Source: www.voip-news.com
Skype has no plans of releasing an app for the Palm Pre. Sad. Read about it on The VoIP Weblog.
VoIP News of the UK says that Microsoft plans to compete for enterprise VoIP business with Skype.
Smith on VoIP says that DECT VoIP phones are growing in popularity.
Source: www.voip-news.com
VoIP is persona non grata in the new Microsoft Mobile Market store set to launch later this year. So are applications that will change the default browser on a Windows-based mobile phone. … but that’s not all.
According to PC World:
Among the list of prohibited applications is VoIP services that run over an operator’s network. That’s a common item on such lists because operators fear that the services will displace their own voice offerings, which bring in the bulk of their revenue. Developers presumably will be able to offer VoIP applications that use Wi-Fi, though.
Also forbidden are programs that allow people to shop at competing application stores, or that change a phone’s default browser, search client or media player. Developers will also be unable to build programs that change the default phone dialer, short message service or multimedia messaging service interface. That could help ensure that standards for services like MMS are upheld.
Seems like a lot of rein-holding to me. And if there is one thing that we all know, it’s that the tighter you hold the reins, the less control you have.
Source: www.voip-news.com
There is a new solution aimed at giving Microsoft SharePoint Server users the ability to get the most of our the server’s rich media offerings. ControlPoint for Multimedia from Autonomy Corporation analyzes and retrieves rich media content from MOSS.
“Rich media has become a critical information resource for the enterprise,” said Mike Lynch, CEO of Autonomy. “With Autonomy’s ControlPoint for Multimedia, organizations can rein-in control of MOSS’ rich media content and comply with eDiscovery regulations using automated, advanced analytics while at the same time avoiding the costly and protracted labor of adding metatags. By enabling full multimedia search and analysis for unified messaging, information management and eDiscovery, Autonomy enables organizations to transform the Microsoft system into a multimedia content management system.”
According to the company:
Autonomy ControlPoint for Multimedia is compatible with rich media formats, such as those used in broadcast, video conferencing, VOIP, CCTV, and customer service interactions. Using Autonomy’s patented speaker independent technology, Autonomy ControlPoint for Multimedia enables live or recorded speech to be processed, edited, searched, and hyperlinked as freely as text. Users have the ability to combine conceptual ideas and search phrases with metadata such as date, speaker, inbound/outbound, duration and emotion to quickly cull the most likely content for further processing. A wide range of visualization tools help users categorize files and discern the range of subjects covered by rich media files. Autonomy ControlPoint for Multimedia recognizes speakers in rich media files, thus empowering users to quickly contextualize the relevancy and the importance of the files.
Source: www.voip-news.com
Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Release 2 can now have access to Global Crossing’s SIP Trunking solutions. Global Crossings is among the first SIP Trunking providers to qualify for use with the server.
“By extending Global Crossing’s SIP Trunking offering to Microsoft’s unified communications systems, we are helping expedite the adoption of VoIP services for global enterprise customers,” said Dave Carey, chief marketing officer with Global Crossing. “Our Global IP solutions help exceed our clients’ need for cost-effective and efficient communications tools for the 21st century.”
According to Global Crossing:
SIP Trunking is the de facto interconnection standard for VoIP calling applications, serving as an alternative to circuit-based fixed lines on the public switched telephone network (PSTN). SIP Trunking can offer enterprise customers significant cost-savings from the elimination of gateways, costly ISDN facilities, and the maximization of bandwidth utilization in a converged IP environment.
“The combination of Office Communications Server 2007 Release 2 and Global Crossing’s suite of SIP Trunking solutions provide a powerful new way for people to collaborate and offers customers a rich and integrated communications experience,” said Eric Swift, senior director of the Microsoft Unified Communications Group at Microsoft Corp. “Global Crossing is adding significant value to enterprise communications and enabling businesses to better connect people, information and business processes.”
Source: www.voip-news.com
VoIPshield Laboratories says that there are some serious security vulnerabilities in VoIP and Unified Communications (UC) systems that affect applications using media stream protocols like RTP (Real-time Transport Protocol). Among the impacted products are Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007, Office Communicator and Windows Live Messenger.
“Most of the attention in enterprise VoIP/UC security has been paid to the control channel, where SIP and other signaling protocols are used,” said Ken Kousky, CEO of CISSP certification training company IP3 Inc. and adviser to the VoIP Lab at Illinois Institute of Technology. “Until now, the media stream has been largely ignored by the security community as a source of malicious activity. But attacks from these vectors have the potential to be dangerously persistent and widespread.”
If exploited, the vulnerabilities if exploited would cause a Denial of Service (DoS) condition against the entire desktop environment.
“Today’s announcements are just the tip of the iceberg,” said Andriy Markov, director of VoIPshield Labs. “Although they are specific to Microsoft’s applications, similar flaws exist in other VoIP vendors’ products. And many other media stream attacks exist that have more severe implications than service availability. We’re presently validating new research that shows an attacker can gain unauthorized access to an unsuspecting user’s laptop by manipulating the packets of a VoIP phone call. We believe that these attacks can even be made to traverse a PSTN gateway.”
According to VoIPshield:
Effective immediately, customers of VoIPshield’s VoIPguard(TM) VoIP/UC Intrusion Prevention System can download the new signatures using the VoIPshield Update(TM) subscription service. VoIPguard contains over 500 VoIP/UC specific signatures to detect and prevent malicious signalling and media traffic.
Source: www.voip-news.com
It’s not really new news at this point, but Microsoft has chosen Telefornica to deliver VoIP over their Live Messenger program. Of course, reports say that despite the recent announcement, that was deployed much earlier in the month.
Silly Microsoft.
