AT&T has developed a software trick that will let modern mobile handsets, including  the iPhone, recognize voice commands without the need for specialized voice recognition software.

AppleInsider has the news here along with a video.

It’s a five-pete! Or is it five-peat! Whatever the case, ShoreTell has been named Best Overall VoIP Provider in the Nemertes PilotHouse Awards for Unified Communications & Collaboration for the fifth time. The awards ranked 24 VoIP providers.

“We’re extremely pleased that Nemertes has provided an independent opportunity for our customers to express satisfaction with their ShoreTel UC systems,” said Steve Timmerman, vice president of marketing, ShoreTel. “We understand the business and communications challenges our customers face, and we will continue to create the systems that meet their most exacting demands for high reliability, ease of deployment and use, and features that provide them with a competitive edge. We are especially proud that we have earned the top spot in Nemertes’ evaluation for the fifth straight year.”

VoiceEngine and VideoEngine Software Development Kits are now available from Global IP Solutions. The kits are intended for application developers, IP PBX manufacturers and service providers.

“Maintaining reliability and quality continues to be the highest concern in the adoption of IP communications,” said Krithi Rao, research analyst, Frost & Sullivan. “GIPS SDKs will enable developers and service providers to achieve that objective while making it possible for them to add new features and functionalities essential to remaining competitive.”

GIPS officials say that the SDKs expand the offerings to new markets.

“The SDKs present customers and partners with a great opportunity to reach broad new market segments,” said Steve Rust, GIPS vice president business development. “The products are functionally rich and truly demonstrate the investment GIPS has made in the voice and video processing technologies. We are very excited to be able to provide our customers the ability to easily build their own high quality multimedia applications.”

According to the company:

Designed with ease of use in mind, the SDK API’s can handle difficult media processing and call control functions, making it an essential tool for both the experienced and inexperienced VoIP or video over IP application developer. By relying on GIPS’ IP communications expertise, customers accelerate their time-to-market while focusing on differentiating themselves in a competitive marketplace.

It’s good to be king . . .

An independent survey recently revealed 100 percent satisfaction with Global Crossing’s collaboration services — as in conferencing. The survey was conducted by KS&R, but was paid for by Global Crossing.

Eighty-five percent of respondents said that they were very likely to recommend the service to others.

“The latest survey results reflect our commitment to providing a superior customer experience and high level of account support that differentiates us from our competitors,” said Dan Wagner, executive vice president enterprise sales and collaboration services. “Now, especially as use of Global Crossing’s collaboration services around the world continues to accelerate, our award-winning collaboration services take the element of geography out of the business equation and allow companies to improve productivity, while reducing their travel costs and carbon footprints.”

Avistar Communications Corporation is going to be offering desktop videoconferencing through a partnership with City Information Services Limited.

“CityIS is a significant player in our strategy to deliver our C3 solutions through the reseller channel. CityIS has more than a decade of specialized experience in the videoconferencing space, and knows first-hand what its clients need to remain competitive in today’s challenging global marketplace. With offices around the world servicing global clients, CityIS offers a breadth and depth of channel coverage that will be instrumental in our goal of making Avistar desktop videoconferencing as ubiquitous as large room implementations,” said Darren Innes, General Manager of Worldwide Sales for Avistar.

The companies say that the product fills a much-needed area of the market as more and more companies seek ways to cut costs and travel less.