So I was brushing up on industry news and something struck me. Whether you work in hosted VoIP PBX or not, everyone in the communications industry is in app frenzy. It’s insane!
Not surprisingly, “open” was a common theme at the show. In a keynote address Tuesday morning, Vodafone CEO Vittorio Colao touted his company’s openness to content providers, app stores and application developers while also chastising companies like Google and Yahoo! for what he considers their potentially monopolistic hold on the Internet search and advertising market. And Vodafone was not alone. Newly minted GSMA member Verizon Wireless also pushed its open message during a press conference with Skype announcing a custom Skype Mobile application for its smartphones.
Not sure if you heard yet or not, but Skype and Verizon have announced that they’ve been working to develop an always-on Skype Mobile app. Holy cow, can you believe it?! Can you imagine the implications! Let’s talk about this and what it all means for the hosted VoIP sector of the business VoIP industry.
So, “What does this technology do exactly?” you ask. “Good question,” we say.
Well, the app will basically allow for unlimited Skype-to-Skype calls. Doesn’t seem that cool now that you know this is the only function, huh? But here is the kicker. According to Fierce VoIP, “the app will allow for unlimited Skype-to-Skype calls and cheap international calls at Skype’s VoIP rates.” Apparently you also need a data plan. But who doesn’t have a data plan now-a-day anyways. So basically the app can save you money on international calls. But there is more to this if you are a hosted VoIP PBX fan…
Well, today is President’s Day but the dedicated staff at FreedomVoice is in the office working hard to take our hosted VoIP PBX, FreedomIQ, to the next level. We already offer a range of advances and innovative features you can’t find anywhere else, but we want to make the business VoIP service even better, blowing away every other offering on the market.
While this may be true, the holiday got me thinking. What does Presidents Day have to do with hosted VoIP? What are the similarities? Here are a few items I came up with.
Lately I’ve been doing a lot of research on business VoIP and hosted VoIP PBX. This has resulted in encouraging enlightenment. So, in the name of helping mankind, I am listing excellent free facts on the past, present and future of the hosted VoIP market below. I will also provide commentary on each stat, to give you some background info.
Some interesting news was just released today; Broadsoft and Polycom are teaming up to deliver an integrated unified communications platform. Here is what it’s all about.
Essentially, the new platform, known as V2Connet, brings together Polycom’s Open Collaboration Network and Broadsofts Broadworks VoIP application platform. The goal of this business VoIP focused endeavor is to create a combined offering, giving service providers a unified voice and video solution in a hosted service. Not a bad idea, right? But where do current hosted VoIP PBX providers, many of which are devote fans of Polycom VoIP phones, fit in.
As all you business VoIP fans know, the Apple iPad has just been released. Looks like a cool device, right? Like an iPhone, the screen adjusts to the phones positioning. It has crystal clear viewing capabilities for video and photos. And the touch screen… I mean wow! We’ve never really see navigation quite like this.
While this all may be true, the question is buzzing around, who is the iPad really meant for? Is there a consumer demand driving this product supply or is Apple looking to create a new demand, like they did with the iPod.
The Polycom SoundPoint IP 560 is a brand new HD VoIP phone that is creating a serious buzz in the hosted VoIP PBX world. The VoIP phone offers four-lines and call delivery with industry leading business VoIP clarity. As one of Polycoms most popular new business VoIP phones, the 560 supports a comprehensive range of hosted VoIP features enabled to integrate with a wide range of network infrastructures. Watch the video below to learn more about the Polycom SoundPoint IP 560 VoIP phone.
As hosted VoIP PBX enthusiasts, our ears perk up when people start making predictions about the future of business VoIP technology. So when Skype CEO Josh Silverman made a bold prediction in a blog on GigaOm today, we were all ears.
Silverman’s post commented on the importance of video to VoIP, nothing new there. But what he said was that he believes it to be the game changer for VoIP communications. Silverman feels that VoIP video falls in line with our most basic form of communication, speaking face to face. He feels that writing and telephone calls are simply secondary communication mediums.
According to TMCnet, Wainhouse Research just released a new report stating that, “the UC (Unified Communications) market is projected to reach $30 billion by 2013.” This is great news for everyone using hosted VoIP PBX as their business VoIP solution. It’s also excellent news for those in the hosted VoIP industry.
Here are some highlights for you business VoIP fans…
So I saw Avatar last night. I must say that is was an awesome movie. But I couldn’t help but think to myself, “What if an Avatar character was in a vicious fight with business VoIP, who would win?” Here is what I came up with…
Call Quality
Now avatars have that little thing in their hair which allows them to communicate with all living things. The connection seems very secure and reliable, which is good.
