VoIP Blog - VoIP News, Gadgets

Alcatel acquires Right Vision

Just some quick news to share...

Alcatel acquires Right Vision to deliver 'all-in-one' IT and communications solutions to SMBs

Paris, November 19, 2004 – Alcatel (Paris: CGEP.PA and NYSE: ALA) today announced its intention to acquire privately held Right Vision, a leading European provider of software-based internet appliances that provide internet access, email and Web applications, as well as security and simplified management capabilities. The acquisition of Right Vision supports Alcatel's vision for delivering converged Information and Communications Technology (ICT) solutions that bring together IT and communications in "all-in-one" packages. Alcatel will target small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) with these solutions, integrating voice, data and Internet functionalities into a single offering.

Founded in 1999, Right Vision is based in Sophia-Antipolis, France. Right Vision has established a leadership position in the SMB market in Europe, offering pure software solutions that run on industry standard server platforms, as well as packaged offerings that include standard hardware and software with support for both Microsoft and Linux environments. The company currently serves more than 5,000 SMB customers through indirect channels that include Hewlett Packard, NEC and ACER. Right Vision also has developed partnerships with leading service providers, including France Telecom, British Telecom, and Belgacom. Right Vision currently has 42 employees. The deal is expected to close in December.

"The acquisition of Right Vision reinforces our advance in converged ICT solutions for SMBs, leveraging partnerships with IT vendors and service providers for a true 'all-in-one' Managed Communications Solution strategy," said Jean-Christophe Giroux, president of Alcatel's Enterprise Solutions activities. "The addition of Right Vision’s innovative solutions and talented people further strengthens our ability to deliver easy-to-use, easy-to-manage solutions to SMBs."

"Alcatel shares our vision that the future of communications and IT for SMBs will be delivered through 'all-in-one' solutions that bring together a wide range of services for both voice communications, including IP telephony, and data services," said Alexandre Krivine, founder and chairman, Right Vision. "Leveraging Alcatel’s leadership in the SMB market, along with its strong presence with service providers and brand recognition, we are positioned to take a giant leap forward in delivering our unique solutions to the market."

Following a successful partnership with Right Vision that was announced in September of 2003, Alcatel is integrating Right Vision’s solutions with its Alcatel OmniPCX Office communications server. Alcatel plans to deliver its first SMB offering that includes Right Vision in the first quarter of 2005. Further integration with the Alcatel OmniPCX Office range is planned for 2005 and beyond.

Alcatel will distribute these new solutions with resellers, as well as service provider partners that can leverage this offering to deliver managed communication services. In addition, Right Vision will help Alcatel better serve IT channels in their willingness to move to a broader solution set that includes voice communications.

About Right Vision:
Right Vision's business is designing and producing multi-functional Internet Server Appliances made-to-measure for Sohos, SMEs-SMBs and large accounts with branch offices. The Right Vision Eye-Box products are all pre-configured and easy to use, providing users with instant access to the Internet services they need. At the same time, Right Vision offers software suites or "Software Appliances" that enables any integrator or IT manufacturer to build their own "Ready-to-use" Appliance. Open on the European market since its founding in October 1999, Right Vision is today the European Leader for Multi-function Internet Server Appliances (Source IDC Q42003). Present in many countries: Italy, Spain, United-Kingdom, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Russia, Lebanon, and Morocco, Right Vision provides solutions that comply with specific local technical and language regulations. Right Vision corporate headquarters are located in Sophia-Antipolis (France).

U-Blox SuperSense GPS Weak Signal Tracking

I've become quite dependent on my GPS solution (Destinator 3.0 running on an iPaq), which has allowed me to throw out all the maps in my glove box. Unfortunately, I had one very bad experience trying to rely on my GPS when I was driving through the streets of Manhattan during a downpour.

As it is, the tall buildings in NYC weaken the GPS signal strength, but during a rainstorm you can forget about it - I couldn't get a GPS lock. I was completely and totally lost in the streets of Manhattan on a Friday evening trying to get back home to Connecticut during rush hour traffic (the worst possible traffic day & time). I had no idea if I was heading further into Manhattan or out of it. It turns out I was headed further into the depths of traffic hell, which was moving at an average speed of 0.7mph.

Curses you GPS receiver! CURSES! Why can't you be more sensitive?

It took me 2 hours just to get out of the City.

Well, I can't have this happen again, so I tried to find a better GPS receiver and came across one from u-blox that actually can work indoors!

u-blox claims the SuperSense Weak Signal Tracking technology built into its latest ANATARIS GPS delivers "unparalleled" reception, including -158dBm for tracking and -142dBm for acquisition.
They even claim the receivers can work from within the glove box of a vehicle, deep urban canyons, through thick tree coverage, and even while traveling through short tunnels.

I've gotta get me one of these! : )

Here's what they say on u-blox's website:
Interiors of buildings, train stations, airports and locations with obstructed views to the sky are a major challenge for uninterrupted GPS reception and accurate position calculations. In such cases, the GPS receiver must detect the weakest scatter signals perceivable in a place with impaired or sometimes no views to satellites. SuperSense provides unparalleled sensitivity while maintaining best-in-class position accuracy, whether standing still, walking or driving. SuperSense for ANTARIS GPS receivers from u-blox is ready to set a new benchmark in this key technology suitable for location-aware consumer and professional products.

Benefits and Features
Tracking sensitivity: -158 dBm
Acquisition sensitivity: -142 dBm

Unparalleled positioning accuracy
Excellent dynamic navigation performance
Minimized position drifts during extended weak signal periods
Ultra-low power consumption maintained when receiving weak signals
SuperSense maintains standard ANTARIS features like SBAS (WAAS and EGNOS), FixNow and Aiding

The TIM-LH SuperSense, available in early 2005, is u-blox's first GPS module containing this new break-through technology providing highest GPS coverage ever combined with lowest power consumption.

Uninterrupted GPS reception even in short tunnels to achieve highest possible GPS coverage
Coverage inside buildings, train stations and airports
Excellent navigation coverage underneath dense foliage and snow-covered trees
Flexible placement of antenna enables hidden 'under-the-seat' and 'in-glove-box' tracking device

SBC VoIP Tariff Scare

According to several sources, SBC plans to file a new tariff with the Federal Communications Commission that aims to increase the fees paid by Internet service providers for calls completed on the company's local-phone network. In other words, if you use VoIP and terminate on SBC's PSTN network you're going to pay up. If the interpretation of this tariff filing is correct, this would mark the first time that a RBOC or phone company has tried to levy a fee on VoIP providers. It's not "exactly" a correct interpretation, but I'll get into that in a minute.

As most people using VoIP know, VoIP calls avoid the traditional public-telephone network usually until the "last mile" when the call is then completed to the PSTN number dialed. News of the filing came as SBC recently announced it would make Internet phone service available by early next year to around five million residential subscribers of its high-speed Internet.

This move has resulted in cries of "foul play" by VoIP advocates, including FCC Chairman Michael Powell, which just a couple of weeks ago deemed Internet-based phone companies exempt from state regulation, making Voice over Internet to fall under federal jurisdiction. According to FCC officials, they said said Mr. Powell is concerned about SBC's plans.

SBC officials defended the new tariff, saying that FCC and industry officials are misinterpreting it. In fact, upon further investigation I learned that SBC is planning to introduce something called True IP to PSTN (TIPToP) service by filing a tariff with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

According to SBC, TIPToP service is simply a traditional TDM telecommunications service featuring the same old switched circuit interfaces but specifically designed for use by a VoIP provider to connect traffic from its IP end users to end users of the circuit-switched network. They also stated that TIPToP service is not a mandatory offering but voluntary. Internet phone providers who choose not to purchase the TIPToP service can simply use their existing PSTN call termination setup, which already is under current FCC guideliness, regulations, and tariffs.

Ok, so if I interpret this correctly, SBC is offering this TIPToP service to Internet phone providers such as Vonage, Packet8, AT&T CallVantage, etc. and they are going to charge them money for it? Well, there must be some sort of value add in order for SBC to believe the Internet phone providers are going to pay them this money. Time to dig a little deeper.

According to SBC, they were quoted as saying it is "confident that VoIP providers that are interested in offering a compelling VoIP service to their customers will recognize TIPToP's benefits."

According to Advanced IP Pipeline, TIPToP Service provides two types of switched circuit port interfaces (one-way and two-way) designed to provide seamless functionality between the Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) based voice network and VoIP-based network. The interfaces incorporate choke trunks, Transport, SS7 connectivity, and call related database query capabilities to the tandem or end office switch in which these interfaces are installed.

SBC claims that TIPToP service provides more efficient connectivity for VoIP providers and their customers who want to send calls to, and receive calls from, the circuit-switched network. FCC officials has asked SBC to put the "voluntary" promise into writing to ensure the company wouldn't in the future cut off alternative ways to connect.

