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November 30, 2007

Snom Technology Wins Deloitte ''Fast 500 EMEA'' Award

 

Snom technology AG, developer and manufacturer of VoIP phones, announced today that they have received one of the coveted Deloitte "Fast 500 EMEA" awards for the first time. Each year, Deloitte, the international auditing firm, ranks the 500 fastest-growing technology enterprises in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, and recognizes them for their entrepreneurial excellence. snomwas ranked first among German communication and networking enterprises.

With a growth rate of 1312, 56% from 2002 to 2006, snom placed 125th in the overall ranking and 12th among German participants. "The high growth confirms the confidence our customers and partners have in the quality of our VoIP phones, and it also shows that our standards meet the demands of the market," said Dr. Michael Knieling, executive director of sales and marketing for snom.

"We will continue to focus on growth and further development of innovative VoIP technology in order to be able to maintain our position among the international market leaders of the VoIP industry." In October, snom was among the winners of the German Deloitte"Fast 50" program and considerably exceeded the average growth rate determined by Deloitte.

The Deloitte ranking calculates this growth rate based on the cumulative annual revenue growth rates of the past five years. About snom snom technology AG develops and manufactures Voice-over-IP (VoIP) telephones and related equipment based on the IETF open standard, SIP (Session Initiation Protocol).

 Source: Reuters

Posted by Dal at 12:03 PM | | TrackBacks (0) Posted to VoIP Hardware

November 29, 2007

Asterisk PBX 1.4.15 and 1.2.25 Released

The Asterisk.org development team has released Asterisk versions 1.4.15 and 1.2.25.  These releases contain two fixes for security issues.

http://downloads.digium.com/pub/asa/AST-2007-025.pdf
* This is a SQL injection vulnerability in the res_config_pgsql module.  Default installations of Asterisk are not affected.  However, any system using the Postgres Realtime Engine may be remotely exploitable.  This issue only affects Asterisk 1.4, as this module was not in Asterisk 1.2.

http://downloads.digium.com/pub/asa/AST-2007-026.pdf
* This is another SQL injection vulnerability.  The input for the ANI and DNIS fields were not properly escaped.  Default installations of Asterisk are not vulnerable.  However, systems that use the Postgres CDR logging module may be remotely exploitable.  This issue affects both Asterisk 1.2 and 1.4.

Both releases are available on: http://downloads.digium.com

Thank you very much for your support!

Posted by Dal at 02:52 PM | | TrackBacks (0) Posted to Asterisk Releases

November 27, 2007

Zaptel 1.2.22 and 1.4.7 Released

The Asterisk development team has announced the release of Zaptel versions 1.2.22 and 1.4.7. These releases contain (among other things) many bug fixes to the TC400B driver, a bug fix on the wctdm24xxp driver for users with a VPM150M, as well as numerous improvements and fixes to the Xorcom driver suite.
 
The much better performing version of fxotune from 1.4 has now been put into 1.2, so you may wish to rerun this tool with the new version. As always, please see the respective Changelogs for additional information. Both releases are available as a tarball as well as a patch against the previous release. They are available for download from downloads.digium.com. Thank you for your support!

Posted by Dal at 12:31 PM | | TrackBacks (0) Posted to Asterisk Releases

November 23, 2007

Vonage is Ordered to Pay Verizon $120 million in Damages

Note:  Is this the end of Vonage?  At the bottom of the post, Vonage said is might not be able to meet its debt due in Dec 2008.   

It’s not the news Vonage executives wanted to hear. The company was refused leave to appeal the decision that left it owing $120 million in damages to Verizon.

The US Court of Appeals turned down Vonage’s application, which related to a case involving three patents that Verizon owned relating to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) calling.

Under the settlement, Vonage will pay $117.5 million to Verizon and another £2.5 million to charity. This follows another patent settlement with Sprint that saw Vonage having to pay $80 million. "We were not surprised, but disappointed that the court denied our request for a rehearing of the case," Charlie Sahner, a spokesman for Vonage, told Bloomberg News."We are pleased to continue putting litigation behind us."

Vonage share prices stood at $2 on Friday, and the company has already announced that it might not be able to meet debts coming due in December next year.

