Polycom CX5000 video and voice device

March 30, 2009 by Garrett Smith

The arranged marriage between voice and video got another nod today as the product formally known as Microsoft RoundTable has come back around as the Polycom CX5000.

The CX5000 is a video collaboration device for Microsoft Live Meeting or Microsoft Office Communications Server (OCS) 2007.

With the Polycom CX5000 users get a 360° view of the conference room providing a more interactive conferencing experience. In addition to this, the Polycom CX5000 also features:

  • Automatic focus on the current speaker while tracking conversation
  • Fast ROI by immediately enhancing team collaboration
  • Easy to conduct video meetings with USB plug-and-play features
  • Ability to record meetings for playback with synchronized voice, video and content

Carrying a price tag of $4,500, the Polycom CX5000 is out of the reach of most small businesses, but if you have the budget (and are a heavy Microsoft user) you might want to give Microsoft OCS and the Polycom CX5000 a try.

Skype for iPhone release, mobile VoIP providers charge forward

The wait is finally over

It’s looks like your wait for a native Skype client for the iPhone will be over tomorrow.

The folks at Cnet are reporting that the native Skype for iPhone application will be officially announced at CITA 2009 on Tuesday. The native Skype client has been in demand from users since the launch of Apple’s app store in July of 2008.

Skype for iPhone’s impact

Over the last eight months of number of up-start mobile VoIP providers such as Truphone, Fring and Nimbuzz have tried to satisfy iPhone user’s insatiable appetite for Skype by integrating Skype into their own clients, but have had mixed results.

While there’s no hard data as to how much Skype usage is passing through third party mobile VoIP providers, there is no question that a native Skype client will be a big threat to incumbent mobile VoIP carriers.

Many mobile VoIP providers have benefited from having an iPhone application and given Skype’s visbility, user base, user experience and network (even if it is peer-to-peer) their own offering will carve out a nice chunk of the iPhone market for the company.

Mobile VoIP providers charge forward

Seemingly unphased by the pending offering (or perhaps mounting an early attack), mobile VoIP provider Truphone is going “unlimited” with two new offerings.

Another leading mobile VoIP provider, fring, announced today that they have added Twitter 2.0 to their mobile VoIP client. This addition allows users to post status updates, search followers, profiles and track conversations by keywords.

The mobile VoIP scene continues to be hot and with Skype now aiming for additional marketshare it should stay that way for the rest of the year.

What’s important in a business VoIP service? (win a free WiFi VoIP phone)

March 27, 2009 by Garrett Smith

Over the quarter I’ve met and chatted with a number of business VoIP providers.

The conversations have ranged in topics, but the one question that always comes up is, “What’s important to customers looking for a business VoIP service?”

To me it’s an intriguing question. For two reasons:

  1. No two service providers give the same answer. And often they’re not always sure themselves.
  2. There are quite possibly hundreds of answers. Answers that are always changing and often heavily debated.

Now, don’t get me wrong. It’s not like service providers and I are completely clueless about what customers want (and need).

It’s just that markets and customers are always changing and the collective readership here has far more insight into the expansive list of “important items” then a few dozen individuals.

So since it’s Friday, the sun’s out here in Buffalo, the weekend and the end of the quarter is upon us, I’d like to hear from all of you what YOU think today’s business customer is looking for in their VoIP service.

Oh and since it’s not snowing one commenter will be selected to receive a FREE QuickPhones QA-342 WiFi VoIP Phone.

Let’s hear it!

VoIP minute usage up slighty last quarter

March 26, 2009 by Garrett Smith

iLocus (one of my favorite places to grab in-depth analysis of the VoIP markets) released some new figures yesterday on the VoIP market.

