101029_1_v4 12/7/04 9:33 AM Page 1

BLEED: 8.375" TRIM: 8.125" LIVE: 7" LIVE: 10" TRIM: 10.875" You just bought your entire company BLEED: 11.125" Siemens optiPoint IP phones. Good call. That's because its high-fidelity voice quality is not only better than competitors, it's better than traditional phones. In fact, independent tests by CT Labs and the Tolly Group give the phones top scores for “excellent speech quality” and optimal flexibility with “greater management functionality than rival products tested.” The optiPoint family of IP phones also offers easy-to-use features that fit into a LAN environment just like a standard data device. Like a side-car module, support for the widest range of voice compression and crucial security enhancements. And with optiPoint IP phones, you could even see your infrastructure costs and connection charges go down. So not only will you be making a sound investment, you'll be protecting it. Because you'll always be able to stay up to date and compatible with other SIP platforms, simply by adding the newest features with software downloads. For more details, talk to your Siemens representative, visit hellodirect.com, or see Siemens Online at http://enterprise.usa.siemens.com.

To download a free copy of the CT Labs and Tolly Group Test Reports, visit http://enterprise.usa.siemens.com/go/opti

CLIENT: 301-3766SIE 4014 JOB#: SIEMENS DESC: 4/c single pg ad PUBLICATION: SHOW DIRECTORY AD: SLAV TRAFFIC: SUSAN EISENBERG OPERATOR: JAMES_CAPPS_NY PREV OP: MACHINE: Freelance’s Computer PREV MACHINE: Freelance’s Computer PROOF#: 1 DATE: 12/3/04 - 4:49 PM CREATED: 12/3/04 - 4:27 PM FILE NAME: 101029_1_v4 GALLEY#: 1 HANDLING#: 2.2 FONTS: Siemens Sans East Bold, Siemens Serif East Roman, Siemens Serif Roman IMAGES: Capps NY w color bar.eps @ 100%, Siemens-tag white.eps @ 32.7%*, 101029_A_v2.eps @ 97%* NOTES: DOC PATH: LaCie 250 GB:Siemans_ad:Documents:101029_1_v4

capps digital Job # 101029 By Greg Galitzine

Group Publisher and Editor-In-Chief, Rich Tehrani ([email protected]) VoIP: Running EDITORIAL Editorial Director, Greg Galitzine ([email protected]) With The Big Dogs Contributing Editor, Johanne Torres

TMC LABS Executive Technology Editor/CTO/VP, Tom Keating ([email protected]) For someone who does not consider him-

ART self a road warrior in the truest sense of Senior Art Director, Lisa D. Morris the word, the last five weeks have made Art Director, Alan Urkawich me feel like one of those people you read EXECUTIVE OFFICERS Nadji Tehrani, Chairman and CEO about in the in-flight magazines they dis- Rich Tehrani, President tribute on airplanes. And while I am certainly not ‘there’ yet, I think Editorial Offices: 203-852-6800 Customer Service: For all customer service matters, I managed a slight glimpse of what Harry Chapin wrote about in call 203-852-6800. “Cat’s in the Cradle.” Frightening. ADVERTISING SALES Sales Office Phone: 203-852-6800 Advertising Director - Eastern U.S.; Canada; Israel Still, the past month has seen a number of major industry events, and it seems Anthony Graffeo, ext. 174, ([email protected]) to me that the whole world is focused in on VoIP (define - news - alert) these Advertising Director - Western U.S.; International days. Perhaps one of the most telling signs that our industry is maturing, is the John Ioli, ext. 120, ([email protected]) fact that we are attracting come hither stares from some of the bigger names in ABOUT INTERNET TELEPHONY® consumer technology, who are clearly looking to score with VoIP. Hopefully their Internet telephony is revolutionizing telecommunications through the con- vergence of voice, video, fax, and data, creating unprecedented opportuni- interest is more than just a passing fancy. ties for resellers, developers, and service providers alike. INTERNET TELEPHONY® focuses on providing readers with the information neces- (quote - news - alert) and AOL (quote - news - alert) both had big sary to learn about and purchase the equipment, software, and services nec- essary to take advantage of this technology. INTERNET TELEPHONY® things to say in recent days. Jon Miller, Chairman and CEO of America Online, readers include resellers, developers, MIS/networking departments, telecom departments, datacom departments, telcos/LECs, wireless/PCS providers, announced (well, sort of) that regarding VoIP, “…into that landscape, AOL has ISPs, and cable companies. decided to wander.” The company has plans to work with Level 3 for outsourced SUBSCRIPTIONS Circulation Director, Shirley Russo, ext. 157 VoIP services and Sonus Networks on the equipment side. ([email protected]) Miller outlined AOL’s plans to offer VoIP as more than simply a replacement Annual subscriptions to INTERNET TELEPHONY®: free, U.S. qualify- ing readers; $29.00 U.S. nonqualifying, $39.00 Canada, $60.00, foreign for, or cheaper alternative to, traditional phone service. “We think (VoIP) can be qualifying and nonqualifying. All orders are payable in advance in U.S. dol- lars drawn against a U.S. bank. Connecticut residents add applicable sales much broader,” Miller said. “There’s a totally different opportunity by integrating tax. For more information, contact our Web site at www.itmag.com or call 203-852-6800. presence. You can screen the call, take the call, or send an instant message — your EXHIBIT SALES buddy list becomes a dashboard.” Sales Office Phone: 203-852-6800 VP of Conferences and Online Media That’s exactly the kind of thinking our industry needs. The one constant thread Dave Rodriguez, ext. 146, ([email protected]) in this magazine, since the day we launched our first issue, has been the idea that

READER INPUT applications would drive this industry to the fore. Sure, low prices will get ‘em in INTERNET TELEPHONY® encourages readers to contact us with their questions, comments, and suggestions. Send e-mail (addresses above), or the door, but it’s the services and solutions heretofore unavailable using POTS that send ordinary mail. We reserve the right to edit letters for clarity and brevi- ty. All submissions will be considered eligible for publication unless other- will keep ‘em and generate revenue. wise specified by the author. Not to be left out in the cold, Microsoft Chairman and Chief Software IDENTIFICATION STATEMENT Architect outlined his company’s vision for integrated communications. INTERNET TELEPHONY® magazine (ISSN: 1098-0008) is published monthly by Technology Marketing Corporation, One Technology Plaza, According to Microsoft, the goal of integrated communications is to help informa- Norwalk, CT 06854 U.S.A. This issue, Volume 8, Number 4 is dated April 2005. Annual subscriptions: free, U.S. qualifying readers; $29.00 U.S. non- tion workers easily and effectively communicate with colleagues, customers and qualifying, $39.00 Canada, $60.00, foreign qualifying and nonqualifying. Periodical postage paid at Norwalk, CT and at additional mailing offices. partners in real time. Microsoft will deliver on integrated communications by Postmaster: Send address changes to: INTERNET TELEPHONY®, Technology Marketing Corporation, PO Box 21642, St. Paul MN 55121 building presence awareness into all its software applications, integrating various U.S.A. modes of communication (e-mail, phone, instant messaging (IM), short message INTERNET TELEPHONY® is a registered trademark of Technology Marketing Corporation. Copyright © 2005 Technology Marketing service (SMS), videoconferencing and Web conferencing) to allow seamless transi- Corporation. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part without per- mission of the publisher is prohibited. tion from one mode to another, and delivering intelligent software that can man-

REPRINTS AND LIST RENTALS age communications with the context of a person’s availability and preferences. For authorized reprints of articles appearing in INTERNET TELEPHONY®, please contact Reprint Management Services at 1-800-290-5460 • Communicator 2005 (formerly code-named Istanbul) will be [email protected] • www.reprintbuyer.com. the recommended client for Communications Server 2005. For list rentals, please contact Lisa Horder at [email protected] or call 914-765-0700, ext. 107. Communicator 2005 is currently in development and is scheduled for release in

A Technology Marketing Publication, the first half of 2005. Eager beavers can participate in beta testing by downloading One Technology Plaza, Norwalk, CT 06854 U.S.A. the client from http://beta.microsoft.com. Phone: 203-852-6800 Fax: 203-853-2845, 203-838-4070 -Greg Galitzine, [email protected]

Subscribe FREE online at www.itmag.com INTERNET TELEPHONY® April 2005 1 Go To Table of Contents | Go To Ad Index Volume 8/ Number 4 April 2005 Contents

IN EACH ISSUE 6 Publisher’s Outlook The Birth Of A New Industry? By Rich Tehrani, Publisher, Internet Telephony Magazine

COLUMNS 36 Mind Share 2.0 Notes From The Field By Marc Robins

38 Inside Networking The Path To Business Continuity By Tony Rybczynski

40 Regulation Watch The New Chairman Of Change By William B. Wilhelm, Jr.

42 VoIPeering Making Sense Of VoIP Peering By Hunter Newby

44 WiFi Telephony 90 Is Your Network Ready For WiFi Telephony? By Ben Guderian FEATURE ARTICLES 68 Creating Value In Consumer VoIP 48 Industry Imperatives By Stan Little, Sylantro Systems IMS And The Challenges Of Convergence By Dan Dearing & Michael Khalilian 70 Crossing The Chasm To Mainstream VoIP Adoption (sidebar) By Cynthia Carpenter, Level 3 TMC LABS REVIEWS 72 Residential-Scale VoIP Testing: Why And How? (sidebar) 66 Aastra’s VentureIP (powered by By Andy Huckridge, Spirent Communications Nimcat Networks) 74 Converged IP Multimedia Conferencing: Making The Vision DEPARTMENTS A Reality 1 The VoIP Authority By Richard Sweatt, Amity Systems 12 Industry News 77 Considerations For Conferencing And Collaboration 50 Special Focus: Technology Purchases (sidebar) Service Provider’s Survival Guide By Steve Huey, Polycom 54 Case Study: Boston Ballet 58 Case Study: Conicelli Auto Group 80 Looking Ahead: VoIP Moves To Video And Wireless 60 Special Focus: Internet Telephony By Michael Ward, Trinity Convergence Conference & EXPO Wrap-Up 84 Converged Wi-Fi /Cellular Voice: Ready For Residential Market 65 Best Of Show Awards By Alex Shneyderman, Cisco Systems 94 VoIP Marketplace 95 Ad Index 90 Voice Security In An IP World 96 The CEO Spotlight By Brian Cincera, Greenwich Technology Partners

2 INTERNET TELEPHONY® April 2005 Subscribe FREE online at www.itmag.com Go To Table of Contents | Go To Ad Index

VO-138•Superhero_REVISED 1/17/05 5:56 PM Page 1

One network. One solution.™

Finally, one network with the power to deliver everything you need.

Everyone needs a superhero partner. Take off with VoiceOne™ and you’ll be a hero, too.

SLA/QoS Backed VoiceOne™ by Volo Communications is a wholesale only “carrier’s carrier”. We don’t compete with you; instead we enable you to offer the most advanced set of voice and data services to your customers Nationwide MPLS Network including broadband VoIP. The VoiceOne wholesale suite of communication services delivers a rich array Any-to-Any Protocol of the most popular enhanced features and applications that can be found in the industry. We don’t just stop at offering the most advanced features available today. As a recognized leader in technology Support for Enhanced Services innovation, VoiceOne continues to develop the technologies that you will need to keep you ahead of No CAPEX your competition, today and tomorrow. In short, the VoiceOne network enables rapid market deployment without the need to invest in network facilities and with a reduced operational overhead. Rapid ROI For details call, 1-888-2VoiceOne (1-888-286-4236) or visit www.voiceone.com ©2005 Volo Communications Inc. All rights reserved.

BROADBAND VOICE • UNIFIED MESSAGING • OUTLOOK INTEGRATION • SMS MESSAGING • HOSTED PBX • SERVICE CREATION ENVIRONMENT

www.voiceone.com Contents

WHAT’S ON TMCNET.COM RIGHT NOW To stay current and to keep up-to-date with all that’s happening in the fast-paced world of IP telephony, just point your browser to www.tmcnet.com for all the latest news and analysis. With over 3.9 million unique page visits per month, translating into nearly half a million unique visitors, TMCnet.com is where you need to be if you want to know what’s happening in VoIP. Here’s a list of several articles currently on our site.

Walmart.com And Shop At Home TV To Sell 8x8 Services VoIP has made it to the mass retail market thanks to a new partner- Top 10 Visitors to TMCnet.com ship between Packet8 Walmart.com and Shop At Home TV. (by Nation) http://tmcnet.com/100.1 1. United States 6. Germany Thoughts From Siemens On VoIP 2. Australia 7. Singapore One of the largest VoIP vendors shares some thoughts on the tech- 3. Canada 8. Netherlands nology. 4. United Kingdom 9. Japan http://tmcnet.com/101.1 5. India 10. France Cisco Passes VoIP Deployment Tests For U.S. Dept. Of Defense Cisco announced it has passed additional U.S. DoD VoIP tests con- firming the system meets interoperability, reliability, and resiliency requirements of DoD’s multi-vendor voice network. http://tmcnet.com/102.1

QUOTE OF THE MONTH:

Vonage: Still Being Blocked? Nationally, the U.S. Fresh off a regulatory victory to keep its business from being consumer pays almost blocked on telecom lines, Vonage believes it’s happening again.

10 percent of his phone expenses on http://tmcnet.com/103.1

privacy features. To be a leader in Rick Boucher: Another Friend Of VoIP In D.C. consumer VoIP, carriers must cater to Virginia’s Ninth District Congressman Rick Boucher is one of the consumers’ demand for privacy, and most active and pro-high-tech congressmen on Capitol Hill. “ http://tmcnet.com/104.1 will be rewarded by their willingness “ “to pay to protect it. In fact, VoIP adds incremental value by adding TMC’s IP PBX Channel The IP-PBX Channel on TMCnet.com features the latest news and dynamic next-generation services that original bylined articles on IP-PBX. To visit TMCnet.com’s IP PBX give consumers greater privacy and channel, just point your browser to call control based on who is calling http://www.tmcnet.com/channels/ip-pbx/. Sponsored by Sphere Communications Inc. them, when they are calling, why they are calling, or all of TMC’s IP Contact Center Channel the above. The IP Contact Center Channel on TMCnet.com features the latest – Stan Little news, articles, and case studies in the booming IP Contact Center space. To visit TMCnet.com’s voice channel just point your browser to: http://www.tmcnet.com/channels/ip-contact-center. Sponsored by FrontRange Solutions.

4 INTERNET TELEPHONY® April 2005 Subscribe FREE online at www.itmag.com Go To Table of Contents | Go To Ad Index ITAdFinal112304 11/24/04 3:37 PM Page 1

Value-driven Communications Solutions

Inter-Tel provides converged voice and data O Designs, engineers, sells and installs technologically advanced business communications systems and applications for communications systems the small, medium and enterprise business markets. O Enables investment protection through a commitment to design architecture with open standards, scalable deployment options and migration opportunities

O Develops applications designed to address operational performance, improve business processes and deliver ROI

O Provides a complete portfolio of Presence Management solutions, and Collaboration and Messaging applications designed to link departmental resources into a single, cohesive, cost-effective organization

O Offers provisioning and facilities management, professional services, and custom development support through the Inter-Tel Managed Services program

Inter-Tel, Incorporated 7300 West Boston Street Chandler, AZ 85226 480-961-9000 www.inter-tel.com

FAST FACT 35 Years of Focused Commitment in Business Communications.

©Inter-Tel Incorporated 2005 By Rich Tehrani

The Birth Of A New Industry?

With all the progress we’ve made in the last two decades with respect to com- munications, including telecom deregulation, the fax machine, cellular phones, e-mail, chat and WiFi (define - news -alert), communications is essentially more inefficient than it was at any time in the last ten years.

One may argue that the advent of the cellular phone was coincide with company priorities. Currently, if a boss calls a boon for productivity and efficiency and e-mail further an employee who is on the phone with anyone, regardless allows us to communicate more effectively. The reality is of whether it is work related, the call from the boss goes that the more devices and modes of communications we into voicemail. Of course this assumes no caller-ID and invent, the more inefficient we become. An inordinate related technologies. If the employee isn’t diligently check- amount of time is spent trying to find each other in this ing voicemail they may not even know the boss needs to world where everyone is supposed to be connected 24x7. communicate. In order to contact a person today it is necessary to call The same issue arises when a spouse calls. At our last their office phone, cell phone, home phone, VoIP phone, ITEXPO in Miami, most of the audience indicated they send them an e-mail, an IM, call their secretary and so on would take a call from a spouse every time they call... yes, and so forth until you connect. Assuming you can’t find even in meetings. I do most of the time as well. How many them, you have left a trail of possibly incomplete e-mails, times have you been interrupted in an important meeting IM messages, and voicemails in different mail boxes. How to answer “What do you want for dinner?” or “Can you does the contact know which box to check first? Worse, stop by the dry cleaners,” etc.? how does a person know which voicemails are more impor- Many times we know who is calling but it is more tant and which e-mails are crucial and do they really check important to know why. these mailboxes in a timely manner? In my opinion, communications is broken or at least An inordinate amount of time is spent checking mail- severely damaged. We are becoming less efficient in dealing boxes and messages. Some analysts estimate that over 60 with the human elements of communication. Technology is percent of all voice communications consists of listening to only making our lives more challenging. We all keep in or leaving voicemail! Murphy’s Law tells us that when you touch with many more people than we ever could because check these boxes, other more important messages are in of IM, cell phones, and e-mail. Our lives are becoming turn being banished to your unmanageable. Virtually cellular or office voicemail sys- everyone I know works on e- tems. mails on nights and weekends. The problem gets worse Others come to work an hour when customer facing workers early to handle voicemail. are not able to take phone In my opinion, communications is There is just no other way to calls in the same prioritized broken or at least severely damaged. keep up. I am not advocating system a company values these the cessation of work but I am contacts. In other words, a top Technology is only making our lives advocating technologies that customer should always get help automate the tasks that through to a top salesperson more challenging. can be automated. or service representative while There are so many things it may be acceptable to some- that we need to have at our time place lesser customers on disposal. Companies need to hold for a few minutes during be able to set up ad-hoc con- peak calling times. Top customers sending an e-mail should ference bridges, with the ability to use application sharing be responded to within minutes. In most companies, these and white boarding technologies. All important employees customers aren’t even identified, let alone dealt with in a need to be remotely connected to their offices when they prioritized manner. In many companies in fact, e-mails are on the road. They need to be seamlessly connected so from customers still don’t get answered! when their office phone rings, they take the call. When a boss calls an employee, the call should always be Prioritization by caller is only part of the equation as pri- taken unless of course the employee is on the phone with ority level needs to naturally take into account the reason an important customer (some might argue any customer.) for the call. Interrupting a customer call to take a call from Again there need to be rules that can be individualized to your boss only to find out that she wants to know if you

6 INTERNET TELEPHONY® April 2005 Subscribe FREE online at www.itmag.com Go To Table of Contents | Go To Ad Index Document1 3/7/2005 11:37 AM Page 1 want chicken or fish at the company luncheon is counter- certain threshold. In all other cases, the call will result in a productive. Similarly a top customer calling to cancel or request for a conversation via a desired communications initiate a million dollar contract is an essential contact and medium such as phone or e-mail or chat. Automation can should be routed immediately to the highest level within a even auto-schedule a phone appointment between parties company. To put this in other words, a million-dollar cus- as long as the priority level is established and verified. tomer call should be answered by the CEO if no one else is Both parties have the ability to postpone the virtual immediately available! meeting at will if needed. Think of this as a snooze button We are near the point where presence is becoming widely for your conversation. The other party will be notified of deployed. But really this technology needs to evolve. The the delay and automation will determine the appropriate next level of presence is something I have referred to in my time to schedule the next call based on openings on your live presentations as “Presence Genius.” calendars. In this scenario, callers should not have a phone ring An example of the above is that I may not want to take a unless their priority (this is derived from their personal pri- call from a family member to invite me to dinner if I have ority level coupled with the reason for the call) is above a a terribly busy work day. It should go to voicemail. I will

TMC Event Outlook

The success of our recent Internet Telephony Conference The event will be taking place at the South San Francisco & EXPO notwithstanding, the TMC events team is plug- Conference Center, and our team is hard at work preparing ging away, making sure that our upcoming events are wor- the conference as you read this. thy of the TMC name. Here is a snapshot of some of the The second VoIP Developer Conference is the only conferences we have coming up in the next few months: chance you’ll have in the United States this year to come learn how to quickly develop new VoIP applications that are Speech-World Comes To Dallas in high demand. I can’t be more excited about our upcoming Speech- For all you developers out there and those looking for World and IP-Contact Center event in Dallas, TX, May partners, make sure to mark your calendars for VoIP 24–26, 2005, at the Westin Park Central. These two tech- Developer. This event is expected to have a sold out exhibit nologies are revolutionizing how we do business. Speech for hall once again and this conference is the only one in the example is helping companies reduce cost while increasing world focusing exclusively on partners and developers. We customer service levels. This technology has gone from the expect this show to be a resounding success. lab to actual successful deployment in the last few years and now is the time to check it out for yourself. VoIP too has Service Provider Summit entered the call center and is causing a tremendous change Through the years, Internet Telephony Conference & in the way we do business. The world will never be the EXPO has earned its reputation for being the preeminent same. What is most amazing about IP is how it allows com- venue for service providers to learn and to network with panies to take advantage of what they never could easily do colleagues. As we now move into the next phase of VoIP, before. For example the advent of the virtual contact center our upcoming Los Angeles event (Los Angeles Convention allows agents to be located anywhere, from their homes to Center, October 24–27, 2005) will be no exception. Our another continent. The key in all these cases is seamless inaugural Service Provider Summit (sponsored by the management. You don’t lose any control yet you can take IPCC) is dedicated to discussing the issues most important advantage of lower labor rates and increased redundancy by to service providers, and we plan to make this an amazing turning your physical center into a virtual one. educational experience unmatched in the industry. Pure I look forward to personally welcoming you all to this education. No Fluff. We have an amazing collection of great historic event. We are very excited to be launching this show ideas that we are turning into sessions. In fact, at our most in Texas. The exhibit hall is free and the conferences come recent event in Miami, our Service provider education ses- with a guarantee unheard of in our industry. Please check sions were standing room only! The Session Border out www.speech-world.com for details. Controller Shootout was jammed as was the UNE-P to VoIP Summit. And, a key fact to note is that both of these VoIP Developer sessions took place at the same time. VoIP is changing the way the world communicates, and Service providers are the fastest growing segment of our the world is taking note. If you are a developer, and if you conferences. This will be a must-attend event for every serv- have any intention of seizing what is undoubtedly the most ice provider touching VoIP. Wireless, WiFi (define - news - promising telecom opportunity of the past several decades, alert), Cable, Triple-Play, CLECs, ITSPs (define - news - alert), and ILECs (define - news - alert). The program is then I encourage you to attend the VoIP Developer designed to help service providers of every stripe solve their Conference, August 2–3, 2005 in San Francisco, California. pain points in rolling out VoIP in their networks. IT

8 INTERNET TELEPHONY® April 2005 Subscribe FREE online at www.itmag.com Go To Table of Contents | Go To Ad Index 04_GN_483_VoIP_Final.qxd 3/4/05 5:14 PM Page 1

GN Netcom headset solutions make softphones easier to love.

Simple ) Durable ) Convenient )

www.gnnetcom.com

Introducing the GN 8120 USB: Another first from GN Netcom.

Brought to you by GN Netcom, it’s the first softphone headset solution that inspires something bordering on passion. Now frequent calling functions are right at your fingertips, which means you’ll never have to fumble with a mouse when you’re in a rush. Are you ready to love your softphone even more?

The new ■ Easy-to-use push button controls. GN 8120 USB ■ is compatible with Enhanced digital sound quality for VoIP. any GN Netcom headset. ■ LEDs alert you to incoming calls or voice mail. ■ Durable, user-friendly design.

Visit www.gnnetcom.com/VoIP today. Or call us at 800-826-4656. return it at lunch. If I am being called for a family emer- agree on a term and stick with it. This term has implica- gency, then of course I need to be interrupted. Do you see tions for consumers, contact centers, enterprises, govern- the irony here? In order to find out whether or not you ment and the military. It works for every vertical market should answer a call, you need to answer it. Sure, some of out there from financial to insurance to medical. It just us have assistants that perform this function but assigning plain works and is desperately needed to take us to the a personal assistant to the next level. The next time you world population is not are in an important meeting something likely unless and you take a call that isn’t so President Bush changes his important, think Just in Time stance on cloning. Communications. Communications by its We are trying to wring efficiency Whenever a new term is very nature is inefficient and from communications and make us developed to describe some- in a world where productivity thing I always like to see if it increases are more and more all more productive. We should call it passes the cocktail party test. important, we need to Just in Time Communications. WiFi was coined to rhyme squeeze inefficiency out of with HiFi. I think I could tell how we interact with one people at a cocktail party that I another. am involved in Just in Time The good news is that Communications and they companies are trying to solve would know what I do. Of the problems above. The concern I have is that they are course once we acronymize it (yes, I invented yet anther all going about it in the wrong way. At a recent Internet term) the term turns into JITC... You may not want to Telephony Conference & EXPO, many of the keynote mention this term over martinis at the next happy hour — speakers talked about how they would solve the above unless you enjoy blank stares. IT problems. If you listened closely to their presentations, they all called what they are doing by a different name. If you are interested in purchasing reprints of this article (in either print or HTML Here are examples of what vendors call this sort of tech- format), please visit Reprint Management Services online at nology: VoIP (define - news - alert), productivity boosting http://www.reprintbuyer.com or contact a representative via e-mail at reprints@tmc- applications, converged applications, communications net.com or by phone at 800-290-5460. software, mobility solutions, real-time communications, etc. There are probably 100 different descriptive phrases floating around that are meant to describe the same thing! TMC Is Hiring Are these companies kidding? Who on earth is going to buy these solutions in bulk if we describe them in a hun- TMCnet.com is now in the top 6,660 sites in the dreds of ways? Can you imagine a company getting pre- world! sentations from five PBX vendors and they all call their This leads me to a point and that point is “growth.” We applications by a different name? That is how it works need more people. We have hired but are still over- today! These technologies are essential yet we aren’t seeing whelmed in many departments. If you know anyone who fast enough adoption because CFOs could care less about is talented and a hard-worker and thrives in a team envi- this stuff. I don’t blame them. VoIP was adopted quickly ronment of a company that runs with the speed of a start- once the industry agreed on this term. Call centers grew up but has the stability of a company three and a half quickly once we agreed on a term. CRM(define - news - decades old, please have them send me a resume to alert) is another term that literally turned into a multi-bil- [email protected]. lion dollar market overnight! We need a term and that The person must be able to commute to or want to term isn’t real-time communications as some analysts like relocate to Norwalk, CT. to tout. This is totally wrong. We are looking for: When you are on vacation in Hawaii and your cell • Web Designers phone rings and your boss calls to ask you if you want • Editors chicken or fish at the company luncheon, real-time com- • Print Advertising Salespeople munications is exactly what you don’t want. • Marketers So what do I advocate as a term? We are trying to wring • Exhibit Salespeople efficiency from communications and make us all more pro- • Web Ad Salespeople ductive. The same ideas were applied to manufacturing and Many of these salespeople will make over $100,000 resulted in the term Just in Time Manufacturing. easy. If you really work hard you may double this figure. Borrowing a term that works and makes sense, we should We believe in high commissions and pay our salespeople call it Just in Time Communications. better than most every other publishing and/or trade show We are all trying to solve the same problem and if we company I know of. IT want to be taken seriously by CEOs and CFOs, we better

10 INTERNET TELEPHONY® April 2005 Subscribe FREE online at www.itmag.com Go To Table of Contents | Go To Ad Index Finally.

