Source: www.voip-news.com

VoIP News of the UK says that Ofcom wants reverse VoIP tracing for emergency calls in the UK.

Smith on VoIP says that niche applications are driving the adoption of video calling.

Network World says that Google has grabbed 1 million phone numbers for Google Voice. Whoa.

Source: www.voip-news.com

World Discount Telecommunications is going to deploy Stratus Telecommunications’s ENTICE telecommunications platform. WDT offers landline and mobile long distance services as well as residential VoIP. The company has chosen the technology to simplify the management of different technical platforms by combining them into one, which will also help reduce the costs of operation.

“WDT laid out a clear road map for changing their network infrastructure, and they wisely did their due diligence based on the entire plan rather than taking a piecemeal approach. That led them directly to our ENTICE platform,” said Nathan Franzmeier, President of Stratus Telecom. “Our end-to-end integration delivers the streamlined administration and one-stop source they were looking for, and it remains a major ENTICE competitive advantage for the market at large.”

According to the companies:

The first phase of the project, completed in late 2008, involved installation of clustered ENTICE session controllers to allow more efficient port utilization enabling connectivity to international carriers as well as to handle wholesale routing and billing. The ENTICE solution made it possible to mix IP traffic from multiple gateways previously dedicated to calls to and from a single country to provide a unified routing and billing platform.

The second phase, completed in April, added Dialogic’s CSP hardware to allow interconnection of WDT’s ENTICE switch with its Nortel DMS-250 programmable TDM switch. This portion of the project is enabling WDT to cut costs by transitioning TDM traffic from traditional carriers to IP. Configuration and management of the Dialogic hardware are built into the ENTICE interface, yielding additional savings by consolidating ENTICE/Dialogic administration. The Cisco gateways that the Dialogic CSP is replacing had to be programmed separately.

Source: www.voip-news.com

8×8, Inc. and Aastra have teamed up to offer co-branded Virtual Office business IP phones bundled with the 8×8 Virtual Office suite. The new products are available at Office Depot.

According to the companies:

The 8×8/Aastra 6755i Virtual Office IP phone replaces the Virtual Office ST2118 analog business phone which Office Depot had previously been carrying. These plug-and-play IP telephones serve as endpoints for the 8×8 Virtual Office hosted IP PBX business phone service, currently in use by over 16,000 companies. 8×8 Virtual Office provides businesses with a complete, enterprise class phone system at a fraction of the cost of a traditional PBX and roughly half the cost of traditional business phone service.

“The 675xi Virtual Office IP phones developed jointly by 8×8 and Aastra have been favorably received by our subscribers since their introduction last summer and we are excited to now offer this next generation product to Office Depot customers with the added convenience of retail availability,” said 8×8 Vice President of Business & Channel Development Huw Rees. “Office Depot has been a valued sales partner for over two years and we applaud their continued commitment to offer businesses the latest advanced communication technology services and products.”

The new phones can plug into any broadband Internet connection, allowing users to make or receive calls instantly without any changes to the firewall or network configuration.

“8×8 and Aastra have experienced great synergy working together on an OEM level, and we look forward to broadening our relationship into the retail sales and marketing channel,” said Tim Whittington, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Aastra USA. “The combination of Aastra’s superior quality business IP phones together with 8×8’s

Source: www.voip-news.com

Need to get CCIE certification? The Cisco Certified Internetworking Expert Voice certification is an industry-recognized accreditation for senior engineers in IP-enabled Voice technology disciplines.

One training company, IPexpert, is now training for the new 3.0 version of the test.

According to  IPexpert:

To become CCIE certified, engineers spend years preparing for an exhaustive 8-hour hands-on “lab” exam conducted by Cisco, the global leader in computer networking solutions. IPexpert (http://www.ipexpert.com/) is a training organization focused on preparing seasoned computer network engineers for the coveted CCIE exams, through various learning solutions including self-study materials and instructor-led training courses.

As enterprise networking technologies continue to evolve, Cisco implements changes in the CCIE exam topics to ensure that the individuals being certified as experts are adept with the current technologies. Due to technology enhancements, modifications to the various CCIE exams tend to be made every two to three years, with the most recent affecting the Voice specialization.

