Will VOIP survive in 2012?

Without trying to state the obvious, VOIP has undergone a lot of changes and threats in the last 18months. However, will it survice beyond 2012?

My answer is "yes" but not in the shape we are familiar with.

Mobile VOIP, the new kid on the block, has chewed into a lot of market space where "traditional" VOIP used to enjoy its market share. Now "fixed" VOIP services seem to be feeling the same pain that fixed network providers felt when Smart Devices showed up out of nowhere. Quickly reducing costs/minute on calls equating to very little margins that soon may shrink to zero and large looming threat of web-based offerings (the likes of Facebook, Google, etc) that now are playing in a space that was once a service provider domain.

It all adds up to the fact that VOIP companies (if not already) need to start looking forward and adapting their business models accordingly.

Mobile VOIP is a shining example of this.

VOIP and providing rich media communications on Smart Devices (I dont call them mobile phones anymore, sorry!) is the now of the future. Unless your business is thinking about how to take its share of this market then your company is going to be faced with an ever-shrinking bottom line until eventually VOIP is offered as a FREE  add-on, value-added service bundled into other services. That leaves your VOIP-based business where exactly? You guessed it, out in the cold.

VOIP as such will be amalgamated into the 100,000's of Apps that can be downloaded onto your Smart Device. Love it or hate it, thats the future for VOIP.

3CX Named a 2011 CRN Emerging Technology Vendor

The international telecommunications developer of Windows-based PBX software, 3CX recently announced its selection by Everything Channel as a 2011 CRN Emerging Technology Vendor. The annual list features innovative vendors who not only deliver easy to use technology, but can generate the high margins solution providers require. 3CX has been added to the list due to its robust product, 3CX Phone System.

3CX Phone System for Windows drew praise for providing a high-value, low-cost VoIP IP PBX solution that’s software-based and provides unified communications. 3CX Phone System is easy to manage and works with any SIP IP phones as it works with the Open SIP Standard. 3CX runs on a standard Windows computer and you can virtualize it. It is far less expensive to purchase and expand compared to proprietary phone systems. For instance, adds and moves can be done in seconds with the 3CX web interface. There’s no need for separate wiring as it is an IP-based PBX and all phones use the existing computer network.

3CX saves businesses money on their telephone administration costs as it works seamlessly with leading VoIP providers and allows users to make and receive calls via Skype. It improves employees’ productivity with desktop call control presence. 3CX delivers mobility to employees by allowing them to work from home via remote extensions.

The 3CX Channel Program is open to all IT and telecoms solutions providers and gives an excellent opportunity for resellers to leverage their Windows skills so as to tap into a completely new market. 3CX Partners generate profitable recurring income as they resell 3CX products and their own services to existing customers, whilst also targeting new customers. The roll-out involves software / hardware sales and provides the opportunity for consultancy.

Benefits of the 3CX Partner Program include access to free products and technology. Numerous free partner training events held worldwide each year and direct access to the 3CX Support Team assists 3CX Partners so that they can, in turn, assist their customers.

“Enabling customers with the tools and strategies to solve real business problems has always been a priority to solution providers. The market has grown increasingly competitive over the years; so too has the demand for innovative, channel-friendly technologies.” said Kelley Damore, VP, Editorial Director, Everything Channel. “From the cloud to semantic technology, this year’s list of Emerging Technology Vendors highlights the emphasis on innovation and ease of use that has been the hallmark of any successful channel offering.”

The vendors that make up the CRN Emerging Technology Vendor list were founded in 2005 or later, have revenue under $1 billion and have an active U.S. channel strategy.

“We are proud to have been included in this year’s CRN Emerging Technology Vendor list. 3CX continues to lead the market for Windows based IP PBX solutions. Companies are switching to 3CX Phone System as it allows them to make huge savings on their monthly telecoms bills and provides rich features.” said Nick Galea, 3CX CEO. “3CX is a 100% channel company, providing an excellent opportunity for IT specialists to resell a high-value, low-cost PBX solution, as well as bundle in hardware and consultancy services to their existing and new customers. 3CX provides all the tools needed for our channel partners to be successful.”

Security, Stability, and Interoperability Issues on VoIP Implementation

Now we have accepted that VoIP is no longer just a phone service, it has become feature rich as it merges with computer configurations. The VoIP's existence has changed considerably over the last few years, coupled with the availability of broadband connection to the Internet, plus leaps in multimedia technology in which virtual operations with remote sites becomes more enhanced, makes VoIP service a viable alternative to traditional communication offerings.

