auzelac's blog

VoIP Trends Report

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 21:39:41 +0000

Back in November of 2006 I posted on this blog some statistics about the our (Global Crossing’s) VoIP interconnections. We conduct interoperability testing for all the VoIP Interconnections that we establish today. This is similar to a "turn-up" procedure to ensure that our "voip stuff" talks nicely with our customer's "voip stuff". I like to think of this process as a value-add. We have a large and growing “SIP Trunking” suite of products. As a guy that is interested in technology in general, and also interested in trends I, once again, mined data points from interconnection testing.

Below is the information:

11/2006 (Sample size = ~500)

Percentage Open Source 24.80%
Percentage SBCs 32%

6/2008 (Sample size = ~900)

Percentage Open Source 26.45%
Percentage SBCs 41.28%

Both categories have grown, with the adoption of SBC technology growing at a stronger clip. Some interesting points can be made from this very informal analysis. Firstly, more folks are using Session Border Controller technology, and this increase was observed both within the Enterprise as well as in the Service Provider space. Good, bad or indifferent, it’s happening. The second point that I would like to make is that Open Source VoIP (Asterisk, SIP Express Router, etc) is also growing, but more not as fast as I would have liked.

Adam "voiploser" Uzelac

DISCLAIMER: The comments here are mine only. They don't necessarily reflect intelligence, refined thoughts, or anything that the reader should take too seriously. Should the reader expect a polished thought process in the content addressed here, then a strong dose of medication should be prescribed to address that misconception.

VoIP Considerations for IT Decision-makers

Tue, 27 May 2008 12:59:27 +0000

There was an article in Processor Magazine that starts to address some points that should be taken under consideration for IT managers looking at packetized communications for their Enterprise. Below are the highlights and my thoughts:

Look For SIP Support
I couldn’t agree more! SIP is a protocol used to establish, teardown, modify, etc communication sessions. It’s very diverse and relatively simple when compared to past mechanisms. Most importantly, it has become the defacto standard within the world of telephony. There’s native SIP support in nearly all the major vendors that supply VoIP gear. (Cisco, Avaya, Siemens, Microsoft)

Consider The Benefits Of Hosted PBX
This topic has be discussed numerous times in the past, and even before that within a TDM context (PBX vs. Centrex). The thing that’s different within an IP context is the feature and functionality available. When comparing a PBX to a Centrex offering, one key difference was additional feature and functionality in a PBX. Centrex offerings didn’t have the same "whiz-bang" features. In today’s Hosted Telephony offerings, there’s near feature parity, so the key determining factor becomes cost of ownership.

Think Unified Communications
VoIP (or Telephony) MUST be seen as a stepping stone to the ultimate goal of Unified Communications. IT managers should consider the roadmap to UC when choosing a Telephony solution. Real-time communications need to become multi-modal, meaning there should be options to transition communications from IM to voice to video to online collaboration on a document, and then back again - all within the same context and within a common look/feel.

Traversing NAT
Though the issue of Network Address Translation (NAT) is well known to negatively impact SIP sessions, the real point for consideration here for the IT Manager should be around considering the deployment of a Session Border Controller (SBC) within their Enterprise as part of an overall design.

Know & Apply Codecs
There are more ways to packetize voice and video communications than one can shake a stick at. The author points out the predominant technologies of G.711 and G.729. Issues of bandwidth consumption and quality of user’s experience must be balanced. Generally speaking, the more bandwidth consumed, the better the experience. But the more bandwidth used, the greater the cost to upgrade the LAN/WAN infrastructure to accommodate. If you skimp on cost, the result would be poor quality, and then adoption and experiences would suffer. It’s a delicate balancing game.

Some further comments captured in the article..

• Make sure to have 100k in bandwidth free and available for every conversation when determining whether the enterprise really has enough bandwidth for VoIP, according to Andy Abramson, blogger at VoIP Watch and founder and CEO of Comunicano (www.comunicano.com). With this understanding, it’s easy to see that DSL or a cable modem line won’t cut it.