The 100% Microsoft®-based IP phone system designed exclusively for the Microsoft platform! Both executives and IT management have come to rely on Microsoft solutions for managing their business applications and corporate data. Their objectives for a For information on phone system, however, have historically been limited to a choice of proprietary ® systems, completely separated from their Microsoft business platform. Microsoft -based IP PBX seminars in your area, live But now there's a 100% Microsoft-based IP Telephony solution that gives business web seminars and other executives what they want…and IT directors what they've been waiting for. Finally. upcoming events visit: Enterprise Interaction Center® (EIC) is a fully pre-integrated, IP phone system that converges voice on the Server Platform, including www.vonexus.com/events Exchange Server for unified messaging, an Outlook® Telephony Console, and complete integrations with Microsoft® Business Solutions, such as Great Plains® and Microsoft CRM. EIC’s integrated Windows®-based solution for converged voice and data makes your decision for a new phone system easy. •Executives get a solution that lowers costs, optimizes employee productivity, provides integrated communications for their mobile workforce, enhances their Microsoft investment, and helps them gain that all-important “competitive advantage.” MICROSOFT®-BASED BUSINESS COMMUNICATIONS •IT Managers simply get a solution that relieves headaches associated with separate proprietary voice and data networks. EIC is a complete Voice www.vonexus.com over IP communications solution based on Windows Server, using open SIP standards, with out-of-the-box business application integrations, and centrally administered with familiar Windows-based administration tools. “Finally!" Enterprise Interaction Center. All communications.

All Microsoft-bbased. All business. Only from Vonexus. Vonexus is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Interactive Intelligence Inc.® ©2005 Vonexus. All Rights Reserved. page 14 page 30

Popular Telephony, Teledex In Strategic Alliance Nortel, SIPquest Bring SIP-Based Multimedia Services Aastra Launches P2P IP-based Enterprise Phone To Wireless System Stalker Software Launches CommuniGate Pro v4.3 Zyxel Delivers VoIP Station Gateway Ingate To Offer VoIP Survival CPE For Hosted VoIP Sony, GlowPoint Join to Deliver A Customized Solution Data Connection SIP Supports Over 1 Billion Calls snom360 Business IP Phone Launched At ITExpo Telco Intros Access241

page 20 page 32

TWT Launches VoIP Ethernet Solutions Yankee Group Survey Reveals Contact Center Telx Launches Voice Peering Fabric Reluctance Amedia, Lightspeed Technologies Join Forces Netrake Launches VoIP And IP Multimedia Call Center Solution page 22

Broadcom Eases WiFi Installation Linksys Ships Over One Million VoIP Ports In Less Than Six Months page 34 SpectraLink Unveils New WiFi Handset For Healthcare Telrex Calls On Ingram Micro To Dial Up VoIP Resellers page 26 EADS Signs Partner To Resell VoIP, Contact Center Solutions TranSwitch, Octasic Devices Deliver Voice Gateway Comdial And Tech Data U.S. Establish Distribution Card Agreement PowerDsine Releases Power over Ethernet Tester Alliance Systems, tekVizion Sign Joint Services Elma To Offer PIB Family In Several Configurations Agreement Themis Announces 64-bit PowerPC VMEbus Computers Diversified Expands AdvancedTCA Product Line

12 INTERNET TELEPHONY® April 2005 Subscribe FREE online at www.itmag.com Go To Table of Contents | Go To Ad Index IP PBX IP Router Gateway

Cover All the Bases

Epygi’s Quadro “All In One Box”™ Solution is the ultimate utility for today’s fast paced VoIP requirements. First, it is an IP PBX. Second, it is an IP router. Third, it is a gateway.

To put Epygi in your lineup, contact [email protected] or visit www.epygi.com.

A Vonage Certified Vendor

6900 North Dallas Tollway, Suite 850 Plano, Texas 75024 972-692-1166 www.epygi.com

Cover_the_Bases_Sans_Trade_Shows.indd 1 2/7/2005 2:06:44 PM Popular Telephony, Teledex In Strategic Alliance Teledex (news - alert) and Popular Telephony (news - alert) have announced that they have entered into an agreement whereby the two companies will work together to develop applications and products designed to enhance the functionality of both conventional and IP-enabled hospitality PBXs, as well as telephones and other endpoints. Utilizing Peerio, Popular Telephony’s peer-to-peer technology, and Teledex’s VoIP designs, the two compa- nies aim to produce content-supporting applications, services, and back-end support applications than can augment existing hospitality PBX functionality without requiring additional PBX upgrades or investments. By deploying such applications on Popular Telephony’s “serverless” network architecture, utilizing the shared computing power and storage capacity of a “virtual” network, hotel operating companies can recognize sub- stantial cost savings, as well as provide significant guest-facing technological innovations that can be con- stantly upgraded at little or no cost. Popular Telephony’s Peerio networking solution creates a virtual network that resides on the clients on the network; a serverless architecture that distributes the computing power and storage capacity necessary to deliver telecommunications functions. Teledex has shipped over 8 million guestroom telephones to over 125 countries. In other news, Popular Telephony has announced the immediate general availability of the Peerio Open Source NAT/Firewall (FW) Traversal library. The Peerio Open Source NAT/Firewall Traversal library is designed to enable VoIP users and carriers to eas- ily bypass firewalls when communicating over IP networks. The NAT/Firewall Traversal is also being incorpo- rated across all Peerio-based enterprise solutions and end-user applications, including the newest version of Peerio GNUP, creating a seamless bridge between various standards-based protocols. http://www.populartelephony.com http://www.teledex.com

14 INTERNET TELEPHONY® April 2005 Subscribe FREE online at www.itmag.com Go To Table of Contents | Go To Ad Index Aastra Launches P2P IP-based Enterprise Phone System Aastra Technologies (quote - news - alert)launched the VentureIP, an enterprise-class, P2P (peer-to-peer) IP-based phone system. Powered by Nimcat Networks’ nimX software, the system is designed to enable small to-medium business (SMBs) to install, operate and manage a full- featured phone system by simply plugging the VentureIP 480i telephone into their local-area network (LAN). The system scales on a phone by phone basis and can be connected to the local PSTN via the VentureIP Gateway. When a user connects a VentureIP 480i telephone into their data network, the device automatically configures itself, allowing calls to be made and received without any additional setup or centralized server equipment. Additionally, through its connec- tion to the LAN and the Internet, users have Web-based access to the VentureIP system to manage their set’s options, as well as access to future software enhancements. Each VentureIP Gateway supports up to four telephone lines, while multiple gateways can be supported on the same network. Just like the VentureIP 480i telephone, the VentureIP Gateway is a self-aware device and automatically configures itself within the system. Key Features of the VentureIP Telephone System include: • Low-cost IP-based P2P telephony system; • Complete PBX telephony features including: voice mail, intercom/page and auto-attendant; • Eight-line graphic display with six dynamic context-sensitive softkeys; • Premium speakerphone performance; • Automatic start-up with no configuration required; • Systems scales set by set – no need to purchase a minimum number of units; • Completely automated for adds, moves, and changes. The system is available immediately from current Aastra distributors. Suggested retail pricing is $379.00 and $289.00 for the VentureIP 480i and the VentureIP gateway respectively. http://www.aastra.com

Subscribe FREE online at www.itmag.com INTERNET TELEPHONY® April 2005 15 Go To Table of Contents | Go To Ad Index Zyxel Delivers VoIP Station Gateway ZyXEL Communications, Inc., (news - alert) has announced its Prestige 2302R Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) Station Gateway designed to enable small office/home office (SOHO), small-to-medium businesses (SMBs), and home users to share broadband resources while fulfilling VoIP application demands through their existing DSL/Cable modem simultaneously. The ZyXEL P-2302R is an integrated high-speed broadband sharing gateway designed for customers of telecommu- nications providers and IP telephony service providers (ITSPs). With two 10/100 Ethernet ports and two POTS phone interfaces, the P-2302R enables users to simultaneously make VoIP conversations while surfing the Internet. As each phone jack works independently, the P-2302R can be used with two separate VoIP accounts without purchasing addi- tional adapters. In addition, users do not need a special VoIP phone as the P-2302R is compliant with thousands of analog handsets available on the market today. The ZyXEL P-2302R supports the open SIP (Session Initiation Protocol RFC 3261) multimedia protocol to ensure interoperability with other SIP-based equipment. Its auto-provisioning functionality, a mech- anism that allows service providers to manage and configure the P-2302R remotely, is designed to significantly decrease installation costs. In addition, the ZyXEL P-2302R’s VoIP platform features multiple SIP and voice channels for con- venient design and deployment of VoIP services. Also available from ZyXEL is the Prestige 2602HW all-in-one ADSL VoIP Integrated Access Device (IAD) to offer IP-based voice communication with superb sound quality allowing users to take advantage of many new and existing IP telephony features. In addition to firewall and VPN security, the Prestige IAD provides high-speed wireless connectivity with IEEE 802.11g wireless standard compliance. The ZyXEL P-2302R is currently available through ZyXEL’s national network of authorized resellers. http://www.us.zyxel.com

16 INTERNET TELEPHONY® April 2005 Subscribe FREE online at www.itmag.com Go To Table of Contents | Go To Ad Index Sony, GlowPoint Join To Deliver A Customized Solution Sony Electronics, Inc.(quote - news - alert), and GlowPoint, Inc.(quote - news - alert), recently announced that they have entered into a memorandum of understand- ing outlining a strategic alliance for the two companies to create and launch a com- plete, Sony customized, user-friendly video communication solution focused on broad- ening the use of IP-based video in and out of traditional office environments. The Sony service, powered by GlowPoint, will bring together Sony’s state-of-the-art line of video conferencing systems with GlowPoint’s patent-pending advanced IP- based video applications and network services. Together, Sony and GlowPoint aim to increase usage of traditional video conferencing systems and accelerate video commu- nications’ migration to the desktop. The two companies are also developing joint initia- tives to support the growing use of IP-based video for more diverse and innovative applications, including the broadcasting production segment where Sony is a recog- nized leader in providing customers with advanced audio and video equipment and systems. Through a “white label” arrangement, the two companies plan on delivering a cus- tomized Sony experience that will allow subscribers to see and talk to virtually anyone, anywhere around the world regardless of network, technology and device. Scheduled to be available by mid 2005, the GlowPoint powered service will incorpo- rate the company’s “All You Can See” Unlimited Video Calling plans and its video com- munications features, including Direct Dial Video Numbers, which simplify video call- ing by replacing confusing IP addresses with standard 10-digit telephone numbers; “000” Live Video Operator Service, which instantly connects callers to a live video operator for assistance and information; and “My Video Meeting” which provides each subscriber a personalized video number for spontaneous, multi-party video calls. According to Michael McCausland, vice president and general manager of Sony Electronics’ IP Communications division, “We share the GlowPoint mission to make video an integral communications tool, and by working with a recognized industry leader, Sony now has the ability to more quickly introduce customer driven video solu- tions tailored to our brand, product and distribution channels.” “The alliance with Sony allows GlowPoint to address a greater variety of innovative IP-video uses more quickly, while at the same time to reach an increased number of potential customers more effectively,’“ said David Trachtenberg, president and CEO of GlowPoint. “Who better than Sony to adapt technology seamlessly into customers’ everyday lives?” http://www.sony.com/videoconference http://www.glowpoint.com

Subscribe FREE online at www.itmag.com snom360 Business IP Phone Launched At ITExpo Pangea Adds Voice ABP Technology (news - alert) recently announced the launch of the newest member of Messaging snom technology’s family of SIP business phones. The snom 360 offers a number of pow- Pangea Communications erful business telephone features, including dedicated keys for quick access to all key audio (news - alert) has announced and call control functions; context-sensitive menus for efficient management of relevant the addition of Voice capabilities as calls progress; 12 programmable keys with LED; tiltable backlit graphical Messaging to its Concert Fax display; sophisticated call control features; full call detail, configuration options, and online Solution. CFS enables service help accessed via Web browser; and providers to offer Internet fax more. “This is the best snom phone yet” and messaging services includ- says Robert Messer, ABP ing Fax to e-mail, e-mail to Fax, Technology’s President “In our Web to Fax, PC to Fax, and eyes, it is the fulfillment of many years of work building the ideal Fax Broadcasting services to vendor independent and open their clients. SishaFax of standards-based business Johannesburg, South Africa will phone.” http://www.abptech.com be the first Licensed Operator http://www.snom.de of CFS to offer the new service to its clients. http://www.pangea-comm.com http://www.sishafax.co.za

AccessLine Adds VoIP E9-1-1 To SmartVoice Service AccessLine Communications’ (news - alert) new SmartVoice Service for business will offer enterprise customers E9-1-1 protection over VoIP connec- tions. Based on V9-1-1 Mobility Telco Intros Access241 Service technology from Telco Systems (news - alert) recently introduced the Access241, a VoIP Analog Intrado Inc., the solution pro- Telephone Adapter (ATA) designed to integrate traditional telephone service and VoIP phone service over a single telephone for enhanced calling capabilities and to facilitate home and vides a similar level of E9-1-1 small office networking. protection to that available over The Access241 adds automated call routing to Telco’s ATA product line. For instance, traditional wireline connections. during an active VoIP call, if another call comes in on their traditional service, a call waiting http://www.accessline.com beep indicates an incoming call, and a standard flash-hook enables the user to switch between calls. In addition, a push of a button on the phone dial pad enables the user to switch between phone services when making a call. Mediatrix Unveils Liaison The Access241 also provides enhanced telephony services, such as 911 and user Mediatrix Telecom, Inc.(news defined call routing. When dialing 911, the emergency call is automatically routed to the - alert), announced the launch traditional phone service to ensure the of its new Mediatrix Liaison res- emergency operator is able to determine the exact loca- idential VoIP product line, a tion of the emer- range of VoIP access devices gency. Users can also offering seamless convergence designate which serv- of broadband modem and VoIP ice to route a call gateway functions. The over based on a spe- Mediatrix Liaison is designed cific phone number for home or home-office use, or area code. connecting up to two analog http://www.telco.com phones and/or faxes, as well as a PC or network router to a broadband connection. http://www.mediatrix.com

18 INTERNET TELEPHONY® April 2005 Subscribe FREE online at www.itmag.com Go To Table of Contents | Go To Ad Index VOIPSupply.com has everything you need for VOIP. We offer the most extensive online catalog of VOIP products, competitive pricing, and technically profi cient customer service. We deliver a suite of value added services including Pre-Confi guration, Fulfi llment, Direct Marketing, and an online Reseller Portal, all designed to allow you to focus on your core competency while increasing your bottom line. Large or small, SMB or Enterprise, End User or Service Provider, VOIPSupply.com is your one-stop-shop for all things VOIP. Contact our sales department today at 800.398.VOIP or visit us online at www.VOIPSupply.com

VOIPSupply.com offers products from leading vendors such as:

®

NETWORKS

® The Network Access Company together is better.

All ® Registered and © Copyright symbols indicate ownership of trade names, brands, products, and images by the identifi ed company. TWT Launches VoIP Metro Ethernet Solutions Northland Cable Launches Time Warner Telecom (quote - news -alert) recently announced its VoIP-based business Service With Net2Phone solutions strategy and new service offerings at the Internet Telephony Conference and Northland Cable Television EXPO. The company’s business-class VoIP solution suite — TW Telecom ONE SOLUTION (news - alert) announced that it — is available to business customers in 21 initial markets. has launched its “Northland “The burning question in the minds of customers is not, what technology, but what solu- VoiceLine, Powered by tion, will help me win in a very competitive marketplace? How the industry takes technolo- Net2Phone” digital phone serv- gies, like VoIP, and crafts them into real solutions that deliver real benefits for customers, ice, offering consumers premium is what separates the contenders from the pretenders. As more and more businesses con- full-featured voice service. With verge their voice and data networks, aligning with the right service provider is becoming plans starting at $18.99, even more critical,” said Michael A. Rouleau, senior vice president of strategy and business Northland VoiceLine is designed development for Time Warner Telecom. to offer consumers a new feature The first phase of VoIP-based products offered under TW Telecom ONE SOLUTION, pro- rich low cost local and long dis- vides solutions for PBX customers. These products include: TW Telecom ONE CONNECT, a tance choice in voice service. Its VoIP trunking solution; TW Telecom ONE REACH, an IP FX virtual numbering service; and all-inclusive monthly package for TW Telecom ONE FORUM, a conferencing solution. In concert with this VoIP-based busi- $37.99 delivers unlimited calls ness strategy launch, Time Warner Telecom is offering free VoIP VPN service to all its site- within the United States and to-site customers in the 44 markets it serves. Canada. http://www.twtelecom.com http://www.northlandcabletv.com http://www.net2phone.com telx Launches Voice Peering Fabric telx (news - alert) announced the launch of The Voice Peering Fabric. The deployment of Band-X, NexTone Team the fabric is designed to facilitate a radical economic shift in voice communications as calls For VoIP Services can now traverse the fabric via on-net networks and omit hitting the traditional phone com- Band-X (news -alert) and panies’ networks, thereby eliminating the need for calls billed per minute. NexTone Communications (news “The VPF is the first and by far, most predominant Ethernet Fabric designed to enable - alert) announced that Band-X complete transparency between buyers and sellers of Voice over IP traffic,” states Shrihari has deployed NexTone’s Pandit, the CEO and Founder of Stealth Communications. “The VPF allows VoIP service Multiprotocol Session Controller providers, enterprise customers, and university network managers to instantly know all the as a critical part of their strategy available on-net networks, their most competitive rates, and then… they are able to get con- to expand its VoIP services port- nected to these networks and services within hours. This not only reduces network operat- folio and to support the growing ing costs, it adds the choice of competitive, wholesale rates, and control to utilize any on- number of carriers to which it net service provider, at any given moment.” provides VoIP interconnections. http://www.thevpf.com New VoIP customers can con- nect via H.323 or SIP to access Amedia, Lightspeed Technologies Join Forces the full Band-X supply base of over 100 operators. Amedia Networks, Inc.(news - alert) , and LightSpeed Technologies, Inc. (news - http://www.nextone.com alert) , announced that they have entered into an agreement to include Amedia’s QoStream http://www.band-x.com products as a part of LightSpeed’s overall value proposition. Netspoke To Use NMS’ Under the agreement, LightSpeed will Open Access provide marketing, sales, systems integra- Netspoke (news - alert) tion and professional services to meet the recently announced a hosted expanding market of homes served by VoIP conferencing service, which Fiber-to-the-Premises (FTTP) systems, a it will build using the Open market that doubled in 2004. Access development platform Amedia will make available to LightSpeed from NMS Communica-tions. In the QoStream AS5000 Aggregator Switch, addition to offering features such the QoStream PG1000 Premises Gateway as real-time communication and (both the inside and hardened outside ver- collaboration capabilities, the sions), as well as the QoStream Director Netspoke IP conferencing serv- Network Management System. These Ethernet Switched Optical Network (ESON) ice will provide enterprise users based products allow each subscriber to other key benefits, including cap- receive up to 100 Mbps over a 90 km reach ital expenditure reduction, low- from a central office or head end. ered organizational costs and http://www.LightSpeedt.com increased workforce efficiency. http://www.amedia.com http:///www.netspoke.com http://www.nmscommunications.com 20 INTERNET TELEPHONY® April 2005 Subscribe FREE online at www.itmag.com Go To Table of Contents | Go To Ad Index Looking for a Company with a CLEAR IP Solution?

NEC has the Expertise to Deliver an IP Solution Based on Your Needs.

Experience. Reliability. Support. Whether deploying IP across a multi-campus environment or provid- ing a comprehensive set of support services to help you get the most of your network performance, NEC Unified Solutions has a clear vision for your IP network.

Building Communication Solutions. Delivering Excellence. www.necunifiedsolutions.com/ip

© 2004 NEC Unified Solutions, Inc. Broadcom Eases WiFi Installation Broadcom (quote -news - alert) announced that its WiFi Phone reference platform now includes SecureEasySetup software designed to enable consumers to effortlessly install their wireless IP phones with the push of a but- ton. Driven by the availability of cost-effective VoIP solu- tions, the number of subscribers who will use WiFi- based voice services in the United States is estimated to reach 75 million by 2008 according to In-Stat. Installing a WiFi Phone in today’s secure wireless net- work can be a complicated and time-consuming process, requiring a user to manually configure several settings on a phone keypad. The Broadcom SecureEasySetup software is designed to simplify the installation of wireless IP phones and other WiFi devices enabling users to configure their WiFi phones by simply pushing a button on the wireless router or access point, and a button on the handset. The phone automatically connects to the wireless network and WiFi Protected Access security activates. WPA is the strongest security standard for protecting home wireless networks from unauthorized use. http://www.broadcom.com

"Ebay" Auction: Mobile Phone Patent Portfolio

The bidding begins, for a limited time, on May 11, 2005 In a revolutionary, ONE TIME, offer this valuable patent portfolio will be sold at auction on "ebay.com". The bidding begins, for a limited time, on May 11, 2005. Enter “U.S. Patent Mobile Phone” in the search box at "ebay.com" on that date.

The same team that prosecuted the famous Ronald A. Katz patents prosecuted this portfolio. Those patents generated over 700 million dollars in income.

Because of the limited bidding period, all interested parties should complete their analysis well before the bidding begins. For file histories, etc., simply e-mail your request to: [email protected]

The portfolio includes U.S. Patents: 6,049,710; 6,149,353; 6,292,675; 6,298,250; 6,308,053; 6,400,967; 6,405,029; 6,473,610; 6,580,927; 6,584,327; 6,647,255; 6,751,482; 6,754,481; 6,845,234 and 6,862,463. One additional patent is in issue and there are three pending applications.

This is a great opportunity for cellular, dot com, numberless, data locating and other telephonic, as well as financial, marketing and service operations wishing to protect and expand their businesses.

22 INTERNET TELEPHONY® April 2005 Subscribe FREE online at www.itmag.com Go To Table of Contents | Go To Ad Index Document1 3/21/05 9:02 AM Page 1 Linksys Ships Over One Million VoIP Ports In Less Than Six Months DataLogic Introduces Linksys, (news - alert) a division of Cisco Systems, Inc., announced it has Integrated WiFi shipped over one million VoIP ports in six months. Linksys products for VoIP Data/Voice Router include a phone adapter and wired and wireless routers with phone ports. These DataLogic International products, bundled with a VoIP service are designed to enable customers to make (quote - news -alert)announced phone calls using their broadband connection. that it will add to its product Since August, Linksys has announced relationships with leading broadband suite an integrated data/voice VoIP service providers including AT&T CallVantage, PeopleCall in Spain, PhoneSystems.net in France, Verizon VoiceWing, and Vonage in both North Wi-Fi router next month. The America and the United Kingdom. Linksys hardware, combined with these serv- 802.11g router will be offered ice offerings, makes a complete, solution for consumers. through subsidiary IPN Synergy Research Group, a leading market research firm, reports that today Communications. The Wi-Fi there are close to 8 million home users worldwide using VoIP to make phone router will support up to four IP calls over their broadband con- voice ports, allowing the router nections. By 2009, Synergy to not only wirelessly network anticipates this number devices but to also route tradi- to grow to 58.9 mil- tional telephone calls to an IP lion home users using VoIP network. The Wi-Fi router can to talk to be configured to route calls friends through IPN’s long-distance and family carrier or any carrier of choice. around http://www.dlgi.com the world http://www.ipncom.com using broadband and VoIP technology. http://www.linksys.com Telephony Patent Portfolio Up For Auction On eBay Mr. Ronald Katz created a patent portfolio that has pro- duced over $700 million in SpectraLink Unveils New WiFi licensing royalties. Now, anoth- Handset For Healthcare er portfolio prosecuted by the SpectraLink Corp. (quote -news - alert) same team that prosecuted the recently announced its new NetLink h340 Katz portfolio is going to auc- Wireless Telephone. Designed for the needs of tion on eBay. The auction will the healthcare industry, the WiFi handsets pro- take place on May 11, 2005 — vide immediate communication for nurses, doctors, and hospital staff with the privacy, simply go to the eBay (quote - security, voice quality, and other call features news - alert) Web site and they depend on. enter the search term: U.S. The NetLink h340 Wireless Telephone is Patent Mobile Phone. Included only 5.5 inches long and weighs just four are 15 patents that apply to ounces. Belying its small size, the handset is various telephonic fields, constructed with some of the most durable including prepaid cellular, voice components in the industry. activation, data transfer, finan- The NetLink h340 leverages the features of a hospital’s existing telephone system including cial transactions, cellular pro- multiple line appearances, caller ID, call trans- gramming, business location, fer, conferencing and voice mail integration. disposables, and numberless Privacy and security are assured through phones. industry-standard wireless security protocols, http://www.ebay.com and excellent voice quality is maintained over a converged wireless network by the widely adopted SpectraLink Voice Priority (SVP) qual- ity of service (QoS) mechanism. http://www.spectralink.com

24 INTERNET TELEPHONY® April 2005 Subscribe FREE online at www.itmag.com Go To Table of Contents | Go To Ad Index AdFinal.8.125x10.875.qxp 3/21/05 8:34 AM Page 1

Give your revenue stream the power of IP voice services.

Commercially proven Pactolus Forget everything you know about Class 4/5 voice services. Pactolus SIPware Services running on RapidFLEX™ Application Server components SIPware™ Services are now have redefined how voice services are created, configured, delivered, and man- in the mainstream. aged in VoIP and TDM networks. Today, SIPware Services are delivering more than 1 billion minutes of service capacity every month. That’s real revenue for major carriers.

