Dialogic announces that SIPxchange chose Dialogic as its core technology provider. The Dialogic ControlSwitch System and media gateway solutions provide SIPxchange with robust routing capabilities, while supporting both TDM and IP traffic. This positions SIPxchange to reliably and cost-effectively support its rapidly expanding DID origination, Toll-Free and VoIP Termination network that provides ubiquitous Local Access Transport Area coverage in the key markets of Texas.

In need of a reliable solution that would support its existing customer base while allowing for growth throughout the United States, SIPxchange chose Dialogic for its strong leadership position in class 4 switching, support for SS7, its carrier-grade Dialogic I-Gate 4000 PRO Media Gateway, and an extensive array of Codecs and Protocols, including SIP, MGCP, H.323, T.38, G.711, G.729, G.723, GSM. In addition, as VoIP becomes the emerging choice for business among carriers within the United States, SIPxchange needed a solution that would allow for cost-effective direct interconnection to the Legacy PSTN Tandems. Dialogic's ControlSwitch System, with its distributed media gateway architecture, provides reliability and scalability for interconnection to the PSTN.

Dialogic's ControlSwitch System and media gateway solutions require very little in the way of hardware equipment, and as a result, SIPxchange was able to reduce its number of servers from 17 to four, thereby further reducing its capital and operational expenditures and moving toward a more eco-friendly business model.

New entries in the race for a low-cost, quality videoconferencing platform arrive on an almost weekly basis, some with more promise than others. Here's one to add to that group that just popped up in Australia.

The platform, dubbed iSee, uses a breakthrough in spatial voice technology that allows hundreds of people to be in the same space at the same time and all talk.

It was developed in Sydney's Smart Services Co-operative Research Centre (CRC), has already been trialed in the education sector and has sold the voice technology to Dolby Laboratories.

Like most multi-endpoint systems, it's usable on standard laptops, so its potential for distribution is large, and it's built on smart algorithms that minimize the need for downloading.

"The main thing is that because people are able to use just their standard laptops, it is a very low investment for users," said CRC CEO Warren Bradey.

New South Wales Department of Education already is running a beta of iSee, looking to take it to more rural outposts. They believe the technology could cost schools only "several hundred dollars a year" as opposed to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The platform next will be trialed by Infosys, which will use it across its 11 campuses globally, including its Global Education Centre in Mysore, India, the largest corporate university in the world. It also is in the process of being tested for broad distribution in the banking, real estate and other sectors, and will be available for use on a number of devices in the second half of 2012.

"It can be used either with a multi-touch, back-lit screen or it can be projected straight on to any table anywhere or just projected on to a piece of cardboard and rolled out," Bradley said.

For more:
- see this article

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XConnect has entered an exclusive partnership agreement with DE-CIX to establish the first Next Generation Network/VoIP federation in Germany, enabling service providers to directly exchange IP voice and multimedia traffic.

The partnership will create a secure and scalable federation hub and central carrier ENUM-based routing and number-management platform that will enable hundreds of fixed, mobile, ASP and Web 2.0 operators to interconnect securely end to end on an all-IP basis.

Interconnection via the hub will benefit operators significantly. It will reduce the technical complexity and commercial and operational costs of NGN interconnection, allowing for migration from bilateral, legacy-network TDM interconnects to IP. In addition, operators will be able to securely and multilaterally interconnect to multiple networks via a single IP connection to the hub, supporting the interworking and interoperability of IP voice and multimedia services, such as HD voice, video and Unified Communications.

The ENUM registry will, for the first time, offer a central number-management and number-portability platform for German operators, facilitating ENUM-based number discovery and routing that will enable calls to be delivered accurately and directly across networks.

DE-CIX, a wholly owned subsidiary of the largest European Internet industry association, eco, already provides direct and settlement-free Internet interconnection infrastructure services to more than 400 operators.

The partnership agreement announced today combines DE-CIX’s experience in managing high-volume Internet exchange services and market reach with XConnect’s expertise and global leadership in carrier-neutral NGN interconnection services and technology. XConnect currently operates other national federations in Europe, Asia and Africa, and the company is in talks about establishing additional federations.

Datora is growing wholesale capacity using the SBC VoIP Peering solution from DIGITALK. The DIGITALK carrier solution now supports more than 1,000 VoIP carrier interconnects at Datora, using SIP, SIP-T and H.323, and incorporates remote media access to minimise international call latency.

The DIGITALK SBC VoIP Peering platform is a complete network solution for international wholesale service providers. The solution is based on DIGITALK's carrier-grade, high capacity Carrier Session Border Controller supporting signalling interworking, carrier and topology hiding, media relay, DTMF interworking and dynamic media transcoding. The platform’s management capabilities include advanced margin- and quality-based carrier routing, real-time rating and credit control, and service monitoring and reporting.

