VoIP Supply Grows With New Partner and Old Friend

June 20, 2011 by Nathan Miloszewski

A rush order for 1,000 units of Cisco phones was a challenge until VoIP Supply turned to D&H Distributing. Quick turnaround was only the first major hurdle.

The customer’s VoIP system had to hit the ground running with preloaded MAC addresses and serial numbers from all VoIP phones ordered.

D&H delivered on that too treating VoIP Supply as if it were a much larger account.

CRN’s Steven Burke details how the fast growing small medium business (SMB) sector can be attributed to sales growth for for both D&H and VoIP Supply while Garrett Smith, CMO VoIP Supply, specifically notes that the Cisco Unified Communications line has performed at 40% year over year growth:

“We have been surprised by how well Cisco solutions have been embraced in the SMB,” he said. “Cisco has done a good job of taking what worked well in the enterprise and then understanding the SMB market and making it work well in the SMB.”

With D&H’s focus on servicing the SMB VAR, VoIP Supply can meet the challenges of emerging markets and grow new business.

Via CRN

VoIP Supply Recognized as Polycom Certified Channel Partner

June 16, 2011 by Nathan Miloszewski

VoIP Supply is proud to announce being distinguished as a Polycom Certified Channel Partner. Polycom states,

“As Partners working together, we are proud to recognize the commitment to quality and excellence this Polycom Certified Channel Partner provides.”

VoIP Supply is certified by Polycom as an expert in:

VoIP
Video
SoundStation IP
Microsoft Endpoint

“VoIP Supply works hard to educate customers to help them succeed,” said Garrett Smith, Chief Marketing Officer at VoIP Supply. “It’s rewarding to be recognized for our high level of service that parallels Polycom’s VoIP solutions.”

How To Repurpose Webcams into Surveillance Systems

June 9, 2011 by Nathan Miloszewski

If you’re looking for a simple and cost-effective (read: Free) way to keep an eye on all of your stuff using computers and webcams that are lazily laying around the house doing nothing, then check out the Windows based iSpy security software.

Free and Open Source

iSpy is a free, open source, camera security software that can be used with your own computers, webcams, microphones and even IP cameras. Besides costing you nothing, iSpy software has the same functionality as high-level IP camera software systems:

Event Management: Set up alerts and scheduling and get instant, mobile notification when motion or sound is detected.
Recording and Viewing: Continuous, triggered, or scheduled recordings. View recordings locally or remotely (Searching recorded video via different search variables does not seem to be available).
Web Access: Remote access and control from anywhere in the world via PC or mobile devices.

Many Uses, UFO Watching

There’s an active forum on the site with households, neighborhoods, and businesses finding many uses for iSpy including UFO watching.

Via Free Software Magazine

Surveillance On Demand – Camera Emails Pictures When Asked

June 7, 2011 by Nathan Miloszewski

There’s a DIY surveillance camera project outlined at Making of the Autonomous Surveillance Camera that aside from acutally working, can email you photos of the room it’s watching when you ask it to.

Here’s how it works:

It uses cellular network for communication. The device checks pre-defined email mailbox once an hour. If a new email is received the camera takes a picture, saves it on a SD-card and emails the image to its owner.

This produces still images on a time delay but, it can provide you a little peace of mind if you need to check on your home. You can build your very own camera with:

A modem
JPEG camera
SD memory card
Micro-controller and integrated circuit

Watch the video to see the Autonomous Surveillance Camera in action —

Via Lifehacker

Internet a Necessity, VoIP Use Increases

by Nathan Miloszewski

It seems like my love for the internet and its importance in my daily life is growing all the time. No question now as a new survey and recent announcement by a major cable company affirm these fuzzy feelings.

The Internet Phone Calls survey by Pew Internet & American Life Project has found that nearly 25% of online American adults have made internet phone calls. This marks a significant increase since the last time this study was done in 2007 when only 8% of users were making online calls.

VoIP use is up, making complete sense that Time Warner Cable is considering dropping it’s “Triple Play” bundled package of cable, internet, and digital phone in favor of a standalone broadband internet plan.

Time Warner Cable’s chief executive Glenn Britt substantiates sentiments that the internet is just too painful to live without: “People are telling us that if they were down to their last dollar, they’d drop broadband last.”

VoIP use is up as internet becomes a household staple and a service provider has noticed. Can we get more attractive broadband deals now?

Hospital Bacteria and the VoIP Solution

June 3, 2011 by Nathan Miloszewski

Hospital doors adept at keeping flying disease bags at bay are no match for this technological pigeon that comes streaming through day and night.

Peter Ferenczi at Mobiledia is reporting that “phone hygiene” is a real concern:

In a recent study, 40 percent of the phones in the patient group — which included patients’ visitors — carried pathogens, compared to 20 percent of health worker’s phones, according to a paper published in the American Journal of Infection Control.

