent VoIP from becoming a broadband blocker.
Ultimately, though, upstart broadband VoIP providers, and even long-distance company broadband VoIP initiatives, are small threats compared to a much bigger one that the telcos now face from the cable companies. Where broadband VoIP will make its biggest impact is by providing cable companies with a viable way of delivering local and long-distance voice services. Cable modem users already outnumber DSL users by more than two-to-one--and cable operators are embracing broadband VoIP as a tremendous potential revenue booster. Telcos realize that to fight back, they will have to offer video and high-speed data services--and to do so, they'll need broadband. Indeed, the threat of cable may push telcos to act more promptly on deploying FTTP, as the limitations of DSL in comparison with cable are likely to become increasingly problematic.
The opportunity
Although telcos are, in effect, being forced into the video business, it could be a good opportunity for them. Video services offer the same sort of "green field" opportunity for telcos that voice offers for the cablecos. And to their credit, telcos seem to realize that to make any significant inroads, they will have to outperform the cable companies at the cable companies' own game.
FTTP may provide the opportunity to do just that. By delivering unprecedented bandwidth, it will enable telcos to deliver more channels than their cable counterparts and will make it easier to offer customized streaming video. Ironically, this is one area where regulators seem to have had uncharacteristic foresight. It seems inter-modal competition now may be more powerful than it appeared, for years, to be--and not just on the voice and data front. The big questions now: How much ground will the cable companies gain on the voice front--and how quickly? How quickly can telcos deploy FTTP, and how widespread will those deployments be? And will the telcos have sufficient programming smarts to make significant inroads against the cable companies?
As for the final question, telcos, unlike cable companies, would prefer not to be in the programming business--which means that the two industries have different ideas about how they'd like to see open access regulated. Look for the next round of telco/cable battles to occur on that front.

By Stphen Elliot

 

Service providers are beginning to recognize the importance of VoIP management as an important element of their long-term VoIP investment.
Make no mistake: For some carriers there is a true "disconnect" between the two areas due to poor planning.
In fact, recent discussions with enterprise telecom managers indicate that VoIP Quality of Service (QoS) and security are critical concerns that must be solved before large scale VoIP service adoption occurs. During the next three years, enterprises will assess their VoIP requirements including business need and impact, costs and technical staffing. Many will turn to outsourcing because of the high level of complexity. To seize this opportunity, carriers must better understand the importance of managing VoIP.
Carriers must increase their management capabilities to allay enterprise concerns about service quality, reliability, and security. To meet these requirements, service providers and carriers should analyze tools from companies such as Brix Networks, Concord Communications, Micromuse, and SMARTs that test and manage QoS, performance and availability VOIP metrics. The products vary in cost and capability, but all perform basic QoS analysis that improves service reliability and performance.
To get started, carriers should analyze their business and customer requirements; determine key performance and QoS metrics; and create a short list of vendors that meet these areas. Long-term, strategic planning should also be considered for the project as data collection and the value of the data can improve operations and customer relationships. For example, certain carriers are considering presenting parsed data statistics to VoIP customers through their customer portal as a way to demonstrate real-time quality and performance.
STRATEGIC INVESTMENT
AT&T, SBC Communications, and Verizon excel at managing VoIP services. These companies considered VoIP management early in the planning cycle as a strategic part of their customer investment. While operationally centric, it was customer demand and the importance of building trust in service delivery and reliability that drove budget allocation.
Executives used to believe that VoIP management technologies would enable future customers to see QoS and performance metrics via customer portals to improve support for service level metrics. Besides technology, their IT organizations streamlined workflows and processes to respond more efficiently to customer VoIP demands and catch problems before downtime occurred. As a result, these carriers have a competitive advantage and are demonstrating the importance of managing VoIP--and the customer value that management tools provide for enterprise VoIP quality requirements.
Without VoIP management, carriers are simply flying blind and limiting their sales opportunities. Enterprises will not accept VOIP services that lack management, show poor quality and cannot be tracked to service level metrics. Some specific required QoS metrics include MOS generation, jitter, latency, call completion and quality, and voice quality.
Enterprises today want to understand the delivery infrastructure, network management and security of VoIP services before they sign the contract. Expect integration points to be extensive and in constant flux as business requirements force change.
Establishing trust and extending your relationships with enterprises takes time and money. Anything less and the competitive nature of this market will destroy competitive advantage and a carrier's opportunity to drive VoIP revenue.

According to Ted Wallingford, author of 'Switching to VoIP', there are hundreds of thousands of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) devices in use in the US today. He said the next step is for the Internet to replace the current global telephone network, and the book details ways to integrate an IP-based voice network with existing telephony systems.
Wallingford stated that VoIP reduces cost and centralises administrative control, claiming that VoIP appeals especially to businesses with enterprise networks. He has however warned of possible drawbacks and in 'Switching to VoIP' covers the most common reasons for VoIP migrations failing. He said the book answers questions about equipment and protocols, without the influence of sales pitches from IP vendors.
Research has shown that up to two-thirds of the USA's 230 million landline telephones are to be replaced by VoIP within the next ten years, O'Reilly said.
'Switching to VoIP' is available now, priced at USD39.95 (GBP28.50).

By Al Senia

 

The Federal Communications Commission may have raised many more questions than it answered with its recent ruling about VoIP technology.
One on hand, the FCC was quite clear in deciding that one form of the developing technology isn't bound by the rules and expenses of traditional telephone service. On the other hand, the agency whetted the appetite of an entire industry concerned about what is coming next, as well as precisely when it might be coming.
"This could wind up being a catalyst for a much more comprehensive review of federal (telecom) policy," said Diane Northfield, program manager, global regulatory strategy for The Yankee Group research firm.
Many service providers are thinking the same way. The FCC still has six or seven open regulatory matters involving telephone service to decide. Tom Gerke, Sprint's executive vice president and general counsel, was quick to note that while the FCC's first-ever ruling on VoIP was a start, it didn't address "the regulatory uncertainty that is denying telecom companies the clarity they need" to execute their business plans.
"In conjunction with considering regulation of VoIP, the FCC faces the even more important challenge of restructuring the mess of intercarrier compensation," says Gerke.

 

Meanwhile, executives from VoIP upstarts such as Vonage have been quite clear about their own belief that a whole lot of federal regulation isn't desirable, and that such regulation may simply be revenue driven, an excuse to levy new taxes. And executives at SBC Communications and Verizon also agreed that the FCC's light regulatory touch seemed just right.
In its decision, the FCC ruled the Free World Dialup service offered by Pulver.com isn't subject to the rules of conventional phone service, because, well, it just isn't conventional phone service. That's a pretty easy conclusion to draw because the service is free, it is open only to members and it doesn't utilize traditional phone equipment, the public phone network or even traditional numbers.
"We should all work to implement Congress's clear preference for a vibrant, free market in Internet applications," FCC Chairman Michael Powell said in making the ruling. He said consumer choice must prevail

 

By Al Senia

 

 

The day before the FCC presented its first ruling about Internet phone services last month, California's Public Utilities Commission pushed forward with its own plan to regulate the Internet telephone business.
The impact on the industry could be significant. California is the most influential of some 25 states now drafting new Internet phone rules, and the PUC's move shows that the states are anxious to take the issue on despite the unfolding national regulatory debate.
Officially, the probe, which is expected to take about 18 months, is focused on what kind of VoIP telephony should be subject to state regulation. But in its order instituting the investigation, state regulators provided a glimpse of the real issues at hand: Loss of state control over new telephone technology; the impact of unregulated competition on consumer protection; the impact of IP telephony on universal service programs; and the potential loss of millions of dollars in state tax revenue.
Noting that SBC and Time-Warner "are actively migrating customers to VoIP technology" in the state, PUC officials say lower rates and the availability of new features could be beneficial to California consumers. But the Commission also projects that by 2008, VoIP will account for between 40 and 43% of total intrastate telecommunications revenue in the Golden State. That translates to a loss of between $183 million and $407 million in lost revenue for the state's five mandated universal service programs. The fear is that if VoIP grows too popular, it could result in steep increases in public program surcharges for remaining customers to ensure basic telephone services in rural areas.
VoIP also presents issues of customer privacy, customer notice for discontinuance of service, cramming and slamming," the PUC warns.
Among other things, the state is considering whether VoIP providers might be forced to pay access charges to interconnect with the Public Switched Telephone Network and whether providers should be compelled to provide emergency 911 services.
Still unclear is whether the California PUC probe will wind up usurping the FCC's own rulings--or be rendered irrelevant by the federal panel.

Vodafone is responding aggressively to the rise of VoIP by launching a low cost, flat rate phone service of its own, using capacity on its 3G network. Echoing similar mores by its US joint venture Verizon Wireless, Vodafone's plan reflects the main defense that cellcos have against the non-3G operators that seek to steal their voice markets using voice over Wi-Fi or, in future, WiMAX. This is to exploit the superior spectral efficiency of the 3G networks to bring voice prices crashing down and remove the main advantage of VoIP. This could have far reaching implications for the 3G business plans though.
UMTS networks allow operators to deliver voice minutes far more cheaply (for about one-third of the cost), and so are valuable in keeping margins stable even as voice prices fall. However, the efficiency of 3G was expected, by most carriers, to deliver a net increase in voice margin for some years as, before mass market wireless VoIP loomed on the horizon, they were predicting gradual erosion of voice rates, rather than a need to compete with flat rates and even, in future, voice services bundled for free.
One of the key trends putting pressure on the 3G operators' business plans is, of course, the rise of low cost voice over IP services, increasingly to be offered by wireline and multi-network carriers over wired and wireless links as part of their convergence strategies. Users will increasingly use VoIP, usually over Wi-Fi, when in range of an access point, falling back to cellular only when that is the only connection available. Combined handsets that can support both links and also connect to the landline are starting to come to market, and towards the end of the decade, mobile WiMAX could make it even less necessary to rely heavily on cellular networks.
Vodafone is taking the lesson that combinations of services and bundling will be the key to margin, ARPU and customer loyalty in future, rather than single 'killer applications' or simple price cutting. Thus, while offering flat rate voice services could have a dramatic effect on its margins, given that voice still accounts for the vast bulk of cellco revenue, it is also expected to drive up customer numbers and retention, and therefore to generate higher uptake of added value data services, some of which are less easily emulated by the non-cellular carriers, at least until they have mobile WiMAX to play with.
It will also, Vodafone hopes, accelerate the move for subscribers to dump landlines altogether and, in some markets, it may be able to claim such migrants for itself before a commercial VoIP alternative has been launched. "We have to move fast," said incoming CEO of Vodafone Germany, Fritz Joussen. "If we don't, fixed line usage might move to broadband."
DRIVING THE 3G BUSINESS MODEL
Increasingly, substitution of fixed lines for mobile is driving the business model for 3G, even more than boosting data usage, and as operators like BT fight back with converged services using Wi-Fi, the cercos are likely to start to follow Vodafone's lead and use aggressive pricing tactics to retaliate.
The value of a flat rate service, according to the cellco, is that it generates renewable subscriptions and customer satisfaction and delivers a higher margin than the wireline operators command for charging by the minute --lessons the cellcos, which have prospered from their higher per-minute margins, are only just starting to learn from the VoIP carriers like Vonage.
The Vodafone flat rate phone service will be rolled out first in Germany, under the brand 'Vodafone ZuHause Zone', and will then be extended to other countries, said CEO Arun Sarin. ZuHause (At Home) offers 1,000 minutes of local and national calling for a flat lee of 20 [euro] ($24) per month, with extra charges for calls to mobiles and international lines, when the user is at home or within adjacent cells, giving a normal range of two kilometers radius.
Initially, the service will be offered as a separate subscription with a dedicated handset that only works in the home zone, but from the fourth quarter, it will be available as an optional add-on to existing mobile subscriptions and handsets. The choice of Germany for the initial launch is largely because its mobile tariffs are among the highest in Europe, and so the service will be highly attractive.
Vodafone Germany has also launched a home zone 3G data card service for a flat lee of 34 [euro] ($41), providing 5Gbytes of data usage per month. When the subscriber mores out of the home zone, the tariff is increased to the standard mobile rate of 1.6 [euro] ($1.9) per megabyte.

Once the battered old soldier of the technological revolution, the global telephone network, over a century old, is fading away. In the next decade or so, about two-thirds of the 230 million land lines in the US will be replaced by the Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), giving network managers one more thing to worry about. Wallingford explains how voices become data, how Linux became a PBX, and how to replace the voice circuit with VoIP without losing either your voice or your mind. He explains how to maintain quality of service and security, how to use troubleshooting tools and PSTN trunks, the secrets of VoIP network infrastructure, and whom to call for hardware and software. Wallingford even supplies an Asterisk reference and its Manager socket API syntax, along with SIP methods and responses and AGI commands.

By Jim Barthold

 

Cable operators are finally doing more than stepping into the VoIP waters and quickly retreating with a scream.
Really.
They all say so.
Every big MSO will at least trial VoIP this year, and many will roll out service with "black phone" offerings that duplicate the incumbents' circuit-switched features while undercutting the price. There's little chance cable subscribers will see any of the gee-whiz VoIP elements that vendors have been hyping for the past decade--at least until MSOs prove they can reliably duplicate a service that's been around for over 100 years.
"Right now they're selling a cheaper bundle than the RBOCs," said Michael Harris, president of analysis firm Kinetic Strategies. "The question over time is how that becomes more interesting."
The other question is how much time cable operators have until they must spice things up. The ILECs are preparing residential VoIP offerings that include advanced IP features. At the same time, companies like Vonage--a voice ASP (application service provider)--are taking free rides on cable's broadband infrastructure with low-priced VoIP services that please customers and pull phone dollars out of cable coffers.
The five big MSOs--Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications, Charter Communications and Cablevision Systems--will all do VoIP this year, and smaller players--Insight Communications, Armstrong, Adelphia Communications and Liberty Media--will explore ways to make voice a part of a video and high-speed data bundle.
"VoIP's a killer app," said Jimmy Schaeffler, chairman, CEO and senior research analyst at The Carmel Group. "It's a great technology. It can do nothing but work, which begs the question: Why wait?"
Some critics have been putting that question to Comcast, the nation's biggest MSO. A VoIP pioneer, Comcast will likely be among the last to push into packetized telephony rollouts on a large scale. That's partially because the company needs more time to digest the huge AT&T Broadband infrastructure--including a large circuit-switched voice business--that it acquired in 2002. Those customers do not fit into its vision, and Comcast has curtailed any further marketing efforts to that base as it prepares for full VoIP service targeted for 2005. The company will offer VoIP in four markets in 2004--Coatesville, a Philadelphia suburb where the company is already running trials, Indianapolis, Connecticut, and parts of Massachusetts.
"We are very hopeful that VoIP is going to be a way that telephony can be a profitable business line and a good bundle," said Brian Roberts, Comcast's president and CEO during a presentation to the Citigroup Smith Barney Entertainment Media & Telecommunications Conference in Phoenix in January. "Should that be the case, I think we're ready to keep going and really accelerate the footprint where we offer telephony."
That's not a cautious message if you see it from Comcast's perspective of what VoIP means as a piece of an overall cable offering, said Steve Craddock, Comcast's senior vice president of new media development. Comcast wants to deliver an integrated IP-based unit that folds into its other video entertainment and data services. The unit would include SIP (Session Initiation Protocol)-based features like follow-me and data integration around which Comcast can build a suite of services leveraging existing high-speed data networks.
"Black phones can't do any of that," Craddock said. "People want to have instant communications. This thing is very smart; it finds you, it determines what devices you have available to you that people can get you on."
While it might pop up here and there in trials, it won't be common to Comcast subscribers in 2004.
Partnering Up
Time Warner Cable, AOL Time Warner's cable group and the nation's second-largest MSO, takes a position about 180 degrees from Comcast. The New York City-based behemoth is partnering with Sprint and MCI to "aggressively enter the voice business," according to AOL Time Warner Chairman and CEO Richard Parsons, speaking at the Citigroup gathering. "By year-end we expect to offer voice in almost all our systems."
That's a big advance from the single operation the company has rolled out in Portland, Maine, and it depends heavily on help from telco partners.
"We're providing a variety of services to them [including] interconnection [and] all types of CLEC telecom services that are part of a carrier-grade service, ranging from E-911, ordering numbers, providing operator assistance, directory assistance, really making sure that it's the same kind of service they would get from their original home provider," said John Overy, Sprint's business development director.
It will be a black phone service that costs about 20-percent less than what the ILEC offers. "Down the road the thought is to provide advanced services that will be very competitive and hard to match. First of all, let's make sure it's reliable and carrier-grade," Overy added.
This type of cable-telco relationship would have been heresy just a few years ago; today the two share a common opponent: the ILEC. Sprint wants to widen its wireless base; Time Warner wants to add a third piece to its video and data offerings.
"We're drawing on our expertise plus long-distance assets and, in the future, wireless capabilities to enable cable companies to compete in a meaningful way against the RBOCs," says Overy. "We see it as a win-win for both companies."
Competing against the ILECs was once relatively easy: A service provider would come in with a cheaper, albeit less dependable, second-line deal with similar or better features than the incumbent, and cherry pick high-end customers and features, leaving the incumbents with skeletal primary line service. That formula still works for companies like Vonage, which runs on both telco and cable broadband infrastructure.
While this is only making a small dent in a huge telco business, it's been enough to drive the incumbents to slash prices and develop their own bundled packages, including DSL and wireless.
Full Steam Ahead
Meanwhile, the cable industry inexorably moves into the telephony space, led by Cox Communications. The Atlanta-based MSO was among the first to dip into voice with a carrier-grade circuit-switched service that critics claimed would become an albatross when VoIP developed. VoIP's here--Cox is rolling it out in Roanoke, Va., with plans to expand into other unnamed territories--and the company still uses those switches.
"We can serve telephone customers with our circuit switch in the core and actually do a distribution via IP," says Bill Dame, Cox's director of network switching. "We're just taking our circuit-switched gear, running it through a media gateway and converting TDM circuitry over to IP and distributing it through our local Internet backbone."
The investment that the doomsayers called a burden is, in fact, a blessing. Cox uses switches to deliver primary line service--mostly in Arizona, although an Atlanta-based switch is handling the Roanoke VoIP business--and will continue to do so until it fills them up and moves completely to IP.
"This hybrid scenario allows us to fully utilize all the capacity that we have, and nothing goes to waste," Dame said.
Another large MSO is also gearing up to aggressively pursue VoIP after a year-long quiet period to work out some internal organizational issues. St. Louis-based Charter Communications, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen's broadband piece, "deviates significantly from our cable brethren [in that] we actually anticipate offering two services: a pure primary line replacement that we'll file as a CLEC and a voice-enabled high-speed data service," said Mark Barber, the MSO's telephony vice president.
Charter's second offering vaguely resembles the VoIP service that Cablevision Systems is rolling out to about a million high-speed data customers in metropolitan New York markets. Cablevision's OptimumVoice, though, is intended as a full-service phone line that uses the high-speed data network while Charter's is a "PC-to-PSTN voice-and-video calling option [that] won't support inbound calling," said Barber, who called the service "very similar to what Vonage does--a best-effort service that we feel if you're trying to present it as a primary line replacement is problematic for the customer."
Charter "sees the need to aggressively deploy telephony services" and is willing to talk partner with anyone--"AT&T, MCI, Sprint, KMC, Vonage, Net2Phone, you name it," said Barber. The MSO has been serving about 2500 VoIP customers since 2002; by the end of this year it expects that number to be 50,000.
Still Making Plans
Other, smaller cable players have less solid VoIP plans for 2004. Insight Communications is hampered by a partnership it made to use AT&T Broadband's CBR (constant bit rate) infrastructure. That deal ran afoul of Comcast's reluctance to invest any more in the switches or to pursue any more customers. Adelphia is clearing away an industry-rattling scandal involving the company's founder, and adjusting to a headquarters move from Coudersport, Penn., to Denver, including a whole new management team.
Liberty Media, which has no U.S.-based cable operators, has rolled out commercial VoIP service in its Puerto Rican cable operation using a turnkey solution from Net2Phone, a company in which Liberty has a financial stake.
Yet another small cable operator, Western Pennsylvania-based Armstrong, is in VoIP with a service called ZoomPhone. Armstrong and Advanced Cable Communications have embraced Vonage, much to the displeasure of some more parochial cable industry members who see Vonage as a threat.
"A lot of companies are going to determine what they think is their best strategy," said Dave Wittman, Armstrong's cable marketing director. "We've had a pretty good experience so far."
A pretty good experience is about the most any cable subscriber should expect this year if the local MSO approaches with a voice service offering. In 2005, however, things might get more interesting as advanced VoIP features begin to creep into the mix
Time Warner Cable and Cablevision VoIP Offerings

 

Cable Operator              Time Warner Cable

 

Location                    Portland, Maine

 

Service Name                Digital Phone

 

Service Price               $39.95/month for digital cable TV
                            or cable modem subscribers

 

Calling                     Unlimited local and long-distance
                            calls in continental U.S.