Ooma is expanding into the Canadian market. Beginning today, Canadians can now choose to receive free crystal-clear calls to any phone number within Canada with the one-time purchase of the Ooma Telo. For Premier subscribers in the U.S., Ooma has now expanded the free-calling area to Canada as well.

The innovative Ooma Telo device plugs into a high-speed Internet connection and existing home phone to provide free phone calls and bundled features including voicemail, caller ID, call waiting and 911 service. After the initial purchase, customers pay only applicable taxes and fees. Based on an average phone bill of $40/month, the Ooma Telo pays for itself in just six months and customers will save more than $200 in the first year, more than $600 in just two years and nearly $2,000 in five years.

The Ooma Telo is able to deliver superior call quality because of its PureVoice HD technology, a bundle of five technologies, including:

• Adaptive redundancy to avoid voice quality sounding stuttered or garbled due to packet loss. The Ooma Telo detects packet loss on the Internet connection and automatically sends redundant packets to boost the clarity of phone calls.
• Advanced voice compression that reduces bandwidth consumption by 60 percent over standard VoIP technology and is more capable of withstanding packet loss without degradation.
• Wire-speed QoS allows the Ooma Telo to prioritize voice packets without slowing down the rest of home network to help ensure crystal-clear calls.
• Secure, encrypted calls using the same encryption technology that governments use to protect classified data. Using the Ooma Telo, phone conversations are even more secure than over a traditional landline.
• Ooma HD Voice technology doubles the fidelity of phone calls by capturing twice the speech information of a standard voice call so conversations sound more lifelike (HD-compatible phone required).

Customers who select the optional Ooma Premier service for $9.99 a month can enjoy advanced features like call screening, three-way conferencing, call forwarding, blacklisting, 911 notifications, distinctive ringtones and a multi-ring option so home and cell phones ring at once.

Ooma customers have the option to choose a new home phone number for free or to port their existing phone number for a one-time fee of $39.99. Annual subscribers to the Ooma Premier service can choose to port an existing home phone number at no additional charge. Ooma also offers an affordable international calling plan to 61 countries for as little as a penny per minute. Calls made between Ooma devices anywhere in the world are always free.

Ooma customers can save even more money on their mobile calling plan by tapping into their Ooma account on the go and making phone calls over any Wi-Fi or 3G network with the Ooma Mobile HD app. The Ooma Mobile HD app is compatible with Android devices as well as the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. It costs $9.99 to download from app stores.

The Ooma Telo is now available at Amazon.ca and London Drug in Canada at an M.S.R.P. of $229.99 CAD. Ooma Telo includes a one-year limited warranty, a 30-day money back guarantee and a free 60-day trial of Ooma Premier service. Live customer service is available by phone in both English and French. See www.ooma.com/ca for more information.

SPIRIT DSP announces that Korean Telecom giant KT has licensed the company's TeamSpirit Voice Engine Mobile, an SDK that enables HD VoIP calling on a broad range mobile devices. KT is S. Korea's top fixed-lined operator and the No. 2 mobile carrier in the region.

Internet telephony is Korea's prominent daily communications medium. The VoIP rates are 80 percent cheaper for intercity calls, 20 percent lower for calls to mobile phones and 95 percent cheaper for international calls. According to the Korean Communications Commission, the number of paid Internet telephony subscribers broke the 10 million mark this year.

The TeamSpirit Engine is a SDK for real-time IP calling/conferencing communications, allowing business application developers and service providers to offer superior quality communications products to millions of global users. The TeamSpirit Engine software uniquely combines scalable echo- and noise-free audio with scalable video, a necessary marriage to ensure the highest quality conferencing experience. TeamSpirit enables many hours of battery life in wideband talk mode. The voice engine includes highly optimized standard voice codecs and a patent-free wideband error-resilient scalable SPIRIT IP-MRTM voice codec (IETF RFC 6262). The video engine includes SPIRIT's H.264 scalable video codec that is able to adapt streams to each peer’s network and PC environments without heavy transcoding and it includes a multi-component stream protection module that compensates for network jitter and packet loss.

Add ShoreTel (Nasdaq: SHOR) to the enterprise communications companies looking to ride the mobility wave and the increasing trend of companies allowing employees to connect their own devices to their communications networks.

The IP phone systems specialist today announced it has updated its ShoreTel Mobility platform to enable corporate communication applications on employee-owned smartphones and tablets, while at the same time separating the personal and business identities on a single mobile device. The bring-your-own device (BYOD) solution helps reduce costs and IT department load, while allowing employees and contractors a greater range of device selections.

New to this iteration of ShoreTel Mobility, which is set to ship in November, is native telephony interface integration on Android-based devices, including the Motorola (NYSE: MMI) Atrix 4G, Samsung Galaxy S, Motorola Droid X2, HTC Droid Incredible 2 and the earlier-generation Motorola Droid. ShoreTel Mobility will continue to support all Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) iOS devices and several Research In Motion devices that run BlackBerry OS 6.0.