Phew! I think the VoIP industry can breathe a sigh of relief. No mandatory access charges for VoIP service providers -- let's hope it stays that way.

Streaming Live TV

Last week I redeemed 170,000 Sony points to get a Sony VAIO RA920G PC running Microsoft's Media Center Edition 2005 operating system. I was curious if I could figure out a way to "stream" my home PC's multimedia content, including My Videos (.AVI, .Divx, etc), as well as stream live TV to my PC at work by accessing the TV tuner capture card. Imagine being able to remotely control your home television and view the content at work! Now that would be cool... And so I began my investigation and research.

First, let me point out that apparently, I am not the only one desiring the ability to stream MCE 2005's content. I've read several forum posts stating the same thing. The general consensus is that Microsoft didn't put streaming capabiltiies into MCE 2005 as to avoid running afoul of the DMCA/RIAA/MPAA and getting tangled up in copyright issues.

Why does Hollywood always have to ruin all the fun? It's not like my home broadband connection has the bandwidth to stream to hundreds of users. In fact, I had issues having enough upstream bandwidth on my home cable connection to stream to just ONE PC - I will get into that bandwidth issue in a minute.

In my initial research, I could not find any software that would stream video files or access a TV tuner card and stream that. I wanted something that could also transcode on the fly so I could reduce the video quality if need be for slower Internet connections. I was about to give up and all seemed lost when I came upon VideoLAN, which has a multimedia player that also acts as a streaming server with transcoding capabilities. Best of all, it's open-source and runs on Linux, Mac, Windows, and more! Could this be it? I frantically read the home page, quickly searched for the download link and installed the software.

I first tried streaming a file on the LAN rather than the Internet (WAN). From VLC media player I opened an episode of Smallville that I had recorded and encoded as an .AVI file.

Fig 1. VLC Media Player with Smallville playing

I went into the Stream Settings screen (See Fig. 2 below) and set the file to stream using UDP on port 1234 to the IP address of a 2nd PC. I could have used either multicast (for multiple PCs) or unicast to stream the video. For my first test I didn't want to get greedy by trying to stream to multiple PCs so I chose the unicast option.

Fig 2. Streaming Output Window

Next, on this 2nd PC I installed the VLC media player. Then I simply clicked on Open Network Stream, chose UDP port 1234 (the default) and clicked OK as shown in this Fig 3. screenshot:

Fig 3. Network Streaming Window

Almost immediately Smallville started playing on this 2nd PC. Good stuff!

Next, I attempted to duplicate these results using the Internet. I had one PC setup to use one broadband connection (T1 line) and another PC setup to use a different broadband connection (2nd T1 line). I then repeated the above steps and once again was able to see Smallville play. The quality was actually quite good, but it did have some artifacts and break-ups due to Internet congestion. I decided to reduce the quality of the video from 1024kbps to 512kbps and the artifacts and "hiccups" all but disappeared! Even with the transcoder reducing the video quality, the video quality was pretty good.

VLC media player has some other tricks up its sleeve. You can stream a DVD across a network connection. Yeah, that's right, you read that correctly. Stream a DVD using an IP network! Now this I had to try. Once again I repeated the above steps, except instead of opening a file, VLC has a menu option to open a DVD. I inserted my wedding DVD, because if I inserted a commercial DVD and used VLC media player's libdvdcss library to read the commerical DVD I might run afoul of the DMCA since this library has the capability of disregarding the DVD's region/zone. All regions are supported without any constraint, which is probably against the DMCA (Digital Millenium Copyright Act). And since I don't want any trouble with the DMCA, I'll just use my own DVD thank you very much. (Shhhh.. it does work with commerical DVDs but I didn't tell you that.)

In any event, I was able to stream the DVD across two broadband Internet connections with very good video and audio quality. I did once again have to reduce the kbps from 1024 to 512 or 384kbps to prevent congestion though, which slightly degraded the quality. But hey, I was watching a DVD across the Internet. Is that cool or what?

Now for the really fun part. I wanted to see if I could stream my home MCE 2005 PC's video content, DVDs, etc. and of course "Live TV" across my cable broadband connection. I decided to start simple with a video since I knew that would be easiest. I used Remote Desktop to access my home PC and execute the VLC player. I opened a video file on my home PC and set it to stream the video to a public IP address of a PC at work mapped outside of our corporate firewall.

This time, no video came through. Hmmm. What's going on here. I switched back to the Remote Desktop window to troubleshoot and I was disconnected. I tried reconnecting - no dice. I thought maybe the PC locked up, so I tried pinging the IP address if my other home PC. No pingage. Hmmm, that's strange. I tried pinging the home router, once again, no dice. Finally I tried to call my home's Vonage line and ask my wife to reboot all the equipment and I couldn't get through.

Oh no!
* Home PC - dead
* Internet - dead.
* Phone line (Vonage) - dead
* Me, when my wife finds out I killed the Internet connection and Vonage line - dead

Long story short, my wife rebooted the equipment and the Internet still stayed offline for at least 3 hours. When I got home and attempted my experiment again (this time Remote Desktop-ing to my Work PC) I noticed once again the Remote Desktop connection was broken once I started streaming. In fact, I noticed my cable modem traffic lights were SOLID indicating heavy traffic. As soon as I clicked the Stop button on VLC player, the activity returned to normal. "Hmmm, seems like the VLC player is a bandwidth hog," I thought to myself, "let's try reducing the kbps of the video to 128kbps".

Once again though the cable modem's lights went crazy. Worse, a few moments later the Internet was knocked completely offline again! Had I just crashed Charter's broadband connection, again? Of course, it could just be my cable modem that I locked up, but resetting the cable modem didn't seem to help. This time it took 30 minutes for the cable modem to re-establish a connection.

So what have we learned here? Well,if you want to attempt to crash a cable modem's network, go download VLC player and stream to an outside IP address.

In any event, I tried the lowest video setting and still I couldn't get it to work. It appears my 3MB broadband connection isn't up to par with a symmetric 1.544MB T1 line. The issue is the damn upload/upstream cap that cable providers place on each subscriber. Last I tested, I only get 256kbps upstream - which actually should have been enough to stream, so I am at a loss as to why this didn't work.

Alas, I did not get to the point where I could attempt to stream live TV from my home PC to my work PC. I will mention that VLC media player has another option called "Open Capture Device" which supposedly works with MPEG encoder cards. Since I believe my "live TV" goes through the Sony's MPEG encoder card in theory I can open this capture device and stream the live TV feed --- if only I had a better upstream Internet connection.

I'll have to play around with it some more, but it's tricky since it knocks my Vonage line offline which my wife uses during the day. I'm also still working on the WAF (Wife Acceptance Factor) of her liking the Vonage VoIP phone line which does go down when I test stuff (among other reasons) as well as the WAF factor of having a Media Center PC in our living room. By the way, I'm going to post a review of Microsoft's MCE 2005 along with some VoIP capabilities in the next week or so, so stay tuned for that.

Liz Claiborne and VoIP

According to this press release: Liz Claiborne Inc. Receives Cisco's 4 Millionth IP Telephone, Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - News) today announced the sale of its 4 millionth Cisco Internet Protocol (IP) telephone to fashion apparel and accessories icon Liz Claiborne Inc., a milestone that demonstrates Cisco's continuing acceleration in the enterprise voice market. "It took us 4-and-a-half years to sell our first 2 million IP phones and only 14 months to climb from 2 million to 4 million phones sold to customers," said Barry O’Sullivan, vice president and general manager for Cisco's IP Communications Business Unit. "The 4 million milestone that we achieved in October this year, confirms our leadership in the enterprise voice market and demonstrates the rapid market acceleration we are driving in this space. It also points to growing customer adoption of our IP Communications system."

More proof of the "hockey stick" exponential growth curve of VoIP. VoIP got off to a slow start slow, but that curve is hooking straight up now!

Nuvio FCC Filing Advocates CALEA Guidelines For VoIP Providers

A couple of weeks ago Nuvio urged the FCC to keep broadband providers from tampering with third-party VoIP phone service providers riding on their broadband pipes. Specifically, Nuvio Corp., a private-label VoIP provider, wants the FCC to prohibit cable providers/MSOs, Baby Bells and other broadband providers from blocking access to other VoIP services or surreptitiously degrading the service level. Best analogy I can give - imagine you are using Comcast high-speed Internet and using Vonage for your VoIP provider. Since Comcast offers their own competing VoIP offering, they could in theory "slow down" or "block" IP traffic coming from or destined for Vonage's servers that have "known" IP addresses.

Even if they don't "slow" the traffic down, they could in theory claim that any "slowdowns" or poor VoIP quality is due to heavy web traffic -- and that they have the right to "prioritize" their own customers VoIP traffic over any competing voice service.

