Archive for March, 2008
Freeswitch Declares First Release Candidate
I’ve worked with the many of the freeswitch team over the last 6 months or so and it’s a fantastic telco-grade product created by a very talented team. Read More… ...
Replacing IVR Systems
I am certain that each one of us have horror stories relating to IVR maze. To ease this, many IVR systems allow look-ahead dialing. But then many administrators ask us to listen to all the choices before selecting one because… ...
Distributed Social Directory is the Real Trouble
I posted the following entry at EnThinnai blog. Please visit there to post your comments…. ...
37 Signals, WebEx, Microsoft Outlook, International Conference Calls
Wow, it's been a crazy month. My 2.7 yr old son - Ky, has been in and out of the Children's Hospital with some virus that hit him in a bad way. Poor guy, it was hard for him but he handled it like a real trooper. While this was happening, business at Lypp was pushing forward at a serious pace, it was a difficult month. It looks like he is on the mend now so everyone is feeling a little less stressed. At Lypp we did a little deal with WebEx in order to deliver a co-branded version of thei...
Raul Casto allows mobile phones for Cubans
The first signs of opening: Raul Castro removed the ban of mobile phones for all private Cubans - I did not know that this was not allowed at all. Already this Tuesday he removed the ban of selling PCs, TV-sets and Video recording devices to private Cubans. The drawback: the tariffs have to be paid in convertible pesos: activation CUC$ 120, a minute in Cuba CUC$ 0.5, a minute outside Cuba from 3 CUC$ upwards. To put this in relation, one should know that the monthly earnings in Cuba is 400 natio...
Cubas Options for the Future
As I said in my previous post, the geriatric (and partially dead) trinity in Cuba - Che, Fidel and Raul - is finally coming to an end. They understood to serve the longings of the left wing western postwar and prosperity generations very efficient and let them forget the increasingly fatal situation in Cuba. In Cuba itself they managed to overcome the so-called special period and opened up the country very selectively for tourism by creating basically two markets, one in national pesos and one i...
Nortel’s fascinating move into open source telephony… but NOT with Asterisk
Nortel and “open source telephony”? Huh? That was admittedly my thought when I received the list of who was going to be on the panel I moderated last week at VoiceCon on open source telephony. The other two panelists were obvious choices: Bill Miller was from Digium (makers of Asterisk) and Raza was from 3Com who have recently announced that they would be reselling a version of Digium’s Asterisk Business Edition. Both Bill and Raza made sense to me. But Tony Pereira of Nortel?...
OpenID Providers that Dont Consume are not Evil
I posted the following at EnThinnai blog. Please post your comments there…. ...
Cuban Economy: Status Quo
Up to 1990 the Cuban economy was heavily subsidised by the Soviet Union and the Comecon (Eastern Block) - basically sugar for fuel. When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1990, Cuba enters the so-called Special Period: When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1990, the impact on the Cuban economy was devastating. Cuba lost approximately 80% of its imports, 80% of its exports and its Gross Domestic Product dropped by 34%. Along with food and medicines that were imported, half of the oil it used came from t...
Interview With Alec Saunders
Martyn Davies talks to famous VoIP blogger and CEO of Iotum , Alec Saunders about his career with Microsoft, Iotum’s mission and Alec’s engagement with blogs, Twitter, Facebook, podcasts and other social media tools. ...
Legionella
As my son Michael already mentioned, I was hospitalized with double pneumonia based on legionella pneumonia, together with liver, kidney and some other minor problems. First of all I want to thank everybody all over the world who cared and sent me good wishes. We returned from Cuba on monday, February 18th and I started to feel sick on February 21nd. On February 25th I went to the doctor and got some antibiotica, which basically did not improve the issue. Friday, February 29th my wife decided to...
Walking through VoiceCon in a fog…
It’s been a rough week for me down here in Orlando at VoiceCon. As you’ve noticed, I haven’t really posted any blog entries. In fact, there have been a number of “firsts” down here which I really would have preferred to avoid: first conference ever where I haven’t gone out to dinner with anyone; first conference where I’ve not recorded any audio interviews (or video), despite carrying all my audio gear with me each and every day; first time I’ve ...