Steve Blood, VP of research at Gartner, said BYOD is increasingly becoming an issue for companies.

"We see this as a big issue for enterprises, in addition to the efficiency and productivity benefits that mobile devices bring," he said. "Enterprises should look to a solution that supports a broad range of leading smartphones and tablets, as the devices being used at work are not always company owned. Enterprises will prefer a solution that is part of their existing IP PBX and UC system or works with the existing system therefore avoiding upgrades or replacement of their existing infrastructure."

And, ShoreTel said its platform allows the IT group to manage the security risk of enterprise communication in a BYOD environment in a way that doesn't hinder productivity. Unlike some solutions, ShoreTel Mobility automatically recognizes when users are outside the enterprise firewall and initiates the application-layer SSL VPN.

For more:
- see this release
- see the CRN article

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Internet phone service ITP VoIP is showcasing its fully featured VoIP hosted PBX plans and encouraging small business owners to take advantage of their value and comprehensive functionalities. The digital phone company offers a roster of VoIP business features with every plan.

ITP VoIP’s Call Forwarding feature, for instance, allows the user to have calls from one line forwarded to another, such as a cell phone — a capability ideal for someone who splits his or her business between home and the road.

Similarly, taking advantage of ITP VoIP’s Universal Number feature, clients have the option of choosing a domestic U.S. or international number, allowing them to pick the area code or country they’d like the number to be in. Using this feature, a business could keep up the appearance of operating within any given geographic area they choose.

Both of these features - and many more - are complimentary with all of ITP VoIP’s plans, though the VoIP provider has a collection of premium features, such as e-faxing and softphone service, that can be added on at any time for a small fee.

Affordability is another of ITP VoIP’s many attributes. VoIP plans are known for being inexpensive, because the company uses an online rather than wire signal, and ITP VoIP’s plans range from just $9.99 to $49.99 a month. Each plan also comes with a free digital phone adapter and router, and the company also offers its new clients their first month of service free.

Because ITP VoIP uses plug-and-play adapters and routers, the home phone service installation process is extremely simple. If a client does experience difficulty during installation, he or she can call the company’s customer support line. For less pressing matters or general inquiries, clients can turn to the ITP VoIP site’s Online Support FAQ section, or fill out a customer support form. General maintenance is a snap as well - all of the hosting equipment is located at ITP VoIP’s headquarters, where it’s monitored round the clock by the company’s expert staff.

Offering paperless billing, ITP VoIP is also a favorite VoIP provider among the eco-friendly who want to do their part for the environment but can’t always find an inexpensive way to do so.

VoIP Innovations announced the expansion of its VoIP termination footprint and service offering for SIP providers. VoIP Innovations has been at the forefront of VoIP expansion and innovation for nearly a decade. It is the underlying carrier for several hundred Hosted PBX, Calling Card Providers, Carriers and Resellers offering VoIP service.

VoIP Innovations has a business model that is uniquely different than those of traditional carriers. VoIP Innovations offers their own termination routes as well as routes from dozens of the top US and Canadian termination carriers. In addition to aggregation benefit, VoIP Innovations large traffic volume, allows them to provides a more competitive pricing model than most clients would get direct from those carriers.

VoIP Innovations is also one of the nation's largest short duration termination providers, also known as dialer or predictive traffic. While most carriers have shunned away from this type of traffic, VoIP Innovations has embraced it. If fact, they invested in their infrastructure to add additional capacity. This upgrade was necessary for the growing demand that would allow several of their dialer clients to have a virtually unlimited amount of concurrent call sessions.

Network infrastructure and voice quality is top priority for VoIP Innovations. They are always looking for additional high quality voip routes. But managing several million routes is no easy task. "We recently deployed proprietary software which provides better route and pricing management.” Stated Tim Linn, Lead Engineer for VoIP Innovations.

It’s clear that choosing the correct termination carrier/partner has become a large part of succeeding in the ever changing voice over IP world. With the wave a newcomers to this market place, it has become increasingly harder and harder to decipher the real players from the “two guys and a free switch” player. VoIP Innovations has quickly earned a reputation for providing a carrier class termination service that rivals the large telcos.

TalkSwitch has appointed Gentek as an official distributor for Canada. Gentek is a leading North American distributor of Broadband, Network Security and VoIP products and solutions. Gentek has added TalkSwitch IP PBX phone systems to their impressive line of vendors, offering VARs and resellers the best choices for their Canadian SMB customers.