• Get VoIP phones that are both wired for Ethernet and wireless for Wi-Fi connectivity, notes Abramson. “That way, people can wander, and all internal calls within the building are free of charge because they stay on the network.”

• “Make sure the vendor is going to be around to support the purchase,” Abramson says. An older vendor with roots, commitments, and financial means is an obvious choice. A new vendor with strong management, skills, and reputation who proves out through considered research can also be a sharp choice.

Adam "voiploser" Uzelac

DISCLAIMER: The comments here are mine only. They don't necessarily reflect intelligence, refined thoughts, or anything that the reader should take too seriously. Should the reader expect a polished thought process in the content addressed here, then a strong dose of medication should be prescribed to address that misconception.

IVR Hell Solved

Wed, 02 Apr 2008 13:33:11 +0000

I think everyone has at least one horror story about navigating through an Interactive Voice Recognition (IVR) menu over the phone. You know what I am referring to...those “Press one for this, press two for that”. One example of the miserable part about these systems is when you have to listen through the entire thing only to find out that the option you need isn’t an option at all –OR- when someone (usually my kids) talks to you during the recording and you miss some options (most likely the one that you needed!), so you have to listen to the entire announcement again. This, my friends, is IVR hell. Well I just stumbled upon a company that is addressing IVR hell head on, and with a whole bunch of ingenuity mind you…

Fonolo has created a novel concept. They have transcribed the menu prompts of the major destinations – meaning they created a visual tree of the IVR menu structure, and you can navigate it online via clicking through the options. Then you input all the information necessary. Once all the inputs are registered by Fonolo from you, then Fonolo will place the call and automatically get you to the point that you need to be in the IVR menu. This point may end up being on hold for a human, but just think of all the time you have saved just getting to that point.

Adam "voiploser" Uzelac

DISCLAIMER: The comments here are mine only. They don't necessarily reflect intelligence, refined thoughts, or anything that the reader should take too seriously. Should the reader expect a polished thought process in the content addressed here, then a strong dose of medication should be prescribed to address that misconception.

IMPORTANT!!! SIP 4.0 defined.

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 20:30:33 +0000

Click here for the SIP 4.0 IETF Draft!

Be sure to note date of posting...

Adam "voiploser" Uzelac

DISCLAIMER: The comments here are mine only. They don't necessarily reflect intelligence, refined thoughts, or anything that the reader should take too seriously. Should the reader expect a polished thought process in the content addressed here, then a strong dose of medication should be prescribed to address that misconception.

SIP Decentralizing Enterprise Communications

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 18:09:03 +0000

Of the more interesting developments that are emerging as SIP technologies and products mature is the changing context that Enterprises’ IT organizations operate in. Historically, telecommunications has been defined and provided to the marketplace by Service Providers like Global Crossing, Level 3, BT, etc. The requirements needed to formulate an offering were provided by SPs to the manufacturers of the platforms (Cisco, Juniper, etc). Things are changing rapidly on this front though. Enterprises in some cases are bigger in many aspects of the definition than some smaller traditionally defined Service Providers. In my humble opinion, this warrants of new definition of the Enterprise. The Enterprise is the newest category of a Service Provider.

With regards to SIP, there is ample evidence of its adoption in the Enterprise marketplace and vendors that have catered directly to Enterprises have taken heed. As examples, see Microsoft’s, Siemens’, Cisco’s, Avaya’s adoption of SIP in their product portfolios.

The impact of this is an overall decentralization of the Enterprise communications environment that leads to a more collaborative workforce. If you need some examples, think of the IM communications in support of standard telephony and email infrastructures. Nowadays in our MS OCS/Exchange environment at Global Crossing, when I read an email – I not only have the ability to reply, but IM or click to call in response. This is all handled via a single user interface. This form of collaboration is _NOT_ dependant on the traditional services that Global Crossing provides. (with the exception of the underlying IP transport), but rather the infrastructure is supported by our internal IT department. By the way, this is all decentralization is enabled with SIP.