 

Call Features               Caller ID, call waiting, call
                            waiting ID included

 

Local Number Portability    Yes

 

Lifeline Reliability        No network powering or battery
                            backup provided

 

E-911 Service               Yes

 

Cable Operator              Cablevision

 

Location                    Long Island, NY

 

Service Name                OptimumVoice

 

Service Price               $34.95/month for cable modem subscribers

 

Calling                     Unlimited local and long-distance calls
                            in the U.S. and Canada

 

Call Features               Caller ID, call waiting, call return,
                            3-way calling, call forwarding included

 

Local Number Portability    No

 

Lifeline Reliability        No network powering or battery backup
                            provided

 

E-911 Service               Yes

By Jim Barthold

 

No matter how a vendor sees SBC (session border control), one thing is certain: The need that emerged in 2003 has become a demand from every major carrier running voice traffic over IP networks. Session controllers enable voice traffic by bridging between various IP networks--primarily H.323 and SIP (Session Initiation Protocol)-based--and by interworking with different softswitch and router technologies while overcoming the barriers installed in networks to protect data transport.
The SBC vendor lineup can be broken down into three basic types:
* Standalone players. Suppliers, which recognized early that transporting voice over IP networks was a tricky business and developed technology to overcome bridge firewalls and NAT (network address translation) barriers. They hope to sell or license their products to carriers or larger vendors to be bundled into softswitches, routers or other voice system components.
* Traditional voice technology vendors. Through in-house development or acquisition, these firms plan to incorporate SBC capability into their over-all technology.
* SBC technology companies. Vendors that hope to develop SBC technology to attract the highest bidder and become part of a larger entity.
"Everybody says there is a clear need for session controllers, and there is no doubt they will be deploying them," said Micaela Giuhat, executive vice president of product management for Netrake. "The session controller will look into the messages, extract the information it needs from the payload regarding the calling party, dynamically open a firewall, let the call go through and do all the address translation that you need."
The best way to do this is to build a separate, interoperable product, said Giuhat, because "you always have better performance."
Companies such as Singapore-based MediaRing and NexTone Communications have done just that. Dan Dearing, marketing vice president at NexTone doesn't argue the point about standalone products having better performance, but he thinks session control is more than an edge technology.
"Session control is a multi-dimensional problem," said Dearing. "It includes SBC at the edge of the network, but it is actually a much richer set of solutions that includes how you route traffic as it enters and leaves the network and how you manage it."
NexTone partners with SnowShore, which has a programmable media-processing platform that fits "very nicely into the demarcation between the signaling guys like NexTone and our media platform," said Joel Hughes, SnowShore's CEO.
SnowShore adheres to a softswitchcentric approach. "We look at Nortel. Siemens. Alcatel, people who are selling softswitches and gateways and believe they will simply add a new gateway-like platform--in our case a media processor--to their product suite, but they'll continue to leverage their core softswitch and extend that to address session control issues," Hughes said.
The core versus edge argument doesn't get much traction with Jim Greenway, vice president of marketing at Kagoor.
"To me, core and edge is more location in the network. The primary functionality that we're focused on is carrier-to-carrier and carrier-to-customer," he said. "We think that true SBCs are purpose-built. As more time goes on, more features get heaped on these things; only the ones that are purpose-built for this job are going to be survivors and winners."
The problem with purpose-built products is that they add components and cost to the network and "the last thing any service provider wants is another product in its network," said Jim Hourihan, vice president of marketing and product management for Acme Packet. "The reality is they need this functionality."
While a modified softswitch or router could provide SBC, a standalone product does it better, according to Hourihan. This is compounded by the nascent nature of the space where smaller, entrepreneurial companies with less infrastructure can respond more quickly to shifting customer demands. Big companies will eventually take over SBC responsibility, said Nathan Franzmeier, CEO of Emergent Networks.
"I don't believe that a session controller as a standalone entity is a long-lived product," he said, even though that's what Emergent builds.
Emergent also builds softswitches, so it's an easy view to take. It's not so easy for others to dismiss standalone session border controllers.
"It's a new box that is not under the control of another softswitch," said Michael Rubin, director of product management at Sonus Networks. "It interacts with a softswitch ... but it is not under the control of the softswitch; it is not an incremental add. It's a completely new box."
Nortel Networks, being a big player in the softswitch space, takes a more integrated view. SBC is really "distributed border control," said John Egli, director of VoIP marketing for Nortel Networks. "We don't actually have a separate box. We have that function distributed across other network devices."
Dan Freedman, CEO and founder of Jasomi, believes that big companies like Nortel and others must acquire SBC expertise, since it's too expensive and time consuming to develop. He blithely lists the reasons why his company should be at the top of the shopping list.
"We can be bought for somewhere in the $30-million to $100-million range, whereas none of the other companies in this space can be this year," he said. If a sale's to be made, it should happen now, he added.
"Over the course of two or three years, there will be less and less reason for people to want to solve the problems that session border controllers solve today on a new piece of hardware," Freedman said. "Instead, they will go with their softswitch vendor or their fire-wall vendor to get this problem solved."
Jasomi, he suggested, is unique. It's making money and has little debt. Other start-up companies in the space have high debt and no profit.
"We are focused on enabling consolidation of the SBC market by presenting the only company in the space that is absorbable this year," he said.
That's a solid strategy if the softswitch maker wants the component and the carrier wants a unified offering. For much of the market, though, a SBC may be like a CD player in a home entertainment system: a specific component with a specific purpose that it can fill better alone than as part of the whole system.
"There are still a whole lot of questions, and I don't think anybody has the answers," said Christine Hartman, vice president of voice-over-packet markets for the Probe Group. "I think a lot of the big guys are looking into it, and they're going to change the architecture."
The early architecture seems to be influenced by the need for product development speed and specialization.
"SBC vendors are solving a small piece of the entire puzzle," said Alan Bugos, vice president of engineering for VoIP carrier iBasis. "They're very quick to move and react to any kind of feature changes we request."
And that, for now, may be what this market needs. Beyond that, the subject's still open for discussion.
I think the whole category is in flux," said Hartman. "It starts to shake out this year, but it's going to take some time."
Jim Barthold is a contributing writer for Telecommunications[R] magazine (jbarthold@comcast.net).

One of the key changes ongoing in telecoms is that a rising number of users buy their services from a company that is not a telco. Almost any company with a recognized brand is considering adding telecoms services to its mix, usually by leasing capacity on a cellular network under an MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) deal. And more radical options are opening up for these virtual telcos--creating their own networks using a technology such as WiMAX, and delivering voice services via VoIP; and then even pursuing the last mile and triple play bases with broadband wireless as an alternative to telco DSL. In some cases, we may even see non-telcos buying up spectrum to create fully controlled alternative networks. Against this background, why then is Microsoft being so coy about its plans for voice over IP?
Microsoft has been aggressive behind the scenes of the broadband wireless surge. Like Intel, it supports any trend that will stimulate usage of PC-style devices (including Windows phones) and support the open IP model, which places the balance of revenue and profit in favor of the device maker rather than the operator. It has put considerable weight behind stimulating Wi-Fi usage with a range of functionality incorporated into Windows and has cutting edge activities in mesh networking. Although, unlike Intel, Microsoft has not yet used significant investment dollars to promote Wi-Fi and WiMAX--perhaps still smarting from the failure of its multibillion dollar gambles on broadband wireless operators at the turn of the century--it has been a key lobbyist, along with Cisco and Intel, for additional unlicensed spectrum to be opened up in the US and Europe
In this context, its moves into VoIP seem positively timid on the wireless side, especially when compared with eBay's acquisition of peer-to-peer VoIP pioneer Skype for up to $4bn. The giant recently announced the purchase of a small, two-year old VoIP technology company, Teleo of San Francisco, as a step towards launching voice services under its MSN brand and so keeping up with similar moves from the other major portals, Yahoo and Google. The move is highly logical in terms of the battle between MSN and these rivals, but it could go so much further, taking Microsoft into the world of telecoms services. Yet it stated categorically, when questioned about the Teleo acquisition, that its VoIP strategy does not extend to offering full telco services or a phone-based voice product.
This is an odd decision. As major operators shift towards convergence models that integrate wired and wireless services using IP, a strong phone-based VoIP platform could enable Microsoft, at last, to make significant inroads for Windows-based handsets. Even in the cellular-only world, companies like Verizon are looking to offer VoIP over their EV-DO networks and there will be a race to provide attractive handsets and operating software for such services--a race that Microsoft, in contrast to that for the conventional cellphone market, could enter almost at the starting gate, just behind Nokia rather than miles behind.
HESITANT ABOUT WINTEL
Microsoft could go a step further, launching full wireless phone services--voice and data--under its strong MSN brand and so helping to promote its broader objective of making the all-IP model ubiquitous. If the Wintel approach to life is to survive, it has to be translated to the handset--as that becomes, in its future forms, the key end user device--and to ubiquitous communications. Intel and Microsoft both know this well, but so far Microsoft is being more hesitant about taking the actions to support the theory.
Of course, it is possible that Microsoft regards the fight with Google, which increasingly focuses on communications facilities such as instant messaging, as the first stage in a war that it will later take to the telcos. And it will naturally be wary of threatening the incumbent operators too much as it still seeks to gain their approval for its Windows Mobile handsets. But like most players in the telecoms world, IP is forcing some hard choices on Microsoft. We believe it will never gain the share that its business plan requires in cellular-specific handsets, but has a better chance in converged and mobile IP devices. These products are a threat to the conventional cellcos, but they are increasingly being forced to embrace them, and Microsoft has an opportunity to create a platform for them--as it is doing with France Telecom.
But it also needs to put VoIP services on to handsets as well as PCs if it is to stay ahead of Google and finally see off Skype. Internet providers have to become telcos, because in the future few people will buy internet access as a standalone service.
Initially, Teleo will be used to enhance the voice capabilities of MSN instant messaging, allowing Microsoft Messenger users to place phone calls to people listed in their electronic address books. MSN will also integrate Teleo's technology with its local search function, enabling subscribers to locate and call local businesses such as restaurants. This is part of the long term MSN strategy to use the subscriber's electronic address book as the basis for competing in other services, with this address book unifying different communications offerings such as Hotmail email, Messenger, Spaces and upcoming functions such as presence.
CONVERGENCE OFFERINGS
This is a strong approach that has helped Microsoft keep up with AOL and Yahoo, but it could be even more powerful if applied to the phone platform and even offered to other operators--enabling users to integrate their cellular and internet address books. This will be a key feature of the convergence offerings of the large telcos, and again, Microsoft could take a headstart if it spreads its VoIP wings beyond PC-based MSN. Incorporating good VoIP and SIP features into Windows Mobile, not just into XP, would certainly strengthen the platform and could reawaken vendor interest in it. This is a big opportunity for Microsoft to redeem itself in the mobile market, and it should take two brave steps--integrate VoIP at an early stage into Windows Mobile to boost its mobile OS business; and extend the MSN-style platform into a full telco offering for handsets, whether this is under the MSN brand or in partnership with established or new operators.
21VoIP summit: industry experts foresee trouble on the horizon-as rules change and competition erupts
What is the current state of VoIP technology? Where is it headed? Who will emerge as winners and losers? What role will regulators play?
These were among the questions a distinguished panel of telecom executives examined several weeks ago when America's Network sponsored its first VoIP industry summit in the Washington, D.C. law offices of Swidler Berlin Shereff Friedman. The freewheeling, roundtable discussion was directed by William Wilhelm, a telecom law expert with the firm. The discussion was co-chaired by Al Senia, the managing editor of America's Network.
The VoIP roundtable lasted more than two hours. Edited excerpts of the questions and answers follow. A fuller, more detailed discussion is available at America's Network Web site (www.americasnetwork.com).
DONDERO: We've done research on that with enterprises and consumers. We did it a few years ago and we're just redoing it now. So features like video calling among consumers. We were quite pleasantly surprised, frankly. We saw a significant interest in that sort of communication. The ability to manage call lists, control your calling, route your calls to your cell phone and provision that in real time.
In a collaborative environment, things like video chat, teen chat lines. We really do see a lot of interest in that. And in Asia Pacific markets where video is dominant, (there's) a lot of interest in those sorts of technologies there.
ATTWOOD: SBC is, in fact, in the business market now, the small-medium business markets, selling precisely those mobility applications, collaborative applications, personal productivity enhancements.
But I'd also say one of the great things about the IP platform is that, in fact, as new applications come online, the incremental ability of the end-user, the customer, to customize that service, to add a feature, is really what distinguishes this kind of service from some of the traditional services. The customer is able to customize what they need, their communications needs.

By John Engebretson

 

I2Telecom, a startup VoIP-over-broadband provider that to date has had its greatest success overseas, now appears poised to make inroads with a differentiated offering in the U.S.
The hook? Users can now place calls over their broadband VoIP connection even when they are away from their home or business location.
Like other VoIP-over-broadband providers, i2Telecom provides customers with an adapter to plug a conventional phone into a DSL or cable modem connection, which can be from any provider. But unlike other VoIP providers, i2Telecom's device also supports conventional circuit-switched connectivity. (When they want to connect via IP, users precede the regular phone number with a pound sign when dialing.)
"Having two voice paths through the same device enables us to do all kinds of cool tricks," says Rick Scherle, senior vice president of marketing for i2Telecom.
With a new version of the adapter that will be released soon, users will be able to dial their home or business using the conventional POTS connection and then place long-distance calls using VoIP over the broadband connection. Software inside the adapter can be programmed to accept calls from up to three numbers, which could include cellphones
People will no longer be tied to a time and place to use VoIP," says Scherle.
SME TARGET
I2Telecom's target market is small to medium-size businesses that make a lot of international calls. "There's a huge opportunity there because of all the types of globalization that's going on these days," Scherle says.
The company expects to charge less than $100 for the adapter, and basic service will begin at $6 a month. Long-distance calls will be billed on a per-minute basis. I2Telecom offers competitive rates to numerous international destinations through partnerships with competitive carriers in each region. The company has gateways in several network access points worldwide. I2Telecom also has partners in China (China Unicom), the Mideast and Latin America. In many cases, Scherle says, those partners are challengers, rather than incumbent service providers.
To date, about two-thirds of i2Telecom's customers have been located overseas. In some cases, as with China Unicom, the broadband connection is provided by the i2Telecom partner. Calls between i2Telecom endpoints are completed at no charge.
I2Telecom was founded in 2002 and later went public through a reverse merger with Digital Data Networks.
The i2Telecom adapter has received a provisional patent. The company is considering licensing its technology to other VoIP-over-broadband providers, Scherle said.

Wired and wireless VoIP providers are chasing after small and medium enterprises (SMEs), but are failing to understand their real needs, according to a survey conducted at the recent VON voice technology show in Boston.
John Macario, head of Savatar, the firm that conducted the study of 300 SHE leaders, commented: "Right now it's like a bad date--they aren't speaking the same language."
Savatar found that SMEs have high interest in VoIP but are confused about which providers offer it. They have the highest awareness of alternative telcos--such as WiMAX-based Towerstream, which is heavily focused on medium-sized companies and recently expanded from TI replacement into VoIP.
One-quarter of the respondents thought first of non-traditional telcos when they were considering VoIP, while only 14% would turn to traditional telcos, 13% to cablecos and 10% to ISPs.
The marketing of theVoIP offerings to small businesses has been confusing but larger carriers are starting to make a more focused effort, with moves such as Qwest's alliance with Microsoft to go after this sector.