Our revolutionary product suite enables the industry’s broadest range of service capabilities available in a single services framework. This total solution delivers the goods carriers need to reach the mainstream today: • Deliver multiple services in a single software environment—Primary line Broadband Telephony (VoIP) service, Audio Conferencing, Voice Messaging, Prepaid and Postpaid Calling Card • SCE-built services for rapid service creation and customization • Cost-effective "call capacity" versus "per subscriber" pricing model • Linear scaling to millions of subscribers and billions of minutes • Carrier-grade availability—with breakthrough CallComplete™ call recovery • Re-seller partitioning and management for wholesaling services

Get on board with Pactolus SIPware services. Visit www.pactolus.com

For information or a demonstration, call 866-722-8658 (+011 508-616-0900 outside USA) TranSwitch, Octasic Devices Deliver Voice Gateway Card TranSwitch Corporation (quote - news - alert) and Octasic Semiconductor, Inc., (news - alert) have announced an integrated solution for voice over packet (VoP) gateway implemen- tations designed to allow OEMs to increase density and lower costs. Through the comple- mentary fit and functionality of the TranSwitch TEPro, Octasic OCT8304, and OCT6100 devices, the two semiconductor vendors are able to implement a gateway’s voice plane func- tionality on a single card, using only three chips, resulting in a faster time to market for OEMs. The companies also announced that a leading manufacturer of PON optical line terminals (OLT), used to enable fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP), has completed its design and field trials of a retrofittable DS3-rate high-density VoATM gateway using the TranSwitch/Octasic solution. The Octasic and TranSwitch devices are interconnected with their com- mon H.110 interfaces. Originally designed for CompactPCI applications incorporating a TDM backplane, H.110 is also usable as a device-to-device interconnect, enabling the full-duplex transfer of over 2,000 voice channels across one bus. “Octasic’s devices combined with TranSwitch’s TEPro greatly reduce time to market for equipment manufacturers due to the ease of integration,” said Frederic Bourget, Octasic’s director product management. “Together we pro- vide an end-to-end solution from packet interfaces to Voice Processing to TDM.” Octasic’s OCT8304 Packetization Engine offers complete, standard compli- ant, AAL2 implementation at an unprecedented 1,023 channel capacity, the highest capacity in voice packetization and aggregation on the market. The device provides standalone high-density G.711 packetization for VoIP and VoATM while enabling easy integration with devices where other require- ments are needed. Octasic’s OCT6100 Series Echo Canceller performs carrier-class transpar- ent echo cancellation and Voice Quality Enhancements (VQE) with extremely low power and small board space requirements (16mm square footprint, the smallest in the industry). Some features include: http://www.octasic.com http://www.transwitch.com

PowerDsine Releases Power over Ethernet Tester PowerDsine Ltd. (quote - news - alert) announced the commercial release of the PowerDsine PoE Tester, which is designed for IT administrators, system integrators, and installers, who want to check if electrical operating power is being carried over the Ethernet network. When connected to an RJ-45 outlet, PowerDsine’s PoE Tester checks for the presence of electrical operating power within existing Ethernet cabling infrastructure. In addition, the Tester identifies the Power Sourcing Equipment (PSE), which can be either an Endspan (a PoE-enabled switch) or a PoE Midspan. Specifically, the PoE Tester can detect IEEE 802.3af standard-compliant Midspans and Endspans. The tester can also be used to detect operating electrical power originated by Cisco pre-standard in-line power switches. “The PowerDsine PoE Tester is a quick and convenient way to identify PoE in an Ethernet LAN,” said PowerDsine Co- Founder and CEO Igal Rotem. “An IT administrator can plug a stan- dard Cat5 cable into our tester and an RJ-45 outlet, and immediately iden- tify the presence of power, the source of the power, and whether the power is IEEE 802.3af standard compliant.” The new PoE Tester has a compact design, the size of key, which is specifically tai- lored for system integrators and installers and is simple to use with plug-and-play readi- ness. The tester also features LED display, which indicates whether the Ethernet infrastruc- ture provides electrical power as well as the source of the power. The PoE Tester is currently available from PowerDsine’s distributors at a list price of $19.99. http://www.powerdsine.com 26 INTERNET TELEPHONY® April 2005 Subscribe FREE online at www.itmag.com Go To Table of Contents | Go To Ad Index Document1 7/13/2004 10:47 AM Page 1 Elma To Offer PIB Family In Several Configurations GL Communications Elma Electronic, Inc., (news - alert) announced that it now offers Power Releases DCOSS v5.10 Interface Boards (PIBs) in 3U and 6U versions with either one or two 47-pin GL Communications, Inc. power supply connectors. The PIBs are separate boards for the power sec- (news - alert) has announced tion of the backplane used to facilitate pluggable power supplies, headers, the release of the latest version and utility connectors. of DCOSS: version 5.10. The 3U and 6U power boards contain one or two 47-pin hot pluggable DCOSS is a key piece of test- power supply connectors, and power taps for +5V, 3.3V, -12V, +12V, and ing/simulation equipment used GND. Other features include a header for voltage sense and current by telecommunications network sharing, an IPMB interface, an ATX power connector, an engineers for testing switches, auxiliary/disk drive connector, and a power switch header. The gateways, and networks using IPMB interface is compliant to system management specification a variety of signaling protocols. PICMG 2.9 Rev. 1.0. The PIB is also designed to comply with the These available protocols power interface specification PICMG 2.11 Rev. 1.0 and with the IEEE include T1/E1 CAS, PRI ISDN, 1101.10 mechanical specification. SS7, and SS5. http://www.elma.com http://www.gl.com TI, Telchemy Team Up For QoS Themis Announces 64-bit PowerPC VMEbus Computers Texas Instruments, Inc. Themis Computer (news - alert) has announced a new family of (quote - news - alert), and PPC64 VMEbus computers. The PPC64 is Themis’ first in a new Telchemy, Inc., announced that family of 6U VMEbus computer boards based on the IBM PowerPC TI has licensed Telchemy’s 970FX processor. Two PPC64 configurations are available; a single VQmon/EP-DS for integration processor single slot computer and a dual-processor, symmetric into TI’s VoIP solutions making multiprocessing, two-slot solution. The PowerPC 970FX processor it faster and easier for equip- provides maximum performance for existing 32-bit applications and ment manufacturers to incorpo- new 64-bit applications. rate VoIP performance manage- With the addition of the PPC64 to its rapidly growing product ment technology into theior family, Themis offers an ever-wider breadth of rugged, high per- solutions. The fusion of TI’s formance VME embedded computers. The 1.8 GHz PPC64, in a sin- VoIP chipsets and Telchemy’s gle-slot configuration, can be configured with up to 4 GBytes of software is designed to enable DDR400 memory and includes a Gigabit Ethernet port and support service providers and enterpris- for Dual Ultra320 SCSI drives. The single-processor PPC64 also es to monitor, diagnose, and includes a high performance Universe II VME64x interface, two troubleshoot complex problems 10/100/1000 Ethernet ports, two USB ports, AC97 audio, and two serial ports. A second processor may be added, in a second VME in real-time, ensuring high serv- slot, communicating with the baseboard via a Hyper-transport link. ice quality and availability for http://www.themis.com next generation services. http://www.ti.com http://www.telchemy.com Diversified Expands AdvancedTCA Product Line Diversified Technology, Inc., (DTI) (news - alert) recently introduced its new Spirent Rolls Out Distributed AdvancedTCA Hub Switch. The ATS1460 Blade is an AdvancedTCA hub board for a Dual- Abacus Platform Spirent Communications Star fabric based ATCA shelf. The board is compliant with the PICMG 3.0/3.1 specifica- (news - alert) has announced tions. availability of the Distributed The ATS1460 Hub Board is an AdvancedTCA 3.0 and 3.1 Option 4 switch with support Abacus IP Telephony Rollout for high availability. It provides separate control plane switching, data plane switching, and Platform designed to assess storage plane switching for ATCA shelves. It supports gigabit Ethernet on the base control and validate signaling perform- network. On the fabric network it supports both gigabit Ethernet for data and 2-gigabit ance and call quality in pre-pro- Fiber Channel for storage. All three networks are non- duction networks. Carriers blocking and feature wire-speed learning for maxi- using Distributed Abacus can mum performance. The ATS1460 features 24- introduce large-scale VoIP serv- port gigabit Ethernet switches on both the ices by taking IP telephony test- base and fabric data networks. With ing beyond the lab. By emulat- support for a industry standard CLI, ing real-world traffic from multi- telnet/SSH, SNMP, RADIUS, ple points on the network, net- and a web interface, the work operators, may avoid the ATS1460 provides robust risk of testing VoIP quality and management. performance with live cus- tomers. http://www.dtims.com http://www.spirentcom.com

28 INTERNET TELEPHONY® April 2005 Subscribe FREE online at www.itmag.com Go To Table of Contents | Go To Ad Index Document1 11/9/2004 9:37 AM Page 1 Nortel, SIPquest Bring SIP-Based Multimedia Services To Wireless Nortel (quote - news - alert) and SIPquest (news - alert) announced they are working together to enable service providers to deliver advanced SIP-based multimedia services to residential and corporate customers over wireless handheld devices. The companies will initially focus on delivering advanced capabilities such as Presence and IM for services delivered to handhelds such as the RIM’s Blackberry, Sony-Ericcson P900, and other smartphones. Using SIPquest’s IMS Cellular Client, a soft client residing on the handheld device, and Nortel’s Multimedia Communication Server (MCS) 5200, service providers will be able to deliver value-added services and productivity-enhancing tools to cellular users. Data Connection SIP Supports “Service Providers will be able to take advantage of network convergence and deliv- Over 1 Billion Calls er, under their own brand, new and innovative multimedia services to their customers”, said Alain Mouttham, SIPquest CEO. “This is an initial step in enhancing the user expe- Data Connection Limited (DCL) (news - rience. As the market evolves, we anticipate bringing cellular and WiFi client solutions alert) announced that Tellme Networks, together to provide dual-mode functionality and a seamless end-user experience.” Inc., has incorporated Data Connection’s “Both companies share a vision of transforming networks, enhancing the human DC-SIP software solution into their net- experience, igniting global commerce and improving security,” said Jim Dondero, vice work, enabling over 1 billion directory president of Carrier Packet Networks marketing, Nortel. “Today’s announcement is an assistance calls using VoIP this year. important first step in delivering profoundly powerful communications to end-users, Tellme is using Data Connection’s SIP providing a level of control and personalization from a handheld device not yet experi- software to connect directory assistance enced. We will work with SIPquest to evolve these capabilities even further.” calls to Tellme’s data centers nationwide. http://www.sipquest.com SIP is an essential part of the family of http://www.nortel.com Voice over IP (VoIP) technologies that is powering innovative companies, such as Tellme, to offer more services and flexibili- ty to their customers but at significantly less cost and complexity than that of tradi- tional voice networks. “Directory assistance will drive millions of SIP sessions per day to the Tellme data Stalker Software Launches CommuniGate Pro v4.3 centers, which essentially makes our net- Stalker Software (news - alert) announced CommuniGate Pro v4.3 Real-Time work one of the largest SIP endpoints in Communications server, featuring an expanded SIP communications offering. Both sin- the world,” said Troy Chevalier, Tellme’s gle-server and dynamic-cluster 99.999 percent uptime installations are designed to VP of Platform Engineering. provide secure SIP messaging and telephony for users anywhere they go — whether in “Tellme handles a third of all the direc- the enterprise, at home, or on the road — dynamically adjusting for any firewalls, tory assistance calls made in the United VPNs, and NAT devices in between. States. The use of our DC-SIP solution in Based on current Internet and telephony standards, CommuniGate Pro enables small the Tellme application is a true testimony and large enterprises, telecoms, and cable providers to use SIP for VoIP, multimedia, to the scale and high reliability of our instant messaging, remote application sharing, and other real-time presence applica- products,” said Phil McConnell, Data tions. CommuniGate Pro provides registry services for millions of VoIP users, SIP Connection’s CEO. proxy services for thousands of call signals per second, and extensive “near-end” and http://www.dataconnection.com/sip “far-end” NAT traversal services only provided previously through complex architec- tures or expensive hardware solutions. In the new 4.3 version, VoIP integration with e-mail has been extended to allow users to initiate SIP calls directly from their address book, using either the CommuniGate Pro MAPI connector for Outlook or Web mail. In the near future, CommuniGate Pro will extend this capability to include cutting-edge messaging control such as VoIP call management at the mailbox and user-defined SIP filtering and spam prevention techniques. In addition, CommuniGate Pro v4.3 will now feature three new graphical user inter- faces (GUI) available in 12 languages. Users have the option of using either a Microsoft Outlook-like or Microsoft Entourage-like GUI, or a new Internet mail-like GUI for Web mail access. Users can easily switch to a new skin or language simply by selecting the option from within any of the interfaces. The original, intuitive, light-weight and fast interface will still be offered for those that wish to build custom skins of their own on the framework, or for users that want a fast light interface for browsers like Lynx over a shell session remotely. http://www.stalker.com

30 INTERNET TELEPHONY® April 2005 Subscribe FREE online at www.itmag.com Go To Table of Contents | Go To Ad Index Ingate To Offer VoIP Survival CPE For Hosted VoIP Ingate Systems’ (news - alert) VoIP Survival is an application module for hosted VoIP communications services designed to secure full redundancy in a SIP-based Hosted PBX or IP Centrex environment all the way out to the cus- tomer premise. The application, which can be used with any hosted VoIP service, has been validated by BroadSoft, Inc., to serve as a customer premise backup to enhance the reliability and availability of the BroadWorks VoIP applica- tion platform. In the hosted environment, Ingate VoIP Survival ensures continued communications service even if the hosted server goes offline due to connection failure or malfunction. This increased availability means that unnecessary down- time is minimized. A hosted communication platform offers many advantages to enterprises adopting VoIP. However, there are occa- sions when it is desirable to have a redundant capability at the customer premise. Should a network outage occur, Ingate VoIP Survival offers continuous, uninterrupted availability of mission-critical VoIP service. In a Hosted PBX environment, the server situated in the service provider’s core network is in constant contact with — and dynamically sending data to — the Ingate Firewall or Ingate SIParator situated on the company LAN. The intel- ligence built into the hosted solution is automatically transferred to the local side, including settings and registrations. The Ingate CPE keeps track of updates and stores a mirror image of user settings. In the event that contact with the hosted server is lost, the Ingate CPE will automatically detect the failure and make use of stored settings to ensure that communication methods are maintained. By using the mirror image of user set- tings, local calls within the domain are handled by the CPE. Any calls made to the outside will automatically be routed towards the SIP/PSTN gateway, given that there is SIP/PSTN gateway on the LAN. The CPE will automatically detect when the communication link is restored. Ingate VoIP Survival is available now for all Ingate Firewall and SIParator products. http://www.ingate.com http://www.broadsoft.com Yankee Group Survey Reveals Contact Center Reluctance Yankee Group (news - alert) announced that contact centers have been cautious in their adoption of VoIP technology. In cases where penetration has occurred, the switch has been driven solely by application needs and, in isolated cases, reduced infrastructure costs. These results prove the lower total cost of ownership (TCO) metric is not driving migration of circuit-switched agent stations to voice over IP (VoIP). The culmination of research conducted with more than 1,000 contact center managers, the report entitled VoIP in Contact Centers Is Inevitable But Not Imminent highlights five current “use cases” where contact center managers are seriously weighing VoIP deploy- ments. SMB contact centers emerged as the clear early front-runners in adopting packet switched infrastructures. “Contact centers are reluctant to consider VoIP unless there is a clear use case and ROI”, according to Art Schoeller, senior analyst at Yankee Group. “Although the SMB sector is where the significant volume has been through 2004, larger centers are seeing advan- tages for distributed operations because the technology facilitates increased agent utiliza- tion over traditional circuit switching.” VoIP technology creates more efficient data routes to seize full advantage of dispersed agents. Contact centers with packet switched technology could generate cost savings of seven percent from additional utilization. http://www.yankeegroup.com

Netrake Launches VoIP And IP Multimedia Call Center Solution Netrake (news - alert) recently announced the general availability of the Netrake Call Center Solution, an session control offer designed to accelerate the call center industry’s transition to next-generation IP communications. Netrake’s Call Center Solution is designed to afford call cen- ter companies lower cost connectivity; enhanced security; efficient call routing; access to advanced VoIP features; and more seamless voice, video, and data integration for real-time cus- tomer interactions. West Corporation, the third-largest U.S. call center services provider, and Genesys Conferencing, the application service provider subsidiary of Genesys S.A., are among the first providers selecting the call center functionality of Netrake’s nCite Session Controller platform. Netrake’s nCite Session Controller capabilities are well-suited to the unique needs of the call center industry: Connectivity Savings: The Netrake Call Center Solution empowers call centers to gain imme- diate and substantial toll-charge savings. These savings result from replacing costly public switched telephone network (PSTN) connections with secure, reliable IP-to-IP connectivity among all call center customers. Enhanced Security: The security functions of Netrake’s solution address the mission-critical nature of enterprise communications and data typically carried by call center and conferencing services. nCite security features include Network Address Translation (NAT)/Firewall Traversal, as well as denial of service (DOS) attack prevention through deep packet inspection at both the SIP signaling and VoIP media layers. Inter-working VoIP Signaling: nCite performs real-time conversion between SIP-based and H.323-based VoIP sessions. This function is designed to deliver transparent inter-working among any combination of SIP-based and H.323-based networks operated by call center peer networks. Scalable Quality Control: nCite partitions each customer’s Quality of Service data collection and captures inter-departmental bill-back and service level agreement (SLA) enforcement metrics on a per-session basis. Netrake’s nCite DE Session Controller enables this benefit at tier 1 carrier scale — reportedly supporting up to 42,000 secure, concurrent G.729 speech coded calls in a single platform. Customers also can employ nCite SE Session Controllers across smaller distrib- uted points of presence. Additionally, nCite Session Controllers can partition each customer into a virtual domain, enabling discrete service, policy and trouble management per customer. “Netrake has taken the lead in solving crucial cost, security, quality and inter-working barriers to the call center industry’s transition into next-generation IP communications,” said Bruce Hill, president and CEO of Netrake. http://www.netrake.com

32 INTERNET TELEPHONY® April 2005 Subscribe FREE online at www.itmag.com Go To Table of Contents | Go To Ad Index Q44470-02 Phone + 3/21/05 8:42 AM Page 1

LIFE’S A LOT EASIER WHEN YOU HAVE WHAT EVERY BUSINESS CUSTOMER WANTS. Join the Covad Alliance Network and carry the VoIP that’s already a blockbuster. Covad VoIP is business-class broadband technology that truly integrates high-speed Internet with traditional telephone service. It’s easy to set up, easy to maintain, and easy to expand and streamline whenever necessary. And Covad VoIP is just one of Covad’s many revolutionary broadband services designed to be easy for businesses to use, and for you to sell. So add powerful business-class broadband services to your portfolio today, and join in Covad’s blockbuster success. For more information on joining the Covad Alliance Network, please call 1 866-888-2965 or visit www.covadalliance.com

©2005 Covad Communications Group, Inc. All rights reserved. Covad and the Covad logo are registered trademarks of Covad Communications Group, Inc. Service not available in all areas. Please see www.covad.com for details. Telrex Calls On Ingram Micro To Dial Up VoIP Resellers EADS Signs Partner To Resell Telrex (news - alert) has announced a referral agreement with Ingram Micro, the VoIP, Contact Center Solutions world’s largest technology distributor, to offer CallRex IP call recording software to the EADS (news - alert) has announced that distributor’s resellers in the United States. Connect-tek is the latest company to join “We’re delighted to be Ingram Micro’s only packet-based call recording solution,” the EADS Certified Partner Program. This said Bob Cordes, director of marketing at Telrex. “Ingram Micro’s resellers now can recent addition to EADS’ channel further offer an affordable packet-based IP call-recording solution to their small and medium expands its presence in the marketplace, business customers. Since CallRex is entirely software-based, it is 40 to 50 percent with Connect-tek customers in the less expensive than solutions requiring third-party telephony hardware.” Pennsylvania area. As a value-added “This agreement further illustrates Ingram Micro’s aggressive push into voice over reseller for EADS, Connect-tek will offer IP,” said Justin Crotty, vice president channel marketing, Ingram Micro North America. Nexspan, the company’s sixth generation “Our solution providers are continually looking to add to their revenue stream through VoIP solution, Unified Communication adopting new markets and new solutions - like CallRex IP call-recording software. Platform, and Centergy Contact Center Telrex’s VoIP product offers just such an opportunity with the additional benefits of solutions to address the needs of small to high margins, easy installation and post-sale support.” medium-sized enterprises delivering tradi- http://www.telrex.com/callrex.htm tional PBX, converged systems or full VoIP http://www.ingrammicro.com capability. EADS and Connect-tek will target Connect-tek’s existing customer base as well as focus on new opportunities. http://www.eadstelecom-na.com http://www.goconnect.com

34 INTERNET TELEPHONY® April 2005 Subscribe FREE online at www.itmag.com Go To Table of Contents | Go To Ad Index Comdial And Tech Data U.S. Alliance Systems, tekVizion Sign Joint Services Agreement Establish Distribution Agreement Alliance Systems (quote - news - alert) and tekVizion PVS, Inc.(news - alert), Comdial (quote - news - alert) and Tech announced they have signed a joint services agreement intended to help smooth serv- Data (quote - news - alert) have ice providers’ transition to reliable converged networks. By working together, Alliance announced an agreement expanding and tekVizion offer completely integrated, tested, and supported solutions including Comdial’s distribution and extending Tech servers, software applications and middleware from leading independent software ven- Data’s telephony product offering, allowing dors (ISVs). both companies to capitalize on growth The two parties have agreed to work together to create market opportunities for each opportunities in the IP telephony market. other’s products and services and to further expand their portfolio of shared vendor Comdial products offered through the new relationships with market-leading ISVs. agreement with Tech Data meet a variety of tekVizion offers specialized professional services including consulting, custom soft- ware and portal development, integration, support, and test services that include the business requirements. One such product tekVizion Labs(TM) testing and certification facility. Alliance Systems is an original is Comdial’s CONVERSip MP1000 Media design manufacturer (ODM) serving ISVs and original equipment manufacturers Platform, designed exclusively for small (OEMs) by providing value-added services including the design, build, ship, and sup- and midsize enterprise VoIP deployments. port of Intel server technology. Through its Telephony Specialized http://www.alliancesystems.com http://www.tekvizion.com Business Unit (SBU), Tech Data will begin distributing the MP1000 and other Comdial products to U.S. resellers this month. The SBU is focused on supporting the needs of value-added resellers targeting the telepho- ny market. http://www.comdial.com http://www.techdata.com

Subscribe FREE online at www.itmag.com INTERNET TELEPHONY® April 2005 35 Go To Table of Contents | Go To Ad Index By Marc Robins

Notes From The Field

It’s high season for industry trade shows — with VoiceCon, Internet Telephony Conference and EXPO, and VON, to name a few — hitting one after the other. I’ve been taking full advantage of these events to suss out the pulse of the industry and explore the nooks and crannies of the exhibit halls looking for the innovative new products, services, and applications that serve to define the current state-of-the-art in IP communications. As run by president/CEO Peter Sisson, has developed a slick I’ve strolled down the exhibit floor aisles, walked SIP-based toolbar app that mates with that finds and highlights any phone number on any Web the hallways of hotel meeting places and conven- site, making it ‘click-to-talkable.’ Go to Google to search tion centers, and (thankfully) rested during strings for pizzerias in your hometown, and with , you can of pressroom meetings, I’ve also had the opportuni- seamlessly dial the numbers that appear on the screen. Shop ty to engage in entertaining debates about trends on eBay, and you can call the buyer to ask questions right from the phone number listed. Teleo hosts the service and gather a variety of info nuggets along the way. beyond the scenes, providing a free 30-day trial, after which the company charges $29.70 for six months of service Judging from the overall attendance at the shows, interest in (comes to around $4.95/month). You get a personal phone VoIP (define - news - alert) and IP communications is at an number, unlimited inbound calls, and free peer to peer call- all-time high. While the turnout by service providers (and ing. You can also make calls to most TDM phones world- vendors offering solutions for providers) was significant at wide for two cents/minute (except cells and some countries) both these events, it was also clear that the growing adoption and can make calls from a circuit switched phone into the of solutions by the enterprise market is dominating the scene. network for the same price. The company is only a few The small business market — underserved in the past — has months old, and so far has users in 90 countries and is log- also started to gain some real steam. Rumor has it that Cisco ging about 150K minutes/month. I’ve always been a big is now selling around 2,000 Call Manager Express systems believer in this type of application, but for one reason or every month, and other vendors not currently selling to that another it never took off. With Teleo, I think click-to-call segment have taken notice — Mitel (news - alert), for exam- may finally have found a company that has the chops to ple, will be coming out with a small biz system shortly. make it stick. Digium(news - alert), the people responsible for bringing Also seen during my wanderings include some neat new the free open source phenom product Asterisk to market, were endpoints from Mitel, including their Navigator “phone strip” also deluged with throngs of fans checking out the 15 or so that creates a whole new form factor for the office phone set, partners displaying their wares at the “Asterisk Marketplace” and a new WiFi base station/NIC base for their IP phones at VON. Coming soon from Digium is an Asterisk Business that allow for wireless add/moves/changes — ideal for retail package — a version that includes training and implementa- and other establishments that desire the flexibility that wire- tion support a la Red Hat — less provides. IT that might answer the question about how Digium plans to Marc Robins is Chief Evangelism make money from its product. Officer of Robins Consulting Apparently the company isn’t Judging from the overall attendance Group, which offers an array of having a hard time developing services to the IP telephony indus- a loyal and quite substantial at the shows, interest in VoIP and IP try. He has been involved in the base: At a recent user confer- telecommunications industry as a ence hosted by the company, communications is at an all-time high. reporter and analyst, trade show more than 10,000 supporters producer and publisher, and mar- showed up! A bunch of fans keting executive and consultant for even showed up at Mark more than 24 years. For more Spencer’s house recently, (the information, call RCG at 718-548- brilliant, young developer of Asterisk), with a hot tub in tow 7245 or e-mail [email protected]. to bestow upon him! Based on what I saw during a demonstration of some new If you are interested in purchasing reprints of this article (in either print or HTML format), applications from service provider and app developer Teleo, please visit Reprint Management Services online at http://www.reprintbuyer.com or contact a representative via e-mail at [email protected] or by phone at 800- the age of true Web “click-to-call” may be upon us. Teleo, 290-5460. 36 INTERNET TELEPHONY® April 2005 Subscribe FREE online at www.itmag.com Go To Table of Contents | Go To Ad Index Document1 1/12/2005 9:47 AM Page 1 By Tony Rybczynski

The Path To Business Continuity

“Do more with less.” “Make your employees more productive.” “Grow your rev- enue base.” Underlying these CIO concerns, and in some cases the subject of regu- latory requirements, is business continuity and disaster recovery after natural and man-made disasters, such as the 2003 north-east blackout, the SARS outbreak, and escalating security attacks. Business continuity ensures mission-critical services and applications will continue to operate in the event of disaster, failures or outages, and as necessary, reestablishes full functioning as swiftly and smoothly as possible.

