Category: Telecom Industry
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Heading out to ClueCon 2008, Telephony Developer Conference, this week..
Continue Reading: Heading out to ClueCon 2008, Telephony Developer Conference, this week..This afternoon I’ll be heading to the airport to fly out to Chicago to be part of ClueCon this week. Haven’t heard of ClueCon before? Here’s the quick summary:ClueCon – is an annual 3-Day Telephony User and Developer Conference bringing together the entire spectrum of Telephony from TDM circuits to VoIP and everything in between. The presentations and discussions will cover several open source telephony applications such as Asterisk/Callweaver, Kamailio (formerly OpenSER), Bayonne, YATE and FreeSWITCH.
Billed as the “Telephony Developer Conference” it primarily focuses on the whole world of open source telephony.
I’ll be there as part of two panels. First, tomorrow I’ll be joining fellow VoIP bloggers Andy Abramson and Thomas Howe on a “VoIP Roundtable” to talk about current industry themes and trends. Then on Thursday I’ll be part of a “VoIP Security Roundtable” talking about… gee… can you guess?
It should be a fun event… I’m looking forward to catching up with Andy, Thomas, Moshe Yudkowsky, Jon Todd and several others. There are also some folks on the schedule with whom I have corresponded but never physically me, so that will be nice as well. If any of you reading this will also be…
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Sangoma acquires Paraxip… open source-focused hardware meets enterprise software
Continue Reading: Sangoma acquires Paraxip… open source-focused hardware meets enterprise softwareEarlier this week there was the announcement that Sangoma was acquiring Montreal-based startup Paraxip for $4.8 million which was interesting to me on a couple of levels. First, I’ve known David Mandelstam from Sangoma for now around 8 years since way back when I was part of the open source startup e-smith up in Ottawa. David and I have continued to meet at trade shows over all these years and he’s a great guy. So I’m pleased for him that Sangoma is growing.It’s also an intriguing transaction because it moves Sangoma is a different direction from its past… they have primarily been a provider of PSTN-connection hardware with a heavy focus in recent years on Asterisk and open source. Now, with Paraxip, they move into Windows-based enterprise software! As Jon Arnold points out, the two companies already announced last September the integration of their products, so that part of an acquisition has already been done.
In any event, I’m pleased for them all that this has worked out and I wish them all the best. Here is some good analysis of the deal:
- Garrett Smith: Sangoma Broaden’s Their Horizons With Paraxip Deal
- Jon Arnold: Sangoma Acquires Paraxip – More…
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Congrats to my Canadian friends on Rogers dropping iPhone and RIM charges…
Continue Reading: Congrats to my Canadian friends on Rogers dropping iPhone and RIM charges…Having lived in Canada for 5 years and dealt with Rogers Communications being really the only GSM game in town, I understood the jubilation yesterday of Canadians like Jim Courtney when Rogers dropped their prices for iPhone plans. Faced with a lot of negative publicity in advance of tomorrow’s iPhone launch in Canada… faced with 60,000 people signing an online petition… and facing Apple redirecting some iPhones away from Canada over to Europe… Rogers caved and dropped it’s prices.Even better for Canadians, the price drop is also in effect for Blackberry users!
Jim’s post has all the details and pointers.
Go, Canada! (You, too, can now join in iPhone mania… 🙂
Technorati Tags: iphone, apple, rim, blackberry, canada, rogers
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Is voicemail dead? Our Squawk Box discussion…
Continue Reading: Is voicemail dead? Our Squawk Box discussion…On yesterday’s Squawk Box podcast, we had a lively and enjoyable conversation on the subject of “Is Voicemail Dead?” – building off of Michael Arrington’s recent TechCrunch post and Andy Abramson’s followup post. It was a fun conversation with different perspectives that definitely highlights that the way in which we are using voice messaging is definitely changing. You can listen to the show from the Saunderslog page or in iTunes. The Calliflower show notes page also has more links and a transcript of the live chat during the call.Technorati Tags: squawk box, voicemail, telephony, phone, dan york, telecommunications, voice messaging
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It’s all about syncing to the cloud – Apple’s MobileMe was the most interesting part of the iPhone 3G WWDC keynote
Continue Reading: It’s all about syncing to the cloud – Apple’s MobileMe was the most interesting part of the iPhone 3G WWDC keynoteOkay, so the iPhone got better – so what? To me, the new iPhone 3G was NOT the most interesting part of yesterday’s Steve Jobs keynote at the Apple WWDC event. Sure, the blogosphere (and mainstream media) is buzzing like crazy about it (and we discussed it at length on yesterday’s Squawk Box). Sure, it’s great that the iPhone costs a lot less (at least, up front), is available in more countries (but still not in Vermont!), has GPS and now will work over 3G networks. Sure, all that is great.
<Donning flame-proof clothing> But at the end of the day, it’s still just a mobile phone! Sure, it’s an incredibly sexy one and yes now that I live in New Hampshire I admittedly am considering getting one. But it’s… still… just… a… phone. (And yes, I realize such a statement is heretical in defiance of the Cult of Apple (of which I am increasingly becoming a member).)
To me what was far more intriguing was Apple’s launch of “MobileMe” at me.com. Why?
Apple is getting into the “cloud” in a major way.
Let’s take a look at what Apple is offering (watch the Guided Tour to see it in…
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Four reasons I am choosing NOT to cut the landline cord
Continue Reading: Four reasons I am choosing NOT to cut the landline cordTwelve days ago I asked the question, “Do I cut the landline cord and move my new home phone number into the cloud?“, and the responses have been great to read. Today, I can write the answer…No, I will NOT cut the cord.
