Appliance Versus Software for Call Recording
Generally speaking, the key driver of VoIP has been cost savings. Routing internal calls over IP networks means is free, once the IP PBX (News - Alert) is deployed. It’s also the primary factor in the growth of SIP Trunking – which brings those savings to external calls as well.
But, when you start looking at various features of VoIP systems, it’s clear that the popular ones are those that are easy to use and create business process efficiencies.
Take call recording. It’s not a new concept, but when you add it into a VoIP system, the recording process becomes simpler, and storage issues disappear. VoIP call recording also makes regulatory compliance easier and allows for the development of more effective training and coaching programs, creating more efficient operations.
So, as the VoIP market continues to thrive – even under challenging economic conditions – so, too has the VoIP call recording space, with a number of vendors touting their solutions at trade shows on the East Coast and the West. Some offer software-based solutions, while others have appliances, so the question becomes, which is better?
Of course, each business must consider its needs when looking for a solution, and many would suggest that, with the general move towards software-based solutions, that is the way to go. However, SIP Print (News - Alert) has developed an affordable VoIP call recording appliance that is says offers a powerful alternative to software.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Skype May Be Axed If eBay Loses Court Case
The web phone call service Skype may be axed if its owner eBay loses a legal battle with its founders, the parent company has admitted.
Internet firm eBay bought the popular service, which allows users to make free calls through their internet connection, for more than £1bn in 2005.
But Joltid, a company run by Skype's founders, still owns the technology behind it.
It leases the peer-to-peer connection software to eBay.
A row over whether eBay broke its licence agreement could threaten a planned stock market flotation of the service - or force eBay to axe Skype altogether.
Documents to regulators in the United States revealed the extent of the legal wrangles.
eBay said it was "confident" about the outcome but if it lost, "continued operation of Skype's business as currently conducted would likely not be possible".
Joltid accused eBay of modifying a code used in the system, which it said went against the agreed terms.
As a result, eBay launched legal action at the High Court arguing the software lease could not be terminated.
Joltid then made a counter-claim threatening to pull out of the licence agreement.
Skype has gained 480 million users worldwide thanks to a service which allows people to make voice or video calls for no additional cost other than that of their internet connection.
The documents filed to the Securities and Exchange Commission reveal eBay is attempting to create new software in order to break its reliance on Joltid.
The web phone call service Skype may be axed if its owner eBay loses a legal battle with its founders, the parent company has admitted.
Internet firm eBay bought the popular service, which allows users to make free calls through their internet connection, for more than £1bn in 2005.
But Joltid, a company run by Skype's founders, still owns the technology behind it.
It leases the peer-to-peer connection software to eBay.
A row over whether eBay broke its licence agreement could threaten a planned stock market flotation of the service - or force eBay to axe Skype altogether.
Documents to regulators in the United States revealed the extent of the legal wrangles.
eBay said it was "confident" about the outcome but if it lost, "continued operation of Skype's business as currently conducted would likely not be possible".
Joltid accused eBay of modifying a code used in the system, which it said went against the agreed terms.
As a result, eBay launched legal action at the High Court arguing the software lease could not be terminated.
Joltid then made a counter-claim threatening to pull out of the licence agreement.
Skype has gained 480 million users worldwide thanks to a service which allows people to make voice or video calls for no additional cost other than that of their internet connection.
The documents filed to the Securities and Exchange Commission reveal eBay is attempting to create new software in order to break its reliance on Joltid.
Monday, June 29, 2009
7.8 Million Business VoIP Lines by 2012
P&F believes the market for “Business VoIP Lines” will reach a total of 7.8 million lines deployed by 2012.According to the firm, Verizon and Qwest will capture the biggest share of large enterprises as VoIP customers, but will face competition in the SMB space from a variety of new entrants.”
P&F believes the market for “Business VoIP Lines” will reach a total of 7.8 million lines deployed by 2012.According to the firm, Verizon and Qwest will capture the biggest share of large enterprises as VoIP customers, but will face competition in the SMB space from a variety of new entrants.”