To hear proponents tell it, Voice over Internet Protocol appears almost inevitable.
Commercial users will use VoIP to slice their monthly phone bills. Business users will be lured by a host of beneficial services that make their phone calls and phone services much easier to manage. In the not-so-distant future, the promise of ever-expanding bandwidth and the imminent arrival of ultra-smart phones and cool digital devices will make surfing the Web from anywhere a breeze. By decade's end, we'll be downloading video and movies over our smart phones, using them to watch baseball games and movies; video conferencing with friends and family; even managing home appliances from afar.
Or at least, that's the vision.
"VoIP has become mainstream," said Bernd Kuhlin, president of enterprise networks at Siemens, during last March's VON conference in California. Kuhlin prophesied that VoIP is destined to create a "unified user experience" that will leverage the Internet--and ubiquitous wireless bandwidth--to transform our daily lives. In its second generation, VoIP's infrastructure will be invisible to the user, there will be "seamless interaction between different devices and different networks" offering "the same user experience" whatever the entry point.
It's an intriguing, bold vision with just one problem
It isn't close to happening yet.
In the real world, business users are adopting VoIP, but they are typically using it in very selective, targeted applications such as linking voice services in branch offices to their existing data networks. They are running VoIP over their corporate networks, but don't trust it for external customers. They are concerned about quality and security when calls are routed over the real Internet. They are finding that the cost savings may not really justify the technology. They say a lot of the technology doesn't work as promised.
In short, they're getting frustrated.
And that raises the question: Is VoIP just another over-hyped technology bubble poised to pop?
Certainly, the experiences of IT directors such as Larry Mathews at Swinerton Inc., a San Francisco-based construction company, highlights the fear, uncertainty and doubt that surrounds VoIP deployment in the enterprise. Mathews became involved with VoIP two years ago when Swinerton needed to replace its phone system after moving to a new location in San Francisco. Mathews decided to try an NEC IPS 2000 system that included a server, operator consoles, Cisco switches, management software, and voicemail and NEC IP phones. The company quickly looped in a branch office in Oakland. In all about 250 users were involved. Other branch office locations have been added, and Mathews expects seven offices and 500 stations to be VoIP- enabled by July.
That sounds like a VoIP success story on the surface, but it is far from it. Mathews opted for the VoIP solution because he figured he could leverage an existing, reliable corporate data network for voice and he liked the flexibility and management capability that the NEC system offered. "It provided a way for us to manage all our phones from one central location without having to be at every site," Mathews explains.
VoIP is only used on the internal corporate network because the quality, security and reliability simply aren't good enough for outside customers. Even so, problems cropped up almost immediately. There were echoes on some phone calls. Other calls were hard to hear. Some of the phones simply stopped working. Voice mail inexplicably failed for users.
"Your network infrastructure really has to be in place to make this work," notes Mathews." You are only as reliable as your data network--you basically just have another data server that you have added out there. You can run into problems with the reliability of the servers."
The voice quality issues took a few weeks to get to an acceptable level," but the voicemail glitches lasted for months and became a major irritant. "A lot of it was software incompatibility," recalls Mathews. "The vendor would patch the PBX, and the voicemail wouldn't talk to it. Then you would do a software upgrade and you would have to reprogram all the phones. Five or six would get left out, and they wouldn't work."
It took a few months for technicians to grasp that each phone had to be treated as a separate node on the network server, and that generally applied software fixes just wouldn't take on the entire VoIP network.
Another difficulty was the unexpectedly high failure rate with the IP phone hardware. "The IP phones they sent us just quit working. For awhile there, there was an unbelievable failure rate," says Mathews. "I thought maybe we had just gotten a bad batch of phones." More than 10% of the phones had to be replaced, a failure rate Mathews never experienced with conventional equipment.
To be fair, Mathews notes that most of the problems occurred with the initial implementation. As the VoIP system expands to new offices, duplicating the experience without the bugs has become easier. And he likes the management capabilities the system provides.
Still, the experience has left a bad taste in Mathews' mouth. He is far from a VoIP evangelist. "In the real world, it just doesn't work as advertised," he says. "It's not as reliable as the conventional phone system because you are now using a data system." Another complaint is that with conventional long distance toll charges falling, the cost savings are not really significant. Expanding the system costs about $70,000 for each office. Mathews figures the company isn't saving much by routing calls over the network. And ROI is hard to calculate because "you wind up having to spend money on backup systems you didn't realize you needed" at the outset.
Presumably, savings would be greater if all call traffic--instead of only internal calls--could be routed over the Web. Swinerton won't do that anytime soon. "You don't want to risk dropping a call or getting an echo, jitter or breaks in the conversation with the customer," notes Mathews, adding that security is yet another major concern.
Mathews' experience isn't that uncommon. Despite all the hype, VoIP is still very much a "bleeding edge" technology, and the early adopters can often become skeptical. For example, Paul Shane, an IT director with Milliman, a 1,700person international consulting organization, deployed a pilot VoIP project using Alcatel hardware in a suburban Philadelphia branch office in the fall of 2003. "It's basically a small roll-out with IP telephony in one of our remote offices," Shane explains. About 15 employees were involved; the idea was to tie the small office into the larger corporate voice and data network. The branch office is connected to the main office switch, which ties in into the MCI data network backbone. Having a service provider like MCI in the mix helps insure that voice quality is maintained, Shane says. "It did not require a lot of investment" because the MCI data network was already in place.
Shane is pleased with the results: he can manage the employees from a central location; they were quickly set up with an inexpensive phone system; the office didn't need to purchase traditional phone equipment and sign long-term contracts; long distance rates are better; the system is scalable and flexible to fit changing needs
Sounds like a classic VoIP success, right?
Not really. Ask Shane if Milliman will take this experiment and expand it across its broad, worldwide network and he turns skeptical quickly. The traditional phone system works fine; the VoIP risks are great; maintaining security and voice quality are major issues; and the financial payoff wouldn't be worthwhile. "You are not going to see businesses going completely to VoIP for a long time," he says. "It's not reliable enough, and security is a big issue."
Milliman probably has dozens of small VoIP deployments linking remote offices to larger offices, Shane notes, but in every case the deployment is fairly small and the company is leveraging its existing MCI data network. The deployments work well, and Shane says Alcatel was able to handle any quality issues that arose. Even so, VoIP's future looks fairly limited at Milliman.
That is an experience being repeated at many businesses, according to Bryan Van Dussen, a Yankee Group analyst. "VoIP is going to be an evolutionary development," he says. "There are some new systems, but they are relatively small installations, small deployments that are tested and tested."
According to a Yankee Group survey published in April, 35% of enterprises are currently evaluating VoIP but haven't budgeted for it. Another 24% have deployed VoIP at one or more locations. Some 19% have budgeted for the technology. Just 13% say they do not have VoIP and have no interest in it. The other 9% expect to install VoIP within a year or two.
However, most existing installations involve IP-enabled PBXs in campus or corporate settings, says Van Dussen. Eventually, he figures corporate CIOs will be compelled by the success of these limited initiatives to push for wider deployments. But integrating VoIP in the corporate WAN isn't easy because network managers have to precisely catalog current and future data applications; insure sufficient bandwidth; make sure the large data packets coexist with smaller voice packets at network ingress points; and ensure consistent, stable voice performance across te WAN. He doesn't see wider VoIP deployments occurring until well into 2006 and beyond.
In a recently issued Yankee Group report, Van Dussen sees service providers playing a key role in mitigating risk and improving performance of VoIP implementations. "Even now, just about 10% of corporate voice traffic is going over the WAN," he says. "Carriers have to deliver the management services because corporate managers are going to insure voice is going over a private backbone. Brand is going to be a huge factor."
Van Dussen says service providers like Equant, Global Crossing, MCI, AT&T and a host of others are gearing up for the VoIP world because they are gambling that revenue from hosted and network services will offset the loss of traditional voice revenue. "VoIP is coming. It's the end game," he says. "The carriers are selling Quality of Service and bandwidth as managed services that generate a revenue stream.."
BellSouth Latest To Offer VoIP Business Services
BellSouth has become the latest service provider to launch a VoIP business initiative, offering an internet-based telephone service for businesses to replace traditional central telephone lines.
The BellSouth Centrex IP Service, marketed initially throughout the company's southeastern United States service area, uses VoIP to allow business customers to operate a variety of phone, fax and computer data and voice services. A similar service for non-Centrex customers is expected be rolled out in June, according to Mark Kaish, vice president of next generation solutions for BellSouth. The carrier might expand its VoIP initiative nationwide later this year.
"We are taking more of a consultive approach here," says Kaish. "When you really talk to customers, they want to know what their (VoIP) migration path is." BellSouth's approach allows customers to piggyback VoIP services on their legacy Centrex systems if they don't want to go totally VoIP. This provides customers multiple options as they build converged voice and data networks, Kaish adds.
Equipment and software for the new service is being provided by Lucent Technologies, which signed a three-year deal with BellSouth.
Service providers such as Global Crossing, Level 3, SBC Communications AT&T, MCI and others also have rolled out new VoIP business services recently.
Inhibitors to VoIP adoption in the enterprise

 

(% response, seled up to three)

 

Uncertain price/        79%
  cost advantage
High equipment          76%
  costs
Uncertain voice         73%
  quality
Install/configuration   59%
  and training costs
Single point of         49%
  failure
Lack of staff skills/   49%
  knowledge
Network security        45%
Lack of confidence      25%
Insufficient network    23%
  management tools
Lack of confidence      22%
  in VoIP SPs
Other                    9%

 

 

Communications technology company StanaPhone Communications has announced the launch of a free Voice over IP (VoIP) telephone service.
The service, aimed at small businesses and consumers, runs on PCs using Windows 98, 2000 or XP coupled with a PC headset and charges no monthly fee. StanaPhone Communications also claims that its advanced VoIP technology will provide the user with the same or better quality sound than a standard land line service.
A spokesperson for StanaPhone Communications said 'Because StanaPhone can be used on any PC, it's a great solution for everyone. A person visiting an Internet cafe anywhere in the world can log into his or her StanaPhone account and make calls'.

VoIP; Internet linking for radio amateurs.
Taylor, Jonathan.
American Radio Relay League
2004
137 pages
$17.95
Written by the creator of EchoLink, this slim book shows ham radio operators how to link radio communications to the internet using the voice over internet protocol (VoIP). Taylor discusses courtesy and operating guidelines, conference servers, the WIRES-II product, setting up an IRLP node, the architecture of a sound card, user authentication, remote control, and custom scripts.

With the relief of a court stay temporarily eliminated, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service providers last week faced the Nov. 28 regulatory deadline to provide basic and enhanced 911 emergency call-handling services. And while no new legal move surfaced to threaten the order, there remains an undercurrent of second-guessing on the wisdom of the Federal Communications Commission's 120-day deadline and other rules associated with the June decision.
Corporate as well as congressional pleas to the FCC are raising a number of questions on the compliance deadline itself along with several other matters. Among the items on the issues list are the deadlines calling for new and existing subscribers to acknowledge VoIP 911 limitations and capabilities, waiver conditions for companies having implementation problems, whether the FCC can do more to help service providers with technical alternatives for compliance and the rules permitting VoIP companies to continue service where 911 isn't up to snuff but prohibiting them from marketing services to new customers under the same conditions.
For its part, the FCC was relatively quiet about the controversial deadline's arrival for VoIP companies interconnected with the public switched telephone network (PSTN). Spokesmen at the regulator told Telecom Policy Report that its Enforcement Bureau last week began the process of reviewing the Nov. 28 compliance-letter responses, which are expected to include waiver requests.
As of this past weekend, at least 169 companies had provided information to the FCC about their VoIP service's 911 capabilities, according to the new Web site (www.voip911.gov) launched by the Joint FCC/NARUC Task Force on VoIP 911 Enforcement to provide consumers, industry and state and local governments information about the rules. The Web site points out that "the fact that a VoIP provider is included on this list means only that it has provided information to the FCC, and not necessarily that it is in compliance with the FCC's rules."
The list includes many highly recognizable organizations and subsidiaries from the telco, cableco, Internet and VoIP communities: Alltel, AOL, AT&T, Cablevision, Comcast, Covad, Cox, Deltathree, Earthlink, ICG, MCI, McLeodUSA, Net2Phone, Primus, Qwest SBC, Time Warner, Verizon, Vonage, XO and, of course, scores of smaller brand names in all those business segments throughout the United States.
The FCC's VoIP/911 decision in total hasn't been the target of litigation challenge - at least not yet. A petition by four carriers - Nuvio, Lightyear Network Solutions, Primus affiliate Lingo and i2 Telecom International - sought to push back the mandate's deadline. The emergency stay request was rejected by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia (TPR, Nov. 22), but the judicial panel left open the possibility that long-term lawsuits may continue.
Martin Hears From Congress
Nevertheless, there have been other, more subtle forms of pressure being put on the FCC to either reconsider or revisit several aspects of its rulemaking on VoIP and 911.
It was learned, for instance, that FCC Chairman Kevin J. Martin recently received a letter from members of the House of Representatives and the Senate on elements of the 911 decision and its implementation, which the federal legislators feel are lacking.
One communication to Martin from members of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce focused on the obscure topic of an interim pseudo-Automatic Number Identification (pANI) Routing Number Administrator (RNA), which ensures that non-regional telephone numbers are routed to the appropriate official public safety answering points (PSAPs) that handle the emergency calls.
In fact, several industry and public-safety organizations are offering fee-based outsourcing services to help carriers comply with the FCC mandate, especially with the difficult task of coordinating technology and network matters with the PSAPs (see related story on the International Packet Communications Consortium in this issue).
Meanwhile, the House letter claimed that, for reasons beyond their control, pANI is not available to many VoIP companies in many areas of the country, and the absence of a RNA "hinders the ability of many VoIP service providers to satisfy the requirements" of the 911 order, according to the letter.
The FCC was urged to appoint an interim RNA and to provide both the RNA and nomadic VoIP providers additional time to access and deploy pANI; the letter also pointed out that the North American Numbering Counsel (NANC), the National Emergency Number Association (NENA) and the Emergency Services Interconnection Forum (ESIF) have asked the FCC to appoint an interim RNA.
These parties all agreed that, absent a centralized pANI administrator and necessary guidelines, VoIP providers and other parties developing VoIP E-911 solutions will not be able to meet the current deadline," the letter stated. "They also recognized that the commission must allow for sufficient time both to allocate and test the pANI."
The House letter came from Reps. Joe Barton (R-Texas) and John D. Dingell (D-Mich.), chairman and ranking member of the committee, respectively, co-signed by Reps. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), John Shimkus (R-Ill.), Charles "Chip" Pickering (R-Miss.), Bart Gordon (D-Tenn.) and Anna G. Eshoo (D-Calif.).
The Senate Connection
Members of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation also wrote to Martin about the committee's passage of the proposed IP-Enabled Voice Communications and Public Safety Act of 2005 (S.1063), which they believe gives interconnected VoIP service providers the necessary tools to fully deploy an enhanced 911 service.
"The intent of our bill was to strike an appropriate balance between encouraging the rollout of new and innovative services desired by consumers in a competitive market, and obliging VoIP providers to deliver E-911 nationwide while providing them the necessary access requirements to meet that obligation," the Senate letter said.
The letter welcomed the FCC notice that VoIP providers don't need to disconnect subscribers but it claimed the market restriction against new customers "may impede 911 deployment by inadvertently encouraging third party competitors to deny VoIP providers access to essentially 911 elements. This restriction could impede competition and unnecessarily delay deployment of 911."
The letter also points out that, despite considerable effort, many VoIP providers won't be able to comply fully with the FCC order; it also encourages the FCC to take the same approach as does the pending legislation, at least as an interim measure.
Among the signatories were Committee Chairman Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) as well as Sens. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.), Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), John Ensign (R-Nev.), George Allen (R-Va.), John Sununu (R-N.H.), Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), Hilary Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Frank Lautenberg (R-N.J.).
As an aside, the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) International categorically said it was opposed to portions of the proposed S.1063 because it requires the FCC to waive VoIP 911 rules. APCO and NENA have voiced concerns before, but APCO last week took strong issue with provisions of the IP-Enabled Voice Communications and Public Safety Act of 2005 because it takes a looser view of the new customer restrictions.
"We believe that the FCC's ability to enforce existing rules is in the best interest of the public's safety," the group said in a one-page statement opposing S.1063's passage. "Specifically, APCO International is concerned that a section of the bill would prevent the FCC from enforcing rules that require 911 and enhanced 911 capabilities for all new VoIP customers. It is APCO International's position that VoIP providers should not be able to offer services to new customers in geographic areas where the provider is unable to comply with the FCC's 911 and E911 requirements contained in the FCC's order."
There is some concern that S.1063 may be unclear about FCC waiver authority and flexibility surrounding compliance of VoIP carriers; there also is some displeasure with an amendment preventing the FCC from requiring any specific technology to carry out provisions of the act and restricting the regulator's ability to adopt rules on a standard.
But the perspective on S.1063's waiver provisos might be quite different - meaning favorable - among VoIP companies and, in fact, the pending Senate bill was part of an argument made by one company last week at the FCC requesting widespread industry relief from the deadline.
Third Party Verification Inc. (also known as 3PV), an Orlando-based company offering live agent and online third-party verification services claiming its clients include the largest VoIP providers in the industry, has filed a 4-page ex parte letter with the FCC in what essentially constitutes an appeal of the order.
3PV says it wants the FCC to follow the guidance of Congress, where pending bills include a customer-acknowledgement system that can be used for all new customers for up to four years until VoIP providers physically connect to E911 service.
Giving consumers the information they need to operate their E911 service is an absolute necessity, but physically connecting VoIP providers to the 911 system is logistically challenging and time consuming," says 3PV's CEO David Brinkman. "We need to allow those providers enough time to make those connections in the right manner so that the resulting service is seamless to consumers."
Brinkman told Telecom Policy Report 3PV is referring to S.1063, which suggests the acknowledgement system be put in place by Dec. 31 for all new customers, and that all current customers be notified and acknowledged by that date as well. In addition, the bill calls for yearly waivers for technical integration so long as effort is being made, and these waivers could continue for as many as four years.
"We support the waivers but would like to see them be completed on a quarterly basis with a one-year maximum, both to keep VoIP providers moving towards integration, and to keep the FCC and public at large informed," he says. "We believe, based on the results of the current FCC filings, that these quarterly dates would be very beneficial to all involved."
According to Brinkman, during the last 90 days, 3PV has performed more than 2 million E911 acknowledgements for many of the leading VoIP providers, but the problem remains the physical interconnections and the FCC rules that preclude marketing to new users.
While VoIP providers have attempted to achieve hardwire connectivity, many have found complete compliance with the substantive E911 implementation requirements to be impossible within the original four-month timeframe allotted by the FCC, according to the company, yet almost all VoIP providers have been able to secure acknowledgements from their existing customers showing they understand what, if any, limitations their VoIP E911 services may have.
In its letter to the FCC, 3PV urged the Enforcement Bureau to clarify the terms and timetable that interconnected VoIP providers discontinue marketing VoIP service and accepting new customers for their service, in all areas where they are not transmitting 911 calls to the appropriate PSAP in full compliance with the commission's rules.
3PV told the FCC that, on behalf of interconnected VoIP providers, it has endeavored for the past four months to attain the maximum possible levels of the customer notifications and acknowledgments mandated, and the VoIP providers have "diligently and substantially" complied with the notification/acknowledgment requirements and rules. Yet "as other interested parties have demonstrated, complete compliance with the substantive E911 implementation requirements is, at this point in time, impossible," it added.
The company also asked the commission and the bureau to defer enforcement of the "new customer marketing" element "in a manner that will heed the evident will of Congress, recognize the impossibility of 100 percent compliance...by many VoIP providers at this time, provide the correct incentives to hasten full implementation of that rule, and, in the meantime, protect consumers by requiring complete and effective customer notification, acknowledgment and consent with respect to limitations to the E911 capabilities of their VoIP services."
In addition, the company suggested the FCC modify the rule to allow marketing, as long as VoIP providers document the individual acknowledgments on VoIP 911 limitations, rather than discontinue marketing VoIP service and accepting new customers in all areas where they are not transmitting 911 calls to the appropriate PSAPs. "3PV assures the commission that the VoIP providers it represents have labored diligently and to the best of their ability to comply with the commission's VoIP 911 order in every respect, and are committed to continuing to do so," the company said.
Meanwhile, the FCC has issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on how persons with hearing or speech disabilities, who currently use Telecommunications Relay Service (TRS), can access Internet-based forms for 911 emergency services via the related Video Relay Service (VRS) and Internet Protocol (IP) Relay Service. While emergency calls placed over the traditional PSTN, including direct TTY calls and enhanced E911 information, can usually be routed to the proper PSAPs, such direct, automatic access to emergency services through VRS and IP Relay services, however, does not currently exist and solutions must be developed, according to the commission