Convergence enables the virtual enterprise with the conver- to continue to perform their duties. For example, after the gence of protocols and networks, communications and appli- north-east blackout of 2003, the Ontario government asked cations, and the dissolution of distance across the enterprise. employers to close down their facilities while the nuclear The virtual enterprise in turn enables profoundly more com- power plants were brought back up on line. During this one- prehensive business continuity approaches, that go beyond the week period, I and many of my co-workers were able to con- data center to include telephony (and unified communications tinue to be productive, using our laptops configured with systems in general), branch operation and even employees. IPSec VPN (define - news - alert), IP telephony and multime- dia clients. Leveraging IP telephony in contact centers also Business Continuity For Telephony allows agents to be quickly relocated in case of disasters. IP Traditional telephony has been deployed on a site by site telephony systems running on WLANs and wireless mesh net- basis. Disaster recovery requires that a total replacement works can also be important tools for emergency response switch (i.e., a key system or PBX) be deployed, a process that teams. The virtualized enterprise can respond much more can take days for a large installation. The wide-scale accept- quickly when disaster strikes, while the proliferation of end ance of IP telephony has for the first time created the oppor- user devices is providing important business continuity tunity to economically address business continuity require- options. ments for telephony systems, by disaggregating the function of call control from switching. The simplest approach is basi- Business Continuity And The Converged Network cally a cold standby approach whereby IP phones register with The business continuity imperatives as they relate to the a standby pre-configured communications server if the pri- converged network are recovery from failures in human time mary system fails. Another utilizes load sharing across distrib- (i.e., tens of msecs), gradual degradation under failure condi- uted servers (e.g., at a central site and at a data center), tions, continued operation under overload, and load sharing through database replication, providing total recovery from across all network resources. Additionally, the business conti- failures within minutes. The ultimate approach supports real- nuity imperatives from a security perspective are to proactively time mirroring with sub-second recovery times. These solu- block security threats before they penetrate the network and tions are all being delivered today. to rapidly isolate any infiltrations that take place. This requires acquisition of information on potential threats, Keeping Branches Running assessment of these threats, and rapid action to block and/or Centralization of IT resources has been the path to lowest contain these threats. Multilayer security implies security in total cost of ownership (TCO), providing higher utilization of the very DNA of the network, including user authentication servers and reducing server costs, reducing operations costs and admission controls at every wired and wireless port and and providing increased agility to accommodate business centralized security intelligence to ensure consistent applica- needs. IP telephony opens the door to leverage the opportuni- tion of enterprise security policies. ties of centralization, previously only economical in the data Business Continuity is one of the most critical issues enter- center. However, loss of network connectivity between a prises face. Convergence enables business continuity to go branch office and a central site will result in loss of dial-tone beyond specific focused back-up plans for data centers, to for branch users (an unacceptable situation). Branch business become part of the fabric of communications across the enter- continuity leverages survivable gateways to ensure continued prise, cost effectively empowering individuals and the business featured telephony operation, including local public network overall to continue to operate virtually. For the CXO, having access. This provides the right balance between IP telephony a business continuity strategy across these domains can mini- costs and the costs of enhancing network reliability, while mize business loss, safeguard the enterprise’s reputation with meeting business continuity needs. its customers, partners, and employees, and allow IT to focus its investments moving the business forward. IT Employee Business Continuity Tony Rybczynski is Director of Strategic Enterprise Technologies at IP telephony has also disaggregated the users from the site Nortel. He has over 30 years experience in the application of pack- architecture where they were previously wired to the PBX. et network technology. For more information, please visit When disaster hits, it is imperative to allow critical resources http://www.nortel.com.

38 INTERNET TELEPHONY® April 2005 Subscribe FREE online at www.itmag.com Go To Table of Contents | Go To Ad Index Document1 12/20/2004 2:12 PM Page 1 By William B. Wilhelm, Jr., Esq.

The New Chairman Of Change FCC Chairman Powell is leaving and much remains to be done.

Chairman Powell is gone. Responsible for guiding the Commission through the Pulver and Vonage preemption orders — the ex Chairman embarked the FCC on a voyage that, as of yet, is incomplete. While many challenges await the new FCC Chairman, the issues surrounding broadband, VoIP, and IP enabled services must remain at the top of the Commission’s 2005 agenda.

First among the new Chairman’s priorities should be to find ken system to new VoIP providers. that VoIP (define - news - alert) applications are information The new Chairman must further the Commission’s focus services. While the FCC (news - alert) resolved this issue with on homeland security and work with the industry to facilitate respect to the computer-to-computer services at issue in the industry solutions for E-911 and disability access. VoIP Pulver docket, the FCC had not explored the classification providers have strong marketplace incentives to make their issues in a comprehensive fashion. Despite the FCC’s inac- products as attractive and valuable as possible for consumers tion, the 8th Circuit recently affirmed the earlier decision of a and businesses. Government policy should be directed lower federal court that found Vonage’s service is an informa- towards letting industry work out solutions to key issues tion service not subject to regulation by the Minnesota Public including 911 access, rather than assuming that approaches Service Commission. At this point, delay is unwarranted. In that have worked in the context of the traditional telephone order to permit the development of the full potential for this network should be applied to VoIP. VoIP providers are work- remarkable technology, as well as other IP-enabled services, ing hard to craft solutions that preserve the new features and the FCC should resolve it’s pending IP-Enabled Networks service options while also meeting important public policy Proceeding to affirm what has already been decided by the goals. Leading VoIP providers, state PSAPs and NENA are courts — that VoIP applications that perform net protocol working to provide 911 access that provides functionality conversions are non-regulated information services. comparable to the traditional telephone network. VoIP Next, the FCC should act promptly to preserve a national providers are also crafting solutions to improve access by dis- regulatory regime for VoIP services. The FCC in November abled persons and in fact, the inherent advantages of VoIP, correctly found that one form of VoIP is an inherently inter- such as the greater ability to convert IP encoded voice mes- state service-not subject to state regulation in part because sages to text, facilitate disabilities access. Rather than impos- VoIP service is portable in that the subscriber and the VoIP ing specific regulatory requirements on VoIP providers, the telephone number are not tied to any specific location. This FCC should ensure that VoIP providers are permitted reason- decision will help assure that many new VoIP providers are able access to the underlying telecommunications infrastruc- not unnecessarily and counterproductively subject to legacy ture in order to improve upon the transmission and delivery telephone regulation. Nonetheless, state commissions are of 911 calls. attempting to overturn these decisions. California, Minnesota, Finally, the FCC must take clear steps to ensure a right to Ohio, and New York recently filed appeals of the FCC Order. consumer access to IP applications over all broadband plat- The FCC, in cooperation with the VoIP industry, should vig- forms. Chairman Powell got it right when he stated that in orously defend its November decision and additionally reach order to realize the full potential of IP-enabled communica- out to state regulators and work with them to realize the ben- tions, regulators “must ensure that a willing provider can efits that will be provided to consumers and businesses if VoIP reach a willing consumer over the broadband connection.” is permitted to grow subject to a national, deregulated frame- Nothing could harm consumer choice or the growth and work instead of a patchwork of disparate state regulation. If development of new broadband communications applications necessary, the new Chairman should encourage Congress to more than if network providers were able to block access to enact legislation such as the VoIP Regulatory Freedom Act the customer’s choice of application or computing device. It is previously introduced by Senator Sununu and Representative a testament to the FCC’s strong leadership that no significant Pickering. problems have developed thus far. Clearly, however, the new Although it’s not going to be easy — the new Chairman Chairman needs to continue to articulate its policy in this must also take bold steps to fix the existing intercarrier com- area as well as remain vigilant and proactive in the event abu- pensation framework. Everyone agrees that the current regime sive or anti-competitive practices become apparent. IT is broken. Various key industry players have submitted pro- posals to the FCC for comprehensive reform. These proposals William B. Wilhelm is a Partner in the firm of Swidler Berlin Shereff vary from retaining but rationalizing pricing to abolishing Friedman, LLP. For more information, please visit intercarrier compensation payments altogether. The FCC just http://www.swidlaw.com. The preceding represents the views of initiated yet another proceeding seeking comment on reform. the author only and does not necessarily represent the views of One thing is clear, however: it makes no sense to apply a bro- Swidler Berlin Shereff Friedman, LLP or its clients.

40 INTERNET TELEPHONY® April 2005 Subscribe FREE online at www.itmag.com Go To Table of Contents | Go To Ad Index USB Phones Conference Phones IP-Phones

Analog Terminal Adapters

Power over Ethernet USB Headsets Gateways Modular, Rack Mountable By Hunter Newby

Making Sense Of VoIP Peering

VoIP Peering is becoming commonly known as the process of interconnecting two or more VoIP networks or devices from the physical layer (see the chart below) all the way up to the application layer, including many layers in between. Specifically, VoIP Peering can occur at layers 1, 2, 3, 5 and 7. It can get so confusing it’s almost like giving New York City subway directions to a tourist.

The confusion gets amplified when we discuss the financial bottom dropping out of the PSTN.) aspects of billing the calls. Some say VoIP (define - news - The CLEC (define - news - alert) and VoBB service alert) Peering is a way to enable “free calling” — no matter providers using ENUM are either allowing their customers to whom or where you call or for how long, you pay one flat peer or communicate directly, with no metered charge because rate. Others say billing will be the same way as it has been for they have figured out a (profitable) way to charge a flat rate decades, per minute with higher rates for certain remote call for access to their network, or they are still billing the cus- destinations. As it is with almost everything else, the truth lies tomer per minute and pocketing the savings. Either way the somewhere in the middle. Understanding the necessary infra- calls are free — it just depends for whom. Their customers are structure of VoIP Peering may shed light on how to drive the end users or enterprises that don’t want to (or can’t deal with) future economics of it. managing their own VoIP infrastructure. VoIP Peering combines the best of two worlds: the tele- The enterprise, government, and university segments that phone system and Internet Protocol with a little help from its use ENUM today do so either via the Internet or a private friends Ethernet, ENUM (define - news - alert), and SIP voice Internet. They pay for their own access, run their own (define - news - alert). Depending on how you view the world SIP gateways and query a central ENUM registry for every (from the application layer down, or the ground up), each call they make. They take on more risk but get greater component is essential. If any one particular layer is removed, rewards. Every call that can be peered with another on-net the full suite of VoIP Peering capabilities wouldn’t be possible. device is free. The more peered calls, and resulting ENUM The different layers, 1, 2, 3, 5 and 7, relate to physical layer match-ups, the better it is for those who are already using it. cross connections, Ethernet, IP (the Internet and private IP), ENUM, and SIP respectively. Depending on the situation, ENUM VoIP Peering Is Really A New Business various combinations of these components can produce what Model For Voice is known as VoIP Peering. The two major components of SIP is not really a standalone service yet but rather a way VoIP peering that actually enable VoIP devices to peer are for VoIP switches to find each other. SIP look-ups can ENUM and SIP. ENUM works together with SIP to resolve become (and in some form, already are) a standalone service. number locations and can operate over the Internet, or a pri- SIP is very popular with the international wholesale minutes vate IP network. SIP can be used by itself to interconnect providers. Those VoIP switch operators using SIP have desti- gateways, or switches over the Internet, or a private IP net- nation routes they want to sell. They make their money on work. selling minutes and getting paid Each layer and its function per minute. These are typically have different breeds of new international destinations service providers with different VoIP Peering combines the best of because there is still some mar- rates and connection methods. gin left in that end of the busi- ENUM is basically for carriers two worlds: the telephone system and ness, but SIP connections are servicing end users (LEC’s and also used for setting up PRI VoBB (define - news - alert) Internet Protocol with a little help from DID circuits for local numbers service providers) and entities its friends Ethernet, ENUM, and SIP. over IP. That’s how you can get a that use blocks of numbers number with a New York area (enterprises, government, univer- code in Japan. The buyers of sities). SIP is mainly a carrier to these services via SIP include carrier VoIP switch enabler, but can be used for IP PBX’s to other carriers, hosted/outsourced IP PBX providers, VoIP communicate with carriers or other IP PBX’s directly. ASP’s, calling card platforms, enterprises, government entities, The economic functions of ENUM and SIP vary as well. and universities. ENUM service providers available today do not charge any per call or per minute fee. ENUM and the Layer 5 specific SIP VoIP Peering Is Really A New Way To Connect service providers are essentially enabling free calls for all of Two Voice Switches their users. (By the way, that sucking sound you hear is the IP PBXs using SIP as a means to communicate directly

42 INTERNET TELEPHONY® April 2005 Subscribe FREE online at www.itmag.com Go To Table of Contents | Go To Ad Index The OSI Model For VoIP Peering

facilitate ENUM, or end user device direct connections. SIP (Peering - “Redirect”) Essentially they are building their own private VoIP networks. Service Providers & Enterprises Initially the enterprises, government, and university groups VeriSign 7. Application will interconnect their own nodes. Then they will look to directly interconnect with each other. That is when the com- Encryption bination of SIP and ENUM deliver the maximum value of 6. Presentation VoIP Peering. ENUM (Peering) As VoIP Peering gains in popularity, it is exposed to the Service Providers & Enterprises The VPF, VeriSign, e164.org risk of being too widely defined and simultaneously lacking 5. Session specificity. This is primarily because VoIP Peering can mean TCP/UDP different things to different people. In some instances, these 4. Transport broad strokes are socialized by those who wish to keep the Internet Protocol “old way” alive in some fashion so as to gracefully engineer Service Providers & Enterprises themselves out of a disadvantageous pricing model and Public ISPs and The VPF 3. Network billing system. For that reason, during this initial growth Ethernet Transport period, it is important to insure that each style of VoIP Service Providers & Enterprises Peering, the user type, method and associated economics, MANs, WANs, The VPF 2. Data Link gets clearly defined and equal coverage. Whether you repre- Physical Cross-Connect sent a carrier or an enterprise, accurately weighing risk toler- Service Providers & Enterprises 1. Physical telx, CRG West, DLR ance against the bottom line to find a balance is the only way to determine your path. If you are equipped with a good Legend knowledge base, you will be able to ask informed questions What is it? and get accurate answers. IT Who uses it? Source: telx Who provides it? Hunter Newby is chief strategy officer at telx. For more information, please visit http;//www.telx.com.

Subscribe FREE online at www.itmag.com INTERNET TELEPHONY® April 2005 43 Go To Table of Contents | Go To Ad Index By Ben Guderian

Is Your Network Ready For Wi-Fi Telephony?

Having a Wi-Fi (define - news - alert) network deployed in the enterprise does- n’t necessarily mean a company is ready to start leveraging that wireless invest- ment for voice applications. Wi-Fi telephony is a pretty demanding wireless application, combining the interoperability and performance requirements of both enterprise VoIP and real-time Wi-Fi networking. The good news is that

Wi-Fi telephony is working well today in a wide access points (APs) are the same in terms of how well they variety of enterprise applications, so the products support voice applications. The Wi-Fi AP market has divided into two distinct segments: low-cost APs for residential use and deployment best practices already are available. and high-feature APs for enterprise use. Low-cost residential But similar to any other leading-edge technology, APs typically don’t offer any quality of service (QoS) (define - there are several recommendations that could better news - alert) capability to ensure that voice packets get prepare your company to run voice and data over a through the network with minimal delay. They also don’t pro- vide many of the security, maintenance and administration shared Wi-Fi infrastructure. features critical to large-scale enterprise applications. For that One of the first issues to consider before adding voice to an reason alone most enterprise IT managers don’t consider resi- existing Wi-Fi network is coverage. A lot of enterprise Wi-Fi dential-grade APs for their facilities, even though they may deployments today were built around the primary objective of cost significantly less. providing network access to employees in common areas like Although all enterprise-grade APs are designed to serve the conference rooms and cafeterias. That’s fine for laptop users, same functionality, there are still areas where individual ven- who only need access when they are sitting in a meeting or dors can innovate and differentiate. Several vendors have specif- taking a break. But Wi-Fi telephony users aren’t going to stop ically targeted Wi-Fi telephony applications and offer unique in one place to talk on the phone, nor are they going to put features or higher performance for voice applications. But with- up with their wireless telephones only working in certain parts out doing a rigorous evaluation or relying upon credible inde- of the facility. A Wi-Fi network designed for voice applica- pendent third-party test results, it is difficult to know whether tions has to provide comprehensive coverage through all areas or not a particular product is right for any given application. where employees can be expected to roam, and maybe even in Interoperability between Wi-Fi infrastructure and wireless some unexpected places. This may increase the cost of deploy- telephone devices is not a black and white proposition. ing a wireless LAN, but the benefit of making employees more Something that may work well in a laboratory test environ- mobile, responsive, and productive will outweigh the cost. ment may not work as well on a large network with variables The next thing to look at is the shape of the overall IP net- such as roaming and data traffic thrown into the . The work. Wi-Fi telephony is just a wireless version of enterprise Wi-Fi Alliance has formed a task group to look into the VoIP, so it is important to make requirements for Wi-Fi telepho- sure that the wired network ny interoperability testing, but a infrastructure also is ready for test program is not yet available. IP telephony. Wi-Fi telephones Some Wi-Fi equipment vendors have the same tolerance for Wi-Fi telephony is working well today are taking it upon themselves to latency and jitter as wired VoIP provide interoperability testing phones, so if the wired infra- in a wide variety of enterprise applications, and verification. structure can’t support wired so the products and deployment best VoIP phones, it is probably Good For Data, Bad For insufficient for Wi-Fi telephony practices already are available. Voice as well. Most enterprise tele- The biggest impediment to phone system providers offer widespread enterprise adoption services to audit networks for of Wi-Fi has been security con- VoIP applications and can make cerns. Just when the market was recommendations for system upgrades. really heating up a few years ago, there were reports that stan- dards-based Wi-Fi security was insufficient for enterprise use. Are All APs Created Equal? Fortunately the industry came together to develop new stan- The fast pace of innovation in Wi-Fi technology has led to dards that met enterprise security requirements for protecting improvements in performance and lowered the cost of wireless networks from eavesdropping and unauthorized installing and maintaining wireless LANs. But not all Wi-Fi access. But these data-oriented security standards can cause 44 INTERNET TELEPHONY® April 2005 Subscribe FREE online at www.itmag.com Go To Table of Contents | Go To Ad Index problems for real-time applications like Wi-Fi telephony, par- applications. First is using different security mechanisms for ticularly as users roam between APs. voice and data applications. This approach is based on the Every time a wireless client device tries to connect to a dif- premise that less stringent security is acceptable for voice ferent AP, it needs to go through a process of authentication applications, as long as voice devices and servers are segment- or verification that it is authorized to connect to the network. ed into a separate network. Many Wi-Fi APs support virtual This is the same process used when connecting our PCs to a LANs (VLANs), which allow different networks to be set up wired LAN or through a VPN connection. The user creden- using the same infrastructure. In this scenario, voice clients tials — username and password, depending on the security can operate on a VLAN (define - news - alert) that does not level — are verified against a security database. If everything require re-authentication every time a user roams to another checks out, the client device is given access to the AP and can AP, while data devices can be on a separate VLAN with full start transmitting and receiving data. This process can take a re-authentication required. tenth of a second or possibly as long as a few seconds depend- Several proprietary solutions are also available to maintain ing on the network security infrastructure and number of security without jeopardizing voice quality. Depending on the devices trying to authenticate at the same time. For a data approach, some proprietary solutions may require cooperation application, an interruption of a second or two won’t be between the Wi-Fi infrastructure vendor and the Wi-Fi client noticeable to the user. For a real-time voice application, a sec- vendor to implement the same protocols. ond or two of “dead air” is not only annoying, but also can Lastly, Wi-Fi security standards are available today that mean losing an important word or syllable in a conversation. facilitate Wi-Fi telephony with even more robust solutions in A Wi-Fi telephone user might change APs and have to re- development. The Wi-Fi Alliance’s Wi-Fi Protected Access authenticate several times just while walking down a hallway (WPA)(define - news - alert) standard is supported by most or staircase. Therefore, a more efficient AP authentication Wi-Fi vendors today, and it offers two different modes of method is required for enterprise-grade Wi-Fi telephony. authentication: enterprise mode and personal mode. Enterprise mode uses the same data application-oriented Voice-friendly Authentication approach as previously described. Personal mode provides There are several solutions to maintaining a high level of authentication without requiring a network security database, Wi-Fi security without sacrificing voice quality in enterprise making it simpler to implement and easier on real-time appli-

Subscribe FREE online at www.itmag.com INTERNET TELEPHONY® April 2005 45 Go To Table of Contents | Go To Ad Index cations like voice. Personal mode uses a “pre-shared key,” or Deploying The Voice-ready Wi-Fi Network common password, entered into all devices authorized to use In summary, implementing Wi-Fi telephony today is not the Wi-Fi network. The pre-shared key is never transmitted as complex as it may sound. Sure, there are some things to watch out for like covering all the nooks and crannies where over the air, so there is no risk of it being intercepted. When a users may roam and determining how to deal with security. wireless client attempts to access an AP, the two devices verify But Wi-Fi technology is rapidly maturing and vendors now that they share the same key and use it to generate their ses- recognize voice as a key application for enterprise use. sion encryption keys. However, a drawback with personal Standards to address voice-specific issues such as secure roam- mode authentication is that the pre-shared key must be ing are on the way — although the standards process never seems to move fast enough. entered into each device, which Finally, Wi-Fi telephony ven- makes it difficult to use in dors see the value in working large-scale Wi-Fi deployments. together to guarantee not just Just as it did with the original interoperability, but also to pro- vide multi-vendor solutions Wi-Fi security issue, the indus- that meet all of the implemen- try is working on a standardized Wi-Fi technology is rapidly maturing tation and performance criteria solution for meeting enterprise of enterprise users. IT requirements for voice quality and vendors now recognize voice as and secure roaming. The IEEE Ben Guderian is director of market a key application for enterprise use. strategy at SpectraLink Corp. For 802.11 standards body has more information, please visit the formed Task Group R specifical- company online at ly to address this issue. A http://www.spectralink.com. forthcoming 802.11r standard will provide a secure roaming If you are interested in purchasing reprints protocol that will eliminate the need for proprietary solutions of this article (in either print or HTML format), please visit Reprint Management or compromises. Services online at http://www.reprintbuyer.com or contact a representative via e- mail at [email protected] or by phone at 800-290-5460. 031605_Ad.qxd 3/16/2005 2:56 PM Page 1

Diamond Sponsor Platinum Sponsor

Gold Sponsors Silver Sponsors Hosted By: By Dan Dearing & Michael Khalilian

IMS And The Challenges Of Convergence

In the not-so-distant past carriers had ample time to develop and deploy new technologies and services for their customers using the PSTN; however in today’s world, with the advent of the Internet and increased competition among providers, carriers face significantly compressed timelines to react and roll out new and differentiating services. Few would argue that service velocity, the ability to move quickly to deliver new services, such as VoIP, is impacted by limited bandwidth in the access is crucial to compete, and ultimately survive in network, device over-utilization in the services layer (e.g., media gateways, applications servers) and congestion condi- today’s competitive environment. The IP tions in the network core due to outages. User mobility and Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) architecture is emerg- the multi-service nature of enterprise applications complicates ing as the service delivery framework offering serv- the carrier’s task of meeting these challenges as users expect ice providers a robust and flexible method for intro- service flexibility and reliability at work, home and on the road. ducing new services and applications. So how do carriers control and manage VoIP and other forms of real-time IP traffic within the converged IMS? However, there may be some pros and cons that carriers must Today many carriers are deploying VoIP technologies, such consider when deploying IMS. One of the biggest pros is that as softswitches and session border controllers (SBCs), to create the IMS framework allows carriers to build a single IP network a network overlay that facilitates the transport of voice traffic infrastructure that enables maximum service velocity for any over their existing packet infrastructure. While softswitch real-time service. This approach gives carriers the potential to technology provides carriers with a way to bridge between the realize enormous CAPEX (define - news - alert) and OPEX PSTN and their IP network, the SBC manages and controls (define - news - alert) savings because they can reduce the VoIP connections to enterprise and consumer customers and amount of equipment in the network, reduce the number of service provider partners. The SBC (define - news - alert)pro- people needed to support the network, and respond more vides sophisticated session management — including call quickly to new business opportunities with revenue generating admission control, user authentication, and user authorization applications. In addition, larger carriers that have both wireline — needed to manage real-time IP traffic. SBCs are endpoint and wireless assets can use the IMS framework to converge aware and can determine what network resources are needed their businesses into one cohe- for a session based on the user’s sive network. service subscription, their loca- On the flip side, the IMS tion, and the type of VoIP end- framework does create some IMS allows carriers to build a single point used. challenges. Carriers want to IP network infrastructure that enables Carriers that have taken the leverage user mobility and the traffic management approach to flexibility of IMS but they need maximum service velocity for ensure PSTN-like reliability and to also provide their customers predictability for VoIP — hav- with PSTN-like reliability, avail- any real-time service. ing already spent billions of dol- ability, and quality. There is no lars in MPLS (define - news - “network busy” in the Internet. alert)router technologies to pro- This presents a dilemma for many carriers since service vide deterministic performance for IP services — do not have assurance within this IP environment is a chief concern for the session management granularity needed to manage a their users. VoIP and other real-time IP services present new diverse set of applications within a converged network. Simply and unique challenges for carriers. The use of a single network put there is no direct interaction between the IMS and the to support multiple applications creates opportunities for MPLS transport network, so a greater operational burden is resource contention. QoS for latency-sensitive applications, being placed on the carrier to properly traffic engineer their

48 INTERNET TELEPHONY® April 2005 Subscribe FREE online at www.itmag.com Go To Table of Contents | Go To Ad Index network. A hybrid approach utilizes bulk methods of traffic classifica- The operational burden can be eliminated by providing a tion to distinguish real-time traffic from Web traffic and control link between the SBC and edge MPLS router, so that employs SBCs for more granular classification of real-time the SBC can dynamically determine what applications or serv- traffic on an endpoint, user, and application basis. Operating ices a user is requesting and interface with the transport net- within the real-time services signaling layer, the SBC gleans work and services layer to determine whether resources are QoS (define - news - alert) information from the SIP signaling sufficient to service the call with the needed QoS. In effect, stream and used endpoint and user information associated the SBC becomes a microflow manager with the intelligence with the user’s registration to associate other policies, such as to configure and manage the forwarding plane of the MPLS security, with a given session. This information is conveyed to layer. the edge router via a control protocol and enables the router to dynamically and granularly map traffic to LSPs uniquely How Does This Work? traffic engineered for each type of real-time session. In MPLS networks, data transmission occurs on label-switched In summary, IMS is poised to revolutionize the architecture of the telecommunications industry to use IP to deliver a paths (LSPs). LSP is a virtual circuit over a fully meshed multitude of real-time services. SBCs, acting as microflow IP/MPLS network. At the ingress of the MPLS network, the managers, provide carriers with the missing ingredient for edge MPLS router classifies traffic using tagging methods such implementing the IMS framework with PSTN-like quality, as Diffserv and VLAN 802.1P to put those packets on traffic scale, and availability. The good news is today many carriers engineered paths. Unfortunately carriers are staking their have already invested in the technology needed to retool their networks for IMS. The new opportunity for carriers, particu- futures on QoS schemes that are not suitable for the large larly their CEOs, is discovering — and then capitalizing on scale and rapid introduction of real-time services for a couple — the new services and applications available for their cus- of reasons. First, Diffserv is best suited for a large number of tomer base. IT short flows typical of Web traffic. Second, these tagging meth- Dan Dearing is vice president of marketing at NexTone. Michael ods separate traffic in bulk, best-effort and real-time, and can- Khalilian is chairman and president of the IPCC, an industry consor- not distinguish between types of real-time traffic that need tium of carriers and solutions providers advancing packet-based different guarantees per flow. In short carriers can have more communication technologies. For more information please visit control over their IP traffic by deploying a hybrid solution. http://www.packetcomm.org

Subscribe FREE online at www.itmag.com INTERNET TELEPHONY® April 2005 49 Go To Table of Contents | Go To Ad Index Part III: Next Generation Networks: Should You Build Or Buy?