Unlimited Mobile Calling for Canadians
Rogers, Fido, Telus, and Bell not giving you Unlimited Mobile Calling in North America? Get Lypp's Mobile Unlimited and start saving! We decided that Americans shouldn't be the only people who get to enjoy unlimited mobile calling in North America so we created a package ourselves. The offer is simple, call any phone number(s) in North America, as much as you like, for a flat fee of $59/month. If you live in Canada and call outside of your area you could easily save hundreds on y...
Max’s eComm Debut
Well, Max just got his 2 minutes of fame at eComm, and delivered his presentation on why the senior citizen market is important for VoIP. I think he did a great job for something so ad hoc, and he’s well on his way to making a name for himself. Thanks so much, Lee, for giving him the chance to get up on stage where so many smart people have been presenting all week long. You can watch Max’s presentation here, video-taped on the fly using the Nokia N81. We weren’t quite ready t...
LeeComm2008 - Template for Conference 2.0???
I’ve got two basic takeaways to share with you about eComm2008. We’re well into Day 3 now, and my impressions are pretty well set at this point. First is the content. Generally, the presentations have been quite good, and some have been really strong, both in terms of creative graphics and the messaging. A few that have stood out for me include: - David Isenberg - driving home the net neutrality message and the need for developers to be more aware of the regulatory climate and how it...
Nokia Reviews on Nokia’s Blogs
Just a quick note about the Nokia Blogger Relations program. Over the past couple of days, I posted my review of the Nokia N95, and Max’s review of the N81. Andy Abramson has been running this program for a while now, and I just wanted to share that our reviews have now been posted to the Nokia Blogs sites, where there’s one for each model - the N95, and the N81. I always post about the Nokia Blogs when our reviews are posted, simply to support the initiative. It’s a great use ...
eComm2008 - Notes and Photos
Busy, busy. Totally over-stimulated with ideas from the non-stop presentations here at eComm2008. Way too much for anyone to really absorb, so you just try to catch what you can and think a lot about what it all means. I’d love to comment further - and I will - but right now, about all I can do is share some photos, and say a few things. Day 2 is just about done, and things are going pretty much to plan. Lee has a very ambitious agenda of speakers, and the pace has been very fast. It’...
Nokia N95 Review
Having been fortunate enough to be part of Nokias Blogger Relations Program for some time, Ive had my share of N-Series phones to use and review. Most of the world especially North America doesnt live this way, and its always fun to use phones that are not in the mainstream or even available here yet. They sure get peoples attention, and Im not shy to talk about whats great and not-so-great about these high-end phones. Anyone who has used these devices knows that calling the...
Max’s Nokia N81 Review
eComm is just getting going here, and I’ll blog about that as time allows. WiFi is slow, so I just have time now to get this post done. My son, Max, is with me at eComm, so he’s getting a great education about IP communications and innovation - lucky guy. Anyhow, we’re working together - he’s just written his Nokia N81 review, and I’m just about done with my N95 review. So, I wanted to quickly share this with you now. Max posted his N81 review to his blog yesterday....
Voxbone 883 Numbers to Bring Portability and Cheap Calling
The culmination of 2 years work, country code 883 will provide global, portable numbers Read More… ...
IP Communications Insights is Launched
Well, the day has finally come. The venture I’ve been working on with fellow indie consultant, Marc Robins is finally hatched. We remain indie consultants, but are pitching our tent a bit further out under the guise of IP Communications Insights. The press release hit the wires this morning, and if you haven’t seen it, you can read it here. So, after reading the press release, I’d love for you to visit our portal, IP Communications Insights, and tell us what you think. We have ...
Spring VON.x Preview
I don’t often post about shows I’m not attending, but the buzz around Spring VON - now VON.x - is starting to build. As readers of my blog would know by now, I’m only able to attend one event over the next 2 weeks, and the way the calendar falls, it won’t be this one. I feel badly about that, so the next best thing is to blog about what’s coming. There are two items I want to draw your attention to about the show. First is the news the other day announcing the VON ...
