|
|
|
Covers the latest news, insight, analysis, blogs and product reviews of unified communications equipment and software. Topics include transmission of voice communications over a wired or wireless network using technologies such as VoIP, IP Telephony, IP PBX, press-to-talk and computer-based voice.
Top VOIP & Telephony News
A report from AMI Partners predicts long-term growth for smartphones, 3G networks and VOIP capability in the APAC region, consisting of Australia, Japan and Korea.
Article
The Federal Trade Commission's Telemarketing Sales Rule puts consumers in charge of how they want to receive telemarketing communications. Beginning Sept. 1, 2009, Federal Trade Commission regulations will require that automated sales communications can only be delivered to recipients who have already provided their express written consent to receive them. Here, Knowledge Center contributor Mark Friedman explains how to create a successful preference and opt-in program for more targeted, effective marketing communications.
Review
If there's a mobile device festooned with as many radios, input options, software sources and configuration menus as Nokia has managed to cram into the N97, eWEEK Labs has never seen it. But the N97's many features start to shine with continued use, and the form factor is sturdy and pleasingly portable. The price, though--$700--is a tough pill to swallow.
News
Palm has sold an estimated 370,000 Palm Pre smartphones and is likely to sell 1 million units in the first quarter the mobile device is available, according to a PalmWebOS.org blogger predicting continuing success for the Pre.
News
The new-generation video platform will deliver streaming video and move various content across multiple mediums, including online, mobile networks and IPTV-enabled set-top boxes.
Article
Basketball fans can thank video conferencing technology and dedicated video networks for the live feed they will see from 15 team headquarters during the 2009 NBA Draft. Video conferencing MSP Glowpoint will provide the service, replacing satellite feeds, for the fifth year in a row. Glowpoint, which also provides video conferencing services to enterprise customers, says the recession and the entry of big players such as Cisco into the video conferencing space, continue to drive the market's biggest business increase ever.
News
A week after Nortel sold off several business units to Nokia Siemens Networks for $650 million, Nortel announces Release 3.0 of its SCS unified communications solution, as well as a deal in which it will work with Microsoft to bring a UC environment to a European telecom. Nortel has been in Chapter 11 bankruptcy for most of the year, and officials say along with the Nokia deal they are also shopping around other business units.
News
Verizon Wireless introduces the HTC Ozone, a Windows Mobile smartphone that will be available for purchase online June 29 for $49.99 after a rebate and with a contract. The HTC Ozone is an inexpensive smartphone amidst pricier new options from Palm, Apple and Nokia.
News
Google is rolling Google Voice out to users who signed up for the service. The VOIP management system assigns users one number to ring their home, work and cell phones. Though not to be confused with Skype's universal VOIP platform, analysts praise the service. Is number portability on the way?
News
Pay-as-you-go wireless provider MetroPCS offers customers an unlimited international calling plan at a time when consumers have increasing access to voice over Internet Protocol solutions.
News
HP is offering upgraded carrier-grade servers and storage arrays designed to help telecommunications companies and service providers more easily manage the convergence of telephony and IT. The upgraded ProLiant systems are based on Intel’s “Nehalem EP” processors, and can support a variety of OSes, including Windows, Linux, HP-UX and Solaris. Another Integrity blade system is run on Intel’s Itanium chip. The two arrays come out of HP’s StorageWorks group.
Article
Today's busy IT professionals are burdened by the demands of doing more with less, which is a common impetus for them to champion unified communications across the enterprise. Unified communications can maximize an enterprise's existing infrastructure and communications investments. And, as Knowledge Center contributor Gunjan Bhow explains here, unified communications can also help enterprises save money and valuable IT support resources.
News
Intel and Nokia announce a long-term relationship in which the chip maker and mobile phone maker will develop new types of high-speed, Internet-rich mobile computing devices and chip-set architectures. Intel is keen to join the smartphone space dominated by Apple, RIM and Palm, and Nokia is pursuing additional U.S. market share.
Article
It seems easy to judge an old smartphone from years ago as not being as good as today's smartphones, but that's not just because of speeds and feeds or just the industrial design. What makes one smartphone better than another is a combination of the materials used, the industrial design that integrates those materials, the user interface, the services provided, and how clever and intuitive the system is. Here, Knowledge Center mobile and wireless analyst J. Gerry Purdy shares 10 reasons why he thinks the Palm Pre is the best smartphone to date.
News
Apple's iPhone would be the smartphone of choice for four out of 10 BlackBerry and other smartphone users, according to a new survey by the research company Crowd Science. Crowd Science also finds that 14 percent of smartphone users would switch to a BlackBerry as their next device, while 82 percent of iPhone users would choose to stick with the iPhone brand.
|
|
|
| ST. BERNARD RESOURCE CENTER |
Cut Your Web Filtering Expense and Get a T-shirt!
Dude, where's your Surf control? Catch the next wave in Web Filtering with iPrism. Sign up for a Web Demo today and get a free WIPEOUT T-shirt. Plus, you may be elgible for a free Surfboard!
Brought to You By
| |
 |
|
Despite current iPhone limitations, Skype 1.0.1 for Apple iPhone performed well in eWEEK Labs' tests, providing most of Skype’s functionality--including instant message chats, presence and profile editing--on Wi-Fi, EDGE or (most likely) 3G. Voice calls are limited to Wi-Fi, but that can be a plus, depending on AT&T network coverage in your area. Next up is Skype support for (some) BlackBerry devices.
Savi Office, from Plantronics, offers more than a wireless headset solution with simultaneous connection to both a desk phone and PC. Savi Office also offers the PerSono software suite for controlling device behavior and for bridging content between communications channel. However, the flexible solution comes at a steep price and is not yet enterprise-ready. And it can only be used with Microsoft Windows-based PCs, though Plantronics says users of Apple Macs will be able to use the Savi Office devices as headsets.
With the recession raging and IT budgets contracting, enterprises looking to deploy unified communications solutions need to ensure that they're focused on the business objectives behind the plan. Even in this troubled economy, enterprises need to resist the urge to cut corners, which could hamper UC projects at the onset. IT administrators also must be careful with UC products that are on the market. Some UC solutions, like the ones from Unison, come up short on features that address all an enterprise's UC needs. Others, like those from Microsoft, fill most of a business's UC needs, but come at a high price.
Scopia Conferencing Platform manages to coax disparate conference room and desktop videoconferencing solutions into relative harmony.
Microsoft’s VOIP and unified communications platforms don’t intersect significantly—yet.
|
|
|
|
|
| FEATURED SPONSORED MESSAGE |
New White Papers from Sun and Intel
Brought to You By
 | |
|
| FEATURED SPONSORED MESSAGE |
Brought to You By
 | |
|
|
|
 |
EWEEK E-MAIL NEWSLETTERS bring you reliable, timely
information to stay on top of the business of technology -- and
technology in business -- and get more out of the Web.
Make your choices and start your subscriptions today!
| 
|
 |
EWEEK RSS NEWS FEEDS contain a daily feed of our latest stories from over 30 different categories including Enterprise Apps, Business Intelligence, Security, VOIP and more!
Subscribe to our RSS feeds today for free...
| 
|
|
|
VOIP & Telephony 
