Source: www.voip-news.com

How can you bridge the divide between traditional telecommunications and VoIP? That’s a secret that Sonus Networks say they know and are going to share at NXTcomm 2008 in Las Vegas from June 17-18. The company will be explaining how operators can launch a revolutionary solution to redefine telecommunications.

“Sonus has been focused on the future of voice for over ten years,” said Hassan Ahmed, chairman and CEO at Sonus Networks. “Now, our vision is being realized as operators across the globe are rolling out IP-based networks to deliver the next generation of voice services. NXTcomm08 validates the idea that subscribers are ready for new multimedia services. Sonus is uniquely positioned to provide those services with our end-to-end, IP-based infrastructure solutions.”

According to the company:

Sonus will showcase its vision of the future at booth SU9208 with live demonstrations of solutions and applications that depict the experience in each crucial element of the network including:

– Residential and Business Services: Sonus solutions open up a new world
of IP-voice opportunities beyond the traditional network edge to
business and residential customers. At NXTcomm, Sonus will demonstrate
how it’s Voice over Broadband (VoBB) solutions can deliver IP
voice/multimedia over copper, cable, DSL and WiMAX.
– Connectivity: Sonus will demonstrate how it’s changing the way networks
connect, by reaching out to the past with PSTN interconnectivity and
looking forward to the future with centralized call routing, number
portability solutions, international gateways and more.
– Security: The Sonus Network Border Switch is the evolution of border
security. See how Sonus’ unique solution combines softswitch
functionality with advanced session border control features for a
low-cost, high-security solution to secure peering.

Source: snapvoip.blogspot.com

Solarion: IBM helps to build state-of-the-art data center for Telecom Egypt that includes the world’s most sophisticated energy-efficient "green" technologies.

Source: andyabramson.blogs.com

I was approached at eComm by a new telecom blogger yesterday and wanted to welcome him to the open world of blogging. He’s never hit my radar before, but new players are always a good thing. If anything we need more bloggers to replace some who have seen to move in new directions in life.

Welcome to the show, BellHead.

Source: snapvoip.blogspot.com

State-owned telecom firm Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL), which has been valued at over $100 billion, is considering an IPO to dilute up to 10 per cent of its equity to fund expansion plans. BSNL plans to raise about $10 billion through its initial public offer, which is expected to come out in a year’s time. "Up to 10 per cent dilution will be made that will raise about $10 billion," said S.D. Saxena, Director of Finance, BSNL.
The market valuation of the telecom giant is about $100 billion, he added. Talking about the size of the IPO, Saxena said, "$10 billion can be a good size to test the market that will set the benchmark for going global." The IPO will take a year’s time and the process will be initiated in 2-3 month’s time. "The government will take the final call as this is a state-owned company," Saxena said.
tag: VoIP business, Telecom, BSNL, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd, BSNL IPO,

Source: www.voip-news.com

Alcatel-Lucent announced today that Brasil Telecom has chosen Alcatel’s IP/MPLS solution to serve as the foundation for what will be the first converged, nationwide network in Brasil.  By using Alcatel-Lucent’s solution, Brasil Telecom will be able to offer their customers “both fixed and mobile residential broadband, as well as business VPN services from a single platform, resulting in improved operational simplicity, flexibility and lower costs. This multi-million Euro contract solidifies Alcatel-Lucent as the number one IP edge provider in Brazil for fixed carriers.”  Brasil Telecom is certainly in good company, joining the ranks of nearly 200 other service providers in a whopping 65 countries that have chosen to work with Alcatel-Lucent and their available solutions and services.

“Brasil Telecom has a very large subscriber base therefore we need to deploy field-proven, scalable and highly reliable technology for our IP transformation” said Dante Nardelli, technical planning and technology director of Brasil Telecom, in a recent press release. “Placing our complete services portfolio over a single, flexible Alcatel-Lucent infrastructure allows us to reduce network complexity and increase revenues by offering value added services to our customers.Alcatel-Lucent also gives us the foundation for triple play services in the future, which is important as we continue to evolve our network.”

“The Brazilian telecom market is enjoying a period of outstanding growth, led by mobile telephony and broadband, and Brasil Telecom now has the infrastructure in place to take advantage of this opportunity” said Cindy Christy, President of Alcatel-Lucent’s Americas’ business. “This deal confirms our long-standing partnership with Brasil Telecom and reinforces Alcatel-Lucent’s position as a strong and competitive IP network provider for all fixed Brazilian carriers.”

