17/01/2012 - After years of delay, three ex-Nortel execs go to court on fraud charges
In what's sure to be as entertaining as an episode of The Good Wife, the long-delayed trial of Nortel Network's former CEO Frank Dunn, former CFO Douglas Beatty and former controller Michael Gollogly on charges the trio raided the hen house and cooked the tech company's books between 2000 and 2004 began in Toronto on Monday. The Crown, criticized for being soft on white collar crime in the past, is under tight scrutiny in the Nortel case, and has been poring through millions of documents, some dating back before the catastrophic collapses of two of the world's biggest business scandals, Enron and WorldCom. Article
05/08/2011 - Vonage Reports Record High Net Income of $22 million
age Holdings announced results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2011. The Company reported record high net income of $22 million and record high adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (“EBITDA”) of $44 million.29/03/2011 - Black Diamond Video Launches the Sapphire-QHD1 Conferencing Solution
Black Diamond Video launched its comprehensive high definition conferencing solution, Sapphire-QHD1, a four-faceted package that offers bi-directional HD video and audio conferencing, unidirectional HD video and audio streaming, HD video recording, and HD image capture. Black Diamond Video’s HIPAA compliant Sapphire-QHD1 can be incorporated into BDV’s popular Integrated Digital Surgical Suite (IDSS) for medical applications or stand alone as a commercial, business, or military conferencing system.13/12/2010 - Fring Launches Dynamic Video Quality Mobile Calling
fring announced the rollout of its network-optimized DVQ mobile video calling technology. The company’s proprietary DVQ (dynamic video quality) technology adjusts video bit rate and frame rate according to the specific device to match current network bandwidth during a call, delivering the best possible video picture quality for available bandwidth between call peers. 30/11/2010 - Demand Up, Prices Down for Carrier VoIP and IMS Equipment
The total service provider VoIP equipment market, including trunk media gateways, SBCs, media servers, softswitches, and voice application servers, decreased 9% from 2Q10 to 3Q10, to $511 million, according to Infonetics Research. While revenue is down for the quarter, shipments for almost all segments in the market are up sequentially. 27/08/2010 - Taiwan government authorities astounded at Intel WiMAX move
Intel’s determination to regroup its attempts on WiMAX has forced the Taiwanese authorities to reconsider their stance on LTE, a long-running development, as the next 4G standard.
Over the past years, Taiwan has proved to be one of the strongest supporters of the WiMAX engineering science versus its major 4G rival, the LTE technology that is a long-running development. At present, Taiwanese firms are in full gear to distribute telecommunication equipment and electronics that back up WiMAX technology.
Government authorities are ordered to re-examine the state of the fourth-generation wireless (4G) policy through the end of this calendar month following Intel Corporation’s sudden move to break up the task force on WiMAX, an official said yesterday.
25/08/2010 - Silicon Labs and Beceem Partner on WiMAX VoIP Gateway Reference Design
Silicon Laboratories announced that it has partnered with Beceem Communications, WiMAX solutions vendor, to deliver a VoIP broadband gateway reference design for 4G-WiMAX service providers. The WiMAX VoIP gateway reference design is based on Beceem’s recently introduced BCS5350 single-chip WiMAX customer premises equipment solution. It also incorporates Silicon Labs’ Si32176 ProSLIC devices to provide the interface that enables the use of traditional home telephones for VoIP services over WiMAX. 23/08/2010 - The reaction to FaceTime
VoIP Survivor has a cool roundup up of the web's reaction to the iPhone4 FaceTime application. As what would appear to be the beginning of the mobile video VoIP movement, it's interesting to see the varied coverage including musings on the effects of the technology on carriers, comparisons to Skype and the technical stuff behind the service. Article
21/07/2010 - XO Communications Debuts XO Enterprise SIP Savings Estimator
XO Communications has released a new Savings Estimator tool that gives enterprises the ability to calculate an approximate cost-savings benefit of utilizing XO Enterprise SIP. According to the company, the XO Enterprise SIP enables customers to “simplify, streamline and achieve better cost savings.”20/07/2010 - Nortel Patent Auction Benefits LTE Market
The decision by Nortel to sell its Long Term Evolution (LTE) patent portfolio could serve as a launch pad for companies planning to cash in on a market expected to undergo explosive growth in the coming years, according to iSuppli. 15/07/2010 - Fring went head-to-head with FaceTime, ended up fighting Skype
So the big drama award this week really has to go to Fring and Skype. Just as Fring launched their video calling app to compete with the iPhone 4 FaceTime app, the company got into a blog-war of words with Skype over alleged blocking of service.