Adam “voiploser” Uzelac

DISCLAIMER: The comments here are mine only. They don’t necessarily reflect intelligence, refined thoughts, or anything that the reader should take too seriously. Should the reader expect a polished thought process in the content addressed here, then a strong dose of medication should be prescribed to address that misconception.

Top 50 Open Source VoIP Apps

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 16:00:37 +0000

The impact of the Open Source movement on VoIP is strong and continues....

Some of the tools that we use and/or tested with here at GC are included, for example SER, Asterisk and one that's not on the list SIPP.

Top 50 Open Source VoIP Apps

Adam "voiploser" Uzelac

and from the "No taps for you" department...

Tue, 15 Jan 2008 15:06:53 +0000

This one is a beauty - on Jan. 10th of this month, the ACLU issued a statement that reported that a FBI wiretap was "unplugged" due to a lack of payment. The ACLU is quick to point out that this action was taken from the same telecoms that permitted the tap without the proper approvals...

From Michael German, ACLU National Security Policy Counsel: "It seems the telecoms, who are claiming they were just being "good patriots" when they allowed the government to spy on us without warrants, are more than willing to pull the plug on national security investigations when the government falls behind on its bills."

Adam "voiploser" Uzelac
DISCLAIMER: The comments here are mine only. They don't necessarily reflect intelligence, refined thoughts, or anything that the reader should take too seriously. Should the reader expect a polished thought process in the content addressed here, then a strong dose of medication should be prescribed to address that misconception.

Femtocells the Answer?

Mon, 14 Jan 2008 17:30:00 +0000

Femtocells the Answer?

There have been some very interesting developments in the wireless world as of late. Femtocells are basically Access Point Base Stations that permit wireless operators to extend coverage in places where “dead spots” are problematic. This sounds like a great idea for those that have experienced the issues where a wireless phone call drops due to one moving into an area where coverage is “shady” at best – for instance an elevator or a remote location in a campus or building. But with this concept, comes some problems that need to be resolved, like E911, Lawful Intercept and other such governmental obligations.

First note the informal poll below from www.cellcoverege.com - this is a problem the industry wants to address.

Poll: How do DropZones Affect You?

Annoying & inconvenient (36%)

Cannot replace home phone (15%)

Creates a safety gap (13%)

Crimping social life (16%)

Poor reflection on business (14%)

Other (5%)

Femtocells have been designed to use licensed and unlicensed wireless spectrum. In the licensed scenarios, there are concerns around Interference with the already established towers that provide subscriber access. There are limits to the number of adjacencies that mean special attention needs to be spent with regards to the placement of the femtocells. This concern stems from marketing such solutions direct to the consumer base, and this means a “willy nilly” approach to spectrum access for subscribers causes confusion with regards to E911 and Lawful Intercept requirements that mobile network operators much meet.

Though femtocells are gaining momentum as an alternative, there are concerns that first need to be addressed before an expectation of widespread use can be realized.

Adam “voiploser” Uzelac

DISCLAIMER: The comments here are mine only. They don’t necessarily reflect intelligence, refined thoughts, or anything that the reader should take too seriously. Should the reader expect a polished thought process in the content addressed here, then a strong dose of medication should be prescribed to address that misconception.

Google’s Impact on the Wireless Internet

Mon, 03 Dec 2007 18:02:28 +0000

Google’s Impact on the Wireless Internet

In case you missed the announcement last week, Google has tossed it’s hat into the ring for the last remaining commercially viable wireless spectrum in the US. The 700MHz spectrum was used to provide analog TV service and becomes available to the highest bidder on January 24th, 2008. The impact of Google’s announcement is yet unknown, but should prove to be very important in the long run.