Source: www.voip-news.com

The stats are in, and the team at Gartner is reporting that a whopping 80% of telecom carriers will fail against the likes of Apple, Google and Nokia, companies that have a better grasp of the consumer market.  Gartner pointed out that telecom carriers consistently rely on pricing cuts and various promotions, in an effort to compete with a crowded marketplace.  However these days, that’s just not enough.  As Gartner said at their recent Symposium/ITxpo, in order to stay the course, traditional telecom carriers will have to transform themselves.“The players that will be among the successful 20 per cent will be the ones that provide a consumer-centric experience, for example through interactive TV, where users will be able to chat online while watching their favourite TV programmes,” said Martin Gutberlet, research vice-president, in a recent press release.  “As demonstrated by Apple and Google, three new attributes are coming into play and driving change in the marketplace that the traditional telecom players must embrace to become successful content enablers, which create and/or deliver content. They are trust, usability and an exciting customer experience,” continued Mr Gutberlet. “If customers trust your services, they are willing to grant you access to their personal life. Ultimately, improving the customer experience will increase customer loyalty.”According to Gartner’s recent research, there are three distinct business models that will enable carriers to remain competitive for the next few years.  They are:

1. Content Innovator – Entering the Media Market: Embracing this model,  content innovators produce and own their content and will use exclusive content to differentiate themselves. For example, France Telecom is investing in film production while SK Telecom acquired a record label. The risk of this model is a temptation to focus purely on content ownership at the expense of providing customer experience.2. Aggregator:  Unlike the content innovator model, the aggregator model will not involve the creation of content, rather the sourcing and packaging of it. Carriers that adopt this model realise that much future content will come from the internet. Their aim will be to make it as accessible as possible, given the constraints of networks and devices, especially mobile phones. Aggregators will engage in content location, rendering, billing, advertising insertion and customer care and, as such, will have the opportunity to offer comprehensive bundled packages. Examples include T Mobile’s collaboration with Google for mobile search and Hutchinson’s Xseries which embraces internet services such as Skype and eBay.Gartner advises that a partnership or joint venture approach offers the best balance between risk and opportunity for carriers. They would have to establish themselves by teaming with content owners, producers, developers, distributors and media buyers.  BT is a good example of a traditional carrier that successfully understands and leverages wider media offerings. 3. Bit Pipe Carrier: This represents a stable business model based purely on connectivity as a utility but with both lower revenue and lower margins than today. Rather than emphasising content and services, the bit pipe model is driven by operational excellence. In order to maintain profits amidst declining revenues, carriers that adopt a bit pipe approach are expected to reduce their core operational staff by at least 20 per cent by 2012, driven by internet protocol (IP) technology, infrastructure consolidation, process automation, operational outsourcing and cutthroat competition. “The risk of this model is making the wrong network investment decision,” Mr Gutberlet said.He added, “We envisage that carriers will use any combination of the three business models. A company that has successfully deployed this approach is Telefonica, which was once a content innovator and following its sale of Endemol became an aggregator and a bit pipe carrier.”“The telecom industry in 2012 will be very different from the one we know today. Developing strong partnership skills, focusing on customer user groups, embracing internet services and starting to talk the language of Web 2.0 will enable the carriers to thrive well into the future,” concluded Mr Gutberlet.

Source: snapvoip.blogspot.com

If you played around with Asterisk, then you know her voice. Even if you have not come near an Asterisk server, you may still have heard her voice, I have, So if you are curious about this voice behind many interactive applications, head over to Ronald Lewis’ Pod Cast. You will be able to hear her.
Thank you Allison, thank you Lewis.

Links
Ronald Lewis podcast of Allison Smith interview
Interviews Podcast: Interview with Allison Smith, North America’s Leading Voice Over Artist

Source: snapvoip.blogspot.com

BUSINESS WIRE News article reports that Sprint has today announced the launch of Sprint Wireless Integration, a product that extends customers’ premises-based PBX features and functionality to their mobile phones. The solution offers business customers additional value and new capabilities by integrating Avaya “Extension to Cellular” capabilities and new Sprint network advancements.

Sprint Wireless Integration features include providing users with one phone number that simultaneously rings both the desk phone and mobile phone, along with one converged enterprise voicemail inbox. It also extends PBX features like conferencing and call forwarding to the mobile phone so users can get all the functionality of their desk phone even while away from the office. For example, mobile users can make intra-company calls by simply dialing the four-digit extension of the person they want to reach, just as they would from the office desk phone – with no access numbers to dial or codes to enter first.

Built within Sprint’s IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) architecture, Sprint Wireless Integration is the industry’s first "hosted mobility" solution. “By converging wireline and wireless functionality, Sprint Wireless Integration provides a better overall service – one that is more functional and also makes communication more simple and effective,” said Tony Krueck, vice president of product management and development, Sprint. “This solution is a great example of the promise of Fixed/Mobile Convergence.”

Sprint Wireless Integration provides:

Features

* One phone number with simultaneous ring to both the desk phone and mobile phone (using the existing desk phone number)
* One voicemail inbox using the enterprise voicemail platform
* Abbreviated (e.g., four-digit) intra-company dialing from the mobile phone
* Class-of-service extended to mobile calls for better control
* Mobile call tracking/logging by the telecom manager using the PBX

Savings

* Outbound mobile calls routed through the enterprise PBX are “on-net” and included in the monthly service fee. (Inbound calls to the mobile phone do incur minutes.)
* Mobile-to-international calls are billed as if from the enterprise PBX or VPN
* Desk phones can be eliminated if desired
* Billed as an add-on feature ($20/month) to an existing Sprint CDMA Wireless Plan

Requirements

* Premise-based Avaya Communications Manager (IP or TDM)
* Sprint CDMA mobile phone with data capability
* Sprint Dedicated IP or Global MPLS VPN connection

More details on Sprint Wireless Integration are available at Sprint.com/voip.

