Navoto fights roaming with Skype

Verizon's Skype mobile apps for Android and Blackberry, tied to Verizon's Wi-Fi, won't roam internationally. The new Navoto GSM Gateway for Skype offers a way around this. The gateway connects your hometown wireless carrier to your on-the-road mobile phone.

Omri Navot was one of the first to pioneer hardware that added value for Skype users. Skype Journal introduced his SkyQube from Singapore's Qool Labs in April 2006. Now his own company, UGI Telecom, an original design manufacturer in Rehovot, Israel, is releasing the gateway today.

Getting set up takes about ten minutes. Plug in the cables and install the software. Before your trip, take the SIM card from your mobile and put it into the gateway. When you arrive at your destination, get a local prepaid SIM and put it in your mobile phone. Then "pair" your new SIM by texting the gateway.

Once Navoto knows your new SIM, it starts to work. Calls to your mobile number at home are forwarded to you through a SkypeOut call.

You can make calls through Navoto's ringback feature. Ping the gateway, it calls you using SkypeOut, you hear dialtone and make your call. You can also setup speed dial contacts to make it easy to reach phone numbers or a few of your Skype contacts.

Let's look at the gear, in this case a prototype from a few months' ago.

The front of the box has a slot for your local SIM card. By putting your mobile phone's SIM card in the box, Navoto looks like your mobile phone to your wireless carrier.

You eject your SIM card poking a paper clip into a small hole.

The back of the box has (from left to right) a power jack, two RJ11 phone line jacks so you can keep your home phone connected, a USB port to connect to your home-town PC, and a connector for the GSM antenna. 

The GSM antenna lets the box talk with your home-town wireless carrier. 

The software running on your PC is a Skype plug-in, talking to your Skype desktop client. None of this works unless Skype for Windows is running.

The Navoto desktop software has many features.

Voice mail, call recording, voice messages, simple configurable IVR (phone menus), voicemails sent to your email account, SMS texting, and scheduled mode changes (home, work, offline, etc.).

Navoto Gateways are entering the distribution channel this week.

In my experience, the prototype gateway works as advertised.

However it is still very early for this product and I haven't worked with final production versions of the software or the gear. Both the hardware and software are improving quickly in response to known bugs and feature requests. I experienced installation bugs with the email feature, for example. My version of the box, one of a handful of production tests, didn't have final CE FCC certification, packaging, finish, labels,  or documentation. I look forward to giving the finished product another look.

International calling is the largest (only?) growing telecom sector. Skypers called for more than twelve percent of all international minutes in 2009. Demand for cross-border calling is proven. How much is due to travel? How many billions of dollars does the international roaming market collect? Omri Navot aims to find out.

tags: navoto, hardware, software, gsm, mobile, gateway, skype, skypeout, israel, is, emea

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Photo on wood table: Navoto. Other photos and chart: Phil Wolff.

Skype on Verizon Android requires you to turn off WiFi

I'm testing Skype mobile on a Motorola Droid with Verizon. I tried to launch Skype while other apps were busy with my WiFi downloading email, news, feeds, activity streams, apps, maps, music, podcasts, and television shows.

I get an error. Its text reads:

"Skype mobile does not currently work on WiFi and requires switching to a Verizon Wireless data network connection. This may affect other apps using a WiFi connection."

You have two options: "Turn off WiFi" or "Exit".

Doesn't the Droid let me have both Wi-Fi and the Verizon data connection running simultaneously? Apparently not.

Skype forces an either/or choice.

So it's not nearly as attractive to keep Skype running in the background. You must squeeze all of your other activity through Verizon's tiny wireless broadband channel, even if you have lots of available Wi-Fi connectivity at hand.

There's no engineering reason why you couldn't be connected to both networks at once (beyond battery consumption).

Where is this limit imposed? The Verizon Droid? Motorola Droids in general? All Android phones?

tags: skype, mobile, android, motorola, droid

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Video: Skype+Verizon at CTIA: We're living together

In which John Harrobin and Russ Shaw announce Verizon Wireless (the largest 3G company in the US) and Skype (the largest over-the-top Internet calling company) are moving in after announcing they were dating in February at the Mobile World Congress. Reactions to Skypizon (Veriskype?) are enthusiastic here at the  mobile industry's association and lobbying arm love fest.

The news release:

SKYPE MOBILE FOR VERIZON WIRELESS AVAILABLE THURSDAY
Companies Deliver Expansive Global Calling Community and Free Skype-to-Skype Calls on the Most Reliable Wireless Network in the United States

LUXEMBOURG, Luxembourg; LAS VEGAS and BASKING RIDGE, N.J., United States – (Virtual Press Office) - From CTIA WIRELESS 2010® in Las Vegas, Verizon Wireless and Skype today announced Skype mobile™ will be available this Thursday, March 25, starting with nine Verizon Wireless 3G smartphones. Skype mobile uses the Verizon Wireless voice network for the wireless connection of the Skype-to-Skype calls, providing Verizon Wireless customers with a superior experience and top-notch call quality.