Source: www.voip-news.com

Speakeasy is collaborating with ADTRAN to offer interoperable SIP trunking technology so that solutions providers can offer integrated network solutions. The company has also joined the ADTRAN Alliance Program.

“Direct SIP integration is Speakeasy’s newest voice and data offering, and joining the ADTRAN Alliance Program made perfect strategic sense for us in terms of extending our reach into the market,” said Bruce Chatterley, Speakeasy president and CEO. “Speakeasy and ADTRAN are working together to help provide the telecommunications solutions that ultimately help small businesses to communicate more efficiently and at a lower cost, regardless of their legacy telecom systems.”

According to the companies:

Speakeasy’s SIP trunking offerings allow small-midsized companies to integrate Speakeasy voice and data systems regardless of their legacy infrastructure, making it simple for companies to upgrade to this more efficient, less expensive technology. Speakeasy SIP trunking provides integrated voice and data through PBXs accepting analog, digital T1-CAS, ISDN-PRI or direct SIP delivery.

The initial ADTRAN Alliance Program members, featuring both IPT technology partners and SIP trunking service provider partners, comprise a standards-based, next-generation network with ADTRAN’s NetVanta 7000 converged IP PBX platform at the core. Products and services selected for inclusion in the program address key needs in the SMB market with a wide range of business applications that enabling end users to increase productivity and efficiency while reducing costs. Reseller partners also benefit from an enhanced, comprehensive solution offering.

“We’ve created the ADTRAN Alliance Program to help identify best-of-breed technology providers that are particularly equipped to address the network issues and challenges facing our customers today,” said Tim Saunders, vice president, product management, ADTRAN Enterprise Networks Division. “Together with companies like Speakeasy, we are empowering our customers by giving them the necessary tools to build an end-to-end communications network best suited to their needs.”

Source: www.voip-news.com

Sigma Systems has scored three new customers in North America. The Advanced IP Service Fulfillment solutions company does residential and business VoIP services fulfillment solutions.

“Increasingly, cable and telecom operators are turning to Sigma for service fulfillment to meet their requirements for scaling residential VoIP and deploying the more complex VoIP offerings for SMBs,” said Tim Spencer, president and COO of Sigma Systems. “These new VoIP fulfillment customers are benefiting from Sigma’s ability to rapidly deploy new services so they can realize revenues more quickly. With more than 7 million VoIP lines already provisioned across the globe, Sigma has established itself as a leader in VoIP services fulfillment.”

According to the company:

Sigma has deployed its award-winning voice over IP fulfillment solutions at:

– A quad-play carrier for business VoIP services targeting small and
medium businesses (SMBs). This operator also uses Sigma’s Service
Management Portfolio for its broadband and residential VoIP services.
The residential and business VoIP services are delivered on the Nortel
CS2000 softswitch.
– A cable operator for business VoIP services delivered over the
BroadSoft BroadWorks softswitch. Sigma also manages the operator’s
residential VoIP services, which are delivered on Nortel’s CS2000

softswitch.

– A top-10 cable broadband operator for residential and business VoIP
services offered on Nortel’s CS2000 softswitch.

Source: www.voip-news.com

There is a new reverse telephone number lookup solution that is capable of searching wireless phone data, traditional landlines, VoIP and toll free telephone services. DOTS GeoPhone Plus was created by Service Objects, Inc. The company says that the service fills a need in the growing landscape that has fewer landlines and more alternative phone-types.

“In today’s challenging economic environment it is especially critical to watch every dollar spent,” says Geoffrey Grow, CEO of Service Objects. “With the release of DOTS GeoPhone Plus companies now have the ability to validate all of their leads, prospects, and customers, before wasting valuable resources on erroneous or fraudulent contact information. Furthermore, DOTS GeoPhone Plus clients only pay for transactions that end in matches, resulting in a pay-per-match pricing model that further protects today’s already stressed budgets.”