Saturday, June 27, 2009
VoIP through G-talk
With the past record of Google's ability to enter into and quickly dominate entirely new fields, an incursion by Google into new territory is definitely something worth taking seriously. Voice over Internet Protocol technology is no different, and right now Google appears to be making a play for a greater share of the VoIP market. There are several ways in which Google could come become a bigger player in the VoIP market.
One of them is through its messenger service. Right now Google Talk is an instant messenger service that is capable of voice transmission, as well as its standard text transmission. It's still limited to contacting other people using Google Talk and several other Instant Messenger services like GAIM, Trillian, iChat, Psi, and Adium.
That said though, Google supposedly has plans to make changes to Google Talk that would make it compatible with more traditional telephone systems. If that happens, it would obviously be much easier to get access to what would resemble a fully functional VoIP service simply by downloading a free program from Google.
With the past record of Google's ability to enter into and quickly dominate entirely new fields, an incursion by Google into new territory is definitely something worth taking seriously. Voice over Internet Protocol technology is no different, and right now Google appears to be making a play for a greater share of the VoIP market. There are several ways in which Google could come become a bigger player in the VoIP market.
One of them is through its messenger service. Right now Google Talk is an instant messenger service that is capable of voice transmission, as well as its standard text transmission. It's still limited to contacting other people using Google Talk and several other Instant Messenger services like GAIM, Trillian, iChat, Psi, and Adium.
That said though, Google supposedly has plans to make changes to Google Talk that would make it compatible with more traditional telephone systems. If that happens, it would obviously be much easier to get access to what would resemble a fully functional VoIP service simply by downloading a free program from Google.
Friday, June 19, 2009
Why the VoIP phone?
Many persons are going to abroad for visit or residence. If they are far from their native place and nation, they want to contact their relative more and more. The call tariffs of the resident country do not allow making call more time, for the tariff will be costly.
That time any person will search for a method using to make call cheaply. Finally, the VoIP system is more efficient and successful to make international call with cheap rate.
There are many VoIP Software available in Internet. A man with high speed internet connection can setup this software easily not only in their Personal Computer but also in their Personal Mobile Phone. They can make call with simple procedures to complete.
Many persons are going to abroad for visit or residence. If they are far from their native place and nation, they want to contact their relative more and more. The call tariffs of the resident country do not allow making call more time, for the tariff will be costly.
That time any person will search for a method using to make call cheaply. Finally, the VoIP system is more efficient and successful to make international call with cheap rate.
There are many VoIP Software available in Internet. A man with high speed internet connection can setup this software easily not only in their Personal Computer but also in their Personal Mobile Phone. They can make call with simple procedures to complete.
What is it?
VoIP (or Internet telephony which is almost the same thing) is any one of several technologies that allow you to make phone calls over the Internet instead of over the telephone network. Some more advanced and secure systems use a private data network instead of the Internet. This technology has been around since the 1970s but hasn't been practical until recently because for it to be effective you need a broadband/high-speed connection. Specifically you need a bit more than 100kbps per connection using modern VoIP transmission technologies. This has only recently become common among residential broadband subscribers.
That kind of bandwidth has been available in businesses for longer and the technology is already well established in the business market – but even there the necessary broadband has only been commonly available for three or four years.In addition, improvements in standards, protocols and underlying hardware and software have also made the required broadband speeds more feasible and have reduced costs to where the decision to move to VoIP is more about the timing and the implementation for a business rather than if it should switch or not.
Typically any VoIP system – residential on up – offers slightly lower operating costs (contrary to advertising claims the cost savings are small) but offers a big step forward in available features and functions. For example, it is now perfectly feasible and cost effective for a 20 person small business to run a call center of its own and to have one system manage main and branch offices and even remote and telecommuting workers.
VoIP (or Internet telephony which is almost the same thing) is any one of several technologies that allow you to make phone calls over the Internet instead of over the telephone network. Some more advanced and secure systems use a private data network instead of the Internet. This technology has been around since the 1970s but hasn't been practical until recently because for it to be effective you need a broadband/high-speed connection. Specifically you need a bit more than 100kbps per connection using modern VoIP transmission technologies. This has only recently become common among residential broadband subscribers.