Beginning Thursday, new and existing Verizon Wireless customers with Android 3G smartphones and BlackBerry 3G smartphones can get Skype mobile in a number of ways. Visit www.verizonwireless.com/skypemobile or www.skype.com/go/mobile from a PC to enter the mobile phone number to receive a text message with a link to the application. Verizon Wireless customers can also text “SKYPE” to 2255 to receive the link. In addition, Android customers will be able to download the app from Android Market™. New BlackBerry customers will find the application on their 3G smartphones’ home screens in the Downloads folder when activated.

Skype mobile gives Verizon Wireless 3G smartphone users with data plans a simple new way to stay in touch with friends, family and business colleagues around the corner and around the world while on Verizon Wireless’ network. Skype mobile users can:

• make and receive unlimited Skype-to-Skype voice calls to any Skype contact around the globe;
• send and receive unlimited instant messages with other Skype users;
• manage the Skype contact list directly from the mobile application; and
• call international phone numbers at competitive Skype calling rates.

John Harrobin, senior vice president of digital media and marketing, noted, “Skype mobile will change the way mobile consumers in the United States make and receive calls. With an ‘always on’ capability, Skype mobile on your 3G smartphone means you never have to miss a call or make an appointment to connect with Skype users around the world. With Skype mobile, we’re untethering Skype users from their PCs and enabling them to stay connected – on the best wireless network in the country.”

Russ Shaw, general manager of Mobile for Skype, noted, “Skype mobile will deliver an unparalleled experience for Verizon Wireless customers. It will be the best way to enjoy unlimited conversations with Skype contacts all over the world at no extra cost. In addition, Skype mobile will allow people to easily and inexpensively make calls to landlines and mobiles abroad at Skype rates.”

Customers need a Verizon Wireless smartphone and data plan to use Skype mobile. Skype-to-Skype calls will not be charged against their monthly minute allowances or data plans. Verizon Wireless customers can visit www.skype.com to purchase Skype Credit to make Skype Out calls and make calls to international landline or mobile numbers.

Skype and Verizon Wireless have been working together to create this application specifically for Verizon Wireless customers and to take advantage of the most reliable wireless network in the United States.

Skype mobile will be available initially on millions of best-selling Verizon Wireless 3G smartphones, including the BlackBerry® Storm™ 9530, Storm2™ 9550, Curve™ 8330, Curve™ 8530, 8830 World Edition, and Tour™ 9630 smartphones, as well as DROID by Motorola, DROID ERIS™ by HTC and Motorola DEVOUR™.

For more information about Verizon Wireless, visit www.verizonwireless.com or follow the company on Twitter at http://twitter.com/verizonwireless. Learn more about Skype at www.skype.com or follow the company at http://twitter.com/skypemobile.

# # #

tags: skype, verizon, blackberry, android, storm, storm2, curve, tour, droid, motorola, devour, htc, eris, rim

Ooma still in Fry's during CTIA

Ooma is on display as an alternative to Skype, MagicJack, VoIP from your US cable company, and your local landline. One flat fee for hardware ($250), use your existing phones, your current phone number, and never pay for landline service again. Just in time for the CTIA Wireless trade show here in Las Vegas. In tough times it might be worth it to pay once and be free from your local phone company. I can't help thinking the price is steep even so, compared to MagicJack. [From my iPhone, so please pardon the few seconds of my cut-off head.]

tags: skype, ooma, ctia, voip.

Call me at +1-510-316-9773, Skype me, follow @skypejournal and @evanwolf.
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23 million Skype users log in at the same time

Skype hit a new high watermark for user activity today: 23 million people logged in to the Skype network at the same time.

Skype should reach 26 million concurrent by the end of the year, barring any major improvements in distribution or marketing.

Dialtone is the most useful measure we have of Skype's capacity. The more people who use Skype, the more valuable Skype is to all the users. Skype's capacity for network effect is driven by the number of people with accounts times the percent of the day they are available for incoming calls.

tags: skype, charts, stats, statistics, trends, dialtone density, dialtone, accounts, activity, metcalfeslaw

Call me at +1-510-316-9773, Skype me, follow @skypejournal and @Phil Wolff.
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Christopher Dean speaking at ITExpo Thursday

The VoIP industry conference in Miami, Florida, hasn't published the title of Skype's chief strategy officer's Thursday morning keynote. If you're attending, drop a line to tips@skypejournal.com or @skypejournal. Here's hoping Dean will speak to Skype's VoIP channel strategy, Skype's role in wideband audio VoIP, and Skype's struggle for access to mobile broadband.

Skype trunking lets your phone system dial out through the Skype network at SkypeOut rates. Now that Skype trunking products are shipping for legacy PBXs (see VoSKY's SMB gateways), Asterisk-based switches, and some Cisco, ShoreTel, and SIPfoundry PBXs, what will Skype do for the VoIP hardware and service distribution channels? When will Avaya, Nortel, Mitel, NEC and others offer Skype trunking? What does the channel need from Skype? Can Skype offer the channel meaningful commissions?

