Ellen Muraskin

A voice over IP startup whose founders hail from MCI has come up with a new consumer-scale calling package that brings the monthly unlimited charge down to $16.58—if subscribers sign up for a year. SunRocket Inc., started in 2004 in Baltimore, Boston and Washington, D.C., and expanding service to 15 major U.S. markets by the […]

Remember 2004 as the year that VOIP finally penetrated mass consumer consciousness, as friends in normal walks of life began to gain a dim awareness of the stuff I write about. Give the lions share of credit to Vonage. Jeff Citrons ad budget bought him banners on such general-interest sites as CNN.com, as well as […]

Net2Phone Inc. has announced the release of a Wi-Fi handset for its VoiceLine IP telephony service. Mum on its OEM origins, the service provider will sell the XJ100 handset for $160, chiefly through its reseller channel of cable operators, ISPs, interconnects and telcos. The SIP phone complies with both the 802.11b and 802.11g standards for […]

Another wrinkle on VOIP (voice over IP) service has been announced by CallWave, a Santa Barbara, Calif., company that has just signed a long-haul IP transport agreement with VOIP wholesaler Level 3. CallWaves consumer, SOHO (small office/home office) and small-business-focused service delivers the real-time call control and mobility features of VOIP systems with none of […]

The race is heating up between telcos and cable operators to wire up broadband customers, providing “triple play” service of voice, data and video on demand. This competition story, whose Nov. 16 installment features SBC and Comcast, is being played out in thickly populated residential and commercial centers. Further from the metro hubs, rural counties […]

BellSouth has begun selling Nortel Networks Multimedia Communication Server 5100, an SIP (Session Initiation Protocol)-based platform that ties dispersed enterprise workers together over broadband IP. The server distributes presence-aware telephony, video, instant messaging, file sharing, whiteboarding and application collaboration across the enterprise WAN. The MCS 5100 will be aimed primarily at BellSouths existing and potential […]

Mitel has announced Release 5 of its 3300 Integrated Communications Platform IP PBX, advancing on a published roadmap aimed at higher scale, increased SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) compliance, network management, security and remote-site survivability. “Mitel clearly wants to break out of its traditional, midsize niche to increase its addressable market,” said Ronald Gruia, a Toronto-based […]

Tuesdays FCC vote exempting Vonage Holding Corp. from “traditional state public utility regulation” comes as no surprise and gives the VOIP (voice over IP) industry cause for celebration. In the decision, the commission stated that it—and not individual states—would decide which regulations apply to VOIP. The official order will be handed down in two weeks. […]

Say youre a small business of 30 employees or fewer, but your employees travel a lot, or work frequently from their homes or client premises. Say further that you have a regular, circuit-switched phone system, perhaps from Panasonic or Toshiba, or maybe Inter-Tel. Or possibly youve even gone the IP route already, and have a […]

Avaya announced on Monday that the integration between its IP softphone and Polycoms ViaVideo II camera, first announced last December, is now at a releasable stage. The result: one desktop tool for buddy-list style chat, IP voice or video calls. If users so configure it, all clicks to “dial” a network colleague using the Avaya […]

Xten Networks Inc. has announced a new version of its Xten eyeBeam video-enabled softphone. Due in early December, eyeBeam 1.1 will incorporate presence and instant messaging along with IP voice and video. The presence and IM features of eyeBeam 1.1 were demonstrated at the CTIA Wireless IT & Entertainment show in San Francisco last week, […]

Whats the idea behind Microsofts new Live Communications Server client—”Istanbul”—at the recent Voice on the Net show? An IP-based, enterprise software end point that knows which of your friends and colleagues are available at any given time, and on which devices. This upgrade of the Windows Messenger instant messaging client also improves its voice and […]