Category: Telecom Industry
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Initial Thoughts On “Wire”, The New Communication App From Ex-Skypers
Continue Reading: Initial Thoughts On “Wire”, The New Communication App From Ex-SkypersAnother remarkable day in Internet communications! Today brought the launch of “Wire“, a “modern communications network” that runs on iOS, Android, Mac OS X and soon in WebRTC-equipped web browsers.My first thought was naturally – do we really need YET-another-OTT-communication app?
After all, my iPhone is littered with the dead carcasses of so many other apps that have launched trying to be THE communication platform we all want to use. (And indeed I’ve written about many of them here on this site.)
But what makes Wire different for me from so many other similar apps that have launched (and faded) is really the PEOPLE involved. The news announcement mentions, of course, Skype co-founder Janus Friis as one of the big names behind Wire. Jonathan Christensen is also the co-founder and CEO of Wire. The news post says this:
The company’s team comprises former product and technology leaders from Apple, Skype, Nokia, and Microsoft. Christensen held leadership roles at Microsoft and Skype, and was co-founder and CEO at Camino Networks. Along with Christensen, founders include Alan Duric, Wire’s CTO, a co-founder of Telio (Oslo exchange TELIO) and co-founder of Camino (acquired by eBay/Skype); and Priidu Zilmer, Wire’s head…
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Join Me On VUC Today At Noon US EDT To Talk IPv6, IoT, WebRTC and more…
Continue Reading: Join Me On VUC Today At Noon US EDT To Talk IPv6, IoT, WebRTC and more…Today at 12 noon US Eastern (in about 3.5 hours), I’ll be part of a panel on the VoIP Users Conference (VUC) talking about IPv6, WebRTC, the Internet of Things (IoT) and much, much more… you should be able to watch it live at live.vuc.me or embedded here:
VUC host Randy Resnick had a scheduled guest be unable to attend and so he asked a group of us to come on for what he is calling a “VUC Vision” session. I will be on there, as will, I believe, Tim Panton and a number of others. I expect the discussion should range over good variety of topics. It should be a good time… you’re welcome to join in the discussion.
It’s probably best to also join the IRC backchannel where links are shared, questions are answered and other comments occur. You also can visit the Google+ event page for the VUC session today where there may be additional links and info.
If you won’t be at your computer, you can also call in via:
- sip:200901@login.zipdx.com
- +1 (646) 475-2098
- Skype:vuc.me
The session will of course be recorded so you can listen/watch later.
If you found this post interesting or useful, please consider either:…
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Talko Looks Very Cool, But Needed A Firewall Change To Work
Continue Reading: Talko Looks Very Cool, But Needed A Firewall Change To WorkThe big telecom story today certainly seems to the be launch of Ray Ozzie’s new “Talko” application for iOS. Tons of attention in the tech media, and many of my friends on social media have been trying it out. There’s a brilliant article posted on Medium about the “Brave New Phone Call” along with a great blog post from Ray Ozzie about how this new app will revolutionize the voice experience.I think Talko has great potential to do so, particularly after using it.
But…
… I had to change my firewall rules in order to make Talko work. 🙁
And I don’t know how long it will continue to work.
Perhaps worse than that… it wasn’t clear initially that I had a firewall problem. Frequent testing partner Jim Courtney sent me a message and after installing the Talko app on my iPhone I tried to talk to him, but all I seemed to be able to do was send him a voice message or a text message.
Subsequently I tried connecting to Tim Panton and again could only send voice messages. It made for a very asynchronous “walkie-talkie” style of communication that clearly seemed to not be what…
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Watch Live TODAY (Sept 19) – CITI State of Telecom 2014
Continue Reading: Watch Live TODAY (Sept 19) – CITI State of Telecom 2014What is the future of telecommunications and the Internet? As more entertainment moves to being over the Internet, what are the implications for the media and for the technology?Today, September 19, 2014, there is an interesting set of presentations happening at the Columbia Club in New York City, organized by the Columbia (University) Institute for Tele-Information (CITI) called the “CITI State of Telecom 2014”. Subtitled, “From the Internet of Science to The Internet of Next Generation Entertainment Implications for Content, Technology and Industry Consolidation“, the session description states:
The goal of the early Internet was to connect research institutions. Yet today 71% of all Internet traffic consists of video, games, and music, and that number is growing. This transition raises issues for media content, technology, industry consolidation, business strategy, and regulatory policy. Media companies, academics, policy makers, and technologists must think ahead.
You can watch it all live at:
http://new.livestream.com/internetsociety/citisot14
The sessions are being recorded, too, and are available at that address.
The session agenda and list of all the speakers is available on the CITI event page. The quick summary is:
- 9:00am Welcome and Introduction of Topic
- 9:15am Session 1- Technology and business drivers of the transformation of…
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How Do We Define ‘SIP’ For Telecom In 2014?
Continue Reading: How Do We Define ‘SIP’ For Telecom In 2014?“What is a minimum set of specifications that a vendor must implement to be able to say that it is SIP-compliant?”A friend asked me that question and my response was:
It depends.
and even more unfortunately:
I don’t know.
It turns out to be a challenging question to answer… and it led me to ask:
- How do we define what “SIP” is for telecommunications in 2014?