With the relief of a court stay temporarily eliminated, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service providers last week faced the Nov. 28 regulatory deadline to provide basic and enhanced 911 emergency call-handling services. And while no new legal move surfaced to threaten the order, there remains an undercurrent of second-guessing on the wisdom of the Federal Communications Commission's 120-day deadline and other rules associated with the June decision.
Corporate as well as congressional pleas to the FCC are raising a number of questions on the compliance deadline itself along with several other matters. Among the items on the issues list are the deadlines calling for new and existing subscribers to acknowledge VoIP 911 limitations and capabilities, waiver conditions for companies having implementation problems, whether the FCC can do more to help service providers with technical alternatives for compliance and the rules permitting VoIP companies to continue service where 911 isn't up to snuff but prohibiting them from marketing services to new customers under the same conditions.
For its part, the FCC was relatively quiet about the controversial deadline's arrival for VoIP companies interconnected with the public switched telephone network (PSTN). Spokesmen at the regulator told Telecom Policy Report that its Enforcement Bureau last week began the process of reviewing the Nov. 28 compliance-letter responses, which are expected to include waiver requests.
As of this past weekend, at least 169 companies had provided information to the FCC about their VoIP service's 911 capabilities, according to the new Web site (www.voip911.gov) launched by the Joint FCC/NARUC Task Force on VoIP 911 Enforcement to provide consumers, industry and state and local governments information about the rules. The Web site points out that "the fact that a VoIP provider is included on this list means only that it has provided information to the FCC, and not necessarily that it is in compliance with the FCC's rules."
The list includes many highly recognizable organizations and subsidiaries from the telco, cableco, Internet and VoIP communities: Alltel, AOL, AT&T, Cablevision, Comcast, Covad, Cox, Deltathree, Earthlink, ICG, MCI, McLeodUSA, Net2Phone, Primus, Qwest SBC, Time Warner, Verizon, Vonage, XO and, of course, scores of smaller brand names in all those business segments throughout the United States.
The FCC's VoIP/911 decision in total hasn't been the target of litigation challenge - at least not yet. A petition by four carriers - Nuvio, Lightyear Network Solutions, Primus affiliate Lingo and i2 Telecom International - sought to push back the mandate's deadline. The emergency stay request was rejected by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia (TPR, Nov. 22), but the judicial panel left open the possibility that long-term lawsuits may continue.
Martin Hears From Congress
Nevertheless, there have been other, more subtle forms of pressure being put on the FCC to either reconsider or revisit several aspects of its rulemaking on VoIP and 911.
It was learned, for instance, that FCC Chairman Kevin J. Martin recently received a letter from members of the House of Representatives and the Senate on elements of the 911 decision and its implementation, which the federal legislators feel are lacking.
One communication to Martin from members of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce focused on the obscure topic of an interim pseudo-Automatic Number Identification (pANI) Routing Number Administrator (RNA), which ensures that non-regional telephone numbers are routed to the appropriate official public safety answering points (PSAPs) that handle the emergency calls.
In fact, several industry and public-safety organizations are offering fee-based outsourcing services to help carriers comply with the FCC mandate, especially with the difficult task of coordinating technology and network matters with the PSAPs (see related story on the International Packet Communications Consortium in this issue).
Meanwhile, the House letter claimed that, for reasons beyond their control, pANI is not available to many VoIP companies in many areas of the country, and the absence of a RNA "hinders the ability of many VoIP service providers to satisfy the requirements" of the 911 order, according to the letter.
The FCC was urged to appoint an interim RNA and to provide both the RNA and nomadic VoIP providers additional time to access and deploy pANI; the letter also pointed out that the North American Numbering Counsel (NANC), the National Emergency Number Association (NENA) and the Emergency Services Interconnection Forum (ESIF) have asked the FCC to appoint an interim RNA.
"These parties all agreed that, absent a centralized pANI administrator and necessary guidelines, VoIP providers and other parties developing VoIP E-911 solutions will not be able to meet the current deadline," the letter stated. "They also recognized that the commission must allow for sufficient time both to allocate and test the pANI."
The House letter came from Reps. Joe Barton (R-Texas) and John D. Dingell (D-Mich.), chairman and ranking member of the committee, respectively, co-signed by Reps. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), John Shimkus (R-Ill.), Charles "Chip" Pickering (R-Miss.), Bart Gordon (D-Tenn.) and Anna G. Eshoo (D-Calif.).
The Senate Connection
Members of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation also wrote to Martin about the committee's passage of the proposed IP-Enabled Voice Communications and Public Safety Act of 2005 (S.1063), which they believe gives interconnected VoIP service providers the necessary tools to fully deploy an enhanced 911 service.
"The intent of our bill was to strike an appropriate balance between encouraging the rollout of new and innovative services desired by consumers in a competitive market, and obliging VoIP providers to deliver E-911 nationwide while providing them the necessary access requirements to meet that obligation," the Senate letter said.
The letter welcomed the FCC notice that VoIP providers don't need to disconnect subscribers but it claimed the market restriction against new customers "may impede 911 deployment by inadvertently encouraging third party competitors to deny VoIP providers access to essentially 911 elements. This restriction could impede competition and unnecessarily delay deployment of 911."
The letter also points out that, despite considerable effort, many VoIP providers won't be able to comply fully with the FCC order; it also encourages the FCC to take the same approach as does the pending legislation, at least as an interim measure.
Among the signatories were Committee Chairman Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) as well as Sens. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.), Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), John Ensign (R-Nev.), George Allen (R-Va.), John Sununu (R-N.H.), Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), Hilary Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Frank Lautenberg (R-N.J.).
As an aside, the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) International categorically said it was opposed to portions of the proposed S.1063 because it requires the FCC to waive VoIP 911 rules. APCO and NENA have voiced concerns before, but APCO last week took strong issue with provisions of the IP-Enabled Voice Communications and Public Safety Act of 2005 because it takes a looser view of the new customer restrictions.
"We believe that the FCC's ability to enforce existing rules is in the best interest of the public's safety," the group said in a one-page statement opposing S.1063's passage. "Specifically, APCO International is concerned that a section of the bill would prevent the FCC from enforcing rules that require 911 and enhanced 911 capabilities for all new VoIP customers. It is APCO International's position that VoIP providers should not be able to offer services to new customers in geographic areas where the provider is unable to comply with the FCC's 911 and E911 requirements contained in the FCC's order."
There is some concern that S.1063 may be unclear about FCC waiver authority and flexibility surrounding compliance of VoIP carriers; there also is some displeasure with an amendment preventing the FCC from requiring any specific technology to carry out provisions of the act and restricting the regulator's ability to adopt rules on a standard.
But the perspective on S.1063's waiver provisos might be quite different - meaning favorable - among VoIP companies and, in fact, the pending Senate bill was part of an argument made by one company last week at the FCC requesting widespread industry relief from the deadline.
Third Party Verification Inc. (also known as 3PV), an Orlando-based company offering live agent and online third-party verification services claiming its clients include the largest VoIP providers in the industry, has filed a 4-page ex parte letter with the FCC in what essentially constitutes an appeal of the order.
3PV says it wants the FCC to follow the guidance of Congress, where pending bills include a customer-acknowledgement system that can be used for all new customers for up to four years until VoIP providers physically connect to E911 service.
Giving consumers the information they need to operate their E911 service is an absolute necessity, but physically connecting VoIP providers to the 911 system is logistically challenging and time consuming," says 3PV's CEO David Brinkman. "We need to allow those providers enough time to make those connections in the right manner so that the resulting service is seamless to consumers."
Brinkman told Telecom Policy Report 3PV is referring to S.1063, which suggests the acknowledgement system be put in place by Dec. 31 for all new customers, and that all current customers be notified and acknowledged by that date as well. In addition, the bill calls for yearly waivers for technical integration so long as effort is being made, and these waivers could continue for as many as four years.
"We support the waivers but would like to see them be completed on a quarterly basis with a one-year maximum, both to keep VoIP providers moving towards integration, and to keep the FCC and public at large informed," he says. "We believe, based on the results of the current FCC filings, that these quarterly dates would be very beneficial to all involved."
According to Brinkman, during the last 90 days, 3PV has performed more than 2 million E911 acknowledgements for many of the leading VoIP providers, but the problem remains the physical interconnections and the FCC rules that preclude marketing to new users.
While VoIP providers have attempted to achieve hardwire connectivity, many have found complete compliance with the substantive E911 implementation requirements to be impossible within the original four-month timeframe allotted by the FCC, according to the company, yet almost all VoIP providers have been able to secure acknowledgements from their existing customers showing they understand what, if any, limitations their VoIP E911 services may have.
In its letter to the FCC, 3PV urged the Enforcement Bureau to clarify the terms and timetable that interconnected VoIP providers discontinue marketing VoIP service and accepting new customers for their service, in all areas where they are not transmitting 911 calls to the appropriate PSAP in full compliance with the commission's rules.
3PV told the FCC that, on behalf of interconnected VoIP providers, it has endeavored for the past four months to attain the maximum possible levels of the customer notifications and acknowledgments mandated, and the VoIP providers have "diligently and substantially" complied with the notification/acknowledgment requirements and rules. Yet "as other interested parties have demonstrated, complete compliance with the substantive E911 implementation requirements is, at this point in time, impossible," it added.
The company also asked the commission and the bureau to defer enforcement of the "new customer marketing" element "in a manner that will heed the evident will of Congress, recognize the impossibility of 100 percent compliance...by many VoIP providers at this time, provide the correct incentives to hasten full implementation of that rule, and, in the meantime, protect consumers by requiring complete and effective customer notification, acknowledgment and consent with respect to limitations to the E911 capabilities of their VoIP services."
In addition, the company suggested the FCC modify the rule to allow marketing, as long as VoIP providers document the individual acknowledgments on VoIP 911 limitations, rather than discontinue marketing VoIP service and accepting new customers in all areas where they are not transmitting 911 calls to the appropriate PSAPs. "3PV assures the commission that the VoIP providers it represents have labored diligently and to the best of their ability to comply with the commission's VoIP 911 order in every respect, and are committed to continuing to do so," the company said.
Meanwhile, the FCC has issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on how persons with hearing or speech disabilities, who currently use Telecommunications Relay Service (TRS), can access Internet-based forms for 911 emergency services via the related Video Relay Service (VRS) and Internet Protocol (IP) Relay Service. While emergency calls placed over the traditional PSTN, including direct TTY calls and enhanced E911 information, can usually be routed to the proper PSAPs, such direct, automatic access to emergency services through VRS and IP Relay services, however, does not currently exist and solutions must be developed, according to the commission

By  Al Senia

 

Separately, U.S. Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.) and Rick Boucher (D-Va.) introduced in early July legislation that would create a broad regulated framework for IP telephony. The Advanced Internet Communications Services Act would have the FCC, rather than state governments, regulate VoIP and other advanced services. More significantly, the legislation would provide a possible framework for next year's expected rewrite of the 1996 Telecommunications Act. "Our goal is to treat all advanced IP applications, including VoIP, with a light regulatory touch," says Boucher. Because Internet users have a broad choice of service providers, there is plenty of competition so the existing rules governing monopoly networks shouldnot apply, Boucher reasons.
The bill also requires the FCC to impose minimal regulation for IP telephony services in just four areas: emergency services, universal service, compensation for use of public-switched networks, and access for the disabled.
"The disparate rules which currently govern different categories of telecommunications service providers have distorted investment and impeded the deployment of new services for consumers," Boucher added.
Many industry executives favor a light federal regulatory touch, arguing a state regulatory approach would likely harm the future of a still fledgling industry by discouraging innovation and raising costs. Executives from seven telecom firms, including Vonage and Level 3, told House telecom subcommittee members in early July that they favored pre-empting the states from becoming involved in VoIP regulation.
FAST FACTS:

 

Congressional telecom debate:

 

Advanced Internet Communications Services Act:

 

* Sponsored by Reps, Stearns and Boucher.

 

* Provides framework for Internet telephony.

 

* Facilitates rapid deployment of new services like VoIP.

 

* Requires "light" FCC regulation in four limited areas.

 

VoIP Regulatory Freedom Act:

 

* Sponsored by Sununu (Senate) and Pickering (House).

 

* Protects VoIP services from any regulation.

 

* Amended to allow state taxation in certain cases.

 

Should VoIP be regulated on a federal level? And if so, how?
That debate over the need for VoIP regulation is gaining momentum in the U.S. Congress as lawmakers grapple with how to manage new IP telephone services that allow users to bypass the traditional phone system. Whatever the final outcome this year, the VoIP dialogue already is setting the stage for a political battle between states and the federal government, as well as framing an early debate over what telecom reform will look like after the November election.
In late July, the Senate Commerce Committee ended up gutting a key bill sponsored by Sen. John Sununu (R-N.H) that would have banned states from regulating and taxing Internet phone calls at all. The committee amended the VoIP Regulatory Feedom Act to allow states to regulate VoIP services ro collect a universal service tax and to compensate telcos for using their facilities. Final Senate action is uncertain before the session ends this year. The original measure was controversial because it would pre-empt the states from regulating VoIP services. California, New York and Minnesota are among the states contemplating taxing and regulating VoIP. Some rural carriers also prefer that regulation be left a local matter.
Sununu, however, has forcefully pushed for a hand-offs approach to VoIP regulation on both the state and federal levels. "It is a simple choice ... vote to establish a clear legal regime based on technological innovation and consumer choice, or vote in favor of multi-layered regulation of VoIP that will let chaos reign," Sununu said in a statement. "Those who use e-mail and instant messaging should know if members vote to regulate Internet applications such as VoIP, those technologies are next."

The VoIP industry pioneers such as Vonage, Packet8, Voice Pulse and others are seeing their market share hammered as top brand names such as AT&T, Cablevision and others move forcefully into the consumer telephone space, according to a new research report released by the Yankee Group.
The report, prepared by Kate Griffin, Yankee Group senior analyst for consumer technologies and services, finds that the smaller "alternative voice" providers will see their residential VoIP market share plunge from 66% at the end of 2003 to just 19% by the end of next year. Traditional telcos, primarily RBOCs, ILECs and IXCs, will drop in market share from 34% in 2003 to 25% in 2005. A new breed of player--the cable MSOs--will grab a 56% market share next year from virtually nothing last year, the report says.
"Alternative voice providers lose market share every day to the major players," Griffin concludes. "MSOs, IXCs and ILECs are joining the VoIP game, and their available resources dwarf even the largest of the alternative VoIP providers." Griffin sees evidence that the smaller industry pioneers already are sniffing out new approaches, business models and features to stay competitive. Vonage, for example, added a lower-tiered, lower priced VoIP offering. Nuvio launched its consumer VoIP service in January, but now focuses on developing private-label partnerships with telecom, wireless and cable companies. VoiceGlo, which launched broadband VoIP service in the third quarter of 2003, now focuses on a PC-based VoIP service that resembles that of Skype
More industry pioneers could head for the exits as they are forced to compete in a more demanding mass market that favors big brands offering services like 24/7 customer support, truck rollouts to simplify provisioning and new, more efficient billing systems.
MASS MARKET APPEAL
The market share shift is occurring at a time when the VoIP industry is booming, and cable companies are moving much more aggressively into the phone market to compete more effectively with regional Bells. In many cases, the MSOs are turning to big names like AT&T to provide their VoIP services. Overall, VoIP subscribers will hit 1 million by the end of 2004, according to the Yankee Group, up from just 131,000 last year. However, the firm expects 17.5 million U.S. households to go with VoIP by 2008.
That huge growth might allow many of the early industry pioneers to survive if they adopt realistic business plans, says Griffin. "The early adopters aren't going to single-handedly overturn the RBOCs," she notes. "But if they set their targets on realistic growth, they can still be a profitable business." One factor helping is their broad national reach. The MSOs typically are limited to specific geographic areas where they have the cable franchise.
Even so, the smaller pioneer providers face dangers from escalating price wars, limited resources and unknown brand names that limit their addressable market to niche segments, according to the report. With the window of opportunity in the VoIP provider field rapidly closing for new entrants, the focus needs to be on quality, customer service and differentiated functionality to thrive. "Vonage's success has shown there is a market for a best-effort, lower priced telephone service," says Griffin. "However, in the next several months these early market entrants will face tough competition from battle-tested telephone and cable MSO ready to fight for local VoIP leadership."
FAST FACTS:
Challenges to small VoIP players
* Brand recognition--dwarfed by large companies' brand name investments
* Minimal resources--major players have deeper technical, telephony expertise
* Demanding mass market--users expect RBOC-like, seamless phone experience
VoIP Market Shake-out

 

2003

 

Alternate provides lose market share

 

Traditional Telcos    -04%
Alternate Providers    66%
Cable MSOs             34%

 

2005

 

[projected]

 

Alternate provides lose market share

 

Traditional Telcos     25%
Alternate Providers    19%
Cable MSOs             56%

THE ANALOG phone may soon be relegated to the world of 8-tracks and brick-size cell phones. When you look at moving up to VoIP, those old desk clunkers will be the first to go. In their place, you'll get something new, and there's a good chance it will be a SIP phone. SIP stands for Session Initiation Protocol, a signaling protocol that establishes sessions in an IP network. A session may be a simple two-way voice call, or it might be something more advanced, involving conferencing or multimedia. Most important, it's become a hot choice for VoIP systems.
One nice feature of SIP is interoperability. You're not necessarily tied to one vendor. You could install a SIP-based IP PBX from one vendor and SIP phones from another. That's good news for growing businesses that already have an IP-PBX system and are looking to upgrade or expand their stables of desk phones. You have a wide variety of choices, so you can shop for features, voice quality and price.
What's really glamorous about SIP is that all its extra feature potential makes your standard, plain-old-telephone-service phones look like old appliances. We're talking about unified messaging, click-to-call and teleconferencing, among other features. Chances are, you can find one to fit all your business needs.
The Zultys Technologies ZIP 2x2, a $230 (all prices street) upper-midrange phone in their line, features two Ethernet ports, Power over Ethernet and three-way teleconferencing. The phone also sports advanced encryption standard, a good idea for sensitive conversations and for entrepreneurs working in the legal field.
The $280 Cisco 7940G comes stocked with a large display, a built-in headset port and a speakerphone. Cisco aims this particular phone at "transaction type" workers, and it comes with two programmable line and feature keys. In the same price range, the $300 Siemens OptiPoint 410 Standard also comes with PoE, a speakerphone and a built-in LAN
switch.
In the budget range, the Grandstream Networks GXP-2000 comes in at a very affordable $110. You still get two Ethernet ports and multiparty conferencing, and you can add PoE with an optional cable kit. The Avaya 4602SW IP Telephone, on the other hand, lands in the middle of our price range at $170, with 12 programmable call appearance/feature keys, two Ethernet ports and a speakerphone. All the major SIP phone manufacturers have a variety of models, with differences coming down to features like display size, ability to customize and number of call appearances.
ZULTYS TECHNOLOGIES ZIP 2X2
Other considerations include whether you prefer physical buttons to access most features or don't mind scrolling through a display menu. Voice quality is always a top priority, so look for phones with good jitter-buffer technology. Also, if you have Cisco equipment and want to use PoE, be sure the SIP phones you buy support Cisco's pre-standard proprietary version of PoE.
Other manufacturers to check into include Alcatel (www.alcatel. com), Nortel Networks (www.nortel. com), Polycom (www.polycom.com), Snom Technology (www.snom.com) and Tiger Netcom (www.tigernetcom. com). Some IP phone manufacturers are planning to make SIP upgrades to some of their existing phones via a firmware update. Talk to your IT consultant or value-added reseller and fellow business owners for information and recommendations.
Shopping List

 

PUT A SIP IN YOUR SETUP, AND TAKE YOUR TELEPHONES
TO A WHOLE NEW LEVEL.

 

MANUFACTURER/                                      ENTHERNET
MODEL                     CONTACT                    PORTS

 

Avaya                     (866) GO-AVAYA               2
4602SW IP Telephone       www.avaya.com

 

Cisco                     (800) 553-NETS               2
7940G                     www.cisco.com

 

Grandstream Networks      www.grandstream.com          2
GXP-2000

 

Siemens                   (800) SIEMENS                2
OptiPoint 410 Standard    www.siemens.com

 

Zultys Technologies       (408) 328-0450               2
ZIP 2x2                   www.zultys.com

 

MANUFACTURER/                                       STREET
MODEL                           FEATURES             PRICE

 

Avaya                       PoE, speakerphone        $170
4602SW IP Telephone

 

Cisco                      PoE, speakerphone,        $280
7940G                     built-in headset port

 

Grandstream Networks       PoE, speakerphone,        $110
GXP-2000                  built-in headset port

 

Siemens                    PoE, speakerphone,        $300
OptiPoint 410 Standard     built-in LAN switch

 

ZultysTechnologies         PoE, speakerphone,        $230
ZIP 2x2                      call encryption

The 4D Talk business VoIP service has been unveiled by 4D Internet Ltd, a communications company based in the UK, providing a replacement for existing small PBX or FeatureLine installations for managing and routing calls.
The service provides businesses with a telephone adaptor enabling them to use their usual BT/analogue phone over any broadband Internet connection, using advanced VoIP technology without needing to make calls via their PC.
According to 4D Internet Ltd, the service enables VoIP calls to be made for less than the cost of standard calls made via BT, a UK telephony services provider, while avoiding the need to use traditional voice services for inbound and outbound calls. Features offered by 4D Talk include voicemail, caller return, caller display, caller ID blocking, address books, number blocking and call waiting, with fax2email and non-geographic numbers services offered to businesses.
Calls made with the 4D Talk business package to other 4D Talk users are free of charge and the service is suitable for companies using up to eight analogue lines. An unlimited 2Mb/s business broadband and business VoIP is being offered for GBP49.99 per month rather than the usual GBP69.99 per month as a special launch offer, for companies signing up by 30 June 2006.

By: Diane Myers

 

Just as you wouldn't hire a fledgling firm to handle a high-end, family function flush with Kodak moments, neither would corporate America hand over its critical communications services to an unproven outsider.
But all that has changed dramatically with the last several years of telecom turmoil, a far tighter focus on cost reduction and avoidance, and the rapid rise of future IP-focused providers willing to spare users the pain of technology transitions.
As a result, the migration to hosted IP services is well underway, with VoIP largely responsible for the evolution of a market with sorely needed business brawn that offers more than just reduced communications costs.
With little exception, all businesses purchase some form of voice services. In this manner, VoIP represents not a new service but rather a replacement of an existing system. This is a key point in understanding not only the market potential but also the competitive landscape.
An early benefit of VoIP has been cost savings, and this remains a primary driver for VoIP adoption. If service providers are going to turn VoIP into a growth opportunity, it will require creating a migration path from trunking and integrated access solutions focused on cost savings toward feature rich platforms that provide a distinct advantage over current circuit-switched capabilities.
For most Tier 1/Tier 2 service providers, including RBOCs, IXCs and CLECs, VoIP services do not represent a new revenue stream but rather a replacement for circuit-switched local and/or long-distance voice. With the exception of service providers using VoIP to enter the voice market, and service providers serving enterprises (mostly SMEs via UNE-P), it is harder to justify the deployment of new services when a significant amount of resources have been used to deploy a circuit-switched architecture.
This represents a challenge for the industry to define and successfully market value-added VoIP applications for which customers are willing to pay. These applications might include worker mobility, wireless/wireline integration, unified messaging, number portability, collaboration and conferencing

WiredRed, a provider of enterprise-scale real-time communication software announced on Thursday (15 September) that it has launched its next generation software engine for PC desktop multipoint VoIP.
According to the company, the new next generation VoIP application-programming interface (API) is able to deliver the point-to-point communications available in consumer services, such as Skype, to commercial vendors.
The API interface offers scalable multipoint capabilities, security, and the ability to connect corporate and government users that are behind their own firewalls. In addition it also includes options for data collaboration and multipoint video.
The new audio components of the interface include features such as microphone set-up wizards, a suite of VoIP codec's, adaptive noise cancellation (ANC), acoustic echo cancellation (AEC) and voice activity detection (VAD), the company said. In addition the coder/decoder (codec) suite includes G.726, G.711 and a library of additional industry standard and proprietary codec's.

