VOIP and SIP News

A VoIP solution from Cisco has made life easier for an international client of the Vernon Computer Source computer rental company.

Cisco provided the Raleigh Marriott City Center with a state of the art voice over internet protocol phone system.

As their client runs a sports league they could not afford any delays in the installation and deployment of the system. Sports fans never take kindly to missing any of the action!

In only took two days for a Cisco engineer to have the VoIP phone system shipped and get it up and running.

As the same time a whole entertainment system was deployed including dual pole stands for a giant LCD tv screen. Everything was in working order in time for the huge superbowl action on Sunday night in which the Green Bay Packers beat the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The Vernon Computer Source General Manager, Anthony Randazzo, said: "We can support IT rental requests for almost anything including the installation of the latest VoIP systems."

The Vernon Computer Source rental company is part of the Xchange Technology Group (XTG).

Many VoIP customers may assume that their mobile devices are immune to viruses, but smartphones need anti-virus protection just like any other internet-based technology.

That is why VoIP-Pal
has set about protecting Google Android phones which use Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology.

The company has just completed beta testing of its anti-virus program, which can detect worms and Trojan viruses, for use on Google Android versions 1.6, 2.1 and 2.2.

Dennis Chang, the president of VoIP-Pal, said: "Smartphone users may think their phone is automatically protected but sadly this is not the case.

"Just like PCs they can get viruses and VoIP capabilities make them extra vulnerable. That is why we will soon release our anti-virus program so that all your sensitive data like emails and contacts are protected."

The anti-virus program uses GPS to scan memory cards and prevent them from infecting a smartphone. It works against VoIP infiltrators who can get through to your personal data if the network is not protected,

The company plans to create further encryption techniques for phones that get lost or stolen. A remote feature will back up all smartphone data so it can be easily recovered in the event of loss or theft.

The VoIP-Call antivirus program will be sold as a a bundled package called PointsPhone Platinum. That will include air time minutes, DID and a free Android App download.

The UC company Patton will be offering a VoIP buyback programme at the ITEXPO East.

In conjunction with its strategic partners this network provider and maker of mobile video surveillance equipment will give cash rebates to customers who replace their old VoIP equipment with Patton SmartNode™.

That applies to Integrated Access Devices, gateways and routers. Patton will also give coupons offering free technical training over three days for Patton VoIP certification.

Patton has formed a number of unified communications partnerships over recent months and has now added Elastix to the list of Patton-certified SmartNode™ partners.

Sean Gerrity, the Patton regional director for North America and Japan, said: "Our new and exciting concept is VoIP Ready™ and ABP is one of our main strategic partners.

"Together we offer SmartNode™ VoIP gateways and Broadvox SIP trunks which are fully-tested for total interoperability.”

The research firm In-Stat has predicted an explosion in the use of Mobile VoIP.

It forsees a transitional period as companies overhaul their existing telecommunications systems for new UC solutions.

This can take many forms, for instance replacing a traditional PBX with an IP PBX. That allows mobile workers and remote employees to stay in touch with the office and have all their communiations forwarded to one inbox for easy access.

In only three years time there are expected to be 139 million Mobile VoIP users worldwide with the lions share coming from EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa) at 39%, 32% from Asia and around 22% from the United States of America and Canada.

The In-Stat market analyst, Amy Cravens, said: "As Mobile VoIP becomes further incorporated into other mobile apps, specifically social networking apps, consumers and businesses will find ever increasing uses for the technology."

IP telephony and unified communications products are currently booming in popularity.

A family suffered an awful tragedy after using VoIP solutions to call an ambulance when their toddler was sick.

Because the VoIP phone line was registered to their old address, the ambulance was initially dispatched to the wrong city. By the time another ambulance arrived and took the toddler to hospital, the child was dead.

The incident happened in Calgary and the Edmonton emergency services were involved.

Speaking for the City of Edmonton, Devon Card, said: “Don't leave it till the last minute to find out about E911 and VoIP limitations. Before any tragedies happen consumers must ask questions to fully understand their service."

Elijah Luck was only one-and-a-half years old when he went into medical distress. Although his family live in Calgary, the ambulance was dispatched to an Ontario address more than 2500 miles away. It took 40 minutes for the second ambulance to arrive at his home.

Emergency 911 has always been a critical and controversial subject with new VoIP solutions as VoIP does not have the same 911 provisioning as a landline. However many phone providers are addressing the E911 issue.

They do so by offering an enhanced 911 service which is available through fixed VoIP systems and connects callers with an emergency communication centre in the same city as the call.

Furthermore enhanced E911 automatically provides the telephone number and address in case the call is disconnected or the caller cannot speak.

Australia is issuing certain phone codes to VoIP numbers under the guidance of the communications regulator ACMA.

The legislation will allow area codes such as 02 and 03 to be issued to outbound VoIP services, while there will be implications for customers who do not assign geographical codes to their VoIP numbers.

Providers must warn clients that it could lead to them paying more money, as many people use VoIP because it is so cost effective.

An ACMA spokesman said: "VoIP customers who have been issued geographic numbers may also have difficulty porting the number to another carriage service provider."

An alternative is to take the nomadic area code which starts with 0550 and VoIP providers have already been issued with thousands of nomadic numbers.

The ACMA acting chairman, Richard Bean, said: "These amendments represent an important step in regulatory transition to converged services such as VoIP."

The ACMA will follow the 2010 public consultation on geographic number amendments with three more discussion papers in the near future.

The social networking phenomenon Facebook is all about connecting people. Plans to add Voice over Internet Protocol communication to Facebook could be the chosen method of staying in touch for many in the future.

While Facebook has been adding various features including Facebook Places, one user by accident discovered a whole new level of connectivity.

Tipster Williams said: "I was just chatting on Facebook when suddenly an option appeared to 'call' my friend, before quickly disappearing again."

For a short amount of time an option was given to allow the user to place a VoIP call over Facebook, and this is more likely to be a sign of things to come than a glitch.

The idea is hardly revolutionary given Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's plans to add new layers to social networking.

While he denied that Facebook wanted to create a VoIP phone in the mould of Android, he said that the company planned to add a horizontal layer to make every app more social and integratable with Facebook.

While Facebook VoIP apps already exist this would be the first time that the platform itself is VoIP enabled.

Yet there are rumours that Facebook and HTC have teamed up and will release a new smarthone product at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this year. That could push Facebook into direct competition with Google and their call phones service.