By Shawn Lewis

As the wireless industry has shown, disruptive new technology with better product and service features has the effect of luring cus- tomers to regularly change carriers. To minimize this risk of churn, carriers must continually expand their service offering in order to retain their existing customers. With the proven acceptance of packet telephony, the incumbent carriers are again faced with a disruptive technology that has a lower cost of service, and heavy CAPEX (define - news - alert) requirements.

Legacy incumbent service providers have huge capital investments in large class-five equipment geared toward transporting traditional circuit- switched voice calls. They are quickly finding their technology is outdated. The technology they invested in does not address the conver- gence of voice and data technologies at all, or without significant CAPEX expansion. The market; however, is demanding that they offer new IP-based services. They are therefore forced to invest in and build entirely new, next genera- tion networks, which delays their market entry, or to purchase the services wholesale. By pur- chasing services wholesale, the capital invest- ment is eliminated, and the service provider can spend its time, energy, and financial resources on acquiring customers and adding profitable revenue, rather than building its own next gen- eration network to gain market share. There are many benefits to buying next gen- eration network services from wholesale providers versus building your own next genera- tion network. So, the question is… Should you build or buy your next generation network?

50 INTERNET TELEPHONY® April 2005 Subscribe FREE online at www.itmag.com Go To Table of Contents | Go To Ad Index 031405_Ad.qxd 3/16/2005 2:59 PM Page 1 Building expensive networks to compete with legacy services was not a cost-effective In this third of a five-part series, we build new network facilities to address investment. will describe how one answer is a low- their new customers. cost, high-quality Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) solution that speeds Avoid investing in rapidly time to market, assures carrier-grade outdated technology quality, and enables early market entry To compete long-term in this industry, without the CAPEX requirements asso- service providers must be able to react ciated with building a new network. quickly and efficiently to customers’ EarthLink abandoned the idea of oper- demands for new applications and servic- ating their own network backbone, opt- CAPEX considerations: es. The days of leading with price alone ing for a wholesale-managed solution Should you invest in facilities are over. To succeed, service providers early on in their growth phase. The now, later, or never? must provide the sticky applications that ensuing result is the three service The Telecommunications Act of 1996 customers are demanding and deliver providers quickly became the clear win- was created to increase competition them as the low-cost leader. Delivering ners from a customer base and a prof- while expanding technology develop- these applications requires technical itability perspective. ment at reduced costs for consumers. expertise in software applications. The competitive drive was to build Transport, enhanced features and VoIP industry and early ISP class-five circuit-switched facilities to application services in the VoIP world parallels enable competition with the Regional are radically different than in the cir- We can easily draw parallels between Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs). cuit-switched, TDM (define - news - the ISP industry of the late 1990s and As it turned out, building expensive net- alert) world. The technology landscape the current VoIP marketplace today. works to compete with legacy services is rapidly changing, making many of the There is a mad rush by service providers was not a cost-effective investment. technologies outdated before they have to fill demand, both real and perceived. Several issues plagued these new provided a positive return on invest- Many providers are opting for putting Competitive Local Exchange Carriers ment. With the driving force behind the bare minimum infrastructure in (CLECs): VoIP being enhanced services and appli- place so they can enter the market with 1) The profit margins did not prove cations such as unified messaging, IP little investment. These providers are to be very attractive; Centrex, and IP PBX, a facilities-based plagued with Quality of Service (QoS) 2) The equity markets dried up before service provider is required to not only issues that often taint customer expecta- most CLECs (define - news - alert) invest in the backbone network infra- tions about VoIP technologies. This sce- completed their network build-out; structure but also the application and nario is not dissimilar to the early stage 3) Winning customers with the same feature servers. This is not only a large ISPs that evolved from being bulletin product at a moderately reduced price financial commitment, but it pushes the board operators with banks of low-end was not enough, in many cases. service provider well outside of its area analog modems. They quickly either Today, more and more carriers and of core competence. sold off their customer base during the service providers are focusing on build- ISP rollup or they simply failed as a ing profitable revenue with VoIP servic- Invest in marketing to acquire business. es using wholesale network partners customers first At the end of the day, carriers and prior to making large CAPEX commit- The days of “build it and they will service providers have to ask themselves ments. With the technology curve rap- come” are long gone. Billions of dollars whether or not they are better off idly changing, it is difficult at best to of investment in the telecommunica- spending their financial and operational manage and finance a large-scale build- tions sector evaporated in the past sever- resources on acquiring profitable cus- out and focus on properly marketing al years, largely due to fundamentally tomers or are they better off building a retail services. With numerous wholesale unsound business strategies. The most next generation network and services partners available in the market today, successful service providers in the indus- delivery platform. Doing both is quite a the best answer for most service try share one common mindshare; they tall order. IT providers is to consider going to market invested in marketing a profitable set of Shawn Lewis is the CEO of Volo immediately by purchasing the VoIP products and services to acquire cus- Communications, a wholesale provider of transport and application services from tomers rather than building their own advanced voice and data services and appli- a wholesale carrier — at least initially. infrastructure. We need look no further cations including broadband VoIP service. Once they have their product defined than to a few key players: Mr. Lewis also wrote the first two patents and begin a large-scale rollout, they can America Online (AOL) (quote - news for softswitch and media gateway technolo- gies. For more information, please visit then analyze whether it makes sense to - alert), Microsoft Network (MSN) and http://www.volocommunications.com. 52 INTERNET TELEPHONY® April 2005 Subscribe FREE online at www.itmag.com Go To Table of Contents | Go To Ad Index See it All in One Place ALL SYSTEMS

350+ Top Exhibitors on the Exhibit Floor with 8 Targeted Technology Zones and Pavilions GOVisionary Keynotes John Chambers 100+ Educational Sessions, President and Chief Executive Officer, Including 6 Comprehensive Cisco Systems Conferences Revolving Around 6 Key Themes, 3 Special Interest Days Hossein Eslambolchi President—AT&T Global Networking Technology and 36 Tutorials and Workshops Services, Chief Technology Officer and Chief Information Officer, AT&T 6 Visionary Keynotes by Leading Industry Scott Kriens Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Executives Juniper Networks

Sean Maloney Executive Vice President General Manager, Mobility Group, Intel

NetworkWorld Andy Mattes Survivor Las Vegas President and Chief Executive Officer, Siemens Communication Networks

Your Source for Building a Better IT Infrastructure Register Today at www.interop.com Copyright © 2005 MediaLive International, Inc., 795 Folsom Street, 6th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94107. All Rights Reserved. MediaLive International, NetWorld, Interop and associated design marks and logos are trademarks or service marks owned or used under license by MediaLive International, Inc., and may be Use priority code MLAHNV13 and receive registered in the United States and other countries. Other names mentioned may be trademarks or service marks of their respective owners. $100 off any educational product. Boston Ballet Keeps Communications

En Pointe By Richard A. Johnson

Now in its 41st season, Boston Ballet has built an international reputation for its dancing and its education and outreach programs. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Mikko Nissinen, the Company garners outstanding reviews and its annual production of

The Nutcracker is one of the Boston Ballet’s phone system is a critical T1 interface allows Boston Ballet to most beloved in the world. part of its behind-the-scenes efforts and its eliminate a significant number of indi- Boston Ballet School is the service to the public. A few years ago, its vidual POTS lines and consolidate serv- phone system at the time offered little largest in North America, serving flexibility for managing calls, messages, over 2,000 students in three loca- and extensions as the Company’s needs tions. The Boston Ballet Center changed throughout the year, particularly for Dance Education produces a during productions. Moreover, the out- range of education and outreach dated system consumed a significant part programs, including Citydance, of its annual budget, requiring ongoing costs for maintenance and support. which has brought the joy of dance and movement into Critical Flexibility With Boston public school classrooms IP Telephony for 14 years. Frustrated, Boston Ballet began look- ing for another solution. The Company’s However, pulling off flawless produc- long-time network vendor, Guardian tions requires much more than superior Information Technology, introduced the talent and training. Behind the school Company to the ShoreTel digital voice and every performance, a staff of about communications system. As an IP 120 handles everything from ticket telephony system, ShoreTel promised to sales to marketing to costume design. reduce Boston Ballet’s monthly line Ensuring that the school and ballet charges and recurring maintenance costs. company run smoothly depends on Plus, the browser-based interface would seamless communication with ballet allow the in-house staff to take control patrons, and among staff, dancers, of even major moves, adds, and changes teachers, and parents. This is particu- to the various extensions. larly important during the Company’s Guardian assisted in implementing annual production of The Nutcracker, the system, consisting of ShoreGear which features approximately 260 chil- 60/12 and 120/24 voice switches, which dren dancing as toys, snowflakes, and run an embedded, real-time operating dolls. system, and one T1 interface unit. The

54 INTERNET TELEPHONY® April 2005 Go To Table of Contents | Go To Ad Index Document1 8/30/2004 11:35 AM Page 1 “I truly appreciate the system’s ease of administration...” ice onto a single, cost-effective and reli- via integration with Microsoft Outlook. -Michael Kernochan, able circuit. With a unified mailbox, they can IT coordinator, At the school, Guardian installed a retrieve their e-mail and voice mail in a switch connected to a 512K frame-relay single location, and easily forward mes- Boston Ballet circuit used to carry existing data traffic. sages to co-workers. There, Boston Ballet was able to elimi- Features like conferencing, caller ID, nate five $180 per-month OPX lines. call history, voice mail forwarding and dition, responsible for managing the With ShoreTel in both locations, direct calling from PCs further enhance 260 young dancers in the show, easily Boston Ballet reduced its monthly the ballet’s ability to communicate inter- forwards her extension to ring at her phone bill by almost 50 percent. nally and externally. office, her cell phone, or at the theater. While their children are rehearsing, par- Reducing Costs, Complexity Grace Under Production ents only have to remember one num- With Advanced Features Pressure ber, instead of the multiple numbers in About 150 staff members and dancers During productions, advanced fea- productions past. now use the ShoreTel system, with some tures of the ShoreTel phone system “If there’s a change in plans, a snow- on phone extensions and others just tak- allow Boston Ballet to handle an storm or cancellation, at a moment’s ing advantage of softswitch voice mail increasing number of calls and exten- notice the Nutcracker coordinator can capabilities. The Company’s 60 dancers, sions, as well as forward calls to other change her voice mail recording instan- who do not have individual phones, can phones as the crew moves among the taneously from anywhere, which helps dial in anytime, from any location to school, offices, and theater. us organize the students and keep par- access their voice mail messages. The box office takes advantage of ents informed and happy,” comments With ShoreTel and various menus ShoreTel workgroup features to round- Kernochan. configured for the box office, ballet robin calls among the staff and ensure Likewise, the system supports the school by allowing teachers to route their calls to the theater and record informative messages for parents on their voice mail, from offsite.

Saving $30,000 to $40,000 Annually By not having to call in outside help for changes, the ballet company can respond more quickly to user needs while reducing its costs for onsite tech- nical support. “I truly appreciate the system’s ease of administration, and sim- plicity in configuring call menus, adds, company, and school, callers can easily that patrons reach the next available moves, and changes — all possible from select and get to the right individual’s customer service representative to pur- a single graphical user interface,” phone or voice mail. Over time, as chase tickets. When someone goes to Kernochan said. staffing has shifted, Boston Ballet has lunch, they simply log out of their Though the large nonprofit operates found it no longer needs receptionists, extension. “Workgroups have been infi- with a $20 million annual operating saving at least $30,000 a year. nitely helpful with routing traffic,” says budget, with funding from donations, Call-handling features let Boston Michael Kernochan, IT coordinator at sponsors, and ticket sales, it must con- Ballet staff shift calls to ring at another Boston Ballet. “In the past, it was very tinuously keep a close eye on its opera- extension, such as an external number that a customer would call in and tional efficiency. In total, the ShoreTel or cell phone. If Boston is hit by one of immediately get the person they needed system saves Boston Ballet $30,000 to its infamous snow storms, staff who are to speak to.” $40,000 annually and helps productions unable to make it to the office call the When The Nutcracker season rolls go off more smoothly in the public’s ShoreTel system from home to redirect around each year, Boston Ballet easily eyes and behind the curtain. IT calls to their homes and keep communi- configures the system with a Nutcracker cation flowing. Most of the staff also information hotline. The children’s Richard A. Johnson is Chief Financial access voice mail messages on their PCs coordinator for the beloved holiday tra- Officer, Boston Ballet.

56 INTERNET TELEPHONY® April 2005 Subscribe FREE online at www.itmag.com Go To Table of Contents | Go To Ad Index INTERNETEL_SUPC05_ServiceP 2/5/05 3:25 PM Page 1

Sign, Inc. ECI Telecom Infineon m Veri Technol et.co A) Inc. ADTRAN ogies N c. n ns ZTE(US CIENA Corp orth on In nicatio oration Ame icss mmu Jun rica Er s Co iper N Re IBM men etw dba P Sie orks ck N la M Net G ro icro wo c. oto so rks , In M ft C In ks l orp c. or te or So w lca at lid et A ion In N s T fo ry b ek rm d lla ele at n Te c ion ou F T F c. uj e n its ch e , I u no p m Ne lo co o tw gy S rc o m ta rk W m S C es o T om te C U Because Triple-Play m ll, . s u In c n c rk ic . In o at Z s io h tw n on m e Is Now Yesterday. s e e Get To Chicago. I N n T l c. e e ch t T n r el o o co lo S g Get To SUPERCOMM. y ie s te s, m In s, c. In H c. P Te T l e Just when you have a brilliant bundled service offering Virtually every major player launches their most exciting c le o c rd t ia U in the pipeline, you discover your triple-play plans technologies at SUPERCOMM. So you can demo all the T e l ch are now yesterday’s news. Suddenly, converged products and applications you need right now. Because at n voice/data/video/wireless is “the next big thing.” the end of the day, it’s all about delivering the in-demand services needed to win new customers, reduce churn and Whether you’re a LEC, MSO, wireless or data service provider, increase revenues. success centers around an IP strategy that won’t become obsolete overnight. At SUPERCOMM, our focus is on the That’s why SUPERCOMM is the can’t-miss event for service whole world of communications: Broadband. Infrastructure. providers who want to stay a step ahead of what’s yet to IP. Converged Wireless. Enterprise Networks. come. Visit www.supercomm2005.com today to register free and save $150.

June 6–9, 2005 | Exhibits June 7–9 McCormick Place, Chicago, IL USA

www.supercomm2005.com

SUPERCOMM® is a registered trademark of the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) and the United States Telecom Association (USTA). Conicelli Auto Group Drives Revenues With VoIP

Located in Southeastern Pennsylvania, Conicelli Auto Group is a multi-franchise automobile dealership that sells and services Honda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Scion, and Toyota vehicles. A full service, bustling enterprise, Conicelli has earned a reputation for providing personal, expedient, and thorough care to ation,” recalled Jack Monteleone, an Axxess communications platforms at its customers, striving to make executive with Conicelli. “We were two of Conicelli’s dealerships, and uti- the purchasing and ownership of planning to move the sales division to a lize IP transport to link the new new location, yet keep our service and Mitsubishi franchise with the rest of the its vehicles pleasant, seamless, parts department at a facility about a network. and trouble free. mile away. This posed a series of logisti- “The distributed architecture of the cal obstacles, not the least of which was Axxess platform results in a seamless and Conicelli (news - alert) sells about finding a cost-effective, reliable, and transparent network that links all of the 8,000 new and used vehicles per year, flexible means to communicate between dealer’s sites,” explained Marowitz. “As a and services over twice as many autos locations. In addition, we needed a sys- result, calls coming into any one of the and trucks in a twelve-month period. tem that could grow and expand as eco- dealership’s offices are easily routed to The dealership requires a staff of about nomically as possible. After we met with any of the other Conicelli locations, sig- 100 professionals to keep operations ETA, we knew immediately that VoIP nificantly increasing the efficiency in and sales running smoothly and effi- was clearly our best option.” handling customer calls. In an industry ciently. Craig Marowitz, ETA’s president, where customers demand the highest While some of Conicelli’s employees recalls the meeting they held with level of service and care, this is of criti- may work at desktops, a significant Conicelli to share their recommendation cal importance.” number of sales professionals, mechan- that Inter-Tel’s VoIP (define - news - In addition to its IP-enabled Axxess ics, warehouse staff, and other team alert) solution made the most sense to platforms, Conicelli also acquired Inter- members are constantly on the go. In address their short- and long-term Tel’s Model 8600 IP endpoints for such a fast-paced environment, where needs. deployment in its new Mitsubishi deal- every moment counts, fast, reliable “We sat down with Conicelli to ership. By leveraging much of its exist- communication is integral to the com- explain everything — why IP was the ing hardware and deploying IP where it pany’s success. right solution and how it would work. makes business sense, the dealership’s When the company began planning a They already had a point-to-point T1 transition into the world of VoIP was new showroom for its Mitsubishi fran- and routers, so we realized we could eas- smooth, orderly, and above all, cost- chise, Conicelli Auto Group sat down ily leverage their existing infrastructure efficient. with Expert Technology Associates to maximize cost-efficiency even more. As it turned out, technology was just (ETA), an Inter-Tel Authorized Provider, VoIP proved to be the best option, from one urgent issue that Inter-Tel (quote - to seek out options to address the com- a technical and economic standpoint.” news -alert) and ETA (news - alert) pany’s communications challenges. ETA’s plan of action was simple and addressed on behalf of Conicelli. “We found ourselves in a unique situ- direct: Network two of Inter-Tel’s As it was ready to deploy its VoIP

58 INTERNET TELEPHONY® April 2005 Subscribe FREE online at www.itmag.com Go To Table of Contents | Go To Ad Index The dealership’s transition into the world of VoIP was smooth, orderly, solution, the dealership received word provisioning, to relieve Conicelli of the that its local and long-distance carrier burden of managing the communica- and above all, — the backbone of its business — was tions system, allowing them to focus on cost-efficient. withdrawing from the market. Conicelli what they do best — selling top-flight had thirty days to find another provider vehicles to a selective clientele. or risk an interruption of service that If increased efficiency and productivi- would no doubt wreak havoc on the ty were not enough, the Managed business. The good news, Conicelli Services program also boosted our customers to look at us their very learned, was that ETA could leverage Conicelli’s bottom line by saving the own internal communications depart- Inter-Tel’s Managed Services program to company approximately $75,000 dollars ment,” he explained. “Our organization deliver a complete end-to-end commu- over the course of one year. is equipped to handle all their needs, nications solution to the dealer. “ETA and Inter-Tel came in and han- from systems to applications to carrier Through the Managed Services pro- dled the situation quickly and correct- services to support. The vast majority of gram, Conicelli opted for the system ly,” said Monteleone. “They got our customers are more than happy to hardware, software, endpoints, and busi- involved immediately, made recommen- hand over their communications issues ness-specific applications that enabled dations, and followed these through to to us so they can focus on operating the company to maximize its productiv- the end. They clearly demonstrated that their businesses.” For Conicelli, the benefits of working ity and serve its customers more effi- they thought of us as a partner instead with ETA and Inter-Tel are even more ciently. Most importantly, the Managed of just a customer.” obvious. “This partnership has helped us generate more business, serve our Services program also included local and According to Marowitz, the real value customers more efficiently, and reduce long distance services, maintenance and ETA provides its customers is the man- our costs,” concluded Conicelli’s Monteleone. “The outcome far exceed- service, even data network planning and aged services approach. “We tell all of ed our expectations.” IT

Subscribe FREE online at www.itmag.com INTERNET TELEPHONY® April 2005 59 Go To Table of Contents | Go To Ad Index IT EXPO Miami Shows The

Sunniest Side Of VoIP 2.0 By Johanne Torres

Here at TMC we were all excited because we were going to escape the frigid Connecticut winter by packing our bags and heading down to sunny Miami, Florida to what was news - alert); Jonathan Philips, to become one of the most attended shows in our confer- solutions architect for ence history: The Internet Telephony Conference & EXPO Nortel; Oscar Alban, Spring 2005 at the Hyatt Regency Miami during the week principal global market of February 22–25, 2005. consultant for Witness Systems; and Joe McFadden, We all had an idea of how many A great highlight of day one was the VP of corporate marketing for Nuasis. attendees were registered before we flew head-to-head discussion panel presented Highlights for Wednesday included down there, but, personally I was to attendees at the IP Contact Center the keynote grand opening session with incredibly overwhelmed at the massive Shootout. During our panel discussion AT&T’s (quote - news - alert) Cathy amount of attendees spread out all over we got to see how four experts explained Martine and Lucent Technology’s Stef our conference sessions and our EXPO the advantages of deploying IP-based van Aarle. Both speakers agreed that halls. I had planned one-on-one inter- communication systems in the contact VoIP technology is currently changing views with some of our exhibitors, and center corporate environment. The fol- the way we communicate both at home, it literally took me anywhere from fif- lowing panelists participated in our as well as in the corporate world. They teen to twenty minutes to get through debate moderated by our own Internet explained the really hot topic of cellular the super long booth lines to locate the Telephony magazine editorial director and IP network convergence aiding executives I was to meet. Just how many Greg Galitzine: Tod Famous, product seamless telecommunications between attendees were there you ask? Over manager for Cisco Systems (quote - employers and remote workers. This 6,200! It was amazing to also learn that representatives from over 70 different countries visited us in Miami; we even had simultaneous translations for our Latin American attendees in every keynote, making sure no one missed a beat! We listened to the speakers kick off the conference sessions on Tuesday morning by delivering a pretty good overall look at IP telephony and its adoption in the military, contingency agencies, and contact centers all over the U.S. Discussions on SIP’s role in open source, the future of enterprise network peering, and how to migrate to IP telephony also took place during the first day of one of the most attended shows in TMC’s history.