According to their research:

  • Local VoIP minute usage grew by 7% from Q3 08 to Q4 08 (est 107. 2 billion minutes)
  • International long distance (ILD) minutes showed a small pull-back in Q4 08 (est 22.5 billion minutes)
  • National long distance (NLD) minutes showed a continued increase reaching an estimated total of 298.1 billion minutes

The growth in the local VoIP minute usage is likely attributed to the success of the cable companies with their digital home phone service offerings. While 7% wouldn’t wow anyone in a normal economic environment, given that most markets have lost 20 – 30% of the top in recent months, any growth is good.

iLocus attributes the decline in international long distance to consolidation in the wholesale ILD service provider space. One could also agrue that the economy is at play since people are likely cutting back on more costly ILD calls.

The steady growth in NLD VoIP minutes is attributed to the wireless carriers growing use of IP networks. Given that most VoIP providers (both consumer and business) have continued to grow in the face of the recession some of the total growth must be attributed to the migration to VoIP as a low cost alternative.

While Q408 wasn’t as stellar as many quarters in the past it was certainly better then what many other sectors can claim.

Skype becomes another VoIP trunking provider

March 23, 2009 by Garrett Smith

It’s hard being different.

For years Skype has been something different. A new kind of communications company. One that does all the things that a cutting-edge 2.0 new age telecommunications company should be doing.

But today it seems that they’ve come to the reality that sometimes you just have to be like everyone else.

The launch of Skype for SIP, a beta program that gives you Skype trunking functionality for your SIP based VoIP PBX systems, is big news for many in the industry.

Except isn’t this just a me-too trunking service? A way for businesses to take advantage of the economies offered by Skype’s peer-to-peer network.

Sorry folks. There is nothing big here except cheap minutes. The same thing that most in the industry detest hearing from VoIP providers.

Innovation and cutting edge doesn’t always pay the bills. Today we found out Skype knows this. And that’s why they’re once again going into minute stealer mode.

There is money in “plumbing.” Especially if yours is cheaper.

Get all of your Skype Hardware at VoIP Supply!

Do you want Google near your voice mail?

I know I don’t.

Over the past few days the relaunch of GrandCentral as Google Voice has generated a robust discussion about what Google is planning to do with voice. Thoughts range from Google building a standalone SOHO voice offering to Google using Google voice to bolster other offerings.

But there’s one thought that keeps popping-up. It’s the idea that Google voice will eventually provide the ability to derive context from your voice calls and voice mail for the purposes of archiving and retrieval at a later date.

(more…)

What’s Google doing with voice?

March 17, 2009 by Garrett Smith

There’s been quite a buzz surrounding Google’s release of Google voice. The offering is the second coming of GrandCentral, the service Google acquire a few years back.

Anytime a company like Google get’s involved with voice it seems like everyone in and around telecommunications loses their brains.

Folks. Google voice is not a business. It is simply a feature of a larger offering (which may or may not come to fruition).

You have to look at Google voice in the context of what Google is – an advertising company that wants to be a commerce company. To think that Google has ambitions past bolstering and or protecting their main income streams (ads) is far fetched at best.

In order for Google to continue to drive ad revenues they need more advertisers. To do this they need to make it easier to create something that requires advertising (I.E. an online business).

Slowly but surely Google is piecing together all of the components an entrepreneur or existing offline business needs to do business online. Sort of what eBay tried to do (but is failing at with) PayPal and Skype.

Google offers a way to make a site (Sites), optimize it for search (Site optimizer, webmaster tools), advertise it (Adwords, Ad manager), track performance (Analytics) and take payments (Google checkout). Now sprinkle in hosted productivity and collaboration products like Google docs, and way to communicate (Google Voice, Google talk) you’ve got all of need to launch a basic business online.

Today these all look like disparate offerings, but when put together they actually fit together well.

Can Google execute on this? Don’t know. That’s their problem.

But don’t expect them to be a VoIP/voice provider in any traditional sense.

Worse case they’ll use Google voice as a way to cover the black hole created by online leads that are converted offline. Like what Ifbyphone is doing with their call tracking services.

It’s a big problem for many marketers. Many of which would spend more if they new where all of their revenues were coming from.