That kind of bandwidth has been available in businesses for longer and the technology is already well established in the business market – but even there the necessary broadband has only been commonly available for three or four years.In addition, improvements in standards, protocols and underlying hardware and software have also made the required broadband speeds more feasible and have reduced costs to where the decision to move to VoIP is more about the timing and the implementation for a business rather than if it should switch or not.
Typically any VoIP system – residential on up – offers slightly lower operating costs (contrary to advertising claims the cost savings are small) but offers a big step forward in available features and functions. For example, it is now perfectly feasible and cost effective for a 20 person small business to run a call center of its own and to have one system manage main and branch offices and even remote and telecommuting workers.
How it works
There are several protocols and methods for VoIP calls – the commonest standards are termed SIP and H.323 – but they all have some basic features in common. To the user phone calls are made and handled in the same way as they always have been except that VoIP phones often have more features available from menus and buttons than regular phones. When a call is dialed, the system takes the phone number, connects over the local network to whatever system is providing service.
That system figures out if the call needs to go into the regular phone network and if so switches it to a gateway that connects the call over the regular phone network. If the call can be completed without going over the regular phone network (the number dialed is also a VoIP system) then the provider system will route the call directly, performing protocol translation (to a different kind of VoIP) if needed.When traveling on the network, VoIP calls are treated like any other network data – they are broken down into little pieces of digital information (packets) and sent by whatever route the network determines to be fastest.
That means different pieces arrive and different times and out of order and then are reassembled back into the proper sequence at the destination. This is why the 100+ kbps transmission rate is needed – so that the signal can be sent and reassembled quickly enough so that human users on both ends don't notice any delay. It is also one of the weaknesses of VoIP – if the network goes down or has performance issues, so will your VoIP calls
There are several protocols and methods for VoIP calls – the commonest standards are termed SIP and H.323 – but they all have some basic features in common. To the user phone calls are made and handled in the same way as they always have been except that VoIP phones often have more features available from menus and buttons than regular phones. When a call is dialed, the system takes the phone number, connects over the local network to whatever system is providing service.
That system figures out if the call needs to go into the regular phone network and if so switches it to a gateway that connects the call over the regular phone network. If the call can be completed without going over the regular phone network (the number dialed is also a VoIP system) then the provider system will route the call directly, performing protocol translation (to a different kind of VoIP) if needed.When traveling on the network, VoIP calls are treated like any other network data – they are broken down into little pieces of digital information (packets) and sent by whatever route the network determines to be fastest.
That means different pieces arrive and different times and out of order and then are reassembled back into the proper sequence at the destination. This is why the 100+ kbps transmission rate is needed – so that the signal can be sent and reassembled quickly enough so that human users on both ends don't notice any delay. It is also one of the weaknesses of VoIP – if the network goes down or has performance issues, so will your VoIP calls
Levels of VoIP Service
The phone services and methods for providing them differ for different groups. Residential or home phone services have always been pretty straightforward. But businesses need PBXs for switching, handing extensions and for managing multiple users and numbers over a smaller number of lines in order to be cost effective.
VoIP is no different. Residential VoIP services are straightforward but they do offer a range of features not common on regular phone systems.Small businesses typically want more lines, a level of robustness not found in residential phone services and a predictable pricing structure. Quality of service becomes an issue. Not surprisingly, a different set of vendors is typically able to satisfy these needs than the best choices in the residential arena.Scaling up again, medium businesses – in the 200 employee and up range – have a different focus for their concerns. Quality of service is more key, new features come into play including call center features like automatic transfer and queuing.
Pricing becomes more critical again and in-house options begin to look attractive now that capital costs can be amortized across so many employees.Large enterprises are clearly at the point where it is economically more sensible to bring equipment and services in house. Precise features become more critical as the need to integrate processes becomes critical to business success.At every level of these services there is considerable overlap, so a small business provider is likely to be able to satisfy the needs of many medium-sized businesses. But stretch too far and everything breaks...
The bottom line when looking for VoIP service and when finding a good fit for a service provider is to do a little due diligence. Define your absolute requirements as well as the requirements that would be very positive. Define the deal-breaker issues. Go out and find the best fits and look at the intangibles and make a decision.