Buffington adds that SBC is in active discussions with several potential enterprise accounts for VoIP deployments. "We are committed to (business) VoIP, " he says, noting that large enterprises increasingly view VoIP as a reliable, cost-effective alternative to aging PBX systems. "What's driving it is the acceptance of the technology and the fact that new users are looking for new systems" either as replacements or upgrades.
ENTERPRISE ADOPTION
In Ford's case, cost savings, increased productivity and enhanced applications all played a role in the deployment decision. SBC will converge Ford's disparate communication networks into a single, IP-based network for voice, video and data. Applications such as e-mail. integrated voice and even video are expected to be included.
SBC will provide Ford with a customized solution based on SBC's PremierServ IP Telephony Platform, using the Cisco Systems IP Communications hardware. The solution will be integrated into Ford's existing communications infrastructure by consultants from Callisma Inc., another SBC company.
Buffington says discussions about the implementation began more than 18 months ago.
The recent deal between SBC Communications and Ford Motor Co. that will see SBC companies design, implement and manage an IP telephony system at Ford's headquarters and other facilities in Michigan is stoking the view that VoIP technology is finally moving into mainstream enterprise deployment.
The SBC agreement, which will utilize Cisco technology for more than 50,000 business users in 110 Ford facilities during the next three years, follows on the heels of a report from research firm International Data Corp. that predicts that the market for hosted IP voice service for business users will hit $60 million by the end of this year. IDC projects business VoIP will hit $7.6 billion by 2008, a whopping compound growth rate of 282%. That figure includes all of the applications and services that IP networks would use, not just the core service.
Brian Buffington, executive director, marketing managed services for SBC, describes the $100 million Ford deployment as "a major icebreaker" in the enterprise space. "It's the biggest enterprise (VoIP) deployment yet," he says. "It's a sign that VoIP is here to stay in the enterprise."
SBC's recent success seems to validate the IDC conclusion that the business VoIP market is being driven by financial considerations. As PBXs age and need replacement, corporate executives typically find that a hosted IP voice solution can be implemented with a minimal capital outlay. Expensive maintenance contracts aren't needed, and hardware and software upgrades are easily available. It's little wonder IP telephony makes sense for the enterprise, because this is one example where the new technology usually costs a fraction of the technology it is replacing. That's music to the ears of tight-fisted CEOs and CFOs looking for a strong, predictable ROI.
"VoIP is finally poised to overtake and replace the aging but reliable circuit switched infrastructure," says Will Stofega, senior research analyst with IDC. He adds that the features and functionality VoIP delivers makes it attractive to enterprise business users. Furthermore, Stofega figures service providers are perfectly positioned to benefit from this opportunity because business customers will likely turn to them to assure reliability and functionality of the VoIP service.
However, Stofega adds that to be successful, service providers may need to educate business users about the cost savings and added functionality VoIP can provide. They also need to reassure customers that any past frustrations with VoIP won't be repeated. "Carriers have to show there are real advantages," Stofega says. "This might be, for example, the ability to stay connected to the office while in the field."
Stofega adds that enterprise users are becoming much more comfortable with VoIP solutions. "Concerns like reliability, QoS and scalability are much less of an issue now," he says. "The implementations are more robust." Security concerns, however, have not yet been fully resolved.
According to a separate survey recently released in London by AT&T Corp. and The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), a majority of corporate executives say they will implement VoIP in the next few years, attracted by its greater functionality and flexibility, as well as cost savings. The EIU survey of 254 senior executives worldwide shows that 43% are currently using, testing or planning to implement VoIP within the next two years. Another 18% believe they will adopt it in the long-term.
Hosted IP voice
services forecast

 

2003       $9.4
2003      $58.5
2003     $222.3
2003     $879.9
2003   $4,012.5
2003   $7,647.9

 

Source: IDC

 

Note: Table made from bar graph.
Cathy Martine, AT&T's senior vice president of Internet telephony, says many of the larger concerns about business VoIP implementations have been rectified. "Cost studies are now easier to perform, savings are more predictable, and the questions of quality and reliability have now largely been addressed, thanks to the development of international standards and stable software and hardware solutions," she says.

By Jon Arnold

 

VoIP is everywhere these days, and is arguably the hottest thing since the tech bubble of 2000. So, right away there should be some cause for concern. Depending on what hat you're wearing, this is true, but it is also an exciting time for anyone close to this market. With low barriers to entry and minimal regulation, VoIP is attracting new money and new players. The market will go through its natural--and necessary--cycles of speculation, investment, exits and consolidation, but there is an undeniable sense that VoIP is poised to fundamentally alter the telecom landscape.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
So, what is happening with VoIP? At the consumer level, broadband telephony is redefining voice communications, and the benefits of IP are going mainstream. VoIP has had numerous false starts, and has simply moved outward from the network core to the edge and access space, where it becomes real for the end user. IP technology has proven itself effective at reducing network operating costs, and the focus has now shifted to revenue generation via IP services.
VoIP is really just a technology, or an application in a data network. VoIP is not really an industry; it's an enabling technology that supports something much bigger--IP communications.
Why Now?
The simple answer on the timing of VoIP is the "V" word: Vonage. The "Vonage effect" is real, albeit far out of proportion to its impact in taking market share away from the RBOCs. No other virtual operator has come close in demonstrating proof of concept and bringing a consumer-friendly value proposition to market. By doing so, Vonage has had a substantial impact in accelerating the deployment plans of all the Tier 1 service providers.
Underlying that, however, is a more pervasive factor: broadband adoption. There is no VoIP market without broadband, and penetration has finally reached a critical mass where a number of offerings can be supported. By year-end, one in four U.S. homes will have broadband, and with the RBOCs finally making a serious push into DSL, the take rate will steadily increase over the next few years. In fact, VoIP itself may soon become a driver for getting broadband.
Just as voice and data are converging at the desktop, Frost & Sullivan sees several other factors converging that makes today such a dynamic environment for VoIP:
It works. This sounds like an obvious statement, but residential VoIP did not work well for a long time. VoIP has had several false starts since its inception in 1995. Although it is not 100 percent ready for prime time, it is certainly good enough now for mainstream use.
* Regulations. So far, the FCC has taken a laissez faire approach to VoIP, which has been critical for early-stage success. Had cellular been regulated in its early days, it may well have not evolved to where it is today. Regulation will come to VoIP, but not likely until it becomes more established.
* Competition. This is a crucial driver that was absent in telecom until last year. Rising broadband adoption and the cost efficiencies of IP have led all types of service providers to offer VoIP, and begin competing for customers who previously were the sole domain of incumbent telcos.
* End user demand. In the long run, the laws of supply and demand rule, and we are now truly seeing signs of VoIP demand from consumers. VoIP has been a supply-driven market to date, but as services are rolled out, consumers are quickly recognizing the value proposition of IP services
* Triple play. For the cable operators, VoIP completes the triple play, which is their main strategy for taking on the RBOCs. To counter this, the RBOCs are adding video to their triple play, along with voice and high-speed Internet. This sets the stage for the "battle of the bundles," which we expect will determine who wins control of the broadband home.
* Wireless substitution. This trend impacts telecom on many levels, but in terms of VoIP, the key issue is the unprecedented decrease in access lines for the RBOCs, which are largely migrating to cellular. With the declines in wireline subscribers and long-distance revenues, RBOCs are under heavy pressure to offset these losses with new services, which brings us to VoIP.
Who Is Leading the Charge?
The United States has seen tremendous activity in 2004, both in terms of VoIP subscriber uptake, and the variety of operators coming to market. At this point, five operators have demonstrated notable success in attracting subscribers: Vonage, AT & T, Primus, Cablevision and 8X8. There are several others, of course--some who are in the market now, and others who are very close to entering. However, these five account for the vast majority of residential U.S. VoIP subscribers.
* Vonage. Clearly the market leader on many fronts, including subscribers, service coverage, mind share, channels, money raised, first mover, etc. Vonage has been able to sustain a healthy growth rate even as new offerings come to market, and is currently in the range of 250,000 subscribers. Vonage's main vendor partner is Cisco for media gateways, and for applications, dynamicsoft (soon to be part of Cisco) is the engine upon which it develops its own features. On the premises side, Vonage has adopted a strategy of supporting multiple ATA vendors, including Motorola and Linksys.
In terms of 911, Vonage has a partial solution, and it also offers 411. Vonage provides LNP (local number portability), which allows subscribers to keep their existing phone number. However, unlike the Tier 1 carriers, Vonage does not operate its own network, and cannot assure end-to-end QoS.
Aside from an aggressive advertising presence, which includes print, radio and Internet, Vonage has developed extensive channel coverage, including RadioShack (over 3,700 locations), Staples (over 1,100 locations), Circuit City, Best Buy and Office Depot. It entered Canada in April, but has done little active marketing yet. Despite this, Vonage appears to be gaining good traction, largely due to the absence of any strong VoIP competitors in the Canadian market.
* AT & T. Although subscriber numbers are not known, CallVantage has firmly established itself as a strong alternative to Vonage since its launch in March. AT & T operates the largest IP network in the United States, and can provide all the requisite features for full primary line replacement--QoS, LNP, 911 and CALEA compliance. Its network is powered by Sonus gateways, and its ATA partner is D-Link. AT & T is rapidly developing channels, and is in over 600 locations, primarily with Best Buy, as well as online with Amazon. For the DSL market, AT & T has partnered with Covad for local access. More than any other VoIP provider, AT & T has the brand name; a critical intangible that gives it an edge for long-term growth. Furthermore, of all the VoIP operators, AT & T might have the most at stake to succeed in this market.
Primus. Primus' VoIP offering, Lingo, was launched in June, and like AT & T, it is entering the market primarily to counter the decline in its core long-distance business. While not as well known as AT & T, Lingo actually has a broader footprint across the United States, although AT & T is quickly expanding its rollouts. Similar to AT & T, Primus operates its own network, and has an edge over virtual operators such as Vonage and 8X8 in terms of QoS. Lingo provides LNP, and currently provides native mode 911 (called ECS). An upgrade variation called V911 is coming, which Primus feels is a better solution for VoIP.
Primus is adopting a price leader approach, with an attractive rate of $19.95, which includes unlimited calling to Western Europe. It operates an extensive global VoIP network, which allows it to market Lingo as an international offering. One example of this is the ability for subscribers to choose overseas area codes from 12 major cities, such as London or Tokyo.
* Cablevision. Optimum Voice was launched in the Long Island area in September 2003, and since then has far and away been the most successful VoIP launch among MSOs. Cablevision's larger rivals--Comcast, TWC, Charter, etc.--have been in trials for some time, but are only just coming to market now, especially Charter. Using the Siemens soft-switch platform and PacketCable standards, Cablevision can deliver end-to-end QoS with E911 support. With an aggressive and attractive $90 bundle for voice, video and high-speed access, Optimum Voice has attracted some 120,000 subscribers. This is an impressive number, not just for its sheer size, but also because it represents roughly a 10-percent penetration among its 1.1 million broadband subscribers.
Aside from the competitive price point, Cablevision is offering to set up VoIP for up to five phones in the subscriber's home for free. Considering the prevalence of multi-phone homes, this is a very nice sweetener. Cablevision's $90 bundle is for a 12-month period, and we expect this offer will continue to fuel its strong growth while it is in effect. That said, it remains to be seen if Cablevision can retain these subscribers after 12 months and higher rates kick in. If the growth rate then slows, it could be argued that the company's success is not based on normal market conditions, and that the effectiveness of bundling has not yet been proven. On the other hand, Cablevision's results have been surprisingly good, and may be a harbinger of the success that MSOs will enjoy when the other majors roll out VoIP.
* 8X8. This is by far the smallest of the group discussed here, but 8X8 is included to illustrate the challenges faced by all virtual broadband operators. Despite being a public company, 8X8 does not disclose its subscriber counts. However, we believe it is maybe one-tenth of what Vonage reports, making it the second-largest operator. The low cost of entry has attracted many virtual operators, and 8X8 competes with several others--namely Voiceglo, VoicePulse and BroadVoice--who can't match what 8X8 has accomplished. These operators are all capable of providing a competitive VoIP offering, but are faced with the major challenge of acquiring subscribers on a cost-effective basis. To achieve this, 8X8 has chosen the price-leader approach, and is not out to duplicate Vonage's heavy marketing push to attract subscribers. As such, its growth has been on a more modest level and pace. 8X8 has also tried to keep costs down by developing much of its software and endpoints in-house. As a result, its offering is low priced, but really only suitable for second-line service. It offers E911 as an option at $3 per month, and to provide this, it has partnered with Level 3. Furthermore, it can only provide limited LNP.
Like Vonage, 8X8 has developed several channel partners, including Zones, CSI and Fry's Electronics, but on a smaller scale. Interestingly, 8X8's main point of difference is a videophone offering. This is having some success, but the high price point for video (even after rebates) will keep this from being a mainstream service for some time. 8X8 is arguably the most successful virtual operator after Vonage, but clearly it is difficult, if not impossible for any of them to duplicate what Vonage has done.
The Bigger Picture
Mapping out the broader competitive landscape would require a separate article, and here we can only say that the residential VoIP market will become more crowded and more dynamic. Consumers will be the big winners, benefiting both from cheaper telephony and the first wave of innovation that will give them a taste of what multimedia IP communications is all about.
Essentially, there are four basic types of subscriber-based VoIP service providers (see Figure 1). In addition, there is a sub-group of wholesalers, who provide platforms that enable others to offer VoIP. The best-known example is probably deltathree, who provides the platform for Verizon's second line variation of its VoiceWing offering. Other wholesalers of note include Net2Phone and Level 3.
That said, each type has a distinct set of strengths and weaknesses, and at this time, there is room in the market for all of them.
How Will the Market Play Out?
In short, as long as the market remains lightly regulated, VoIP is on track for healthy growth over the next few years. That said, it is too early to tell how much of this growth will be at the expense of existing POTS lines, as opposed to ex-panding the wireline market through the growth of second lines. Either way, it is clear that the revenue picture for POTS is not bright.
Naked DSL is not widely available, and until that time comes, residential subscribers taking up VoIP with their RBOC will inevitably scale back their POTS lines to bare minimum. In markets where POTS is decoupled from broadband (such as with Qwest), we expect to see an increasing rate of dropping POTS as consumers become more comfortable--and confident--with VoIP.
As the major players make their moves into VoIP, the window for startups and virtual operators becomes smaller. On the bright side, there is still plenty of room for all types of providers, especially since overall U.S. broadband penetration is fairly low. However, as the majors shift into high gear, facilities-based operators may hold too much of an advantage, and will ultimately control most of the market. Furthermore, as VoIP matures, success will driven more by marketing and brand recognition than the underlying technology, which plays into the majors' favor. In that scenario, some of the virtual operators will be acquired or driven out of the market, and others will find a viable niche, probably on a regional basis. VoIP is still evolving, and we have not even begun to address the potential of wireless IP, or peer-to-peer offerings such as Skype or Free World Dialup. As such, we expect VoIP will support a rich and diverse ecosystem for some time to come.
IPCC Chair discusses major initiatives, and why there will be VoIP winners and losers
As Michael Khalilian, chairman of the International Packet Communications Consortium, sees it, the move from TDM to IP is analogous to a switch from black-and-white TV directly to HDTV. Senior Editor Sean Buckley recently sat down with Khalilian to discuss the future of the IPCC and its role to advance the VoIP industry.
SB: What are the IPCC's major initiatives for 2005?
MK: The new IPCC is focused on IP technology deployment issues, including peering guidelines, which we are writing with our members, partner organizations and service providers. We're also looking at the implementation and definition of SBC (session border controllers), OSS, billing, CDR records and SLAs.
SB: What's your sense of the VoIP market as it stands now?
MK: The problem is that VoIP means different things to vendors, service providers and end users. This is a challenge and an opportunity. If VoIP means to me as end user flat, lower-cost long-distance service with an ILEC/RBOC, Vonage or a cable company, I really don't care if you're doing it via TDM or VoIP. Vonage is taking advantage of the all-you-can-eat concept. By bypassing the traditional process of meeting CableLabs-based infrastructure for broadband, Vonage changed the whole perspective of the market last year.
SB: Everywhere you look there seems to be a new VoIP service provider emerging. What's your take on these players?
MK: You have a lot of good companies such as Net2Phone and Level 3. On the other side you have the cable industry and the wireline companies working with wireless guys to take advantage of VoIP to allow businesses to bundle services over PDAs and Wi-Fi. The commonality between all these service providers is IP. Voice is an application taking advantage of this IP infrastructure. We're going through an evolution where it does not matter whether you are a telephone company, cable company, wireless operator or a satellite provider--everyone wants a bundle of services. Voice is like a utility service, and the Internet is sitting right next to it. So, how do you integrate these two things? VoIP is the ideal application for it.
SB: The IPCC developed six working group initiatives. What are these working groups looking to accomplish?
MK: We built a project working group to prioritize and solve VoIP issues. Service providers came to us and said: 'There are no guidelines for VoIP peering.' We put a number of service providers and members together to draft guidelines, and that draft will be ready by the end of this year and in Q1 2005 we will publish it. The second issue was session border control. What does it mean, what is the value proposition, and how do SBCs work with various softswitches and gateways, no matter the brand or protocol. We paired SBC vendors with the service provider members in a working group to define all aspects of this in a format of the guidelines.
MK: Initially, VoIP was designed for offloading Internet traffic, and then it was used for Class 4 long-haul sitting on top of frame relay and ATM using different QoS elements. Then, with all of the network upgrades to fiber, it was easier to use VoIP from point A to point B by using a different codec, which cut traditional 56 kbps bandwidth for voice down to 32 kbps. Then, the industry came up with the idea of offering enhanced services. Traditionally, a PBX would sit in your building and the telephone companies said they could do the PBX functions remotely via Centrex. An emerging group of third-party service providers such as Telverse or GoBeam said they could do all of this and more with IP Centrex. Now, the cable companies want to offer voice service to residential over either a primary-line or secondary-line connection. When you are in the primary-line business, regardless if you are a cable company or a telephone company, you have to meet E911 operator assistance and other traditional requirements. Companies that just focus on offering E911 such as TCS, which designed E911 for cellular companies, offer a similar concept for VoIP. The solutions are there, and in 2006, we're going to see a lot of VoIP deployments. The value proposition of VoIP is not to replace traditional TDM, which improves network efficiency, but rather in delivering new services.
MK: The VoIP industry is going through an evolution, and we're going to have a lot of good news and a lot of bad news, but not everyone is thinking of the VoIP definition correctly. VoIP means different things to different people and there are a lot of challenges for VoIP deployments, but there are also solutions. You can design a VoIP network to have QoS. That will push VoIP to the next level, but you have to have the right architecture and implementation plan.

