Source: www.voip-news.com

Healthcare providers seem to be embracing VoIP left and right.

Carolinas HealthCare System is using VoIP to handle patient calls. The system is using a Nortel VoIP setup for it’s virtual call center. There are 1,000 trained medical professionals fielding more than 600,000 calls each month.

According to Triangle Business Journal:

“We pride ourselves on delivering personalized patient care second to none,” says Daniel Wiens, senior vice president of the Carolinas Physicians Network. “We believe the tone is set with the patient’s very first call, and in a medical situation, people will always be more comfortable dealing with a person. That’s why reaching a person right up front, rather than a recorded message, is so very important.”

The Carolinas Physicians Network is a regional organization of medical practices operated by Carolinas HealthCare.

Source: www.voip-news.com

When traveling abroad for business, it can get quite pricey to use your cell phone for international calls. But you don’t have to incur heavy fees and charges for using your phone out of your calling area. Instead, you can tap into VoIP and WiFi networks for less expensive alternatives.

Business Week had a great article on this, and how it is the wave of the future for mobile calling . . .

Here’s a snippet:

By 2011 the number of mobile VoIP users around the world may rise to 100 million from 7 million in 2007, according to ON World, a consulting firm based in San Diego. ON World estimates that in 2011, mobile VoIP voice services may generate $33.7 billion, up from $516 million in 2006, the most recent year for which the figure is available. If that sounds like a breakneck pace, consider the growth trajectory for Jajah, a provider of wireless VoIP, which had 10 million users in April—a fivefold increase in just a year.

Source: www.voip-news.com

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you will know that it took next to no time for an intrepid blogger, Andy Abramson, to find a get-around to make VoIP calling from American Airline’s new in-flight Wi-Fi service. For a service that claims to have prevented that, it’s pretty sad. But Wired got me thinking: just because you can use VoIP, does it mean you should? Probably not.

So, while I think it’s great that these folks were able to find a vulnerability and I hope that the WI-Fi service provider investigates a way to block it, it doesn’t mean that people should actually VoIP while flying the friendly skies.

It’s one of the last places where we can go and sit down without hearing Mona behind you whine about her bad date last night . . .

Source: www.voip-news.com

Mac and Linux users can now make computer to phone VoIP calls with Raketu’s RakOut WebPhone. The program is in beta. The service doesn’t require any downloading.

To try the service, go to http://www.raketu.com/rakoutweb.html.

Source: www.voip-news.com

Should Push to Talk services be tied to the career or the application? Read the discussion on The VoIP Weblog.

And we’re back — Wi-Fi in the air isn’t dead yet says VoIP Watch.

VoIP News of the UK has the scoop on cheap calls from the UK to the US and Canada. Check it here.

Source: www.voip-news.com

This is one that really makes a lot of sense. It’s cutting edge and perfect for the atmosphere of a trading floor . . . The Bank of Beijing is going to convert to VoIP. The trading floor will have a system by IPC Systems.

VoIP and stock trading? Well, except for that pesky security issue. I certainly hope they address the potential vulnerabilities of a VoIP system before using it to trade with other people’s money.

Still, it sounds like a good match to me. What do you think?

Source: www.voip-news.com

ThinkTel is now using Empirix’s Hammer XMS to analyze and troubleshoot their VoIP network. The wholesale voice over broadband provider says that their problem resolution rates have increased by 40 percent since the Empirix was installed.

According to MarketWatch:

“After reviewing several diagnostic and monitoring options, it was clear Empirix’s Hammer XMS solution was the most comprehensive offering that fit our needs,” said ThinkTel President and CEO Dave Damer. “Simply put, with Hammer XMS, first time problem resolution numbers are up and we’ve also been able to use Hammer XMS as a sales and marketing tool since it demonstrates very clearly our capability to diagnose, identify and resolve issues. As a growing company, we’re focused on partnering with other organizations that can scale to our growth, and Empirix has proven it will be an asset as we continue to expand.”

Source: www.voip-news.com

Forget all the manhours spent calling patients with appointment reminders. Forget the expense and waste of mailings. WellCentive, an Atlanta-based company, has launched WellCentive Outreach. It’s an appointment and care reminder system that uses VoIP technology to automatically call and remind patients about their upcoming appointments and overdue care.

The system is multilingual and will use the patient’s primary language, as noted in their WellCentive chart.

According to the company, it’s not completely devoid of human interaction:

When a patient is contacted by the WellCentive Outreach system, a prompt is available to forward the patient directly to the doctor’s office to change, confirm or schedule appointments. The WellCentive Outreach system automatically documents attempted and successful reminder calls and tracks patient compliance and follow-up. The system can also generate reports for quality reporting purposes for insurance companies.