TalkSwitch IP PBX phone systems come loaded with the features small businesses need to sound professional, save money and stay connected anywhere. The features include built-in voicemail, voicemail to e-mail, auto attendants, music on hold, mobile phone integration, remote management and support for analog and IP handsets. Capacity is up to 64 users per location, and TalkSwitch hybrid IP PBX phone systems work with the traditional telephone network and VoIP. Systems start at CDN$745.

TalkSwitch announces it has appointed ICON as distributor for Ireland. This expands ICON's market, which includes the United Kingdom. ICON has a proven record with TalkSwitch IP PBX phone systems and outstanding reseller support, making it ideal to service Ireland.

Supporting up to 64 users per location, TalkSwitch IP PBX phone systems come loaded with the features small businesses need to sound professional, save money and stay connected anywhere. The features include built-in voicemail, voicemail to e-mail, auto attendants, call forwarding to mobiles, remote management and support for analogue and IP handsets.

XO Communications has been recognized by Frost & Sullivan as the leading VoIP and SIP trunking services provider and capturing the largest market share among service providers by delivering superior customer satisfaction and value.

Frost & Sullivan has conferred on XO Communications the 2010 North American Competitive Strategy Leadership Award in the VoIP access and SIP trunking services market. In addition, Frost & Sullivan recently published a report naming XO Communications as the leading VoIP Access and SIP trunking provider in terms of enterprise VoIP end users.

VoIP and SIP Trunking Services Award

The Frost & Sullivan award recognizes XO Communications for its strong customer and revenue growth in the VoIP and SIP trunking services market, robust services portfolio, and commitment to innovation, superior service and value. Specifically, the award highlighted that XO Communications consistently offers VoIP, SIP trunking and managed services that leverage the latest technology and service models and meet the needs of small business customers who look for streamlined products at a lower cost and large businesses that focus on scalable, robust and versatile solutions. In addition, the award noted the XO brand is associated with high service levels, stringent provisioning standards and excellent value for money.

VoIP Access and SIP Trunking Services Market Leadership

The Frost & Sullivan award recognized XO Communications as the leader in the VoIP access and SIP trunking services market, with 22.2 percent of the market, attributing the company's strong growth and impressive performance to new customer additions and an ever-expanding network footprint in key business regions. In addition, Frost & Sullivan, in its "North American VoIP Access and SIP Trunking Services Market" study published in April, also named XO Communications as having the largest share of the market in terms of corporate end users.

XO Communications is an industry innovator and leader in providing advanced IP-based communications solutions for businesses and large enterprises. The company's portfolio of award-winning VoIP and SIP trunking services includes XO IP Flex, XO IP Flex with VPN, XO Anywhere, XO iPBX, XO SIP and XO Enterprise SIP.

Intermedia launched its hosted PBX service. The service is VoIP-based and integrates with Intermedia's hosted Exchange email service -- enabling customers to access not only hosted PBX features such as unlimited domestic calling and extension dialing, but also unified communications features such as "voicemail to email" and "click to call."

Hosted PBX, like all Intermedia services, is managed from the company's proprietary HostPilot Control Panel, providing customers a single point of communications control. "We developed hosted PBX in response to feedback from our customers," says Serguei Sofinski, CEO, Intermedia. "Just as they use our Exchange service to avoid the cost and complexity of on-premise Exchange servers, they want a hosted PBX service to avoid the cost and complexity of on-premise PBX systems. By connecting email and voice, we are bringing unified communications -- and all its productivity benefits -- to small businesses that it was previously inaccessible to."

"Many SMBs who are still using basic telephone service to run their business will benefit from the professional image a hosted PBX service like Intermedia brings. Through the Intermedia offering, companies can set up Exchange-based unified communications -- enabling employees to manage email and voice services from Outlook," says Michael Osterman of industry analyst firm Osterman Research. "An organization that makes extensive use of email, telephony or real time communications -- or that will want to do so in the future -- will realize enormous benefits from the use of a unified communications infrastructure."

Intermedia's hosted PBX service includes:

• Voice menu that greets callers and routes incoming calls
• Hunt groups to route calls across sales, customer service or other teams -- assuring important calls are always answered quickly
• Flat-rate, per-user monthly charges with unlimited calling in the US and Canada
• Easy online administration through Intermedia's HostPilot Control Panel
• Quick in-office dialing with extension dialing
• Find me/follow me so employees can set up another phone number -- such as a mobile phone or home office phone -- that rings when their primary phone isn't answered
• Voicemails delivered via voicemail-to-email to an email inbox as a .wav attachment, making it easy to store or forward to anyone with an email address

Hosted PBX expands into a full unified communications service when customers add hosted Microsoft Office Communications Server and the OCS Calling feature. OCS is a business-class instant messaging service. With Intermedia's service, calls can be placed to any instant messaging contact in OCS or any contact in Outlook just with a click of the mouse.