By Al Senia

 

A new survey of enterprise customers from Deloitte & Touche Technology concludes that by 2006, more than two-thirds of Global 2,000 companies will begin deployment of VoIP technology.
The poll, involving responses from 131 enterprises in North America, Europe and Asia, also found that approximately 26% of the participants already have deployed desktop VoIP, although only one-third offer the technology to all employees.
Cost reduction seems to be the main attraction to enterprise users: 84% single it out as the main driver.
The Deloitte study also finds that VoIP has the potential to transform other operations within the enterprise, including call centers, offshoring operations and telecommuting tools. One other optimistic note: 79% of current VoIP users say they are either mostly or highly satisfied with the VoIP technology they have deployed.
Tony Kern, deputy managing partner with Deloitte's technology and telecom practice, says the survey shows that initial misgivings about VoIP largely have disappeared because the technology has become more reliable and is being integrated more easily into other enterprise applications.
[GRAPHIC OMITTED]
"There is obviously more involved here than just cost," Kern notes. There are a lot of collaborative tools and ways to integrate VoIP technology into other enterprise applications, such as the customer support system, which also provide benefits."
Kern adds that reducing the cost of internal and external calls, as well as the lower capital investment needed for VoIP implementations, is helping focus enterprise executives on the usefulness of VoIP.
The Deloitte survey is being released at a time when VoIP seems to be gaining real traction in the enterprise space, and service providers are becoming more proactive in moving beyond simple commercial VoIP applications, SBC, for example, recently signed a deal for a large enterprise VoIP deployment at Ford Motor Co. involving 50,000 IP phones. SBC plans to step up its enterprise push.
Bank of America recently decided to install 180,000 Cisco Internet phones in 5,800 locations over the next three years. Integrator Electronic Data Systems Corp. will help in that installation. Boeing also recently opted for a VoIP deployment.
This in part reflects the increasing comfort executives have with the technology. "The initial performance of desktop VoIP was generally poor, with voice quality significantly inferior to that from existing analog systems," says Kern. "However, the offering has improved markedly with the falling price of VoIP equipment, rising call quality, improving functionality and the growing experience of service providers."
EXECUTIVE INVOLVEMENT
Kern adds that while it has great potential, VoIP technology should be applied sensitively because it also has great potential to disrupt large organizations. A flawed installation, for example, can basically paralyze a large business by crashing both voice and data communications.
The report recommends that at least four top "C-level" executives--the CEO, CFO, COO and CIO--become involved within each enterprise implementation to insure that any VoIP deployment goes smoothly, and that the benefits are maximized across the organization. For example, Kern notes that the COO likely would oversee the integration of VoIP into other customer applications, while the CIO would focus on integrating the voice and data networks.
VoIP may eventually become a standard communication technology that does not require a moment's thought," Kern says. "But today it still requires careful consideration." The new systems, skills and equipment that are required also involve significant investment, deployment efforts and training, he adds.
6.Network Device uses RoIP and VoIP technology
Model NXU-2A Network eXtension Unit sends and receives digital voice messages, and has ability to delay transmit and receive audio. Unit is suitable for use with radios, radio communication consoles, ACU-1000 Interconnect Unit, and SNV-12 Signal-and-Noise Voter. Device features voice modulation recognition (VMR), support of multicast IP and quality of service (QoS), selectable 20 dB gain boost on audio input, and restore-to-factory-defaults setting functionality.
********************
RALEIGH, N.C., (March 8, 2006) - Raytheon Company's JPS Communications, a leader in interoperability technology, announces the NXU-2A, a new device that replaces its legacy NXU-2 Network eXtension Unit.
The NXU-2A uses radio over Internet protocol (RoIP) and voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) technology to send and receive digital voice messages. The NXU-2A's new features are advantageous to trunking applications, handset users and customers who use multiple NXU-2s. The new unit costs $595.
The NXU-2A Network eXtension Unit is a general purpose, standalone device that connects communication equipment to a digital network (local area network, wide area network or Internet) using RoIP technology. It is intended for use with radios, radio communication consoles, and JPS products such as the ACU-1000 Interconnect Unit and the SNV-12 Signal-and-Noise Voter.
The NXU-2A's new features include the ability to delay transmit (TX) and receive (RX) audio, voice modulation recognition (VMR), support of multicast IP and quality of service (QoS), a selectable 20 decibel gain boost on audio input, and a "restore to factory defaults" setting.
The NXU-2A's ability to delay TX and RX audio is ideal for trunking applications where extra delay may be required. The NXU-2A's added ability to support multicast Internet protocol (IP) is optimal for customers who use multiple NXUs. Multicast IP reduces the amount of network traffic, which ensures that each unit in the multicast group will receive communication.
The NXU-2A's additional hardware offerings include VMR and a "restore to factory
defaults" setting. VMR, as with carrier operated relay (COR) and voice operated transmit (VOX) capabilities, determines when a radio's squelch function is active. The ability to reset the NXU-2A to a well-defined factory default state overcomes the problem of unknown or forgotten IP addresses.
QoS support allows operators to assign a priority level to RoIP data over other types of data. For example, if the network is over-utilized, NXU data will take priority and voice communication will be transmitted first. An additional gain boost of +20 decibels will enhance the received audio and will compensate for low drive level devices such as handsets or microphones.
"The NXU-2A monitors its network connection and adjusts its parameters automatically, so that it provides optimal performance under varying network conditions," said Doug Hall, Raytheon's JPS Communications senior scientist. "This is important to customers who use our VoIP products for critical applications in which system performance and network availability are essential. The new module ensures that data transmissions are uncompromised by changing network conditions."
The NXU-2A, with the same RoIP and VoIP features of the NXU-2, is available in limited supply
JPS Communications, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Raytheon Company, designs, manufactures and sells electronic hardware and software products that enhance the effectiveness of communications systems. The company offers unsurpassed local, regional, state, and wide-area interoperability by directly connecting or networking any of the following devices: HF, UHF, and VHF radios along with Nextel, satellite communication, cellular, WiFi and digital land line telephones.
Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN), with 2005 sales of $21.9 billion, is an industry leader in defense and government electronics, space, information technology, technical services, and business and special mission aircraft. With headquarters in Waltham, Mass., Raytheon employs 80,000 people worldwide.
For more information, please contact JPS Sales at (919) 790-1011; e-mail jpspr@jps.com or visit our website at www.JPS.com.

Department of Trade and Industry's (DTI) Achieving best practice in your business has published a booklet called "Voice over Internet Protocol" to guide the businesses through many options, helping them to understand how VoIP can benefit business and cut costs.
According torecent research 43% of companies are already using, testing or planning to implement VoIP over the next two years.
The free guide can be viewed or ordered at http://www.dti.gov.uk/bestpractice/technology/comms-tech.htm

TeleCommunication Systems, Inc. (TCS) (NASDAQ:TSYS), a global leader in wireless data technology, has announced it has deployed Voice Over Internet Protocol E9-1-1 service for Las Vegas, Nevada-based CommPartners, a Voice Over Internet Protocol ("VoIP") facilitator providing IP telephony services and connectivity to service providers. The deployment is the latest in TCS' E9-1-1 services that have been deployed in states across the United States since 1998. The service delivers a set of comprehensive capabilities meant to address the broad range of challenges for emergency services that are posed by current VoIP technologies.
CommPartners, with a growing national base of resellers, has incorporated TCS' E9-1-1 VoIP service with its suite of VoIP offerings. TCS' solution meets the requirements and expectations of E9-1-1 services offered to traditional landline and wireless subscribers. It supports a wide range of VoIP solutions ranging from those offering a landline replacement to those providing the business traveler with VoIP connectivity wherever he plugs into the Internet. Existing 9-1-1 solutions for VoIP are hampered by several limitations; key among them are slow location updates and inefficient routing. These limitations are typically the result of trying to provide VoIP E9-1-1 by upgrading the existing wireline E9-1-1 infrastructure rather than taking a more dynamic approach.
Wireline phones are statically connected to specific locations; thus, the wireline phone number can be mapped to that specific location. VoIP phones, however, are not necessarily tied to the same location each time a call is made. Many VoIP service providers allow their customers to make calls from any location as long as they can connect into the VoIP service provider's data network. Thus, unlike E9-1-1 calls originating from wireline phones, VoIP E9-1-1 calls cannot be mapped to a specific location based upon phone number alone. This is similar to the problem that wireless carriers originally faced with their customers: the phone number of a wireless subscriber did not automatically identify the location from which the person was calling. In 1998, TCS engineers worked with the States of Indiana to solve this challenge by extracting information about the caller's location from the wireless network as the call was being made. Since then, TCS has worked actively with the wireless industry to deploy innovative wireless E9-1-1 technology around the country and now supports tens of millions of subscribers who make tens of thousands of wireless E9-1-1 calls daily. TCS is now applying these lessons learned to solve similar challenges for CommPartners' VoIP customer base.
Where others are trying to update the wireline databases, which can take up to 48 hours to activate, TCS provides mechanisms to its customers that allow the information to be updated and validated in a fraction of the time and uses this information to dynamically route the call to the appropriate Public Safety Answering Point, of which there are over 6500 in the United States.
Deploying TCS' authentic E9-1-1 VoIP solution positions us to set the bar for emergency services via VoIP," said Dave Clark, President of CommPartners. "When subscribers choose a telephony solution, they expect a certain level of service - that the quality of the call will be good and that they can dial 911 with assurance they will be connected to emergency personnel without any unnecessary delay. With TCS' E91-1 VoIP service, we now have a complete solution that meets and exceeds our customers' expectations."
CommPartners is interested in providing a complete, reliable E9-1-1 solution for its comprehensive VoIP service and would not settle for less," said Robert Dawson, Senior Vice President of Service Bureau Operations for TCS. "E9-1-1 VoIP is a natural extension to TCS' years of proven location and wireless E91-1 experience and we look forward to taking those offerings to the next level in the public safety arena."

By Al Senia

 

The unanimous decision by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) last month that VoIP Internet telephony service offered by Vonage isn't subject to traditional state public utility regulation certainly clears the path for VoIP service providers to step up their marketing efforts, but it's far from the final word on the issue.
For one thing, the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission is likely to appeal the ruling. And it's going to have lots of state PUC support: California, New York and others all have a multimillion-dollar financial stake in the outcome. California alone estimates it could lose $400 million in phone tax revenue over the next few years as more wire line customers ditch traditional phone service for VoIP. A key argument will be whether the FCC will prevail in its assertion that the states can't regulate Vonage's service because it can't be broken down into separate intrastate and interstate services.
Another interesting sidelight: The FCC didn't address the issue, raised by Vonage, of whether the VoIP service should be classified as an unregulated "information service" or a more traditional telecommunications service. That issue, with its extremely broad ramifications, will be left for another day. So will issues such as whether VoIP service providers have to provide access to the disabled, pay intercarrier compensation and contribute to the universal service fund. In other words, now that the FCC reserves for itself the right to regulate VoIP, just how light or heavy will that touch wind up being?
Of course, the United States Congress in its upcoming session could trump the FCC if it decides to pass legislation deregulating the VoIP business entirely. That would cut out the FCC, much as the FCC cut out the states. An earlier effort to do so this year failed in the eleventh hour, but the new Congress will likely be even more conservative and free-market oriented than the outgoing one. It's quite likely Sen. John Sununu (R-N.H.) will take another stab at deregulating VoIP.
Still, the latest FCC decision was hailed by many as a step in the right direction and an achievement in removing regulatory uncertainty. "This landmark order recognizes that a revolution has occurred," said FCC Chairman Michael Powell. "To subject a global network to disparate local regulatory treatment by 51 different jurisdictions would be to destroy the very qualities that embody the technological marvel that is the Internet."
Most VoIP vendors and service providers--and industry trade organization like USTA, CompTel/ASCENT and TIA--agree with that assessment and hail Powell's ruling. "It is not logical or practical to subject this voice application to 100-year-old regulations by 50 individual states," says Jason Talley, president of Nuvio Corp.
Jeffrey Citron, Vonage's chief executive, says the FCC action "assures that competition from VoIP is here to stay" and allows service providers to focus resources on improving their VOIP services.

By  Sean Buckley

 

If you're going to offer a true alternative VoIP service, you better make sure you take responsibility for the customer experience, says Bruce Chatterley, president and CEO of Seattle-based Speakeasy. For all of the hype surrounding VoIP this year with new entrants popping up on a daily basis, Chatterley is confident that this dedication to quality will give his company a leg up on the competition.
"We're initially only going to offer VoIP in combination with a Speakeasy broadband connection, and we think that's important because the only way we can manage QoS end-to-end is if we control the connection," said Chatterley. "We believe that by doing that we're going to offer a much higher-quality user experience than companies like Vonage that just plugs their VoIP feature on someone else's connectivity and can't manage that connection."
When Speakeasy asked what customers would want in a VoIP service, there were four main fundamentals: quality/reliability, cost, single bill/single support and new features, with quality and cost being at the top of the list. To keep its promise, Speakeasy has built a dedicated, private fiber-based network backbone via its partner Level 3, which includes eight major U.S. local POPs. In the last mile, Speakeasy has a direct connection into local provider partners including Covad, Qwest and SBC. This is then combined with its VQ Technology, a managed QoS mechanism that prioritizes voice traffic over data traffic. A customer could, for example, be simultaneously downloading a file while on a VoIP call without any degradation in voice quality.
In addition to controlling QoS, Speakeasy provides true 911 and enhanced 911 services with the same PSTN reliability customers have come to depend on. Whereas other providers utilize an administrative interface for 911, which generally does not have the calling address for the person, Speakeasy's 911 service is integrated with local Public Safety Answering Points in each market that provide name, address and phone number information to deal with emergency calls.
To power up its VoIP and naked DSL service sets, Speakeasy has enhanced its partnerships with Level 3 and Covad. Speakeasy will offer its OneLink service by leveraging Covad's dry loop, or dedicated DSL lines. For VoIP, Speakeasy will utilize Level 3's HomeTone VoIP service, a wholesale turnkey VoIP service that combines the relevant building blocks (911, directory assistance and operator services) of its VoIP Enhanced Local service with Class 5 softswitch capabilities. In addition, Home Tone offers enhanced unified messaging and find me/follow me features. Speakeasy will take those features and package them under its Speakeasy Voice for residential and then business customers.
"It was logical for us to partner with Level 3 because they are focused on wholesale, and we're confident that they won't compete with us," said Chatterley. "The other thing is that their whole core competency is to organize their whole business, operations and support around providing wholesale services that we can add value to and differentiate in the market, so VoIP was a logical extension of our relationship. Because our private fiber backbone is a sub partition of their national network, their VoIP application server sits on the same network as us, so from a latency and QoS standpoint we get a benefit there."
Although the traditional landline phone will be with us for a long time to come, the two biggest drivers toward naked DSL and VoIP are wireless phone substitution and those users that want to use VoIP instead of traditional PSTN service. Cellular users are prime targets for naked DSL and VoIP services because they both offer a flat rate and unlimited usage. In fact, Forrester Research estimates that approximately 2.3 million U.S. households will replace landline phones with a wireless phone by 2006. Then, there's a growing population that are not only substituting their landline phone with wireless, but also wanted to break ties with their phone company. On the business side, it's the desire to get a dedicated data connection with five-star support.
Speakeasy Voice service will be compatible with its existing cadre of DSL and T1 service packages, including its naked DSL service. When combined with its naked DSL service OneLink, which does not require a user to purchase a phone line, a consumer or business can effectively break ties with the traditional phone company and get a single bill of flat-rate, unlimited voice and data services. As an added caveat, cell phone users could use OneLink for their DSL data connection, or choose a hybrid that connects their cell phone with OneLink DSL plus VoIP with find me/follow me capabilities.
While the initial drive for Speakeasy Voice will be residential, Speakeasy does intend to offer the service to its SMB customers. Speakeasy has been targeting the budding SMB market via a growing cadre of independent IT consultants, a channel that Chatterley believes is a gold mine of opportunity. To maintain customer responsiveness, Speakeasy assigns a dedicated business manager for the life of the account. Such a structure gives this market a direct link into a person that knows their account.
"When it comes to our customer targeting, we try to target the most valuable segments that are not well served by what I call the McDonalds-quality carriers," said Chatterley. "We're serving on the business side through a unique channel that no one has been able to tap into yet. They are not going to make a living off of selling our stuff in terms of commissions, but what they want is a company they can work with where they have confidence that it's not going to degrade their relationship with the customer, and be able to immediately resolve issues."
But even as Speakeasy reaches about 92 percent of the U.S. market with DSL, the company is not resting on its laurels. After receiving a strategic funding from the Intel Communications Fund, Speakeasy recently began initial testing of broadband WiMAX with business customers in Seattle. The operator chose Seattle as the test city because of its rough terrain and strong demand for broadband services. Initially offering a 3-Mbps service, Speakeasy will also offer a dedicated account manager and SLAs for mission-critical applications.

 

US telecomms company AT&T has announced a series of new features that it claims will strengthen its VPN and VoIP offerings.
AT&T said that it is introducing a new real-time 'hoot and holler' conferencing capability, creating a conference bridge with multicasting IP technology. The company has also introduced an 'automatic ring down' feature that allows two phones to be instantly connected by just lifting the receiver.
The company has also announced that its Voice of VPN customers will now receive free off-net calls to all US and non-US locations for the next 60 days. A spokesperson for AT&T said that its aim is to allow customers to maximize the value of their virtual private networks and their inherent security, by unlocking the productivity benefits of VoIP

By Mike Hogan

 

IF YOU MAKE A LOT OF LONG-DISTANCE business calls, you probably already know you can save by routing them over the Internet using VoIP technology. How would you like VoIP savings on your cell phone, too?
Boca Raton, Florida-based i2 Telecom International (www. i2telecom.com) has a new device (patent pending) that hands off cellular calls to its VoIP network, so you can save the roaming and long-distance charges still levied under many cellular plans. Its InternetTalker MG-3 saves still more on calls to Canada, Mexico or overseas, where cellular carriers still levy steep charges.
About the size of a CD case, the $109 MG-3 connects to a traditional or IP phone line on one end and the router for your broadband connection on the other. It's not unlike the analog/digital converters distributed by all VoIP service providers, letting any phone connect to their broadband networks. But MG-3 has the added benefit of routing cellular calls over the Interact. One prerequisite is that caller ID be activated on all the phones involved.
In a typical usage scenario, you might use your cell phone to call overseas or a domestic number off your carrier's network not that you can really tell which numbers are off-network, of course). Instead of dialing directly, you call the home or office line with your MG-3. Using caller ID, the device determines that the call is from an authorized phone and switches you onto i2Telecom's VoIP network. Now you dial the long-distance number and are connected at a much lower price than cellular rates.
How much lower? Rates for some of the more popular international destinations include about 3 cents per minute to the United Kingdom instead of the $3.90 per minute typical of straight cellular calls, says i2 Telecom senior vice president Rick Scherle. Per-minute charges are roughly 3 cents to Mexico City instead of 55 cents, 5 cents to China instead of $4.20, and 21 cents to India instead of $4.20.
You'll still log minutes on your cellular plan during prime time. But i2Telecom's clock starts only if a call leaves the Internet and travels over the traditional phone system. Monthly rates for domestic calls start at $11.95 for 300 off-network minutes or $16.95 for 500 minutes; you can also negotiate plans based on your company's calling patterns.
MG-3's installation and configuration were brief and intuitive, and it works well with various office telecom equipment like PBXs and key sets. The device recognizes incoming calls from up to three cell phones of any type, and, like most VoIP devices, calls between MG-3s in branch offices or key employees' homes are completely free.
There are still boundaries between different telecom networks, but an SUV-size hole gets punched in them every day.