Polycom Set to Release VVX 1500 IP Video Phone

March 9, 2009 by Garrett Smith

After a long wait and much speculation, Polycom has announced the release of their heavily anticipated VVX 1500 IP Video Phone.

The Polycom VVX 1500 is a child of impeccable DNA, combining the best of Polycom’s popular SoundPoint Series IP Telephones with Polycom’s technology leadership in video conferencing equipment.

The Polycom VVX 1500 features a full on color touch-screen interface for voice, video and applications. Add in a six-line IP phone with Polycom HD Voice wideband audio support to enable instant, one-touch business-grade video conferencing right from the desktop.

The Polycom VVX 1500 features an adjustable camera, base, and display to suit the environment and provide eye-level visual interactions.

Other features include a highly customizable applications platform with open Polycom XML API , integrated microbrowser and USB 2.0 for applications….Bundled with productivity and personalization applications, including Polycom Productivity Suite, Polycom My Info Portal and Digital Photo Frame….Deep IP PBX integration with a variety of Polycom Voice Interoperability Partners (VIP)….Integrated Gigabit Ethernet (GigE) switch for bandwidth-intensive applications….IEEE 802.3af powered at under 11W maximum for a “green” world….and Smart motion detection to enable the screen to go to power-save mode when no one is in the office.

Where’s the money in wireless VoIP? Manufacturing.

February 23, 2009 by Garrett Smith

Acme widgets is a leading manufacturer of widgets.

Acme got to the top of the widget world with their nimble nature and great internal communications. This allowed them to make quicker decisions then larger counterparts – a huge deal when making cutting edge widgets.

With all of the success came growth for Acme. With growth came more production lines.

What started out as a manufacturing plant with just one production line and four assemblers has now grown to 3 production lines with 12 assemblers.

You’d think that Acme would be smiling, but they’re not.

(more…)

Where’s the money in wireless VoIP? Part 2

February 18, 2009 by Garrett Smith

It might be tough for you to imagine today’s school environment. You’ve probably been out of school for years.

Even if you’re blessed to have children your parent teacher conferences and open houses often give little insight into one of the biggest problems facing America’s schools – overcrowding.

Today school enrollment is growing faster than space can be built. The halls are packed like a DSL line trying to handle a handful of simultaneous calls.

Most new teachers are no longer assigned a room. They’re nomads – roaming the halls with their classroom on wheels.

There isn’t much that you can do to alleviate the congestion. For that you simply need bigger schools.

But there is something that you can do about one of the largest issues facing today’s nomadic educator. And that’s where opportunity (and money) lies in wireless VoIP.

Like any organization communication is always an issue within a school. But getting a hold of someone takes on a new meaning when they have no physical presence. How exactly do you reach that nomadic educator?

You can’t pop into their classroom – they don’t have one.

You can’t call them – they have no phone.

Track them down. Send them an email you might be thinking. Well, it not that easy and like you most don’t have the time to tirelessly track someone down. Getting a hold of someone should be “easy.”

The solution?

Equip these nomadic educators with wireless VoIP phones.

Almost all schools have a network. Most schools have at least partial wireless network access. Getting a wireless VoIP phone into their hands configured to work in conjunction with their existing phone system or even in a peer-to-peer manner is well within the reach of most school districts.

You could create a nice little packaged solution for educational entities of all sizes featuring the QuickPhones QA-342 wireless VoIP phone and wireless infrastructure. The solution would be designed to help foster greater communication and accessibility across the district through the use of wireless VoIP.

You can even get marketing funds to help launch your efforts through the QuickPhones channel program. You’d also find some additional pull through on other services once you got your foot in the door with this problem solving offering.

There’s money in wireless VoIP. It’s roaming around schools across the nation.

One teacher, one classroom might be a thing of the past. Why don’t you make one teacher, one phone the future?

This is part 2 in a multi-part series on where the opportunity and money is in wireless VoIP.

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