Every Intermedia hosted PBX account also comes with end user features including a direct phone number, unique extension, E911 Service, caller ID, call waiting, call transfer, call forwarding and 3-way calling.

Intermedia is offering hosted PBX at a promotional rate of $25+taxes/month per user for the first three months. The VoIP service is provided to Intermedia customers exclusively by its VoIP partner, Unison Communications, Inc.

Acme Packet announces four new customers across southeastern Asia. These incumbent, wireless and competitive service providers rely on Acme Packet’s Net-Net session border controllers to control the delivery of trusted, first-class IP communications to their customers. With these four customers, Acme Packet SBCs are now deployed by over 100 service providers in 19 Asia Pacific countries, ranging from Australia to China and India to Japan.

These new customers have deployed Acme Packet’s Net-Net SBCs at fixed and wireless broadband access borders to support residential and business services. The Net-Net SBCs provide critical control functions, satisfying requirements in five major areas: security, service reach maximization, SLA assurance, revenue and profit protection, and regulatory compliance. Acme Packet’s Net-SAFE security architecture protects service provider VoIP networks, assuring network availability and service uptime, with topology hiding and denial of service protection from malicious attacks and non-malicious overloads.

Acme Packet’s new customers include incumbent and competitive service providers from four countries:

• Packet One Networks, Malaysia’s first and leading WiMAX service provider with the country’s widest WiMAX network, sells VoWiMAX VoIP services, using Acme Packet SBCs to secure, control and quality-assure the WiMAX access border.
• SingTel, Asia’s leading communications company, has deployed Acme Packet’s SBCs as a component of its i-PhoneNet service to deliver secure SIP trunking and hosted voice services for its business customers.
• Suntel, a competitive service provider in Sri Lanka, uses Acme Packet Net-Net SBCs in its next-generation network as well as IMS access networks, to provide hosted IP PBX, PSTN emulation and SIP trunking services to its business customers. Suntel utilizes Acme Packet’s sophisticated QoS monitoring capabilities to proactively monitor and assess quality in their network.
• TOT, the Thailand incumbent service provider, has deployed Acme Packet’s SBCs to provide hosted voice and secure SIP trunking services. TOT uses Acme Packet SBCs to protect the core network and provide interoperability among several endpoints and softswitches.

These new Acme Packet customers reflect a time of increased VoIP adoption in the Asia Pacific region. In a series of May 2010 reports, Infonetics Research forecasted that service providers will invest $4.3 billion in VoIP and IMS equipment from 2010–2014 in order to serve over 100 million residential and business subscribers in 2014 in the Asia Pacific region.

Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "USA - VoIP Market - Analysis, Statistics and Forecasts" report to their offering. Strong subscriber and revenue growth rates have positioned VoIP firmly on the US telecommunications map. Since the entry of Comcast and other cable companies, VoIP services have been emerging apace. In 2010 the US cable companies were providing telephone services to more than 20 million subscribers. Non-facilities based, or pure play, VoIP providers, such as Skype, are making strong inroads into the US VoIP market.

The VoIP market has also witnessed the entry of Microsoft and Apple and Internet giants Google and Yahoo! Mobile VoIP is poised for exponential growth, underpinned by the widespread adoption of WiFi-enabled handsets. The deployment of 3G networks, of the Clear WiMAX network on which Sprint Nextel and others provide mobile services, and the decisions by Verizon Wireless and AT&T Mobility to upgrade to an open access LTE platform for their 4G investments will propel mobile VoIP into the mainstream of mobile telecommunications.

Key Topics Covered:

1. Synopsis

2. VoIP market 2.1 Overview 2.2 VoIP statistics 2.3 VoIP regulation

3. VoIP technology in the US 3.1 Overview 3.2 History 3.3 IP telephony gateways 3.4 Value-added features 3.5 Hosted VoIP solutions 3.6 Circuit-to-packet network migration 3.7 IP-based private networks and computer telephony integration 3.8 Mobile VoIP

4. Major VoIP providers 4.1 Cable VoIP 4.2 Alternative providers 4.3 Telco VoIP

5. Forecasts 5.1 Forecasts - VoIP market to 2013 5.2 Notes on scenario forecasts

6. Related reports

As VoIP technology expands rapidly throughout the world, Eastern European Communication companies are ensuring their long-term success by demanding the very best services from Industry experts.

By interfacing VoIP networks to traditional SS7 PSTN based telephone networks, companies are looking to rapidly and cost effectively launch VoIP services and distributed networks with incumbent VoIP Media Gateways. Simon Dinnage of Squire-Technologies speaks about the importance of a robust Media Gateway Controller to control third party gateways.