By Art Brothers

 

With the exception of five exchanges, Utah is a single LATA state. That fact tends to diminish objections by competitive toll carriers complaining about a study to consider making the entire state EAS, or toll-free, for calling.
Fifteen Utah LEC companies are doing a study to determine the revenue requirement they need to compensate them for their investment in intrastate long distance. Then, other studies will consider how that expense might be recovered by shifting it to local service.
Should the expanded EAS be re-named something like a zero-rated toll (ZRT)? Or maybe Flat Rate Intrastate Toll (FRIT)? The purpose, for those who ask, is to determine how the pie would be cut, or might, if part of the funding flows from NECA's pools.
The driver for this study is VoIP, and Utah companies' concern that the shift of subscribers away from a high-quality regulated Public Service Telephone Network (PSTN) to the (admitted lesser quality) of VoiP will leave us with some seriously stranded plant not generating revenue to pay for it.
The traditional concerns revolve around those who just don't make long distance calls or are too poor to afford the additional costs. The answer is that we are in a business of averages. Public policy is like roads and any infrastructure. We spend the dough, and everyone helps pay for it. And there is enough competition nowadays so that if local rates get beyond what someone wants to pay, he can choose to let that higher service go in favor of a lower-cost service such as per-minute cellular.
And, the fact of life is, cellular often doesn't charge for toll calls, either. So LECs must meet that and the VoIP challenge. As I write this, Qwest's Utah division is observing the feasibility discussions.
Frontier
We think most of the former AT&T guys who used to make us prove a need for an additional circuit were retired. I've always said no, they work for Frontier management. It's like this: Our seven Nevada exchanges network access routes through my tandem, then it goes 80 miles for hand-off to Frotier for a 40-mile haul and hand-off to Nevada Bell's 300 miles to its Reno LATA tandem. For years we have asked Frontier to increase capacity. And they are about as stingy as one can be: One at a time.
We have two Utah exchanges which route through Frontier, then to another independent, and then to Qwest. Qwest hauls to the Salt Lake LATA tandem
In both cases, we have so much traffic that essential calls such as 911 can't be completed because there are no circuits. And we get complaints that people can't call into our customers.
Judith Hooper used to be a lawyer/engineer working for the Utah Division of Public Utilities. She is now on our payroll as legal counsel and V.P. And her formal complaint is sitting at the Utah PSC.
E-911
Because of news reports and other recent stories that nationwide calls to 911 are not making it, Judith and Christy set up a routine on our 17 Beehive COs. Call 911. Did they work? Three times a week. Sevier County complained. Too many calls! Cut back to once a week. Then maybe once a month. Then maybe just forget about it. Problem is, we can't get in when we have heavy load periods to make a revertive 911 call. Oh, well.
Chuck has been appointed to the legislative E-911 task force. He says the monthly meetings are very informative. None of the cell providers has bothered to send anyone to the meetings. I've asked Chuck to summarize some of the insights from those meetings for the March Last Word column.

 

 

By Al Senia

 

Covad Communications Group Inc. shook up the service provider space recently by launching a new VoIP telephone service that allows partners to offer local and long distance voice service to end-users in direct competition with local telephone carriers.
Trials of the new service are expected to begin this month. Covad intends to utilize DSLAM technology to deliver line-powered voice access to non-Bell telephone companies. Nokia and Zhone Technologies are providing the necessary voice cards and DSLAM technologies.
Trials will be conducted in Atlanta, Denver and San Jose, with full commercial service planned by the second half of this year.
CLEC ALTERNATIVE?
"Line-powered voice access will allow Covad to provide CLECs and their customers around the country a facilities-based alternative to the local phone companies' UNE-P platform for voice services," explained Covad CEO Charles Hoffman when the announcement was made.
Covad, a gutsy industry player that has spent the last two years restructuring itself as a wireless broadband player, was the subject of a Oct. 1, 2004 America's Network cover story in which company executives outlined some of their future business strategies.
Covad has been providing networks for service providers interested in delivering VoIP services to customers. But the latest move offering the ability to provide local telephone service adds an entirely different dimension to the battle for voice customers.
LOCAL EQUIPMENT EXEMPT
By using VoIP, Covad and its partners won't need to lease any local equipment from the four remaining Bell operating companies, except for the actual copper wire that links the central office to a customer's location. The DSLAMS and line cards enable line-powered voice access by taking the analog voice signal from a customer's phone and converting into a digital form at the Covad central office where the DSLAM is located.
The digital signal then travels over Covad's national network backbone and connects to any telephone on either a VoIP network or a PSTN network managed by the regional Bells.Covad's service is especially timely because it comes just a few months after court and federal rulings essentially freed the Bells from having to lease their networks at a low cost to competitors like AT&T Corp., Sprint and MCI. The rulings caused many national carriers to abandon the local phone market to the Bells, setting the stage for price increases later this year. The local copper lines that Covad and its partners would use, however, were not affected by those rulings.
Covad believes its new service offers a true alternative for service providers interested in providing local phone service.

Australian telecomms companies are calling for a new dedicated numbering scheme for VoIP services, but the companies have yet to agree over the technical details, and smaller carriers are worried that the scheme could be uncompetitive.
The proposal was submitted to the Australian Communications Authority in response to the ACA's public discussion paper on VoIP regulation that was issued in October 2004. Australia's leading telecomms company, Telstra, has called for a new numbering system that differentiates between VoIP services that meet current Standard Telephone Service obligations and those that don't.
Australia's Competitive Carrier's Coalition (CCC), which represents second-tier telecomms companies, said however that it believes that treating VoIP services as a third call type between fixed and mobile services would cause problems, and that a separate numbering system would affect fair competition in the market.
Emergency services have also voiced their concerns over unregulated VoIP services that could damage emergency service hotlines, with telecomms companies only wanting to help them when it is in their economic interest to do so, reports ZDNet Australia.

Yukon Telephone Company Inc. in Whittier, Alaska is as unlikely a VoIP trailblazer as one would expect to find anywhere. This family-run independent telephone company, with nine employees, serves about 1,100 customers clustered in and around the small rural towns of Nenana, Ruby, Tanana, Tynoek and Whittier.
Three years ago, Yukon Telephone was faced with a challenge that led it to embrace what was then the very embryonic technology of VoIP.
The telco needed to replace its existing and aging Mitel and Redcom TDM Class 5 switches--but couldn't spend a fortune on replacement gear. It wanted the new technology to provide cost-effective VoIP over various transports and to integrate with its legacy network. Yukon selected the MetaSwitch VP3500 from MetaSwitch, a division of London-based Data Connection Ltd., a leading provider of communications protocol software.
The VP3500 provides both legacy and broadband interfaces, including GR-303, VoATM and VoIP, as well as advanced Web-based subscriber services.
The evaluation to determine whether the switches were suitable for deployment in rural Alaska was done by Reeve Engineers in Anchorage. Reeve spent six months doing a side-by-side comparison of switches from four vendors: CopperCom, Gluon, MetaSwitch and Taqua. The evaluation involved installing all the switches in the Reeve Engineers' laboratory and connecting them to systems inside and outside the lab with SS7 and CAS trunks. Reeve looked at a full range of legacy capabilities, as well as the switches' support for packet voice.
Yukon deployed the MetaSwitch technology in Whittier in June 2003 after an installation that took less than two weeks. The deployment included both TDM and VoIP interfaces to make the most cost-effective use of existing DLC and switching equipment. "During the trial, customers were smoothly transitioned from Yukon Telephone's existing legacy Class 5 switch without service disruption or switch outages," says Randall.
"Gradually, we introduced broadband loop carriers (from Occam Networks) and VoIP service over cable, 802.11 wireless and satellite," adds Eller. "We tested the switch over every transport medium available, and it performed well on everything. We saw in the switch the realization of the much-hyped notion of convergence of technology. The switch enables us to bring high-speed broadband voice, data and video to our customers at a very affordable price and cost to us."
Currently, customers pay $50 per month for broadband, $35 for basic cable and $40 per month for flat-rate calling anywhere in the United States.
Yukon Telephone paid about $200,000 for the switch, says Randall. "Generally, our switches cost one-fifth the cost of legacy switches, depending on the applications and installation involved," he says. Eller notes that the switch's packet-based capability has significantly lowered Yukon's transport costs.
As a result of the successful deployment, which served as a trial site for the USDA Rural Utilities Service (RUS), MetaSwitch was listed as a RUS-approved vendor in March 2004. Occam Networks was also listed, giving the green light to other rural carriers to follow Yukon's lead and migrate to an all-IP network using federal government RUS funds. Among the carriers that followed Yukon's lead in using the VP 3500 switch were 150 independent telephone companies in Iowa, members of the Iowa Network Services (INS), who can provide packet-based voice services to more than 560,000 Iowans in 330 communities.
"Back in 2003, we saw VoIP as both an opportunity, but also a huge jump for a small company," says Eller. "Our experience from the 'other side' of that jump has been uniformly positive and should encourage other service providers to take the plunge. We have found the technology to be extremely easy to deploy, at least as reliable as legacy equipment, but far more flexible.We have squeezed multiple bays of legacy Class 5 switching into a third of a rack and have entirely replaced a complex circuit-switched access architecture with a simple Ethernet switch."
In the past year, Yukon has used the MetaSwitch softswitch architecture to extend service to remote towns via media gateways and satellite connections for packet backhaul. Because of the uniquely challenging Alaskan environment, the company has mostly connected via a satellite link used primarily by federal and local government agencies. Yukon pays a monthly fee to the satellite provider.
I am extremely pleased with the performance of the VP3500 switch," says Eller. "I expect a Class 5 switch to just sit there and provide dial-tone reliably and consistently, day in, day out, and the MetaSwitch does just that. In addition, its ability to deliver Voice over IP has played a key role in our network upgrade, circuit to packet migration and expansion plans. The switch has helped us to expand out of our old service areas of Ruby, Tanana and Whittier into Nenana and Tynoek. We plan to continue this expansion along the lines of the Vonage model: that the service area can be anywhere, and we control the network."
The Project: Yukon Telephone needed to replace its existing and aging Mitel and Redcom TDM Class 5 switches, but couldn't spend a fortune on replacement gear. It wanted new technology to provide cost-effective VoIP over various transports, and to integrate with its legacy network.
Market Execution: After an intensive six-month evaluation of vendor options, Yukon selected the MetaSwitch VP3500. The carrier deployed the MetaSwitch technology in Whittier in June 2003 after an installation that took less than two weeks. The deployment included both TDM and VoIP interfaces to make the most cost-effective use of existing DLC and switching equipment.
Business Case: Yukon invested in cutting-edge technology that fulfilled the promise of convergence, enabling it to bring high-speed broadband voice, data and video to customers at affordable prices while creating a platform for growth.
Our Read: Yukon Telephone has blended legacy and next-generation technology into a seamless IP-based network that is cost-effective, flexible and able to grow.

 

 

By Mike Hogan

 

YOU LIKED THE PRICE CUTS. NOW comes part two: VoIP innovation. The Packet8 Desktop VideoPhone from internet phone company 8x8 lets you see and hear calling partners.
Full-motion video calls have arrived--some 40 years after Bell Labs introduced its Picturephone and long after we tired of visiting it at Disneyland. The Packet8 Desktop VideoPhone is available on 8x8's website (www.8x8.com) and through large computer retailers online and off for $299, or $499 for two (all prices street).
It's not one of those kludgy computer video solutions we've seen before. And it doesn't require special, per-minute service charges since 8x8 isn't a traditional phone company delivering video over the traditional phone network. VideoPhone is a creature of the new, unregulated phone network So while arguably it's the first, it won't be the last such device we'll see.
A broadband connection of at least 128Kbps is needed for real-time video and voice quality, says Bryan Martin, chair and CEO of 8x8 in Santa Clara, California. The Packet8 phone is definitely a convenient way to get "just like being there" video. Plug it into an Ethernet port on your broadband router, dial an activation code, and you're in business. It finds its own IP address, can be used across an office LAN, and is easily moved to other locations and connected to a TV or large LCD. It doesn't cost much more than most office phones. In fact, except for a barely noticeable camera and a 5-inch active-matrix LCD, the VideoPhone looks like any office deskset.

By : Robert Poe

 

Looking a decade ahead, the VoIP industry has taken its first steps towards foiling future attempts by Internet-style hackers to bring down a major IP phone service. A new group, the VoIP Security Alliance, or VOIPSA, recently launched two projects aimed at developing industrial-grade VoIP security methods.
VOIPSA members include manufacturers, service providers, research institutions and consultancies. The first two projects of the organization, which was formed in February, aim to develop a "threat taxonomy" and to define security requirements.
VOIPSA's efforts will be of particular interest to manufacturers of session border controllers, or SBCs, which will for a long time to come play a crucial role in defending VoIP networks from attack.
SBCs, which typically sit between the softswitches that control VoIP services and the public Internet, have a number of functions. One of the most important is firewall traversal. When a VoIP call has to go through a firewall, as most do, it can easily fail. Firewalls don't know how to deal with VoIP, which can involve as many as five separate data streams. SBCs know how to manuever both VoIP and video traffic through them.One way SBCs protect VoIP systems is by concealing the fact that the systems exist, a technique called topology hiding. In addition, SBCs prevent hackers from targeting specific softswitches or other devices. Without an SBC in front of it, a softswitch would have to have a publicly routable IP address, a sitting target for hackers.
The fledgling wireless VoIP industry is bracing for many more such service offerings. A recent study from Infonetics Research estimates that Wi-Fi VoIP handset revenue totaled $45 million in 2004 with 113,000 units shipped worldwide. Revenue and units are expected to grow sharply through 2009 as more enterprises deploy voice over wireless LANs (VoWLAN).
CELLULAR DISRUPTION
"Wi-Fi capability will eventually become a common feature in cell phones, just as it is becoming standard in laptops today, giving mobile operators a big opportunity with Wi-Fi voice," predicts Richard Webb, directing analyst for Infonetics and author of the report. He adds that wireless VoIP could end up being "a hugely disruptive technology."
Explains Webb: "The traditional model of time and distance-based pricing for voice calls will be eroded by VoIP, and as VoIP goes wireless, this will present a challenge not only to fixed-line operators, but to mobile operators as well."
Webb and other industry executives concede that a number of issues such as standards, QoS, seamless roaming across different platforms and signal range will have to be resolved before wireless VoIP can really take off. The wait might be surprisingly short. "But with vendors currently working towards standards to address these challenges, it is likely we will be at the foot of the adoption bell-curve by mid-2006," Webb says.
Some U.S. service providers aren't waiting that long.
US Wireless Online, which operates a large Internet wireless broadband network, launched a new VoIP service for the SMB market in Columbus, Ohio in March. The service is expected to roll out to customers in the company's 11-state service area that extends from Pennsylvania to Texas this year. "With business spending on VoIP expected to more than double to $10.9 billion in the U.S. by 2009, we believe our company is well-positioned to capture significant VoIP market share in our growing markets," explains Jai Bhagat, executive chairman of US Wireless Online.
Vonage's Holder believes wireless VoIP will attract a new set of small business customers to Vonage, lured by less expensive calling rates, increased convenience and VoIP's robust functionality that allows for better call management. "A lot of enterprises are talking about Wi-Fi, and the small and midsize business market will be able to get into it without the large capital expense," he says.
However, it is the enterprise user who seems most focused on wireless VoIP at the moment. Roger Sands, vice president of engineering for Colubris Networks, a Campbell, Calif-based WLAN system provider, counts more than 1,000 enterprise and service-provider customers worldwide including Swisscom, Telecom Italia, NTT-ME, Connexion by Boeing and McGill University in Montreal.
VERTICAL MARKETS
Sands says the company has about 400 U.S. customers, mostly in the retail, hospitality, healthcare and education verticals. "The enterprise is motivated by the performance increase they see in their workers, the productivity improvement and cost savings. We expect you are going to see this migrating horizontally within the enterprise service-provider market."
Such a horizontal move, involving more consumer-oriented applications, is still a few years away, he concedes. Still, as Wi-Fi and WiMAX standards emerge, hotspots become more commonplace and the need for seamless mobile voice becomes more prevalent, Sands and others foresee dual handsets emerging that combine wireless VoIP and traditional cellular capabilities. "This will augment cellular technology," Sands predicts.

 

 

 

Looking a decade ahead, the VoIP industry has taken its first steps towards foiling future attempts by Internet-style hackers to bring down a major IP phone service. A new group, the VoIP Security Alliance, or VOIPSA, recently launched two projects aimed at developing industrial-grade VoIP security methods.
VOIPSA members include manufacturers, service providers, research institutions and consultancies. The first two projects of the organization, which was formed in February, aim to develop a "threat taxonomy" and to define security requirements.
VOIPSA's efforts will be of particular interest to manufacturers of session border controllers, or SBCs, which will for a long time to come play a crucial role in defending VoIP networks from attack.
SBCs, which typically sit between the softswitches that control VoIP services and the public Internet, have a number of functions. One of the most important is firewall traversal. When a VoIP call has to go through a firewall, as most do, it can easily fail. Firewalls don't know how to deal with VoIP, which can involve as many as five separate data streams. SBCs know how to manuever both VoIP and video traffic through them.One way SBCs protect VoIP systems is by concealing the fact that the systems exist, a technique called topology hiding. In addition, SBCs prevent hackers from targeting specific softswitches or other devices. Without an SBC in front of it, a softswitch would have to have a publicly routable IP address, a sitting target for hackers.
The fledgling wireless VoIP industry is bracing for many more such service offerings. A recent study from Infonetics Research estimates that Wi-Fi VoIP handset revenue totaled $45 million in 2004 with 113,000 units shipped worldwide. Revenue and units are expected to grow sharply through 2009 as more enterprises deploy voice over wireless LANs (VoWLAN).
CELLULAR DISRUPTION
"Wi-Fi capability will eventually become a common feature in cell phones, just as it is becoming standard in laptops today, giving mobile operators a big opportunity with Wi-Fi voice," predicts Richard Webb, directing analyst for Infonetics and author of the report. He adds that wireless VoIP could end up being "a hugely disruptive technology."
Explains Webb: "The traditional model of time and distance-based pricing for voice calls will be eroded by VoIP, and as VoIP goes wireless, this will present a challenge not only to fixed-line operators, but to mobile operators as well."
Webb and other industry executives concede that a number of issues such as standards, QoS, seamless roaming across different platforms and signal range will have to be resolved before wireless VoIP can really take off. The wait might be surprisingly short. "But with vendors currently working towards standards to address these challenges, it is likely we will be at the foot of the adoption bell-curve by mid-2006," Webb says.
Some U.S. service providers aren't waiting that long.
US Wireless Online, which operates a large Internet wireless broadband network, launched a new VoIP service for the SMB market in Columbus, Ohio in March. The service is expected to roll out to customers in the company's 11-state service area that extends from Pennsylvania to Texas this year. "With business spending on VoIP expected to more than double to $10.9 billion in the U.S. by 2009, we believe our company is well-positioned to capture significant VoIP market share in our growing markets," explains Jai Bhagat, executive chairman of US Wireless Online.
Vonage's Holder believes wireless VoIP will attract a new set of small business customers to Vonage, lured by less expensive calling rates, increased convenience and VoIP's robust functionality that allows for better call management. "A lot of enterprises are talking about Wi-Fi, and the small and midsize business market will be able to get into it without the large capital expense," he says.
However, it is the enterprise user who seems most focused on wireless VoIP at the moment. Roger Sands, vice president of engineering for Colubris Networks, a Campbell, Calif-based WLAN system provider, counts more than 1,000 enterprise and service-provider customers worldwide including Swisscom, Telecom Italia, NTT-ME, Connexion by Boeing and McGill University in Montreal.
VERTICAL MARKETS
Sands says the company has about 400 U.S. customers, mostly in the retail, hospitality, healthcare and education verticals. "The enterprise is motivated by the performance increase they see in their workers, the productivity improvement and cost savings. We expect you are going to see this migrating horizontally within the enterprise service-provider market."
Such a horizontal move, involving more consumer-oriented applications, is still a few years away, he concedes. Still, as Wi-Fi and WiMAX standards emerge, hotspots become more commonplace and the need for seamless mobile voice becomes more prevalent, Sands and others foresee dual handsets emerging that combine wireless VoIP and traditional cellular capabilities. "This will augment cellular technology," Sands predicts.

 

 

By Al Senia

 

Now that VoIP technology has gained mainstream mind and market acceptance among many residential and business voice users, service providers and vendors are looking straight on to the next challenge: Wireless VoIP.
Combining the attractive features and pricing of VoIP with the convenience and portability of wireless seems like a natural to many industry adherents, who figure forthcoming Wi-Fi and WiMAX standards will help focus attention, interest and perhaps investment in the converged technology. They see Wi-Fi and then WiMAX-based portable phones supplementing--and perhaps years from now replacing--traditional wired and cellular technology as consumers and businesses opt for portability and, ultimately, true mobility.
However, for now and in the near future, wireless VoIP is taking root primarily in enterprise and small-business accounts as a convenient voice technology that offers limited portability in a campus-like setting. Nevertheless, a variety of vendors and service providers--including well-known technology "disrupters" like Vonage--is waiting in the wings with new product introductions.