Cost savings is not the only driving force for VoIP implementations, enterprises have to consider some business aspects that VoIP can bring about. VoIP creates potentials for applications that could not have been done before. Collaboration, integration, and interactivity between employees and applications are one of the several business benefits that enterprises can derive from VoIP adoption. Nevertheless, amid euphoria of VoIP technology, there are three important aspects to look at before a company goes VoIP. In the following paragraphs I will summarize the aspect of security, stability, and interoperability that play a key role in the successful implementation of VoIP.

1. Security

VoIP implementations may expose new security risks and challenges that somehow become greater concern than quality and cost-efficiency among vendors and users. VoIP networks are vulnerable to all the same security risks as traditional IP data networks, including:

• Denial of Service (DoS), viruses, worms,
• Toll fraud and unauthorized access,
• Spoofing, and port scanning.

It is recommended that organizations should adopt a layered, defense-in-depth security strategy to address the issue with the increasing proliferation of new Internet-borne attacks and malicious activities in recent years. In this architecture, the network is segmented into secure zones protected by layers of firewall, intrusion prevention, and other security services. This strategy allows the organizations to logically split and secure voice and data networks in front of individual voice and data components and between interactive points in the network.

2. Stability

One of the main issues of VoIP is the amount of bandwidth required for each call. There must be adequate bandwidth reserved and the quality of the link must be well maintained throughout each call to ensure the users are not affected. As the very nature of VoIP call is real-time, any disruption during the call would be easily noticeable and unacceptable. The two issues that enterprises usually have to deal with here are bandwidth and quality of service (QoS).

VoIP calls need a data transmission speed of 64kb/s to produce the quality of voice comparable to that of a normal telephone call. That 64kb/s channel needs to remain open and unaffected for the duration of the call. Theoretically, VoIP installations would not allow such a huge bandwidth to be allocated for VoIP alone. Therefore, there needs to be a compression taking place to compact the voice data into a considerable size before it gets transmitted over a packet switching network. G.723 codec that is incorporated in VoIP standard protocol H.232 can take a 64kb/s stream of data and squash it down to a mere 5.5kb/s or so. Generally, for VoIP to work reliably over WAN links, there has to be low jitter, low packet loss, a considerably high-speed connection between the endpoints, and less than 200ms delay.

3. Interoperability

Compatibility between VoIP equipment from different vendors is a very important aspect to boost the use of VoIP products. Without standardized quality of service mechanisms businesses would need to buy all the equipment and the QoS server from the same manufacturer. The VoIP world seems to be divided between many vendors with reluctance to establish interoperability and some who are trying to be end-to-end supplier but at the same time worried about interoperability. The protocols used in VoIP communication are still considered fairly complex in comparison to most of the other protocols involved in Internet applications. SIP (Session Initiation Protocol - a signaling protocol for Internet conferencing, telephony, events notification, and instant messaging), that is regarded as simple and elegant the other protocols, is still not efficient.

On the bright side, however, SIP is approaching status as an IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) standard, after several years of work. With the recent version, it has achieved a greater amount of stability and changes are becoming smaller and smaller. Phone switch companies such as Nortel have recently begun supporting SIP, and now the manufacturers of handsets and related devices will soon ramp up their support. Motorola, Avaya, and Proxim have made collaboration on the creation and deployment of IP telephony solutions that will deliver new extents of communication mobility and network connectivity.

Finally, with these three VoIP aspects covered, businesses will be able to maximize their investment by applying it as the backbone of internal communication such as phone conversation, videoconferencing, instant messaging, faxing, etc. Another area that will widely make use of VoIP is call centers, in which Web contacts, virtual operations with outsourcers overseas, and remote sites, such as home agents, all could improve the customer experience. New VoIP applications that we have not thought about may also come into existence as the services generates more business and profits for companies.

VOIP solutions For Business

VOIP Solutions VoIP?

VOIP have helped customers save up to 80% on their phone bills by moving to one of the Business VoIP solutions at voip-solutions.org


voip-solutions.org has partnerships with most of the major Business VoIP service providers in the industry. This lets us provide you prompt and FREE quotes for all of your Business VoIP phone service needs. Basically request a FREE business VoIP quote using the above short form and they will tailor VoIP service quotes based on your location and needs.
Now let us highlight why Business VoIP has become so popular, in particular the Tiny Office/Home Office (SOHO) and Tiny to Medium sized Business (SMB) segment. They will show you the VoIP business case below and highlight some typical VoIP method configurations you will notice for each of the business segments.


Looking for an On-premise IP PBX phone method (larger businesses normally), they can help.
Looking for Audio, Video or Web Conferencing, let us help with our Conferencing section.
Looking for SIP Trunking, let us help with our SIP Trunking section.
Looking for Business VoIP Hardware, let us help with our VoIP equipment section.