Have the hundreds of millions of Skype customers changed consumer expectations for all audio quality? Is Skype driving demand for HD telephony? What barriers remain to upgrading the mobile and enterprise networks to HD audio?

On the regulatory front, is Skype's appeal for net neutrality, for an open Internet, for equal access getting any support with the VoIP industry? The VoIP industry serves incumbent telcos and opposes their political agenda at great risk. Can Skype frame its issues to earn mindshare at ITExpo East?

tags: skype, voip, itexpo, vosky, asterisk, shoretel, sipfoundry, avaya, nortel, mitel, nec, trunking, skypeforsip

Call me at +1-510-316-9773, Skype me, follow @skypejournal and @Phil Wolff.
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Call for Startups: StartupCamp Telephony #sct

"Ready, Set, Pitch" your startup at StartupCamp Telephony Edition (#SCT)Thursday, January 21, 2010 from 5:30 PM - 10:00 PM, Miami Beach, Florida. "Five startups will be selected to give brief 5-minute “pitch” presentations following which the panel and audience will ask questions, and provide 5-10 minutes of valuable feedback. Early stage companies wishing to be included in the pitch roster should [apply to present]." Participation is free.

This first SCT will be held in conjunction with Rich Tehrani's Internet Telephony Expo East 2010 (ITEXPO), Thomas Howe's Cloud Communications Summit, 4G Wireless Evolution Conference, Digium Asterisk World, and Machine-to-Machine: Transformers on the Net Internet telemetry conference. The audience will be a great fit for entrepreneurs seeking partnerships, press, or a corporate investor.

Deadline: Apply to pitch by Tuesday, 5 January, end of day.

tags: startupcamp, startupcamptelephony, telephonystartupcamp, #sct, pitchcamp, startups, voip, telephony, communications, itexpo

Call me at +1-510-316-9773, Skype me, follow @skypejournal and @Phil Wolff.
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Gifts for the Skype crowd

Gear: The Better to Hear and See All Year Long

Cute 3-D Webcam from Minoru. For the friend who wants even more than Skype's High Quality and considers 3D glasses the height of fashion. Cheerful, stereoscopic, and works wonderfully with Skype. Minoru videos on YouTube (and wear your 3D specs). Review. Amazon. $89/£50/€80.

Point 2 View (P2V) USB camera. Skype in-focus close-ups in your video call. You show the grandkids your stamp collection, they show you the bugs they found in the back yard. Armature stand included. Review, Overview, Gallery, FAQ, Tech specs, Downloads. Ipevo Store. Amazon.

Touch Screen Videophone from ASUS. The ASUS SV1TS gets the PC out of the way of Skype video. You drop it in the kitchen or living room, plug in the power cord, connect the Wi-Fi, touch the screen, and talk. Large, clear picture. Amazon. $230.

MXL AC-405 USB personal computer speakerphone. Absolutely the best audio quality anywhere near this price from Maxell, world experts in microphone engineering. The AC-405 shares technology with their high-end music and television studio microphones. Amazon. $55.

Freetalk Wireless Stereo Headset. Still one of the best for looks, quality, comfort and ruggedness. More than five hours of talk time and even then it works while recharging. I use it daily without tripping over cables. Review. Amazon. Skype store. $80.

Software: To Record and Share

Vodburner records Skype video calls on Windows. The Vodburner Beta includes easy editing software (see screenshot below) that automatically switches the shot between the two of you depending on who is speaking. Publish meetings, interviews, and training sessions on the web. A subscription runs $9.95 (USD) monthly.

Pamela Professional Edition, the Skype Assistant. Proven software with built in voice mail, birthday reminders, and in-call sound effects. Like Vodburner, it records calls but without an audio or video editor. An all around utility kit for Windows Skype users. I've been using Pamela for many years. PamSoft. €19,95.

Skype Journal Video Grooming Kit:

Teeth: Rembrandt 2-Hour Whitening Kit. Whiter teeth take years off. Feel free to smile.

Hair: Kent White Bristle Hair Brush for those stray hairs. (Ah, I remember the days when I had hair on the top of my head worth brushing.)

Inspection: Jerdon First Class Mirror so you know you look good and bounce a little light your way. See yourself the way others see you.

Skin: Avon mark Cheat Sheet Shine-Blotters to remove oils from your face that shine in the light. (I always thought it was a reflection off my eyeglasses that blinded viewers, but it was the glare from my forehead. )

Wardrobe: Everyone looks better on camera in a clean, dark blue shirt: Soffe Men's Base Layer Long Sleeve Crew Tee. White clothing creates glare and throws off your camera's sensors. Keep a clean, dark and solid top by your desk for the unexpected Skype call.