By Amanda C. Kooser

 

VOIP IS BIG NEWS FOR growing businesses. The cost savings, convenience and features are well-known, but there are a few drawbacks that you should be aware of. The good news is that many of these issues can be dealt with through proper planning and implementation.
"The biggest downside is reliability. [VoIP] requires smart network design," says Robin Gareiss, principal research officer with Nemertes Research (www.nemertes.com), a New York City tech research firm. Gareiss has been studying VoIP and listening to business concerns as the technology becomes mainstream. Businesses must have power over Ethernet capabilities and a large enough UPS to handle the combined data and voice network. If the power goes out and you don't have a proper UPS, your phones can go down. Fortunately, you can save by investing in one large UPS rather than in two smaller ones for voice and data.
Another concern is the lack of 911 services from VoIP phones. This is a problem for employees using IP softphones from home or remote locations. "It's not as huge of an issue as it seems," Gareiss says.Yet another potential problem spot is not being included in the local phone book. An easy solution to this advertising issue is to hang on to a traditional phone line for backup purposes.
Concerns about call quality have dissipated. Gareiss says problems in this area are usually the result of poor implementation that can be avoided by setting up your VoIP network correctly in the first place.
VoIP spam is also beginning to rear its head, so watch for ways to deal with it proactively as they develop. All these issues are worth keeping an eye on. Smart planning and advances in the technology will help minimize the risk.

It's no understatement that the cable industry lacks a reputation for quality service delivery. To be fair, cable never really needed to be all that reliable when it was only offering entertainment television. Now, as cable moves into voice, reliability steps up 10 rungs in importance, and guaranteeing both a quality signal and reliable performance become paramount.
Consequently, Tollgrade Communications has a ready market for a product. The Cheetah CMD-E DOCSIS-compliant transponder uses a DOCSIS cable modem to gather real-time call quality metrics, identify problems, and provide comprehensive VoIP data to cable operators.
Tollgrade differentiates itself from other test equipment vendors by placing its product where it says it's needed most: in the network where cable operators are experiencing the most VoIP problems, all the way to the coaxial cable plant.
"From an HFC (hybrid fiber/coax) perspective, everything may appear to be looking great. You have the head end talking to the end points and everything in between might seem fine ... but you can be operating on the ragged edge and not really know if you are to the digital cliff unless you're doing a better job of monitoring and benchmarking," said Michael Harris, president and principal analyst for Kinetic Strategies. "It's almost weather forecasting, like HFC meteorology."
Greg Quiggle, Tollgrade's executive vice president of marketing, called the new product "the only economical way to be able to sample VoIP call quality without impacting the customer at that point in the network."
The product leverages DOCSIS-based test equipment that Tollgrade had been positioning in power supplies located in cable nodes serving 250 to 400 homes. The performance software operates through a cable modem mid-span in a cable HFC network, where it does test calls on a scheduled basis and feeds back call quality results based on established parameters.
The operator can "place VoIP calls, receive VoIP calls and for all established calls measure delay, loss, jitter and mean opinion score," Quiggle said. "Once the call is established, whether that system calls us or we call that system, or we're calling another transponder, we measure delay, loss, jitter and can calculate an MOS with each active call."

 

 

By: Diane Myers

 

Just as you wouldn't hire a fledgling firm to handle a high-end, family function flush with Kodak moments, neither would corporate America hand over its critical communications services to an unproven outsider.
But all that has changed dramatically with the last several years of telecom turmoil, a far tighter focus on cost reduction and avoidance, and the rapid rise of future IP-focused providers willing to spare users the pain of technology transitions.
As a result, the migration to hosted IP services is well underway, with VoIP largely responsible for the evolution of a market with sorely needed business brawn that offers more than just reduced communications costs.
With little exception, all businesses purchase some form of voice services. In this manner, VoIP represents not a new service but rather a replacement of an existing system. This is a key point in understanding not only the market potential but also the competitive landscape.
An early benefit of VoIP has been cost savings, and this remains a primary driver for VoIP adoption. If service providers are going to turn VoIP into a growth opportunity, it will require creating a migration path from trunking and integrated access solutions focused on cost savings toward feature rich platforms that provide a distinct advantage over current circuit-switched capabilities.
For most Tier 1/Tier 2 service providers, including RBOCs, IXCs and CLECs, VoIP services do not represent a new revenue stream but rather a replacement for circuit-switched local and/or long-distance voice. With the exception of service providers using VoIP to enter the voice market, and service providers serving enterprises (mostly SMEs via UNE-P), it is harder to justify the deployment of new services when a significant amount of resources have been used to deploy a circuit-switched architecture.
This represents a challenge for the industry to define and successfully market value-added VoIP applications for which customers are willing to pay. These applications might include worker mobility, wireless/wireline integration, unified messaging, number portability, collaboration and conferencing

WiredRed, a provider of enterprise-scale real-time communication software announced on Thursday (15 September) that it has launched its next generation software engine for PC desktop multipoint VoIP.
According to the company, the new next generation VoIP application-programming interface (API) is able to deliver the point-to-point communications available in consumer services, such as Skype, to commercial vendors.
The API interface offers scalable multipoint capabilities, security, and the ability to connect corporate and government users that are behind their own firewalls. In addition it also includes options for data collaboration and multipoint video.
The new audio components of the interface include features such as microphone set-up wizards, a suite of VoIP codec's, adaptive noise cancellation (ANC), acoustic echo cancellation (AEC) and voice activity detection (VAD), the company said. In addition the coder/decoder (codec) suite includes G.726, G.711 and a library of additional industry standard and proprietary codec's.

By Mike Hogan

 

VoIP's LACK of landline-class emergency services didn't seem that big a deal initially--tall phone-bill savings overshadowed the problem. Then a couple of Vonage (www.vonage.com) customers dialed 911 and didn't get an emergency response.
Within days, state attorneys general had filed consumer-protection lawsuits against Vonage, and Congress introduced new bills to tax VoIP. The FCC told internet phone companies to have landline-grade emergency services by November.
Most broadband phone companies already have 911 services of a sort. But unlike a traditional phone number, a VoIP phone number isn't tied to a street address, so customers have to register their locations. Some calls get routed through administrative offices instead of directly to emergency responders--often without location and callback numbers. That all needs fixing by November, warns the FCC.
"That shouldn't be a problem," says Brooke Schulz, Vonage senior vice president. "We were already close to getting access to the Bells' infrastructure." All four Bell Operating Companies have agreed to open their 911 systems to all VoIP providers.
That still won't automatically pinpoint businesspeople who use VoIP on the road, something that could be fixed by Enhanced 911, or E911, service. That is being slowly rolled out, region by region, and adopted by carriers to different degrees. For a $1.50 monthly surcharge, 8x8 (www.packet8.net) claims to provide coverage "which mirrors that of legacy landline phone service providers" in 43 states.
Covad (www.covad.com), SunRocket (www.sunrocket.com) and Zoom Technologies (www.zoom.com) have all expressed confidence they can meet the FCC's deadline. But service levels and features could vary for a while, warns Teresa Mastrangelo, principal analyst at Broadbandtrends.com. Remember, even with E911, you can't make any calls if you lose power. And no one has figured out how to find internet-only callers whose transmissions don't veer onto the traditional phone network
For the near term, scrutinize your VoIP provider's emergency coverage closely. And if you do dial 911, specify your location to emergency personnel--just to be on the safe side.

Blue Wireless & Data Inc (OTCBB:BWDI), a broadband service provider, announced on Wednesday (11 January) that it is now offering business and residential Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephony services.
The new VoIP services are being marketed by the company to its existing customer base.
The company said that it could also provide the service within 82 national markets outside of its own wireless broadband network.
According to Blue Wireless, the service is offered to residential customers as a home phone alternative and to business customers as a PBX replacement.

 

-

By Mike Hogan

 

GOOGLE'S NEW Google Talk isn't the best VoIP phone service; Skype is. It isn't the best IM service; that title goes to AOL Instant Messenger. Google Talk (www.google.com/talk) is likely to disappoint both high-volume VoIP and IM aficionados.
But casual users will find it a convenient blend of both mediums nicely integrated with Gmail, whose responsiveness and innovative message archiving make it an acceptable office e-mail system. Unlike AOL, MSN and Yahoo! web mail, Gmail is useful for something more than personal or backup messaging. What Google brings to the party is the successful integration of several hot-hot-hot communications technologies under one intuitive and sprightly interface.
Still, there's no way the first version of anything can be best of breed from a feature standpoint. Unlike the AOL (www.aol.com), MSN (www.msn.com) and Yahoo! (http://messenger.yahoo.com) IM programs, Google Talk can't send photos and videos or videoconference. It can't connect to landlines or encrypt messages like AOL Callways and Skype (www.skype.com). And each Google Talk competitor has added its own little gems over time, such as customized backgrounds, calendaring and online gaming.
So if you can temporarily live without skins and emoticons, the only challenge in Google Talk is getting buddies to join you. The major services have been largely successful at walling in their users. On the other hand, Skype signed up 54 million users in two years, and Google Talk sets up easily enough.
You have to sign up for Gmail first, though, and that requires a cell phone number. Supposedly, that's a way to verify your identity if you forget your password. But by the way, do you mind if Google keeps your number around so you can get alerts on "topics that interest you" and future, unspecified "Google Mobile services"? Translation: "Our text ads are perfect for a tiny phone display, and we've got big plans for those 1 billion-plus cell phone users."
That number will double by 2009, by which time no one will even remember that e-mail, IM, cell phones, VoIP and landlines were once separate. Google Talk isn't for everyone, but it's all most folks need for now.

 

By Mike Hogan

 

By Mike Hogan

 

THE MATH IS mind-boggling: Two years plus 200 million downloads of Skype's voice client equals 60 million registered users. Like Pre-Google search engines, PC-to-PC phone calling had been around for years, but was headed nowhere in particular before Skype (www.skype.com). Today, new features make Skype ready to handle your business calls--and much more.
Version 1.4 of Skype's tiny voice applet achieves better-than-landline call quality and adds free call forwarding--a critical feature for business callers, who make up a quarter of all Skype users. You don't have to be logged in to a computer anymore, either: Just have your incoming Skype calls ring on any three landlines or mobile phones simultaneously.
Of course, off-internet calls aren't free; you'll need a SkypeOut account. This calling card-like service lets you call anyone in North America, Australia or Europe for about 2 cents a minute, and most other countries for less than a quarter a minute.
The new Skype Groups lets you equip an entire office with phone service and manage all your workstations and call logs over the web using a single business account. For anyone uncomfortable with a $10 headset, new Skype phones like the $100 Linksys CIT200 (www.linksys. com) can deliver that old-fashioned telephone experience.
Skype also has new ways you can provide toll-free access to distant employees, customers and partners. For $35 a year, SkypeIn will give you a local phone number with free voice mail in any area code in the world. Add Skype's free links to your web pages or Outlook e-mail, and your Skype-equipped customers could be calling your sales or support lines with a mouse click. Up to four conferees can participate in voice or IM exchanges, transfer files or engage in extended chats. By the time you read this, Skype will have also added video-conferencing.
Skype is working with other developers to add these features to search engines and other software, and its merger with eBay could eventually bring another 225 million eBay and PayPal customers into its user base.
VoIP isn't just about cheap phone calls anymore. There's a whole new menu.
THE MATH IS mind-boggling: Two years plus 200 million downloads of Skype's voice client equals 60 million registered users. Like Pre-Google search engines, PC-to-PC phone calling had been around for years, but was headed nowhere in particular before Skype (www.skype.com). Today, new features make Skype ready to handle your business calls--and much more.
Version 1.4 of Skype's tiny voice applet achieves better-than-landline call quality and adds free call forwarding--a critical feature for business callers, who make up a quarter of all Skype users. You don't have to be logged in to a computer anymore, either: Just have your incoming Skype calls ring on any three landlines or mobile phones simultaneously.
Of course, off-internet calls aren't free; you'll need a SkypeOut account. This calling card-like service lets you call anyone in North America, Australia or Europe for about 2 cents a minute, and most other countries for less than a quarter a minute.
The new Skype Groups lets you equip an entire office with phone service and manage all your workstations and call logs over the web using a single business account. For anyone uncomfortable with a $10 headset, new Skype phones like the $100 Linksys CIT200 (www.linksys. com) can deliver that old-fashioned telephone experience.
Skype also has new ways you can provide toll-free access to distant employees, customers and partners. For $35 a year, SkypeIn will give you a local phone number with free voice mail in any area code in the world. Add Skype's free links to your web pages or Outlook e-mail, and your Skype-equipped customers could be calling your sales or support lines with a mouse click. Up to four conferees can participate in voice or IM exchanges, transfer files or engage in extended chats. By the time you read this, Skype will have also added video-conferencing.
Skype is working with other developers to add these features to search engines and other software, and its merger with eBay could eventually bring another 225 million eBay and PayPal customers into its user base.
VoIP isn't just about cheap phone calls anymore. There's a whole new menu.

By: Mike Hogan

 

RENT OR BUY: IT'S A FAMILIAR CALCULATION for businesses maximizing cash flow. lust as you might outsource Web site hosting or expensive programs, you can check out VoIP telephone systems before buying PBX hardware by signing up for IP Centrex.
It's not the same as the analog Centrex services the Bells and other large telecom companies offer small and midsize businesses. Like other all-digital systems, IP Centrex benefits from the cost-effectiveness of an Internet transmission backbone, the growing need of businesses for broadband data streams, and its ability to mingle voice and data.
IP Centrex preserves the advantages of older 'analog key systems--minimal upfront capital investment, with no cables to pull and no on-site telephone equipment to buy beyond desk sets. System management, security, upgrades and redeployment are headaches for your service provider, not you.
But IP Centrex differs from traditional analog services in its ability to deliver a broader array of mixed voice/data services more easily and cheaply. Call forwarding, caller ID, multicaller conferencing, four-digit dialing of free calls among branch offices and even key customers, and calls that follow you home aren't special requests with big price tags. They're part of the package. So is a universal inbox for voice mail and e-mail; integration with other applications, like sales force management and CRM; and simplified Web-based configuration of usage profiles by both the system administrator and users themselves
You get the greater features and no-hassle moves, adds and changes typical of all-digital VoIP services. You don't get the circuit-switched technology baggage, monopoly pricing and bureaucracy typical of the telephone system we all grew up with.
IP Centrex differs from consumer-oriented VoIP services (from companies like Vonage) in that service providers-such as BellSouth (wwvc.bellsouth.com), Covad Communications (www.covad. com), or VirtualPBX (www:virtualpbx. com)--have business-class packages with dedicated IP networks, VPN security, and service agreements that guarantee call quality and system uptime.

By:  Mike Hogan

 

IT SEEMS LIKE everybody's offering you internet phone service. But AOL's Callways (www.aol.com) offers more than just voice calls.
Though it was hurt by the switch to broadband, the communications giant still counts 22 million subscribers willing to pay at least $15 per month to get stuff most web travelers get for free. That's because AOL wraps e-mail, IM, chat rooms, blogs and message boards into one comfy interface with common inboxes, address books and buddy lists. There's one-click access to just about everything you can find through web portals--from search to domain hosting to shopping--and the tools needed to exploit them all. Adding VoIP was a no-brainer.
For $30 a month ($40 after six months), Callways combines unlimited local and long-distance calling in North America with AOL's dizzying menu of other services. Alternative pricing is available for current subscribers, and instead of a dumb Public Switched Telephone Network adapter for your phone, AOL has been giving away (during rollout, at least) a 54Mbps 802.11g Wi-Fi router from premier networking companies Netgear or Linksys. My subscription included Netgear's Wireless Router with Phone Adapter. It not only can be the cornerstone of your wireless network, but also has two ports for plain old telephone lines and is tuned for voice quality.
Callways itself has the usual VoIP features--voice mail, caller ID, call waiting, and call forwarding to home and cellular phones. Like most AOL services, it can travel on a laptop, PDA or cell phone, and you can retrieve both voice mail and e-mail from any touch-tone phone. AOL is also one of the few providers with Enhanced 911 emergency services in all its markets--a connection to emergency dispatchers comparable to landline 911.
Callways is incredibly easy to set up and use throughout. But its full menu comes with comparable computing overhead, and you've got ads--lots of ads. Of course, that's not a bad thing if you're an AOL advertiser tapping those 22 million users.
It's not for everyone, but Callways is a quick way for SOHO companies to get an all-in-one communications solution.

By :Amanda C. Kooser

I

t was only a matter of time before Wi-Fi and VoIP met up and joined forces in your business. They've come together in the form of Session Initiation Protocol phones. This very flexible protocol has become a top choice for VoIP applications. Chances are, if you have a VoIP setup, it already includes SIP protocols. Theoretically, you can plug any SIP-enabled VoIP phone into your SIP-based VoIP setup.
The newest of those phones is the Zultys (www. zultys.com) WIP2 wireless IP phone, a full-featured phone with voice encryption, paging and three-way conferencing. WIP2 includes everything you'd expect in a high-end VoIP phone, and it lets you prowl around the premises using the Wi-Fi capability. Pricing hadn't been set as of press time. Like the WIP2, ZyXEL's $230 (street) Prestige P-200W (http://us. zyxel.com) is 802.11b-compatible. There are a few small trade-offs, though. Expect your talk time to be limited to about four hours, and remember, you can only talk when you're within range of a Wi-Fi access point. In other Wi-Fi and VoIP news, Vonage (www.vonage. com) has tested a Wi-Fi handset that works with its service and should be available by the time you read this. Look for more Wi-Fi VoIP phones to hit the market as demand builds.

 

By: Mike Hogan

RENT OR BUY: IT'S A FAMILIAR CALCULATION for businesses maximizing cash flow. lust as you might outsource Web site hosting or expensive programs, you can check out VoIP telephone systems before buying PBX hardware by signing up for IP Centrex.

It's not the same as the analog Centrex services the Bells and other large telecom companies offer small and midsize businesses. Like other all-digital systems, IP Centrex benefits from the cost-effectiveness of an Internet transmission backbone, the growing need of businesses for broadband data streams, and its ability to mingle voice and data.

IP Centrex preserves the advantages of older 'analog key systems--minimal upfront capital investment, with no cables to pull and no on-site telephone equipment to buy beyond desk sets. System management, security, upgrades and redeployment are headaches for your service provider, not you.

But IP Centrex differs from traditional analog services in its ability to deliver a broader array of mixed voice/data services more easily and cheaply. Call forwarding, caller ID, multicaller conferencing, four-digit dialing of free calls among branch offices and even key customers, and calls that follow you home aren't special requests with big price tags. They're part of the package. So is a universal inbox for voice mail and e-mail; integration with other applications, like sales force management and CRM; and simplified Web-based configuration of usage profiles by both the system administrator and users themselves.

You get the greater features and no-hassle moves, adds and changes typical of all-digital VoIP services. You don't get the circuit-switched technology baggage, monopoly pricing and bureaucracy typical of the telephone system we all grew up with.

IP Centrex differs from consumer-oriented VoIP services (from companies like Vonage) in that service providers-such as BellSouth (wwvc.bellsouth.com), Covad Communications (www.covad. com), or VirtualPBX (www:virtualpbx. com)--have business-class packages with dedicated IP networks, VPN security, and service agreements that guarantee call quality and system uptime.

"We set up a private BellSouth network using Internet protocol, but with better security, predictability and performance," explains Mark Kaish, vice president of Next Generation Solutions for BellSouth in Atlanta. "Its carrier-class service isn't subject to the variability or other problems of the Internet at large." But IP Centrex will cost more than consumer-oriented Vole After a $150 setup fee, VirtualPBX charges $5 to $15 (per extension) per month, plus per-minute phone charges. As IP alternatives proliferate, competition will drag down everyone's prices. Long term you'll probably want the local control over your data and the quick network reconfiguration of an on-premise IP PBX. But for a fast-growing entrepreneurial company, IP Centrex could be a quick and easy solution to bringing VoIP phone service to one or more of your locations.