Skype’s problem now is maintaining growth. The second challenge is to get Skypers to adopt premium services and think about dropping their home phone. There are many barriers to this. The PC must be always on. There is currently no embedded Skype device. People just don't want to lose their numbers. Free local calling may apply and be an advantage, as is 911. Many early adopters that have Skype have not yet added SkypeIn (lack ... continue reading.....

By Michael Gough with Bill Campbell Being a security consultant, I am always amazed when I read articles like the one I recently found on blocking Skype. The firm Info-Tech Research Group in Australia cites in their report “Five Reason’s To Ban Skype” claiming that the popular VoIP technology is just too insecure for business use. These blanket statements are grossly inaccurate as each business is different and has the responsibility to set their own ... continue reading.....

Skype as a VoIP PBX Gateway application has some interesting appeal. We all use Skype 2 Skype to call across the Internet to bypass the PSTN costs or to interconnect with the PSTN through SkypeOut. Some of us purchase a Gateway like Actiontec’s Internet Phone Wizard to connect our residential phone to Skype. But what about using a Skype Client as a Gateway to bypass the PSTN off your PBX? Who is doing that? Skype ... continue reading.....

In all the talk about Google Talk many missed Microsoft's release of MSN 7.5. If you use MSN it is time to upgrade. Leah, the program manager for MSN messenger introduces it here and writes a letter to Google Talk here. I think Leah knows how to use a blog! Net net, the new MS MSN 7.5 is impressive at least under the hood. It is like an old car that has been hotrodded with ... continue reading.....

Have just read Richard Stastny's comprehensive recount of the goings-on around ENUM at the IETF meeting in Paris. I can't but help feel that, despite the good intentions, some decidedly anti-competitive actions are going on here by the carriers. In essence, the telcos are keeping control over a numbering business that is being run as a cartel that keeps out non-POTS VoIP applications, and discourages new POTS entrants. And since there is (today) no defensible ... continue reading.....

Many of you will have heard of the famous Black-Scholes equation for the pricing of financial options. The basic idea is that an option contract to buy a thing at some future date at a fixed price has some potential premium over the current price of the asset because it may allow you to buy at a discount some day (i.e. the strike price is below the market price on the day the option is ... continue reading.....

Here's the scenario. Lady calls bank. Bank routes call to India. Nice chap in Indian call centre talks to lady. Lady can't understand half of what he says because call quality is a bit duff. (The IVR system sounded great, so it's not at her end.) Here's the business opportunity. You're a VoIP "virtual network" operator. Deliver high quality encrypted speech over the Internet to Indian call centres. Indeed, when I use a service like ... continue reading.....