Flextronics, Nortel's largest supplier, had objected to the proposed sale of the assets to Nokia Siemens Networks the original stalking horse bidder for the assets, citing concerns that the sale might affect its contractual rights and claims.

Discussing Verizon’s second-quarter results, which included a 7.2 per cent fall in net income to $3.2bn, John Killian, chief financial officer, said: “Clearly the broader economic issues are affecting the business.

“Although we are taking steps to mitigate the negative impacts of the economy in the short term, we also need to more ­significantly reduce the wireline cost structure over the next 12 to 18 months.”

Operating revenues in Verizon’s global enterprise business segment, which mainly serves big companies, fell 6.7 per cent to $3.7bn as customers reacted to the downturn. Wholesale revenues fell 7.5 per cent to $2.4bn.

Revenues in Verizon’s fixed-line business fell 5.2 per cent to $11.5bn in spite of growth in fibre optic-based video services and broadband services. The number of fixed lines served by Verizon fell by a further 630,000, or 12.3 per cent, to 19.7m, mostly reflecting wireless substitution.

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Posted by Dal at 01:50 PM | Direct Link | TrackBacks (0) Posted to VoIP News

The Asterisk Development Team has announced several Asterisk-Addons releases, including Asterisk-Addons 1.4.9, 1.6.0.3, and 1.6.1.1. These releases are available for immediate download at:

http://downloads.asterisk.org/pub/telephony/asterisk/

These releases are an incremental release after some community reported issues were resolved, primarily in the MySQL and chan_mobile realms.

* Using chan_local with chan_mobile (issue #15299, affects all 1.6.x versions)

* Don't reset a reconnect time unless a reconnect really occurred (issue #15375, affects all versions)

For a full list of changes in these releases, please see the ChangeLogs:

http://svn.asterisk.org/svn/asterisk-addons/tags/1.4.9/ChangeLog
http://svn.asterisk.org/svn/asterisk-addons/tags/1.6.0.3/ChangeLog
http://svn.asterisk.org/svn/asterisk-addons/tags/1.6.1.1/ChangeLog

Thank you for your continued support of Asterisk!

Posted by Dal at 12:41 PM | Direct Link | TrackBacks (0) Posted to Asterisk Releases

Posted by Dal at 05:36 PM | Direct Link | TrackBacks (0) Posted to Asterisk Releases

The contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency provides Raytheon $24.4 million for one year. Options would extend the deal for the mobile network to 2012 and raise the potential value to $155 million.

The system will integrate more than 30 different military, civil or coalition radios into an affordable single network to facilitate communications.

Raytheon says the unique architecture of the system overcomes the limits of most networking systems in use today.  The company also says the system allows for many more users to join the network at the same time.

Source: AP

Posted by Dal at 12:50 PM | Direct Link | TrackBacks (0) Posted to WiFi / Wireless

Law enforcement agencies and intelligence services have used wiretaps since the telephone was invented, but implementing them is much more complex in the modern telecommunications market where the providers are often foreign companies.

"The encryption with Skype telephone software ... creates grave difficulties for us," Joerg Ziercke, president of Germany's Federal Police Office (BKA) told reporters at an annual gathering of security and law enforcement officials.

"We can't decipher it. That's why we're talking about source telecommunication surveillance -- that is, getting to the source before encryption or after it's been decrypted."

Experts say Skype and other Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) calling software are difficult to intercept because they work by breaking up voice data into small packets and switching them along thousands of router paths instead of a constant circuit between two parties, as with a traditional call.

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Posted by Dal at 02:05 PM | Direct Link | TrackBacks (0) Posted to Skype

eBAY Inc.’s dispute with the founders of its Skype Internet-phone division threatens to delay a Skype initial public offering (IPO) and lower the amount raised.

Skype, which lets users place calls online, told a London court in April that it may have to suspend the service if it can’t resolve the fight. Skype’s founders, who still own a piece of software used by Skype, have accused eBay of breaching a licensing deal. They’re threatening to yank the technology from Skype, disabling the world’s largest provider of international calls.

eBay sued the founders in London to prevent that from happening. Still, the timing of the case may interfere with plans to spin off Skype as an IPO in 2010. If unresolved, the lawsuit also may cut the price eBay gets in the offering, said Randolf Katz, a lawyer at Baker Hostetler in Costa Mesa, California. He isn’t involved in the case.

“The market hates uncertainty because you can’t price around it,” said Katz, who has advised technology companies on corporate finance and IPOs. “The lawsuit is out there, and it will be factored into the price.”

Chief executive officer John Donahoe devised the IPO plan to unlock more value from Skype. He has pegged the business’ value at least $2 billion, saying he’s already rejected at least one offer for Skype.

John Pluhowski, a spokesman for San Jose, California-based eBay, declined to comment. Joltid Ltd., the company operated by Skype’s founders, also declined to comment.