Some interesting datapoints:

• From Wikipedia - Several countries, including the UK, now have more mobile phones than people. There are over five hundred million active mobile phone accounts in China, as of 2007. Luxembourg has the highest mobile phone penetration rate in the world, at 164% in December 2001. In Hong Kong the penetration rate reached 139.8% of the population in July 2007. The total number of mobile phone subscribers in the world was estimated at 2.14 billion in 2005. The subscriber count reached 2.7 billion by end of 2006 according to Informa[citation needed], and 3.3 billion by November, 2007, thus reaching an equivalent of over half the planet's population. Around 80% of the world's population enjoys mobile phone coverage as of 2006. This figure is expected to increase to 90% by the year 2010.

http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm

Now allow me to pluck the germane data from the above for my point. Phone = 3.3 BILLION - Computers = 1.25 Billion. Google already enjoys dominance for eyes in the computer space, and if they are as successful on wireless phones as they are with PCs, watch out world!

The problem Google currently has with wireless devices, especially in the US, is the locked-down nature of the device to the wireless network operator. It’s actually a sad commentary that Google has to forge ahead with buying spectrum, but it makes all the sense in the world. Boy is it interesting watching the impacts to the industry. Check out Verizon Wireless’ announcement about opening up their network to devices. Don’t think for a second that these two announcements are unrelated. They couldn’t be more tied to the hip.

All this guy has to say is, “Good on ya, Google!”

Adam “voiploser” Uzelac
DISCLAIMER: The comments here are mine only. They don’t necessarily reflect intelligence, refined thoughts, or anything that the reader should take too seriously. Should the reader expect a polished thought process in the content addressed here, then a strong dose of medication should be prescribed to address that misconception.

The VoIPloser is getting frozen with his iMAC

Tue, 13 Nov 2007 16:49:35 +0000

I so wish I wasn’t typing this. If you are a new iMAC user – then you might be aware of a certain problem that Apple is denying left and right. The symptoms started manifesting itself a couple of weeks after we got the machine. I think that it’s important to recall the situation I was in that led me to a MAC in the first place – it’s a struggle I went through with myself and my family, who were all used to PCs and Windoze.

So this is what’s going on – the darn machine just freezes for no apparent reason. This was first reported by my better half. I did some investigation after rebooting and didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary. As the machine came with 90 days of free technical phone support, I called Apple. They introduced me to the “Kernel Panic”. For those not in the know, it’s the Apple equivalent of the Blue-screen of death (BSOD) in the Windoze world. The tech on the line told me it’s most likely due to software I installed, so I removed a bunch of stuff that I downloaded – but still the problem occurs. Lately, it’s gotten worse. So much so that there’s a significant return in a simple Google search on this topic. At the time of this writing, there are approximately 352k returns to that search. I bet all the money in my front right pocket that this number will only grow in time.

The culprit, at least according to the peanut gallery, seems to be Video Card related, but without Apple stepping up to the plate and stating such – it’s all speculation. I am going to have to drop my brand new 20-inch aluminum iMAC off to the store that I got it, and hope that it doesn’t take too long to get fixed, AND that it gets fixed.

Consider this either a warning, or a plea for help – either way, it is what it is.

Adam “voiploser” Uzelac

geek-humor "The Day The Routers Died..."

Wed, 31 Oct 2007 20:01:24 +0000

This video came from the RIPE 55 conference. Gary Feldman of Demon Internet fame performs for the secret-wg in the closing plenary at RIPE 55 in Amsterdam, October 2007.

For those not knowing what RIPE is - from www.ripe.com - "The RIPE NCC is an independent, not-for-profit membership organisation that supports the infrastructure of the Internet through technical co-ordination in its service region. The most prominent activity of the RIPE NCC is to act as the Regional Internet Registry (RIR) providing global Internet resources and related services (IPv4, IPv6 and AS Number resources) to members in the RIPE NCC service region. The membership consists mainly of Internet Service Providers (ISPs), telecommunication organisations and large corporations located in Europe, the Middle East and parts of Central Asia."

Video here...

Adam "voiploser" Uzelac
DISCLAIMER: The comments here are mine only. They don't necessarily reflect intelligence, refined thoughts, or anything that the reader should take too seriously. Should the reader expect a polished thought process in the content addressed here, then a strong dose of medication should be prescribed to address that misconception.