That's a really sticky issue. Does the broadband provider have the right to assign certain service levels based upon which "services" the customer subscribes to? There already is precedent to charge a certain amount of money for "guaranteed bandwidth". That is for example, many cable broadband providers that charge more money for 2MB bandwidth versus 1MB bandwidth or give you a discount on broadband if you subscribe to a Showtime or HBO package.

Of course, the issue really isn't whether or not broadband providers can provide guaranteed QoS to their VoIP customers - they certainly have a right to do that. The question is do they also have the right to treat all other IP traffic as "second class citizens". In my opinion, the answer to that is also "yes" - it's their network, they can do what they want - but with one caveat. My caveat is that if the broadband providers determine IP traffic destined for competitors and then segregate that traffic and then intentionally provide a separate quality of service upon that competing traffic, then certainly that is anti-competitive and should be against the law.

If the broadband providers want to classify non-VoIP customers traffic as "2nd class citizens" with low priority, then they need to classify ALL traffic in this same category - web traffic/HTTP, FTP, P2P networks, etc. No one is going to want to use a broadband service provider that "slows" down their web traffic or file downloading speeds just to try and intentionally reduce the voice quality of competing VoIP providers.

Of course, the broadband providers could get really creative and induce a "100ms delay" on all packets for these "2nd class citizens", which would not be apparent when you are surfing the Web or downloading a file, but would be readily apparent if you tried to have a VoIP conversation. Having 100ms latency without all the other latency factors added in would result in horrible VoIP quality issues.

So I guess we're back to square one with the need to ensure the broadband providers don't "play with the packets". In a letter filed with the FCC, Nuvio proposes that the agency use its Title I authority under the 1996 Telecommunications Act to ban "discriminatory practices by vertically integrated broadband/VoIP providers" offering rival services.

Now, today, Nuvio has filed a similar filing to the one they filed a few weeks ago regarding "fairness" in the VoIP space. They announced that the company has filed official comments with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) addressing requirements of VoIP providers pursuant to The Communications Assistance to Law Enforcement Act (CALEA). In the comments, Nuvio urges the Commission to diligently consider the following factors when deciding the aims of CALEA in respect to VoIP.

1) The Commission Must Apply CALEA VoIP Obligations Evenhandedly
In order to be effective, CALEA requirements must be applied to all VoIP providers and, by the same logic, all providers of packetized data communications services including instant messaging and online chat room services. Ruling otherwise would provide an attractive loophole for terrorists and criminals seeking to circumvent lawful surveillance by using services ostensibly exempt from CALEA.

2) Financial Assistance for CALEA Implementation in VoIP is Essential
In past circumstances, providers affected by these obligations have received financial support from the government in order to make their networks amendable to CALEA. Nuvio urges the Commission to preserve this precedent and to advocate for financial assistance, allowing VoIP providers to adhere to the country's homeland security priorities.

3) VoIP is a New Paradigm for Assisting Law Enforcement
The advent of VoIP simplifies legitimate law enforcement surveillance and requires a completely new evaluation of how this sector interacts with communications networks. Appling dated rules to a new system will be inefficient and will produce suboptimal results

Although there have been some "international" instances of a provider blocking competing VoIP traffic, it has not happened in the U.S. yet - though rumors persist it is happening, the evidence hasn't materialized. In my opinion, since there is enough competition in the broadband space, no broadband provider wants to alienate their customers by blocking IP traffic to a specific VoIP provider. But the fear of a customer backlash should not be the sole deterrent preventing broadband providers from blocking or slowing traffic to certain IP addresses. I for one do not want to wake up one morning and find out that Charter (my provider) decided to block IP traffic destined for Vonage's servers(my main phone line), so I hope Nuvio wins their battle to ensure fair play in the broadband VoIP space.

Blackberry and CRM

It seems I can't go to any public place for at least an hour without seeing at least one Blackberry device - especially airports. Blackberries are known for their excellent email capabilities, however third-party developers are adding additional functionality as well, including CRM / contact management integration. All the Blackberry needs now is VoIP (instead of cellular) capabilities and it will be even more of a killer app/platform.

Check out this news release from Vettro which adds support to the Blackberry for Salesforce.com and Supportforce.com CRM applications:

VETTRO UNVEILS RAINMAKER 4.0 FOR SALESFORCE.COM AND SUPPORTFORCE.COM

Latest Edition of On-Demand Mobile Service Offers Increased CRM Functionality on BlackBerry and Windows Mobile Devices

NEW YORK -- November 15, 2004 -- Vettro, a leading provider of mobile enterprise applications, today announced the availability of Vettro RainMaker 4.0, a complete mobile solution for Salesforce.com users. Vettro RainMaker 4.0 delivers superior filters and customization options for Salesforce.com to allow companies to transform mobile devices into a powerful selling tool.

Vettro RainMaker is an on-demand mobile customer relationship management (CRM) service that arms professionals with the ability to access, update and act upon critical business information via BlackBerry® from Research In Motion (Nasdaq: RIMM; TSX: RIM) and Windows-based mobile devices. In real-time, Vettro RainMaker leverages the sforce on-demand platform to synchronize Salesforce.com information across mobile devices, helping field workers close deals faster, manage pipelines efficiently, improve productivity and decrease response times. Additionally, full access to product, case and solution features extends the value of Salesforce.com to field service organizations and makes Vettro RainMaker 4.0 an ideal Supportforce.com-ready mobile CRM service.

New features in Vettro RainMaker 4.0 include user-defined views and reporting capabilities that allow field sales representatives to efficiently and effectively prioritize sales activities. A powerful user interface displays an entire day's calendar for the end-user, designed to improve productivity and customize specific needs. Users can also initiate phone calls and send emails from the application's contact records while relying on the SmartLog feature to ensure automatic logging of all activities.

In addition, complex data is quickly and easily loaded onto handheld devices, thanks to a new robust query toolkit. Finally, a new layout option allows organizations to replicate the same desktop-friendly salesforce.com information across mobile devices.

"Vettro RainMaker 4.0 was specifically designed to satisfy the demanding needs of today's mobile professional, enabling them to out-think and out-sell the competition," said Joe Rymsza president and CEO of Vettro. "By combining the power of a desktop application with the mobility of a handheld device, sales forces are armed with all available resources needed to close the deal. At the same time, organizations stay in-lock-step with activities in the field, making for a unified and informed workforce."

Like its previous versions, RainMaker 4.0 requires no additional infrastructure investments and can be installed completely wirelessly in a matter of minutes. The new version will automatically replace previous versions of the software, and all existing customers will be upgraded to the new platform.

About Vettro
Vettro mobile applications transform wireless phones and handhelds into powerful, enterprise-connected computing devices. Vettro unlocks the value in existing enterprise systems and generates quantifiable business improvements for field service, mobile sales, and fleet operations. Backed by premier carrier and hardware partners committed to delivering enterprise-class offerings, Vettro's mobile applications have been selected by industry leaders including BostonCoach, SuperShuttle, Clemson University, Hitachi Data Systems, Textron Financial Corporation and PMI Group. For more information, visit www.vettro.com.

Popular Telephony enters Japanese Market

Two things...
1) You know that lame excuse/expression, "The dog ate my homework"? Well, for me that excuse has come true. While I don't have "homework" to do, my foster dog ate my glasses making reading and typing quite a challenge this Monday morning. My wireframe glasses are so mangled they resemble a piece of impressionist artwork. Maybe I'll take a photo tonight and post it tomorrow. Unfortunately, my disposable contacts are not where to be found either. So excuse any spelling mistakes or typos in my blog for the next few days until I get a replacement pair of glasses.
2) I know a lot of people are anxious to test Popular Telephony's P2P VoIP client. I was told to be patient - that Popular Telephony wants the code to be perfect and is checking and rechecking as it is being written for multiple platforms (i.e PC, MAC, Linux). Also, Popular Telephony made an announcement today stating they are entering the Japanese market that I thought I would share.

Here's the release:

(Sophia Antipolis, France and Tokyo, Japan--November 15, 2004-) Popular Telephony Inc, the telecommunications middleware company behind the Peerio™ serverless telephony invention, announced a licensing agreement with E-with-you, an innovative leading integrator of new technologies in Japan to deploy Peerio within the WiFi PAS telephony device, designed by E-withyou.

Led by renowned hi-tech visionary and former former Executive Technology Officer for Future Strategies at Panasonic, Mr. Shunsuke Matsuda, E-withyou is a leading broadband and Bluetooth system integrator in Japan, who counts Honda Research Institute (The Research Lab of Honda), Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding, Panasonic, and Netone Systems among its customers.

The current collaboration between the two companies brings together Popular Telephony's serverless communications technology with the best-in-class Japanese consumer-oriented communications.