Skype had asked a judge to accelerate the trial. It lost that bid, meaning the case is likely to go to court in the first three months of 2010, Justice Kim Lewison said, according to court transcripts of the April 3 hearing. eBay wants the IPO to happen in the first half of next year.

If Joltid wins, the effect would be “devastating,” Charles Hollander, Skype’s attorney, told the court. Skype would “exit the market whilst we embark on a lengthy and costly process of developing an alternative form of software code.”

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Posted by Dal at 02:30 PM | Direct Link | TrackBacks (0) Posted to Skype

ChannelWeb first reported on the issue in May, when Microsoft layed off much of the group behind Response Point, and wouldn't commit to future development of a 2.0 release.

This week, ChannelWeb reports that Response Point Program Manager John Frederickson told a town hall meeting with VoIP resellers that the company doesn't currently plan to release future versions of Response Point but will continue to maintain the product and evaluate specific feature requests.

Hard to know exactly what that means, but if I were looking for a VoIP PBX for my small business, I'd be looking for a little more reassurance about Response Point's future. Otherwise, I'd keep looking elsewhere.

According to ChannelWeb, Response Point is "a full-fledged IP PBX system designed for organizations with up to 50 employees." It boasts an "affordable price tag and robust feature set, which includes SIP trunking and click-to-call functionality via Outlook."

See Microsoft's Response Point site.

Source: Bmighyl

Posted by Dal at 01:45 PM | Direct Link | TrackBacks (0) Posted to VoIP News

Editor's Note:  I want to bring attention to a free book offer "Creating RFP's for IP Telephony Systems" that is being presented by VoiceIP Solutions.  The book covers the process that goes into creating a RFP when getting bids for a new phone system / PBX.  This is ideal for the IT Manager or Telecommunication System Director that has been tasked with getting competitive bids from various vendors.  If you use this book and it does come in handy for your PBX project, please send me a note and let me know.  Enjoy.

Here is what Amazon.com states the book covers:

· What are RFPs and RFQs
· Why use and RFP for IP Telephony Systems
· What are the Key RFP Objectives and Processes
· How to Identify Company Communication Requirements
· Who is involved in the Creation of an RFP
· The Typical Steps in Creating an RFP Document
· How to Issue and Manage RFPs
· Evaluating RFP Responses
· RFP Communication between Issuer and Responder
· Outline Template for a typical RFP 

 Goto the following link and fill out the information form and a book will be send out within 7-10 business days (While supplies last):

VoIP & IP PBX RFPs Book Offer - VoiceIP Solutions

Posted by Dal at 02:10 PM | Direct Link | TrackBacks (0) Posted to VoIP News

 

Asterisk is the most widely used open source telephony engine and tool kit. By offering flexibility to access and alter the software code, Asterisk empowers developers and systems integrators to create Voice over IP (VoIP) communication solutions that match the specific needs of a business. Many businesses use Asterisk as a PBX to manage phone calls, but it’s also commonly used as a gateway between IP and PSTN networks, a telephony feature server and as the basis for call center applications.

In addition to its support for G.729a transcoding, the TCE400B gives Asterisk the ability to convert G.723.1 compressed audio into other formats, a capability not otherwise possible with Asterisk or software-only solutions. The card’s capabilities allow transcoding between simple, G.711 u-law and a-law, and complex, G.729a 8.0 kbit/s and G.723.1 5.3/6.3 kbit/s, codecs. When running in G.729a mode, the TCE400B can support 120 simultaneous transformations; in a mixed G.729a and G.723.1 mode, it supports 92 simultaneous transformations.

“The TCE400B will be of interest to companies using Asterisk to build feature servers, gateways or custom systems and wanting to conserve CPU cycles,” said Bill Miller, Digium’s vice president of product management. “The card’s ability to work with compressed audio in multiple formats also supports its use in complex telephony environments. Overall, the TCE400B will help bring Asterisk into more enterprise telephony environments.”

For more information about TCE400B PCI Express card, visit http://www.digium.com. It is available immediately through Digium’s network of partners worldwide for U.S. $1,295.00 USD.

Documentation Link

Source: Business Wire

Posted by Dal at 01:35 PM | Direct Link | TrackBacks (0) Posted to Asterisk Hardware

 

Some of the cities where it plans to launch the service include, Las Vegas, Chicago, Charlotte, N.C., Dallas/Ft. Worth, Honolulu, Philadelphia, and Seattle. And it plans to launch the network in cities such as New York, Boston, Washington, D.C., Houston, and the San Francisco Bay Area, in 2010.

Clearwire is using a technology called WiMax, which offers faster speeds than current 3G wireless technologies, but offers wider coverage than other high-speed wireless technologies such as Wi-Fi. Clearwire claims that it can provide up to 4Mbps for downloads and 500 kbps for uploading, which is more than double what consumers can expect using a 3G wireless connection.

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Posted by Dal at 01:16 PM | Direct Link | TrackBacks (0) Posted to WiMax