Demo fall 2007

Thu, 27 Sep 2007 19:31:48 +0000

Demo fall 2007

So I was wondering around the blogosphere last night and stumbled across an announcement regarding a company called Tungle. They recently won the "DEMOgod" award from demo.com. Demo.com is a conference for emerging Web 2.0 companies. The conference permits invited emerging companies to pitch a 6 minute demo of their product to journalist, bloggers, etc. The conference was this week (Sept 24-27) in San diego. The footage of all the demos are available on their website.

Below is a list of the demos I thought were particularly interesting. So go grab some popcorn and a drink of your choice, and check them out at demo.com and click on demofall07 to launch the viewer.

MY FAVORITE!! -> 360 Desktop - desktop real estate extender. This is amazing! <- MY FAVORITE!!
DimDim - free and open source webmeeting alternative.
Earthmine - Geographic 3d visualizing.
Jasper Wireless - "local" SIM - targeting machine communications.
LiveMocha - A new approach to language learning.
SpceTime - 3d browser.
Talari Networks - Enterprise WAN alternative.
Truphone - just created VoIP client for iPhone.
Tubes Networks - a way to share files with others - P2P software.
Yuuguu - collaboration software.
Tungle - Meeting scheduling plugin.
Vello - conference call advancement - outbound calls to all participants.

Adam "voiploser" Uzelac
DISCLAIMER: The comments here are mine only. They don't necessarily reflect intelligence, refined thoughts, or anything that the reader should take too seriously. Should the reader expect a polished thought process in the content addressed here, then a strong dose of medication should be prescribed to address that misconception.

Apple Newton - back from the dead?

Wed, 26 Sep 2007 20:35:14 +0000

Could it be possible? Now here's a rumor that's worth spreading. Apple is thinking about reviving the Newton brand. Russell Shaw, over at ZD-Net is reporting that there might be some truth to this rumor.

Here is part of the article...
Apple Insider’s take in part:

Externally, the multi-touch PDA has been described by sources as an ultra-thin “slate” akin to the iPhone, about 1.5 times the size and sporting an approximate 720×480 high-resolution display that comprises almost the entire surface of the unit. The device is further believed to leverage multi-touch concepts which have yet to gain widespread adoption in Apple’s existing multi-touch products — the iPhone and iPod touch — like drag-and-drop and copy-and-paste."

Stay tuned for more on this one. All I can say is that Apple might be pushing this limits of what their brand can handle if this is true.

Adam "voiploser" Uzelac

DISCLAIMER: The comments here are mine only. They don't necessarily reflect intelligence, refined thoughts, or anything that the reader should take too seriously. Should the reader expect a polished thought process in the content addressed here, then a strong dose of medication should be prescribed to address that misconception.

7 easy ways to use VoIP

Tue, 25 Sep 2007 20:23:32 +0000

7 easy ways to use VoIP

1) Setup a Skype account and get Skype-in/Skype-out.

2) Setup a Gizmo account at SIPphone.

3) Get a Google account

4) Setup yourself with a Grand Central Account(owned by Google)

5) Get a Dual-mode wireless phone.

6) Install Fring on the dual-mode phone.

7) Associate all numbers from Skype, Gizmo, Wireless phone, deskphone, etc to your Grand Central number, and publish your Grand Central Number.

This is what you get from all this:

INBOUND CALLING: When someone dials your Grand Central number, all the associated numbers in your Grand Central profile will ring simultaneously. You have your choice which phone to answer with. You also have the ability to "move" the call or "switch" the call from one device to another associated device. It's the coolest thing - all you do is press the '*' key and all the phones start ringing again. You just pick up another phone and hang up on the phone you are moving from. There are also loads of other features with Grand Central. It's just great!!!

OUTBOUND CALLING: The selection device when placing a call to someone else is normally dictated by your location at the time you are making the call. If you are in a car, then wireless is really all you get due to availability. If you are in an area that has wifi service that works with your dual-mode phone (like an airport or coffee shop), then Fring is your friend because you can use numerous options. If you are in the office with your choice, then use the phone or network of your choice. If I know that I am about to leave the office, I might take the call on my cell. If I am about to settle in to a marathon of conference calls, then it's desk phone with speaker or head-phones on.