VoIP Business Case Study
Historicallyin the past, businesses have used the Public Switched Phone Network (PSTN) for their business phone needs which is fundamentally a circuit switched network. With this technique a phone call fundamentally takes control of the phone line for the whole period of the call. This is not a very efficient or cost effective way to make calls. In addition the PSTN is a heavily regulated network so taxes are charged on every phone call.
The migration to VoIP business phone solutions has been speedy over the last few years. There's numerous advantages to VoIP know-how over the traditional circuit switched technique. For example:

•No circuit switched Private Branch eXchange (PBX) is necessary. This is a large & very pricey piece of equipment used by larger companies to connect their internal phone lines to the PSTN. The capital expenditure & operating costs necessary for a PBX can be substantial. With business VoIP all that is necessary is Broadband Web Access as well as a router to route each packet based call to the world wide web. The business VoIP service provider is then responsible for bridging the calls from the world wide web to their location, whether that be to another VoIP phone user or the PSTN. This is often known as a hosted VoIP, hosted PBX, virtual PBX or IP PBX solution. All of the know-how for handling your calls resides at the business VoIP service provider. You can access & modify your VoIP features (e.g. adding numbers, forwarding calls etc) basically by accessing a secure web-site run by your business VoIP service provider.


•Business VoIP is a digital packet based technique. Therefore numerous Web phone calls can be made simultaneously & can be sent over the same Local Area Network (LAN) that is used for your computer information needs. This is a very cost effective way to make phone calls.


•The voice packets travel over the world wide web in lieu of the PSTN. The world wide web is not heavily regulated like the PSTN so calls are so cheap to make that plenty of business designs basically charge a every month fee & that covers all of your calls irrespective of their location.


•Many larger businesses have multiple locations some of which may be in the next state, others could be on the other side of the world. Usually these locations are connected to a company wide information network (Wide Area Network for example). With a Business VoIP technique, extension dialing is such that the location is irrelevant. An worker in Seattle can call a colleague in London through a simple 4 digit extension & at no cost. This is because the call is sent over the company's network on the world wide web than through traditional long distance calling. This feature alone can be very beautiful to businesses wishing to save money on their phone bills.


•With Business VoIP comes a large array of features. Get online fax, regular fax & voice mail by e-mail or with a web browser. Conference calling. Caller ID. Call forwarding. Going away on business - take your IP phone or Analog Phone Adapter (ATA) with you & your number goes with you or configure your phone to call-forward. Plenty of more features thrown in as standard.


•All phone & information administration can be handled by one Information Services (IS) department. This can save a business a substantial amount of money.


•Business VoIP dramatically simplifies portability & installation. Assuming your IP phone or ATA is configured for Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), you can move your phone anywhere & still keep the same phone number since it will get an IP address dynamically. This is like moving your laptop computer & still being able to log in to your network. It is estimated that it can cost hundreds of dollars to move a phone in a regular circuit switched network due to labor costs & the cost of reconfiguring the PBX. These costs are not incurred in a Business VoIP technique since the IP network does not care about your location.

What is VoIP?

First things first, VoIP stands for Voice over Internet Protocol. At a base level that means phone calls over your broadband connection. You really do need a high-speed connection to take advantage of VoIP to get phone calls comparable to a normal landline phone. Traditional "dial-up" connections are not really sufficient.

VoIP works in a different way to your home phone. Your home phone is based on an analogue network, whereas VoIP is based on a digital one. Essentially when you speak into a VoIP enabled phone or headset your voice is converted into digital packets; it is then compressed to help your Internet connection run more efficiently and then it is transferred down the connection much like an email. Once it reaches its destination the process is reversed.

Why might I want to switch to VoIP?

It's a good question. We all have a working phone in our homes or business, why should we change? Lets look at the advantages and disadvantages of VoIP

Advantages

Well to put it simply - cost. VoIP makes calls significantly cheaper. And (Depending on your package) for a low cost monthly subscription local and national calls can be made for free, and international calls made at a significantly lower rate.

When you subscribe to a VoIP service it is possible to get a phone number for life. You will be able to take your number with you whenever you move (or even travel) with obvious benefits.

The contract packages that companies who are offering the service contain for the most part all the features and more that your current phone service supplier offers. You are likely to find most VoIP companies offering free voicemail, call forwarding, caller ID, call waiting, call waiting ID, 3 way calling, speed dialling and much more.

VoIP is very much in it's infancy; the technology is progressing all the time. Future benefits that we may not be able to envisage yet are certain to appear, you current analogue phone system will not be able to compete.

Disadvantages

Your VoIP phones system will be exclusively based on your broadband connection, if you ISP has a period of service downtime then you will not be able to make calls. Additionally if your electricity supply has a power out then you will not be able to make any calls, this includes calls to the emergency services. Some providers have already got a work around with the emergency calls, so make sure when you decide on a supplier they provide this.

A further disadvantage currently is the set up of the VoIP is not the simplest procedure to undertake, though many suppliers will assist with installation.