Source:  Digital Trends 

Posted by Dal at 10:04 AM | | TrackBacks (0) Posted to Vonage

November 19, 2007

Cisco Thinks Stock is Undervalued, Buying $10 Billion Back

Cisco has boosted its stock buyback effort by $10 billion, a sign the Internet networking supplier still believes its shares are undervalued. The move, announced Friday, is a way for the San Jose-based company to increase the value of remaining investors' stakes, counter the effect of employees exercising stock options and protect its financial image.

When stock options are exercised, it adds shares to the market, while a buyback removes them and boosts the value of each remaining shareholder's stake.

Cisco's decision highlights the dilemma many companies face in trying to reduce the dilution caused by generous employee stock option plans.

Cisco, the world's largest maker of Internet routers and switches, has been profiting from steadily rising demand for more Internet bandwidth and sophisticated networking gear to handle an influx of voice, video and data content on the Web.

Since Cisco launched its stock buyback program in September 2001, it has been on a tear and seeking for ways to spend its cash horde — currently $24.7 billion — and return that value to shareholders.

The company has bought back 2.3 billion shares for a total of $46.2 billion.

Friday's announcement brings the total amount Cisco's board of directors has authorized for buying back stock to $62 billion.

Cisco's total share count has declined by only 1.2 billion, from 7.3 billion outstanding shares in 2001 to 6.1 billion at the end of October, however. That's mostly a result of employees exercising options on 1.15 billion shares over the same period, the company said Friday. Some of the increase came from funding acquisitions by issuing stock, Cisco said.

 

Click Here for the Full Article 

 

Posted by Dal at 11:04 AM | | TrackBacks (0) Posted to Cisco

Google Eyeballing Clearwire in Wireless Strategy?

Note:  Do It Google.  Trust me, the force is strong with Craig.  Then you can deploy Clearwire in Las Vegas :)  How can you serve Nevada and only hit Reno?  I don't get it?  Anyways, WiMax is a good technology and I think is has the potential of solving the wireless "last mile" solution.  I am ordering CW today to increase my bandwidth.    
 
A Google investment in Clearwire could fortify the search company's quest to reach more users through their mobile devices. If Google can help Clearwire build out its wireless network, Google could sell consumers mobile applications and services rich with targeted, contextual and localized ads, analysts agreed.
Since announcing its Android mobile software stack Nov. 5, Google has weathered a steady stream of speculation about what it will do next in the wireless arena. That speculation deepened after Sprint and Clearwire nixed their WiMax agreement, prompting industry watchers to predict Google might target either of the two wireless carriers for some sort of deal.
 
Forrester Research analyst Charles Golvin said a Google investment in Clearwire would also likely make Clearwire guarantee the openness that Google has argued for in the Federal Communications Commission auctions and promoted in Android. Google could then promote a model in which consumers use Google's applications and services irrespective of what networks they are on or what mobile devices they are using.
 
 

Posted by Dal at 10:47 AM | | TrackBacks (0) Posted to WiFi / Wireless

November 12, 2007

Skype WiFi Phone Outage

Note: Good old Tom Keating emailed me this morning with this story. 

BREAKING NEWS! Something has happened with the Skype service that prevents all brands of WiFi and dual-mode (WiFi & PSTN) phones from signing into Skype. This problem seems to have started sometime on Saturday and continued until late Sunday (possibly as late at 1:15am Monday morning).

As of today, most users have been able to sign-in but some are still experiencing issues. Models affected include the Netgear SPH200D, Linksys CIT400, Edge-core WM4201, SMC WSKP100, Philips 841, and other WiFi phones. Wow, first an outage with the Skype software and now a major outage with the Skype hardware.
 

Posted by Dal at 08:53 AM | | TrackBacks (0) Posted to Skype

November 10, 2007

Clearwire and Sprint End WiMax Network-Building Partnership

Sprint Nextel and Clearwire Corp. scrapped plans to build a high-speed wireless network together after the ouster of Sprint Chief Executive Officer Gary Forsee. Clearwire shares dropped 25 percent. Clearwire, the network company founded by mobile-phone pioneer Craig McCaw, and Sprint said July 19 they would complete the agreement within 60 days. Forsee departed last month after Sprint lost customers and investors including Ralph Whitworth questioned whether the venture was too expensive.

The collapse is a blow to Clearwire, whose losses have swelled for at least three years amid efforts to build a national network. The company, which sold shares to the public in March to help fund construction, said today that third-quarter sales totaled $41.3 million, less than 100th of Sprint's.