Peerio is a groundbreaking peer-to-peer telephony middleware for embedded devices, enabling them to communicate directly with the full functionality of a telephony system, but without the need for a conventional call controlling server. Peerio is protocol-agnostic (SIP, H.323, etc.) with its massively scalable, secure and reliable platform and support of all standard and advanced telephony features.

The Peerio-enabled WiFi PAS telephony device will be marketed first to the enterprise market in Japan. Companies deploying the Peerio powered E-withyou devices will eliminate up to 80% of the actual system costs and up to 90% of Total Cost of Ownership when compared to a traditional telephony system. As with all Peerio enabled product. it will include a pre-selected set of telephony features upon release.

"Peerio is attractive in many ways including its scalability (Personal to Enterprise), choice of functionality (Private to Business), interoperability (Any network, any carrier), and its future possibilities (any media-voice, sound, image). It has the potential to change the landscape of media communications.” – said Shun Matsuda, the CEO of E-withyou.

"We are delighted to work with E-withyou on this exciting product introduction. Japan is a key market for Popular Telephony as it has always been the market for the newest and most innovative technology concepts,” explained Dmitry Goroshevsky, the Popular Telephony CEO. "From another perspective, Japan is also the most demanding market because the Japanese always expect to be offered the highest quality and most innovative products. We are looking forward to this opportunity, as well the challenge. We believe through this collaborative experience that the Peerio-intelligent devices will become a more mature, proven and consumer ready product for the larger consumer marketplace more quickly.”

About Popular Telephony

Popular Telephony Inc., recently named to the Pulver 100, is a privately held VoIP telecommunications middleware company, focused on bringing true peer-to-peer technology to market. With a strong patent portfolio, and a leadership team led by Internet Telephony industry veterans, the company aims to be the leader in the peer-to-peer telephony technology sector.

Popular Telephony is a U.S registered corporation with offices in New York, France and Israel.

For more information about Popular Telephony, visit the company's web site at: www.populartelephony.com

About E-withyou
Headquartered in Tokyo, E-withyou (whose name originates from "experience with you”) is one of the leading broadband system integrators and telecom consultants in Japan. E-withyou is lead by Shunsuke Matsuda, former Executive Technology Officer for Future Strategies at Panasonic, the renowned hi-tech visionary standing behind such revolutionary technology Panasonic's developments as DVD, Plasma TV to name a few.

E-withyou's business involves a broad range of activities, including the offering of short-range wireless solutions and licenses a variety of Bluetooth products (in partnership with Impulsesoft), system integration services (Museum- Panasonic Center/ Panasonic Project, National Science Museum; Mobile POS; At Pachinko entertainment center), system and applications customization (bank data exchange devices, Anoto pen communication devices, As Mobile POS terminal), cooperative reference design and manufacturing, initial system architecture design, hardware and software design (e.g. PAS-mobile, PAS-view, museum guides, etc.) http://www.e-withyou.com/

Bandwith Shaping

Prioritizing VoIP traffic and performing bandwidth shaping is key to a successful VoIP deployment, so I thought sharing this bit of news about a bandwidth-shaping product might be useful...

APconnections Adds Support for Priority Voice Over IP Traffic to Its Entire Family of NetEqualizer Bandwidth Shaping Products

Plug-and-Play Solution Now Offers Support for Data and VoIP Traffic in One Product; Adds Additional Models to Product Family

LAFAYETTE, Colo., Nov. 15, 2004 -- APconnections, a supplier of plug-and-play bandwidth shaping products, announced today that it has added support for priority voice and video traffic to its entire NetEqualizer product family. In addition, the company has added additional models to its product family. Now, businesses ranging from Internet cafes and corporations to service providers and telcos will be able to take advantage of NetEqualizer's built-in traffic shaping controls to cost-effectively and automatically provide priority for voice and video traffic and relieve congestion for data traffic with one easy-to-install and manage appliance.

"Unlike the alternatives, NetEqualizer installs in minutes and does not require the user to build and manage extensive policy libraries," said Art Reisman, founder and CTO of APconnections. "The products seamlessly integrate with existing network infrastructure and do not require router upgrades or other network changes."

NetEqualizer now ensures that latency sensitive voice traffic is given the highest priority, enabling the delivery of uninterrupted, high quality VoIP services. In addition, NetEqualizer prioritizes data traffic. Business-class applications, including Web browsing, chat and email get higher throughput than large downloads and p2p traffic.

"NetEqualizer has helped us to successfully rollout our new VoIP project, allowing us to increase our service offerings to our customer base," said Jaimie Locke, administrator for Catapulsion Broadband. "We attempted to work with another vendor's products, but faced significant difficulties in both installation and management. We turned to APconnections for a solution. Once we plugged in NetEqualizer, our problems were solved. Installation was seamless and bandwidth allocation between voice and data traffic is automatic. And, best of all, our customers get crystal clear voice services."

NetEqualizer makes control decisions dynamically, prioritizing and shifting bandwidth between applications and connections as network usage rises and falls. During times of peak congestion, NetEqualizer apportions more bandwidth for latency sensitive applications, while still enabling data traffic such as large file downloads to traverse the network. This approach ensures user satisfaction and allows APconnections' customers to reduce bandwidth expenses.

"We use NetEqualizer to balance the competing data traffic needs of our student population," said Andrew Bynum, IS manager, Housing Northwest, Inc., and instructor at Portland State University. "With heavy downloads, video files, chat and email, the traffic on our network presents a challenge when considering QoS. With the addition of priority for VoIP and video streaming, APconnections has given us a cost-effective solution that works out of the box for all of our traffic."

NetEqualizer reserves bandwidth for high priority applications by tracking connections on the network - any two endpoints talking to each other. When the network is congested, NetEqualizer "slows down" data connections, creating slower virtual circuits for data traffic. This pragmatic approach forces data connections to "give up"
bandwidth that is then allocated to voice connections.
NetEqualizer then applies fairness rules to the data traffic, allocating more bandwidth to Web browsing, chat and email and shifting bandwidth away from p2p applications and downloads.

NetEqualizer is compatible with all major IP PBX products.

In addition, APconnections is announcing additions to the NetEqualizer product family. The company now offers a range of configurations to meet the needs of businesses ranging a minimum of 2Mbps of equalizing up to 155 Mbps, per appliance. Customers with bandwidth requirements beyond 155 Mbps may add additional boxes.

Pricing and Availability

The NetEqualizer entry level product handles up to 2 Mbps of bandwidth and is listed at US$995. A typical configuration, with bandwidth equalizing up to 45 Mbps lists for US$2750.
The entire product family is currently available.

About APconnections

AP Connections (http://www.apconnections.net) is a privately-held company founded in July 2003 and based in Lafayette, CO. The company develops fully-featured, cost-effective and easy-to-install and manage traffic shaping appliances based on Linux and Open Source technology. APconnections released its first commercial offering in July 2003, and since then over 1000 unique customers around the world have put the NetEqualizer family of bandwidth shaping products into service. NetEqualizer products can be found at ISPs, WISPs, major universities, Fortune 500 companies, SOHOs and small businesses on six continents.

Customer Service

I was checking out Andy's blog about "bad customer service" in the USA and as I was reading it I kept thinking to myself, "Yup, been there" or a Clintonian "I feel your pain..."

In fact, reading this also reminded me how my father-in-law purchased a brand new Dell after consulting me for my opinion on what he should buy.

Later on, my wife told me that he purchased a Dell with the optional technical support contract. She said to me, "I don't know why he bought that. You even told me the frustration of dealing with technical support reps that just read from a script. Such as, ‘Is the power cord connected?” Besides my dad can just call you to fix it and if you can’t fix it then most likely it’s a hardware issue and it has to be returned. What a waste of money!

My wife knows the frustration I’ve experienced dealing with technical support reps that read from a script. By the time you get past the “Is the power connected”, “Is the keyboard plugged in”, and all the other mundane checks, it seems like an eternity has past; worse - you feel like the technician is being condescending - “Yes, the power corn is on! I know there is no such thing as an “any key” on the keyboard and I’m not using the CD-ROM as a cup holder either!”.

In the past when I have tried to “fast forward” to the meat by saying to the technician, “Sir, I’m very technically savvy, let me just explain the problem, tell you what I think the problem is and let’s work from there,” many technicians get flustered and respond with “Sir, I need to go through the script.”

So I just play along, go through the script and usually just pretend to do what they tell me to do until I think the steps they are telling me to do merit expounding the energy to perform mouse-clicks and keystrokes.

I feel like many help desks have are filled with drones or automatons that can’t think on their feet. Of course, this is not always the case, I have experienced some very smart tech support persons, but unfortunately, they are few and far in-between.