The quality of the call via VoIP can be slightly less than your current analogue phone, but the technology is steadily improving, and before long you will not be able to tell the difference in call quality between the two mediums.

Google Paints VoIP IP Telephony Chrome

The news that Google is working to install VoIP IP Telephony into its Chrome browser has passed relatively unnoticed this week but it could be one of the most seismic shifts to hit the way we work and communicate.

Currently using VoIP services requires pulling up a piece of hardware or software, or just clicking on your preinstalled Skype button.
Imagine the amount of time that could be saved by just accessing VoIP numbers directly through your browser?

Not only does that benefit users, but it fits into Google’s idea of personalized search. Having access to your call information as well as your search information will give Google even more targeted information about you.

There are two ways to look at that. Firstly it will either be useful as searching for exactly what you want will become quicker and more efficient. On the other hand it is quite scary to think about quite how much information Google now has about us, everything from when we were born to where we like to shop.

Yet the search giant will not mull over these important concerns and instead is plowing ahead with its open source VoIP IP Telephony project which will incorporate audio and video. Known as WebRTC, Chrome VoIP will now give access to real-time chat on our browser thanks to the collaboration of Google and their VoIP acquisition GIPS.

Take Advantage of Internet Phone Calls (VOIP)

Voice Over IP (VOIP) is a relatively new technology. Voice Over IP allows people to leave behind the old and very traditional analogue phone networks and now adapt in favor of the very new and very progressive Internet-based calling system infrastructure. Using this technology for your communications actually works out cheaper for you in the long run as it means you won't need to pay for calls if the people you are calling and speaking to are also using the same VOIP system.

Voice Over IP runs on several different types of infrastructure. This is the main reason why you should take the time to do your homework and find out how it works and what is involved, before you even consider setting up a Voice Over IP network at your home or place of business. When you do your homework you will see that invariably VOIP offers lots of advantages over and above the standard traditional telephone based analogue service that most people are currently using. Let's take a moment to examine some of the advantages of using Voice Over IP.

The main advantage of Voice Over IP is to be honest - the cost - the cost benefit goes directly back into your pocket. And because Voice Over IP uses the infrastructure of the Internet to make outgoing calls, you will never need to pay your traditional phone provider to maintain a telephone line or for phone and line rental. In addition, many Voice Over IP service providers allow customers to make long distance calls that attract minimal or no long distance charges at all. Many service providers even offer customer VOIP packages that allow you to opt for discounted internet call rates so you can save even more.

But what about this for a benefit? If you have Voice Over IP software installed on your PC and you want to speak to someone who is also uses Voice Over IP, then you are able to talk for as long as you want without having to pay a single cent. This is because your voice is actually transformed into digital data packets rather than audio, and the data is transferred in a similar fashion to that of email. Voice Over IP also makes it very easy and cheap to conduct conference calls and video calls.

There are, of course, some minor disadvantages to using Voice Over IP and you should consider these before you embark on setting up Voice Over IP. Since Voice Over IP is a relatively recent and largely untapped technology, Voice Over IP is prone to experience more errors than using a normal phone would. In addition, if you experience a power failure, then you would be unable to make a call, like you could with a traditional analogue phone. In any event, Voice Over IP is something that you should investigate for your own home and business needs and you should consider it soon while the rates are cheap and the deals are good.

Press8 Releases VoIP iPhone App

Press8 has released a Voice over Internet Protocol App for the iPhone so that customers can make and receive cheap calls on their smartphones.

In doing so it joins the market for existing VoIP iPhone apps by companies such as 3CX.

Industry research by the Insight Research Corporation showed that more than two thirds of all workers use wireless and mobile computing.

Like the 3CX phone system for Windows, Press8 is a VoIP PBX system which runs phone systems over the internet.

The company is based in Austin, Texas, and has been in operation for three years and serves a number of SME's and SMB's.

Transferring these benefits to an app allows for mobility and a number of remote features. These features mirror those advantages of being in an office such as call forwarding and call attendant.

Tamara Field, the President of Press8 Telecom, said: "Maintaining phone system communications is important for all types of businesses.

"Our new app caters to employees who are on the road. The Press8 Telecom iPhone App allows employees who are reluctant to travel to do so in the most efficient way possible while keeping in contact with the office.”

Will VOIP survive in 2012?

Without trying to state the obvious, VOIP has undergone a lot of changes and threats in the last 18months. However, will it survice beyond 2012?

>My answer is "yes" but not in the shape we are familiar with.

>Mobile VOIP, the new kid on the block, has chewed into a lot of market space where "traditional" VOIP used to enjoy its market share. Now "fixed" VOIP services seem to be feeling the same pain that fixed network providers felt when Smart Devices showed up out of nowhere. Quickly reducing costs/minute on calls equating to very little margins that soon may shrink to zero and large looming threat of web-based offerings (the likes of Facebook, Google, etc) that now are playing in a space that was once a service provider domain.

