- Top Stories of the Week – March 3, 2012
Telecom groups fights against free messaging
Smartphone messaging services such as Pinger provide messaging apps that let phone users chat for free on the carriers' data networks or Wi-Fi. Analysts said telecoms lost nearly US$14 billion in 2011 in text-messaging revenue as consumers migrated to such applications. Analysts said there is no end in sight to the financial blood letting.
Pinger — together with an explosion of smartphone messaging services like iMessage, BlackBerry Messenger, WhatsApp, Viber Media, Facebook Messenger and KakaoTalk — have managed in just a few years significantly reduce the important revenue that cell phone companies get from text messaging.
- 4G Phones to appear in Costa Rica if the market calls
Spanish operator, Telefónica, announced plans to deploy fourth generation mobile networks (4G) using Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology in Costa Rica prior to the opening of Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona.
"All the profit you can find in Barcelona, today, will be immediately transferred to the network in Costa Rica when you need it," said Henry White, Global Head of Technology at Telefónica. The executive made the remark at a press conference Sunday, one day before the start of MWC, expected to house more than 60,000 people in 200 countries.
- Noanet and Digium team up to deliver unified communications solution in Spain
Digium , Inc., the Asterisk company, and Noanet Distributions , Ltd., recently announced a collaboration that will allow Noanet to become the first official distributor of Digium products in Spain. Noanet, with over 10 years experience in the field of unified communications (UC) and other communications solutions will offer Digium’s Switchvox UC clients to all sectors.
Switchvox is based on the open-sourced Asterisk telephony platform, so it offers a unique set of powerful features at an affordable price for small-to-medium enterprises. Among the features include seamless support for mobile users, integration with third-party web applications, advanced call control and call routing, call queues and IVR to customer support.
- Twilio delivers VoIP to most smartphone apps with new iOS SDK
Twilio’s new client for iOS' is a basic SDK, which will make it easier for app creators to integrate VoIP functionality into their iPad, iPhone and iPod touch apps. This will allow any part of an app to become a 'VoIP phone', making VoIP calls via any iOS device over an internet connection, whether the client is added to new or existing apps. Developers can even add Skype-like chatter to iPhone and iPad with the new SDK.
- Top Stories of the Week – February 18, 2012
Cisco questions Microsoft's Skype Deal Before European Commission
Cisco has appealed the European Commission's approval of Microsoft's Skype acquisition, asking for new conditions concerning interoperability issues which might potentially kicking off a messy legal battle between tech behemoths.
“We respect greatly the European Commission, and value Microsoft as a customer, supplier, partner, and competitor,” Marthin De Beer, senior vice president of Cisco’s Video and Collaboration Group, wrote in a Feb. 15 posting on the company’s corporate blog.
- NXP Software and Verimatrix provides secure content delivery to Android devices
NXP Software has integrated its client security Verimatrix ViewRight Web within the Android version of its LifeVibes QuickPlayer. ViewRight Web is part of the Verimatrix Video Content Authority System (VCAS), and their integration into QuickPlayer improved security which allows for the deployment of enhanced content type "stream" Android phones and tablets. This opens the door to new revenue streams for service providers such as broadcasters and IPTV providers to add premium services (fee) Internet television.
- Patton sends thousands of VoIP gateways BRI SmartNode, as the new model becomes available
Patton recently announced the general availability of two new SmartNode family members: the SmartNode 4120 Single / Dual-Port BRI VoIP gateway and the SN-DTA Singe / Digital dual-port BRI VoIP Terminal Adapter.
Patton BRI new VoIP product lines are now in full production, as thousands of orders of single / two SmartNode 4120 BRI gateways and DTA SmartNode (TM) have been met. Patton currently ships hundreds of units on a monthly basis.
- Top Stories of the Week – February 11, 2012
Cheap VoIP service propel Rebtel to 15M users
Rebtel, the second-largest VoIP calling company behind Skype, announced major milestones recently that prove consumers just can’t get enough of cheap phone calls.
The company said that it has surpassed 15 million connected users since its launch in 2006. Rebtel users have made over 500 million calls on the service and have run up over two billion minutes of international calls.
Rebtel offers mobile and desktop PC applications that let its users call each other for free, or make inexpensive calls to international numbers. The company’s service is also accessible through any landline or mobile phone without an application. Rebtel just recently released version 2.0 of its iPhone version, which added a first-ever feature to let you hop between voice and data networks during a VoIP call.
- Dialog Semiconductor acquires VoIP technology for VTech desktop phones, the S-Series
Dialog Semiconductor, a provider of highly integrated, innovative semiconductor solutions for power management, audio and energy-efficient wireless communication at close range, announced that chips of the power-saving Green VoIP chip series are now being used by VTech, a world leading provider of cordless and corded telephones.
- Emcali announced IPTV service in Colombia
The possibility of IP subscription television in Colombia is almost a reality. Currently, Emcali is testing the technology and the structure packages to be launched. Soon, the company will begin offering the subscription television packages through the IP system. The offer will be 90 channels in standard and high definition.
- Top Stories of the Week – February 4, 2012
The new meets the old: First LTE to CDMA VoIP handover complete
Qualcomm on Thursday finally came forward to announce an LTE milestone that took place at the end of December: the first voice call to be seamlessly handed over from an LTE mobile network to a WCDMA network using Single Radio Voice Call Continuity (SRVCC). This is an important milestone because SRVCC lets the LTE-based VoIP/IMS packets be transferred to the legacy circuit-switched domain, unifying the old mobile networks with the new.
- Videoplaza gets $12 million funding to accelerate its international expansion
Videoplaza, the world's leading management platform video advertising for publishers, today announced it has received a second round of funding worth $12 million from Qualcomm Ventures and Innovacom. The funding will accelerate the global expansion of the company and ensure sustained product leadership following the evolution of video ad inventory to new devices and platforms. After a good 2011, Videoplaza has increased its international customer base and has more than five times the volume of ads served in the past year. The company has opened new offices in Madrid, Berlin and Singapore and works with a customer base in 17 markets worldwide.
- Download the new version of Skype for free
Skype users are in luck this week. Skype, the popular company that allows voice calls over IP (VoIP) today announced the immediate availability the new edition of Skype 5.8 – A version that comes with major improvements, especially on two fronts. It must be said, first, that the issue is available to users of Windows. So, you should expect a good number of users that will begin testing its benefits immediately.