Go check out Andy’s customer service experience:
VoIP Watch: My Views On Customer Service In the USA

Mitel 3300 IP-PBX

Mitel is releasing a the newest version of it's flagship product - the Mitel 3300 IP-PBX "Release 5." There are significant upgrades over Release 4, which became available in 2003, including:

1. 3300 can now support up to 60,000 users (up from 30,000 users) and network up to 250 sites;

2. The new 3300 can for the first time support SIP and MiNet (our proprietary protocol);

3. There are built in Enterprise Management tools (efficiency management, graphical topology views, inventory, network health);

4. Release 5 supports 802.11 phones from SpectraLink and DECT phones (de facto European wireless protocol) from DeTeWe;

5. Multi-site Hotdesking tools which allow users to log into an IP phone from anywhere on the network and instantly have the phone adopt the user’s complete profile.

6. Embedded messaging now has a unified messaging platform to manage voice, email, chat, data all in one place.

7. Increased security, redundancy and interoperability over Release 4.

Here's the full announcement they made today:
Mitel, a leading provider of IP communications solutions, has announced the general availability of the 3300 ICP, Release 5. This latest version of the Mitel flagship IP-PBX introduces new options for in-building wireless mobility, hotdesking, enhanced messaging, system management capabilities, expanded PSTN connectivity, and more. Recognizing the increase in large multi-site clients, the number of users that can be part of a network has been increased to 65,000 and the number of nodes that can be supported in a distributed network is now increased to 250. A survivable gateway solution for branch offices has also been introduced. This latest announcement builds on the ongoing Mitel commitment to continuously improve its IP Telephony solutions and offer greater choice and flexibility to enterprises with centralized or distributed enterprise deployments.

"As IP Telephony matures, enterprises are looking at new ways to accrue increased business benefits while reducing the overall cost of ownership of their communications solutions," said Don Smith, CEO, Mitel. "It is this demand that has made the 3300 ICP tremendously appealing to both large and small enterprises. Release 5 continues to build on this success by providing businesses with features and flexible configurations that make communicating with customers and colleagues easier and richer no matter whether they are located in a corporate HQ, a branch office or at a remote location half way around the world."

The 3300 ICP, Release 5 offers businesses a wide range of robust and new features, including:

New SIP Telephones and Line Interface Module for Remote Survivability

This release introduces the new innovative Mitel 5215 and 5220 IP phones, which support the open SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) as well as the Mitel MiNet protocol. Both the 5215 and 5220 IP phones can be deployed as remote teleworker sets that act as fully featured extensions off a corporate network anywhere in the world via a secure and encrypted media and signaling path. The optional Line Interface Module allows these phones to automatically fail over to the PSTN in the event of a WAN failure or the initiation of a 911 call. This release also enables the support of the Mitel 5207 IP Phone designed for enabling key system functionality.

Enterprise Management

The new Mitel enterprise management suite provides system, network and real time management tools that increase productivity, simplify management tasks and ensure maximum network efficiency. These new tools introduce graphical topology views, network inventory details, network health monitoring and real-time voice quality assessment and monitoring, all through a single interface.

Enhanced Mobility and Hotdesking

802.11 wireless phones from SpectraLink and DECT wireless phones from DeTeWe are now supported. DECT is the de facto wireless protocol throughout Europe. Each 3300 ICP now supports up to 700 wireless phones per controller, providing mobile users with intuitive access to the entire suite of corporate telephony features.

In addition to wireless handsets, the platform now provides multi-site resilient hotdesking, allowing users to log into an IP phone anywhere in the network and instantly have that phone adopt the user's complete profile including all user programmable keys and functions.

Embedded Messaging

Embedded unified messaging and voice mail is available within each 3300 ICP, allowing users to have their voice mails forwarded to their email and to manage all their messages from one place. The 3300 ICP now supports and dynamically manages embedded and download enabled recorded announcements and music-on-hold audio files eliminating the need for external devices.

Additionally, users can now have their own personal multi-level auto-attendant, offering incoming callers who reach voice mail with additional options such as automatically being forwarded to a user's teleworker or mobile phone.

Advanced PSTN Connectivity and Interoperability Options

The new hardware configurations now support embedded analog and Euro ISDN trunk ports in the main 3300 ICP controller. This removes the need for external analog or digital units for smaller installations.

Through advanced PSTN connectivity, the 3300 ICP can now trace malicious calls back through the PSTN for caller identification and information. Advanced support for the Q.SIG protocol improves interoperability with traditional PBXs.

The Mitel 3300 ICP, Release 5 delivers an expanded range of options designed to enhance the overall IP Telephony environment for businesses. Continued advancements will build on Release 5's commitment to mobility, applications and robust connectivity across the converged network and PSTN. Through these enhancements and the Mitel portfolio of IP applications and devices, businesses are well equipped to personalize employee communications, optimize productivity, integrate with their business processes and provide customers with enhanced levels of service.

Andy likes AT&T CallVantage over Vonage

Andy Abramson likes AT&T CallVantage over Vonage for several reasons which he lists in this blog entry:
VoIP Watch: Office Depot Gets The Vantage

Go check it out. It's an interesting analysis, especially the marketing push and financial backing behind AT&T's CallVantage. His analysis is spot on and one which I agree with.

Halo 2

Halo 2

This is an excellent article discussing the launch of the immensely popular Halo2 for the Xbox: MSNBC - Gamers go gunning for 'Halo 2'. (If the Halo theme music is annoying, scroll up and hit the Stop button)

Think of Halo2 as a the "cabbage patch kids", "Harry Potter"-equivalent phenomenon for teens/adults. I have an Xbox myself, and own the first Halo, but never did get into online gaming via Microsoft Live with Halo or any other Xbox game for that matter. I knew it would be too addicting. I watch enough TV as it is, so if I start playing Halo or Halo2 online I know my wife will not be happy with me.

Nevertheless, I cannot help but feel the temptation to go out and buy Halo2, especially after reading the MSNBC article where a huge line outside the Toys R Us on 44th and Broadway formed waiting to purchase Halo2.

I was also aware of a pirated version of Halo 2 readily available on the Edonkey/Emule network, and I was tempted to check it out, but decided not to. For one, it's the French Halo2 version and I've banned anything from France. Secondly, I am loyal to the Halo bretheren and wouldn't steal Microsoft's and Bungie's (developer) hard earned & well deserved cash for a great game. The MSNBC article talks about similar experiences. i.e. He had downloaded the pirated French version of "Halo 2," last week. But he quickly deleted it. "They spent so much time on the product and it was unfair to ruin their hard work."

Check out this conversation exchange from New York City passerbys to the Halo2 line.

"Excuse me, what is this line for?" asked a passerby to a young man bearing a "Save the earth!" sign.

"Halo 2! Halo 2!" yelled the sign bearer. The entire line picked up the chant. "Halo 2! Halo 2!" they yelled.

"Get a life, you freaking losers!" yelled another passerby.

"Halo 2!" they yelled back.

Yup, I want in with the freaking losers... That would be cool! Maybe I can swap my FOX News TV time (2 hours per night) with playing Halo2. Yeah.. yeah!! That'll work!

VoIP spurs growth for Cablevision

Skibare pointed out this Wall Street Journal article: WSJ.com - Cablevision's Loss Narrows With Strength in Advertising

I used to have CableVision when I lived in Norwalk and was pretty pleased with their service - they were one of the first cable companies in the Northeast to offer cable broadband. Competing satellite providers and other "ventures" have hurt CableVision over the past few years, but they seem to be getting some legs under them with the help of voice over Internet services.

According to the article, Cablevision's Internet phone service got 74,142 new sign-ups. Wow, that's nearly 75,000 VoIP customers. The article doesn't state how many "old" VoIP customers Cablevision has - so the total is unclear. But even 75,000 by itself is pretty impressive.

Cablevision is bundling TV, Internet and phone service for $99 a month - an impressive price-point.

The growth in CableVision's VoIP customers has Cablevision predicting revenue at the high end of its forecasted 13% to 15% growth.

Skype API

Andy's blog brought to my attention that the Skype API is out (in beta) VoIP Watch: Skype API Now Out

Here's the news from Skype's website:
Skype, the Global Internet Telephony Company, today announced the beta of its Skype API (Application Program Interface) included in the latest version of Skype for Windows, enabling hardware devices and software applications to seamlessly integrate with Skype's award-winning Internet telephony software. Skype currently has more than 14.5 million users from every country in the world, and is adding approximately 100,000 new users per day.

"We offer the Skype API to expand quality voice and messaging communications around the globe," said Niklas Zennström, Skype CEO and co-founder. "With this API, Skype is now an open platform and we are keen to watch the world's innovative developer community integrate the Skype application to extend the potential of global communications."

Non-commercial developers worldwide may freely integrate the Skype API in compliance with the Skype software End User License Agreement (EULA). A software development kit which includes documentation, sample code, and other information is available at http://www.skype.com/community/devzone

Commercial, affiliate and other Skype partnership opportunities are handled on an individual basis. Companies and individuals with business proposals are encouraged to contact bizdev@skype.net.