Links;
Businesswire your daily news source
Sprint wireless integration

Source: snapvoip.blogspot.com

After planing to push the Taiwan Island into a Internet center, In July this year, Taiwan’s state-controlled telecom company planed to invest NT$100 billion (US$3.1 billion) over the next five years to upgrade its network and further develop applications and services based on Web 2.0, things seems get along well. The plan was, Chunghwa Telecom Co. Ltd. will spend half the money on infrastructure, replacing miles of copper phone lines with fiber-optic cable and the latest switches. I think they got the feet in right place.
But now comes the next surprise announcement. Actually putting words into practice. On Thursday, city government offices, the Taipei City Council, and 234 schools throughout the city switched to VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) systems from traditional phone lines, an official said. The entire effort is expected to save the city NT$400,000 (US$12,340) per month in phone bills starting from early next year.

Taipei built its system with help from corporate member’s of a local organization developed to promote Wi-Fi and VOIP in Taiwan, IP Phone Open Exchange (IPOX) 070, as well as TeleSynergy Research, of Sunnyvale, California.

All the city government telephones on the homepage could be accessed via VOIP.

Links;
News source, infoworld
Taipei City VOIP info page (English)

Source: snapvoip.blogspot.com

After planing to push the Taiwan Island into a Internet center, In July this year, Taiwan’s state-controlled telecom company planed to invest NT$100 billion (US$3.1 billion) over the next five years to upgrade its network and further develop applications and services based on Web 2.0, things seems get along well. The plan was, Chunghwa Telecom Co. Ltd. will spend half the money on infrastructure, replacing miles of copper phone lines with fiber-optic cable and the latest switches. I think they got the feet in right place.
But now comes the next surprise announcement. Actually putting words into practice. On Thursday, city government offices, the Taipei City Council, and 234 schools throughout the city switched to VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) systems from traditional phone lines, an official said. The entire effort is expected to save the city NT$400,000 (US$12,340) per month in phone bills starting from early next year.

Taipei built its system with help from corporate member’s of a local organization developed to promote Wi-Fi and VOIP in Taiwan, IP Phone Open Exchange (IPOX) 070, as well as TeleSynergy Research, of Sunnyvale, California.

All the city government telephones on the homepage could be accessed via VOIP.

Links;
News source, infoworld
Taipei City VOIP info page (English)

Source: snapvoip.blogspot.com

After planing to push the Taiwan Island into a Internet center, In July this year, Taiwan’s state-controlled telecom company planed to invest NT$100 billion (US$3.1 billion) over the next five years to upgrade its network and further develop applications and services based on Web 2.0, things seems get along well. The plan was, Chunghwa Telecom Co. Ltd. will spend half the money on infrastructure, replacing miles of copper phone lines with fiber-optic cable and the latest switches. I think they got the feet in right place.
But now comes the next surprise announcement. Actually putting words into practice. On Thursday, city government offices, the Taipei City Council, and 234 schools throughout the city switched to VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) systems from traditional phone lines, an official said. The entire effort is expected to save the city NT$400,000 (US$12,340) per month in phone bills starting from early next year.

Taipei built its system with help from corporate member’s of a local organization developed to promote Wi-Fi and VOIP in Taiwan, IP Phone Open Exchange (IPOX) 070, as well as TeleSynergy Research, of Sunnyvale, California.

All the city government telephones on the homepage could be accessed via VOIP.

Links;
News source, infoworld
Taipei City VOIP info page (English)

Source: snapvoip.blogspot.com

After planing to push the Taiwan Island into a Internet center, In July this year, Taiwan’s state-controlled telecom company planed to invest NT$100 billion (US$3.1 billion) over the next five years to upgrade its network and further develop applications and services based on Web 2.0, things seems get along well. The plan was, Chunghwa Telecom Co. Ltd. will spend half the money on infrastructure, replacing miles of copper phone lines with fiber-optic cable and the latest switches. I think they got the feet in right place.
But now comes the next surprise announcement. Actually putting words into practice. On Thursday, city government offices, the Taipei City Council, and 234 schools throughout the city switched to VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) systems from traditional phone lines, an official said. The entire effort is expected to save the city NT$400,000 (US$12,340) per month in phone bills starting from early next year.

Taipei built its system with help from corporate member’s of a local organization developed to promote Wi-Fi and VOIP in Taiwan, IP Phone Open Exchange (IPOX) 070, as well as TeleSynergy Research, of Sunnyvale, California.

All the city government telephones on the homepage could be accessed via VOIP.

Links;
News source, infoworld
Taipei City VOIP info page (English)