- How do we help vendors move their products/services to be based on SIP?
- As we talk about “turning off the PSTN” and “moving all telecom to IP”, how can we make it easier for companies to switch to using SIP?
The reality is that being “SIP-compliant” does turn out to depend upon where in the larger SIP interconnection ecosystem the vendor is located.
Is the vendor:
- a SIP client, in terms of a “hard” phone, a softphone, or other application that is seeking to connect to a SIP server?
- a SIP server seeking to connect to a SIP “service provider” to have connectivity out to the PSTN and other SIP networks?
- a SIP service provider seeking to interconnect with other SIP service providers and to the PSTN?
- a middlebox such as a firewall…
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What is “5G” Wireless Technology? Watch LIVE in 2 hours to learn more…
Continue Reading: What is “5G” Wireless Technology? Watch LIVE in 2 hours to learn more…What is “fifth-generation” (5G) wireless technology? In about 2 hours at 12noon EDT (16:00 UTC) today, July 24, 2014, there will be a live video stream of a presentation happening at IETF 90 in Toronto, Canada. You can watch the live video on the IETF Google+ Page and also embedded in this blog post below (but check the Google+ page for any updates). The session description is:Discussions on fifth generation (5g) wireless access has rapidly intensified during the latest two years. 5G wireless access is seen as the long-term enabler of the overall networked society, not only providing enhanced mobile broadband access but being a tool to provide wireless connectivity for any kind of application.
This speech will provide an overview of the state of 5G efforts around the world. We will discuss the specific requirements and challenges being identified for 5G wireless access and the different technology components and alternatives being considered. We will also outline possible time schedule for 5G in ITU and 3GPP.
Given that so many people are getting their Internet access through mobile networks (and increasingly will be doing so in the future), I think it’s extremely important to understand where these mobile technologies…
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SIPNOC 2014 Begins Today In Virginia – I am speaking about TLS and SIP (and DANE)
Continue Reading: SIPNOC 2014 Begins Today In Virginia – I am speaking about TLS and SIP (and DANE)Today I’m back at the Hyatt Dulles in Herndon, Virginia, for the fourth SIP Network Operators Conference (SIPNOC) event. These SIPNOC sessions are great because they bring together the people actually operating the SIP-based networks that make up our telecommunications infrastructure. SIPNOC continues to be THE best place I’ve found to interact with the people actually taking SIP standards and making them happen in the “real world”.
I’ve been to all four SIPNOCs – and I continue to find them outstanding events, not only because of the excellent technical content, but also because of the people.
In many cases, these are the “phone guys” (and gals) who have found their way to IP. The “Bellheads” of the age-old “Bellhead vs Nethead” debate. The “telcos”. The people who have been doing telecom for decades… and are now evolving to IP.
In other cases, the people here are the new contenders. The cable companies are here – and they are strongly challenging the legacy telcos, and they are creating entirely new IP-based infrastructures. The “Internet Telephony Service Providers (ITSPs)” and “SIP Trunking” providers are here, too… companies that are reimagining what telecom can be in an IP space. Newer vendors… newer application…
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R.I.P. Simon Gwatkin
Continue Reading: R.I.P. Simon GwatkinI was greatly saddened to learn today of the death of Simon Gwatkin this past weekend. For those of us in the VoIP / telecom space, the world is a little bit darker now.I came to know Simon when I worked at Mitel Networks in Ottawa from 2001-2007, although it wasn’t really until the later years when I wound up working in Mitel’s Office of the CTO and looking more strategically at what the future might hold for companies like Mitel. A lot of my research and time wound up being spent looking at social media and the changing communication landscape. With Simon’s role as head of strategic marketing at Mitel we wound up having any number of quite lengthy conversations about where things were going. We didn’t always agree, which led to very useful and valuable discussions. Simon also got me engaged with industry analysts and helped set me down a path that was quite useful in many later years.
I also spent a good bit of time interacting with some of the startups that were being nurtured under the umbrella of Wesley Clover, the investment vehicle of Sir Terry Matthews. Simon was involved with Terry’s investments there…
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Telcos Should Be Worried – Facebook Controls More OTT Messaging With WhatsApp Acquisition
Continue Reading: Telcos Should Be Worried – Facebook Controls More OTT Messaging With WhatsApp AcquisitionTalk about disruption… the telecom part of the media world is buzzing with news of Facebook’s acquisition of WhatsApp. Techmeme is currently showing MANY posts on the topic and the day is just getting started.The key point here is that WhatsApp is a prime example of what is often called an “Over-The-Top” or “OTT” application. It uses the data channel on a mobile phone to provide services. Here’s another key point from the Facebook news release:
- Messaging volume approaching the entire global telecom SMS volume.
The traditional telecom companies (“telcos”) have already seen their voice revenue seriously eroded by Skype and so many of the other OTT voice applications (such as Viber, which was just acquired) and they’ve been watching SMS traffic and revenue plateau and decline.
WhatsApp was already one of the major players in the mobile messaging space… indeed I have friends in Europe who tell me they can’t remember the last time they sent an actual SMS message because they use WhatsApp for all their messaging. Their usage, too, is not just about the “free” cost of WhatsApp messages – it’s also about the richer messaging experience they can get over WhatsApp versus plain SMS. They…