The Skype API is freely available with the latest version of Skype for Windows at www.skype.com/go/getskype.

FCC Exempts VoIP from state rules

The Federal Communications Commission voted today to exempt Internet-based phone companies (Internet Telephony or VoIP) from state regulation, making Voice over Internet to fall under federal jurisdiction - a major victory for the VoIP industry. With the FCC having jurisdiction over Internet-based phone comapnies this could certainly help keep the VoIP industry "red hot" and inspire others to enter the market as well or investment/capital money to flow into the VoIP industry..

The FCC decision is likely to anger some local state officials who say the FCC is usurping local authority. In addition they are concerned that they can not collect revenue from VoIP providers to subsidize high-cost rural phone service. Indeed this is a devastating blow to state governments which have overseen telecom providers and relied on fees levied on the telecom providers. In fact, the Universal Service Fund is already short several hundred million dollars. It is expected that the FCC will increase a levy on phone companies to make up the difference.

FCC Chairman Michael Powell has been a strong proponent of VoIP and has called for minimal regulation of Internet-based phone services to encourage their growth. The FCC does however plan to regulate its own requirements that VoIP service providers offer 911 emergency services and make their networks wiretap-friendly for the FBI.

The FCC is looking to give similar protections to cable providers that provide phone services. Some pay state universal service charges to fund phone service in rural areas or pay fees to connect in-state toll calls to local phone companies. A ruling that includes the cable providers would allow them to compete on equal footing with Vonage and CallVantage. However, I have not read anything in the FCC ruling today that specifically mentions cable companies that provide Internet phone services. I'll have to get clarification from the FCC.

Here is the full decision followed by a statement from FCC Chairman Michael Powell as well as other FCC members:
FCC FINDS THAT VONAGE NOT SUBJECT TO PATCHWORK OF STATE REGULATIONS GOVERNING TELEPHONE COMPANIES
Commission Clears Way for Increased Investment In VoIP Services Like Vonage's
Washington, D.C. - The Federal Communications Commission declared today that a type of Internet telephony service offered by Vonage Holdings Corp. called DigitalVoice is not subject to traditional state public utility regulation. The Commission also stated that other types of IP-enabled services, such as those offered by cable companies, that have basic characteristics similar to DigitalVoice would also not be subject to traditional state public utility regulation.

The decision adds to the regulatory certainty the Commission began building with orders adopted earlier this year regarding Voice over Internet Protocol by making clear that this Commission, not the state commissions, has the responsibility and obligation to decide whether certain regulations apply to IP-enabled services. The Commission has the power to preempt state regulations that thwart or impede federal authority over interstate communications.

Acting on a petition from Vonage seeking federal preemption of an order by the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission, the FCC found that the company's DigitalVoice service cannot practically be separated into intrastate and interstate components, precluding dual state and federal regulatory regimes. DigitalVoice customers can use their phones from a broadband connection anywhere in the world, making it difficult to determine whether a call is local, interstate or international in nature.

The Commission also found that regulations that would have been imposed by the Minnesota Commission were inconsistent with the FCC's deregulatory policies, and that preemption was consistent with federal law and policies intended to promote the continued development of the Internet, broadband and interactive services. Divergent state rules, regulations and licensing requirements could impede the rollout of such services that benefit consumers by providing them with more choice, competition and innovation.

The Minnesota Commission in August of 2003 concluded that Vonage's DigitalVoice was a telephone service for which Vonage was required to obtain a certificate of authority and meet other rules and regulations governing telephone companies in the state. One requirement was that Vonage provide emergency 911 service comparable to that provided by the incumbent phone companies. Although the Commission found that the Minnesota requirements must yield to the extent they bar entry, the Commission does not signal that Vonage may cease its efforts to develop workable solutions. The Commission looks forward to addressing public safety issues comprehensively, with the participation of our state and local colleagues, in the broader IP-Enabled Services Proceeding.

The Commission's order does not express an opinion about the applicability to Vonage of general laws in Minnesota governing taxation, fraud, commercial dealings, marketing, advertising and other business practices. But the Commission expects states to continue playing a vital role in protecting consumers from fraud, responding to complaints, and enforcing fair business practices.

The Commission noted that the question of whether DigitalVoice should be classified as an unregulated "information service" under the Communications Act or a telecommunications service will be addressed in the Commission's IP-Enabled Services Proceeding. The Commission will also address whether VoIP providers must provide access to the disabled, pay intercarrier compensation and contribute to the universal service fund, in the Commission's IP-Enabled Services Proceeding, which commenced in February of this year.
Action by the Commission November 9, 2004, by Memorandum Opinion and Order (FCC 04-267). Chairman Powell, Commissioners Abernathy, and Martin, with Commissioners Copps and Adelstein concurring. Separate statements issued by Chairman Powell, Commissioners Abernathy, Copps, and Adelstein.

SEPARATE STATEMENT OF CHAIRMAN MICHAEL K. POWELL

Re: Vonage Holdings Corporation Petition for Declaratory Ruling Concerning an Order of the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission, Memorandum Opinion and Order in WC Docket No. 03-211.

Since 1870 home telephone service has been essentially the same-two phones connected by a wire. This landmark order recognizes that a revolution has occurred. Internet voice services have cracked the 19th Century mold, to the great benefit of consumers. VoIP services certainly enable voice communications between two or more people, just as the traditional telephone network does, but that is where the similarity ends. Internet voice is an internet application that takes its place alongside email and instant messaging as an incredibly versatile tool for communicating with people all over the world. As such it has truly unique characteristics.

Internet Voice is More Personal: VOIP services allow people to dynamically structure the way they communicate and to customize and personalize messages in a way that is impossible with traditional telephones. Just as consumers personalize their cell phones with ring tones, pictures and applications, the same is possible with internet voice. Consumers have come to expect technology to be tailored to their preferences-"My Amazon," "My Tivo," "My Ipod." Internet voice, ushers in the era of "My Telephone." Adding enhancements to voice is no longer a highly complex and expensive modification to the network - now it is just a matter of adding to the next software release.

Internet Voice is Cheaper: Consumers always want to pay less and VOIP promises enormous value. Because of the efficient technology and underlying economics of the service, Consumers can expect flat rate prices, for unlimited services and features. Just as consumers have responded strongly to buckets of minutes at low fixed prices in mobile phone service, the same characteristics will bring these innovative pricing models to the wired phone world. The proof is in the pudding: VOIP is barely a few years old as a retail offering and providers have already cut prices several times to compete for consumers. VoIP providers have begun offering local and long-distance calling plans for as low as $14.99 and $19.99 per month. Most recently, Vonage and AT&T slashed the monthly prices of their unlimited local and long-distance calling plans by $5 per month. If we let competition and innovation rage, unencumbered by the high cost of regulation, Consumers can expect more of the same-lower prices, more choice, and more innovative offerings.

Internet Voice is Global: Today's decision lays a jurisdictional foundation for what consumers already know - that the Internet is global in scope. The genius of the Internet is that it knows no boundaries. In cyberspace, distance is dead. Communication and information can race around the planet and back with ease. The Order recognizes that several technical factors demonstrate that VoIP services are unquestionably interstate in nature. VoIP services are nomadic and presence-oriented, making identification of the end points of any given communications session completely impractical and, frankly, unwise. In this sense, Internet applications such as VoIP are more border-busting than either long distance or mobile telephony- each inherently, and properly classified, interstate services.

To subject a global network to disparate local regulatory treatment by 51 different jurisdictions would be to destroy the very qualities that embody the technological marvel that is the Internet. The founding fathers understood the danger of crushing interstate commerce and enshrined the principle of federal jurisdiction over interstate services in the commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution. In the same vein, Congress rightly recognized the borderless nature of mobile telephone service and classified it an interstate communication. VOIP properly stands in this category and the Commission is merely affirming the obvious in reaching today's jurisdictional decision.

This is not to say that there is no governmental interest in VOIP. There will remain very important questions about emergency services, consumer protections from waste, fraud and abuse and recovering the fair costs of the network. It is not true that states are or should be complete bystanders with regard to these issues. Indeed, there is a long tradition of federal/state partnership in addressing such issues, even with regard to interstate services. For example, in long distance services, the FCC and state commissions have structured a true partnership to combat slamming and cramming. We have also worked closely with the states to strike a balance in the area of do-not-call enforcement. In the mobile services area, the FCC has worked closely with states on E911 implementation. With regard to critical 911 capability for VOIP, I note already that several Internet voice providers have entered into an agreement with the National Emergency Number Association to extend 911 capabilities to Internet voice services to "promote a fully functional 9-1-1 system that responds any time, anywhere from every device." Efforts such as these are essential to educating policy makers and providing a basis for solutions to complex technical problems. These can and will serve as models for VOIP.