60 INTERNET TELEPHONY® April 2005 Subscribe FREE online at www.itmag.com Go To Table of Contents | Go To Ad Index topic seemed to be key in most confer- ence and keynote sessions. The conference’s second day saw ses- sions filled to maximum capacity, turn- ing the rooms into standing room only learning classrooms. It was also the day in which very interesting conference tracks took place such as UNE-P To VoIP Summit, VoIP solutions for the enterprise and government agencies, IP Telephony for developers and service providers, as well the conclusion of the IP Contact Center Summit. Wednesday also showcased Reseller Days, a track designed specifically for VoIP technolo- gy resellers where attendees learned how “This show was completely jammed! I’ve never seen traffic like the first two hours of the exhibit hall on Wednesday night.” – Keith Weiner, DiamondWare to make money reselling VoIP. Wednesday ended with packed ses- sions on everything about security in the Internet telephony environment. Afternoon sessions highlights included telecom fraud, secure enterprise mobili- ty and Quality of Service (QoS) in enterprise VoIP deployments. Keynoters Ken Epps from Bay Packets and Vertical’s William Tauscher capped the second day with their presentations as a prelude to the highly acclaimed Future of Internet Telephony panel discussion that early evening. Thursday’s early conference sessions on WiFi technology, Enterprise VoIP

“The number of international service providers at Internet Telephony Expo looking for consumer and enterprise VoIP solutions for their subscribers is extremely impressive.” – Sarah Hofstetter integration, and P2P VoIP kicked off day number three of the conference in full speed leading up to a very impres- sive keynote presentation piloted by Voiceglo’s Ed Cespedes, Aspect Communications’ Gary Barnett, and Mark Spencer from Digium. Cespedes began his speech with a brief explanation of the current state of the VoIP industry. He described the pioneer-crowded industry as one with many challenges to be taken on by

Subscribe FREE online at www.itmag.com INTERNET TELEPHONY® April 2005 61 Go To Table of Contents | Go To Ad Index “The conference was professionally run, and with so many tracks, and new tracks each day, there were always a choice of sessions I’d want to attend. There wasn’t a moment wasted in the day… Thanks for a great conference.” – Karen Strouse, Management Solutions

organizations willing to invest signifi- cantly in the many new business oppor- tunities available in the extensive mar- ket. He went on to advise the audience to do their homework to determine which solution better fits their business goals. He warned professionals about solely depending on whatever is posted on message boards, and blog opinions and feedback. He recommended to instead conduct a thorough investigation by asking vendors to provide client contact information, so as to contact real clients who know best about the solutions they are implementing. Cespedes concluded by expressing his gratitude to organizers of events like Internet Telephony Conference & EXPO, for offering professionals in our industry the opportunity to see these products and services in action. He noted the incredible difference in atten- dance and participation at these events, compared to two years ago. Aspect Communications’ Barnett began his presentation by describing how VoIP-based services and products in the corporate contact center sector are shaping the telecom industry. He emphasized the importance of the abili- ty that organizations have when employing home-based contact center representatives in multiple locations all over the world. He said it was a great asset that companies could gain from the ability to outsource services in order to reduce operating costs. Barnett also spoke about the impor- tance of SIP-based products for the enterprise. He predicts that at least sixty percent of businesses will choose to integrate SIP-based products in the cor- porate telecom environment. He mentioned that contact centers

62 INTERNET TELEPHONY® April 2005 Subscribe FREE online at www.itmag.com Go To Table of Contents | Go To Ad Index “This show was unbelievable! It was like there was a sale going on in the exhibit hall with people everywhere. We go to other VoIP events and it’s not this crowded and usually very calm. Not here. This is the happening VoIP event!” – Ahsan B. Ali (Regional Sales Manager), SysMaster Corporation

will definitely benefit from the integra- tion of Web collaboration, e-mail, video, and voice services, and sees the integration to be as easy as Microsoft office is in PCs. The integration of PSTN and IP PBX (define - news - alert) systems will keep getting easier in the coming years. Barnett concluded by predicting that by 2008, most contact center representatives will be based out of their homes. One of the most anticipated events taking place during the third day was The Open Source Debate between TMC’s (news - alert) president Rich Tehrani and Digium’s Mark Spencer. Tehrani asked everything from who fixes systems when they break to pick- ing a Linux-based system when being clueless about that operating system. Spencer explained the benefits of integrating systems that make it easy for corporations to fix problems that may arise. He said he believes that organiza- tions should be able to fix bugs and perform upgrades through a Web-based interface, eliminating the need for hav- ing to contact resellers and a number of vendors responsible for offering the products and services. He said that the key benefit of integrating these systems involves transferring the telephony sys- tems to the IT department of your organization, merging data and voice integrators. Spencer concluded by describing VoIP as a huge business opportunity that may create challenges for businesses wanting to grow their services around the technology, and advised that the task won’t be an easy one. He men- tioned that companies should place the greatest value on finding technologically experienced management. Nortel’s Phil Edholm presented a

Subscribe FREE online at www.itmag.com INTERNET TELEPHONY® April 2005 63 Go To Table of Contents | Go To Ad Index “From the opening of the exhibit hall until the time I left to catch and Michael Rouleau from Time my plane home, the exhibit area was completely full. The Miami Warner Telecom. Friday’s conference session tracks included more sessions event definitely established that VoIP is the most exciting tech- on WiFi technology, solutions for the nology in the telecommunications industry today. I was also very enterprise and government agencies, as impressed with the international attendance. For any vendor well as workshops for service providers targeting the Latin American market, this is the show.” and SIP. – Max Schroeder, MSI Services Overall, the conference attendees seemed to be more than satisfied with all the topics covered. I heard many exhibitors praise our team for provid- Thursday afternoon keynote presenta- munication systems will eventually cre- ing them with a huge EXPO traffic tion titled “Convergence Vision,” and ate an inter-human Web, connecting all turnout. Many of the exhibitors were he gave a detailed glance at the state of devices and making humans available very excited to meet industry execu- the VoIP industry and its new develop- practically everywhere at all times, he tives from so many different countries in one place. I can hardly wait until ments to make telecommunications concluded. we start packing again for out next mobile in order to fit our busy lifestyle. Highlights of the fourth and final show in Los Angeles Convention He explained how important it is for day of the conference included Center in Los Angeles, California this workers to be reachable at all times keynote sessions by Sansay’s Andy Voss October 24–27, 2005… Hope to see you there! IT “Once the … exhibit hall opened, our expectations were exceeded on attendee quantity and quality. There were several times that we were overwhelmed by the number of people passing our booth and stopping to talk to us. As we looked around, the halls of the show floor were wall-to-wall attendees in every direction and they were really looking at each booth as opposed to just strolling the floor. They were there to do business, not just walk the show.” – Todd Hirshorn, InPhonex everywhere they go, and described wireless accessibility as the new vision. Edholm explained that SIP and pack- etized voice will indeed change the world, or at least the way we communi- cate. But not VoIP, because, as he explained, VoIP is already here; it is really up to us to adapt the technology to our telecom efforts. “SIP (define - news - alert) creates a change on how we implement systems,” Edholm explained. Ultimately, these two tech- nologies change the process from access- ing devices to, in stead, accessing human beings. These multimedia com-

64 INTERNET TELEPHONY® April 2005 Subscribe FREE online at www.itmag.com Go To Table of Contents | Go To Ad Index The editorial staff of INTERNET TELEPHONY® Magazine is pleased to announce the winners of the 2005 INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference & EXPO Best of Show awards for outstanding products and services demon- strated at the just-concluded event that was held in Miami, FL, February 23–25. The awards emphasize innovative technology and creative product feature sets. Forward-looking products that will serve as a base upon which to build future developments in our industry were also awarded. Each winner submitted a thor- ough application and displayed and demonstrated their prod- uct on the INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference & EXPO exhibit floor. We congratulate the winners and look forward to seeing you all at our next event in Los Angeles, October 24–27, 2005.

COMPANY NAME PRODUCT NAME WEB SITE

Comvoz Telco Generator Portal http://www.instatelco.com

EyeBill Interactive Solutions External Dynamic Routing http://www.eyebill.net

GlobalNet Turn Key Customizable Consumer VoIP http://www.iDialip.com Platform for Service Providers

Grandstream GXP 2000 http://www.grandstream.com

i2Telecom Voice Stick http://www.i2telecom.com

Ingate Systems Ingate VoIP Survival http://www.ingate.com

Inphonex The InPhonex Flash Phone http://www.inphonex.com

Interstar Technologies XMediusFAX SP http://www.faxserver.com

MERA Networks External Dynamic Routing http://www.mera-voip.com

MKC Networks 7000 Communications Server http://www.mkcnetworks.com

net.com Shout900 http://www.net.com

NetFabric Corp. FUS1ON 12:8 Intelligent Call Director http://www.netfabric.com

Nimcat Networks nimX for Windows (nimPhone) http://www.nimcatnetworks.com

PingTel SIPxchange http://www.pingtel.com

Sysmaster NORFA http://www.sysmaster.com

System Engineering International Juice Box MX http://www.seipower.com

TeleSynergy AbovEdge http://www.telesynergy.com

Terremark Data Exchange Facility for IP http://www.terremark.com Communications

Vegastream Vega 400 http://www.vegastream.com

Verstael Networks Call Pods; Wi-Fi Leap; Ringback Tones http://www.versatelnetworks.com

Viola Networks NetAlly RealTime version 4.3 http://www.violanetworks.com

Subscribe FREE online at www.itmag.com INTERNET TELEPHONY® April 2005 65 Go To Table of Contents | Go To Ad Index Aastra VentureIP Price: Venture IP 480i IP Telephone Set — powered by Nimcat Networks $379, Venture IP Gateway — $289 Aastra 155 Snow Blvd. Concord, Ontario Canada L4K 4N9 Tel.: 905-760-4200 http://www.aastra.com Nimcat Networks 1135 Innovation Dr. Ottawa, Ontario Canada, K1Y 4T8 Tel.: 613-592-4343 http://www.nimcatnetworks.com

Aastra’s (news - alert) VentureIP 480i and VentureIP Gateway devices lever- age Nimcat Networks’ embedded soft- ware. Nimcat’s nimX is an embedded, P2P call processing software that takes the intelligence usually found at the PBX with their peers or connect to the PSTN technology could not be any simpler — and distributes it to end-user telephone or any WAN VoIP channel. As users we didn’t even use the manual. Each sets. plug a handset into their network, the phone comes with a two-port (RJ-45) By placing the traditional PBX (define device automatically configures itself, Ethernet power brick. One of the RJ-45 - news - alert) functionality such as allowing calls to be made and received ports is labeled “Data” and the other voice mail on the actual phone, nimX- without any complex setup or central- “Power/Data.” We made the correct powered devices enable SMBs to ized equipment. assumption that the “Power/Data” con- “grow” their phone system require- The VentureIP Gateway is also nimX- nects to the Aastra phones and that the ments one set at a time. One such powered and it enables connectivity to Data port connects to your network’s company, Aastra, has a nimX-powered the local PSTN. Each VentureIP Gateway hub or switch. We repeated the two phone called VentureIP. Actually, we supports up to four telephone lines, and connections for each of the three really shouldn’t call it a “phone” since multiple gateways can reside on the phones. Next, we connected a four-port each phone is a PBX or phone system same network for additional trunk capac- analog gateway onto our LAN and con- unto itself — with minimum two ity. Just like the VentureIP 480i handset, nected four analog lines to a Teltone phones of course! The phone system is the VentureIP Gateway is self-aware and analog simulator. We then powered all powered by Nimcat Networks’ nimX automatically configures itself. the components and the phones booted software and it enables SMBs (define - up in seconds. Each of the phones has news - alert) to install, operate, and Installation a large eight-lines-by-21-characters manage a full-featured IP-based phone Installing the Aastra phones with the LCD display, which prompted us to system by simply plugging the embedded Nimcat Networks P2P VoIP enter in our last name. Using the VentureIP 480i phone into their net- phone’s touchtone keypad, we entered work. The system scales phone by in alphanumeric names. That’s it. Done! phone and can be connected to the The phones were connected and local PSTN (define - news - alert) via a RATINGS (0–5) installed. The devices were automati- VentureIP Gateway. Installation: 5 cally assigned an IP address via DHCP The VentureIP 480i handsets inde- Documentation: and the extensions were automatically pendently recognize the other terminals Features: 4.75 assigned as well (x200, x201, x203). (phones or gateways) on the network and instantly form a trusted, virtual GUI: 5 Operational Testing exchange with the ability to interact Overall: A For our first test we dialed the exten-

66 INTERNET TELEPHONY® April 2005 Subscribe FREE online at www.itmag.com Go To Table of Contents | Go To Ad Index down for every phone! Everything is preconfigured for you on the Aastra phones — the auto- attendant is set to a default greeting, the same with the voicemail, and the extensions are automatically assigned at first initialization. It’s as close to a “plug and play” phone system as you will find and considering it’s an IP-PBX targeting the SMB, this is one of its key Figure 1: Web admin selling points. The Web administration for configuring the is very powerful. It allows administra- phones. tors to log on to all of the phones and it grants users limited access to their features such as call forwarding, call logs, and more (Figure 1). sion of one of the Aastra phones. The menu which merely displays the num- Not that most people would care phone rang, we picked up, and were ber of new and old messages. You have what’s under the hood, but the phones immediately impressed with the voice to then click the down arrow to get to utilize SIP technology. Although it does quality and almost no perceivable laten- the first new message. We’d rather it use SIP and has no need for a SIP reg- cy. We tested the usual suspects such default to immediately displaying the istrar or proxy — it’s actually built into as putting a call on hold, call transfer, first new voice message so you can the nimX software. Since it is SIP- call conferencing, etc., and all tests quickly play back a new message with- based,we were curious if we could passed with flying colors. Next, we test- out an extra phone key press. Perhaps make a SIP call using a SIP softphone. ed the ability to access the four-port this could even be a user selectable We contacted Nimcat Networks and analog gateway to make PSTN calls. We option. Another nice usability feature is then told us that they have done this pressed ‘9’ to get an outside line, that when you are in a conference, you with the Xten SIP client. Due to editori- entered in a phone number (555-2000) can drop any of the participants using al deadlines we were not able to test for the second port on the Teltone ana- the LCD display. Many other conferenc- this feature. They also informed us that log simulator and we saw the first LED ing solutions only let you drop the last in Q3 they will have the ability for you light for the Teltone simulator light up participant to the conference or the first to double-click a phone number on followed by the second port lighting up participant. One really cool feature is your PC’s screen and initiate an out- (the port we dialed). Since the second that you can actually forward your bound call. We neglected to ask if an port was connected on the other end to voicemail to e-mail simply by specifying inbound screen-pop feature would also the four-port gateway, the gateway an SMTP (define - news - alert) server be available. picked up and played the Aastra auto- and an e-mail address. This is a feature attendant greeting. From this point we you typically only see in very expensive Conclusion were able to dial an extension or even voicemail or PBX solutions. For SMBs, the option of going with dial by last name using the built-in The voicemail system was quite an IP-PBX solution is often cost pro- hibitive. It requires a large upfront directory assistance. Both CallerID name comprehensive. It allows you to screen investment as well as additional main- and number displays on the LCD screen. callers leaving a message and pull tenance costs. The advantage of this One interesting “usability” feature is them out, offers single-button call P2P VoIP system is that it is a “plug that the phone can obtain the correct return from voice mail, enables users and play” affair, virtually eliminating time from incoming PSTN calls and to retrieve voicemail via the LCD or costly service installation costs, and as previously mentioned, you can slowly update the system time automatically. externally by dialing in, and even pro- “grow” into the system a few phone Another nice usability feature is that you vides the ability to leave and retrieve sets at a time. For instance, a 10- can navigate all of the features of the voice mails for disconnected or employee SMB can get a 10x4 (10 phone via the LCD screen. Everything unavailable sets. It’s part of the whole phones, four trunks) Aastra phone sys- from viewing the call records to record- peer-to-peer technology that allows you tem for merely $4,079. The ease of installation and the ease of administra- ing your greeting can all be done via the to still leave voicemail even when your tion via the phone’s Web interface are LCD screen. One minor usability annoy- phoneset is disconnected. This adds two more powerful reasons why this is ance is that when you log on to your redundancy that you don’t even see in a great solution for small to medium voicemail (20 minutes default storage), traditional voicemail systems. When a businesses and TMC Labs wholeheart- the LCD defaults to the voicemail’s main traditional voicemail server is down, it’s edly recommends it. IT

Subscribe FREE online at www.itmag.com INTERNET TELEPHONY® April 2005 67 Go To Table of Contents | Go To Ad Index Creating Value In Consumer VoIP

As the telecommunications industry thaws out from what many have called the telecom nuclear winter, the search for the “next big thing” has kicked into high gear. The voice communications industry has been craving a long overdue mid-life kicker and consumer VoIP - news - alert) , IP, CDMA or any other protocol or transmission medium. It (define - news - alert)seems to be just the right thing. does, however, account for the con- sumer’s value of plain voice plus any There is great promise in what con- gories while penny-pinching in others. other incremental value being delivered. sumer VoIP can deliver to the mass For example, U.S. consumers dutifully For example, consider the incremental market and to the earnings reports of spend over $126 billion annually on tele- value of mobility. Surely consumers companies industry-wide. To date, phone services across all categories don’t flock to cellular telephone service much of the focus has been on technical including wireline local, long distance, for its superior voice quality or its P.001 matters around implementing VoIP and wireless. At the same time, these grade of service. Cellular is clearly infe- infrastructure and PSTN (define - news consumers limit their personal telephone rior to wireline POTS (define - news - - alert) interworking. IP networks are expenses to approximately two percent of alert) on those metrics. But the con- being upgraded, next-generation archi- all household spending. Currently that sumer has assigned significant value to tectures built out, and component inter- equates to approximately $95 per month his freedom to roam and is willing to operability testing completed. However, per household. This can be thought of as consistently pay incremental dollars for often overlooked in the very eye of all the consumer’s Implicit Value of Voice, that incremental value. this frenetic activity sits the most impor- and currently cellular accounts for more This explains why the industry’s initial tant deployment consideration of all — than half of that value. POTS replacement consumer VoIP serv- will people pay incremental dollars for So if all consumer VoIP has to offer is ices do not fetch more than about $40 consumer VoIP? plain ‘voice’ over IP, then the consumer per month, which is the total wireline The good news is yes they will, as has already spoken. ‘Voice’ is worth two component of household telephone we’ve seen from recent market activity. percent of household expenses, as it has spending. It also explains why today’s Yet how much consumers will pay been for the past 20 years, and it will POTS replacement VoIP offerings, intent depends on the level of value they likely stay that way for the foreseeable on garnering early market share, are receive in return, and how the consumer future. aggressively priced well below that figure. defines value. Consumers can be both This value assignment has nothing to Ultimately, in order to get the con- inconspicuous and contradictory in their do with how the voice is delivered, sumer to spend dollars over and above buying habits. They can simultaneously whether it is voice over base band TDM the two percent spending allotted to spend indiscriminately in some cate- (define - news - alert) over UTP (define voice, carriers must deliver “value

68 INTERNET TELEPHONY® April 2005 Subscribe FREE online at www.itmag.com Go To Table of Contents | Go To Ad Index By Stan Little Crossing The Chasm To Mainstream VoIP Adoption

By Cynthia Carpenter beyond voice.” That sounds pretty sim- Voice over IP (VoIP) has been on the Telecommunications radar since the ple. However, consumers themselves early 1990s. As with most emergent technologies, early returns are mixed, and define “Value,” but don’t always plainly actual adoption is proceeding somewhat more slowly than the first enthusiasts articulate these value preferences. So if predicted. The key question right now is: what will it take for VoIP to be the consumer never speaks directly adopted en masse? Research indicates that a majority of voice service customers about these Explicit Value Preferences, (71 percent) are open to signing up for VoIP, but need a compelling reason to how do we determine what services switch. For VoIP to emerge as a mainstream consumer application, VoIP serv- they’ll value and buy? ice offerings must motivate this group. Initial VoIP awareness is critical—very Consumers indicate their apprecia- few potential customers know what VoIP is or that it is an option. Once past tion for value based on where they the awareness hurdle, it appears that the most-likely motivators will be ade- spend their money, time, and effort. quate discounts, offerings bundled with broadband, and the appeal of VoIP- Luckily, they are pretty good about specific features. An effective marketing strategy based around these variables, leaving a clear and consistent value trail combined with a push from prominent consumer brand companies, could lead that can be applied to VoIP services. the VoIP deployment across the chasm that exists between early VoIP adopters Without a doubt, consumers cherish and the mass market. their privacy and have been consistently willing to dedicate both time and Where Is VoIP Deployment Right Now? money to protecting and enjoying it. Popular press and industry trade journals would lead us to believe that VoIP They constantly demonstrate how is nearly ubiquitous, but the reality, according to the Yankee Group, is that much they value privacy, especially in there are currently approximately 1.2 million VoIP users. This research indi- regards to their telephone. cates further that only one in three households has the broadband connectivity For example, consider that direct that is the first prerequisite for VoIP deployment. Market research also reveals consumer outcry over privacy invasion that those customers who have adopted VoIP are driven primarily by price, resulted in the creation of the Federal make 20 percent more long distance calls than average, are technologically Trade Commission’s National Do Not savvy, and are likely to be dissatisfied with their incumbent service provider. Call Registry (DNCR). By the end of As VoIP emerges as a significant new technology, the initial crop of VoIP- the first eight months of the DNCR focused new entrants will be joined by powerful incumbent providers ranging service, a staggering 55 million people from the RBOCs to cable companies to the largest Internet service providers. had signed up. In a related move, the As is true with most emerging technologies, new entrants are most motivated FTC instituted telemarketer sales rules to capitalize on the first opportunities and most able to absorb the inevitable requiring telemarketers to present Caller stresses and challenges of an imperfect platform. At this point, the companies ID in all phone solicitations. Moreover, that account for most of the over one million current VoIP subscribers are in state public utilities commissions report the Enhanced Service Provider (ESP) and cable space and are not traditional a large and growing subscription to phone companies. unlisted telephone numbers. In California alone, more than 50 percent The Market Opportunity Beyond The Chasm of residents have unpublished numbers. The theory of high-tech market segmentation and product adoption that There is an $800 million annual price Geoffrey Moore outlines in Crossing the Chasm (1999) is particularly applica- tag for these California consumers to ble to current VoIP adoption. Moore describes how a successful high-tech remove their numbers from the phone- product moves through a fairly predictable adoption curve from Innovators to book and 411 directory. Early Adopters and then across a “Chasm” to the Early Majority. Applying this Nationally, the U.S. consumer pays terminology, VoIP has made significant inroads into the Innovator and Early almost 10 percent of his phone expens- Adopter segments and has yet to obtain any real traction among the later es on privacy features. To be a leader in groups which form the mass market. consumer VoIP, carriers must cater to While current adopters have given VoIP a good start, they will not be suffi- consumers’ demand for privacy, and cient to sustain continued growth. We have reached the point where the only will be rewarded by their willingness to path to success is across the Chasm — the gap that exists between success with pay to protect it. In fact, VoIP adds the Early Adopters and mass adoption of a new technology. Very little that the incremental value by adding dynamic VoIP industry has done to enlist the Innovators and Early Adopters will work next-generation services that give con- effectively to attract any substantial numbers in the Early Majority segment. sumers greater privacy and call control While the Early Majority can still be strongly motivated by cost savings and based on who is calling them, when access to useful new features, they expect all the service and support they are they are calling, why they are calling, or accustomed to getting from traditional telephony providers.

70 INTERNET TELEPHONY® April 2005 Subscribe FREE online at www.itmag.com Go To Table of Contents | Go To Ad Index Two critical factors will enlist the Early Majority. First, the is clear from this that quantifiable cost savings and the prom- technology will have to reach the level of quality, reliability, ise of consistent service quality, not “rock bottom prices” and safety of traditional phone service, and second, these should remain the focus of successful marketing campaigns. potential customers need compelling reasons to embrace the In fact, prices that are dramatically lower than what con- new technology. sumers are currently paying may signal that VoIP is a poor quality substitute. Key VoIP Market Drivers With a focus on addressing the key concerns and opportu- Bundled Offerings nities that will lead to mass market adoption, VoIP service Broadband providers have a huge opportunity that they providers can cross the Chasm. Research indicates that initial have already begun to exploit. Particularly in the cable indus- factors include awareness and attitudes toward current service try, VoIP/Broadband service bundles are proving very attrac- providers. Once customers are interested in VoIP service, the tive to the installed base. According to research, this is the major influencers of an actual purchase decision look to be next most critical adoption factor after the 25 percent cost cost savings, bundling with other communications services savings. Potential VoIP users indicated that a compelling offer and new features enabled by the digital integration capabilities would be VoIP bundled with a discount on Broadband servic- inherent to VoIP. es. Initial analysis also indicates that price and bundled offer- ings are much more important than the remaining potential Awareness market drivers. Disruptive pricing combined with broadband One of the critical findings of this market research is that bundling will maximize demand for VoIP. approximately 60 percent of surveyed consumers claim never to have heard of VoIP (or Internet Phone Service). However, after Digital Integration & Advanced Features VoIP was defined to these consumers, 71 percent indicated that While price disruption and bundled value appear to be the they would be open to signing up for VoIP if it was available. largest motivators for potential consumers, the survey also Clearly, a key issue for the untapped market is awareness. reveals that there is significant interest in VoIP’s ability to pro- Providers cannot assume much base of understanding or aware- vide access to new phone features. Of those who said they ness about VoIP at this point, so consumer education is critical. were definitely interested in VoIP, 91 percent indicated that new feature availability would be a strong enticement to con- Dissatisfaction With Current Provider sider VoIP. When asked to indicate which features would be Market research indicated that those who demonstrated most compelling, messaging/screening features and enhanced interest in signing up for VoIP services were also much more wireless (WiFi) capabilities topped the list. Conversely, more likely to be dissatisfied with their current phone provider. specialized features such as vanity phone numbers, translation Those who were interested in VoIP also answered that they services, and video conferencing generated comparatively min- would respond more positively if the service were offered by imal interest. Service providers will need to promote the fea- an established phone company. The message here appears to tures most likely to appeal to the emerging market, while be that, while dissatisfaction with current phone service can being careful not to overwhelm consumers with technological- drive motivation to switch to VoIP, this does not mean that ly intriguing features that might have little general utility. customers would not consider a VoIP offering from their incumbent provider. Dissatisfaction with the current provider The Path To Majority VoIP Deployment could reside as much in dissatisfaction with traditional phone Awareness is the most critical first target to drive majority service options and costs as with the provider itself. There is a VoIP deployment. Marketing efforts should focus on provid- real opportunity here for incumbents to enter the market to ing simple definitions of VoIP that combine with pricing, meet needs for VoIP services and simultaneously to improve bundling, and new feature opportunities. The research indi- overall customer satisfaction. cates that the initial focus on advanced technology and fea- tures (which has been successful in gaining customers among Cost Savings Innovators and Early Adopters) would be ineffective for the Early Adopters joined the market as they saw the opportu- Early Majority. The majority of potential customers will need nity for substantial savings over traditional telephone service. to believe that the transition from traditional phone service to This was particularly compelling for segments where interna- VoIP will be virtually transparent and that it will bring imme- tional and toll calling represent significant expenses. In sur- diate and tangible benefits and savings. And finally, incum- veys, respondents who indicated strong interest in VoIP bent involvement in VoIP roll-out is key, as many potential become interested in price as a motivation to switch only customers will be more confident buying VoIP services from a when it was described as being 25 percent lower than the cost known provider. IT of traditional phone service. In addition, it is important to note that the prices that motivate customers, where there is at Cynthia Carpenter is Level 3’s vice president of product marketing least a 25 percent savings over traditional phone service, for wholesale and consumer voice services. For more information, remain at the higher end of the current VoIP price points. It please visit http://www.level3.com.

