Fonality®, the leading provider of open-source phone systems, and BroadSoft Inc., the leading provider of VoIP application software, announced today that the two companies have certified their products to work together, enabling service providers to market and deploy Fonality to their small and medium-sized business (SMB) customers with confidence. BroadSoft®, which provides VoIP applications and SIP trunking to seven of the top 10 and 13 of the 25 largest carriers worldwide, has completed certification of Fonality trixbox® Pro and PBXtra® with BroadWorks®, BroadSoft’s industry-leading VoIP application platform for fixed-line and wireless service providers. BroadSoft has also joined the Fonality Authorized Certified Ecosystem (FACE).

BroadWorks offers a range of carrier-grade applications that includes hosted PBX, unified communications, mobile PBX, business trunking, and residential broadband. Fonality products include a family of open-source-based, hybrid-hosted IP PBX offerings tailored for SMBs. By certifying the products together, the companies offer service providers a complete line of hosted and premise-based unified communications offerings for customers of all sizes.

“By collaborating with Fonality, we’re giving service providers a way to go to market quickly with fully integrated, market-tested offerings for smaller companies,” said Leslie Ferry , Vice President of Marketing for BroadSoft. “Service providers can now take new products to their customers with the confidence that comes from knowing that both companies’ solutions will work together seamlessly.”

“BroadSoft is the dominant VoIP platform deployed by service providers and MSOs,” said Chris Vuillaume, Vice President of Business Development and Channels at Fonality. “Their certification is an important stamp of approval for Fonality products and expands our market opportunity to include Tier 1 and Tier 2 providers.”

Fonality business phone systems are designed for modern workplaces, accommodating companies that have a mix of office, mobile and home-based workers. Fonality solutions support both VoIP calling and traditional phone lines, allowing a smooth transition for businesses upgrading their calling services. Its patented, hybrid-hosted architecture allows employee identity to be maintained as they travel between work, home and hotels. Fonality products, when paired with the award-winning HUD® presence software, provide a unified view of Instant Messaging, e-mail and calling for all fixed and mobile workers.

Introducing a new Wholesale Billing module for its award-winning Cortex © middleware, VoIP Logic, one of the leading global providers of VoIP Managed Services and solutions announced that the service is available to all NextPoint customers who work with VoIP Logic and it expected this new system to be immediately in-demand as it delivers an easy-to-use, integrated NextPoint solution for wholesale billing.

With the introduction of this new billing, the service providers will be able to bill all aspects of their enterprise, Voice 2.0 or even wholesale VoIP offering as well as making provision and managing these services. Cortex acts as a single point of integration for all necessary components of a successful VoIP rollout.

In a comment, Micah Singer, VoIP Logic CEO and Founder said, "With the highly competitive nature of the telecommunications market, all wholesale service providers demand a reliable, cost-effective billing solution, and must monitor profitability and productivity." He continued, "Our Cortex Wholesale Billing is a truly value-added service that we are confident will not only strengthen our position as a leader in NextPoint technology distribution, but will also allow our customers to improve their gross margins in a thin-margin sector of the VoIP industry."

It should be recalled that earlier this summer, VoIP Logic announced an agreement with NextPoint under which it will provide direct sales and technical support to NextPoint customers globally. NextPoint’s MSX technology is the most commonly used VoIP Peering system in the world. The addition of Cortex Wholesale Billing allows NextPoint peering customers easy access to tracking and billing costs and profitability.

People no longer have absolute trust in using email because of fear of infiltration by spammers who are always ready to use any means to obtain sensitive information in order to swindle the innocent users. Their activity is now spreading to other means of internet communication and the VoIP is not an exemption.

Soon the trust people have in using VoIP will be compromised if urgent attention is not given to combating the alarming rate of VoIP spam. Imagine if 90% of all calls or voice-related messages were, well, spam. Would we even bother to pick up our ringing phones anymore? Just as Caller ID spoofing has become commonplace, it’s difficult to identify the validity of callers.

It’s important to realize that VoIP spam is easily possible with today’s technology already in place. Regular "trunk spam" can be generated using falsified Caller ID (as described above) over the PSTN, just as you or I could place prank calls with advertising for discounted medications, etc. You obviously could be running a 20-year-old key system and still be subject to PSTN spam.

Another vital factor is the type of spam that’s aimed at VoIP PBXes, gateways, and servers. Especially with the slow standardization of SIP as an IP-based signaling protocol, many organizations allow "direct" SIP URIs to be used from external sources, trusted or un-trusted. Although, this method of spamming is still rare, it’s only a matter of time before the malicious begin to utilize new vectors for propagation.

With the unquestionable focus towards unified messaging, converged infrastructures, and IP-based integration, we’ll undoubtedly be fighting new methods of security issues and, the earlier the VoIP service providers realize the urgency in combating this issue, the better.

The VoIP application manufacturer, Truphone has released the iPhone version of its application for iPhone users. With this new application, users of iPhone can now send text messages or make calls to anywhere in the world for a low fee. This application has been available for Nokia E and N series users since 2006 and it is good news for iPhone users for the service to be extended to them.

With this application, they will be able to call a landline as low as 6 cents per minute, and dialing a mobile phone costs 30 cents per minute. SMS text messaging costs 20 cents. Calling another Truphone user is free in certain countries, including the United States, U.K., China, Australia and large parts of Europe. However, to be able to enjoy these special offers; users need to be in a Wi-Fi spot located in the countries listed.

Another interesting feature is that calls can be made entirely over Wi-Fi and the Internet, bypassing the traditional GSM network operators. Some service providers however do not allow this, in April 2007, Vodafone and Orange blocked Truphone’s VoIP capability on its branded Nokia N95 handsets. In June 2007, T-Mobile in the U.K. followed suit, blocking calls from its customers to Truphone’s mobile numbers. But only a month later, a U.K. court forced T-mobile to stop their blockade.

Although, Truphone usage isn’t limited to Wi-Fi spots using the Nokia phones, it can also work over 3G. This is not possible with the iPhone.

A recent survey carried out in Europe revealed that European households are replacing the use of landline with either cell phones or VoIP; some even adopt both the mobile phones and VoIP internet telephony. The survey which was carried out in 27 countries involved 1000 households in each of the country bringing the total number of the households interviewed to 27,000.

Apparently, the result of the survey indicates that the use of cell phones and VoIP services as a major means of communication is becoming more popular in Europe and Europeans are increasingly taking advantage of the healthy competition in the Continent’s telecommunication industry. According to the report made available, about 24% of the households have jettison their fixed-landline subscription and opted for mobile phones. Notable countries with highest number of subscriptions are Finland which has about 61%, Portugal (48%), and "new Member States" in Eastern Europe (39%).

The VoIP internet telephony is also gaining more popularity, as 22% of households with internet connections now make some of their telephone calls online. This figure is especially high in Latvia (58%), Lithuania (51%), the Czech Republic (50%), Poland (49%), and Bulgaria (46%).  

With the trend of subscription rate, it is expected that more users will favor the use of these two in place of landline.