Lights: Natural light makes you look marvelous. I use the Verilux Original Natural Spectrum Deluxe Desk Lamp, so the camera can see my face. (Despite requests to turn it off.)

Lens: Keep your webcam lens clear with the Nikon Complete Lens Cleaner Kit or the LensPEN Lens Cleaning System. (This doesn't seem to help me: I always turn out smudged no matter how clean the webcam.)

Skype-modded Hulger phone

The Hulger P*PHONE is a gorgeous retro USB phone. It's technically simple, just a microphone, a speaker and a cable.

Canadian artist and designer Mike Pelletier "added a lever switch connected to a phidgets interface kit [seen below] so a max patch can detect when you pick up and hang up the phone and automatically tell skype to answer or end a call. I made sure that the wires match the phone."

tags: skullbee, hulger, mod, skype, hacks, voip, phone, telephone, handset, switch

Call me at +1-510-316-9773, Skype me, follow @skypejournal and @Phil Wolff.
Visit our Skype Journal private roundtable, one of the longest running public Skype chats.

Volpi's Skype Business Concept: SIP, social, lite, layoffs

- buy skype, replace p2p with SIP (standard-based, open, can interwork with other VoIP systems – like the Cisco phones)

- use social graph to augment other socials via API or develop its own social

- replace heavy client with flash/html/java version – make it lightweight for embedded devices (mobile)

- clean up staff and cut costs while private

[Links are mine.] Exhibits 1-20 to Declaration of S. Dargitz In Support of PI – PUBLIC, page six, redacted.

Discuss amongst yourselves.

tags: skype, indexventures, skypeforsale, joost, litigation, lawsuit, preliminaryinjunction, injunction, dannyrimer, mikevolpi, volpi

Call me at +1-510-316-9773, Skype me, follow @skypejournal and @Phil Wolff.
Visit our Skype Journal private roundtable, one of the longest running public Skype chats.

Doc courtesy of Tara Swisher.

Where's the value in Skype buying Gizmo5?

Michael Arrington broke a rumor that Skype is in talks to buy Michael Robertson's Gizmo5. I don't see much value.

You buy a small company for five things: cash flow, IP, brand, relationships, and people.

Does the firm produce cash flow? When you make half-a-penny a minute, you must sell a gazillion minutes. When you have intense competition, manage churn. When price-per-minute falls, find non-minute sources of revenue. When market prices fall, build volume for buying power over your termination suppliers. As of March 2009, "Gizmo5 serves more than six million consumer and business users" after six years. Skype adds that every 17 days. I don't know if Gizmo5 has been successful enough to create attractive cash flow. If Skype owned the business, could Skype quickly build profits?

Gizmo5's IP prime asset could be its SIP gateway. They've built on top of it a SIP-to-Skype (OpenSky) gateway, support for Google Talk, and Gizmo Voice, a Gizmo5/Google Voice mashup. If the code is good enough, it might be the base of an enterprise server product or a hosted service. If you trust Julian Cain's critical fact-checking comments in Mike's story, I doubt the code would survive due diligence. If the systems is rock solid, scalable, and easy to adapt, Skype might save two to six months development time by buying.

The brand is fine for VoIP geeks, is known to buyers of cheap/free calling. However Gizmo is far from a broad consumer brand. Test for yourself.

Gizmo5's business relationships are available to Skype with a phone call. No exclusive channels of distribution. No high value marketing partners. No namespaces bringing millions of new Gizmo users. 

Which leaves the team. I have no idea if they have real depth of SIP talent, well integrated as a team. But it wouldn't be hard for Skype to cherry pick the entire industry for the best SIP coders, architects, and production operations staff.

Out of all of these, is there enough value that Skype might buy the company?

Maybe.

Robertson is a pirate in the entrepreneurial sense: he's smart, flexible, opportunistic, and aggressive. He might add a healthy bloodthirst to Skype's buttoned-down corporate/geek culture.

How much should Skype pay for Gizmo5?

Nothing. Don't Bother.
$1 million
$5 million
$10 million
$20 million

Total: 0 votes Nothing. Don't Bother. $1 million $5 million $10 million $20 million Other

photo by J.D. Lasica.

tags: skype, gizmoproject, gizmo5, michaelrobertson

Call me at +1-510-316-9773, Skype me, follow @skypejournal and @Phil Wolff.
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Skype at VON: Seeking Channel Partners

Guest post by Jon Arnold of the Analyst 2.0 Blog from the VON conference in Palm Beach, Florida.

Yesterday was a transition day here, with VON running 'til early afternoon, and then the focus shifted to the Channel Partners event. It was a bit strange seeing all the signage, etc. for VON in the morning, then disappearing and being replaced by Channel Partners. Am sure some people came for both events, but it was hard to tell. ...

The highlight of the day, though - and the event in my view - was the Skype keynote to close out the event - which was very well attended. Christopher Dean is Skype's CSO - Chief Strategy Officer - and the fact that someone from Skype actually has a title like this says a lot about how much the company has matured.

