Ellen Muraskin

Think about using a Pocket PC to make and take phone calls over a Wi-Fi link. Dial using a small-screen keypad with a stylus. Click on clearly marked buttons to transfer calls or put them on hold. Now, think about that Pocket PC/IP phone as a remote extension off a corporate PBX. Not just any […]

Avaya on Monday announced an agreement with Toshiba to deploy Avayas Communications Manager IP PBX in its Tokyo headquarters. Part of an SIP (Session Initiation Protocol)-based telephony network to connect 12,000 Toshiba Corp. employees, the announcement represents the second vote of confidence this month in enterprise IP telephony on a multinational, Fortune-500 scale. The first […]

The congressional debate over regulation of IP-based telephony is complex, multifaceted and hairy, pitting state public utility commissions against the FCC and VOIP service providers. In the meantime, Bell operating companies profit from the present state of FUD as potential deserters wait for the smoke to clear before disconnecting. “You have 500 different lobbyists trying […]

In a move that could threaten some of the price advantages of IP-based voice services, members of the Senate Commerce Committee have reversed key parts of a bill that originally sought to give the federal government sole regulatory power over VOIP services. The bill was first presented by Sen. John Sununu, R-N.H., but amendments to […]

Those of us in the technical media hear an almost deafening VOIP drumbeat. Newsletters on Internet telephony seem to appear every month. The general business media, and even the general interest media, are devoting a growing number of column inches, pixels and air time to the subject. Thats all well and good, but the industry […]

Linux vendor Linspire Inc. has released PhoneGaim, a free software program that adds voice-over-IP functionality to the Linux-based Gaim instant messaging client. Linspire, aka Lindows, has taken the popular open-source Gaim IM client, which interoperates with AIM, MSN, ICQ and Yahoo IM services, and enhanced it with SIP (Session Initiation Protocol)-based VOIP services. The resulting […]

Siemens Information and Communications Networks Inc. this week rolled out a new version of its collaboration portal that adds a software development tool kit and new presence automation tools. Version 2.0 of HiPath OpenScape, which runs on Microsofts Office Live Communications Server and Windows Server 2003, also includes application interfaces so that SOAP/XML developers can […]

CableLabs, a nonprofit research and interoperability testing lab for cable operators based in Louisville, Colo., called on VOIP (voice over IP) vendors this week to submit designs for customer-premise, multiline cable access equipment for small businesses. Companies that wish to submit design specs for an ML-MTA (multiline, multimedia terminal adapter) have until August 12 to […]

IP PBX makers like Snom Technology and Zultys Technologies sell their IP PBX platforms to an early-adopter type of enterprise customer. This is typically an SMB (small to midsize business) whose decision-maker is sold on VOIP, free to take some risks and not all that concerned with the flashiness of the phone set. But these […]

AT&T announced June 30 that it is rolling out its consumer VOIP service in 10 more markets. The company also lowered the introductory price of the service to $19.99 a month, pitching it squarely against startup providers such as Vonage and BroadVoice. The AT&T brand gives a great boost to VOIPs credibility among consumers, said […]