CEBIT 08 – some observations in regards to VOIP
Just got back from the yearly ‘CEBIT trip’. It was the first time we represented 3CX at the worlds number one IT fair. We exhibited in Hall 13, and I joined my Colleagues Chris, Kevin from 3CX and Andreas from our distributor Ebertlang. I must have spoken/demo’d 3CX to at least 100 people – and noticed a number of trends in the VOIP business: Hall 13 – more or less the ‘VOIP’ hall, was one ...
iPhone SDK, VoIP APIs et al
Andy contemplates a potential surge of VoIP apps likely to be written for the iPhone due to the latest announcements from Apple and KP. I happen to agree with Andy on just about everything in that post, but I do have some comments that potentially relate more to the Canadian market. It's true that mobile costs are going down for users in the US but the opposite is true for mobile users in Canada. Here, the mobile carriers are not facing the same level of competition as the carriers in the U...
eComm2008 - Last Call
As the week winds down and I tie up loose ends before next week - and March Break - I just wanted put out a final call for eComm2008. I’ve posted about it previously, and if this is news to you, have a look, and hope you can make it. And if you want the 15% registration discount, the details are in my last post. I’ll be moderating the session on Mobile Voice Mashups at 2pm on Thursday, and if you’re coming, please drop by. Otherwise, I won’t be hard to find, and will blog...
iPhone SDK Launched
Steve Jobs : “VoIP will be allowed in iPhone apps over WiFi but not Edge/3G”. Read More… ...
VoIP, Vonage and Skype - 3 of my Favorite Things - Ike Elliott Too
I’ve done plenty of blogging, writing and podcasting about these 3 topics - VoIP, Vonage and Skype - over the years, and sometimes I feel I’m the last one standing pointing to any signs of hope for Vonage. Well, I may have a kindred spirit in Ike Elliott, whom I’ve been getting to know better recently. He’s turned up in a few of my posts, and his blog, Telecosm - love the name - is really starting to find its voice. Ike has a long history in telecom, and many people assoc...
Siemens OpenScape add Telepresence
The latest entrant into enterprise video systems with hi-def Read More… ...
Truphone Tru Zone Relaunch
A fixed price calling plan for 40 countries, Tru Zone is Truphone’s new commercial offer for mobile VoIP Read More… ...
Tru Zone Eliminates Roaming Charges
Accoring some news I was sent by Andy, customers will be able to call countries in its “Tru Zone” at the fabulously low rates of just USD0.06 per minute to landlines and USD0.30 per minute to mobiles from almost anywhere on the planet. More importantly, a Truphone-to-Truphone mobile call is always free, no matter where in the world the two parties may be travelling. —- Sounds great, now if I could only use it on my Blackberry! more.. ...
eComm2008 a Week Away/Discount Registration Offer
Time sure flies and I just realized eComm2008 is only a week away. I blogged about it last week, and since then I wanted share this promo video message that one of their sponsors just put together - it’s a good 2 minute take on why this event is shaping up so well. There’s also a press release that went out today with conference updates, including a preview of what Skype’s Jonathan Christensen will be talking about during his keynote as part of an interview he did with Lee Dryb...
Webware 100 - I’m Voting for Octopz and Mobivox
CNET’s Webware 100 voting commenced last Monday, and I’m just coming across this now. This initiative sure looks like a great barometer of Web 2.0, and I would think that anyone following this space would want to be watching this group of companies closely. In some ways this reminds me of Demo, with the idea being that any company making this group is in good company. However, this a very different process where the nominations are determined by Webware’s Editors, and the winne...
Sprion and Verizint
Since Sprint has lost an uncountably infinite number of dollars, I wonder if this could be a solution. Sprint is crap at customer care, average at marketing, but good at wholesale (MVNOs, affiliate built-out, Xohm). Verizon is good at customer care, OK at marketing and doesn’t really do much in the way of wholesale. So why not trade? Sprint offloads the retail customers to Verizon, and in return combines both CDMA networks and becomes a specialist wholesale carrier. Might as well merge ...
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News, opinions and announcements about fast changing communication tools and technologies, from various blogs and ezine.