In a case of He-said She-said, Skype and Fring both allege different things. Fring fired off a blog post claiming that Skype had blocked them from using their service. Skype claims that Fring was violating its API terms and that Fring voluntarily stopped using Skype for its service. I guess if Skype told Fring that they couldn't use their service because they were violating their API terms that would essentially be blocking but it's not that they have set up a physical software block on Fring software.
FierceWireless had a good Editor's Corner on the whole fracas, bringing up the real concern of the whole thing: Why are these guys fighting when the services the companies are offering are going to cost consumers a fortune on their new limited cellular data plans?
For more:
- read the GigaOm post with all the back and forth
- read the FierceWireless editorial on the Fring/Skype fight
Related articles:
Fring goes head-to-head with FaceTime for video calling
Hands on Fring for Android
fring offers first-ever mobile VoIP video calls?
21/06/2010 - Just because there are standards, doesn't mean it's interoperable
VoIP Survivor points out this week that standards don't mean interoperability. FaceTime apparently doesn't even work with iChat! Just one more example of a major barrier for our industry's video calling plans. Article
26/05/2010 - What Exactly Is '4G'?
Simply put, 4G is what comes after 3G. Today's wireless broadband networks are powered by 3G - short for third-generation -- technology. In the U.S., that means HSDPA/UMTS and CMDA EVDO radio technologies. These are currently used by AT&T/T-Mobile and Sprint/Verizon, respectively. The 3G standard was devised by the 3GPP2 organization. The same and other standards bodies are working to finalize what 4G -- or fourth generation -- wireless networks will include. The standard has not been finalized.
Let me repeat that: The standard has not been finalized. Without a finalized standard, technically speaking, 4G hasn't been defined and doesn't exist. Any company claiming to offer 4G products and/or services is not telling the entire truth (hell, it might even be misleading consumers).
Fourth generation wireless networks are to be IP-based, and must meet the IMT (International Mobile Telecommunications) Advanced criteria.
18/05/2010 - Empirix Brings VoIP and IMS Expertise to Mobile Networks
Empirix has expanded its flagship Hammer XMS technology to provide end-to-end network monitoring for mobile core architectures. For mobile operators transitioning to all IP LTE networks, and traditional wire line operators or MSOs that are adding mobile service offerings, Hammer XMS "helps lower the cost of deploying and maintaining multi-protocol network architectures and ensures a more consistent customer experience," as the company claims. 27/04/2010 - RIM Announces BlackBerry MVS 5 with Voice over Wi-Fi Calling
RIM announced BlackBerry Mobile Voice System 5 with voice over Wi-Fi calling. It works with Cisco UC Manager and enables a business user to use their regular desk phone number and extension from their BlackBerry smartphone. 14/12/2009 - Intel has no plans to bid for Wimax spectrum
"We have no such plans (to bid for Wimax spectrum auction) it is for the operator to go for this. We will do what we are best at... to make platform and get the devices up there," Intel South Asia Managing Director (Sales and Marketing) R Sivakumar said here.
Sivakumar was replying to a query if Intel being a pioneer in deploying wireless technology in the world would be interested to bid for Wimax spectrum auction scheduled to happen in January.