>

It all adds up to the fact that VOIP companies (if not already) need to start looking forward and adapting their business models accordingly.

Mobile VOIP is a shining example of this.

>

VOIP and providing rich media communications on Smart Devices (I dont call them mobile phones anymore, sorry!) is the now of the future. Unless your business is thinking about how to take its share of this market then your company is going to be faced with an ever-shrinking bottom line until eventually VOIP is offered as a FREE add-on, value-added service bundled into other services. That leaves your VOIP-based business where exactly? You guessed it, out in the cold.

>VOIP as such will be amalgamated into the 100,000's of Apps that can be downloaded onto your Smart Device. Love it or hate it, thats the future for VOIP.

So will VOIP survive in 2012 and beyond? Definitely yes Jim but not as we used to know it. What are your thoughts?

A Look at Internet Voice Technology (VoIP) for Residential

Today's Technology

Over the years, the technology has made remarkable progress. Telephony's improved data compression rate, better sound quality, and the availability of residential broadband has given consumers more affordable solutions with even more features than you might have currently. Today, there are a number of available service providers with most offering the equipment for free along with pricing packages that can reduce your phone bills by up to 50% or more.

How It Works

Internet Voice, commonly known as VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), uses your broadband Internet connection to make and receive phone calls instead of your regular phone line. It works by converting your phone calls to data packets and sends the information over your Internet connection, like email, and is received on the other end just like a regular phone call.

Source: Vonage.com

What's the advantage? Using your Internet connection instead of your phone line is less expensive. You can call anywhere, anytime for less and still get features like Call Waiting, Call Forwarding, Caller ID, 3-way Calling, and so much more.

One common misconception about VoIP is that it's a bandwidth hog, when, in fact, voice is a very efficient type of traffic. As a rule of thumb, 14 Kbps of bandwidth per call is ideal. This includes the compressed voice packet and the IP overhead. While your broadband connection will range from 768 Kbps - 1.5 Mbps, this is negligible and not worth concerning yourself over.

The Disadvantages

If you're considering replacing your traditional telephone service with Internet Voice, there are some things you should consider when looking at the various providers.

Some Internet Voice services don't work during power outages and the service provider may not offer backup power; Additional steps may be required for setting up 911 calls where you will need to register an address for location identification; or

DSL users cannot completely eliminate their land line because the broadband runs through this connection; or They may or may not offer white page listings.

Let's Talk Features

VoIP service providers offer different packages to fit your specific needs. Actual usage, desired features, and potential expansion capabilities will be the determining factors when selecting a package. The basic plans most VoIP providers offer include:

Low-cost Basic with Limited Usage
Unlimited US and Canada calls
Unlimited Business with Fax

You're almost certain to save money switching to VoIP. Not only is the monthly service itself generally less expensive than your current phone company's monthly service, the features you get with VoIP are much more extensive and are, most of the time, offered for free. Features like:

Web Based Administration - Allows you to configure your phone settings and log all your calls in real time.

Caller ID - Standard with all VoIP service providers.

Voice Mail - Replaces your answering machine and lets you listen to voice messages on-line.

Call forwarding - Forward calls to your cell, office, or any other number after a predetermined number of rings.

Portability - Take your phone adapter anywhere around the world, use your same phone number, and call anytime, anywhere in the US for free, and vice-versa

Software Phone - this application can be installed on any PC and will function exactly the same way as any VoIP phone

Call Transfer
3-way conferencing v Call return
What You Need

An Internet connection - While VoIP works with a regular 56kbps dial-up connection, it is highly recommended you use a Cable or DSL broadband connection.

A Computer - The only reason you will need a computer (PC or Mac) is to configure the phone adaptor to work with your broadband service provider. Once this is done, you will not need to do this again.

A Digital Phone Adapter - DPA's, also referred to as phone adapters, are provided mostly free of charge. This is similar to your Cable/DSL router that converts the signal to use a regular phone or fax unit.

A Telephone - There are also options for plugging in multiple phones to a single DPA unit.

A VoIP Service provider - There are several available. Here are a few you might want to check out:

Take Advantage of Internet Phone Calls (VOIP)

Voice over IP (VOIP) is a relatively new technology. Voice Over IP allows people to leave behind the old and very traditional analogue phone networks and now adapt in favor of the very new and very progressive Internet-based calling system infrastructure. Using this technology for your communications actually works out cheaper for you in the long run as it means you won't need to pay for calls if the people you are calling and speaking to are also using the same VOIP system.

