An assortment of information, discussions,events, news and views on VoIP Services.

Sunday, April 27, 2008

VoIP just might answer the 911 call

The most prolific argument since the inception of VoIP has been its continuous conflicts with the 911 service. General concerns were mainly two; many times, dialling 911 from a computer would not actually connect you to a 911 operator, and even if you do, he won't be able to figure out where you are calling from, hence negating the overall purpose of a 911 call. In the Lee county, however, a different story is brewing up. The Federal Communications Commission has ordered companies that provide VoIP to fix the problem to make sure the calls go to the emergency operators only, and also that the calling numbers are displayed, along with the location (according to an article on news-press.com)


Ideally, a VoIP-transported 911 call should go directly to the closest public safety access point (PSAP) and display both the phone number as well as the location. Initial testing for the same has begun, and the Lee County Public Safety has urged all the local residents to try the new platform by calling the County 911 Program Manager and setting an appointment for a proxy call to 911 for checking the newly implemented system, and to schedule calls in a manner that the number is never busy. Lee County Public Safety is already facing problems, with a figure of approximately 2-20% of the customers reporting that the system does not work with them. Quiet shockingly, they are unaware of the fact that they would not be able to contact 911 via VoIP in case of any emergency.


Vonage and Comcast, two of the leading VoIP carriers of our times, do not give access to their customers to call 911, with Vonage customers needing a confirmation form the company. According to the Public Safety agency estimates, there should have been thousands of calls since this initiative began. Quite surprisingly though, there have been very few calls per day, hence calling for a stricter course of action.


In times like the present ones, when many have replaced their traditional telephony systems with services from VoIP providers like Vonage and others, the initiative in Lee by the authorities is certainly a move in the right direction. While tests are still going on, it is perhaps a point to stress upon that companies in the domain of IP telephony must also actively participate in such kind of programs, and try to incorporate 911 support in their services, since safety is something we all desire. Companies might not do it for the social cause, but could surely do the same as an added incentive that could lead to greater sales.



Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Security issues over enterprise VoIP

VoIP has certainly taken its toll on the telecom sector. Continuing to replace standard telephony procedures in a majority of the organizations, particularly in developed countries like the USA, VoIP enterprise sales in have registered an increase of 31% in 2007, while the traditional telephony gear witnessed a fall of 20% in sales. IP PBX sales and converged PBX sales crossed $4.26 billion, exceeding traditional PBX revenue of $4.12 billion. Everything seems to be falling into place at just the right time for VoIP, while telecom providers are struggling hard to hold on to their consumer base, with even the Pentagon now conforming its adoption of VoIP as the standard communication procedure for the Social Security Administration.

Meanwhile, a slight matter of concern has cropped up in this story. Apparently, security is one front where VoIP does not fare well at all, or rather, is not given prior attention to. According to an In-Stat survey of US businesses, not more than 50% penetration is achieved by any security mechanism for VoIP, across all sizes of business, according to an analyst at In-Stat. Presently, there are many proactive measures such as periodic security audits and pre-deployment audits. However, it’s a rather strange observation that neither business houses nor the VoIP providers are too keen on the security issue, and this includes even large organizations. In an age where patents and lawsuits go hand in hand, and copyright infringements are dealt with most severity, it amazes me to see that no such initiative to make VoIP more secure is being taken. There are hardly any doubts over the extent to which competitors go to steal confidential information from each other. Though there might be a protocol present in a majority of the organizations stating not to discuss confidential matters on phone, my point is, why to take the chance? Particularly when you have options at hand.

Other findings by the In-Stat survey are as follows :

Over 80% of survey respondents have deployed some type of VoIP solution in their companies.
Between 2007 and 2010, 168 million IP PBX lines will be shipped into the business premises.
Usage of collaboration and conferencing products that leverage VoIP is increasing.

Though more details are not revealed publicly, this report has set alarm bells ringing across the industry, with FierceVoip being the first one to report it. Clearly, there is an urgent need to introduce security measures for this immensely popular application. VoIP has primarily made its reputation due to its flexibility and cost-effectiveness, and the past decade has seen a sudden upsurge in the popularity from being prevalent only in select areas of developed countries, to being the preferred means of communication in the corporate world. While all this be kept aside, security is one aspect that could seriously do with some improvement, more so when one considers its immense usage these days. It’s true that this technology has tremendous potential to completely replace standard telephony procedures, but until and unless methods are devised to make it more secure, the situation today could pose some serious questions.

Monday, April 21, 2008

Comcast ‘casts’ triple play on VoIP providers

Riding high on the emergence of cable companies as VoIP providers, Comcast Corp. has recently announced the launch of its popular triple-play packages for small and medium enterprises, which would allow even small setups to benefit from the technology, in New England. Titled ‘Business Class Voice’, this service allows enterprises to access cable television, high-speed Internet and voice services at prices atarting as low as $99. Comcast, the largest cable television company and the second largest internet service provider of the USA, has seemingly decided to go full throttle in the $55 Billion US IP telephony market now, and would be expanding its territories in due course of time, according to company sources. While on one hand the VoIP industry is expanding like anything, there are clearly two areas which cable providers venturing into this domain are aiming at. First, the courtroom has become somewhat a second home to a majority of the VoIP providers, with practically every big player having copyright infringement cases to his credit. This, in turn, has resulted in a chasm in the boundaries of VoIP, which were being securely guarded by the watchdogs of these players, hence allowing cable operators to take advantage. The second area of concern, which is more specifically pertaining to enterprise VoIP, is the cost factor. VoIP providers often offer packages that are unaffordable by the SME’s.

Comcast seems to have relied heavily on the latter, with its packages starting as low as $99. The packages include calling features like auto attendant, call forwarding, call tracing, three-way calling and more, apart from offering a download speed of 16 MB/sec and software packages such as internet applications from Microsoft (including corporate class e-mail, Sharepoint and MacAfee protection). Comcast has also announced it would continue to roll out new services in the coming months. According to the company’s press release, Comcast wanted to give SME’s an equal opportunity to expand their business.

While this initiative by Comcast is definitely worth appreciating, it is probably worth noticing that the pace at which cable providers are entering the VoIP market might be too fast to match up to by traditional VoIP players. The wisest thing to do, if the big names are to continue their reign in the market, would be to form an alliance to combat this uprising, if you will, much like cable companies had done when they had sued Vonage for resorting to unfair means of retention marketing. The focus ought to be on providing better customer service at cheaper prices, and not on suing each other in order to extort revenues, since short term losses must often be overlooked for long term gains. They say that desperate times call for desperate measures. While the times may not be desperate as yet, another popular quote says Prevention is better than cure.