“We developed our SVI-MGC SS7 Media Gateway to enable SS7 on leading VoIP Media Gateways, using industry based standards – MGCP, MEGACO H.248, SIGTRAN, SIP, SIP-I, SIP-T and H.323. This helps operators to reduce costs, increase the speed of deployment and provides a future proof NGN solution. Our system has had to be fully featured to exceed the demands of East European and ICS providers while still reducing the cost per installed E1 port. We are able to scale the SVI-MGC to match clients bandwidth requirements as and when needed through software based license key updates. Our rapid remote deployment removes the time, cost and issues of shipment.”

World leading providers IPVOIP s.r.o, based in the Czech Republic, are a universal Carrier providing both TDM and VoIP services to wholesale and retail markets throughout Europe and CIS. “We adapt our network in accordance with our partners and clients needs” says Dmitry Shubin Director of Business development at IPVoIP s.r.o “We offer a premium quality service at the lowest and most competitive prices in the market. To ensure this level of service we chose the SVI MGC management to maintain SS7 calls on our existing Cisco gateways. We can see why Squire-Technologies are the industry experts they are providing unprecedented levels of control while delivering astounding results, as a result our customers will experience best service available in the market”.

Simon Dinnage concluded “As the UK’s premier provider of SS7 / VoIP technology our focus on delivering to industry leading standards of customer service, evolving technology, adaptable solutions and highly competitive pricing structures has been the key to our success throughout the world.“

Verizon Business introduces Global Fixed Mobile Convergence, a new service that can significantly reduce mobile phone roaming charges for European workers who make and receive calls outside of their home service area.

The new service also offers a universal phone number with "find me/follow me" capabilities to reach employees on a wireline or mobile phone for immediate attention, reducing the number of voicemails and spurring productivity.

Using advanced software from MobileMax, Verizon Global Fixed Mobile Convergence determines cost-effective routing for mobile calls. The service dynamically directs calls to either Verizon's cloud-based global voice-over-IP communications platform, powered by Broadsoft, or to the customer's mobile network service if that is the more cost-effective option. This is particularly powerful in helping to contain roaming costs for workers placing and receiving calls outside of their network coverage area, or when making international calls from their home country.

Verizon Global FMC is available immediately to Verizon Business customers in nine European countries: Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. In addition, enterprises headquartered in the U.S. and Asia-Pacific can also take advantage of the offering for employees based in this initial service area.

The new enterprise solution works with an array of mobile devices across most GSM-based mobile operator networks located throughout the initial service area. As a result, new and existing companies can achieve cost-savings for international mobile calls without any additional capital investment and without changing mobile operators or company-issued handsets.

Verizon Global FMC will be integrated next month with the company's VoIP platform, enabling more advanced capabilities afforded by PBX office phone systems and cost savings opportunities for Verizon Global FMC customers who are also Verizon VoIP customers. By combining the power of voice over IP in a mobile, wireless environment, individuals will be able to activate the same familiar office phone features directly from their mobile handset.

Verizon Business' unified communications and mobility consultants can help businesses prepare for and employ Verizon Global FMC in the context of their overall UC&C and mobility strategies. The new service complements Verizon's comprehensive suite of unified communications and collaboration solutions, and is being integrated with Verizon Managed Mobility to simplify management of a multitude of global devices, expenses and applications across multiple carriers around the globe.

In a separate announcement Tuesday (May 11), the company introduced Enterprise Mobility as a Service, a cloud-based solution for businesses to more simply and cost-effectively manage and use mobile devices to access corporate resources.

Phone.com and TurboBridge are partnering to make a High Definition telephone audio conferencing service available to Phone.com’s installed user base. This new HD phone service launch comes just 3 months after Phone.com introduced its own HD Business Phone service, and it represents one of the most compelling business applications for HD voice.

TurboBridge recently launched the world’s first High Definition audio conferencing service. Powered by the company’s patent-pending TurboSound technology, TurboBridge offers quality HD audio combined with standard business conferencing features such as call recording, support for up to 250 conference participants, and lecture and Q&A modes. In addition, TurboBridge offers more access methods than any other conferencing service in the world, providing features such as direct connectivity for IP PBX’s and IP telephone handsets via a public SIP URI.

TurboBridge HD voice service can be accessed through any IP method, (Skype, SIP or TurboPhone) and has the extra benefit of being free (no telecom charges) while offering the highest audio quality in the business. These perks make TurboBridge a great solution for road warriors and international enterprises.

Phone.com and TurboBridge are partnering to give Phone.com customers their own dedicated conference access number as well as speed dial access from their Phone.com Virtual Office telephone handsets to their own dedicated conference bridges. Those Phone.com customers who have the new HD Voice Polycom HD phones will be able to enjoy their conference calls in crystal clear HD quality audio.

Phone.com will initially offer the enhanced TurboBridge conferencing service to its customers free of charge, further reinforcing its “all included” philosophy when it comes to bundling and selling services.

