VoIP Week in Review from TMCnet

By Johanne Torres

TMCnet Contributing Editor

 

This week, the VoIP Minute Watch brought you news from Vonage, Motorola (News - Alert), AT&T (News - Alert), Cable & Wireless, Skype and Alcatel (News - Alert).

 

VoIP-based calling service provider Vonage announced on Monday that it extended its contract with 3PV, a provider of third party verification services. The companies agreed to extend their contract through 2009. The relationship will further enhance the VoIP service provider's Local Number Portability (LNP) process.

 

The move will allow Vonage customers to speed up necessary paperwork process required to port their number from their existing carrier. 3PV's eLOA product enables Vonage customers to complete a binding letter of agency online, during the subscriber's account orders process or via e-mail from a customer care agent. eLOA allows for shorter provisioning time and less expensive transaction costs due to the elimination of document handling fees.

 

Also on Monday, Motorola introduced the SIP-based SBV5100 series, a new addition to its suite of voice-enabled cable modems. As part of the company's broadband telephony product suite, the SBV5100 series converges voice and data, on one network, in one product. Bundling multiple services in one unit will offer consumers an array of advanced voice services. The SBV5100 supports full-featured primary VoIP-based telephone service for up to two telephone lines that are terminated in two RJ-11 connectors.

 

In an agreement announced on Monday, The Flintco and Flint Energy Services companies chose to upgrade their networks with AT&T. The new, three-year agreement renews and expands a long-standing relationship between the two companies. Flintco and Flint Energy Services are providers of commercial construction and energy services, respectively. AT&T's network will enable voice and data to flow more reliably and securely, allowing teams to collaborate and to access real-time information in order to make mission-critical decisions.

 

The network upgrade will incorporate the companies' 15 domestic locations using a fully managed Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) technology. MPLS will prioritize network traffic and ensure streamlined communications across all Flint's domestic locations.

 

AT&T announced on Tuesday that it inked a new optical services contract with Olathe Unified School District (USD) in Kansas. The school system serves more than 25,300 students in 47 schools and six support buildings, making it the third largest in the Sunflower State. The new, five-year contract calls for the telecom giant to serve as the school district’s primary optical services provider. AT&T will do this by delivering the AT&T OPT-E-MAN service, a fully managed, switched Ethernet network service.

 

AT&T made public on Thursday its plans of bringing approximately 2,000 outsourced technical support jobs in-house. The jobs will be added to the telecom giant's payroll. This news follows the recent massive employee layoff announced by Ford Motor Co., another giant American employer. The auto manufacturer plans to eliminate at least 44,000 jobs, in order to cut $5 billion in costs in the next three years.

 

AT&T previously outsourced these positions throughout the country as well as overseas. According to the company's announcement, the positions are related to customer service support offered to the telecom's self-install DSL consumers.

 

Sonus Networks announced on Tuesday that it was selected by Cable & Wireless as its supplier of its next-generation IP-voice network. The new deal will allow Cable & Wireless to deploy an IP-voice network, which delivers primary line local, long-distance and international telephony service.

 

Cable and Wireless operates in 34 countries around the world, including 14 islands in the Caribbean. Through this partnership, the company will initially deploy its Sonus-based network to support the Caribbean Islands and Bermuda. In select markets, the telecom plans to eventually replace its infrastructure with Sonus' IMS-ready access system.

 

Also this week, MetaSolv (News - Alert), a provider of operations support system (OSS) systems, announced that it was also tapped by Cable & Wireless for it to offer the telecom IP services and next-generation OSS transformation.

 

The new agreement, reportedly valued in a multi-million dollar figure, will provide Cable & Wireless with "an integrated next-generation platform for activation, provisioning and configuration management across all service domains," noted the companies' news release.

 

Cable & Wireless has already deployed the standardization of two large and disparate MPLS-based IP networks on MetaSolv's next-gen activation platform. The deployment allowed the telecom to integrate one of its recent acquisitions, a large European IP VPN service provider.

 

VoIP service provider Skype recently launched a new offer that will enable all French-based Skypers to make unlimited SkypeOut calls to landlines in France for free. The offer, which began on September 7th, will be valid only in France until December 31 2006.

 

Previously, French-based Skypers were required to pay for all SkypeOut calls made from their PCs out to traditional landlines. The VoIP provider is practically giving all French-based users with a broadband Internet connection the chance to call their friends and family on landlines in France, for free.

 

Alcatel and Nokia announced on Thursday that they have joined forces in order to extend Alcatel's business telephony offering to the mobile workforce by way of the Nokia (News - Alert) Eseries, a suite of business class devices. The Intellisync Call Connect for Alcatel will integrate Nokia Eseries devices into the Alcatel IP Communication server.

 

With Intellisync Call Connect for Alcatel in place, popular desk phone functionalities are available to the mobile user such as call conferencing, call back, and dial by name. Employees will be able to manage just one business number, and control where and when and on which device they receive their calls.

 

There you have it folks, another exciting week in the VoIP industry! Stay tuned and read the VoIP Minute Watch for the latest news…

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Johanne Torres is contributing editor for TMCnet and INTERNET TELEPHONY magazine. To see more articles by Johanne Torres, please visit her columnist page.