While today's item preempts an order of the Minnesota Commission applying its traditional "telephone company" regulations to Vonage's DigitalVoice service, it is important that I emphasize that the Commission expresses no opinion here on the applicability to Vonage of state's general laws governing entities conducting business within the state, such as laws concerning taxation; fraud; general commercial dealings; marketing and advertising. Just as this ruling does not alter traditional state powers, we do not alter facilities-based competitor rights, or state authority pursuant to section 252 of the Act. It is my hope that the Commission's decision today will focus the debate and permit our colleagues in the industry and at the state commissions to direct their resources toward helping the Commission answer the important questions that remain after today's Order.

STATEMENT OF
COMMISSIONER KATHLEEN Q. ABERNATHY

Re: Vonage Holdings Corporation Petition for Declaratory Ruling Concerning an Order of the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission, Memorandum Opinion and Order in WC Docket No. 03-211 (adopted Nov. 9, 2004).

This decision provides much-needed clarity regarding the jurisdictional status of Vonage’s DigitalVoice service and other VoIP services. By fencing off these services from unnecessary regulation, this Order will help unleash a torrent of innovation. Indeed, by facilitating the IP revolution, rather than erecting roadblocks, our action will drive greater broadband adoption and deployment, and thereby promote economic development and consumer welfare.

There is no doubt that VoIP services of the type provided by Vonage are inherently interstate in nature. As the Order describes in detail, several factors combine to make it impossible to isolate any intrastate-only component of such services. These factors include the architecture of packet-switched networks and the enhanced features that are offered as an integral part of VoIP services. Together, these attributes necessarily result in the interstate routing of at least some packets. These services are also marked ― in striking contrast to circuit-switched communications ― by a complete disconnect between the subscriber’s physical location and the ability to use the service. A subscriber’s physical location is not only unknown in many instances, but also completely irrelevant. Allowing state commissions to impose traditional public-utility regulations on these interstate communications services would frustrate important federal policy objectives, including the congressional directive to “preserve the vibrant and competitive free market that presently exists for the Internet and other interactive computer services, unfettered by Federal or State regulation.”

Thus, while I do not lightly arrive at any decision to preempt state regulatory authority, I believe it is imperative for the Commission to do so here. Allowing the Minnesota utility regulations ― or comparable state regulations ― to stand would authorize a single state to establish default national rules for all VoIP providers, given the impossibility of isolating any intrastate-only component. Equally troubling is the prospect of subjecting providers of these innovative new services ― which are being rolled out on a regional, national, and even global scale ― to a patchwork of inconsistent state regulations. In short, failure to preempt state utility regulations would likely sound the death knell for many IP-enabled services and would deprive consumers of the cost savings and exciting features they can deliver.

As necessary as preemption may be, I want to underscore my view that our assertion of exclusive federal jurisdiction still permits states to play an important role in facilitating the rollout of IP-enabled services. To begin with, as the Order makes clear, states will continue to enforce generally applicable consumer protection laws, such as provisions barring fraud and deceptive trade practices. Moreover, I have often emphasized that, even where the FCC alone possesses the ultimate decisionmaking authority, this Commission and state regulators can and should collaborate in the development of sound policy ― much as we have done through our Federal-State Joint Boards and Joint Conferences, the approval of Section 271 applications, and in other contexts. Indeed, I am encouraged that an increasing number of state commissioners agree that “preemption . . . does not preclude collaboration with States on key issues including public safety, consumer protection and reform of intercarrier compensation and universal service.” These state commissioners further note that “clearly establishing the domain in which the regulatory treatment of IP-enabled services will be determined will facilitate resolution of these issues in a more streamlined manner and with less incentive for costly and protracted litigation.”

I also want to acknowledge the concerns expressed by commenters who argued that the Commission should resolve outstanding questions about access to E911, the preservation of universal service, and other important policy matters before addressing this jurisdictional issue. Ideally, the Commission would have decided the jurisdictional issue in tandem with the various rulemaking issues. But the decision of several states to impose utility regulations on VoIP services, and the ensuing litigation arising from such forays, makes it imperative for the Commission to establish our exclusive jurisdiction as the first order of business. This Commission runs significant risks if we remain on the sidelines and leave it to the courts to grapple with such issues of national import without the benefit of the expert agency’s views. Looking ahead, I agree that the Commission should proceed with the rulemaking on IP-enabled services as expeditiously as possible. We should adopt rules to the extent necessary to ensure the fulfillment of our core policy goals, including access to E911, the ability of law enforcement to conduct lawful surveillance, access for persons with disabilities, and the preservation of universal service. And we should provide a thorough and careful analysis of whether IP-enabled services are information services or telecommunications services, given the potentially far-reaching implications of that classification.

Finally, by the same token, I sympathize with parties who contend that the Commission should conclusively resolve the jurisdictional status of all VoIP services, rather than limiting our analysis to a subset of VoIP. I have endeavored to make our jurisdictional analysis as inclusive as possible, given the state of the record and the scope of the Declaratory Ruling Petition. This Order should make clear the Commission’s view that all VoIP services that integrate voice communications capabilities with enhanced features and entail the interstate routing of packets ― whether provided by application service providers, cable operators, LECs, or others ― will not be subject to state utility regulation.

STATEMENT OF
COMMISSIONER MICHAEL J. COPPS,
CONCURRING

Re: Vonage Holdings Corporation Petition for Declaratory Ruling Concerning an
Order of the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission, Memorandum Opinion and
Order (WC Docket No. 03-211)

We all marvel at the tremendous and transformative potential of IP services. They have the power significantly to remake the telecommunications landscape by flooding the market with innovative new services and providers. But to unleash the full potential of this new technology and to ensure that these services succeed, we need rules of the road—clear, predictable and confidence-building.

Today’s decision finds that VoIP services like Vonage’s DigitalVoice have an undeniably interstate character. That’s fine as far as it goes—but it doesn’t go very far. Proclaiming the service “interstate” does not mean that everything magically falls into place, the curtains are raised, the technology is liberated, and all questions are answered. There are, in fact, difficult and urgent questions flowing from our jurisdictional conclusion and they are no closer to an answer after we act today than they were before we walked in here. So rather than sailing boldly into a revolutionary new Voice Over communications era, we are, I think, still lying at anchor. By not supplying answers, we are clouding the future of new technology that has the power to carry us over the horizon.

So I can only concur in today’s decision. While I agree that traditional jurisdictional boundaries are eroding in our new Internet-centric world, we need a clear and comprehensive framework for addressing this new reality. Instead the Commission moves bit-by-bit through individual company petitions, in effect checking off business plans as they walk through the door. This is not the way we should be proceeding. We need a framework for all carriers and all services, not a stream of incremental decisions based on the needs of individual companies. We need a framework to explain the consequences for homeland security, public safety and 911. We need a framework for consumer protection. We need a framework to address intercarrier compensation, state and federal universal service, and the impact on rural America. But all I see coming out of this particular decision is . . . more questions.

The Commission’s constricted approach denies consumers, carriers, investors and state and local officials the clarity they deserve. These are not just my musings. A growing chorus of voices is urging the Commission to stop its cherry-picking approach to VoIP issues. When the National Governors Association, the Association of Public Safety Communications Officials, the National Association of Counties, the National League of Cities, the United States Conference of Mayors, the Communications Workers of America, AARP, the Independent Telephone and Telecommunications Alliance, the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association, the Organization for the Promotion and Advancement of Small Telecommunications Companies, the Western Telecommunications Alliance, the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors, the National Consumers League and local directors of 911 service in cities and counties around the country all suggest that moving ahead in piecemeal fashion is irresponsible, I think we should take heed.

I want to point to language in this item—albeit it’s in a footnote—that warns people not to draw unwarranted conclusions from the narrow jurisdictional finding that we make. What we do today should not be interpreted as anything more than it is. Yes, Vonage’s DigitalVoice service has an interstate character. But what exactly that entails we do not say. All that important work lies ahead. Wouldn’t it be sad if we were to let it go at this, pretending we have done something truly responsive to the questions that need to be answered, and then not proceed to tackle the related issues quickly and comprehensively? And wouldn’t it be tragic if the blunt instrument of preemption was permitted to erode our partnership with the states? We have worked long and hard to nourish a common federal-state commitment to a pro-competitive telecommunications environment. This is no time to abandon that commitment.