Voice Over IP runs on several different types of infrastructure. This is the main reason why you should take the time to do your homework and find out how it works and what is involved, before you even consider setting up a Voice Over IP network at your home or place of business. When you do your homework you will see that invariably VOIP offers lots of advantages over and above the standard traditional telephone based analogue service that most people are currently using. Let's take a moment to examine some of the advantages of using Voice Over IP.

The main advantage of Voice Over IP is to be honest - the cost - the cost benefit goes directly back into your pocket. And because Voice Over IP uses the infrastructure of the Internet to make outgoing calls, you will never need to pay your traditional phone provider to maintain a telephone line or for phone and line rental. In addition, many Voice Over IP service providers allow customers to make long distance calls that attract minimal or no long distance charges at all. Many service providers even offer customer VOIP packages that allow you to opt for discounted internet call rates so you can save even more.

But what about this for a benefit? If you have Voice Over IP software installed on your PC and you want to speak to someone who is also uses Voice Over IP, then you are able to talk for as long as you want without having to pay a single cent. This is because your voice is actually transformed into digital data packets rather than audio, and the data is transferred in a similar fashion to that of email. Voice Over IP also makes it very easy and cheap to conduct conference calls and video calls.

3CX and Grandstream Announce Strategic Partnership

3CX, the international developer of the award-winning 3CX Phone System for Windows and Grandstream, a leading designer and manufacturer of next generation IP Voice and Video products for broadband networks, announced today a strategic partnership. Under the terms of the agreement, 3CX will become one of the preferred PBX partners of Grandstream, and 3CX will fully certify and integrate Grandstream’s broad portfolio of IP phones, gateways and multimedia phones, allowing for customers to easily provision and manage Grandstream phones from the 3CX Management console. With the integration, initial configuration and setup of a complete phone system will be much easier and ongoing management will be reduced. 3CX and Grandstream will also commit to advanced feature development and providing end-to-end support to customers, giving companies peace of mind that the complete solution is supported by both companies.

“We are pleased to establish a partnership with 3CX to promote the combination of the market leading software-based 3CX Phone System and the award-winning Grandstream IP phones and multimedia phones. This best-in-class product combination creates an excellent value and innovative solution for the SME market,” said David Li, CEO of Grandstream Networks.
“The combined 3CX & Grandstream solution is very easy to install and manage for customers, and is a great replacement for outdated proprietary phone systems. Because both products are standards-based, customers do not get tied in with one particular vendor and companies can buy best of breed, with full confidence in the complete solution,” said Nick Galea, CEO at 3CX.
The partnership has already resulted in benefits for customers and resellers: 3CX has shipped enhanced Grandstream phone support in Service Pack 4 of 3CX Phone System 9. It is now possible to provision and manage Grandstream phones from the 3CX management console, including the ability to upgrade the firmware network wide via the 3CX management console.

Grandstream has also launched a special reseller program which allows resellers and distributors to get rebates for selling Grandstream phones with 3CX solutions. 3CX was hereby one of the first suppliers to sign on with Grandstream’s reseller program as a result of the completion of extensive testing and 3CX getting full certification to Grandstream’s entire endpoints product line.

Secure Your Mobile Devices with 3CX Mobile Device Manager

As mobile phones are here to stay, it's important to protect your privacy when using them just as you should with your desktop computer.

Unfortunately, many people overlook mobile phone security but this can be dangerous. Thanks to this lack of security awareness, many hackers can take advantage, making many people victims of. It can take countless hours to undo the harm that can be done to your reputation and finances, and sometimes a full recovery is impossible. It's crucial, then, to have security policies in place such as a strong password, in order to protect your company's sensitive data.

You don’t just have to worry about the threat from hackers and malware on your mobile devices. It's also possible that an employee may lose a phone, or have it stolen. 3CX Mobile Device Manager offers real time mobile tracking in order to find a lost mobile as well as to see what routes it has taken.

You can remote lock your device in order to protect the data on it, and as a last resort you can even remotely wipe all data from a mobile device and any attached storage cards. This feature means that you can rest assured that no identity theft can occur and no sensitive corporate data gets exposed.

Voxbone Sees Continued VoIP Growth After Strong 2011

Voxbone announces that despite economic uncertainties in some parts of the world last year, its pattern of steady year-after-year growth in VoIP communications continued as demand from existing customers increased, coupled with new business wins from some of the fastest-rising operators in telecommunications.

The company is calling 2011 a breakthrough year because it enjoyed lift for the first time from customers such as Telefónica and iBasis, while most growth came from direct sales to its customers among providers of next-generation VoIP communications services. Overall, Voxbone said, revenue grew 19 percent, while minutes of use on its global network increased by 33 percent to 2.8 billion.

