Source: andyabramson.blogs.com

h.323, which I picked on recently, saying that it’s not what SIP is has been found buggy again. Face it, h.323 is an old technology which has been eclipsed by a much more robust and capable protocol, SIP (session initiation protocol).

Many of the older VoIP companies out there are still using h.323. Some are using protocol mediators to support the IETF’s Interworking Function allowing the translation from h.323 to SIP, but it seems the older flavor of IP Telephony has some bugs which can allow a network to be compromised.

Don’t you think it’s time for the network operators to switch? What I find interesting is the timing and how close it came to Level3’s flurry of announcements. No company is posied better to gain from the switch from h.323 to SIP nor in a better position to stir up the pot by depositioning older technology when their sales force is about to go great guns to get new business.

Source: andyabramson.blogs.com

Manufacturers of routers and gateways like D-Link have for over two years ago talked about integrating VoIP capability with their Ethernet routers, with the goal of keeping people more connected and providing one less interface in the chain.

Last week at CES I saw the Motorola box that Vonage is now peddling, replacing the Cisco ATA-186. Now Zoom has brought forward a device to do the same thing designed primarily to work with DSL lines.

The reasoning is quite simple. More carriers will be out there who want to go after the early adopters. While the big USA telcos go after the customers they already have and work to get them to switch, the new upstarts will go after the bigger, more lucrative offshore market. For companies like D-Link, Zoom and Motorola the deep well is not here in the USA, it’s outside the country. Like the days of the gold rush and oil boom, sometimes there’s money to be made selling picks and shovels, or in this case routers and cables.

Stay connected,

Andy Abramson

Source: andyabramson.blogs.com

I’m always keen to what Level3 is up to. Now they are terminating VoIP calls internationally. At the same time, once left for dead Global Crossing have announced a deal to make PSTN to IP telephony calls work more easily within their network.

Both of these carriers have lots of bandwidth, numerous POPs and customers. It will be interesting to see if a reconstituted carrier like Global Crossing, which is using a buy versus build strategy when it comes to technology can compete again with Level3 as they did during the dot.com heydeys.

Source: andyabramson.blogs.com

Intel Inside. Now Vonage Inside. Today Vonage announced a deal with Texas Instruments to bring Vonage to the chip level.

This announcement means that you can eliminate the ATA made by Cisco or Motorola and skip the need for a router.

Much like Intel’s efforts to put Wi-Fi in laptops and soon desktops using Centrino technology, TI and Vonage clearly want to make VoIP available to every buyer of new PC’s. Once this happens, VoIP enabled or Vonage enabled will become very meaningful. But there is a hitch.

By going to the sub-system level Vonage has effectively bypassed the hardware brands (i.e. Dell, Gateway, HP, etc.) If I’m CEO of those company’s who are seeing their margins depleted and cost structures changing, as the ferryman of technology, I would want my piece of the action or what reason is there to promote on box, in ads or on screen that the PC is VoIP enabled.

Stay connected,

Andy Abramson

Source: andyabramson.blogs.com

Well, you could have seen this coming. The Justice Department and the FBI are now moving aggressively on the ability to tap VoIP calls.

While some will consider this an invasion of privacy, it is all about Homeland Security and criminal investigation. Basically, the average person, who is not breaking any laws has nothing to worry about.

Source: andyabramson.blogs.com

I’ve been playing around the last week with Skype, the free P2P VoIP service from the people who brought KaZaA to the Internet. While it is not nearly as good in sound quality as Vonage or iConnectHere has proven to be, it is Free.

As a result, I tend to look at Skype at this time as simply another voice chat program similarly to what is available inside the leading Instant Messaging tools. In some cases, it’s not as good, yet. Until there is QoS built in at the P2P level, Skype really is only geared for people who won’t or can’t pay for phone service. When I compare it to Free World Dial Up or SipPhone it’s not nearly as clear in call quality. But somehow, I expect that to change for the better as Skype rolls out some premium (i.e. pay for) services.

But as an adult who can afford to pay for things, it sometimes clouds the understanding of the vision. Taking the blinders off means that I also expect that Skype will take/has taken a major roll in college "on campus" communications. Just like P2P download tools allowed the students to get free music, for a college kid on an allowance or working for minimum wage, being able to save money on a monthly cell phone bill will start to hit the wireless companies on the balance sheets. Within a college network, there is little server switching or jitter. Latency is reduced and bandwidth is pretty constant. Why else would the Telco managers of major colleges be looking at VoIP as a PSTN replacement? If their network will be good enough for Enterprise grade VoIP, it has to be good enough for Skype.

With Skype and a WiFi card and a headset, being on campus, in a broadband enabled dorm room or even in a student activities center that has been turned into a hotspot means the students can communicate without having to pay for minutes or SMS’. As more powerful PDA’s come on line with 802.11b capability, and as a Skype client reaches that level it will really change things.

So, while the wireless companies are busy trying to get customers to switch, Skype may just be where some of the minutes and money gets switched to.

That said, it is a cool application and one that allows people to stay connected….

I’m off to Las Vegas…

Andy Abramson

If you want to learn more about Skype, read the Business Week article.

Source: andyabramson.blogs.com

We’re starting to see more stories about WiMax, a wider area wireless data network that is beginning to to take hold. Does this mean that wireless voice carriers (i.e. cellular companies) are going to have to rethink their strategies?

With VoIP being SIP enabled, the prospect of VoIP over WiMax means a PDA can be IP voice enabled and connected. With free on net calling like Free World Dial Up and SipPhone, Firefly and SKYPE all already established, people will be able to make quality calls at no cost. With low cost PSTN termintation at prices like 2.9 cents in the USA all of a sudden the price of $99.00 for 3000 minutes is not big bargain on a cell any more. Get ready for the price wars in 2005-2006.