According to the company:

DOTS GeoPhone Plus is a hosted, programmable XML Web Service designed to provide the most comprehensive reverse lookup of virtually any telephone number available in the U.S. and Canada. The service gives customers the ability to find name and postal address information for U.S. and Canadian telephone numbers, and delivers contact validation in real-time. The DOTS GeoPhone Plus Web Service can easily be implemented behind the scenes of a Web form, in contact centers, or integrated with any CRM system to help customers instantly append contact data to their telephone records, and weed out fraudulent or incomplete telephone records.

When DOTS GeoPhone Plus is used to validate a telephone number, that phone number is instantly checked against Service Objects’ extensive data source of over 300 million records, returning an accurate and validated telephone number and contact information in about .5 seconds. Furthermore, Service Objects’ core telephone number data is updated daily with more than 4 million new records from over 2,000 telephone carriers, providing customers with unparalleled contact information.

Source: www.voip-news.com

Verizon Business has launched a hosted OCS offering. Read about it on The VoIP Weblog.

Gradwell is using Spinvox to convert voicemail to text. Read about it on VoIP News of the UK.

Drum roll please …. Grand Central is now Google Voice, reports VoIP Watch. Is there any area of the internet that Google doesn’t want to invade?

Smith on VoIP is talking about businesses and Skype … is voice quality the issue?

Source: www.voip-news.com

Nokia and Skype have announced a VoIP partnership. Read about it on The VoIP Weblog.

Smith on VoIP comments on the practice in the VoIP industry right now of raising prices while sales are down … hmmm. Counterintuitive?

VoIP News of the UK says that traditional telcos are threatened by IP telephony … well, shouldn’t they be?

Source: www.voip-news.com

VoIP processing software developer TransPacific Telecom has agreed to purchase the disfunct PrepaidTel.com from Prime Companies. Prime Companies discontinued operations of PrepaidTel in 2007. Shareholders will get 15 percent of the new company.

According to te companies:

The agreement with TransPacific Telecom, Inc., the developer of award winning VOIP processing software, allows TransPacific to make the necessary filings to take the merged company public. “This merger will enable TPT to become publicly traded, providing us the opportunity to utilize the capital markets and to raise the funds that will be used to make TPT a world renowned, elite telecommunications carrier of choice,” said Stephen Thomas, TPT CEO.

“Spinning off 15 percent of the merged company to our shareholders will be a significant dividend in the expected future growth of TransPacific Telecom,” said Norbert Lima, Chairman of Prime Companies’ Board of Directors. Mr. Lima, with 35 years experience in the telecommunications industry, will become President of TPT upon completion of the transaction.

Source: www.voip-news.com

Cable, internet and VoIP provider Stream Communications has completed their acquisition of Satra, a cable and internet provider in Poland. The company was purchased for 19.58 million PLN.

According to Stream:

The transaction with Satra was financed from the proceeds received by Stream Poland from Cyfoca (a subsidiary of Penta) in the form of a loan which will be later converted into shares in Stream Poland in the following manner:

1. The Penta Investment subsidiary Cyfoca entered into a Master Loan
Agreement with Stream Poland for up to PLN 126.6 million. Loans are
granted based on loan applications for individual acquisitions each
time funds are needed, until March 31, 2009. The terms of the loans are
as follows: interest 3M WIBOR + Margin 0.75% with a loan period of up
to 12 months.
2. Because the share registration process in Poland is lengthy, the Master
Loan Agreement permits Stream Poland to make acquisitions in shorter
time frames, while still enabling Penta to receive the agreed upon
Stream Poland equity. Conversion of the loans into Stream Poland equity
will be made under the previously disclosed conditions set out in Phase
two of the Stream Communications-Penta agreement.

“We are continuing to make progress on the acquisition strategy we laid out when Penta bought its stake in Stream Poland last year, including almost 100 percent growth to date of Stream Poland’s subscriber base to over 124,000 RGUs. Acquiring Satra provides an opportunity for Stream Poland to create, along with the 2008 acquisition of Gdansk-based Internet provider Homenet, a new operational cluster to which economies of scale can be applied as Stream Poland expands in that territory,” said Jan S. Rynkiewicz, president & CEO of Stream.

Source: alanweinkrantz.typepad.com

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