Subscribe FREE online at www.itmag.com INTERNET TELEPHONY® April 2005 71 Go To Table of Contents | Go To Ad Index all of the above. And consumers will be able to configure these and other valu- Residential-Scale VoIP Testing: able capabilities through easy-to-use interfaces on their phone, computer, or Why And How? TV set-top box, all with “set-it-and-for- get-it” simplicity. By Andy Huckridge Another major driver for all con- sumers is the general pursuit of leisure Quickly on the heels of the race to deliver VoIP services to the masses comes time and entertainment to enhance their an even more heated race to deliver VoIP service so good that customers never lifestyle. Many of the telecom industry’s leave. Toward that end, Internet telephony service providers (ITSPs) will soon most successful incremental services tend apply carrier-class testing to truly validate network readiness and service quality. to be “lifestyle enhancing.” That is, con- Testing large-scale consumer VoIP will require test devices that can emulate sumers either derive gratification directly legions of end-user terminals in the lab, and then monitor the highest capacity from the service or it enhances another on-net traffic. Further, whatever subjective feedback end users offer, only part of their everyday life. The relation- quantitative measures of latency, dropped packets, jitter, and other objective ships that people have and the way they quality metrics can provide the business and operational intelligence to engi- interact within them is central to their neer and maintain quality networks. lifestyle and the quality of it. This is This kind of objective intelligence can prove extremely useful. Retail ITSPs, another area where VoIP adds value. for example, need such objective measures to hold their wholesale network In general, consumers live well beyond providers’ accountable. Simultaneously, objective measures can empower the walls of a residence and value their wholesalers to document their networks’ readiness and performance over time. participation in larger communities of Additionally, some carriers may wish to benchmark quality to determine the interest and affinity groups. Common true measure of the tradeoffs associated with certain equipment selections. One groups for the consumer exist around audio codec, for example, may yield lower sound quality yet fewer dropped their kinships, their physical location, packets, ultimately adding up to better call quality. and how they spend their leisure time. It Testing architectures will matter too. A VoIP call may perform well from is these communities of interest that point A to B, yet poorly from A to C. A certain link may pass muster during enhance, if not define, the consumer’s one day-part but crumble under the traffic loads of another. Consequently, everyday life, and people spend a lot of useful performance intelligence will require visibility across the network, end- their valuable time interacting within to-end, link-by-link, terminal-to-terminal. This can best achieved through a these non-work communities. test system that can be distributed at key junctures across the VoIP network VoIP service providers now have the while linking back to a single test user interface that provides both end-to-end capability to bolster the value of their and drill-down analysis. services by enabling consumers to set Carrier-scale testing also will require test equipment capabilities to: up and manage their communications • Measure both signaling performance, for efficient call set-up and tear- more effectively by applying these types down, and media session performance. of communications relationships in pri- • Report on and analyze the inter-impact of multiple applications. As vate groups. For example friends and Johnny downloads a big file, what happens to Alice’s VoIP call? For this, family members can enjoy special capa- reports should map side-by-side application results on a common graph. bilities within the group, regardless of • Verify codec capability to carry music as well as voice. location, such as VoIP push-to-talk, • Verify the terminal adapter’s ability to generate tones for short, 10-digit and intra-group calling priority, or international dialing, as well as touchtone activation of voice mail and the like. voice/text/info group messaging. So to • Measure the performance of services that are unique to each ITSP, such as think that consumer VoIP means just star-codes used to activate certain value-added applications like teleworker residential voice is as limiting as using access to enterprise VoIP. the term “car phone” to describe your As the residential VoIP gold rush continues on all fronts, ITSPs (define - feature-rich cellular voice and text mes- news - alert) will need a reliable assayer to document how much gold quality saging service. exists in their network and service performance. As history suggests, today’s In ever greater numbers, consumers boomtown can become tomorrow’s tumbleweed junction for the entrepreneur are demonstrating that that they also who fails to verify the quality of his wares. IT value their gadgets, and why would VoIP consumers be any different? Andy Huckridge is product marketing manager, IP telephony, at Spirent Accelerating growth into the next phase Communications. For more information please visit http://www.spirentcom.com.

72 INTERNET TELEPHONY® April 2005 Subscribe FREE online at www.itmag.com Go To Table of Contents | Go To Ad Index Will people pay incremental dollars for consumer VoIP? The good news is of consumer VoIP requires the rapid introduction of IP terminal devices “yes” they will. coupled with mobility. Network-host- ed VoIP, smart terminals and mobility bring together the best of all worlds where hosted user information, prefer- ences, and contact data achieve addi- tional value through more capable, portable, and usable devices. adapted $9 princess phone nailed to There are common examples in the wall in the kitchen. A manufactur- other service industries that have bene- er-subsidized program to provide low- fited from enhanced devices. Consider cost/no-cost consumer IP phones the impact that PDA units, MP3 play- would work just as it does in cellular. ers, and similar devices have had on Carriers provide a high-end device, the related network services and appli- enabling the subscriber to purchase cations that support them. advanced services at low cost with a A compelling example of adding term contract. After all, these are the consumer value to voice services can be very same consumers who are fully seen in today’s cellular market. conditioned to expect to sign a service Providers and device manufacturers are contract to get the “next big thing” — steadily upgrading handsets to accom- device included. “Make mine a dual- modate services that go well beyond mode WiFi/cellular with multiple voice. For example, these new devices addressable handsets and a base sta- make typing and addressing text mes- tion… metallic blue, please.” sages simple. That move is one of the Like many past innovations for the driving forces behind the 175 million mass market, consumer VoIP comes U.S. cellular subscribers (over 1 billion with great promise to deliver just the globally), and the billions of SMS right thing at just the right time. Early (define - news - alert) messages sent VoIP service providers have the pio- monthly. neering task of establishing a new Currently, the price points for IP approach to delivering telephony with- devices are relatively high, and their out disrupting the way the consumer costs impact consumer VoIP adoption. uses basic services. In this more basic But the hard reality is, there’s only so POTS replacement phase of the mar- much that can be done with a VoIP- ket, it is understandable that these offers would be priced at or below sim- ilar TDM services. The consumer has already placed a value on POTS voice whether over TDM or IP. It is the delivery of incremental value that really counts. However, it is not always apparent how the consumer reveals his Implicit Value Profile, let alone how they apply to VoIP services. But the examples are all there: privacy, RELATED LINKS affinity/group preferences, “set-it/for- get-it” simplicity, freedom-to-roam, Sylantro Systems and others. These all represent incre- www.sylantro.com mental value to the consumer, and the consumer will pay incremental dollars for “Value” over IP. This is what the Level 3 Communications next phase of consumer VoIP is ready www.level3.com to deliver. IT

Spirent Communications Stan Little is vice president, Consumer www.spirentcom.com Solutions at Sylantro Systems. For more information, please visit http://www.sylantro.com. Subscribe FREE online at www.itmag.com Converged IP Multimedia Conferencing: Making The Vision A Reality

We’ve seen dramatic increases in the pace of business over the past decade, and multimedia conferencing is a good way to speed commu- nications while reducing travel costs. With IP networks, PCs on every desktop, and inexpensive Web cams, it will be fairly easy to give users voice, video, and application-sharing capabilities. But despite all the • Ad hoc as well as pre-scheduled advances we’ve made in basic networking and communications tech- conferences. nologies, the vision of multimedia conferences as mainstream business The conferencing system should inte- tools has remained just that: a vision for the future. Now, new tech- grate the above features, but it should nologies are solving some of the age-old problems that prevented also present them in a way that is easy to use on any PC, and which delivers companywide multimedia conferencing. business-quality voice and video over a wide range of network connection A Pervasive Conferencing But even though multimedia confer- speeds. After all, the people who may Vision encing offers huge potential for business most need multimedia conferencing Bell Labs displayed the first prototype improvement, very few companies use it links will be those in remote locations PicturePhone in 1956, and since then at all. Before we look at the barriers to where network links may well run at companies and vendors have been trying pervasive multimedia conferencing, let’s sub-T1 or DSL (define - news - alert) to reap the benefits of long-distance define just what we mean by it. Any speeds. voice and videoconferencing. Small won- type of person-to-person communica- der. When companies can have fully tion can be seen as a conference, Traditional Solutions, productive meetings at which people can whether via voice, e-mail, chat, shared Ongoing Barriers see and hear each other, exchange docu- applications, or video, but true multi- When we look at the traditional ments, and collaborate on common proj- media conferencing should encompass approaches to providing conferencing ects without being physically together, all of these facilities. Basic features services, the barriers to a pervasive solu- they can eliminate travel costs, minimize should include: tion become pretty obvious. Essentially, the security and health risks associated • One-to-one, one-to-many, and companies wanting to implement con- with travel, and greatly speed the flow of many-to-many meeting capabilities; ferencing services have had three ways information. While such collaborations • High quality, real-time voice and to go: are normally associated with conference video communication; • A hardware-based, video-centric rooms, the ultimate vision is a world in • Application sharing and collabora- solution. which anyone with a desktop or laptop tive document editing; • A software-based, application-cen- PC can have a rich multimedia confer- • File transfer; tric solution. ence with anyone else, from any location. • E-mail and chat; and • An outsourced conferencing service

74 INTERNET TELEPHONY® April 2005 Subscribe FREE online at www.itmag.com Go To Table of Contents | Go To Ad Index By Richard Sweatt Multimedia conferencing must be available at every desktop, and users should be able like WebEx. Moreover, companies often have to Hardware-based videoconferencing increase their network’s bandwidth to to easily set up has been around for decades, but it has ensure smooth video transmissions. Few connections with one always suffered from four basic prob- companies have been able to afford the lems: cost, complexity, integration, and dedicated, multi-megabit network links or several participants. quality. Together, these drawbacks have required for business-class video. always made such conferencing seem like These systems have also been any- more trouble than it’s worth. Hardware- thing but intuitive to use. They suffer eras and headsets, these services elimi- based conferencing systems have tradi- from call setup and control interfaces nate the deployment headaches of hard- tionally been so expensive that even large that looked almost nothing like the ware-based systems. However, the per- companies could only afford a handful phone, e-mail, or instant messaging user, per-minute cost models for these of them for conference rooms. Some products employees are accustomed to. services make them prohibitively expen- vendors have lately rolled out scaled- Typically, it’s more trouble to set up and sive for broad organizational use. down, workstation-sized varieties of their manage a conference that it’s worth. larger systems, but the cost is still too Another issue is that video-centric con- Solution Requirements high for truly pervasive deployment. ferencing hardware typically has poor or With these challenges in mind, let’s In addition, hardware-based systems non-existent application and data sharing consider the requirements for truly uni- have been a challenge to deploy and use. features, so users are left to juggle the versal, truly converged IP multimedia Conferencing servers have required spe- video/audio system and a separate PC — conferencing facilities. cialized knowledge in protocols such as hardly a recipe for productive meetings. Quality — To be truly universal, a SIP and H.323, along with laborious More recently, products like multimedia conferencing system should integration with other network systems. Microsoft NetMeeting and LiveMeeting support business-quality video, voice, and have promised to application sharing over a broad range of enable simple and connections. The conferencing system pervasive conferenc- should be able to dynamically adjust ing through widely audio and video compression to compen- available software sate for the specific connection resources used with PC- available to each conference participant. mounted headsets Scalability — To become an integral and Web cameras. part of normal communications, multi- But while such soft- media conferencing must be available at ware is inexpensive, every desktop, and users should be able it excels primarily at to easily set up connections with one or data sharing, and has several participants. Even with adequate a poor record when network bandwidth on tap to support it comes to deliver- dozens of simultaneous conference par- ing quality audio ticipants, most collaboration servers and video. In addi- quickly become overloaded because they tion, these systems run on off-the-shelf hardware that was are optimized for never designed to handle the demands one-to-one confer- of processing and routing multimedia ences rather than traffic streams. larger meetings. Deployment Simplicity — With the advent Hardware-based conferencing systems of the Web ten years should not require the IT department to ago, companies like learn the ins and outs of multimedia WebEx have risen to networking protocols. IT should be able prominence by to consider multimedia conferencing as enabling real-time a discrete service that plugs into its meetings via ordi- existing network infrastructure with a nary Web browsers. minimum of hassle and reconfiguration. By simply equipping In addition, the hardware system should users with Web cam- integrate with and leverage existing cor-

76 INTERNET TELEPHONY® April 2005 Subscribe FREE online at www.itmag.com Go To Table of Contents | Go To Ad Index porate user directories, groupware cal- endaring functions, and other features Considerations For Conferencing to eliminate duplication of systems and management effort. And Collaboration Technology Ease of Use — Ideally, starting, Purchases scheduling, and participating in a mul- timedia conference should be as intu- Purchasing conferencing solutions is not what it used to be. Instead of the itive as making a phone call, sending an silo’d approach of the past when you purchased, deployed, and managed instant message, or composing e-mail. your voice conferencing separately from your video conferencing, separately Access to these services is as simple as from your data conferencing, IP now allows you to integrate them all togeth- point-and-click from your existing IP er saving money, enhancing reliability, and making the experience seamless services, and now those existing IP serv- and intuitive for end users. Known as unified collaborative communications, ices are multimedia enabled. these converged solutions allow presenters and participants to choose and Cost-Effectiveness — For ubiquitous combine modes of conferencing or collaboration that are most effective or deployment on user desktops, the cost convenient at the time (i.e., can support voice, video, and Web in the same must come down to less than a few conference in any combination). While these are good things in terms of the hundred dollars per user in a large scale value and productivity-enhancing power that they bring to a business, they network deployment. also require customers have a strategy to ensure they reap the maximum ben- efit and long-term value of the technology they have already installed as well New Solutions Drive New Vision as the new solutions they are researching to add. Today, these long-time barriers to productive multimedia collaboration are Important Considerations: falling as vendors develop purpose-built systems to address them. Here are some What is the business need? of the most recent developments: The business need should be the driving force of the purchasing decision. Companies should consider what they want the technology to accomplish Multimedia Routing Servers and who they want to communicate/collaborate with, and whether those Vendors are now introducing a new people are inside or outside the corporate firewall. The different types of generation of multimedia routing servers solutions (voice, video, Web, and data) are ideal for different types of appli- that are specifically designed to process, cations. For example, a video conference is ideal for face-to-face interaction, route, and compress multimedia traffic whereas a Web conference might be better suited for field training. streams and distribute them to hundreds or thousands of endpoints. Rather than Will this technology work in my current (and future) network requiring IT staff to implement multime- environment? dia processing on standard servers and Customers should consider their existing (and planned) network environ- existing IP routers, these new routers are ment. IP-based solutions can help a company maximize the ROI of their turnkey products that overlay existing existing IP network investment. If a company has deployed, or is planning to network systems and internally handle all deploy VoIP (define - news - alert), it should consider solutions that may of the SIP (define - news - alert) and interoperate with its VoIP platform, after all once a network is prepared for H.323 (define - news - alert) processing, voice over IP, it is relatively simple to add real-time video. For example, some video and voice compression, unicast and vendors offer standards-based VoIP phones that have been certified to work multicast requirements for conferences. in different environments to provide integrated video telephony solutions In addition, new multimedia routing from the desktop. Conferencing and collaboration solutions that are based servers can support quality video and on standards and that provide migration paths to future telephony initiatives audio by dynamically adjusting compres- will enhance the overall ROI of the investment. sion and each end user’s video window sizes on an individual basis, depending Who do I want to collaborate with? on the speed of each user’s connection. For technologies like video conferencing, conferencing with customers and This ensures that every user will have a partners outside your corporate firewall requires a strategy to ensure ease of quality conferencing experience rather use. Solutions are available through “bridges” or MCUs that provide gate- than jerky video or dropped calls. keeper functionality and through specific Network Address Translation (NAT)/firewall traversal solutions. NAT/firewall traversal solutions should be Conference Provisioning Servers

Subscribe FREE online at www.itmag.com INTERNET TELEPHONY® April 2005 77 Go To Table of Contents | Go To Ad Index Individual features may be important, however, savvy customers should look To support broad scaling of collabo- based on standards and work with ration facilities through large organiza- existing network systems to ensure at the entire solution tions, vendors are offering provisioning they maintain network security. Some in context of their servers that handle the configuration approaches like “tunneling” can actu- and monitoring of multimedia routing ally create vulnerabilities. business needs. servers and end user stations. These provisioning servers also maintain user Which interface is best for employees? address books and conference schedules There are two primary user inter- via integration with Microsoft Outlook faces customers should consider — and other groupware programs, and the telephony approach that centers they collect and store conference detail around a phone (hard or soft), and PC platforms that provide an instant records for billing. messaging (IM) interface with presence. Some vendors are tying these together by providing soft phone options that also include IM with pres- End User Systems ence. The phone approach is intuitive and enables users to leverage presence To drive down the cost of desktop capabilities and to even migrate a voice call to video with the touch of a but- conferencing and improve ease of use, ton. The other approach leverages the collaboration capabilities of the PC to the latest generation of multimedia con- create an environment in which users can launch a voice, video and/or Web ferencing systems leverages the native collaboration session directly from their IM client. resources of desktop PCs to the fullest. Customers should evaluate solutions based on their existing and planned These software-based products integrate infrastructure needs and also the type of conferencing and collaboration inter- with standard Web cameras and head- face that is best for employees — the phone or the PC. sets, and allow users to schedule confer- ences using Outlook or other group- How will I manage this on my network? ware tools. Users can begin conferences Conferencing and collaboration technologies have matured and established on-the-fly by selecting other users from providers offer integrated scheduling and management solutions that help IT a buddy list, and then view other users’ managers remotely deploy, provision, and troubleshoot devices on their net- video in separate windows on the PC work. Scheduling solutions offer device and resource scheduling (even band- screen. Application sharing is equally width reservation) through the web or workgroup applications like Microsoft transparent, requiring users to simply Outlook and IBM(quote - news - alert) Lotus Notes. Solutions should support open the application they wish to share. management and scheduling of all standards-based endpoints to provide flexi- Because they’re software based, these bility for the future. end stations can be installed within fif- teen minutes. Thanks to superior inter- What about the latest “features, speeds, and feeds”? face design and close integration with Individual features may be important, however, savvy customers should look existing PC applications, calendars, and at the entire solution in context of their business needs and network environ- e-mail systems, users can learn to use ment. Customers should evaluate a vendor’s track record for providing support the collaboration features them within for new standards (like H.264 and H.239) in a timely manner, but in context minutes as well. With this level of of the entire solution. Customers should also consider the average life transparency and price points of a few expectancy of a system or solution including whether vendors are able to hundred dollars per user, these systems deliver backwards compatible support for major new standards and features make pervasive desktop conferencing a (such as SIP support) without requiring a hardware or complete system true possibility. change. This will help customers determine which vendors offer the best life- The history of multimedia conferenc- time ROI. ing has been one of frustration, of a tantalizing vision of the benefits marred The Future Is Bright by the expensive and unwieldy reality of The good news for customers is that conferencing and collaboration solu- implementation. But today’s new gener- tions are more powerful and more cost effective than ever. At the same time, ation of conferencing systems brings the technology has matured and should be considered within the context of a new capabilities to the table, and may company’s overall network environment, which will help ensure long term well be the catalyst for a new era of IP- benefits, value and ROI of any investment. IT based collaborative communication. IT Richard Sweatt is vice president, sales and marketing at Amity Systems. For more Steve Huey is chief marketing officer at Polycom. information, please visit the company online at http://www.amitysystems.com. 78 INTERNET TELEPHONY® April 2005 Subscribe FREE online at www.itmag.com Go To Table of Contents | Go To Ad Index Serv_Pro_Summit.qxd 3/17/2005 10:52 AM Page 2 Looking Ahead: VoIP Moves To Video And Wireless

2004 saw VoIP establish itself as a viable technology that is here to stay. In numbers larger than ever before, enterprises adopted VoIP for both new deployments and retrofits to traditional PBXs. Significant numbers of residential users subscribed to VoIP services through providers such as AT&T (quote -news -alert), Vonage,(news -alert) and (news - alert). Much of this growth was driven by the cost contact individuals within the work- place on a single mobile device can advantages enabled by VoIP. However, for VoIP to truly reach the eliminate costly paging or cellular point of mass market adoption, and for the market to continue as a charges when workers are within the viable one for the service providers involved, it must move beyond reach of the enterprise’s wireless net- “cheap long distance” and deliver upon the promise of advanced serv- work. In the enterprise environment, ices. 2005 promises to be the year when the technology becomes the VoWiFi device may need to take a available that enables these advanced services; for example, seamless slightly different form than that in the home. Support for “Presence” is a VoIP over wireless and personal video conferencing are both on the stronger requirement in an enterprise cusp of moving from experimentation to viable commercial solutions. VoWiFi phone so that the user could indicate his or her ability to accept Voice Over WiFi true VoWiFi handset, where VoIP con- calls at a given time — anything from WiFi has become ubiquitous in both nectivity is provided via WiFi. VoWiFi a minor benefit to an absolute necessi- residential and enterprise environments. allows VoIP to move from the PC or a ty, depending upon one’s individual This fact allows an increasing number of telephone connected to an Analog tolerance for workplace meeting eti- applications to take part in the mobile, Terminal Adapter (ATA)(define - news - quette. networked world. Voice-over-IP alert) , and become more integrated into For both the residential and the becomes a natural technology to ride our day-to-day lives. Whichever form of enterprise user, the VoWiFi “Holy the wireless wave. While both residential wireless enabled VoIP is utilized in the Grail” is that of a converged VoWiFi and enterprise users can benefit from immediate future, these devices provide and Cellular device — the “dual-mode” VoWiFi (voice-over-WiFi), each realizes the benefit of mobility to the residential phone that can seamlessly roam a different set of benefits of this emerg- user, strengthening the usability factor between WiFi and cellular networks. By ing technology. of VoIP within the home. integrating a VoWiFi and cellular Near term solutions for wireless VoIP Enterprise users also benefit from phone into a single device, users have within the home may take the form of mobility, and in fact this may be one of one less gadget to carry and one less cordless or DECT (define - news - alert) the strongest drivers to a return on battery charger (and car charger) to enabled handsets with an integrated investment for VoWiFi use in the keep up with. But can this single con- ATA, Bluetooth connected handsets, or enterprise environment. The ability to verged device live up to our desire of a

80 INTERNET TELEPHONY® April 2005 Subscribe FREE online at www.itmag.com Go To Table of Contents | Go To Ad Index By Michael Ward Progressive carriers will recognize the inevitability of VoWiFi and move to embrace true unified device? In the immediate additional services that take advantage term, these devices will be able to indi- of the increased data bandwidth that this technology. cate the presence of cellular and WiFi exists within WiFi networks. networks and allow the user to select which network to place a call. However, Personal Video Conferencing the ultimate goal of seamlessly roaming While IP-based video conferencing from WiFi (define - news - alert) to solutions via ISDN (define - news - cellular and back may still be a way off. alert) or other dedicated network links However, progress is being made today have existed for some time in the enter- toward enabling this level of mobility, prise domain, the availability of this (V2IP) is the fact that it enables a new and 2005 will see a number of early- technology for the individual user has set of revenue-generating services to be stage solutions deployed to move not been either viable or affordable. provided to the consumer. If VoIP is to toward the reality of seamless mobility. However, as the saying goes, “a picture reach its full potential, extending The ability to place calls over a wire- is worth a thousand words,” and the beyond “free long distance,” the indus- less VoIP handset wherever a WiFi net- ability to communicate with others both try must deliver services that consumers work exists is creating concerns of lost visually and audibly conveys so much are willing to pay a premium for. Many cellular revenue amongst certain cellular more than a voice-only conversation. indications are that personal video con- carriers. However, ironically, it is per- Time and time again, the promise of the ferencing may be just that service. VoIP haps this concern that will serve to video phone has arisen, but failed to service providers, such as Packet8, are accelerate the ability to seamlessly roam deliver. Blocky, stuttered video was tol- marketing a video phone service for a across WiFi and cellular networks. The erated only long enough for the novelty $10 premium over the standard voice- more progressive carriers will recognize to fade. However, as broadband only service. Telecom providers world- the inevitability of VoWiFi and move to becomes pervasive and audio and video wide are beginning to roll out video create business models that actually encoding technologies evolve, there now phone services — France Telecom is but embrace this technology as an extension exists the ability to provide high-quality, one example of a telephony provider to their cellular networks. Enterprise full-motion video conferencing to the rolling out video phone service, with and residential customers alike could individual user for a reasonable cost. more expected to launch services then benefit from a truly converged When examined from a U.S.-centric throughout 2005. While the initial device. If embraced rather than feared, perspective, personal video conferencing round of video phones is taking the carriers can actually leverage VoWiFi to or communicating via an IP video form of traditional wired desktop increase revenues and begin to offer phone as a daily occurrence are ques- phones, one can look for personal video tionable, in large part because of priva- terminals to begin to take more innova- cy issues. However, when viewed from a tive forms, including wireless versions. global perspective, one can look to the rapid adoption of cellular camera Enabling Technology Trends To receive phones and video services in Japan and A number of technologies are con- parts of Europe to recognize that a verging to enable both voice-over-wire- free information high-quality personal video conference less and personal video conferencing to from our service may be just the “killer applica- be technically feasible and accessible to tion” that can accelerate the adoption of the consumer. These applications have a premium VoIP and perhaps even more rapidly number of challenges that must be accelerate the proliferation of broad- addressed to drive these devices to full advertisers, band worldwide. Trends in the U.S. cel- adoption. The portable devices among lular market, with recent announce- this mix must also deliver standby and please visit ments from major carriers regarding the talk-times on a par with the traditional rollout of mobile TV and the increased devices that they are replacing. As these number of handsets with both video devices play into a very dynamic mar- playback and record capabilities, lend ket, they must be designed with suffi- freeinfo. credence to the view that our own inhi- cient flexibility to accommodate chang- bitions about video-based communica- ing and emerging standards, as well as tmcnet.com tions may be easing. deliver any new functionality desired by Perhaps one of the most important consumers. Perhaps the largest challenge  aspects of video- and voice-over-IP is one of reaching cost targets that allow 82 INTERNET TELEPHONY® April 2005 Subscribe FREE online at www.itmag.com Go To Table of Contents | Go To Ad Index these devices to be readily purchased by A solution to the need to reduce sys- over-WiFi handsets and personal video the mass market. tem cost and footprint is to leverage the terminals. It is devices such as these Changes in the base technology archi- increasing processing power of the that will allow providers to deliver new tectures used to develop these devices applications processor to handle all and innovative revenue-generating serv- are occurring. Traditionally, VoIP end- aspects of the VoIP or V2IP device. By ices. The mobility and personal connec- points, including VoWiFi handsets and running the audio-to-packet conversion tivity enabled by these devices will video phones, utilized architectures that along with the call control and user allow a new level of productivity to be included both digital signal processors interface software on the applications realized by enterprises, while at the (DSPs) and applications processors. The processor, the system designer can same time reducing their overall teleph- DSPs handled the “heavy lifting” of remove the DSP and reduce both cost ony expenditures. The technology exists VoIP — the transformation of voice into and footprint from the product, while today that enables the development of packet data and back again — while the increasing battery life in mobile designs. these products, which will in turn help applications processors handled the sig- This “DSP-free” model simplifies the to invigorate the VoIP market as a naling stacks (such as SIP or H.323), the design for the OEM, allowing more whole. IT device’s user interface and other control rapid development and deployment of Michael Ward is director of product line applications. As pressure has mounted to products, which results in a quicker management at Trinity Convergence. For deploy VoIP- or V2IP-enabled devices in ability for service providers to begin to more information, please visit smaller and more cost-effective solutions capitalize on the new revenues streams http://www.trinityconvergence.com. that help carriers increase revenues while enabled by these devices. If you are interested in purchasing reprints of this arti- cle (in either print or HTML format), please visit decreasing customer acquisition costs, As VoIP continues to gain momen- Reprint Management Services online at the need to explore alternative architec- tum, it will do so through the growth http://www.reprintbuyer.com or contact a representa- tive via e-mail at [email protected] or by phone at tures has arisen. and adoption of devices such as voice- 800-290-5460. Converged Wi-Fi / Cellular Voice: Ready For Residential Market