The company’s trajectory of growth over the past several years reflects the evolution toward Internet-based communications services in business and consumer applications, and away from older and longer-established legacy switched networks. For example, as a result of large corporations adopting cloud communications during 2011, Voxbone saw a significant upswing in business with global B2B network service providers.

Other indicators of growth for Voxbone in 2011, including:

* Gaining Deloitte “Technology Fast 50 Benelux” recognition as the fastest-growing technology company in Belgium;
* Expanding its global presence by having its United States subsidiary become incorporated, appointing regional business development executives in North America and Southeast Asia, opening an office in Mumbai, and extending services to Vietnam;
* Deploying its own network infrastructure in Germany, Luxemburg and Spain;
* Being selected by the United Nations to implement the UN’s own unique country code for disaster relief: +888;
* Moving to vibrantly colored new headquarters in central Brussels that nearly tripled the amount of occupied office space;
* Growing to 67 employees worldwide and truly embodying a multicultural global company by employing people representing 23 nationalities.

This year, Voxbone plans to launch a series of new product lines, enhance its existing services, and expand its network footprint from its current 51 countries to an additional five to seven countries in Asia and South America.

VoIP Charges are a case of ‘tail wagging dog’

The Federal Communications Committee (FCC) in America is letting the tail wag the dog, according to search giant Google.

Proposed plans to charge Voice over Internet Protocol(VoIP) on a per minute basis in the same way as regular telephony could be a huge blow to the industry says Google.

The have accused the USA telecoms regulator of trying to stifle what is a rapidly expanding industry with possible call termination charges.

Currently one of the factors which makes VoIP so appealing is that information can be routed over the internet free of charge (once the internet subscription has been set up).

Up until now an ESP exemption has meant that VoIP traffic is free of charge. While telecommunications companies have railed against this disadvantage, VoIP providers have claimed that information, and this is basically what is being sent over the VoIP lines, should be free on the internet.

The Google lawyer Donna N. Lampert wrote to the FCC to persuade them to see the bigger picture – VoIP traffic is a very small part of the overall IP traffic which Google deals with.

Yet VoIP services like Skype have long been trying to monetise what is essentially a free service. Although Skype has millions of users only a small fraction of them are paying subscribers.

The Google figures show that VoIP calls now account for 21,000 terabytes a month compared to the 36,000 terabytes used for conventional calls.

Regular telephone traffic is certainly declining and it is clear that there will have to be a shift in the way it is administered as a result.

Lightyear Network Solutions Offers VoIP in the Cloud

Hosted VoIP and cloud computing are the two standards which business service provider Lightyear Network Solutions has chosen to take it into the future.

The company is on the verge of rolling out VoIP in the cloud to small and medium sized businesses.

That will allow their customers to keep and integrate their existing traditional PBX (if preferred) with VoIP solutions for business.
Despite losing company founder Sherman Henderson recently the company is determined to plough on by increasing its portfolio and expanding its network services.

The new CEO Stephen M. Lochmueller told Fiercevoip: "We are pleased to announce the launch of our new product, which further enhances our extensive portfolio. Hosted VoIP is part of our strategic plan to make the cloud valuable and affordable for SMBs.”
Lightyear Network Solutions already has a strong customer base in the USA.
Hosted VoIP allows them to increasingly offer flexible and scalable solutions which can save companies costs and deliver fixed mobile convergence.

Service Options for Businesses

Most small businesses will want to choose a hosted VoIP service, where the equipment and maintenance are handled by the hosting service provider. This allows for extremely rapid installation of a new system in most cases, normally within weeks (“But it can take up to a month if the existing business number is to be ported to a VoIP service provider,’ notes Scarborough).

The number of providers offering hosted VoIP phone services is growing rapidly. Their competition for your business lets you find the best possible rates and features. VoIP makes sense for businesses that are exploring ways to reduce their telecommunications fees. The technology has gotten better; it’s cheaper, and can be implemented relatively rapidly. But beyond cost savings, it allows businesses to access a large number of features that are unavailable to them with traditional phone services.

“I believe that the greatest advantage of VoIP phone services is that it allows a business to ‘future proof’ its phone system,” says Scarborough. “All too often, a company will invest $30,000 (or more) into a traditional system that works for them for a few years, and then they discover they’ve outgrown it. You don’t outgrow your VoIP service, because it’s simple to add new lines and phones, and to align features to communication needs of the individual user. Businesses that use it know they have access to the latest features, since these are always being upgraded with the latest VoIP hosting software.”

For many businesses, the future will be leveraging VoIP services, with reduced costs and the ability to integrate voice with other data-based technologies. The bottom line is improved customer service and higher productivity, and VoIP service is proving that it delivers both to a greater degree than was possible before.

Faxing over VoIP

As far as VoIP has come in Voice telephone calls, faxing over VoIP still has a lot of room to improve.