Most of Christopher's presentation reviewed major trends in communications and as they align, how well things line up for Skype. He did a nice job citing data points to show the rapid growth of things like smartphones, 4G, mobile VoIP, broadband adoption, UC, cloud computing, FMC, etc. Nothing new there, but he then outlined how Skype is addressing these opportunities, especially for the business market.

Most of us know this is a top priority for Skype, and the most newsworthy item from the keynote was their new focus on channels, which of course ties in nicely with both events here - VON and Channel Partners. The main idea here is that Skype will be launching a service provider VAR program later this year. Christopher provided a URL about the program for reference, but as you'll see, there's not much there yet.

So, in the course of a few minutes, the audience heard about how Skype is looking to cross the chasm and partner with service providers. That creates all kinds of interesting scenarios, and Christopher pointed out how this is part of their bigger vision to be more open and partner-friendly in the post-eBay world. On that note, he didn't have much to say about the Extras program other than they understand how important it is, and are overhauling it now. So, it's not quite dead yet....

Skype VON 2009 Keynote Presentation - Christopher S Dean

View more documents from SkypeConversations.

Photo: Jon Arnold

tags: skype, von, events, skypeforsip, channels, distribution, vars

Call me at +1-510-316-9773, Skype me, follow @skypejournal and @Phil Wolff.
Visit our Skype Journal private roundtable, one of the longest running public Skype chats.

Rod Ullens: iNum, High Def transport, and the HD codec war

Rodrigue Ullens, Voxbone CEO, is scheduled to participate in a panel discussion of "HD Carrier Interconnection" at the HD Communications Summit today. I talked with Rod as he walked between meetings.

[CORRECTION: iNum has not yet deployed Skype's SILK codec.]

Skype Journal: You're going to the HD Summit. What are you announcing?

Rodrigue Ullens: We are announcing the iNum network now supports high definition voice calls. [See news release below the fold.]

There don't seem to be phone handsets that capture voice in high quality. How do you solve the garbage in, garbage out problem?

Our only role is to play the middle man, pretty much. We expect, of course, to receive a voice call in high definition. For example, if today we were supporting the SILK codec. When you call an iNumber from Skype, we would receive the voice call from Skype with the quality that Skype hands it off. It depends of course on the handset and the phone that has transcoded the voice into a high def call. The only thing we do is convert from one codec to another and be the middleman helping networks talk to each other.

We've talked about high def audio for years. Why now?

Because I think it is the right opportunity in the sense that we see more and more networks that do support it. Maybe Skype has had it for a while but there are now other networks that are just coming up right now to support high definition. Same thing for some of the handsets, some of the phones. It's just now getting some momentum. We want to be part of that momentum and enable different networks to talk to each other.

To benefit from high definition it has to be end to end. You still have a lot of networks that support high definition but just in their island.

I think we have another value to bring by having identifiers, item number that support high definition voice calls. And I think just now it's starting to be interesting.

Practically speaking, what is high definition or high quality?

Technically, if you've been able to capture a higher frequency than the one from a traditional phone network. Where you sample eight thousand times per second with eight bits of data per sample; it gives you 64k of data uncompressed. A regular ISDN call.

With high definition you sample more and capture a higher frequency of the voice so you have an impression of almost speaking right next to the person.

The only codecs we've implemented in the network is the G722 codec. It's the first one that's available very easily, without royalty and so on.

Now we're working with Skype to implement SILK. With Skype, when I've made Skype calls and when the speakers are high def and when the person has a high def mic, you really hear the difference.

For high def to become common and widespread, does the industry need to standardize on one or two codecs?

I suppose that's also part of the reason why Skype and everybody is now trying to make its codec the standard one. I don't know who will win. I haven't tested yet, but I have the impression that just like you can transcode from a regular codec to another one, you can transcode between high definition codecs. You will never have just one codec. That's just the way it is; everybody wants to push their codec. That's also why you will always need people facilitating communication between enterprises for a long time. Codecs will coexist for a long time.

tags: skype, silk, codecs, inum, voxbone, codec, hidef, audio, sound, standards

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The release:

Voxbone Equips Globally-Local iNum Numbers With High-Definition Voice

IP-to-IP Calls to iNum Numbers Can Be Answered Anywhere and Convey in-the-Room Sound Quality

NEW YORK – Sept. 15, 2009 – Voxbone, a leading provider of international VoIP origination services and telephone numbers to communications service providers, call centers and multinational businesses, today announced that its international, geographically-independent number service, iNum®, now supports high-definition (HD) voice. iNum adds a missing piece – a uniform identifier – to enable HD calling.

As long as both endpoints are HD-enabled, calls to iNum numbers will convey a sound quality that far surpasses traditional circuit-switched telephony.

The new capability, announced at the HD Communications Summit in New York, adds the benefit of in-the-room sound quality to iNum's location neutrality and cost savings on international calls.