Described as “worrisome” by the study, the types and resistance levels of the bacteria found on these phones should be taken seriously as Ferenczi notes that 100,000 annual deaths in the U.S. can be attributed to hospital acquired infections.

If the germaphobe in you is squirming you should take comfort knowing that in the VoIP world there is a solution to this.

The Polycom KIRK 7020 DECT handset was designed with the healthcare industry in mind. This little life saver has a bacteria-resistant handset with membrane keypad for easy cleaning to help avoid the spread of bacteria.

Most phones, which are more gross than we’d care to believe, don’t take well to traditional cleaning methods making the KIRK 7020’s membrane keypad especially useful.

Of all the things we expect our phones to do these days , who would’ve thought warding off bacteria and curbing infections could be added to the list?

Entrepreneur.com Highlights VoIP Supply’s CEO, Ben Sayers

May 31, 2011 by Nathan Miloszewski

In the article “How the Recession Saved One Company” Entrepreneur.com highlights our CEO and founder, Ben Sayers. Entrepreneur Mag_Ben_Sayers_05_2011

Part of Entrepreneur.com’s “Small Business Comebacks” series, the article takes a look at the tough choices Sayers had to make heading into the 2008 recession that lead to VoIP Supply’s turnaround and the lessons learned from the experience.

Click here for the full article.

Making the Switch…from VoIP? (Part II)

May 27, 2011 by Nathan Miloszewski

Note: This is the final segment of a two part article that examines a switch back to traditional phone service from VoIP and other user’s experiences. Part I is here.

Part I was a look at reasons users might take a step back from the growing VoIP usage and return to a traditional, analog phone system.

Admittedly, VoIP isn’t for everyone which is why there are still other options but after having read Renai LeMay’s story, “Why I’m Ditching VoIP for the PSTN,” I wanted to know if this sort of technological backtracking was a trend or an isolated occurrence.

To get a sense of whether or not VoIP service represents a burger grilled to perfection for some or is still undercooked for others (Happy Memorial Day Weekend everyone!), I sought the opinions of actual VoIP users.

(more…)

The Age of Voice on the Net – The Story of Vonage

May 26, 2011 by Nathan Miloszewski

Abby Johnson of WebProNew interviewed the co-founder of Vonage, Jeff Pulver, about VoIP and how the broadband phone company got its start.

Pulver talks about his roots in amateur radio, the first social media, where he learned to “listen, connect, share, and engage with people.”

With no background in telecommunications he accepts that he’s known as the “Forrest Gump of communications” but won’t apologize for being lucky.

Instead, Pulver is focused on his fascination of the evolving social web and how people connect with people.

Having warned phone companies of the challenges they’ll face if they dont understand social media, Pulver’s efforts are now directed to wherever people are having a conversation with iniatives like the 140 Character Conference aimed at the worldwide Twitter community and the effects of real-time internet on businesses.

24/7 Surveillance Degrades Online Privacy

May 25, 2011 by Nathan Miloszewski

At a TedXObserver event in London last month author, activist, journalist, and blogger Cory Doctorow gave a talk outlining the ways we’re undervaluing our privacy in an era of full disclosure and 24/7 surveillance and asks the question:

“How do we get kids to care about online privacy?”

Doctorow states that Facebook uses “powerful game like mechanisms to reward disclosure” comparing it to B.F. Skinner’s theory of using social reinforcement to strengthen a desired behavior – Like giving away information.

Making Facebook Less Creepy

Parents and schools will spy on everything in the attempt to keep them safe but this may groom them for an existence where constant internet surveillance is considered legitimate, normal, and good “teaching them to systematically undervalue their privacy years before they reach Facebook.”

When too much of the good internet is blocked by tryng to shield the bad, kids end up not using the tools properly. How do we make Facebook less creepy by not spying all the time?

Tech savvy kids will circumvent whatever walls you put in place as Doctorow tells the story of what would normally be a mundane post about a Cisco router firmware update on a friends blog.

Some girls were having a juicy, gossip packed conversation in the comments section of this boring technology post and when asked why by the author, they explained that everyday a random blog post would be picked to leave comments on for each other because every other online outlet (chat services, Facebook, MySpace, etc.) was blocked by their school.

Network Privacy Best Practices

Doctorow endorses “network education” — Teach kids network privacy best practices to encrypt everything they do on the internet. Teach them how to use secure Voice over IP connection programs on their phones, for example, or how to use CCTV maps to move through town and avoid having their locations recorded by nosy neighbors who like to spy on others.

Networks should continue to enhance cooperation without damaging disclosure Doctorow states, and “Why do you need to know this?” should be the default position when asked for information.