And really, the idea of adding VoIP to a messenger program is nothing new. Several other programs have long had that feature.
But according to the New York Times:
With the service, people using Windows Live Messenger can make calls directly from PCs to fixed or mobile phones anywhere in the world, according to Telefonica.
Voype, which competes with eBay’s Skype VOIP service, offers free PC-to-PC calls between Windows Live Messenger users. Calls to phones in the U.S., either fixed or mobile, cost US$.014 per minute, while both fixed and mobile calls to Canada cost $0.055 per minute. Calls to fixed lines in Mexico cost $0.104 per minute, while calls to mobile phones cost $0.277 per minute.
So, what’s with the Voype name anyway?
Source: www.voip-news.com
Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Release 2 has been released by Microsoft.
“Office Communications Server 2007 R2, debuting just one year after the Microsoft unified communications launch, highlights the pace of innovation that is possible with software,” said Stephen Elop, president of the Microsoft Business Division at Microsoft. “This new release puts Microsoft on a rapid path to deliver voice software that does much more than a network private branch exchange (PBX) and with much less cost.”
According to Microsoft:
Since the solution became available in 2007, businesses have begun migrating their workers off their PBXs to Office Communications Server for all their telephony needs. Customers such as Royal Dutch Shell plc are already taking a load off their PBXs by using Office Communications Server and Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 for mobile and remote workers in place of PBX phones to provide global employees with innovative communications solutions to quickly and efficiently reach their colleagues and help reduce operational costs.
Source: gigaom.com
Microsoft today unveiled its next-generation Communications Server product that will allow users to replace their existing phone systems with Microsoft’s software. It’s about time Redmond pushed its VoIP offering further. The product, which goes on sale in February 2009, replaces a PBX system with Microsoft’s VoIP software on a server, allowing employees to make calls to any phone number, to make calls from within Microsoft documents and adding audio conferencing.
The VoIP functionality and integration with Microsoft’s SharePoint product is Microsoft’s answer to the challenge Cisco is offering in the unified communications space. It has some nice features, especially the ability to use presence awareness, VoIP and IM on select mobile phones.
It’s funny how the more things change, the more things stay the same: I recall back in 1999 writing about unified communications, which at that time meant a one-stop online shop for emails, voicemails and faxes, with nothing real time about it. Today, we have the ability to connect with people in real-time via IM or VoIP while simultaneously sharing online documents, butwe’re still looking for that one-stop repository for all of our communications.
Microsoft aims to make its programs that one stop, by tying this next generation Communications Server to its SharePoint software. It allows users to see presence and call while within Microsoft programs, meaning employees don’t have to go to a separate presence application to talk or IM about a spreadsheet or Word document. That makes Office the one-stop shop for all communications, including those in real-time.
Cisco is taking a different tack, judging from its recent acquisitions and its CEO’s comments about the opportunity. It plans to create a separate layer of communications services such as IM and VoIP that will sit in the network and work across a variety of applications. If it can be a well-integrated, neutral vendor, it could blow Microsoft out of the water.
Source: www.voip-news.com
Response Point customers can now take advantage of a strategic alliance between Response Point-manufacturer Microsoft and Bandwidth.com. Bandwidth offers SIP-based phone lines.
“Bandwidth.com’s advanced network capabilities and ubiquitous U.S. coverage will greatly expand the IP service options available to Response Point customers,” said Xuedong Huang, general manager of Microsoft Response Point. “Bandwidth.com’s exceptional quality standards, focus on small businesses and ability to deliver a complete IP-based solution will benefit our Response Point customers from coast to coast.”
The companies plan to layout more details at the SMB Nation 2008 conference in Seattle that begins on Oct. 3.
“Bandwidth.com plans a nationwide roll out to train Microsoft’s small-business specialists, On-Line retailers and other value added Microsoft resellers on the simplicity of connecting Response Point to Bandwidth’s bundled voice service portfolio this fall,” said Jeff Uphues, VP of Sales, Partner Services of Bandwidth.com.
Source: www.voip-news.com
The new Packet8/Microsoft Response Point small business phone solution was awarded Best In Show at Technology Marketing Corporation’s INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference and EXPO West 2008, for Best SMB Solution.
To read more about the solution, click here.
“The presence of outstanding companies like 8×8, Inc. with their award winning solutions help to validate ITEXPO’s status as the leading forum for the VoIP and IP communications industry,” said TMC President and Conference Chairman, Rich Tehrani. “Service providers, enterprise buyers, developers, and resellers come to ITEXPO, because they know they’ll find solutions, from innovative companies like 8×8 that can help their businesses today.”
Source: www.voip-news.com
From TMC:
NetIQ Corporation, an Attachmate business, has introduced a comprehensive Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) lifecycle management forMicrosoft ( News – Alert) Office Communications Server 2007. With this module, NetIQ now provides event monitoring, service performance and availability reporting for all VoIP platforms.
Thoughts on this?
Makes me wonder if Microsoft will move to create it’s own lifecycle management tool for VoIP. Or even launch a VoIP application for the Office suite.
Source: www.voip-news.com
The 2008 Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference is being held in Houston, Texas, from July 7 to 10. Among the participants will be AltiGen(R) Communications, Inc.
“Our partnership with Microsoft is key to our mission to improve our customers’ businesses by delivering world class integrated IP business communications solutions that are feature rich, easy to use and affordable,” said Mike Plumer, AltiGen’s vice president of sales. “AltiGen and Microsoft Unified Communications applications are complementary: Microsoft offers IM, presence, and video/voice conferencing; AltiGen offers voice, call center technologies, audio conferencing, and VoIP telephones. We continue to expand our offerings and plan to introduce our new Max Communications Server at the conference.”