Prefaced with the ITU-assigned 883 code, iNum numbers refer to the Internet in the same way that 44 refers internationally to the U.K. and 1 refers to the U.S. A call to an iNum number is routed first to Voxbone, which carries it over the expensive, long-distance leg of the route before delivering it to the appropriate service provider, which terminates the call to its subscriber.

A high-definition voice signal cannot fit through the frequency constraints of Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS) – a fact that limits the HD benefit to end-to-end IP calls. However, most iNum calls should be able to support HD voice because most iNum traffic is transmitted by service providers that have migrated to IP or begun operation as VoIP carriers.

"In equipping our iNum numbers with high-definition voice, we are bringing a key piece – a uniform identifier – to the emerging HD ecosystem," said Rod Ullens, Voxbone CEO. "Many endpoints and a lot of isolated networks, such as Skype, already support HD, but there needs to be a standard way for any service provider to reach a particular HD endpoint. HD-enabled iNum offers the perfect solution."

For example, Ullens said: "The HD voice capability enables a global help desk to publicize one 'local' number for all English-speaking customers anywhere in the world, another for all Spanish-speaking customers, and so on. The clarity of high definition tremendously helps callers to these numbers, who often are listening in their second or third languages or listening to non-native speakers."

In another scenario, a call-conferencing provider could use iNum for an internationally "local" access number. In-the-room voice quality frequently has been noted for alleviating "ear strain" and improving attentiveness on long conference calls.

Voxbone is beginning its HD support with the wideband G.722 codec and plans to add other codecs in the fourth quarter of this year.

#   #   #

About Voxbone

Headquartered in Brussels, Belgium, Voxbone provides worldwide local and toll-free phone numbers over its own private intercontinental VoIP network. The all-IP architecture of the Voxbone core network enables customers to rapidly deploy new communications services with local presence while reducing costs. It delivers high-quality call origination from 48 countries and 4,000 cities, as well as iNum numbers that enable billing as local calls when dialed through participating carriers anywhere in the world. Through its number inventory, network, self-administered provisioning and comprehensive SIP adherence, Voxbone's global infrastructure enables its customers to expand to international markets quickly and efficiently. Founded in 2002 and privately held, Voxbone is the only carrier licensed in all 27 countries of the European Union. For more information, visit www.voxbone.com.

Photo credit: Copyright 2009 James Duncan Davidson.

Ben Lilienthal on HiDef Audio, Skype, and conferencing

I talked with Ben Lilienthal last week about his HiDefConferencing.com business at Citrix. HiDef is the only conference bridge that lets Skype directly into a call with Skype's high quality audio, established in 2003 alongside Skype.

SJ: What are users' biggest problems with audio conferencing at it is today?

Ben Lilienthal: Cost. Clarity around pricing and expected cost.

How does audio conferencing fit into the world of social software and social media?

I'm not sure it does. We offer asynchronous components that let you upload meeting recordings to blogs and other web sites. Could that fit in? Over half of users use the recording feature.

What does high definitions audio mean to you today? Is that changing?

It means 16x16 or 16x22 [bit rate x sample rate]. It's becoming more prevalent. It's not anything more ubiquitous. When we launched HiDef two years' ago nobody had heard of high definition.

What companies or institutions need to support HD audio for it to be more than a niche offering?

We're seeing it in Skype, Cisco, Polycom (Siren codec). Lots of siloed approaches. I don't know how you make it a ubiquitous standard when they each have their own.

When will we see your iPhone app?

I'm not convinced that you will for the audio.

What do you make of Skype's SILK wideband audio codec release?

It requires a significant engineering effort and we're a little reluctant to make the investment because Skype seems to be eating their young. Nobody else seems to be using SILK. Besides, do I want a relationship with a partner who may throw me out the door?

What capabilities do you want Skype's gateway to offer you that don't exist now? What would you like to improve or change?

We're pretty happy with it. We only use Skype as a means of access to our service. We probably do more than five million minutes a month in Skype traffic.

Citrix has a growing family of services, including GoToMeeting. Will the audio parts of your sister business units be adopting your audio infrastructure? Will HiDef Audio continue under its own name?

We are using the HiDef bridge with our GoToWebinar customers. Starting in the fourth quarter, you'll have the option for HiDef when you buy the toll free option in GoToMeeting.

What are some of the big trends you're following in the conferencing space?

It's a race to the bottom, like what happened to long distance a decade ago. So we're differentiating on quality, ease of use, pricing, packaging. We're selling on features, ease of use.

Integration with web conferencing is a big one. Being able to go to GoToMeeting with high definition, for example.

Multiple points of ingress to a call: phones, Skype, and browser.