“The WellCentive Outreach system closes the patient outreach gap that is such a challenging part of the Chronic Care Model,” said Dr. Paul Taylor, CEO and medical director of WellCentive. “Due to a lack of resources or staffing, health care organizations are often unable to identify which patients are due for care - let alone make and track these important reminder calls. WellCentive’s Outreach system allows an organization to maintain its efficiency, while proactively and cost effectively improving the quality of care it provides.”

Source: www.voip-news.com

Vocalocity says that it’s bringing the summer vacation back. How? By providing a VoIP service for small businesses that lets users choose when to be available and when not.

According to TMC:

Users can easily decide when and how they are reached both inside and outside the office with Vocalocity’s Internet phone service for small businesses. Business people and employees on the move can now have as much or as little access to day-to-day operations and tasks as desired with facilities such as call forwarding, voicemail to e-mail and integration of a cell phone with the office phone.

Vocalocity’s service comes with now bag or baggage as there is no expensive equipment to install. Companies only need to purchase full-feature Internet phones for around $150, company officials say. To use the phone, all you need to do is to connect it to the Internet. The initial investment for comparable systems may cost three times as much and require businesses to install complex equipment, which is often expensive to maintain, company officials say.

So, Vocalocity is bringin’ the turn-off, eh? I thought you could just . . . um . . . turn off your methods of communication. Or is self-control on the outs too?

Source: www.voip-news.com

St Vincent Catholic Medical Centers of New York will be using Telanetix’s Digital Presence Telepresence Service for intercampus executive communication, remote staff training, and more.

“St. Vincent’s is dedicated to supporting our staff with cutting edge communications tools to enable them to better serve our patient community,” noted Tony Antinori, St. Vincent’s Vice President of IT Technology and Operations. “Our experience with the Telanetix Telepresence Service has far exceeded traditional videoconferencing solutions, enhancing our organization’s productivity while at the same time reducing costs when compared to other services or alternatives.”

St. Vincent includes facilities in Manhattan, Westchester, Brooklin and Staten Island.

“St. Vincent’s selection of our Digital Presence Service is an example of how telepresence is moving beyond the executive suite to support important communications needs across an organization,” noted Doug Johnson, President and CEO of Telanetix. “A multisite healthcare enterprise such as St Vincent’s has demanding, real-time communications needs that are better served by our powerful, integrated solution than by other competitive offers, certainly better than the traditional alternative of driving around a congested metropolitan area.”

Source: www.voip-news.com

Score one for Verizon Business.

The division of Verizon has been awarded the 2008 North American Frost & Sullivan Award for Product Line Strategy. It won for its role in developing and delivering hosted IP telephony and voice-over-IP access services.

“Verizon Business combines best-of-breed hosted IP telephony and VoIP access solutions with the financial and operational stability of the Verizon brand, enabling it to become a premier provider of enterprise communications services,” said Imran Khan, research analyst, Frost & Sullivan. “While a number of providers offer hosted IP telephony solutions, few are able to offer a robust product line that meets the diverse needs of small-, medium- and large-enterprise customers alike.”

THe award also recognized Verizon’s designing of hybrid packages for customers.

“This award recognizes Verizon Business’ leadership in helping companies through the IP transformation,” said Nancy Gofus, senior vice president and chief marketing officer, Verizon Business. “Our comprehensive IP portfolio, including advanced collaboration capabilities enabled by unified communications, helps our customers do business better in ways they may never have imagined.”

Source: www.voip-news.com

Alice Germany is going to use Sunrise Telecom(R) Incorporated’s Traffic Analysis and Monitoring System (TAMS) and TAMS 7-VoIP Application Module for its NGN network.

“With the new generation of interactive data services being offered over wireless and wireline networks, it is imperative that operators understand not just how the network is behaving, but how end-users are actually experiencing the services,” said Michele Campriani, general manager of Sunrise Telecom’s Protocol Products Group. “We are very proud of our partnership with Alice/Telecom Italia, as they represent a textbook example of how the effective use of monitoring and troubleshooting tools can ease deployment of these advanced services and actually improve their performance over time.”

According to the companies:

Sunrise Telecom’s TAMS is a flexible and cost-effective network maintenance and diagnostic system for wireline, wireless, VoIP service providers and carriers. The system provides troubleshooting, reporting, alarming and call detail record (CDR) forwarding to an external billing verification application. Each probe unit supports between four and 32 E1/T1 links, up to eight LAN links and STM-1 connections, providing a complete network monitoring solution for small and large service providers, without high overhead costs. The easy-to-use system indicates network faults as well as provides tools for problem isolation, analysis, and resolution verification in one integrated platform.