Yesterday, Intel and BSNL launched wireless broadband services in Jaipur.
Source: PTI
02/12/2009 - Infonetics: VoIP equipment revenue steady in Q3; IMS expectations dialed back
A new Infonetics report claims the worldwide service provider Voice over IP equipment revenue totaled $595 million in Q3 09, which was only a slight decline from the last quarter.
Infonetics Research releases a quarterly report on service providers VoIP equipment and subscribers as well as IMS equipment and subscribers forecasts. Q3 saw the VoIP equipment market holding pretty strong as the report claims that the economic downturn spurred service providers to migrate to IP communications. Some interesting things to note were Cisco and Alcatel-Lucent posting double-digit percent increases in their media gateway revenue for Q3 and Nokia Siemens Networks posting 100% growth in softswitch sales for the same quarter.
On the IMS front worldwide revenue for core IMS equipment market declined 39 percent sequentially in Q3. But, the report claims that IMS equipment is experiencing healthy growth because of the continued adoption of VoIP services worldwide and service providers' migration of VoIP services to IMS networks. Ericsson may still be the leader in the IMS market overall, but Infonetics claims that it's seeing serious competition from Huawei, Nokia Siemens Networks and Alcatel-Lucent. Back in June, Infonetics reported that the global IMS market is expected to grow at a rapid pace for the next five years, and the predicted revenues will grow from around $200 million in 2008 to more than $2.5 billion in 2013. In this new report, they dialed down their assumptions saying they expect it to grow to $1.6 billion by 2013.
For more:
- see the release
Related articles
Infonetics: Carrier VoIP equipment spend drops, IMS up
Infonetics: VoIP equipment down, capex spending not so much
IMS equipment sales to grow 74% in 2009
20/11/2009 - Kineto Announces Combined VoLGA / IMS Client for Voice Over LTE
Kineto announced what it claims to be the industry’s first software client that supports both VoLGA (voice over LTE via Generic Access) and IMS voice for LTE handsets.
According to the company, the new client enables handset manufacturers to easily integrate a combined VoLGA/IMS voice client and accelerate LTE handsets to market.
16/11/2009 - GIPS Brings HD Voice to Android
Global IP Solutions announced support for a mobile operating system, allowing Android mobile application developers to quickly create applications with HD voice inside. Building first-rate VoIP-enabled clients is now possible with GIPS VoiceEngine Mobile.
Nimbuzz, a free mobile social messaging application, will be the first customer to offer HD voice (VoIP) on Android phones using GIPS voice mobile solution.
16/11/2009 - Voxeo raises $9M for more acquisitions
Voxeo, a Florida-based VoIP provider, has raised $9 million from North Atlantic Capital and Florida Growth Fund. The company claims the new funds will be used to continue its growth through acquisitions.
In the past 14 months, the startup has picked the SIP VoIP platform Micromethod as will as Motorola's VoiceXML brower, instant messaging developer IMified and application server Voiceobjects. "Voxeo will use the funds to take advantage of rapidly growing opportunities in Unlocked Communications, including VoIP platforms, Interactive Voice Response, text and instant messaging, and unified communications, both by accelerating internal development and through corporate acquisitions," the company said in a release.
According to Voxeo CEO, Jonathan Taylor, Voxeo's revenue has grown 1,361 percent over the last five years so it's no surprise that new investors want to get a piece of the action.
Read more:
- see this Washington Post blog post
- see this press release
Related articles
Voxeo buys IMified
Voxeo opens up its cloud
VoIP players talk potential profits
Voxeo buys VoiceObjects
10/11/2009 - Clearwire to raise more than $1.5 billion to expand WiMax network
Along with Sprint and its cable partners, Clearwire, founded by wireless pioneer Craig McCaw, is competing with the dominant U.S. mobile providers Verizon Wireless and AT&T Inc (T.N) in the race to sign up consumers to lucrative services such as mobile Web surfing.