``The Sprint deal was really good for Clearwire, and it's bad that they lost that,'' said Jonathan Schildkraut, an analyst at Jefferies & Co. in New York. ``Clearwire will have to shoulder a bigger burden to get broader network coverage.'' He recommends investors buy Clearwire shares and doesn't own any.

Clearwire, based in Kirkland, Washington, dropped $4.54 to $13.49 at 4 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market trading, the most since the initial public offering. Sprint slumped 23 cents to $16.31 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Click Here for More Info

 

Posted by Dal at 07:46 PM | | TrackBacks (0) Posted to WiMax

November 08, 2007

VoIP Provider Jajah Bring "In-Call Ad Platform" aka: Googlesque Adwords for Phone Calls

Editor's Note:  Here is a little juice that came down the Grapevine.  Exciting stuff and I can say honestly I was not surprised.  If you look at current advertising trends you could see that VoIP would cross this path.  I am planning on doing an interview with Jajah's CEO to ask him about the implications for the space and his company with this announcement. 
 
JAJAH today revealed an extension to its business model that is likely to effect the advertising business on a global scale. JAJAH's patent pending in-call advertising platform turns the inventory of the world's telephone calls into an advertising market place.
"We spend more time on the phone than consuming all other types of media, TV, reading papers and radio included. However, advertisers spend very little budget advertising on telephone calls - phones haven't been considered as a viable channel yet. We are going to change that." says Roman Scharf, JAJAH's co-founder. "In tests over the past months we have identified a method to overlay advertising content on phone calls in a way that users find acceptable. We turned it into an open platform so that everyone can benefit. Consumers get a better deal and telecommunications companies monetize their inventory."
 
How does in-call advertising work? JAJAH has developed a non-intrusive approach. Whereas in-call advertising would normally interrupt a call and disturb the caller, JAJAH simply overlays the messages above the ring tone right before the call starts. Businesses get guaranteed caller attention, whilst at the same time not alienating the consumer with intrusive messages that break the rhythm of a telephone call.
 
"Google paved the way around a decade ago with Google AdWords. Their approach was revolutionary, as they respected the users' common sense and reactions. We are now trying to do the same for the massive amount of phone call inventory. Think AdWords for the phone." says JAJAH co-founder Daniel Mattes.
 
JAJAH in-call advertising will be made available to JAJAH users shortly. It's an opt-in solution where users hear and see very targeted advertising content and receive monthly credit. Users can effectively earn back their entire phone bill, or even make money while talking to their friends and family. "In a next step we will increase the reach of JAJAH in-call advertising by allowing telecommunications partners to use our platform to monetize their inventory as well", says Trevor Healy, JAJAH's CEO. "Operators will have the opportunity to install our advertising appliance in their environments and connect to the platform. We will turn call wait time into value add, and the end user and partner will both see a return."
 
With JAJAH's new in-call advertising, businesses of any kind can target their audience on any given scale. Small, local companies can play their messages to the local JAJAH users. "If you own a furniture store that you want to introduce to your local community, your messages will be played to your prospective customers next door - not someone a thousand miles away." explains JAJAH co-founder Roman Scharf.
 
In a separate press release today JAJAH announced a strategic partnership with Oridian - Online Media Solutions, Ltd., the largest privately-owned advertising network. By partnering with Oridian, JAJAH gets immediate access to a large number of companies to introduce and jump-start the new service.
 
Source:  Jajah 
 

Posted by Dal at 01:26 PM | | TrackBacks (0) Posted to VoIP News

November 07, 2007

WiMax in Brazil

 
 
Note:  The more I keep reading it seems like Brazil has been on the cutting edge on a couple advancement.  The other one that comes to mind of their new found export of the bio-fuel ethanol. 
 
For some time now, Brazil has been thought of as a key market for WiMax. The country’s low level of wired broadband access is no where near proportionate to its geographic size, making it a prime location for WiMax deployment.

Now, Solectek Corporation announced that it will be manufacturing and selling its SkyWay-MAX series of WiMAX products in that region, and is expecting to acheive success to that end. The numbers support this idea: according to Business Wire, “the total accumulated equipment market for BWA/WiMAX in Brazil should reach US$300 million by 2010.”

Though WiMAX trials have been going on all over South America for some time now, Solectek’s Vice President is quoted as saying that 2008 may be the year that high-density WiMAX deployment finally comes to fruition in Brazil.

Source: Going WiMax 

Posted by Dal at 09:54 AM | | TrackBacks (0) Posted to WiMax

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