Around noon today my landline in Keene should be installed by Fairpoint Communications (who recently bought all of Verizon’s landline business in Maine, NH and Vermont).
Why did I finally give in and get a landline installed? Four reasons:
FAX – Unbelievably to me, perhaps the primary reason for keeping a landline is an old archaic technology that I absolutely can’t stand… fax. This was brought home to me during the process of closing on the purchase of our Keene home and the sale of our Burlington home. As much as we may hate it, there are still some transactions that require fax. There were documents that had to be faxed to the bank. Documents that had to be faxed to lawyers. Documents that had to be faxed to real estate agents. To contractors.
To a techie like me, it was unbelievably annoying not to be able to simply use email. But in many cases,…
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Do I cut the landline cord and move my new home phone number into the cloud?
Continue Reading: Do I cut the landline cord and move my new home phone number into the cloud?UPDATE – May 21: Today I posted my answer to the question…
In our new home, do I get a land line?
Or do I move our home phone number into “the cloud”?
We’re closing on our home in Keene, NH, next Thursday and as we get set with the utilities that is one of the key questions on my mind. Do I actually “cut the cord” and NOT sign up for a land line with Verizon/Fairpoint?[1]
On one level, we don’t need it. My wife and I both have our cell phones. Our daughter is six and isn’t yet at the age to make phone calls. I work in the world of voice-over-IP and can certainly get a solution there.
Why should we get a land line?
ADVANTAGES OF A LAND LINE
In thinking about this, it seems to me there are the following reasons to get a land line:
911 – UPDATE: As PhoneBoy reminded me in a comment, the overarching reason for having a landline is 911! A landline is the only guaranteed way to dial 911 and have emergency services arrive at your house. Precisely because it is tied to your geographical location it does indeed…
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The next stage of the Wireless War: U.S. Cable companies – with Google – fund launch of WiMax
Continue Reading: The next stage of the Wireless War: U.S. Cable companies – with Google – fund launch of WiMaxOn tomorrow’s Squawk Box podcast, the other topic we’ll cover is the funding of WiMAX venture Clearwire by the major US cable companies – and Google and Intel! Om Malik again kicked off the discussion with “U.S. WiMAX Save by $3.2 Billion Infusion” which lays out the deal in simple terms. Other coverage:- Google provides a statement on its blog: “Investing in the future of the open Internet” (TechCrunch has commentary)
- Wall Street Journal
- AP: “Clearwire, Sprint Nextel to form $14.55B wireless company”
- Brough Turner thinks this is great for competition and US mobile Internet
- Larry Dignan at ZDNet says these folks are determined to make WiMax a reality
- Paul Kapustka lays out who are the winners and losers
- Clint Boulton at Google Watch ponders how this could drive Android along
- The Washington Post wonders about how this impacts net neutrality
- PC Magazine believes this deal hides even more delays for WiMAX
What do you think? Is this the cable companies attempt to get into the wireless world with a competitor to the telcos move toward LTE? Can they do it? What about Google’s role? Will this succeed?
Please join us on tomorrow’s Squawk Box[1] (May…
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Can the carriers/telcos really create a Skype-killing replacement?
Continue Reading: Can the carriers/telcos really create a Skype-killing replacement?That’s the question raised by Om Malik in “Global Telcos Plotting a Skype Rival?” and will be one of the topics of discussion on tomorrow’s Squawk Box podcast. Om starts:AT&T, in conjunction with some 10-15 incumbent telecom carriers — British Telecom, Deutsche Telecom and NTT among them — is plotting to launch a Skype competitor, according to a research report issued this morning by ThinkEquity analyst Anton Wahlman.
And goes on from there at some length into the theories, timeframes and capabilities of the rumored network. While I haven’t had time personally to contribute directly to the conversation, others have:
- Tom Keating dismisses this as utter hogwash and pure speculation
- Jim Courtney (Skype Journal) sees this as much ado about nothing
- Andy Abramson notes the connections to GSMA and ITU
- Eric Lagerway thinks it could be exactly what the industry needs but that the telcos will probably screw it up
- Carolyn Schuk believes that we’ll see this skype-killer from the telcos about when elephants fly
- Dameon Welch-Abernathy (PhoneBoy) says the carriers need to get back to their roots (and embeds a great 1980 Bell commercial)
- Alec Saunders doubts the carriers can do it and thinks the things he said…
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AOL launches OpenView API and gives us half a phone connection…
Continue Reading: AOL launches OpenView API and gives us half a phone connection…Does accepting SIP connections at your SIP proxy constitute an “API”? Does providing SIP termination services to the PSTN constitute an “API”?Those were the questions I found myself asking after AOL announced yesterday their “Open Voice API” (also see CNET article). Since I work with voice application platforms, I’m always interested in new voice APIs and naturally had to check it out.
WHAT IT IS
I have to admit it took some time to figure out what the “Open Voice Program” really is, even after reading the program page and the accompanying blog post. Largely I think the issue was that I was looking for something more.
So here’s what is going on. As part of their “AOL Voice Services“, AOL has a service called “AIM Call Out“. This allows a user of AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) to make outbound calls from their AIM client to the regular phone numbers on the PSTN for competitive rates (under 2 cents a minute here in the US).
From a network topology point-of-view, what happens with the call is that the call goes from your AIM client to the SIP gateway on the edge of AOL’s network across some SIP…