Broadvox announces GO!Hosted, a feature rich hosted IP PBX offering, during the 2010 Broadvox Partner Summit in Dallas, Texas. Long recognized as a VoIP/SIP Trunking technology leader, GO!Hosted makes it possible for companies to enjoy a comprehensive suite of PBX features at a dramatically lower price point.

With GO!Hosted customers will receive a feature rich package of options with powerful administrative control and broad range of end-user options. Traditional PBX features are delivered at a fraction of the cost which opens the door for smaller companies to appear as larger sophisticated businesses while benefiting from the improved levels of productivity associated with state of the art applications like unified communications.

GO!Hosted establishes a new paradigm in pricing for a hosted PBX service. The average cost per extension is approximately two-thirds less than what is charged by most other hosted VoIP providers for similar services. This is accomplished by separating the price of the per extension license fee from the usage of local and long distance calling. This means that companies with a high number of extensions but low usage will pay less than companies with the same number of extensions but with higher usage. No longer will companies pay for usage from seldom used phones in conference rooms, kitchens, warehouses or reception areas.

In addition to a much lower system cost, GO!Hosted solution includes a user-friendly administrative portal for simple and quick administration of user profiles, features and system configurations. The portal supports the requirements of SMBs, call centers and enterprise branch offices and telecommuting workers. High Definition voice quality is delivered supported ba a nationwide robust IP communications network with 24/7 technical support. No additional software licenses or equipment, other than IP Phones is requires for activation. GO!Hosted is subscription based and scalable to support company growth and expansion without sacrificing any features or benefits.

Certified with handsets and softphones from industry leaders such as Polycom, Cisco, Linksys, Grandstream, Bria Softphone and others, GO!Hosted is the latest addition to the Broadvox GO! solution offering for businesses. GO!Hosted software and servers are maintained by Broadvox thus eliminating administrative overhead costs. Companies that choose a Broadvox GO! SIP Trunking solution along with GO!Hosted will save even more on their telecom spend while maximizing the flexibility of IP communications.

VoicePulse announces the immediate availability of phone numbers in Minnesota’s 218, 320, 612, 651 and 763 area codes. VoicePulse’s residential and business plans cover 47 calling areas, giving Minnesota’s citizens a new option in local and long distance phone service.

VoicePulse Broadband Phone service plans include over 20 features such as:

• Telemarketer Blocking, Virtual Numbers, Anonymous Call Rejection, Call Transfer and Call Hunt
• YouMail, the premier voicemail provider
• Local Number Portability

Plans for home users include:

• America Unlimited - local, regional and US long distance calling for $24.99 per month
• Local Unlimited - local, regional and 200 US long distance minutes for 14.99 per month

Consumers only need a high-speed Internet connection and an ordinary touch-tone telephone to use the service. In addition, VoicePulse offers a variety of referral and affiliate programs including Refer-a-Friend for residential and business customers, a Partner Program for resellers and referral incentives for multi-unit properties.

VoicePulse also brings its VoIP services to business and wholesale customers with VoicePulse SIP trunking. Businesses using IP PBXs such as Digium's Asterisk, AsteriskNow, Switchvox, Fonality's PBXtra, trixbox, FreePBX, or FreeSwitch will find that VoicePulse is the perfect complement with its one-of-a-kind, one-click auto-configuration module.

8x8 announces the release of "8x8 Virtual Office Mobile," a WiFi-driven extension of the 8x8 Virtual Office VoIP business phone service customized for the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch.

Available as a free download in the App Store, "8x8 Virtual Office Mobile" enables subscribers to utilize their Virtual Office phone number and service remotely from within any WiFi zone. "Virtual Office Mobile" essentially converts an iPhone or iPod Touch to a Virtual Office extension, equipped with the features, functionality and built-in cost savings of the powerful 8x8 Virtual Office hosted PBX phone service, including unlimited inbound and outbound domestic calling as well as overseas calling at competitive 8x8 international rates. Inbound calls to the Virtual Office extension can be retrieved from either an 8x8 IP desktop phone, the 8x8 Virtual Office Pro unified communications portal or the iPhone/iPod Touch mobile handset. Outbound calls can be made directly through the mobile handset just as with any extension on the Virtual Office service. Users can also perform functions such as extension dialing, call transfers, 3-way calling, and voicemail notification and retrieval.

Junction Networks announces that its OnSIP Hosted PBX has been recognized by VoIP Evolution as one of the top VoIP Advances in 2009 with the introduction of My.OnSIP, a browser based unified communications tool combining phone presence, IM and real time status notifications. The first hosted tool of its kind, My.OnSIP allows users to see the status of other users within their organization, seamlessly make and transfer calls with the click of a mouse and conduct secure and private IM sessions with colleagues.