See also in Skype Journal:

• SILK: Skype's New Audio Codec Sets New Performance Standards for Voice Conversations
• SILK performs better
• Codec Wars: Yahoo! Messenger 10 + GIPS Video
• Fidelity Wars: Microsoft strains video call resolution
• Managing the Google/On2 merger at Skype
• Could Plantronics launch the first SILK Bluetooth headset? [no]
• Skype Red: The Hardware Story [fiction]
• Skype will license its superwideband codec for free
• Skype to announce… something? at eComm09
• High Definition Voice: Bringing Skype's High Bandwidth Audio to Conference Calls
• It's Now Official: HiDefConferencing Rebranding Has Happened
• VAPPS leaves freemium for HiDef Conferencing
• Another Skype Partner Acquired: VAPPS Goes to Citrix
• VAPPS Rebrands Its Service: High Definition Conferencing
• Alternatives to Skypecasts

Photo: Copyright 2008 James Duncan Davidson.

tags: skype, citrix, hidefconferencing, benlilianthal, hdaudio

Call me at +1-510-316-9773, Skype me, follow @skypejournal and @Phil Wolff.
Visit our Skype Journal private roundtable, one of the longest running public Skype chats.

Skype Eats More Young: RIP Skype's software developers relations program.

Skype clients have APIs. Thousands of developers wrote Mac, Windows, and Linux software controlling a Skype client through the API. Call recording, desktop sharing, games, commerce; thousands of products.

While Skype will maintain the API, the developer relations program around it is over. The commerce component: Dead. "Skype Certified" software: Dead. Support: Dead.

Skype will continue to engineer the communications API.

They won't help you promote your software.
They won't help you test and improve your software.
They won't help you co-brand your software.
They won't help you distribute your software.
They won't help you sell your software.
They won't help you process payments.
They won't help you keep up to date on API changes.

Not that they'd executed terribly well on these in the past.

But that's what they're defunding.

Presumably all that energy and money will go into a new program for developers. Skype moved some of its devrels people to new teams, some to a team working on the public version of Skype's future cloud communications platform.

Was there a good reason to kill off the old program before the new one was up? Skype won't say. Will the old community fare poorly on the new platform? Does the current community of developers not build a million dollars in yearly value to the Skype brand? Do these developers have anywhere else to turn?

This Dear John letter went out today to registered developers along with a blog post saying much the same thing. 

Subject: The future of Skype Extras Program
From: [Someone at Skype]

Date: Fri, 11 Sep 2009 12:52:23 +0100

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am contacting you on behalf of the Skype Extras Program.

Unfortunately I have to announce that the Skype Extras program will be shut down, effective September 11rd 2009.  Despite the incredible breadth of Extras developed for Skype, simply not enough people were using them to justify our continued support of the Extras program.  It was a tough decision for us, but we want to ensure that we prioritize our time and resources to deliver our core products such as voice and video, expanding Skype among business users, and expanding Skype into mobile and other platforms. The following changes will be effective from September 11th onwards:

• We have decided that we will no longer certify new Extras. However, all existing Extras will stay certified until their expiration dates and all unused test tickets will be reimbursed.
• We will continue to distribute applications through the existing Extras Manager in Skype for Windows but will no longer add new Extras to the Extras Manager.
• All public API documents will continue to be maintained Skype will also support accessories via the Public API.
• The Skype Shop <http://shop.skype.com/extras/>  will continue to support the currently listed Extras

This decision also influences the payment terms that are currently in place. After December 11, Skype will no longer allow the use of Skype credit by 3rd Party Extras developers. A final invoice detailing the full amount of the gross revenue received from Skype users must be submitted within 45 days of this date. After the 25th of January, Skype will no longer be able to process publisher invoices.

We understand the impact that this decision will have on our community. If you have any additional questions regarding the payment terms or any of the other listed changes please don't hesitate to contact me.

Best Regards,

See also: Alec Saunders' Go Big, or Go Home. But Please, Spare Us The Whinging….

tags: skype, devrels, extras

Call me at +1-510-316-9773, Skype me, follow @skypejournal and @Phil Wolff.
Visit our Skype Journal private roundtable, one of the longest running public Skype chats.

Thomas Howe leaves Jaduka, retakes Voice Mashup King status

Thomas Howe left his CEO role at Jaduka a few weeks ago, leaving the VoIP platform company in the capable hands of COO Jack Rynes. Thomas is back filling demand for Communications Enhanced Business Processes (CEBP) from his Cape Cod office.

We'll see Howe at the Emerging Communications Conference in Amsterdam next month, the Telco 2.0 Executive Brainstorm in London after that. Here's his talk from the Spring 2009 eComm.

tags: jaduka, austin, thomashowe, cebp, ecomm, telco2.0

Call me at +1-510-316-9773, Skype me, follow @skypejournal and @Phil Wolff.
Visit our Skype Journal private roundtable, one of the longest running public Skype chats.

Codec Wars: Yahoo! Messenger 10 + GIPS Video

Yahoo! Messenger 10 beta came out last week, switching to the Global IP Solutions’ VideoEngine for 1-to-1 voice calls.