Telecommunications as we know it today may be on a verge of a cri- sis, that is, the crisis of complexity. Multiple types of network access — voice and data, fixed and mobile, wireless and wireline — present the user with an increasingly hard to manage variety of communica- tions options. Add to the picture new communications methods — ment such services is quite significant. Instant Messaging, Push-to-talk, SMS (define - news - alert), video telephony — and multiple devices needed for connectivity — lap- tops, traditional and IP phones, Blackberries, cellular phones and Wi- Dual Mode Consumer Fi-enabled PDAs — and it becomes easy to appreciate the degree of Service: Luxury Or Necessity? user frustration. Therefore, it is imperative for the service provider Service providers around the world more and more consider the prolifera- looking for continual growth in their network usage and revenues, to tion of Wi-Fi networking and widening deploy the technology unifying their service offerings and drastically availability of residential broadband data streamlining the user experience. service as a chance to both offer new attractive services and complement their Imagine being able to simplify your voice over Wi-Fi (VoWi-Fi), broadband existing infrastructures. They are not communications experience while at VoIP, and cellular telephony — now discouraged by growing pains of VoWi- home, at work, or traveling, with a sin- increasingly referred to as Dual Mode Fi technology expected to be resolved in gle access-independent service and one VoWi-Fi/cellular service. coming years. In fact some of them can device accessible via a single number. Helping the rapid introduction of this even be tackled by careful selection of This vision promises the return of con- technology is the fact that the end-user addressable market segments. For exam- nectivity convenience even as commu- devices and the majority of infrastruc- ple, many of the limitations of VoWi-Fi, nication methods continue to prolifer- ture components capable of supporting such as fast handoffs between Access ate. The good news is that the technol- such functionality already exist. The Points, security, and capacity, may not ogy making this new vision a reality is recipe is seemingly simple. Take a latest be as critical in the residential networks, being rapidly developed by the indus- PDA-based cellular phone add a Wi-Fi making this market an ideal proving try based on the recently completed card, throw in proper client software ground for trial deployments and limit- standards such as IP multimedia sub- and voila! You’ve got a dual mode ed rollouts of dual-mode service. system (IMS)(define - news - alert) and device. In reality, however, the main But what makes dual mode so Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA) complexity of offering such service lies attractive for service providers? First, (define - news - alert). This technology in both the end-user device software and the need to address consumer demands promises access-independent converged the core network, where the effort in converged communications. With service — such as a combination of required to properly architect and imple- dual mode VoWi-Fi/Cellular handsets

84 INTERNET TELEPHONY® April 2005 Subscribe FREE online at www.itmag.com Go To Table of Contents | Go To Ad Index By Alex Shneyderman Dual mode service appears to be very attractive to residential becoming available in 2005 and quality. affordable by the end of 2006, the With the need for a consumer dual customers. consumers will expect the services mode service thus clearly identified, making use of their handset capability the majority of the service providers — for example allowing them to use today either have definite plans or the same device and number for both already took initial steps to introduce cellular and in-house cordless service. dual-mode service to their residential Such offerings will allow wireless oper- customers. The deployment through ators to better address the competitive enhancement to the existing VoIP threats of low-cost independent VoIP infrastructures, currently favored by the operators. The second benefit of such majority of operators, promises to min- service would be an offload of off-pick imize the initial investments and guar- roaming. cellular minutes to lees expensive antee the service stability and reliability While residential dual mode service broadband VoIP network. Finally, dual from both support and customer satis- can be based on a variety of technolo- mode service will allow for the cellular faction perspective. gies, among the most promising are features — such as Push-To-Talk and the two standards-based approaches SMS — to be offered to broadband The Dual Nature Of Dual built around IMS (define - news - VoIP consumers. Mode alert) and SIP-based VoIP, and UMA Dual mode service also appears to be From a strategic perspective, recently standardized as a convergence very attractive to residential customers. enabling real-time voice communica- standard for GSM systems. Both Most importantly it makes the commu- tions over the same network that approaches make VoWi-Fi calls appear nications experience a whole lot more handles data transmission is increas- as cellular calls to the network “hid- convenient and user friendly while pre- ingly viewed by service providers as a ing” the Wi-Fi access media and sig- serving the existing familiar user experi- key long-term advantage and an naling from the network. However, ence and service models. The consumer important stepping stone to next- that’s where the similarity ends. While would have to purchase — and also generation infrastructure, such as the SIP-based VoIP approach places charge, maintain, and learn how to use IMS. Offering it, however, will the interpretation and mapping func- — fewer devices and take care of one require complex converged architec- tionality in the core network in the bill for all voice services. That would tures encompassing VoIP domain form of media and signaling transla- directly lead to both service and equip- seamlessly integrated with cellular tion gateways and allows for the ment cost savings making the dual domain, significant investments in majority of the traffic to be offloaded mode service offerings even more attrac- dual-mode handset programs, and from the cellular network, the UMA tive. Additionally, such service would creating new alliances and partner- standard enables the Wi-Fi infrastruc- address indoors coverage issues and ships for joint development, billing ture with the base station controller resulting inadequate cellular service reconciliation, and multi-access making Wi-Fi appear as just another

Figure 1. UMA-based Dual Mode System

Private

BSC GSM MAP Network HLR

Cellular GSM Circuit Voice MSC/VLR PSTN Dual Mode SS7 MAP Traffic RELATED LINKS Client

Wi-Fi SMSC

Wi-Fi Telephony Channel GSM MAP tmcnet.com/99.1 Broadband Up/RTP IP Access UNC Legend: BSC – Base station Controller Wi-Fi Alliance Media Path MSC – Mobile Switching Center Signaling Path www.wi-fi.org VLR – Visitor location Registry HLR – Home Location Registry

86 INTERNET TELEPHONY® April 2005 Subscribe FREE online at www.itmag.com Go To Table of Contents | Go To Ad Index air interface and requiring all traffic to To achieve the goal of seamless inte- hotspots or owned by wireless carriers traverse GSM network. gration with 3GPP networks the UMA or broadband access providers to offer UMA Approach defines the UMA Network (UMAN) GSM over Wi-Fi service to residential The UMA specifications enable radio access network based on Wi-Fi, customers. GSM/GPRS handsets equipped with requiring broadband and Wi-Fi infra- By supporting GSM voice and servic- Wi-Fi or Bluetooth radio to access structure and terminals to support GSM es over Wi-Fi or Bluetooth UMA pro- GSM service over arbitrary combina- and GERAN defined signaling and vides logical extension to the existing tion of Wi-Fi and broadband access media. This objective is accomplished in GSM-based systems requiring relatively infrastructure such as hotspots, and UMA by introduction of a new ele- small investment from carriers. home networks. This approach essen- ment, UMA Network Controller However, UMA specifications do cir- tially extends the GSM/GPRS servic- (UNC) merging the IP and cellular cumvent the VoIP-based IMS, which is es over the Wi-Fi air interface domains, and a new protocol, Up inter- gaining widespread support among both through a blend of VoIP technology face (Figure 1). wireless and broadband operators as a and UMA-defined tunneling and sig- The UNC terminates RTP media standard for next-generation networks. naling protocols. UMA is a GSM- streams and GSM signaling tunneled Other potential drawbacks of UMA are specific technology and therefore can over the Up interface to and from GSM its limited usefulness with other cellular be used only in conjunction with the terminal equipped with Wi-Fi radio technologies and the need for new types GSM/GPRS (define - news - alert), and appropriate software, essentially of terminals, likely more costly then GSM EDGE Radio Access Network appearing to the core network as a comparable SIP-based VoIP devices. (GERAN), and Universal Terrestrial GERAN base station controller. The Radio Access Network (UTRAN) cel- UNC can be either located within Wi- IMS And SIP-Based VoIP lular systems defined by 3GPP. Fi infrastructure in enterprises and Approach

Subscribe FREE online at www.itmag.com INTERNET TELEPHONY® April 2005 87 Go To Table of Contents | Go To Ad Index The SIP-based approach is not limited to GSM. This approach is based on the combi- end user device appear an extension to nation of VoWi-Fi access and tradition- cellular network (Figure 2). The map- al SIP-based VoIP broadband technolo- ping of VoIP traffic into circuit domain gy defined by Packet Cable and IMS is accomplished by Wi-Fi/Cellular gate- specifications. In addition proprietary way serving as a hub for both SS7 and architectures and components mapping SIP signaling allowing for call establish- VoIP signaling and RTP media into cel- ment between different types of termi- lular circuit voice protocols need to be nals and handling of services and calls implemented. This type of dual mode placed to VoWi-Fi clients through cellu- service can be offered to any residential lar infrastructure. ing traffic from cellular infrastruc- subscriber with access to a broadband The VoWi-Fi/Cellular Gateway trans- ture. Moreover this approach is connection, Wi-Fi network, and off- lates and maps the SS7 messaging, such equally appealing to broadband serv- the-shelf handsets equipped with Wi-Fi as ANSI-41 for CDMA (define - news - ice providers and MVNOs (define - and cellular radios, VoIP clients, and alert) and GSM MAP for GSM-based news - alert)providing for easier part- dual mode software. cellular systems to SIP messages and visa nering with cellular carriers and The SIP-based approach is not limit- versa, treating VoWi-Fi calls as cellular offering logical next step on the way ed to GSM and can be used with any calls. to the next generation networking. cellular system albeit at the expense of The SIP-based VoIP approach pro- That makes SIP-based dual mode likely customization. The bulk of VoIP vides truly universal architecture not service a perfect vehicle for establish- media and signaling traffic can be rout- only enabling the support for dual ing service relationships between cel- ed directly to PSTN gateways or other mode service in the majority of cellu- lular and broadband operators, which VoIP networks freeing expensive cellular lar systems but also providing an evo- both can combine their existing core network capacity. The call routing, lution path towards IMS compliant infrastructures to provide converged establishing of RTP media paths and infrastructure. Unlike in UMA, the service. cellular voice telephony features are all bulk of the calls here is handled supported in VoIP domain making the entirely within VoIP domain offload- Is It For Real? So what can we say about the tech- nology which has significant consumer Figure 2. SIP-based Dual Mode System market appeal, offers clear business case to service providers, can serve as a logi- Cellular Domain cal foundation for the Next Generation Private Circuit Voice Networks and mostly relies on the exist- BSC MSC/ Network VLR ing proven technology? It is likely to SMSC HLR start happening very soon! Service SS7 Cellular providers with the existing cellular and IS-41or broadband VoIP networks and alliances Dual Mode GSM MAP between broadband and cellular net- Client SIP-SS7 Signaling MGCF PSTN work operators are in the best position Gateway to offer dual mode services to their resi- Wi-Fi SIP dential customers early on. HSS S-CSCF We believe that the operators carefully selecting experienced vendors will be able to successfully address the obstacles P/I-CSCF to deployment of converged services Broadband such as Wi-Fi technological immaturity, RIP Media Circuit Voice IP Access Gateway potential architectural complexity and the challenge of integration of different VoIP Domain (IMS) network infrastructures. IT Legend: BSC – Base station Controller Media Path Alex Shneyderman is product manager, MSC – Mobile Switching Center Signaling Path BSABU, at Cisco Systems. For more infor- VLR – Visitor location Registry mation, please visit http://www.cisco.com HLR – Home Location Registry If you are interested in purchasing reprints of this arti- CSCF – Call/Session control function cle (in either print or HTML format), please visit MGCF – Media Gateway Control Function Reprint Management Services online at http://www.reprintbuyer.com or contact a representa- HSS – Home Subscriber Server tive via e-mail at [email protected] or by phone at 800-290-5460.

88 INTERNET TELEPHONY® April 2005 Subscribe FREE online at www.itmag.com Go To Table of Contents | Go To Ad Index IT_Circ_Ad.qxd 3/16/2005 3:01 PM Page 1 Voice Security In An IP World

Security may be among the most obvious concerns for those consider- ing the deployment of voice over IP (VoIP) communications for their business. Beyond concerns about service quality and stability that have been largely addressed by vendor product improvements over the past few years, firms are more acutely aware of the service disruptions concerning to businesses deploying and the financial impact of security threats. VoIP and broader IP VoIP. Denial of service attacks, buffer telephony application technologies can reduce voice costs, enhance overflows, viruses, and malicious codes staff productivity, increase the utility of IP networks and improve end can add delay or jitter to IP calls that render them unintelligible. The same user experience. They do also, at least in the voice world, raise the attacks can disable individual phones, stakes on security. In particular, VoIP challenges firms to rethink the voicemail servers or the central call implications of voice Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability (CIA). manager servers. Without a call manag- er, an IP voice system is completely Traditional voice networks have had cept a VoIP phone conversation. unusable. Availability concerns rightly to address toll fraud, misuse and switch Reconstructing the packets could pro- rank highest among those looking to stability issues over the years, however duce the entire call in a form suitable protect their VoIP investments. most have found their traditional voice for posting to the Internet or e-mailing The threats to CIA are rooted in the networks to be a haven relatively unaf- to a third party. very nature of IP communications. fected by viruses, malicious codes, and Integrity threats impact the content of When we packetize a voice phone con- operating system vulnerabilities. Not so a VoIP call or the call management sys- versation, we expose that conversation in a VoIP (define - news - alert) net- tem. However unlikely, in theory, a man (now the contents of IP packets) to all work. VoIP and IP telephony (IPT) in the middle attacker could intercept the threats that affect any Internet environments are subject to all the secu- voice packets, alter them in some way Protocol communication. The bad news rity threats that impact IP networking and then forward them to the intended is that to the malicious hacker, unwit- environments. destination. While replacing selected ting end user or application flaw, a VoIP Confidentiality threats affect VoIP words in a live conversation seems packet is no different than one contain- communications in much the same way implausible, other IPT (define - news - ing content from a Web page or one as they affect e-mail on network. An alert) applications like time and atten- containing an e-mail from a friend. The attacker on a LAN might record a sensi- dance tracking performed on an IP good news is that many of the protec- tive voice call by capturing and reassem- phone are subject to integrity attacks tions available to secure traditional IP bling packets. Rather than needing to where data input by the sender is altered networks are very effective at securing physically tap a phone circuit, an attack- in transit to its destination. VoIP networks. With a few notable er needs only a packet sniffer to inter- Availability attacks are often the most exceptions, VoIP security recommenda-

90 INTERNET TELEPHONY® April 2005 Subscribe FREE online at www.itmag.com Go To Table of Contents | Go To Ad Index By Brian Cincera

Go To Table of Contents | Go To Ad Index tions mirror those that might be made • Keep voice and traditional data on • Harden the call manager and voice to any firm for providing protections for separate LANs. This potentially means mail hosts. While most vendors have their IP data infrastructure. For those more wires to each desk area and it already taken some effort to lock down seeking to deploy VoIP systems, here are means disabling the PC port commonly the operating system of these critical a number of steps that can be taken to found on IP phones. Commingling devices, they are still general purpose increase VoIP confidentiality, integrity voice and data traffic makes it harder to operating systems that require mainte- and availability. implement other voice security recom- nance, patching, and proper configura- • Engineer security into the service. mendations (see below) and increases tion. All the hardening rules that apply While security rarely trumps good func- that chances that data traffic creates to any other business system server tionality, when security is built into the availability problems for voice calls. In a should apply to VoIP hosts. Close IP voice system design it is typically eas- shared LAN, voice calls could easily be unnecessary ports and disable unneeded ier to maintain and less disruptive of the disrupted by bandwidth intensive appli- host operating system services. (I, A) functionality for which the system was cations like music downloads and file • Set traffic rate limits that are below deployed than if security has to be sharing. (A) system performance limits. VoIP traffic added later on. Voice applications • Encrypt VoIP traffic to the call is very network sensitive. By setting increase the pressure for low latency on manager. While encryption increases appropriate traffic rate limits, denial of an IP network, at the same time that the performance requirements of the service attacks are less likely to be suc- they decrease the tolerance for unavail- call manager, it is the easiest way to cessful. The impact of capping the total ability. A 500 millisecond latency in an decrease the chances that sensitive con- number of simultaneous calls is far less account record lookup is an annoyance. versations from executive offices get than the impact of a system wide out- 500ms of latency in a voice call makes intercepted, recorded, and replayed on age. (A) people hang up. (C,I,A) the Internet. (C) • Deploy redundant backend tech-

92 INTERNET TELEPHONY® April 2005 Subscribe FREE online at www.itmag.com Go To Table of Contents | Go To Ad Index The good news is that many of the protections available to secure traditional nologies. Router, switch, and call con- troller redundancy are critically impor- IP networks are very tant. Most businesses can survive a effective at securing day’s outage of an e-mail system. Few can recover the losses incurred from a VoIP networks. day without phones. (A) • Separate management traffic from voice call traffic. By separating the management traffic to its own net- work, it is less likely that the call man- one’s game. For those accustomed to ager could be attacked by an end user traditional voice networks, a whole of the voice service. (A,I) new world of IP threats is unleashed • Authenticate phones, IPT devices, on a normally stable voice environ- and users. Device authentication ment. For those accustomed to tradi- assures that only legitimately deployed tional data networks, a whole new IP phones can use the voice service. world of specialized applications and Doing so addresses attacks and toll high-stakes availability emerges in an fraud from illegitimate PC-based soft environment that works acceptably phones. User authentication adds well despite availability gaps. Most another layer of protection from “walk planning and investment is focused on up” fraudulent use of a VoIP phone. addressing availability concerns, with Most users are unaccustomed to confidentiality and integrity ranking authenticating before using a phone, second and third, respectively. but firms that deploy sensitive applica- Successful and secure VoIP operations tions to IPT phones like time and are those that address the specialized attendance often find user authentica- confidentiality, integrity, and availabili- tion is necessary. (A,I) ty concerns of voice communications • Deploy monitoring, alerting, in the context of an IP network. auditing and response technologies and Successful users: processes as on any other IP network. Understand the impact of voice on Maintaining a secure posture includes IP design, and they understand the dealing with inevitable vulnerabilities threats of IP networking to voice com- uncovered in computer technologies munications, and they account for over time. Vigilant monitoring for both in their design. breaches and new threats combined Build and configure technologies with well developed processes for and applications with the understand- addressing events and managing ing that service protection runs a close change increase the chances that secu- second to functionality in terms of rity gaps are filled before the bad guys importance. find them. (C,I,A) Implement tools, processes and • Train administrators and end human training that weave security users, not only on how to use function- maintenance into the fabric of their ality, but also on the steps they can organization’s infrastructure operation. take to secure the voice over IP tech- When done properly, a secure VoIP nologies they use. A post-it note with a network easily delivers on the promise userID and password stuck to the of lowering voice call costs, minimiz- phone can easily defeat the world’s best ing fraud, expanding applications to security technology. When users end users, improving personal produc- tivity and enhancing the end user understand the potential impact of experience. IT their behavior on their business, most are all too happy to go the extra mile Brian Cincera is vice president, Security Solutions, at Greenwich Technology to protect the firm. Partners (GTP). For more information, please visit Voice over IP security raises every- http://www.greenwichtech.com. Subscribe FREE online at www.itmag.com VoIPMARKETPLACE

On-Demand Communications/Click-To-Talk Services High density, cost effective media processing • automatically provision services technology for VoIP solutions • works in e-mails, Web pages, documents • easy add-on to existing infrastructure Contact Aculab on +1 850 763 9281 for FREE advice and more information on our product portfolio (954) 949-0501 • we provide hosted/semi-hosted solutions • VoIP client provided with best VoIP http://www.aculab.com/ITmp http://www.pcfoni- quality, SIP/H.323 [email protected]

On-demand real-time company group communication solutions • Follow me, Click-to-talk, employee/other 'pbx' VoIP extensions • publish 'push to talk' links to Web site, (954) 949-0501 documents, etc • e-mail signature (receive calls from the Internet) http://www.pcfoni- • VoIP free conferencing

To receive free information from our premium advertisers, please visit freeinfo.tmcnet.com

94 INTERNET TELEPHONY® April 2005 Subscribe FREE online at http://www.itmag.com Go To Table of Contents | Go To Ad Index ADVERTISING INDEX

Advertiser/ Page Advertiser/ Page Advertiser/ Page Advertiser/ Page Web Address Number Web Address Number Web Address Number Web Address Number

ABP Technology...... 34 GN Netcom ...... 9 PIKA Technologies ...... 15 System Engineering http://www.abptech.com http://www.gnnetcom.com http://www.pikatechnologies.com International...... 59 ABP Technology/Hitachi...... 92 HyperFone...... 94 Profitec Billing...... 55 http://www.seipower.com http://www.voipsuccess.biz http://www.abptech.com/hitachi.html http://www.profitecinc.com Target Distributing ...... 23 Accxx I.S. Associates ...... 37 Protus IP Solutions...... 76 http://www.targetd.com Communications...... 17, 73, 93 http://www.isassoc.com http://www.protus.com http://www.accxx.com Telpat Group...... 22 Inter-Tel...... 5, 94 Redvox...... 94 [email protected] http://www Aculab...... 7, 94 .inter-tel.com http://www.redvox.com http://www.aculab.com Internet Telephony Telephony@Work ...... 39 Rhino Equipment Corp...... 94 http://www.telephonyatwork.com Atreus ...... 15 Conference & EXPO ...... 51 http://www.rhinoequipment.com http://www.atreussystems.com http://www.itexpo.com Verilink Corporation ...... 49 Jasomi Networks ...... 35 Siemens ICN ...... Cover 2 http://www.verilink.com ClearOne ...... 43, 45, 94 http://communications.usa.siemens.com http://www.clearone.com http://www.jasomi.com Viola Networks...... 29 SIPquest ...... 83 Communitech...... 41 Mediatrix ...... 27 http://www.violanetworks.com http://www.mediatrix.com http://www.sipquest.com http://www.communitech.com VoIP Inc...... Cover 4 Corpotel ...... 94 NEC Unified Solutions...... 21 Speech-World http://www.voipinc.com http://www.pcfonica.com http://www.necunifiedsolutions.com/ip Conference...... 47 http://www.speech-world.com VoIPSupply.com...... 19 Covad...... 33 Netfabric Corp...... Cover 3 http://www.voipsupply.com http://www.covad.com http://www.netfabric.net Supercomm ...... 57 Networld + Interop...... 53 http://www.supercomm2005.com Volo Communications...... 3 Elma Electronic ...... 31 http://www.volocommunications.com http://www.elma.com http://www.interop.com Surf Communication Epygi Technologies ...... 13, 94 Pactolus ...... 25 Solutions...... 46 Vonexus ...... 11 http://www.vonexus.com http://www.epygi.com http://www.pactolus.com http://www.surf-com.com FacetCorp...... 16 Pangean Technologies ...... 87 SysMaster...... 14, 94 Webfonepartners.net...... 87 http://www.facetcorp.com http://www.pangeantech.com http://www.sysmaster.com http://www.webfonepartners.net GL Communications ...... 59, 94 Phoenix Audio...... 35 http://www.gl.com http://www.phnxaudio.com

®

Subscribe FREE online at http://www.itmag.com INTERNET TELEPHONY® April 2005 95 Go To Table of Contents | Go To Ad Index Dr. Elon A. Ganor Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Directors VocalTec Communications.

In the CEO Spotlight section in Internet Telephony® magazine, we recognize the outstanding work performed by exemplary companies. Each month we bring you the opinions of the heads of companies leading the Internet telephony industry now and helping to shape the future of the industry. This month, we spoke with Dr. Elon A. Ganor, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Directors of VocalTec Communications.

GG: What is VocalTec’s mission? EG: VoIP and Broadband are tied cannot stop the process from happening. together. When VocalTec originally GG: What are some of the technology EG: VocalTec’s (quote - news - alert) offered the market’s first commercial areas where VocalTec is increasingly mission is to continue offering innova- offering, the challenge was then to offer focused on, and why are these areas tion and excellence in the changing reasonable quality voice over narrow important to the future of your com- telecommunications market. We will bandwidth. Later in time the market pany? continue to successfully adapt to took advantage of improved IP routing, changes, in order to further company providing arbitrage opportunities in the EG: True scalability and extraordinary growth and take our place in the bur- International Long Distance and Class 4 efficiency of call control, over standard geoning VoIP (define - news - alert) core markets. platforms is where VocalTec excels. Add industry. Now, with the rapid deployment of to that the issue of security, where we Broadband to the home, VoIP is also stand out. We believe that our GG: What is your vision for VocalTec becoming a mature solution. The excellence in these two areas will stand and how is the company positioned in impact is dramatic. Within a few years us in good stead in the near future, as the next-generation telecom market? the telephony of about twenty percent networks with hundreds or even thou- of developed countries will be trans- sands of switches will be replaced with EG: VoIP is finally maturing, perhaps it ported end-to-end an efficient centralized has taken a little longer than we origi- by packets. Voice mega-softswitch. nally thought, but it is nonetheless will become just Regarding security, maturing, and VocalTec can now capi- another, albeit Internet technology talize on this maturation process. important, service. has already proven VocalTec has a history of successfully Voice will beyond doubt, that reinventing itself, adapting to changing GG: Now that it security is a crucial climates and market conditions. Over appears that become technology in the the course of the past year, we have growth and “just another” deployment of any done this again, in what we believe will opportunity are packetized network. be the most successful reinvention yet, once again the service. and now offer a scalable, service-rich trends in the VoIP GG: Describe your enterprise hosting and Class 5 alterna- industry, what -Elon Ganor view of the future of tive. Our current challenge is to encour- possible hurdles the IP telephony age the market to recognize the new do you see that industry. VocalTec, and learn more about its new might upset this offerings. momentum? EG: It is my view that voice will become “just another” service, GG: Describe your view of the VoIP EG: Regulation may assist incumbent part of the set of multimedia services to market today, and how it’s changed in carriers in slowing the process down — the home and to the enterprise. Voice will not be billed separately and per the past 10 years since VocalTec pio- in countries such as Germany and Israel minute charges and long distance tolls neered the industry with its Internet unbundling is still not occurring, and will disappear. However voice will Phone? this of course slows the process down. remain a “must-have” in any network. IT However, while it does slow it down, it

96 INTERNET TELEPHONY® April 2005 Subscribe FREE online at www.itmag.com Go To Table of Contents | Go To Ad Index FFINAL_AD_MECH_MARCH.aiINAL_AD_MECH_MARCH.ai 11/28/05/28/05 112:56:422:56:42 AMAM

C

M

Y

CM

MY

CY

CMY

K

Join the REVOLUTION! Become a partner by contacting us at netfabric.net or 203-775-1178.