The addition of features such as My.OnSIP, according to VoIP Evolution, have further blurred the lines between hosted and on-premise IP PBXs, making hosted models more appealing with lower prices, more features, and no system maintenance. Included in the list of 25 Advances was also the addition of HD Voice services, which OnSIP has recently added to its long list of features.

OnSIP customers can take advantage of My.OnSIP at no additional cost, with plans starting as low as $39.99 per month.

Bandwidth.com announces the general availability of wholesale voice origination on the FlexNetwork– its nationwide, all-IP voice network. The FlexNetwork is quickly becoming the network of choice for Voice 2.0 innovators because it features the latest IP voice technology, full geographic redundancy for mission-critical applications, and an API that allows companies to integrate into the FlexNetwork’s number management system. Additionally, Bandwidth.com works with FlexNetwork customers to expose new functionality, such as SMS capability, that allows Voice 2.0 application providers to enhance their offerings to customers.

Services such as Voxeo, Ifbyphone, OnState & Yext have been early adopters of the FlexNetwork as nationwide rate-centers have come on-line over the past year. In fact, the network is already on pace to deliver almost 4 billion minutes of voice service in 2009, with well over 1 million phone numbers. Here are real-world examples of innovative applications that are using the FlexNetwork today: “Ifbyphone’s mission is simple: we automated phone calls,” said Irv Shapiro, CEO of Ifbyphone. “With our platform, customers can route and track inbound calls, automate outbound calls, and create complete IVR experiences - all from an easy, web based portal. The FlexNetwork is a low-cost, flexible network that allows us to focus on our application platform.”

Bandwidth.com’s FlexNetwork is now generally available for wholesale voice origination and termination across the US. More information at http://flexnetwork.com or by calling the FlexNetwork team at 866-578-8999. See more about these Voice 2.0 innovators at Bandwidth.com’s blog, http://www.bandwidth.com/blog.

FlexNetwork Technical Specifications and Features:

• Protocols: SIP
• Currently Supported Codecs: - G.711u, G.729a
• Tested Codecs: - G.726 IP, G.726 AA12, G 723.1, G.723.1a, G.711a, G.729a, iLBC
• Nationwide Coverage: SIP Trunking, Origination/Termination
• Latest Sonus Networks Hardware
• Separate signaling and audio facilities for reliability and flexibility
• Built for VoIP; not burdened with legacy traffic

VoX Communications has become the first carrier to deploy a mobile VoIP unlimited data and voice phone in the U.S.

Pervasip's Chief Information Officer, Mark Richards, noted, "We have been working on perfecting this technology for over 12 months and our VoIP is now an integrated component of the operating system of the HTC Touch Pro 2 mobile phone. We are not merely an application running on the top of the phone, like some other VoIP providers. We are native to the phone so that the user cannot tell he is making a VoIP call. This advanced technology that utilizes low cost packet-switching over GSM cell phone towers nationwide, allows us to offer unlimited data and voice service on the Touch Pro 2 for only $69.95 a month. We believe the Touch Pro 2 is a brilliant device and that our service offering is the best one available. We are selling the service, prepaid on a credit card, on a month-to-month basis. We do not believe we need to lock up consumers in one or two year contracts, because they will realize that we have the best cost-to-value service available. We expect to launch other mobile products within 60 days. We are very pleased that VoX has finally transitioned from a wholesale landline VoIP provider into 'The Voice of Mobile Broadband.' We already have substantial demand for this product."

Richards continued, "This development effort has been very complex and it is nice to see the hard work from our technology team finally coming to fruition. The technology is high grade VoIP over the GSM data network, a very difficult technological achievement. In addition to our world-class technology team, we are pleased to acknowledge the significant contributions of Anderson Taylor, who has provided the software client application for the VoX Windows Mobile phone. The Touch Pro 2 and our service is immediately available to order from the VoX website at http://www.voxcorp.net."

XOP Network announces that San Isabel Telecom is using the XOP Networks' Universal Service Node with simultaneous T1 and SIP connectivity to provide voice mail to both traditional and VoIP customers. San Isabel Telecom is a facilities-based provider of voice and data services in several mountain regions of Colorado. The company was started by Doug Wagner in 1996 to meet the communications needs of the ever-growing Vail Valley. San Isabel also serves the Aspen and Basalt areas.

San Isabel Telecom has a TDM network with a Alcatel-Lucent 5ESS switch, and a next generation packet based VoIP network with a Cisco Gateway and Acme Packet Session Border Controller. San Isabel is meeting the challenge of providing voice mail to customers on the TDM network and the VoIP network at the same time by using the XOP Networks' USN to connect to the 5ESS switch and the VoIP based SBC equipment.

In addition to providing TDM and SIP connectivity, the USN based Voice Mail application allows voice mails to be accessed by telephone, web portal and PDAs such as iPhone and Blackberry. The PDA access is unique in that voice mails can be accessed in random order simply by a click on the PDA based web portal.