Y!M video calling is not backward compatible; all users must be on Y!M 10. Interop with MSN doesn't extend to video calls, so friendship across networks is still limited to commodity text IM.

Yahoo! recommends at least 300 Kbps download and 128 Kbps upload, video cards with 96 MB memory, and Microsoft DirectX. This compute burden comes from the audio and video codecs.

Yahoo! adopting GIPS's video plumbing is a coupe for GIPS. Yahoo!'s choices influence other software companies; GIPS just became a safer choice for video. Despite Yahoo! only using the GIPS VideoEngine for limited 1-to-1 video chats, this opens up room for Yahoo! to expand to video conferencing and game-related video applications.

So far this year Skype published its home-grown SILK wideband audio codec, Google bought On2 for its video codecs, the telecom industry held its first conferences on "HD telephony," Microsoft released a bandwidth-consuming HD webcam, and Yahoo! boosted the quality of its video codecs. Moore's Law and mobile broadband seem to be pulling industry to higher fidelity.

Screenshots and comments:

Installing Yahoo! Messenger – Step 1 of 4 – Welcome to Yahoo! Messenger – Typical Install

"Typical Install" includes everything: two browser add-ins, setting Yahoo.com to your home page, and making Yahoo! your default search engine.

Installing Yahoo! Messenger – Step 1 of 4 – Welcome to Yahoo! Messenger – Custom Install

Installing Yahoo! Messenger – Step 2 of 4 – License Agreement and Terms

Installing Yahoo! Messenger – Step 3 of 4 – Ready? Set. Install!

The payload is about 16 MB without toolbars. Skype comes in around 20.

Installing Yahoo! Messenger – Progress Message - "More friends = more fun"

Progress messages set expectations and guide users to features they may not discover on their own.

Installing Yahoo! Messenger – Progress Message - "Keep Friends at your Fingertips"

Installing Yahoo! Messenger – Progress Message - "A better video and voice experience"

Installing Yahoo! Messenger – Progress Message - "Continue the conversation on your phone"

Installing Yahoo! Messenger – Step 4 of 4 – Installation is complete!

Yahoo! Messenger 10 - Login panel

It's a loooong panel.

Import Contacts

The import contacts wizard suffers from the Password Antipattern, asking you to trust Yahoo! with your logins to other services. Most of the sites Yahoo! imports contacts from support OAuth.

Still no contact import from other Yahoo! properties like Delicious, flickr, and upcoming. Or from Skype.

Yahoo! Messenger Video and Voice Setup - 1 of 3 - Microphone

Yahoo! Messenger Video and Voice Setup - 2 of 3 - Speaker

Yahoo! Messenger Video and Voice Setup - 3 of 3 - Camera

Goofy face not included.

Yahoo! Messenger 10 Home Page

A Messenger "home page" isn't new. This design keeps the distracting advertising apart from news and tools.

The Yahoo! Mail tab again shows messaging media are converging experiences, just as Web Messenger is part of Yahoo! web mail and the Yahoo! home page.

GIPS news release below:

Global IP Solutions Powers The New Yahoo! Messenger Video Calling

New Video Call Feature Available for Everyone on Yahoo! Messenger

San Francisco — August 24, 2009 — Global IP Solutions (Oslo Børs: GIPS) announced today that Yahoo! Messenger, a leader in real-time communications with more than 133 million users worldwide, is using GIPS VideoEngine™ to enable new high-quality video calling with the launch of Yahoo! Messenger 10.

Since early 2006, GIPS has provided the underlying voice technology for Yahoo! Messenger, allowing friends, family and colleagues to communicate. Now with the addition of the video calling feature, everyone on Yahoo! Messenger can enjoy video calls enabled by GIPS VideoEngine for superior sound, picture quality and user experience.

“With the launch of Yahoo! Messenger 10, we’re allowing people to instantly communicate with friends and family around the world through new interactive and social features like video calls,” said Dave Merriwether, senior director of Yahoo! Messenger. “The GIPS VideoEngine enables us to provide the Yahoo! Messenger community with the best video experience possible. Now people can enjoy full-screen, face-to-face chats with friends and family at no cost, in the familiar Yahoo! Messenger environment.”

“Yahoo! Messenger is the leading communication platform that provides people with the greatest choice to stay connected to one another through text IM, PC-based calling, mobile text messaging and now video calling,” said Emerick Woods, GIPS’ Chief Executive Officer. “We’re proud to work with Yahoo! to deliver a truly differentiated high quality video experience for the hundreds of millions of people on Yahoo! Messenger around the world,” added Woods.

To download the latest Yahoo! Messenger 10, visit http://messenger.yahoo.com/winbeta

tags: gips, codecs, yahoo, skype, video, voip, google, on2, videoengine, conference, conferencing, competition

Call me at +1-510-316-9773, Skype me, follow @skypejournal and @Phil Wolff.
Visit our Skype Journal private roundtable, one of the longest running public Skype chats.