With so many VoIP phone services available to businesses today, it’s difficult to know what the future will look like. In this blog post we want to hear from you, what is the future of business VoIP service in your opinion?
Here are some things to think about. Will hosted VoIP PBX systems become the dominant choice for business VoIP? What role will unified communications play? How will business VoIP integrate with smart phones and apps? When will video VoIP phones start to dominate the market? And once they arrive, what role will they play?
Don’t address all of these questions, but let’s get the ball rolling! Make one prediction about the future of business VoIP service.
There is a lot of exciting stuff going on at CES right now. Hosted VoIP PBX is exploding on the business VoIP scene, our own Cory Dzbinski gave a talk about HD Voice, and now Apple, Microsoft-HP and Dell are sparring for the best new tablet solution.
With so much going on I hardly know what to talk about. For now, let’s focus on the tablets, especially since the Microsoft-HP tablet release is brand spanking new.
Our beloved Cory Dzbinski, Tier 2 Engineer at FreedomVoice, will be speaking on HD Voice at this year’s 2010 International CES! He’s a smart man with lots to say. Here is a little information on Cory.
With over 11 years of telecom & IT experience, Cory Dzbinski has played a vital role in spearheading the introduction and adoption of the FreedomVoice® Toll Free Number Service, a small business virtual communication platform, and the FreedomIQ® Hosted VoIP PBX, a rapidly growing hosted VoIP business phone system. Now focusing his efforts on HD Voice, Dzbinski has become a pioneer and industry expert in the voice quality standard.
I’ve noticed that there are two terms floating around which mean the same thing, hosted IP PBX and hosted VoIP PBX. But which is better? Let’s get to the bottom of this now.
Why call it Hosted VoIP PBX?
Hosted VoIP PBX has been the accepted term for some time now. It’s established, people know it and it has VoIP in it. Now VoIP obviously stands for Voice over Internet Protocol. So it suggests within the term that one of them main purposes of this system is to project your voice over the Internet.
As hosted VoIP PBX fans we love Internet and tech news. So in this vein, we get jazzed about releases from giants like Google.
On 12/03/2009, Google announced the release of a new tool, Google Public DNS, and it has all of us fidgeting in our seats.
So what is it! Well, without getting too technical, DNS means Domain Name System. DNS is an important part of a hosted VoIP phone system. A hosted PBX phone, like those used with FreedomIQ, use DNS to resolve the address associated with the servers that the phones register with. While it is important in hosted VoIP PBX, it is also a very important for the Internet as a whole.
If you’ve used LinkedIn you know how powerful the tool can be in the business world. One of LinkedIn’s greatest elements is the groups feature, which allows you interact with other industry leaders who are a member of that same group. Group sizes can be as small as a few people and as large as the 100,000s.
For those of you just starting to venture into LinkedIn groups, here are the top hosted VoIP PBX and telecom groups on LinkedIn.
Google ChromeOS is innovative, cool, and attracting tons of hype. But what we’re really interested in is its implications for hosted VoIP PBX.
Google ChromeOS is simply an Internet based operating system so it really doesn’t have many repercussions for hosted VoIP. The quality of a hosted VoIP phone service is much more dependent on the service provider, Internet connection, and VoIP phones being utilized. While this is true, Google ChromeOS and the Google Chrome browser could affect hosted VoIP PBX systems in specific ways.
Chances are that if you’ve arrived at this hosted VoIP blog you understand the difference between Google ChromeOS and the Google Chrome browser. But regardless of whether you do or don’t, you should check out this easy to follow YouTube video created by Google describing the Google ChromeOS concept.
Whether we like it or not, the H1N1 virus is among us. While the virus affects our health, it can also affect our business. But smart CEO’s are using hosted VoIP PBX technology to end the virus’s daily commute.
According to a national survey released by Mansfield Communications, 91 percent of Americans said they want their co-workers to remain at home if they are infected with the H1N1 flu virus. And if an employee goes to work with the flu or symptoms of, 83 percent of co-workers say they are likely to inform a fellow colleague or senior management about a colleague in their workplace whom they think might be showing symptoms of the flu.
“By having clear and definitive H1N1 policies and procedures in place and by becoming a trusted source of related information, leading companies can truly take care of their greatest asset – their employees,” said Rob Ireland, partner at Mansfield Communications Inc.
Our beloved Cory Dzbinski, Tier 2 Engineer at FreedomVoice, will be speaking on HD Voice at this year’s 2010 International CES! He’s a smart man with lots to say. Here is a little information on Cory.
I’ve noticed that there are two terms floating around which mean the same thing, 