Sprint the No. 3 U.S. mobile service and Clearwire's 51 percent owner has been struggling to stem customers losses from its own network, but it is banking on Clearwire's network for its next generation of wireless data offerings.
Cable operators Comcast Corp and Time Warner Cable will invest $196 million and $103 million respectively. These companies rent space on Clearwire's network to offer high-speed wireless services. Chip maker Intel Corp's contribution to Clearwire will be $50 million.
Soleil/Nelson Alpha Research analyst Michael Nelson said the funding was good news for Clearwire but noted that it was less than half of a total $3.4 billion in funding that he estimates the company will need by 2013.
Nelson said in a research note that he has "significant concerns regarding Clearwire's business model and cash burn in the face of a weak macro environment."
Clearwire said it would get about $1.057 billion in cash from equity financing within five business days and $440 million by year-end, with the remaining $66 million to be funded during the first quarter of 2010.
Clearwire also said it would launch an offer of a minimum of $1.45 billion in senior secured notes and to use net proceeds to pay off its existing $1.40 billion credit facility.
In the latest funding round, Craig McCaw's investment firm Eagle River Holdings will also give Clearwire $20 million in new funding and Bright House Networks will contribute $19 million. All the participants will get newly issued shares priced at $7.33 per share in exchange for their investments.
21/10/2009 - T-Mobile to Offer First 3G BlackBerry with Voice Calling over Wi-Fi
RIM announced the upcoming availability of the BlackBerry Bold 9700 with Wi-Fi Calling from T-Mobile.
It will be the first 3G-powered BlackBerry available through T-Mobile USA, and also the first smartphone from RIM that includes built-in support for both 3G connectivity and voice calls over Wi-Fi, according to T-Mobile.
09/10/2009 - Comcast to acquire mid-tier IP communications company Cimco
Comcast has announced that it is buying Chicago area voice and data services provider Cimco Communications. Cimco provides both hosted VoIP services as well as IP trunking for the enterprise and small businesses in the Chicago area. Launched in 2006, Comcast's commercial services efforts have been focused mainly on small business needs, and the purchase of Cimco accelerates its move into the mid-tier IP communications market.
According to Cable Digital News, the move may signal further acquisitions in Comcast's strategy to serve more of the mid-tier market. Comcast has estimated a $30 billion market opportunity for small- and mid-tier business services.
For more:
- read this article in Cable Digital News
- read FierceTelecom's take on the Cimco purchase here
Related articles
FCC to consolidate Comcast VoIP issues with existing processes
Comcast reports VoIP service outage
In 2008 Comcast launched triple play aimed at businesses
05/10/2009 - Clearwire Woos Developer Crowd with Free WiMax in Silicon Valley
The network covers Santa Clara, Mountain View and parts of downtown Palo Alto, California. That means it can service the campuses of Google, Intel and Cisco, and perhaps the apartments and garages of many other independent developers. Clearwire originally announced plans for the network in April.
In order to get unlimited access to the network developers must prove that they are working on a legitimate project, and they must purchase one of Clearwire's WiMax modems, which start at $50. And the free service offer lasts only one year.
What's In It for Clearwire?
Clearwire hopes that by being the first in the area to offer a fast 4G network in the neighborhood, it will spur developers to create new apps that depend on and leverage 4G speed. (WiMax can deliver average download speeds of 3 to 6 Mbps, while most 3G networks average download speeds of between 600 kbps and 1.4 Mbps.) For instance, a Clearwire rep told me, possible apps might use multiple high-bandwidth services like video and large file sharing.
17/08/2009 - Fixed-Line VoIP Service as a Mainstay of IMS Deployments
Infonetics Research released results from its IMS Plans: Global Service Provider Survey. It shows that 80% of Infonetics’ service provider respondents run fixed voice over IMS today or will by 2011 and that more than half of the service provider respondents plan to deploy video telephony and converged mobile/fixed-line services over the next 12–18 months.