The phone services and methods for providing them differ for different groups. Residential or home phone services have always been pretty straightforward. But businesses need PBXs for switching, handing extensions and for managing multiple users and numbers over a smaller number of lines in order to be cost effective.
VoIP is no different. Residential VoIP services are straightforward but they do offer a range of features not common on regular phone systems.Small businesses typically want more lines, a level of robustness not found in residential phone services and a predictable pricing structure. Quality of service becomes an issue. Not surprisingly, a different set of vendors is typically able to satisfy these needs than the best choices in the residential arena.Scaling up again, medium businesses – in the 200 employee and up range – have a different focus for their concerns. Quality of service is more key, new features come into play including call center features like automatic transfer and queuing.
Pricing becomes more critical again and in-house options begin to look attractive now that capital costs can be amortized across so many employees.Large enterprises are clearly at the point where it is economically more sensible to bring equipment and services in house. Precise features become more critical as the need to integrate processes becomes critical to business success.At every level of these services there is considerable overlap, so a small business provider is likely to be able to satisfy the needs of many medium-sized businesses. But stretch too far and everything breaks...
The bottom line when looking for VoIP service and when finding a good fit for a service provider is to do a little due diligence. Define your absolute requirements as well as the requirements that would be very positive. Define the deal-breaker issues. Go out and find the best fits and look at the intangibles and make a decision.
Pricing
Price is where everything gets serious. Many first-time VoIP buyers are seduced by promises of big savings over their existing telephone system. But apart from basic residential service there are no longer huge savings as regular telephone companies have cut long distance rates to remain competitive. There are still savings, but they aren't as large as some providers may try to lead you to believe. Nevertheless, that's no reason not to be cost-conscious.
Look at three basic cost areas – even for residential service. What the startup cost will be in terms of equipment, other first-time fees and services to get up and running. Look at monthly (or whatever period you prefer) operating costs ongoing, and look at termination costs if any – costs to end a contract, etc. All of these are factors.
For residential service you can pay as little as $17 per month or as much as about $40 depending on where you can call for free, included features, etc. Most services are in the $20 to $25 per month range for a single line with unlimited free long distance throughout the US.Small businesses can pay as little as $50 per line per month from hosted plans to as high as $200 per month, again depending on services, features and other issues. If you choose to buy equipment and operate with a lower operating cost per month from a provider but a higher capital outlay you can expect to shell out from about $1000 to $5000 in equipment costs for from five to ten or so people plus a monthly operating charge of from $100 per month total to as much as $1000 per month. The price range is higher here but so are the range of options and features on offer.
Medium and large businesses move into total capital costs expressed typically as a cost per line of between $300 and $1000 and operating costs in the several thousands per month. But if the number of lines is large, that can still translate to a very low cost per line.
Price is where everything gets serious. Many first-time VoIP buyers are seduced by promises of big savings over their existing telephone system. But apart from basic residential service there are no longer huge savings as regular telephone companies have cut long distance rates to remain competitive. There are still savings, but they aren't as large as some providers may try to lead you to believe. Nevertheless, that's no reason not to be cost-conscious.
Look at three basic cost areas – even for residential service. What the startup cost will be in terms of equipment, other first-time fees and services to get up and running. Look at monthly (or whatever period you prefer) operating costs ongoing, and look at termination costs if any – costs to end a contract, etc. All of these are factors.
For residential service you can pay as little as $17 per month or as much as about $40 depending on where you can call for free, included features, etc. Most services are in the $20 to $25 per month range for a single line with unlimited free long distance throughout the US.Small businesses can pay as little as $50 per line per month from hosted plans to as high as $200 per month, again depending on services, features and other issues. If you choose to buy equipment and operate with a lower operating cost per month from a provider but a higher capital outlay you can expect to shell out from about $1000 to $5000 in equipment costs for from five to ten or so people plus a monthly operating charge of from $100 per month total to as much as $1000 per month. The price range is higher here but so are the range of options and features on offer.
Medium and large businesses move into total capital costs expressed typically as a cost per line of between $300 and $1000 and operating costs in the several thousands per month. But if the number of lines is large, that can still translate to a very low cost per line.
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