VoIP works and VoIP is mainstream nowadays.

Adam "voiploser" Uzelac

DISCLAIMER: The comments here are mine only. They don't necessarily reflect intelligence, refined thoughts, or anything that the reader should take too seriously. Should the reader expect a polished thought process in the content addressed here, then a strong dose of medication should be prescribed to address that misconception.

Proprietary versus Open – the argument never ends.

Tue, 28 Aug 2007 20:24:40 +0000

Proprietary versus Open – the argument never ends.

I come to this topic due to it’s reoccurrence in my professional and personal meanderings. As I mostly discuss my professional life, I will dwell on my current personal life dilemma as a Joe-Shmoe consumer. I need a new personal computer at home for the family. I have a Windoze something box on circa 1912 hardware, and I am constantly being reminded that “the Internet is down” by the users of said appliance. If I were a betting man, I would put my money on this box being riddled with junk-ware, viruses, and other “badness”. The main reason the “home” computer got to this state is that I am NOT the primary user. A matter of fact, I avoid using that thing at all costs. I would rather prick every tip of my fingers 10 times, than apply them to the keyboard of that device. It’s gotten to the point now, that I wouldn’t wish using that computer on my worst enemy.   So it’s high time that I get a replacement for the household.   I accept the fact that my karma is at an all time low by permitting this to happen. I have been a poor technical advisor to this household. I need to grab some positive karma here, and I am going to start by getting new computer.

As I see it, in today’s day and age I have 3 solid choices. 1) I could get another Windoze box from Dell or something. 2) I could get a linux distribution like Ubuntu on new hardware, (also available from Dell now) or 3) I could get a MAC.

Windows and Linux are the most cost-efficient options due to the “open-ness” and variety of the hardware. Apple is more proprietary in their hardware approach, but that’s changed somewhat when they moved to the Intel x86 chipsets.   Now with this cost and option advantages, comes some sacrifice in stability and predictability. And THIS I see as the main argument in the ‘Proprietary versus Open’ argument. Apple MACs have a strong and worthy reputation for it’s stability and ease of use. This can be attributed the confined hardware environments that MAC operating system functions within.   If the HW is restricted to known elements, then the SW can be deliberately engineered with safe assumptions. The same can not be said for Windows and Linux. There’s a price to be paid for that stability and predictability, and the big question for me; is it worth the price?

I have no idea how this is going to end up, and I should also mention that I tend to be a bit stingy at times.   I think it’s time to get the eight-ball out to help me with this quandary.

Now for a little about the proprietary versus open standards argument in the world of telecommunications, specifically VoIP. Excellent examples of both exist, with successes on both sides. First on the proprietary front I will reference Skype. Skype claims millions of users world-wide, and I would venture to guess that Skype has a deeper penetration among the digitally literate folks outside of the US versus inside. I am an active user of Skype and it's functionality along with ubiquity within my peer circles keeps it that way. BUT - there are some downsides, and first and foremost is the fact that if I want or need to communicate with a user that isn't on Skype, I am relegated to using the PSTN (which means it costs me). There was also the rather well documented Skype outage last week.

On the other hand, we have the Gizmo Project (from SIP Phone), which purports on it's website the following:
Founding Principles "At the core of Gizmo Project is a commitment to open standards, which is critical to deliver the true potential of VoIP. SIPphone believes that like web pages, email and IM, calls should be free. And we believe the more people you can call the better. Which is why we use the industry VoIP standard, SIP." I also am a subscriber and user of Gizmo, but much less frequently than Skype. I am a firm believer in open standards, hence the reason I subscribe, and use when I can Gizmo - but at the same time, when I need to talk/chat/communicate/etc with folks online, I find myself using Skype more.   Does that make me a Skype-o-phile? Not really, it's more that I need to "go" where the folks that I am interested in communicating with are.

By the way - if you were wondering, I am voiploser on both Skype and Gizmo.

Adam "voiploser" Uzelac