But what about Cricket, the small market carrier? Doesn’t WiMax really put a crimp on their type of market, because they are local…..only? Without any contiguous markets, Cricket (previously known as Leap Wireless) may really need to rethink their business, not just their recovery efforts.

Stay connected,

Andy Abramson

Source: andyabramson.blogs.com

It looks like Vonage is heading to Ireland and the UK. One of the hurdles they’ll run into in the UK is Ofcom, the UK’s version of the FCC.

Their efforts to expand are a natural progression. I know of a few ex-pat’s who are using Vonage already in places like Australia, Israel and in Bermuda. The idea of USA numbers in foriegn lands is only one part of the play. The ex-pats use the phone to convey they are still around. For their kids it means staying local with their friends, so when they return home for summer vacations they have not been out of touch. More importantly, it eliminates the cost of long distance, international calling.

During my trip to Paris and London in November, 2003 I took my Vonage ATA along and used it without fail from my broadband enabled hotel rooms. For colleagues and friends it was like I never left the USA.

Stay connected,

Andy Abramson

Source: andyabramson.blogs.com

Well, for starters, the headline’s wrong in the January 5th New York Times story about Voice over IP.

So, while the rest of the article presents some facts, it seems the big issue, and maybe the only issue that anyone comes up with as a reason not to go VoIP is 911 service. Funny, no one complains about that problem when it comes to the wireless cell phone market where.

The big reason why you’re not hearing to many negative comments from carriers is they all know it’s their salvation. That’s why the only business issue they raise when it comes to companies like Vonage, Packet8 or Voice Pulse tends to be about termination charges.

When the big guys aren’t fighting the inevitable, you know they are all getting ready to head in that direction.

Stay connected,

Andy Abramson

Source: andyabramson.blogs.com

Cisco loves to play Monopoly. So while the Justice Department a few years back was going after Microsoft, I regularly said on the KenRadio World Technology RoundUp that the company Janet Reno and her team should have been studying and investigating was Cisco.

The more I see, the more I read, and the more I hear, Cisco is a true monopoly player. Ask companies that ever competed head to head about the way they operate. How they do swarm sales tactics. How they use the sales channel mix to cultivate leads. Cisco, when it comes to sales has a “take no prisoners” approach. Honestly, I admire a company that knows how to win. Cisco uses their might, size and checkbook to compete and usually wins, not with the best of class technology all the time either. What they do best is out sell and market better, and thus gain market share. Gee, isn’t that what Microsoft does too?

Now, after working their way through the telecom slow down, Cisco has shown they used that period of limited spending by the carriers to think what the market will be wanting, when money starts flowing. Much of what Cisco is banking on has more to do with their MPLS (Muti-Protocol Label Switching) based technology and the future surrounding IPv6.

Cisco is starting to show their cards, and their colors. Watch for their efforts in acquisitions to take hold in 2004.

Stay Connected,

Andy Abramson

Source: andyabramson.blogs.com

VoIP uber Evangelist, Jeff Pulver in his personal blog explained that Marketing will be the key effort that the carriers will need to put behind their efforts to convert customers to Voice over IP.

Give Pulver credit for taking on the cause. His FreeWorldDialup which enables free calls to other FWD subscribers and as a promotion, free calls to traditional land lines hs been red hot lately with nothing more than a word of mouse promotional effort. No individual has done more ever to promote Voice over IP and if anyone gets what’s important to make the technology thrive, it’s Pulver.

But, while Pulver emphasizes the carriers will need to market to acquire and retain customers, to go one step further, another point that is so important. It’s QoS. As Pulver rightfully brings out the need for applications and services, which really is where the money will be made, but without major attention on Quality of Service, these services when delivered to customers who are not techies—as. techies always allow for bugs, crashes and are willing to be paying beta testers, the general business customer and consumers will not tolerate rebuffering, latency, jitter found currently with VoIP. So while free and cheap is good, quality is better.

Stay connected,

Andy Abramson

Source: andyabramson.blogs.com

Dennis Berman in the December 29th Wall Street Journal (subscription required) explains that the current VoIP offering from the USA based legacy carriers is really not much more than hype, as all the carriers are offering is dial tone and basic services over IP vs analog.

Berman accurately points out that the carriers have only one weapon in their arsenal to compete with right now: Price. He clearly recognizes the missing link: Applications.

First off, the Application Server market over the past few years has focused more on being a Softswitch replacement by providing functions when connected to a IP media gateway. These application servers mimic what the Softswitch is designed to do in part, but don’t do everything (yet). Given the leading companies efforts to do this, there was little energy or money devoted to applications despite the clearly recognized need.

Companies like Webley have actually taken the time to develop their own Application Server and applications. While working on the PSTN platform today in standard fashion, when Webley unleashes their IP platform, which is all SIP based, it will be the first new carrier to offer end users more than just PSTN services and Unified Messaging.

IP super-carrier Level3 (Ticker: LVLT) has taken the old Genuity platform, and combined it with their own in house Softswitch technology and the July, 2003 Telverse acquisition to offer protocol mediation, similar to the MediaRing VoizBridge that meets the International carrier’s demand for the very important H.323 to SIP Interworking function . Level3’s (3)Tone and (3)VoIP Marketplace are resold to carriers or directly to enterprise customers.

It’s getting there, but you wouldn’t know it by reading the Wall Street Journal Portals today. But then, that’s why you are here.

Stay connected,

Andy Abramson