Have you ever tried to fax on your residential VoIP line? I have, and it didn't go well. After doing some research on the subject I found out that the voice traffic and the Fax traffic are best run over two different codecs. This is why when most VoIP carriers sell you a business account they include a free additional fax line with the faxing specific codec to allow for faxing.

Faxing on a Voice VoIP line is possible but not recommended. You can fax a page or two over your Voice VoIP line but it may take you several attempts to accomplish. The reason is when the fax tone is digitized into packets, there is packet loss. Packet loss on a voice is not that critical because even with a little packet loss, you can still hear and understand what the person is saying. But, when there is packet loss on a fax, any little bit can really mess up the fax. The result can be a bad fax, error message, or even a dropped call. When faxing over a Fax Codec, the loss of packets is minimized and faxes generally make it to its destination, but in the case of a large fax (10+ pages) your chances of a successful fax diminish. It is recommended that a customer who is planning on faxing quite a bit get a fax machine that also doubles as a scanner and can convert potential faxes into a .PDF file so if the fax over VoIP does not work, the customer can email the fax.

Programmers are coming up with a better codec all the time, so it is only a matter of time before VoIP providers come up with a more reliable faxing VoIP codec. VoIP is here to stay and the VoIP providers are trying to overcome all of the objections from small businesses to gain their business, and faxing is a large issue for small businesses. I have the utmost confidence in VoIP providers to come up with a solution that is viable by the end of 2005 or earlier.

Faxing is only one of the things to consider before choosing a VoIP solution. In fact, there are many things to consider when choosing a VoIP provider.

Mobile VoIP - Voice On The Go !

Mobile VoIP - (Mobile Voice over Internet Protocol) is the application of voice over IP technology to mobile devices (PDA, Pocket PC or Smartphone).

Mobile VoIP requires a mobile handset that supports, at minimum, high speed IP communications. Most commonly this is using Voice over Wi-Fi or VoWiFi, but the same protocols typically SIP or Jabber can be used over any broadband IP-capable wireless network connection such as the various 3G standards, EVDO rev A. (which is synchronously high speed - both high speed up and down), HSDPA or potentially WiMax.

Mobile VoIP will require a compromise between economy and mobility. For example, Voice over Wi-Fi offers free service but is only available within the coverage area of the Wi-Fi Access Point. High speed services from mobile operators using with probably have better audio quality and capabilities for metropolitan-wide coverage including fast handoffs from mobile base station to another, yet it will cost more than the typical Wi-Fi based VoIP service.

Mobile VoIP will become an important service in the coming years as device manufacturers exploit more powerful processors and less costly memory to meet the users' needs for ever-more power in your pocket. Smartphone in mid-2006 are capable of sending and receiving email, browse the web and in some cases watch TV.

The challenge for the mobile operator industry is to deliver the benefits and innovations of IP without losing control of the network service. Users like the Internet to be free and high speed without extra charges for visiting specific sites versus other sites. Delivering mobile VoIP is a service that challenges the most valuable service in the telecommunications industry – Voice. The opportunities, threatens and pace of innovation in the global communications industry.

Ecommerce VoIP provider TelcoDepot.com Launches Expanded range of TalkSwitch VoIP Phone Systems on on-line Store

Ecommerce VoIP Equipment and VoIP service supplier TelcoDepot.com has launched an expanded vary of industry-leading TalkSwitch VoIP phone systems on its on-line phone system store. TalkSwitch VoIP solutions are optimized for little businesses and deliver increased productivity, performance and potency. TelcoDepot.com additionally provides business phone systems, Hosted PBX solutions, VoIP phones, business VoIP service, conferencing system solutions, Microsoft Response purpose solutions, VoIP gateways, phonephone equipment accessories and phone system support solutions for businesses.

TalkSwitch provides small businesses with great VoIP systems and productivity tools that enable them to try to do more with less since operating more efficiently and growing with ease. TelcoDepot.com currently stocks a full range of VoIP equipment and tools from TalkSwitch.

“TalkSwitch is synonymous with little Business VoIP systems, and their product are designed with the small guy in mind; combining wonderful business communication options with great software, productivity tools and the power of VoIP, they are a good work for a small businesses trying to change to VoIP as simply and affordably as potential without compromising scalability and performance," says Yaron Ram, Principal at TelcoDepot.com.TelcoDepot.com provides the complete suite of TalkSwitch VoIP Phone systems, accessories and software, with great support choices for installation, cabling, programming, shipping and a lot of.

TalkSwitch Auto Attendant and Voicemail memory upgrades are also offered from TelcoDepot.com including one hour, 2 hours, 4.5 hours and nine hours packages.** TalkSwitch VoIP systems from TelcoDepot.com come loaded with options and choices that boost little business productivity while being scalable and versatile.