Ted Stevenson

By now—especially for readers of VoIPplanet.com—the benefits of convergence between fixed and mobile phone networks should be pretty well understood: fewer phone numbers and message repositories, increased availability or “reachability” of personnel, and some cost savings when calls are routed over IP-based data networks instead of mobile operators’ access networks. The fly in the ointment, […]

Cambridge, Mass.-based iSkoot Inc. has made its Skype for mobile phone solution available at least since February of this year, when we first heard about it. As iSkoot CEO, Jacob Guedalia likes to say, the iSkoot application “frees Skype suers from their PCs and allows them to connect with online contacts from anywhere, at any […]

While talk of fixed/mobile convergence—phone service that automatically switches from a cellular network to a wireless LAN when one is available—has been much in the news over the past year or so, there hasn’t been much in the way of converged service offerings or dual-mode hardware capable of making this happen. That’s all about to […]

BridgePort, Openwave announce IP (intellectual property) pact Chicago-based BridgePort Networks, which was party to multiple initiatives unveiled at last month’s 3GSM congress in Barcelona, continued that trend in Las Vegas, announcing an intellectual property partnership with Openwave Systems of Redwood City, Calif. BridgePort’s contribution to the fixed/mobile convergence phenomenon centers on technology that switches data […]

Dublin, Ireland-based Accuris Networks has a long history of bridging dissimilar communications networking technologies—going back to 1996, when they set up a system to let German T-Mobile GSM customers roam to GTE’s AMPS network at the Atlanta Olympic Games. In 2000, the company introduced GSM/CDMA roaming around the deployment of Motorola’s Iridium satellite network. This […]

Last month’s 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona was a watershed event for fixed/mobile telecom convergence—wherein users with one phone device (and one number) can take advantage of inexpensive high-speed connectivity in the fixed-line home or office setting and fall back on the mobile network while out and about. Chicago-based BridgePort Networks announced two separate demonstrations […]

Plano, Texas-based SyChip Inc. used last week’s CES event in Las Vegas to showcase the announcement of its SyVoice WLAN7100 wireless VoIP module—an 802.11g Wi-Fi modem plus full VoIP functionality on a single chip—complete with drivers for the Windows Mobile OS. “Wireless VoIP is a rapidly emerging market segment and an application that is very […]

Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Zultys Technologies today announced the release of a telephony device it believes will bring vastly greater flexibility—and improved quality—to audio conferencing. The Frisbee-form BTC or Bluetooth Conference Phone is designed to operate in conjunction with any Bluetooth-equipped phone, including Zultys’s line of IP phones. According to Zultys vice president of marketing, Patrick Ferriter, […]

Two Ontario-based companies earlier this week announced the fruition of a two year collaboration: a municipal Wi-Fi network with robust VoIP capabilities. Telecom operator Atria Networks and Wi-Fi infrastructure vendor BelAir Networks announced the launch of a Wi-Fi cloud covering the core downtown section of high-tech center Waterloo, Ontario. The deployment uses BelAir’s wireless mesh […]

Today, Office Depot, Inc. announced the availability of its new hosted Wireless Office Service, an economical platform for small and medium size businesses that extends a main business phone number to any and all employees phones, by mapping virtual numbers to the appropriate extensions. In particular, with Wireless Office Service, employees’ cell phones are integrated […]

Atlanta-based Verso Technologies last week announced the introduction of a carrier grade tool or ‘application filter’ designed to let cable operators and other IP service providers “selectively disable undesirable network traffic and improve service levels on their networks,” according to a press release. The product is aimed specifically at peer-to-peer (p2p) applications, such as VoIP, […]

Dublin, Ireland-based Cicero Networks today announced an upgrade to CiceroPhone, its lightweight SIP softphone. The new version supports both IP-based Wi-Fi calls and GSM cellular mobile calls—as well as calls to the PSTN via any SIP gateway. The software client works across a range of hardware devices including PCs, PDAs, smartphones, and the newly emerging […]