Sometimes I wonder what the strategy is in this Commission’s approach to VoIP. Some warn that it may be a camel’s nose under the tent strategy, proceeding inch-by-inch to far-reaching conclusions that a more straight-forward approach could not sustain. I hope that is not the case and this decision should not be so interpreted. What I hope this decision does is to force us finally to face up to the larger issues. We are, after all, face-to-face here with issues that go to the very core of our statutory responsibilities. These issues can’t be ducked and they can’t be dodged if we are truly serious about these technologies realizing their full transformative potentials. So I’ll withhold my approval for that happy day when we step up to the plate and begin answering the hard questions about what these technologies and services are and how they fit into America’s communications landscape.

CONCURRING STATEMENT OF
JONATHAN S. ADELSTEIN

Re: Vonage Holdings Corporation Petition for Declaratory Ruling Concerning an Order of the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission, WC Docket No. 03-211, FCC 04-267 (2004).

While this Order rightly acknowledges the importance and unique qualities of Internet-based services, including Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services, I am concerned that the Commission overlooks important public policy issues that will impact consumers across our country, and particularly in Rural America.

I concur to this item because it appropriately recognizes the unique nature of many IP-enabled services and the importance of reducing barriers to entry for Internet-based services. Indeed, I share my colleagues’ enthusiasm for the promise of Internet Protocol (IP)-enabled services. All indications are that IP is becoming the building block for the future of telecommunications and its use is integral to the explosion of choices for consumers. It is becoming increasingly apparent that IP-based services will play an important role in our global economic competitiveness, by enabling economic productivity, providing a platform for innovation, and driving demand for broadband facilities. Whether through PDA phones, voice through Instant Messaging, or countless other innovative services, this technology is giving customers far greater control over, and flexibility in the use of, their communications services. With that control, consumers can convert messages with ease from voice-to-text and back, and can take their IP-services wherever they go. Though I am not comfortable with all of the analysis in this item, the Order reasonably reflects the unique qualities of Vonage’s service and recognizes the challenges that this service poses for the Commission’s traditional jurisdictional analysis.

Where this Order falls short is its failure to account in a meaningful way for essential policy issues, including universal service, public safety, law enforcement, consumer privacy, disabilities access, and intercarrier compensation, and the effect of our preemption here. In February of this year, we opened a VoIP-specific rulemaking proceeding to address not only the issue raised here, the jurisdiction of IP-based services, but to address the broader implications of VoIP services in a comprehensive and coordinated fashion. At that time, we acknowledged the social importance of these Congressionally-mandated policy objectives and the need to assess the potentially disparate impact of our decisions on particular communities. I am concerned that this Order may have dramatic implications for these Congressional objectives, yet we afford them no meaningful or comprehensive consideration here. I am also concerned that our inability to specify the exact parameters of the services at issue and the breadth of our preemption will have unintended effects, including effects on incentives for investment in these technologies, that could have been avoided with a more comprehensive approach. I highlight, below, two of the most pressing concerns – universal service and public safety.

The Act charges this Commission with maintaining universal service, which is crucial in delivering communications services to our nation’s schools, libraries, low income consumers, and rural communities. Universal service has been the cornerstone of telecommunications policy for over 70 years and has enabled this country to enjoy unparalleled levels of access to essential communications services. That access has improved our economic productivity and our public safety in immeasurable ways and has been vital in fostering economic development in rural and underserved areas. The Act also expressly permits States to adopt consistent approaches to preserve and advance universal service. At least 24 States have answered that call, disbursing over $1.9 billion annually from their own universal service programs. Many of those States and other commenters express legitimate concern that our decision here could increase pressure on the federal universal service mechanisms and could potentially lead to rate increases for rural and low income consumers. With those reasons in mind, I’ve called for the Commission to quickly convene a universal service solutions summit modeled after the ones we’ve held for other public policy issues. Regrettably, this item does not acknowledge its potential impact on those programs, nor does it propose any solutions, or even make firm commitments to resolving these issues. We are left to hope that these unaddressed issues do not gridlock or curtail the full reach of the promised IP superhighway.

I also have reservations about our preemption of a State’s efforts to ensure the public safety of its citizens, based here on the linkage of the 911 requirement with a State certification. Our approach of overriding States’ public safety efforts without clear federal direction takes us into a dangerous territory in which consumers may come to rely on services without the benefit of the critical safety net that they have come to expect.

Ultimately, I cannot fully endorse an approach that leaves unanswered so many important questions about the future of communications services for so many Americans. Rural and low-income Americans, the countless governmental and public interest groups who have expressed concern about our piecemeal approach, and the communications industry, itself, all deserve more from this Commission. If this Commission is to ensure that innovative services are widely available and also achieve the important public policy goals that Congress has articulated, the Commission must begin to wrestle in earnest with difficult issues that are largely ignored this Order. We simply cannot afford to slow roll these issues.

FCC Gives me and VoIP Industry a Birthday Gift

The FCC is expected to rule today in favor of the Internet phone service providers, such as Vonage, AT&T CallVantage, Packet8, etc. taking jurisdiction away from the states. This is a major MAJOR victory for VoIP!!!!

It's the best gift I could possible receive on my 34th birthday! woohoo!

I'll blog more info on this major news shortly.

Amazon Outage

Amazon is having an outage. It appears to be down all day long. Robert Hashemian, our webmaster and columnist within Internet Telephony Magazine brought it to my attention

Even many of the international Amazon sites are down. I could only get to the Japanese Amazon website. I tried 3 different ISPs and Amazon is offline on all 3.

Let's see how fast this outage news spreads. Post a comment if you can't get to it either.

AT&T CallVantage and Buy.com

I was in Circuit City this past Thursday buying a Disney Mickey Mouse television as a birthday gift for my wife when I took a stroll by the computer section. I saw lots of VoIP broadband service providers on the shelves, such as Vonage, AT&T CallVantage, and more using LinkSys hardware or other hardware. It's pretty amazing to me how mainstream VoIP has become. I was going to take a picture of the Circuit City shelf display which had lots of VoIP players all within a 6 by 4 foot area -- just to show how mainstream VoP has become -- but I didn't have my digital camera with me. Maybe I still will if I can remember to bring the camera to work.

With lots of brick and mortar stores adding VoIP to their shelves, it was only a matter of time before all the online stores jumped on board. Amazon already sells VoIP service/hardware. Well, now you can add Buy.com to the mix.

check out the news:

AT&T CallVantage Service Now Offered Online At Buy.com

FOR RELEASE: MONDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2004

BEDMINSTER, N.J. & Aliso Viejo, Calif., - AT&T and Buy.com today announced that AT&T CallVantageSM Service, AT&T's residential Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) broadband phone service, is now available online at Buy.com*, the Internet Superstore.(tm)

AT&T CallVantage Service is prominently featured on the popular Buy.com website. Under the terms of the agreement, AT&T has become a Buy.com "Premiere Partner," and will receive notable placement on the Buy.com website for its VoIP service over the next four months. Buy.com customers will be able to find AT&T CallVantage Service on the home page as well as in the Computers, Electronics and Networking stores.

In addition, Buy.com will feature and promote AT&T's CallVantage Service in its online publication, BuyMagazine, and in targeted e-mails to its customer base.

"Offering broadband phone service to our customers is a natural fit for Buy.com. Our customers are extremely tech savvy-they are interested in VoIP technology, and appreciate its unique features and great savings," said Keith Allen, Buy.com senior vice president of sales."

"Buy.com is a great Internet destination where online shoppers can quickly and easily purchase a wide variety of consumer products and services," said Cathy Martine, AT&T senior vice president of Internet Telephony. "This agreement is another step in making our service more widely and conveniently available to as many consumers as possible. We expect VoIP will be on many shopping lists especially with the holiday season approaching."

AT&T CallVantage Service is now available to consumers in more than 170 U.S. markets coast-to-coast and is currently being trialed overseas for use by remote workers of U.S. multinational corporations. All that's required to use AT&T CallVantage Service is a telephone adapter provided by AT&T and a broadband connection, which lets consumers talk over high-speed Internet connections instead of traditional circuit-switched phone networks.

AT&T CallVantage Service is different than traditional phone services because, through the use of IP-based networks, it can offer customers typical features such as call waiting, three-way calling, and call forwarding, as well as far more advanced features. Indeed, consumers will get unprecedented convenience, cost savings, and control with innovative features including:
* "Call Logs," to track incoming and outgoing calls;
* "Do Not Disturb," to receive calls only when wanted;
* "Locate Me," which rings up to five phones, all at once, or sequentially;
* "Voicemail with eFeatures," to listen to messages from any phone or PC and forward them to anyone on the Web;
* "Simple Reach(SM) Number," which enables AT&T CallVantage Service customers to add up to nine additional telephone numbers anywhere in the country where AT&T offers residential VoIP service for $4.99 each; and
* "Personal Conferencing," to set up meetings with up to nine additional callers.

To learn more about AT&T CallVantage Service, consumers can visit: http://www.CallVantage.com, call 1-866-816-3815, extension 70339, or visit http://www.buy.com.